MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 November 1940, Page 8

MAORI MEMORIES

TRADERS AND THE TREATY. (Recorded by J.H.S.. of Palmerston North, for the ‘'Times-Age.”) The only Governor of New Zealand capable of dealing with the Maori .rights under the Treaty of Waitangi was Sir George Grey. This was obviously due to the fact that no other Governor even knew their language, e r customs, or their laws. In 1861 Sir George’s conclusions were “That the first steps to fulfil our obligations under the Treaty were taken eleven years too late, and nothing further was done for twenty-one years after the Treaty had been marked with the cross signs of these innocents. Can we wonder that, weary of waiting, they set up a King and a Government of their own.”

Colonel Browne issued a decided statement “that the New Zealand Government is and always has been unable to do its duty for wamt of qualified agents.” When the Maoris were called upon lo make a “Cross” (Ripeka) on the Treaty, for which there was no Maori name but to write and pronounce it as “Tiriti,” it had for Them two significant associations. The word “Cross” implied Crucifixion, and the red blanket (uniform) presented to each signatory suggested that he would be given an officer's sword and pistol. The missionaries were the only persons capable by negotiating with the Maoris, because they alone understood the Maori mind and language; but they were supposed to hold aloof from commerce and politics as being inconsistent with their holy calling. The white man’s government was either unknown to or despised by the Maoris. The only persons really understood or respected by them were those devoted missionaries who refrained from unfair trading with them.