The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British Colony

    Lieutenant-Governor.

By His Excellency's command,

    Willoughby Shortland,
    Colonial Secretary.

As the last sounds of the rejoicing died away the leaders of the Settlement again pressed upon the Colonial Secretary their protestations of loyalty, and reiterated their assurances that in appearing to assume authority over the community they had been actuated by no other motive than a desire to preserve the peace and to protect their property. Under these circumstances the Colonial Secretary was able to write to Captain Hobson on June 20, "I have great pleasure in informing your Excellency that Her Majesty's Government is now fully established, and that both European and native populations are in a very satisfactory state."

Matters were in this position when Major Bunbury landed at Port Nicholson. He confirmed the harmonious nature of the relations between Pakeha and Maori in an interview he held with some native chiefs, and subsequently with Captain Smith, R.A., Surveyor-General to the Company. This gentleman expressed himself as being much annoyed at the exaggerated accounts which had been spread regarding the condition of the settlement,[152 - It had been reported that the settlers were starving, which was quite untrue.] and the disloyalty of the settlers, whom he averred had received the Colonial Secretary[153 - While H.M.S. Britomart (Captain Stanley) was returning from her historic visit to Bank's Peninsula she put in to Port Nicholson and took Mr. Shortland on board, leaving Mr. Murphy to supply his place as the representative of the Government at the Southern settlement.] with the most spontaneous cordiality, the feminine section of the community being equally enthusiastic in acclaiming the substitution of the British flag for that of the Company. These protestations must be received and accepted for whatever weight they may bear. It is a fact too well known to again require substantiation, that the intervention of the British Government at this juncture was a grievous blow to the promoters of the New Zealand Company, and that whatever the feelings of the populace may have been, the leaders were never in a mood to express jubilation at the authority of the Crown thus unceremoniously overriding their own.

It is at least significant that the New Zealand Gazette, the organ of the Company, in its issue of June 6, is content with making the most meagre mention of the fact that Lieutenant Shortland had landed at Thorndon and read the Governor's proclamations. There is no enthusiasm, no shouts of acclamation described there, while the editorial is sullen in temper, and ill conceals the barb of disappointment, or the touch of sarcasm in its congratulations:

We congratulate our fellow-colonists upon being secured in this part of the world in all the rights of British subjects. All know, of course, that His Excellency has it not in his power either to extend or limit our rights, consequently if we were, so are we now entitled to the representative Government we have sometime enjoyed, though it may be for the present placed in abeyance. Under the British flag and having our representative Government in respect of administration of affairs, we shall be the most favoured Colony in this part of the world. We shall be in a better position even than South Australia, whose constitution is conditional upon having a given amount of population at a particular moment, and the which may be when obtained of a very questionable kind. If deprived of our representative Government, the main good of the proclamations will have been placing us, so far as the benefits of trade are concerned, on a footing with all other British colonies. But with this good we have a large quantity of bitter thrown into the cup. The highest in the scale of rank is a non-subcolony with a representative Government, and free of convicts; the lowest a subcolony to a Crown penal colony; and this is the position in which the free men of New Zealand find themselves placed by a British proclamation. We are dependent on New South Wales, and are therefore lowest in the scale of British colonies – indeed it would be difficult to conceive a lower condition. We are to be legislated for by a convict colony, we are therefore its inferior. New South Wales has Norfolk Island – the accursed of jails – and New Zealand as its dependencies. We place Norfolk Island first, because first subjected to New South Wales. The difference between these dependencies is that the one is now devoted to the convict system and the other is not, but as yet we have no guarantee that this shall not be the cherished abode of vice and crime. We have congratulated the colonists upon being placed under the British flag, but of course we firmly believe that Lord John Russell will immediately render these Islands independent of New South Wales, and that if we lose our Representative Government for the present, we shall not find ourselves placed upon a less favourable footing than the colonists of South Australia. It must never be forgotten that we have shewn we can govern ourselves, and were proceeding in a quiet, orderly, and successful career when the assertion of British authority took place.

