100 YEARS AGO

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21575, 10 February 1940, Page 7

100 YEARS AGO

Treaty Of Waitangi Negotiated Hobson’s Achievement One hundred years ago on February 6, 1840 events reached a climax which had momentous consequences for the future of New Zealand. On that day the first group of Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi on behalf of their tribes. They had not come to this decision lightly, but only after a thorough discussion of every aspect of what they were doing. Practically all the other chiefs throughout the country decided to sign the treaty, when copies of it were brought to them during the succeeding months. In the end more than 500 chiefs signed—or rather affixed their moko alongside a European version of their names. Diplomacy and Doubt

Captain Hobson, R.N., does not always figure imposingly in the history of New Zealand. But it is just to recognise his services to this country in successfully negotiating the Treaty of Waitangi in the face of very considerable difficulties. True, he received great assistance from James Busby, the British Resident, from the missionaries, particularly Henry Williams, and from James Clendon, a merchant, who was American consul. But in the treaty negotiations he himself displayed an energy and a grasp of political principle that his illness, perhaps, prevented him bringing into play in the later part of his short stewardship in New Zealand.

It was by no means certain that the Maoris would sign the treaty with the British Crown. They themselves had asked the British Government for protection as early as the reign of William IV., when a half-promise of it had been given. Busby’s appointment in 1833 had been a sort of compromise, for the Colonial Office was by no means willing to add to its responsibilities. But the increasing number of white settlers had by 1840 induced the Government to make some provision for the protection of the Maori people, though it was not concerned to protect Wakefield’s New Zealand Company settlers from the Maoris. A Candid Discussion The Maoris had small cause to love the white settler, so far as they knew him before 1840. They aired their grievances lavishly on February 5 at that famous conference on the day preceding to signature of the treaty. They had been robbed of their land, they felt. Indeed, it was Waaka Nene’s argument in favour of signature that in any case there were so many white settlers and so much land sold that it would be better to have the benefit of pakeha trade, rather than lament over spilt milk. Waaka Nene, coming after speakers who had denounced the | treaty, was a decisive influence in the debate. The famous warrior chief of the Hokianga branch of the Nga-Puhi, backed by his peace-loving brother, Patuone, had unrivalled mana with his people. Colour and Festivity The Treaty of Waitangi was not a snap decision obtained from savages ignorant of what they were doing. The Maori chiefs were men of intelligence, skilled, in law-making and debate, who had a real sense of responsibility towards their people on whose behalf they were signing. Thus the proceedings were treated with due decorum on both sides. The conference on February 5 and the signing of the treaty next day took place in a large marquee rigged up from spare sails from H.M.S. Herald, which had brought Hobson and his party to New Zealand. A great feast was prepared at the expense of . the British Government, including half a ton of flour, five tons of potatoes and 30 pigs, “to regale their mightinesses, the New Zealanders.” A great concourse of Maoris assembled at the treaty proceedings dressed in every variety of European or native garment. The white traders and beachcombers attended —and could not resist trying to put a spoke in the wheel of Hobson’s progress. The tent was hung with signal flags off the Herald. The whole scene was one of colour and animation, which the vivid gestures of Maori oratory enlivened unforgettably. No one who was present could doubt that the occasion was one that would have great consequences for both races. A Short Treaty For a document that was to bring a whole people and their country voluntarily under the sovereignty of Britain the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi were amazingly short and simple. It contained only three articles. By the first the chiefs ceded the sovereignty of their territories to Queen Victoria. By the second the chiefs were guaranteed in the possession of their land, but accorded the Crown the sole right of buying it from them—a check to the wild land speculation of the preceding years. By the third the Queen extended to the Maoris her protection and the rights and privileges of British subjects. Although the chiefs were guaranteed in the possession of land “which they may individually or collectively possess.” the complexities of Maori tribal tenure were still largely left unravelled. The inevitable misunderstandings that arose in trying to fit a primitive society based on group communism into a civilised society based on individualism and a money economy were certainly formidable. But whatever events may have occurred afterwards, the Treaty of Waitangi was conceived in a mood of sincerity quite foreign to the usual forms of imperialism. The beginnings of British Government in New Zealand were honourable and benevolent in the extreme.