This, delivered on 6 February 1940, was fortunately recorded for posterity and can be listened to on the ngataonga.org.nz website here.
At the 5:52 minute point he says: “Clause 1 of the Treaty handed over the mana and the sovereignty of New Zealand to Queen Victoria and her descendants for ever. That is the outstanding fact today. That but for the shield of the sovereignty handed over to Her Majesty and her descendants I doubt that there would be a free Maori race in New Zealand today.”
This is indeed fundamental — The British Crown was given complete sovereignty, where Maori would have equal rights as British citizens, but not special rights: there was no co-governance agreement as the Jacinda government now intends to institute in reference to its version of the Treaty. Note also that Apirana Ngata refers to New Zealand as the name of the country, and not the much-later-coined ‘Aotearoa’.
That doesn’t mean everything had been wonderful in the preceding 100 years and the grievances and unhappiness get mentioned too. Addressing these has been a slow process over the last 50 years or so and still continues.
Maori were early settlers to NZ .
All people on the land are “indigenous” .
Yes totally the agreement /treaty did not give one race privileges or provide a partnership with the Crown or the things we see today in the now apartheid NZ.
The main points overlooked legally is that a few early settlers that signed the agreement did not have sovereignty.
Signing agreement with the Crown when all signatories( parties to the agreement) are dead and the Crown’s claim was of “absolute land ownership” a concept unknown means the signers did not even understand the agreement.
The treaty it is a legally void agreement.
The Crown never had lawful ownership to all land in New Zealand.
The Crown changes history to suit itself .
Kia ora bdbinc sweetheart, I understand the sentiment. But if you read up on speeches made by the Maori chiefs themselves who were signing the Treaty, it is very clear that they understood the concept of sovereignty. Also, Sir Apirana Ngata is, most importantly, confirming that in 1940 Maori completely understood that sovereignty was handed over. So how have people become confused to the point of disagreement 80 years later?
Let’s first look at understanding at the time of signing the Treaty in 1840.
Myth: “Oh, but the Treaty was translated poorly.”
Truth: Interestingly, the Maori version is very difficult to misunderstand, and it makes the clear distinction between sovereignty and governorship, very clearly. It uses the right words sovereignty (rangatiratanga) and governorship (kawanatanga) appropriately in the Treaty. The Maori version makes it very clear, and so is very hard to misunderstand, or misinterpret.
Also, prior to the Treaty, Tahitian and Maori were so similar at the time that the Tahitian Tupaea translated. Tupaea had no trouble communicating with Maori at all. Then, the next generation was brought up in NZ. So there is no reason why some of the children and the community raised in NZ and in an immersive Maori environment that required trade… could not be bi-lingual. There is no reason why they would have any trouble speaking, or understanding, or getting something translated accurately by someone who could.
Myth: “Maybe Maori didn’t understand the concept of sovereignty”
Truth: They understood the concept of sovereignty well. They had different levels of chiefs, so they understood hierarchy. They also had had enough Maori travelling to Australia to understand who and what a governor was. They knew that he had a sovereign.
Go back and read the speeches made by Maori chiefs on the day of the signing. Their speeches make it very clear that they understood.
They also make it clear that the French had tried to persuade them not to sign with the British. And after the French bishop had left the meeting, and after listening to each other, many Maori chiefs changed their minds, made another speech, and signed.
To say that they did not understand, is really to insult the intelligence of our ancestors.
Myth: “But surely, they wouldn’t have wanted to give sovereignty to someone else.”
Truth: They wanted an end to the Musket wars (inter-tribal conflicts), but as all Maori chiefs were equal, it would’ve been an insult to choose and put one chief above another. So they wanted someone they respected to be in sovereign authority over all of them. Someone they considered worthy of their respect and mana.
+ They had known many good British missionaries, many had converted or at least become familiar with Biblical principles, They also realised that most foreign nations were disgusted by cannibalism and thought it was barbaric, and did not see it as impressive or something to be proud of. So they liked British ideals at the time.
+ The French were coming, and there were many settlers already living in NZ. So the Maori had to choose what type of alliance would be the most beneficial for them.
They also wanted the rights and protection that citizens of Britain had. The Treaty did mention ceding sovereignty over some areas, and keeping governorship in others.