That these sentiments faithfully reflected the views of the leaders at Port Nicholson is scarcely open to question, for the writer was in daily communication with them, and the most cursory perusal of them is all that is needed to establish how much of elation there is in their tone. The fact is the despatch of Captain Hobson to New Zealand, and his subsequent success, brought the keenest mortification to Colonel Wakefield and his colleagues, and after resistance and ridicule had failed to prevent the consummation of the treaty, they adopted an attitude of silent but angry acquiescence in a line of policy which in their hearts they regarded with the utmost malignity.

One thing, and one thing only, made the new position tolerable to them, and that was the prospect of securing to their own settlement the seat of Government. To this end they adopted an address of welcome to Captain Hobson, and despatched Colonel Wakefield to the Bay of Islands to present it. The bait was offered of a hearty welcome and the most valuable sites in the town for the convenience of the public offices. Captain Hobson's failure to accept the bribe only added fuel to the smouldering fires of discontent and served to enhance the difficulties of his already intricate administration – perhaps to shorten his life.

The Herald left Port Nicholson just before dusk on Sunday the 21st, beating out of the Heads in the dark against a fresh south-east breeze, with her boats holding lights on the extremities of the outlying reefs for the guidance of the helmsman. Her journey along the coast was uneventful, and on the night of the 23rd she anchored in Hawke's Bay.

On the following morning Major Bunbury landed in search of the chief Te Hapuku, the most influential representative of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe living on this stretch of coast. By common report this chief had acquired an unenviable reputation for rapacity and extortion towards the Europeans settled at Ahuriri (Napier). For this reason Major Bunbury anticipated some little difficulty in finding him "at home":

"Nor," says he, "did the tears of some of the women who followed us from one of his residences we found at the bottom of the Bay, make me think more favourably of him. After walking about a mile along the beach, and crossing the sandy isthmus we arrived at an estuary, the road leading round it being only passable at low water. After walking and wading another half hour we arrived at the pa, but the chief had gone into the country. A native was, however, sent after him. Here we remained some time, but no chief appearing, we prepared to return, and left a note for him explaining the nature of our mission, with a native who was able to read. Before reaching our boat Te Hapuku overtook us, accompanied by a chief from the Bay of Islands district, named Hara. The chief, Te Hapuku, at first refused to sign the treaty, saying that he was nobody, and that he had heard that those who signed it at the Bay of Islands had been made slaves. I therefore requested Mr. Williams to ask the chief Hara, who was one of those who had signed, how he came not to be made a slave and how many slaves he had seen at that place when he left the Bay of Islands with Mr. Williams' father. He endeavoured then to explain his meaning by a sort of diagram on a piece of board, placing the Queen by herself over the chiefs as these were over the tribes. I told him it was literally as he described it, but not for an evil purpose as they supposed, but to enable her to enforce the execution of justice and good government equally amongst her subjects. Her authority having been already proclaimed over New Zealand with the consent of the greatest number of influential chiefs, he would find that the tribes must no longer go to war with each other, but must subject their differences to her arbitration; strangers and foreigners must no longer be plundered and oppressed by natives or chiefs; nor must the natives be injured or insulted by white men. It was not the object of Her Majesty's Government to lower the chiefs in the estimation of the tribes, and that his signature being now attached to the treaty could only tend to increase his consequence by acknowledging his title. He might, therefore, sign or otherwise as he thought best for his own interests and those of his tribe. To give him greater confidence I told him I regretted it was not in my power to show him the ship, as we had not the means of relanding his party. I could give him and his party a seat in our gig, but as they did not appear to have any canoes in this part of the Bay I did not know how they were to get back. He then immediately volunteered to go and take his chance of meeting with some canoes alongside the ship, in which he might return.

