Link to the above on the National Library’s ‘Papers Past’

The defaced writing on the wall

“Te Papa has announced it is reviewing a controversial exhibition, part of which was damaged by protesters last week.” —Radio New Zealand, 19 December 2023

In the meantime the defaced version of “Freeman’s fraud” will stay on the wall while Te Papa has conversations with experts and the wider community on the reorganisation of the museum’s display on the Treaty of Waitangi.

Te Tiriti, in te reo Māori, is the only legitimate, legally binding agreement. –Protest group Te Waka Hourua 

There is only one

By Roger Childs

As readers know the so-called “Treaty in English” was recently graffitied at Te Papa. One thing I am in agreement with the protest group Te Waka Hourua on is that there is only one Treaty – Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

So why do the Waitangi Tribunal, some historians and many Maori activists claim that there is an English text of the Treaty? If there was such a thing, it would be an exact English version of the Maori text. 

In reality Te Tiriti in English is James Busby’s English draft which was given to fluent Maori speakers Henry and Edward Williams to translate into the Ngapuhi dialect on 4 February 1840. Their translation became Te Tiriti o Waitangi which over 500 Native leaders signed over the next few months starting in Waitangi on 6 February 1840. Busby’s English draft never circulated as a “Treaty”.

So where does the text of the (now heavily defaced) English version hanging on a wall in Te Papa come from? 

Two contenders for the English version

People often get confused, misunderstand or misquote the Treaty. In looking for an English “version” there are two starters.

1. The Busby draft, mentioned above,  which the Williams missionaries faithfully translated into Maori for Native leaders to sign. (This draft can be found in the New Zealand Archives building in Wellington and is often referred to as The Littlewood Treaty.)
2. The so-called “Treaty of Waitangi in English” which is sometimes referred to as “Freeman’s Treaty”. (This version is hanging on the Te Papa wall and the text is used by the Waitangi Tribunal.)

Essential differences

The Busby draft when translated into the Ngapuhi dialect became Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This Treaty was between Queen Victoria and the Native Chiefs and Tribes, and “all the people of New Zealand” (ki nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani.)  

Freeman’s Treaty is between Queen Victoria and the Chiefs and Tribes of New Zealand, and nobody signed it. 

This “Treaty” is longer than the Busby’s draft and Freeman:

• added” Estates, Forests, Fisheries” to the possessions in Article 2
• omitted “all the people of New Zealand” from Article 2 and “all the ordinary people of New Zealand” from Article 3.

The Tribunal’s erroneous claim

On its website the Waitangi Tribunal claims “This English text (Freeman’s) was signed at Waikato Heads in March or April 1840 and at Manukau Harbour on 26 April. A total of 39 chiefs signed.” This claim is false. 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi was read to the chiefs in Te Reo at gatherings at Waikato Heads and Manukau.  “Freeman’s Treaty” which was in English, was not read out, and if it had been, it would not have been understood as the chiefs did not know English. 

There was not enough space on the Te Tiriti document for the signatures and marks of all the chiefs.  So the Maori leaders were directed to sign at the bottom of a copy of Freeman’s Treaty, which just happened to be there, and had space for overflow “signatures” for Te Tiriti. 

The Native chiefs would have put their signatures or marks there if the document had been written in German or Sanskrit, because that’s what they were asked to do. They were signing because they accepted what had been read to them–Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Why is the Busby draft known as the Littlewood Treaty?

In 1840 Henry Littlewood was the lawyer for James Clendon, US Consul and a friend of James Busby and William Hobson. The draft for the Treaty which Henry and Edward Williams translated into the Nga Puhi dialect was written by Busby on 4 February, and the original of the draft somehow remained in Littlewood’s possession. Other previous notes and drafts had been discarded.

In 1989 members of the Littlewood family were sorting out the estate of their late mother and found it.

The Littlewood document has an impeccable and unimpeachable provenance:

• It has the date February 4 on it.
• It has the exact wording in English of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• The paper has a rare letterhead watermark “W. Tucker 1833”, and came from James Clendon’s house, where the final draft was written.
• Phil Parkinson at New Zealand Archives testified in 2000 that in his view it was written by James Busby.

In 2022 lawyer Ned Fletcher wrote a huge book — 723 pages long — “The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi”. Incredibly he makes no reference to the Littlewood Treaty. On page 1 he honestly and openly reveals his ignorance: “The draft given to Henry Williams to translate is generally believed to be lost…“

The three “Treaty articles” in Busby’s draft

These outline exactly what Te Tiriti o Waitangi states in Te Reo.

