A stylized depiction of the Tiriti signing in the Tauranga Art Gallery.

“I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul” –Shakespeare, “Hamlet”, Act 1, Scene 5

There are nine sheets, seven on paper and two on parchment, possibly dogskin, on which chiefs’ signatures were placed when they “cede[d] to the Queen of England for ever the entire Soverignty of their country.”1 These are illustrated well on pp 225-7 of The Treaty and its Times2 by Paul Moon and Peter Biggs, 2004, ISBN 0-908618-18-2.

Eight of these sheets are in the Ngapuhi dialect of Maori, including the original signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840.  Moon & Biggs’ ‘Sheet 4’, the only printed sheet,3 was used by Missionary Maunsell at Waikato Heads in an emergency when Captain Symonds carrying an official copy of the text in Maori, as intended for all occasions, failed to arrive in time for the meeting of chiefs and others who had assembled there.

Five chiefs’ signatures were recorded at the bottom of this sheet which was countersigned by Maunsell. The ninth, anomalous, sheet in English (Moon & Biggs’ “Sheet 3”) was NOT, repeat NOT, an independent document but was used in this emergency by Maunsell for further signatures.  The two sheets of this ONE document were then folded together by Maunsell, the printed sheet on top .

Maunsell’s diary which might have recounted this sequence was destroyed in a mission fire not long afterwards.

Some further signatures were gathered subsequently on the second sheet (the one in English).

This two-sheet document was duly returned to base at Russell, the sheets sealed together with ordinary sealing wax, the printed sheet in Maori on top; later torn apart, roughly pinned together; torn apart again by somebody unknown, to go their separate ways thereafter.  Recent expert forensic examination  initiated by Martin Doutré has established this sequence beyond any reasonable doubt.  (Martin would surely confirm these critically important details.)

You will search in vain in official accounts and histories for this accurate account.

Fast forward to 1975 when the Treaty of Waitangi Act, sponsored by Matt Rata MP for Northern Maori was passed.  In this very flawed piece of legislation the overflow sheet in English was legislated to be “the Treaty in English”.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  There is no such thing as the “Treaty in English”.  This piece of paper is a rejected copy of one among eight concocted by Freeman to send to overseas dignitaries when he had been dismissed by Hobson from the real drafting duties.  He had induced a stroke-stricken and bedridden Hobson to sign it, but Hobson’s signature was so weak that Freeman himself rejected it.  Somehow it had got to Waikato Heads, probably with a consignment of stationery. Its wording departs significantly from that of the true treaty; thus it purportedly grants “forests and fisheries” to the tribes, not mentioned in the real treaty.

When the “Treaty2U” caravan travelled around NZ in 2006 at considerable expense to the taxpayer4, a copy of the Freeman Fake with chiefs’ signatures was displayed but, Hobson’s weak signature had been erased and replaced by a more robust one.  In other words, officialdom had tampered with a document to present false information to the people of New Zealand..  Officialdom indulged in a criminal act to misinform our citizens.

Bruce Moon, Nelson, 23 January 2024

Footnotes

  1. In the words of Hobson’s final text in English of 4th February.  The actual Treaty text in Maori, with the addition of the word “maori” in Article third, follows precisely.
  2. My copy is a complimentary one received personally from Biggs.
  3. 200 printed copies had been supplied to Hobson’s order by Mission printer, Colenso.
  4. The hire of the caravan alone cost $500,000