"A complaint having been made to me by Mr. Ellis, against a native who had taken from him a whaling boat with its oars and sails, on pretence that Ellis had cursed him, and who acknowledged he had been induced so to act from having been prevented from removing some sawyers he had employed, and for an attempt made to make him pay over again five sovereigns and 40 lbs. of tobacco he had paid for the timber. I referred the matter on the spot to Te Hapuku, who acknowledged that the Englishman's statement was correct. He said, however, that the native did not belong to his tribe, but as he had been cursed he wished to know how the native was to be compensated. I told him Ellis had done wrong, but according to our notions, under all the circumstances, the punishment had far exceeded the offence. I should therefore insist upon the boat being returned to him, but as mild measures were always preferable, I begged he would send a native to advise the boat being immediately given up, to prevent the necessity for my employing the ship-of-war, which I otherwise should do. Mr. Parker of the Herald and Mr. Williams having volunteered to accompany Mr. Ellis in his boat, I desired the latter, who understood and spoke the native language, to be told by Mr. Williams in their language, that I was determined that justice should be done, not alone to the natives, but to strangers also, and if necessary the Herald would interfere. When Mr. Ellis was about to shove off in his boat he returned and told me the observations that had been made had caused such a sensation amongst the natives present that he was confident his boat would be, immediately on his arrival, returned to him, and that he did not consider it would now be necessary to trouble either Mr. Parker or Mr. Williams to accompany him. These gentlemen were accordingly passed into the Herald's gig, and accompanied by Te Hapuku, Hara, and some other natives we returned on board. Captain Nias ordered a gun to be fired, at their request, and having signed the treaty and received some blankets and tobacco as a present, they were put on shore at a native village in the Bay, where they would get canoes to convey them to their residence. Mr. Ellis not having returned on board the Herald according to an agreement I had made with him on shore, we concluded his boat had been restored to him."

Major Bunbury having now visited all the places of importance from the point of view of native population on the East Coast, the Herald once more set her course for the Bay of Islands, reaching port on July 4. Captain Hobson had so far recovered in health, as to resume the active administration of affairs, and was at the moment of the Major's arrival "absent on a tour of duty." The propaganda of the treaty had prospered to the fullest expectation. Five hundred and twelve[154 - This number was subsequently increased to 546.] signatures had been obtained, embracing almost every man of influence throughout the Islands with the exception of Te Wherowhero of Waikato, Te Heuheu, of Taupo, Te Waharoa, chief of Ngatihaua and Taiaroa, of Otago.

In recognition of this achievement Lord John Russell wrote to Captain Hobson then rapidly approaching his end: "As far as it has been possible to form a judgment, your proceedings appear to have entitled you to the entire approbation of Her Majesty's Government."

In these circumstances we have now reached that stage in our history where we may in words of the chiefs themselves, write: "Now, we, the chiefs of the Assembly of the hapus of New Zealand, assembled at Waitangi. We, also, the chiefs of New Zealand, see the meaning of these words. They are taken and consented to altogether by us. Therefore are affixed our names and our marks."

SIGNATURES TO THE TREATY OF WAITANGI

Waitangi, February 6, 1840

Kawiti. The leader with Heke of the rebellion in the North in 1845.

Tirarau. The principal chief of Northern Wairoa.

Pomare. Was detained on board H.M.S. North Star during the Northern war.

Kiore Heke, of the Matarahurahu tribe.

Hori Kingi, Wharerahi. This chief accompanied Hongi to England.

Tamati Pukututu. Fought with our troops against Kawiti, at Ruapekapeka.

Hakiro. Son of Tareha.

Wikitene (hikitene). Chief of Kapotai of Waikare.

Pumuka. Was killed by Captain Robertson of H.M.S. Hazzard at the sack of Kororareka.

Marupo. A noted warrior. Conquered Ngatimaru and Ngatipaoa.

Te Tao.

Rewiti Atuahaere. An uncle of Hone Heke.

Wiremu Hau. Afterwards a native assessor. Fought for the British at Ohaeawai.

Kaua.

Tona.

Mene.

Tamati Waaka Nēne. The celebrated loyal chief of Nga-Puhi.

Matu Huka.

Kamera (Kaiteke).

Warau.

Ngere.

Patuone Eruera Maihi. Brother of Tamati Waaka Nēne.

Paora Nohomatangi.

Ruhe. Father of Maketu, who was the first Maori hung for murder in New Zealand. Ruhe shot himself in 1865.

Kaitara Wiremu Kingi.

Taura. Killed at Mawhekairangi.

Taurau. The younger brother of Te Tirarau.

Te Roha. The younger brother of Te Tirarau.

Rewa. Father of Huirau.

Moka. A celebrated chief in the early days of the colony.

Papahia. Chief of the Hokianga tribes. Father of Wi Tana.

Takiri (Titore Nui, the Great). First commenced the felling of Kauri spars for the navy.