Article the First
The Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand and the other Chiefs who have not joined the Confederation cede to the Queen of England for ever the entire Sovereignty of their country.

Article the Second
Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the Chiefs and Tribes and to all the people of New Zealand the full possession of their Lands, dwellings, and all their property.  But the Chiefs of the confederation Tribes and the other Chiefs grant to the Queen the exclusive right of purchasing such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to sell at such prices as shall be agreed upon between them and the persons appointed to purchase from them.

Article the Third
In return for the cession of the sovereignty to the Queen of England the people of New Zealand will be protected by the Queen of England and the rights and privileges of British subjects will be granted to them.

If Te Papa does want the “English version” of the Treaty on its walls, why not be honest with the viewing public and feature the Busby draft which when translated into Maori became Te Tiriti o Waitangi?

for those into Te Reo Maori —

Treaty of Waitangi in Maori

This text was signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840, and thereafter in the north and at Auckland. The Maori is reproduced as it was written.

See all the sheets containing the te reo Māori text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi in Archives NZ.

TE TIRITI O WAITANGI Ko Wikitoria te Kuini o Ingarani i tana mahara atawai ki nga Rangatira me nga Hapu o Nu Tirani i tana hiahia hoki kia tohungia ki a ratou o ratou rangatiratanga me to ratou wenua, a kia mau tonu hoki te Rongo ki a ratou me te Atanoho hoki kua wakaaro ia he mea tika kia tukua mai tetahi Rangatira — hei kai wakarite ki nga Tangata maori o Nu Tirani — kia wakaaetia e nga Rangatira maori te Kawanatanga o te Kuini ki nga wahikatoa o te wenua nei me nga motu — na te mea hoki he tokomaha ke nga tangata o tona Iwi Kua noho ki tenei wenua, a e haere mai nei. Na ko te Kuini e hiahia ana kia wakaritea te Kawanatanga kia kaua ai nga kino e puta mai ki te tangata maori ki te Pakeha e noho ture kore ana. Na kua pai te Kuini kia tukua a hau a Wiremu Hopihona he Kapitana i te Roiara Nawi hei Kawana mo nga wahi katoa o Nu Tirani e tukua aianei amua atu ki te Kuini, e mea atu ana ia ki nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga o nga hapu o Nu Tirani me era Rangatira atu enei ture ka korerotia nei. Ko te tuatahi Ko nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga me nga Rangatira katoa hoki ki hai i uru ki taua wakaminenga ka tuku rawa atu ki te Kuini o Ingarani ake tonu atu — te Kawanatanga katoa o o ratou wenua. Ko te tuarua Ko te Kuini o Ingarani ka wakarite ka wakaae ki nga Rangatira ki nga hapu – ki nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani te tino rangatiratanga o o ratou wenua o ratou kainga me o ratou taonga katoa. Otiia ko nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga me nga Rangatira katoa atu ka tuku ki te Kuini te hokonga o era wahi wenua e pai ai te tangata nona te wenua — ki te ritenga o te utu e wakaritea ai e ratou ko te kai hoko e meatia nei e te Kuini hei kai hoko mona. Ko te tuatoru Hei wakaritenga mai hoki tenei mo te wakaaetanga ki te Kawanatanga o te Kuini — Ka tiakina e te Kuini o Ingarani nga tangata maori katoa o Nu Tirani ka tukua ki a ratou nga tikanga katoa rite tahi ki ana mea ki nga tangata o Ingarani. [signed] W. Hobson Consul & Lieutenant Governor Na ko matou ko nga Rangatira o te Wakaminenga o nga hapu o Nu Tirani ka huihui nei ki Waitangi ko matou hoki ko nga Rangatira o Nu Tirani ka kite nei i te ritenga o enei kupu. Ka tangohia ka wakaaetia katoatia e matou, koia ka tohungia ai o matou ingoa o matou tohu. Ka meatia tenei ki Waitangi i te ono o nga ra o Pepueri i te tau kotahi mano e waru rau e wa te kau o to tatou Ariki. Ko nga Rangatira o te Wakaminenga

[Transcript of handwritten original in Archives New Zealand/Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga, Wellington Office. (Ref: IA9/9)]