RATANA AND THE CELEBRATED CHIEF TUPU TAINGAKAWA.

Shannon News, 20 March 1925, Page 4

RATANA AND THE CELEBRATED CHIEF TUPU TAINGAKAWA.

MISSIONS TO ENGLAND AND JAPAN.

(To tLo Editor)-. Sir,—Would you please kindly insert my letter in your next issue, as I wis pLce my views before tbe public of New Zealand, both the Maori lace the Pakehas, in regard of the visit paid by Batana and Tupu raingah.iw a England and Japan. . I understand the purpose of their mission was to pie scnt P to the British Government foi their consideration, the petitions o Native race of New Zealand, regard ing the Treaty of Waitangi, and the million acres confiscated undu the conquest, and also under djftei cm acts established and passed by Government.

from time to time. Ma.y I plain, further back, as far as in th yean ,18114, when the first seeds oi ! Christianity was sown in the Bay oi Islands by y the Rev. Marsden, the whole 'oft Natives of this country then were living in the den of lions, but with such 8 great force and J?"?' that the Rev. Marsden possessed he managed to induce the chief sot the Ngapuhi people to give up thurold habits aud become a tr which they accepted opened htaK, In later years the Chr *t *

were sown in every part or new land. In 1840 the Treaty ot Waitnng was established and signed by 500 lean ing chiefs of the united tribes of New 7pnland and William Hobson, a cap Sta ’ Her Majesty's Boyal Navy representative oi jHar ? the Victoria, who afteiwaras Lieutenant-Governor of New The Treaty reads as follows. -U. Maiesty Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, regarding with her royal favour the Native chiefs and tribes of New Zeaonvimis to nrotect their just

land and anxious xu yivw' rights and property, and to secure <them, the enjoyment of -peace good order, has deemed it nec ® fn consequence of the great number oi Her Maiesty subjects whoj have at ready settled in New Zealand and rapid extension of emigration, both S>m Europe and Australia, which is still in progress to constitute and point functionary properly authorised ♦k front with the aborigines of New

to troax wiwi o- „ tt Zealand for the. I'ccognition of Her Maiesty's sovereign authonty over the 3 whole, or any part °f t > oSCl^a u Her Majesty therefore being desi ou to establish a settled form of i Government with a view to ayeit ‘ evil consequences which must resu from the absence of the uecessa j laws and institution alike to the i tive population and to her subjects, has been graciously pleased to empowe and authorise me, William Hobson, u captain in Her Majesty’s Royal ha\>, consul and Lieutenant-Governor of suen parts of New Zealand as maj be o hereafter shall be, ceded to Ha Miiestv to invite the confederated ana SpcndcSt .U«t. of New concur in the following articles and conditions: , Article the First.

The chiefs of the confederation ot the united tribes of New an the separate and independent chiefs who have not become members of the confederation, cede to Her JJajesty, the Queen of England, absolutelj a d without reservation, all the ri » ts power of sovereignity which the> sa d confederation or individual chiefs l spectively exercise or possess oi n<7 be supposed to exercise or to P obseh o over their respective territories as the sole sovereign thereof. Article the Second. ■ Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand and- to th respective families and individual thereof, the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands a estates, forest, fisheries, and other pio perties which they may collectively oi individually possess, so long as it j their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession, but the .chiefs o the united tribes and tHo mdiMcUial chiefs yield to Her Majesty the ielusive right of pre-emption ovei suen lands as the proprietors thereof ma> be disposed to alienate at such puces as may be agreed upon between the re speetive proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to trade with them in that .behalf.

Article tlie Third. In consideration thereof Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the .Natives of New; Zealand her royal protection and imparts to them all the rights and privileges of British subioc 1 s.—(.Signed) W. HOBSON, Lieuten ant-Governor. April «th, iB4O. After the signing of the Treaty o Waitangi, peace was declared, heavenly blessing and good will reigned supreme amongst the whole race of this country and we came under the ruling guidance of God and that of the British Empire. It was from that day, whe the dividing line was established between canniblism and good will, bc Jween right and wrong. This boundary was established for the benefit of our younger generation, and for generations [ 0 come. Under the second and third article of the Treaty of Waitangi we were given the free in dealing with our lands and with the sam rights and privileges of Brit.sh subjects under the Crown of England. Wc have not yet received the freedom an 1 justice which was guaranteed to usb> Her Majesty the Queen of England, since the Treaty was signed, at the f- IDCt t,™ fhn I<ito Mr. Taiwlianga, a time when tno late mi. To i«r.Vic Maori member for the Bay who is one of our voices in the Hous. of Representatives, when lir^ t ! netition by the whole of the Native race of New Zealand,, regarding the Treaty of Waitangi and the confiscated lands, was introduced bv him m the House of Parliament for the purpose_ of obtaining from our Government the freedom and justice which was granted to us in that Treaty but failed. We have petitioned the House from time to time up to the days of the late Mr. Hone Hckc, who was one of our most popular young members, who took - leading part for the welfare of hi* race regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, but without success, failing to get our

