THE TREATY OF WAITANGI.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLI, Issue 6956, 7 September 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TREATY OF WAITANGI.

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“I assured them in the_ most fervent manner they might rely implicitly on the good faith of Her Majesty’s Government in the transaction.’’,— Governor Hobson, 1840,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —For now many days past a statement has appeared in the columns of your paper, wherein the Government of this country are distinctly charged with having defrauded a number of Her Majesty’s loyal and peaceable subjects ot the Maori race of their lands, which lands were in 1840 guaranteed to them by Her Majesty by and under Her Majesty’s Imperial Treaty of Waitangi. The Ngatiraukawa living on the West Coast, and nigh to Wellington, have always continued loyal on their part to the treaty made with Her Majesty by their fathers in 1840 ; loyal to the Government and to the colonists. “Whose

ox or whose fattling have they killed 1” During the whole of the past troublous times, they have always been in their own little way a shield and a barrier. Ngatiraukawa have now good cause to be grateful for the return that has been administered to them. So with Wiremu Kiugi, of Waitara, who, in the early days, saved Nelson and Wellington. So with the Lower Waikato, who, when war commenced at Waitara—unjust, unnecessary, and cruel war—saved the settlements of Auckland and Hawkes Bay, then almost wholly defenceless. For all that followed, read history. All avowedly for the purpose of establishing law and order. A case of great unjustice and wrong, done in the past, is now brought prominently forward. Where now the rampant cry for “ law and order 2” None found to raise a voice on behalf of the weak, the wronged, and the oppressed ; all silent as the grave I None who dare to lay a semblance of a hand on their humble accuser! How and why is this? Who, what, and where the Majesty to whose care Her Majesty’s Government and the British people having, in 1810, obtained peaceable possession of the Islands of New Zealand, with the sovereignty over the same (Lord John Bussell to the first Governor of New Zealand:—Downing - street, 9th December, 1840, says:—“ln addition to this they have bean formally recognised by Great Britain as an independent State, and even in assuming the dominion of the country this principle was acknowledged, for it is on the deliberate act and cession of the chiefs, on behalf of the people that our title rests ”), have since committed their abandoned treaty with the administration of Her Majesty ot England’s promised “ Royal Rule,” “Royal Guarantee,” and “Royal Protection,” with the keeping unspotted Great Britain’s plodgos with England’s loudly-proclaimed “Good Faith.” Echo answers, “ Who, what, and where I ” A great and crying wrong has been inflicted upon an innocent and unoffending people. Her Majesty of England’s treaty has been held asnaught. Britain’s pledges, England’s loudly - proclaimed “Good Faith ” have been cast to the winds. Who are resoonsible for this 2 Echo answers, “ Who 2 ”

Let me pause. Not for a reply : such is vain. Let me here call upon Europe, upon Asia, upon Africa, upon America, with the many isles of the seas, to join with me in crying shame upon Britain, “ Shame on you, upon all of you, for this! Would you dare thus to deal with Russia, with Turkey, with Germany, with Austria, with Italy, with Spain, with France, with the United States of America i Shame on you, who, whilst ready at all times, all of you, to display a bold front with reverence to the strong, would thus take a mean and grovelling advantage of the weak, the ignorant, and the despised ! —I am, &0., Thos. 0. Williams. Wellington, New Zealand, 18th July, 1883.