TREATY OF WAITANGI.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 34, 10 February 1914, Page 4

TREATY OF WAITANGI.

Cliristchureh "Press" calls to mind the fact that February 6th ,vas the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Captain arrived at the Bay of Islands in .Jaauary, 1810, but full proclamation of sovereignly was not made until the following May. In the meantme the Maoris had to bo induced to surrender their sovereignty. On "February sth an assembly of Natives representing the Northern tribes was held on the banks of the Waitangi (weeping waters), near whce the stream falls into the Hay of Islands. The proposed treaty, which consisted! of three brief clear clauses, transferred' sovereignty to the Queen, guaranteed! the Maoris possession of their landt,! and conferred on the Maoris the rights; and privileges of British citizenship, j It was explained to the Chiefs by! Henry Williams, the missionary, on behalf of the Governor, and the chiefs were then invited to speak. Some twenty favored signing, and five or six opposed it vehemently. An eloquent; speech by Waka Xene, of the Xgapnlii tribe, won over hostile and wavering chiefs, and next day the Treaty was signed by forty-six leading Maoris. The Treaty was then carried about tiie country by missionaries and Go-»|

vernment agents for the signatures oi other chiefs, and so energetically was the work done that within six months the signatures numbered over 500. Of the few who refused to sign, the most important was "that fine barbarian" Te Hen Hon, who lived by Lake Taupo. Te Hen Hen then scoffed at the white men and their religon, and defied the Government until his death in IS 10.