justice from tire Governments of New Vonland It is now our duty to ap loach the British Government which ?s the head of the Treaty of Waitangi, <to ,fulfil the promise of then (late aueen to the 500 elders and chiefs S united tribes of New Zealand. The first visit to the British Government in this respect was paid by lung ia hiao and other chiefs, the second visit was paid by the cele brated chief Tupu Taingakawa and King Kata in 1914, just before the war broke out, on the same subject but was told to wait, until the war was over. Tupu Taingakawa is our only elder and chief who is now alive and who is determined to get from the British Empire the justice we arc entitled to, and again the last year the third visit was paid by Tupu ramgakawa and Ratana on the same mission. They were in London for three months waiting to get an interview with the Prime Minister and his Government but failed through the influence of the New Zealand Government. If tha t so. then Ratana and Tupu Taingakawa were in their right in S? 1 f O T the purpose of inducing the Japa cse Government to introduce the Treaty of Waitangi in the Council of the League of Nations for their consideration and give their eordingly. They may be able to induce the British Government to reconsidei our petition. The League of Nations, consists of a small body of ten delegates of whom four were permanent and six were elected yearly by tlia oo sovereign states, bound by the co '™ ant of the League to act for ecitam definite objects, chiefly to promote better international relationship and the cause of peace among nations, to provide for an expert consideration of precise question by states with a view, of finding how far agreements on disputed points were possible, prevention of war; settlement of dispute and guaranteeing of protection to This is our only hope now left open to us in bringing the mattei bofoi the notice of the foreign powers. It is ridiculous for a certain section of the Maori race to accuse Katana or being disloyal to our English and went-as far as to urge our Government to doprive Ratana and his 101 l w ers of their privileges which was grai tSd to them by the Treaty of Waitangi as British subjects. They do not ica is the facts, conditions and benefits to them and their children thxough mission of Ratana and Tupi ® kawa to England and Japan Katana with all tribes in every pait oi New Zealand has proved beyond doubt b ■_ loyalty to our King and his Lrnpne b sending, his only son to the front- in the greatest war that was ever knoun in history, and fought and fell side by side with their English brotheis. As one body, one spirit, and one mind, fighting* spirits of our ancestors call upon us at the hour of danger to do our duty to our Empire and our country under the bond which was signed by them in 1840, namely, the Ireatj of Waitangi. This bond of rock cannot be untied hereafter by any action of any section of the Native race, therefore it is absurd for some people to entertain the' idea that Katana has placed the salvation of the Mao race under the Empire of Japan, i strongly endorse Mr. Wiremu Rewet,i reply to the Arawa people s outburs in^reference to Ratana's movement s Tanan in the Auckland Stai, dateai February sth, and also the reply o* Hema To Ao and others to the letter published by the “Otaki Mad, dated the 9th February, and signed by Ngati T?mikawa I may state here that nema Te Ao and two or three others are the IcmUntag Wets who are Sponsibletor 0 their people. In reference to Ratana » convention and Us beahng power I am very pleased indeed to know the fact that one member of my racei pos sesses such power as to hea » “ of sickness in the name of the I atner, the Son and the Holy Gbost. The pm nose of the signing of the Katana covenant as I understood is to resow the seeds of Christianity amongst the present generation of the Native race S w a as sown by the Rev. Marsden in 1814. I am not a Ratana folK™ . ’ or had anything to do_ with his

convenant, but I am with him a - same on his two most important sub iects, that is the Treaty of Waitangi Sd the uplifting of the Natives from their bad habits and to induce them to lead spiritual life. Sir, before c < ?s g my letter may I thank you for allow ing me a space of your valuable paper. ~iopa ’boeba teahbkabamu, Of Ngali-Raukawa, Uhau.