THE PROCLAMATION OF SOVEREIGNTY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16430, 25 January 1919, Page 3

THE PROCLAMATION OF SOVEREIGNTY.

1 TO THE EDITOR OF "THE I'RfciS. Sir, —Having occasion-to look up some particulars ol l-irly Printers in thelDo- - in a paper road by Mr U. B.A. F.G.S.. to the Philosophical Institute, October, lovb, i was not surprised to find strong ©on»Hmation of the stops taken before Akaroa and the sloop Uritoniart heard of. It appears that Mr W. Colenso s day-books for May, _ 1840 prove tno "compositinn and printing" of the Treaty of Wuitangi in February and March of IS4O, and under dato of. May 22nd ho, as otfieial printer to Lieut. - Governor Hobson, "composited and printed" 100 folio foolscap "Proclamations asserting tho Queen's sovereignty over tho Southern Islands," and also 100 copies for the Northern Island. Later, on June 16th, corrected copies of the same wore printed. Mr Hill explains that :i serious error had occurred in the Proclamation issued on May 22nd. The correction did not affect tho proclamation of sovereignty over the North, Middle, and South Islands, except in regard to the degrees of latitude and longitude set forth; Mr Colenso had noticed tho error, which implied tho extension of New Zealand in a northerly direction as far as Japan. Hence a correction was made in the amended printed copies of the Proclamation, and tho correct text of the same was printed in "The Bay of Islands Observer" —tho first paper, published on Juno 15th, 1840. It was after tliis date, namely, in August following, that tho fairy tales about Akaroa annexation, or the "Proclamation of Sovereignty'' there, attributed to Captain Stanley, R.N., Captain W. B. Rhodes, and ]\fr C. Rarrmgton Robinson, Resident Magistrate, goo into circulation. Mr "VV. Colenso was the author of ,a most entertaining and independent account of "The Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi,'' on which the Governor declared tho Sovereignty oP Queen Victoria had come into operation. <>f Colenso's pamphlet tho New Zealand Government had printed copies in 1890 at sixpence per copy, which should be most interesting to the public, and also for schools, but I was told in 1913 that I had got the last copy to placo on board the ship New- Zealand, and many applications in other places for. a further copy have been fruitless.—Yours, etc., AMOS IvEELER.