Highlights
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The northern chiefs Hongi Hika and his ally Waikato travelled to England in 1820 with the missionary Thomas Kendall. The Church Missionary Society, Kendall’s employer, hosted the visit and possibly commissioned this portrait. Kendall had begun putting te reo Māori into written form, and helped Hongi learn to write. Hongi and Waikato spent two months at Cambridge University where they worked with the scholar-linguist Samuel Lee on an agreed form for written Māori. In London, the rangatira visited sites such as the Tower, the Armoury and the zoo. But it was their audience with King George IV, monarch of the world’s most powerful nation, that made the rangatira feel they had a special relationship with the British Crown. The men exchanged gifts, with Hongi receiving a coat of chain mail. The visit created a bond that would last.
Location 179
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When each had signed, Hobson shook his hand, saying ‘He iwi tahi tātou.’ According to Colenso this meant ‘We are [now] one people’, but Felton Mathew thought it meant ‘We are brethren and countrymen.’
Location 661
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From 1840, Māori gradually became aware that they were no longer free to dispose of their lands as they chose. Under the terms of the Treaty, they could sell land only to the government. If they wanted to sell land and the government did not want to buy it, the land could not be sold to anyone else. If the government agreed to buy the land, officials could set a low price, and then on-sell the land to settlers at a much higher price.
Location 1041
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Grey shelved the idea as too dangerous, and argued that it was also unnecessary because Māori could be ‘persuaded’ to sell ‘unused’ land at a very low price. He then proceeded to buy the Wairarapa and most of the South Island, encouraging sales with promises of schools, hospitals, special reserves and other benefits. The promises were mostly unfulfilled.
Location 1145
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Taranaki settler J. C. Richmond (1822–98) spoke for some (though not all) when he looked forward to the Treaty being overruled so that Māori claims to the extensive bushlands would no longer be able to ‘damp the ardour and cramp the energies of the industrious white man’ (see Sources). Richmond was Native Minister during the period 1868–71,
Location 1243
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By the 1870s, it was clear to many Māori that the Treaty offered very limited protection. The 1840 agreement had no power, for example, against the Public Works Acts of 1864 and 1876, which allowed land to be taken compulsorily for public development; nor was it helpful against subsequent legislation such as the Highway Boards Acts, the Railways Acts and a series of Drainage Acts. Officials were not blind to the effects on Māori; indeed, at times they openly acknowledged that the Crown was more likely to take Māori land for public works because it was easier to avoid paying compensation.
Location 1913
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Leaders attending the meeting were invited to comment on the Treaty and its effects. Speakers were reluctant to condemn it; instead, blame fell on the Native Land Court and the failure of the law to protect Māori interests. They were also willing to accept that Māori themselves had to take some responsibility for letting the land go.
Location 1945
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Like others, Tuhaere was puzzled by the erosion of fishing rights: ‘They have been taken away, in spite of the words of this Treaty. I do not know how they went. They are not like lands or forests. You have to make an agreement before they can be handed over or taken’
Location 1958
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Most speakers favoured adherence to the Treaty, partly because of allegiance given in 1840, and partly because of the real advantages they believed they had received as a people, especially the gifts of peace and protection. The British governance introduced by the Treaty had shielded them, they said, not only from foreign invasion but also from intertribal warfare
Location 1970