Chief’s Swear Alliance to the Queen at Kohimarama Conference.
1860 – Kohimarama Conference
From page 13, “New
Zealand in Crisis” by ONZF.
The Kohimarama Conference was held in Auckland in July 1860 and was
attended by over 200 chiefs mainly from the North Island. It was one of the
largest and the most influential Maori gatherings ever held. The conference
revealed the nature of Maori comprehension of the Treaty signed 20 years
earlier; in fact it was referred to as a covenant between Maori and European,
not Maori and the Crown. Some chiefs were afraid the government might use the
King Movement in the Waikato to abrogate the Treaty, a threat that had been
made by the Governor and argued in favour of a renewed commitment to the
Treaty. “Do not consent that the Treaty should be for the Europeans alone,
but let us take it for ourselves. Let this meeting be joined to the
Treaty of Waitangi, let us urge upon the Government not to withhold it
from us”.
The Conference finished with a resolution passed unanimously at the last
session. “That this conference takes cognisance of the fact that several
chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent
with their declared recognition of
the Queen’s sovereignty, and of the unions of the two races”. (No
partnership with Crown)
For full report see, http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BIM504Kohi-t1-g1-t1-body1-d2.html