VALIDITY OF TREATY OF WAITANGI QUESTIONED

Northland Age, Volume 2, Issue 44, 4 August 1933, Page 4

VALIDITY OF TREATY OF WAITANGI QUESTIONED

An attack on the validity of the Treaty of Waitangi is contemplated by an influential section of Maori people. According to the statements of prominent Maoris in Taranaki, the Treaty is regarded as sacred by the majority of Maoris, and the attack upon it is regarded with serious misgivings, since it secures to the Natives many rights and privileges fk which might be lost were the author- ' ity of the document shaken.

It is alleged that the leader of a certain Maori sect is collecting money from his adherents with the object of building up a large fund—a sum of £20,000 is mentioned—with which to attack the validity of the Treaty.

Uneasiness in the minds of many Taranaki Maoris led the Rev. Poohi Moke, a Taranaki Maori minister, to address an appeal by letter to the Governor-General requesting a statement regarding the legality or otherwise of the Treaty. The recent gift to the nation by Lord and Lady Bledisloe of a thousand acres of land, including the site of the signing of the Treaty, together with the appointment of the trust board with Maori representation, had complicated the issue in the minds of the Natives. The Rev. Mr. Moke has received a reply from Lord Bledisloe containing a statement that the Treaty of Waitangi is valid beyond all doubt and will be observed. Lord Bledisloe expressed surprise that doubt should have arisen among the Natives. The Rev. Mr. Moke recalled a statement in the House of Commons on June 9, 1845, when Sir Robert Peel said, regarding the Treaty : “I will say that if ever there was a case where a stronger party was obliged by its position to respect the demands of the weaker, if ever a powerful country was bound by its engagements with the weaker, it was the engagements contracted under such circumstances with these native chiefs. No Governor of New Zealand has done otherwise than declare to the Maoris that the Treaty was sacred.”