Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a foundational agreement signed in 1840 between the British government and Māori chiefs in New Zealand. Its intent was to address regional instability and establish a framework for governance while providing protection for the Māori. However, differing interpretations of the Treaty have led to ongoing disputes. The Māori believed they were retaining control over their affairs, while the British viewed the Treaty as a cession of sovereignty.
Historically, the Treaty was largely overlooked by the British until the 1960s, when Māori began to assert their rights and seek redress for perceived violations. The establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 marked a significant step towards addressing these grievances, although there is no legal obligation for the government to follow its recommendations. The Treaty consists of a preamble and three articles, but its ambiguous language—especially regarding concepts like governorship and property—has perpetuated misunderstandings.
Notably, the Treaty was never officially ratified by the British government, which adds to the complexity of its interpretation and enforcement. Today, it is seen as a symbol of New Zealand's colonial history and ongoing discussions about rights, sovereignty, and cultural identity.
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement between the government of Great Britain and chieftains of several tribes of Māori in New Zealand. It was signed in 1840 in the hope that it would help to resolve some of the instability in the region. The Māori had actually requested the assistance of the British government in dealing with the situation, and as a result the British and Māori signed the Treaty at Waitangi, a settlement located on the northern island of New Zealand. Unfortunately, from the very outset there was a lack of clarity among the English and the Māori about what exactly the Treaty was meant to accomplish. The Māori seem to have been under the impression that they would receive protection from the British against lawlessness while retaining control over their own affairs, while the British interpretation was that the Māori were ceding control of New Zealand to the British Empire.
Brief History
From the time of its signing in 1840 up until the latter part of the twentieth century, the Treaty of Waitangi was largely ignored by the British government, despite numerous instances of conduct that appeared to violate its terms. Beginning in the 1960s when movements for civil rights and social justice were emerging around the world, Māori began to look to the Treaty of Waitangi for guidance as they sought to demonstrate the human rights violations they were experiencing at the hands of the British. In 1975 the Waitangi Tribunal was established to hear cases of purported violations of the treaty, and to make recommendations for steps that could be taken to correct violations of the treaty’s intent. The government is not obligated to implement these recommendations, but has done so in many cases, often in the form of substantial monetary payments intended to correct past injustices. Many people consider the Treaty of Waitangi to be the founding document of the nation of New Zealand, comparable to the Magna Carta of Great Britain or the Declaration of Independence for the United States.
Multiple copies of the Treaty of Waitangi were created at the time of signing, and versions were prepared in both Māori and English. Some have identified this as contributing to the problems that have arisen with interpreting the treaty, and suggest that the Māori had a completely different understanding of the purpose of the Treaty than that of the British. Under this view, the Māori had no intention of giving up their own sovereignty. It has not been clearly established whether the ambiguity present in the treaty’s language was a deliberate step taken by the British government, or the result of the enormous distance between England and New Zealand and the fact that the persons who drew up the treaty had no legal training, but had simply been appointed by the crown.
Overview
The treaty is relatively brief, containing only three articles, which are preceded by a preamble. The main points of dispute in the treaty pertain to three different concepts: governorship, leadership/chieftainship, and property. The first of these, governorship, is discussed in the treaty’s first article, where Queen Victoria is granted the power to govern. The concept of governorship was translated using a term that did not exist in the language of the Māori, and may have given the Māori the idea that the British were merely assuming authority for protecting the land rather than the power of dominion over it and its indigenous people.
The two groups’ understanding of property is similarly ambiguous. The English version of the treaty appears to use the concept in the same way that it has traditionally been applied in Western Europe and the United States, as encompassing personal possessions, real estate, and intellectual property. The word used to express the idea of property in the Māori version of the Treaty, on the other hand, seems to have more in common with the idea of a person’s treasured possessions, such as the word "valuables." This has led to considerable confusion and disagreement over whether the treaty was clear in its intent to change the ownership of the nation and its resources. There are also differences in how Māori understand the concept of personal property and what types of possessions can fall within its category, not unlike the manner in which Native Americans in the United States were initially confounded by the idea of someone being able to own a piece of land, given their belief that the earth belongs to itself and cannot be owned by any individual. On the other hand, in the period since the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, the Māori have sometimes benefited from the fact that their idea of property is more expansive than the legal definition used by the British. This has made it possible for them to argue that in the Māori view, property includes intangible elements such as the right to preserve one’s language or the right to maintain cultural practices in the face of external pressures to conform.
Interestingly, the treaty was never ratified by the British government, nor was it passed into law by New Zealand’s government, adding to the difficulty of interpreting either its terms or its scope of influence. Both sides—Māori and British—are able to dispute the treaty’s validity when it suits their purposes to do so, and both sides may (and have) sought to enforce the treaty as binding either on its face or as compelling evidence of the original intent of the parties who drafted and signed it. This lends support to a proposition that a number of historians have put forward: that the Treaty of Waitangi is significant because its very ambiguity and convoluted history have made it a meaningful symbol of the theme of colonization in the history of the world, as a force for good and for ill, progress and loss.
Bibliography
Consedine, Bob, and Joanna Consedine. Healing Our History: The Challenge of the Treaty of Waitangi. Auckland: Penguin, 2012. Print.
McAllister, P. A. National Days and the Politics of Indigenous and Local Identities in Australia and New Zealand. Durham: Carolina, 2012. Print.
Mein, Smith P. A. Concise History of New Zealand. Port Melbourne: Cambridge UP, 2012. Print.
Morgan, G. H. T., and Susan Guthrie. Are We There Yet?: The Future of the Treaty of Waitangi. Lower Hutt: Public Interest, 2014. Print.
Morris, Grant. Law Alive: The New Zealand Legal System in Context. South Melbourne: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
Robinson, John. When Two Cultures Meet, the New Zealand Experience. Wellington: Tross, 2012. Print.
Wheen, Nicola R., and Janine Hayward. Treaty of Waitangi Settlements. Wellington: Williams, 2012. Print.
Yates, T. E. Conversion of the Māori: Years of Religious and Social Change, 1814–1842. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013. Print.