Some more concerning the Treaty of Waitangi.

Maori Record : a journal devoted to the advancement of the Maori people, Volume I, Issue 4, 1 October 1905, Page 2

Some more concerning the Treaty of Waitangi.

(By W. 8., Te Kuiti.)

The native problem has taxed the stupidity of all grades of intellect for many years, with the lamentable result that, instead of solving it, these varied attempts have become an inextricable complication of conspicuous failures ; and when common sense enquires for the reason of this, and receives for answer the common-sense reply, ‘Because it has never been understood,” one wonders if, when it is understood, it will be impartially solved; or, taking the past for a guide, toyed with for the amusement and profit of incapacity until the Maori is extinct! Is it immoral, therefore, to suggest that, to be rid of him and the eternal perplexities he creates bis remnants be collected into a huge gasometer and gently asphyxiated, and be done with the trouble ! And yet to those who know him and his predilections there is no problem to solve. I have asserted before, and here- repeat it, we have but to do him as we wish others to do unto us. And when he pleads that the stipulations of the Treaty of Waitangi, which we forced upon him—mark this, forced upon him—then withheld, shall be complied with, the problem, apart from a few minor details, is- solved. Whey, then, not grant- his prayer? Is it because wo have not yet sated our land-hunger and hanker for the remnants of his heritage? This seems to be the unstudied desire; or why the unjust proposal put forth by various wouldbe philanthropists to extend the Public Trustee farce, or compulsory acquisition under a Land for Settlement Act? It is incredible that such monstrous iniquities are intended, because, so long as the Treaty of Waitangi stands unrepealed, .so long every Act which contravenes that treaty—however well intentioned—is illegal and immoral, and is re-enacting the enormities of the past, of which the great Waitara land purchase crime is a monumental reminder. About 1830 the terrible warriors of Waikato invaded Taranaki, and, after a prolonged seige, captured the great Ngatiawa pa of Puke-rangiora on the Waitara river, with great slaughter, and, following up their success, attempted to reduce another stronghold, Nga Motu. In this they failed, but the defenders, fearing a return of their implacable tormentors, fled to Waikanae on Cook’s Straits, near Wellington, where they ? Hauparaha , and lived there until 1848, when, with the consent of their Waikato enemies, they returned to Waitara and the ownership of the lands of their ancestors Before this, 1840, and later, the New Zealand Land Company legitimately, and in accordance with treaty rights, purchased land from such Maoris as would sell. But when, in 1850 this company surrendered its charter to the Crown under Governor Grey, the Government became the purchaser of native lands for the , ate, to which the returned exiles sold freely • but when it also desired that part which lay on the Southern bank of the Waitara River near its mouth, all but -a chief (Te Teira) and his factions absolutely refused to sell. At a

large meeting of natives, held at Taranaki on March 8, 1859, to greet Governor Gore Browne and discuss matters for the welfare of both races, he spoke to the assembled chiefs these words: “You will be wise to sell all lands you cannot use yourselves, but I will never consent that land shall be bought with a disputed title; neither will 1 permit anyone to sell unless he is the rightful owner; neither will I take any man’s land without his consent.” At this meeting Te Teira offered to sell the beforementioned piece of land. On the block stood two pas, in which Wiremu Kingi (the objector) had been residing for years. After Te Teira had spoken Wiremu Kingi stood up and said: “Listen, 0 Governor. Notwithstanding Teira’s offer, I will not permit the sale of Waitara to the pakeha. Waitara is in my hands. I will not give it up. Never! Never! Never!” In spit© of his previous assurance the Governor there and then accepted Teira’s offer, subject to his producing a satisfactory title; and as the presence of the Governor was not the place to dispute land titles, there for the time the matter ended. Yet it was at this point that the diabolically ingenious sin was perpetrated which plunged the colony into an expensive war, decimated the Maori, confiscated his land, and inserted the barb which rankles in an incurable wound this day, and caused him to doubt the honesty of the white man, whom he had so cordially taken to his heart as a descendant of the gods! The land was inexpressibly desirable ; therefore, through its land purchase agent, the Government tempted Te Teira to sell, with a sop of £IOO down and the rest when he should have fought out, or bounced, Wiremu Kingi into compliance. But the grim hero of many battlefields refused to yield; and when surveyors were sent by the Government to cut lines and mark out boundaries he sent his pathetically respectful letter to the Governvernor:— Waitara, April 25, 1859. “Friend, Salutations to you. ... I will not agree to our bedroom being sold, for this bed belongs to the whole of us. . . . Do not be in haste to give money for it. . . From your loving friend, Wiremu Kingi.” According to the native land tenures of that day, every member had an inherited right to cultivate a portion of the common estate, and his occupancy made that portion his very own by right of user; but, on no account could he deal with it in a way which would alienate it to a stranger without the unanimous consent of the tribe. Therefore, when Te Teira insisted, and sold his undefined share against the wishes of his co-owners, before every condition of custom had been observed, and, notwithstanding Wiremu Kingi’s objection, the Goverment bought, and violated the privacy of the communal bedroom by sending surveyors to lay out boundaries before a proper enquiry should satisfy all parties, and when the objectors, without damaging theodolite, tent, or cooking utensil, removed these articles off the land, and warned the trespassers not again to trespass until a legal enquiry had decided who was in the wrong; and when further the chief objector humbly appealed to his pakeha friend Archdeacon Hadfield—and others to intercede for him with Governor Browne to wait, and not

buy what he regarded as the birthplace and nursery of his people, in language which brings tears to the eyes of the reader; and, notwithstanding the co-prayers of his tribesmen in words homely but stirring: “It will not be good to take the pillow from under our head, because our pillow is a pillow that belonged to our ancestors.” etc.—thus you read page after page of the records; when, I ask, after all this peaceable resistance, the objectors, according to custom, sanctified by the laws of defence in all ages and among all nations, took up arms to resist the aggressor, who is the sinner on whom the Tower of Siloam shall fall? And, considering all the arguments for and against, am I exceeding moderation when I denounce the Waitara land purchase and its aftermath as a crime, and a disgrace to our civilisation, religion, and justice? And yet, in the State records, may be read the opinion of educated English gentlemen who not only condoned the atrocity, but actually degraded their exceptional abilities in a specious casuistry to infract the Treaty of Waitangi, and justify the infraction. They are dead! The victims of a mistaken faith are dead! But their children live. And it is to replace them on the pedestal which the pilgrim fathers had placed some, and wished to place all, b t failed, that the next article will endeavour to accomplish.—From the Auckland Weekly News, July 22, 1905.