Myth: “But the versions are different, so they weren’t agreeing”
Truth: The Maori version is actually much clearer than the English version we have been going by. And we know that internationally, the rule is to go by the indigenous language version.
So, why are the Maori and English versions so different?
A draft was written in English. It was not clear enough, so it was edited and re-written. Once it was satisfactory, it was translated into Maori. Unfortunately, after or during signing, the English version went missing. So instead, we have been going by the English draft ever since; not the very clear final version.
The Maori version IS the final version. So it is even better and clearer than the English draft we’ve been going by.
There is no confusion about sovereignty, there is no confusion about taonga (which in the 1800s meant possessions won by war, so that clearly means possessions) and no confusion about “possessions”.
There is no mention of “partnership” in either version, especially not in the Maori version. Maori did not think they were signing up to partnership with the Queen. They were signing up to rights equal to other citizens, as subjects to the Queen’s sovereignty.
The myth about partnership is a scam.
(NOTE 1: The information above only refers to signing. And no, it is not going into the “land thefts” as that is a separate issue. But it does explain why Maori signed at the time.
NOTE 2: The actual final English version was discovered in the 1970s. You can see for yourself that both the language and structure matches the language of the Maori version.)
I was very surprised to know this. But it is the truth. There are a lot of sites and books out there that prove this. You are welcome to research it for yourself.
Maori were some of the greatest strategists in history, and understood the value of alliances and enemies, and how to exploit advantages. They would not have signed unless they saw benefit in it. So WHY have people peddled the lie that the Treaty was mistranslated and misunderstood by Maori?
Neo-Maori Radical Elites have done a really good number on twisting history and trying to insult our ancestors by making kiwis think that Maori were stupid, and signed something that they didn’t fully understand. NRME don’t even care about their own people. They have just done it all for their own greedy, selfish gain.
Truth sets free. Peace and love to you and your loved ones!
Sweetie Your opinion is along way from truth .
And you clearly have no legal understanding, the 1840 agreement was a legal document .
Now despite the treat and the acutal menaing of the agreement ( and that all signatories are dead=void legally)there is now a Maori partnership with the Crown and there are privileges granted to Maori in Apartheid NZ.
The only thing we agree on here is that a small group of part Maori “Elites” are on fraudulently exploiting the 1970’s totally reinterpreted ” treaty” ( which is the Crowns sole reliance on for it as it is an illegitimate Govt) . These Greedy Elites and some corrupted iwi have become just like the Crown.
Its very egocentric for you to imagine the only early settlers/ boat people to the land at the time of the 1840 treaty were Maori.”The people of New Zealand” at the time of the 1840 treaty were not all Maori -shock horror. Or that Maori were boat people and not indigenous, sorry you believed and bought into bankster John Keys lie to the UN.
In the actual 1840 Tiriti o Waitangi —
Maori chiefs ceded the entire sovereignty of New Zealand (Nu Tirani) to Queen Victoria.
The Queen guaranteed the possession of their lands, dwellings and all their property (taonga) to the chiefs and tribes and all the people of New Zealand.
All New Zealanders were guaranteed the rights and privileges of British subjects. “
The third clause of the Māori version says that the Queen would treat Māori the same as people in England. People in England are not given Crown partnership or privileges based on race.
The Maori version states that the treaty is between the Crown and All the people of New Zealand.It is noteworthy that all the people of NZ did not get to write a constitution. “ 1877 Wi Parata v Bishop of Wellington judgement, Judge Prendergast argued that the Treaty was a “simple nullity” in terms of transferring sovereignty from Māori to the United Kingdom”
And no matter if one group of early settlers did not give the Crown sovereignty in 1840, even that does not allow a possibly illegitimate govt to give privileges to and enter a partnership with one race nearly 200yrs later.
RE the current water grab( more “take take)” Early Polynesian settlers ( Maori) do not own water.The Crown do not own water.
Two relevant United Nations declarations the Apartheid NZ Govt are breaching.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. New Zealand immediately signed up to it and there was no dissent in the country. There are two articles of particular relevance related to equality.
Article 1 – All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Article 7 – All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.The Crown NZ Govt is in breach of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
Please do take a break from your( same as NZ govt) creative reinterpreting of the 1840 treaty (and the Crowns legal system haha) to go out and enjoy your race based privilege (to go out and fish) in the home detention in Apartheid NZ.