The Treaty of Waitangi

Britian Procrastinating

So what was the attitude of the British government, were they only the nasty colonial imperialist, that I had been lead to believe, or did they also have a genuine concern for the Native New Zealanders.

Well it seems evident from previous posts that the British government wasn't sure what to do, and if in fact they wanted to do anything. They had enough problems of their own.

As we have seen, many factors were at play during this critical time in Britians history both at home and abroad. It was the times of "Charles Dickens", social unrest and political tension when Britian stood on a knife-edge. The Reformers, lead by people like William Wilberforce and his "Clapham Sect" pushed the country towards change.

E G Wakefield and his "colonial reformers" believed that colonisation, based on Wakefields scheme, was part of the answer to Britians internal pressures and would give opportunity to thousands of Britians to begin a new life full of opportunity.

The Reform Act 1832 fundamentally changed the power base of Britian, from one ruled by the land owning Arostocarcy to a Parliamentary democracy lead by the people, and it was "early days" in that transition of values and control of power.

Abroad Britian wasn't fairing much better on the "colony" front with it's policy of "transportation" to Australia, for anyone "caught stealing a pig", coming under increasing scrutiny. Things were not looking good in Canada either with the rebellions of 1837 leading to self government for the young "colony", with the help of Lord Durham and Edward Wakefield it should be noted.

On top of that many divergent forces were at play as it related to New Zealand. Many early settlers, like the sealers and whalers, were British citizens and behaving badly. The local Maori were asking for Britians help to sort things out, but there was no government or law base established to enable that to happen. The missionaries, through the CMS, were not in favour of colonisation or any further settlement, arguing that things would only get worse with more people in the country.

The "old foe" France was "sniffing around" and Britian couldn't let them take control!!

So what to do.

They sent James Busby in 1834 but he became the "Man o' War without guns". He had a go at formalising a relationship with the Maori by getting 35 chiefs to sign the "Declaration of Independence" in 1835. They sent William Hobson in 1837 who recommended the establishing British authority by treaty and governing the European settlements.

However it wasn't until Edward Gibbon Wakefield got fed up of waiting and forced the British governments hand, by sending his first nine ships of settlers to Wellington in the second half of 1839, that the "game was on" !!, They needed to "sort something out" before things got out of control, so Hobson was quickly dispatched.

The Treaty is signed

William Hobson arrived in the Bay of Islands, via NSW, on the 29th January 1840, and if the British had been procrastinating to this point, they were going to make up for lost time.

Lord Normanby, Secretary of State for the Colonies, instructed Hobson to negotiate a willing transfer of sovereignty from Maori to the Crown, problems would arise however from the manner and speed with which the would-be-Governor drafted the Treaty to accomplish this transfer.

Hobson was given no draft document prepared by lawyers or Colonial office staff. Instead, he had to cobble together his own treaty, with the help of his secretary, James Freeman, and British resident James Busby, neither of whom was a lawyer. That done, Hobson recognised that a treaty in English alone could scarcely be understood, (good thinking Bill), agreed to or even debated by the Maori, had the missionary Henry Williams and his son Edward hastily translate the English version into "missionary" Maori. All this occured over four days, with the Maori version being prepared overnight on the 4th February.

On the 5th February copies of the Treaty in both languages were put before a gathering of northern chiefs inside an enormous marquee on the lawn in front of Busby's house. Present were hundreds of Maori, Hobson's entourage of officials, English and French missionaries, along with many local Pakeha residents.

Hobson read the Treaty aloud in English, and Henry Williams in Maori, with discussions between the proposers and the intended signatories following. Because of his facility in Maori and because the other CMS missionaries supported both the Treaty and its constitutional consequences, it was inevitable that Williams spoke often in defence of the document when asked by Maori about the meanings and implications of its clauses. As we have previously seen Henry Williams had the trust of the Maori, built up over the previous 17 years, he was in an incredibly influential position.

In realty the meaning of the English version and the Maori version, were quite different, with the Maori understanding the terms to be more along the lines of the "Declaration of Independence" that they had already signed in 1835 which vested all sovereign power and authority in the land with the chiefs 'in their collective capacity'.

None of the confusions between the meanings of the two treaties was adequately identified or addressed in the discussions and debates that took place in the marquee on the 5th February. On the contrary, missionary explanations of terms and concepts, particularly those given by Henry Williams, fudged precise meanings and potential contradictions and emphasised the benevolent intent of the document. 'I told them...it was an act of love towards them on the part of the Queen', Williams later recalled.

So after much debate the Treaty was signed on the 6th February 1840 by 45 Chiefs, Hobson and his officials.

Henry Williams was then despatched to the four corners of New Zealand, over the next few months, to "sign up" as many Maori Chiefs as possible. In April 1840 he was in Wellington to get the signatures of the Chiefs in the area. The deed was done and future generations would have to deal with consequences of the confusion and tensions that it generated.

Well I don't think the British were the nasty colonial imperialist, that I had been lead to believe. I think they had a genuine concern for the Native New Zealanders, but with so much change happening both at home and abroad they were unsure what to do. They were aware that the way they had dealt with colonisation in the past was not right, but what was the answer.

EGW, forced them to do something, and I think they gave it their "best shot". It was now in the hands of the individuals "on the ground". Our future rested on the character, integrity and ability of the Hobsons, the Williams, the Wakefields and the Maori to work it out.

As we have seen there were some major question marks over all these key players and we are still "working it out" today, as evidenced by the settlements handed down by the Waitangi tribunal.


So we are now ready for the Trevarthen family to get on the ship and head to Wellington....., they had a life to get on with.....

Source material and additional reading:

History of New Zealand - Michael King 2007, pages 138 to 141

Treaty of Waitangi

The colonisation of New Zealand

Words of the Treaty