Ministry for Maori Crown Relations a Rort!
Ministry for Maori Crown Relations a Rort!
Prepared by Ross Baker, Researcher, One New Zealand Foundation Inc. (C) 5/2/2020
I have just read a paper entitled, “Hon Kelvin Davis, Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti. Building Closer Partnerships with Māori: Proactive release of Cabinet paper and MCR-19 MIN-0004, 30 July 2019”. It seems he has no idea of New Zealand’s true history or is deliberately misleading the public to give todays Maori special rights and privileges never intended in the Tiriti o Waitangi or Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent dated the 16 November 1840, our true Founding Document and first Constitution.
In 1831, 13 of Kelvin Davis’s ancestor’s (Ngapuhi chiefs) wrote to the King of England asking him to be their guardian and protector from the French, but mainly from the southern tribes who were arming themselves for utu/revenge after Hongi Hika, Ngapuhi and his followers had slaughtered thousands of their unarmed, men, women and children for the fun of it and the feasts that followed between 1820 and 1830. Hongi Hika had returned from England with an estimated 800 muskets he had exchanged for land in New Zealand.
On the 6 February 1840, Ngapuhi chiefs were the first to sign the Tiriti o Waitangi at Waitangi agreeing they would give up their kawanatanga/government and in return, Queen Victoria would give them the same rights and protection as the people of England. In fact, tangata Maori became British subjects under one flag and one law. Ngapuhi chiefs shook hands with Lt. Governor Hobson after they had signed the Tiriti o Waitangi with the words, “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people” to which they gave 3 hearty cheers.
Once the majority of tangata Maori chiefs, (512) had signed the Tiriti o Waitangi, including 26 of those who had signed the failed Declaration of Independence, the Tiriti o Waitangi was filed away as it had served its purpose and was of no further use!
There was no mention of a Relationship or Partnership between Maori and the Crown in the Tiriti o Waitangi!
It seems Kelvin and his colleagues have no idea that Chief Justice Sir James Prendergast ruled the Treaty, “A simple nullity” in 1877 stating, “So far indeed as that instrument (The Treaty of Waitangi) purported to cede the sovereignty it must be regarded as a ‘simple nullity’. No political body existed capable of making cession of sovereignty”. This ruling has never been over-ruled. Britain gained sovereignty over New Zealand by the Law of Nations before the Tiriti o Waitangi was signed. New Zealand at the time the Treaty of Waitangi was signed was under the dependency of New South Wales until the 3 May 1841.
A couple of months after the Tiriti o Waitangi had been signed and filed away, a Royal Charter/Letters Patent was issued on the 16 November 1840 by, “Victoria by the Grace of God” under, “The Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’”. The Royal Charter/Letters Patent separated New Zealand from New South Wales dependency and made New Zealand into a British Colony on the 3 May 1841 with a Governor, Governor Hobson and a Constitution that set up New Zealand’s political, legal and justice systems under one flag and one law, irrespective of race, colour or creed..
There was no mention of a Relationship or Partnership between Maori and the Crown in Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent dated the 16 November 1840!
It seems those on the committee of “Te Arawhiti: Building Closer Partnerships with Māori either have no idea of Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent or are deliberately misleading the public to give today’s Maori special rights and privileges never intended in the Tiriti o Waitangi or Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent of 1840?
There is no mention of Crown Maori Relations in the Treaty of Waitangi or Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter. We were all to be the same under one flag and one law!