THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1935. ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22713, 28 October 1935, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1935. ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Although not of outstanding importance in itself, the signing of the Declaration of Independence by Maori chiefs assembled at Waitangi at the instance of the first British Resident, Mr James Busby, on October 28, 1835, is quite properly described as one of the steps that led to the establishment of British sovereignty in New Zealand. To-day, on the hundredth anniversary of that interesting event, Sir Alexander Young, Minister of Internal Affairs, appropriately recalls the occasion and revives memories of an engaging adventurer, Baron Charles de Thierry, whose supposed intention to establish himself as “ sovereign Chief of New Zealand ” stimulated the harassed Resident to feverish activity for the pi'eservation of British interests. Even at this distance de Thierry remains something of a man of mystery insofar as his intentions in the country were concerned. Mr T. Lindsay Buiek, who is responsible for the most recent retelling of this comical chapter of New Zealand history, says the Baron was described as a crotchety enthusiast rather than a knavish schemer. Mr Buick submits that there is at least reason to believe that de Thierry had persuaded himself that he had a “ mission for the uplifting of the benighted,” and that he engaged in the astonishing enterprise of founding his “ kingdom ” in a spirit of philanthropy more than in one ’of mercenary adventure. Whatever may have been the motives of the gallant Baron, his “ agreement ” for the transfer to himself of 40,000 acres at Hokianga, for which he was to pay the Native chiefs who were affected the princely fee of 36 axes, was in keeping with the unscrupulous trading ethics of the times, and it is not surprising that his territorial claims were speedily disavowed by the Natives, or that they regarded his royal pretensions with derision. De Thierry’s landing, with becoming pomp and circumstance, did not occur until 1837, and it ended, necessarily, in disillusionment. But it was in 1835 that Mr Busby, then two years Resident, heard of de Thierry’s intention and took the steps which seemed proper to him, in the light of prevailing conditions, to defeat it. The Resident’s own powers, derived from the New South Wales Government, were very limited, and were not backed by force. He took the view that the British Government could not long maintain its attitude of more or less passive indifference towards the young country’s needs. He resolved, therefore, in the face of the thi'eatened “ invasion ” darkly ascribed to French ambitions —to organise the chiefs in their own defence. In such circumstances the curious authority known as The Confederated Tribes of New Zealand came into being. The Declaration received, in due course, a courteous acknowledgment from his Majesty’s Government, which otherwise betrayed small sign of interest. Thus left to itself, the new Native authority proved quite ineffective to cope with social disorders, to exert a unifying influence among the tribes, or in other ways to promote reasonable government. The Declaration was, nevertheless, one of the links in the chain of events completed by Captain Hobson in 1840, and as such an academic interest attaches to it — an interest which the de Thierry episode definitely tinges with romance.