One New Zealand Foundation Inc.

It’s time the Te Pāti Māori Party and its followers thanked Queen Victoria and Her People for saving their tangata Maori Ancestors from total extinction in 1840.

Colonization did not destroy the tangata Māori’s way of life, it was Hongi Hika, Ngāpuhi who destroyed it when he returned from England in 1820 with over 500 muskets and went on the rampage south with his followers, taking as slaves or killing thousands of their unarmed countrymen, women, and children for the fun of it and the feasts that followed. By 1830, the Southern tribes had also gained muskets and were not only attacking Ngāpuhi for utu/revenge, but also fighting became completely out of control between the tribes of New Zealand and by 1840, half the tangata Maori population had been destroyed.

If the tangata Maori race were to survive, Britain had to take a far greater interest in New Zealand and its people. In 1840, Queen Victoria offered the tangata Maori chiefs a treaty asking them; if they gave up their governments to Britain, they would become British Subjects with the same rights and protection as the people of England under English Law. Over 500 chiefs signed the Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840 and the tangata Maori became British Subjects under one law and one flag. See: “Maori Wars of the 19^th Century”, by S Percy Smith, “A Savage Country” and “This Horrid Practice” by Dr Paul Moon and the “Musket Wars” by R. O Crosby to name a few.

History That is Not Being Told to the People of New Zealand.

The Treaty of Waitangi was not our Founding Document; it only played a minor role in New Zealand becoming a British Colony.

Maori Were Not Indigenous to New Zealand. They arrived in New Zealand by sea in 1350, the same as the early Europeans some 400 years later. “The traditions are quite clear on one point, whenever crew disembarked there were already tangata whenua (prior inhabitants) living in New Zealand. From this time on the traditions abound with accounts of tribal wars over land and its resources”. Dr Ranginui Walker, past Head of Maori Studies at the Auckland University, published in the “1986 New Zealand Yearbook”, page 18. The Government does not have a definition or forensic evidence that Maori were the Indigenous people or tangata whenua of New Zealand. The true tangata whenua were driven from their lands by the tangata Maori and disappeared, only their many archaeology sites remaining today.

Part-Maori today are not the people who signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Through intermarriage of their ancestors’ own free will with other races, Maori today are not the distinct race of people who signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. “Maori today are New Zealand Citizens as one sees in legislation”. John Clarke, past Race Relations Conciliator of Maori descent. To claim to be Maori under the law, a person should have 51% Maori ancestry.

Declaration of Independence. British Resident, James Busby wrote an unauthorised Declaration of Independence in 1835, but he could only entice 42 out of over 600 Maori chiefs to sign it before it was abandoned without one meeting taking place. Many of the chiefs who had signed the Declaration were back fighting each other before the ink had even dried. Chief Justice Sir James Prendergast ruled in 1877, “No political body existed capable of claiming sovereignty. The Declaration of Independence was a complete failure.

New Zealand was placed under the Dependency of New South Wales. Due to the continuing, “Musket Wars, Queen Victoria placed New Zealand under the Dependency of New South Wales in 1839 by “The Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland”. New Zealand remained under the Dependency of New South Wales until 3 May 1841.

The Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi only played a minor role in New Zealand becoming a British Colony. It gave Britain Sovereignty over New Zealand and made Maori British Subjects with the same rights as the people of England. No more, no less. Queen Victoria did not have the authority to give Maori any special rights in the Treaty of Waitangi not enjoyed by all the people of England and none were given. As Chief Justice, Sir James Prendergast ruled during the trial between Wi Parata v The Bishop of Wellington in 1877, “So far indeed as that instrument (The Treaty of Waitangi) purported to cede sovereignty it must be regarded as a ‘simple nullity’. No political body existed capable of making cession of sovereignty”. How could Maori have had sovereignty over New Zealand or a or a Partnership with the Crown when they were constantly at war with each other and still practised slavery, cannibalism and genocide? Over half the Maori population had been slaughtered between 1820 and 1840. Without a Head of State, Lt. Governor Hobson had to sign the Treaty of Waitangi with over 500 individual chiefs. The Treaty of Waitangi stopped the inter-tribal fighting and gave Maori protection under British law.

Only One Principle in the Treaty of Waitangi. There is only one Principle in the Treaty of Waitangi and that was the Principle Lt. Governor Hobson repeated to each chief after they had signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Waitangi on 6 February in 1840. “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people”. There is no reason to write new Principles when we have Lt Governor Hobson’s one Principle agreed to by the 49 chiefs at Waitangi on 6 February 1840.

The Treaty of Waitangi once signed, had achieved its purpose by 1840 and was filed away. Britain had claimed sovereignty over all the islands of New Zealand. This was published in the London Gazette on 2 October 1840. Maori had become British Subjects with the same rights as the people of England. No more, no less. The Treaty of Waitangi was not a Partnership!

Queen Victoria’s 1840 Royal Charter/Letters Patent. On 16 November 1840, Queen Victoria issued a Royal Charter Letters Patent under, “The Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland”, that ratified the Treaty of Waitangi, separated New Zealand from New South Wales dependency and made New Zealand into a British Colony on 3 May 1841 with a Governor and Constitution that set up New Zealand’s political, legal and justice system under one flag and one law. All the people of New Zealand became British Subjects under one flag and one law, irrespective of race, colour or creed.

There were Six Documents that Made New Zealand into British Colony, but only one comes anywhere near to New Zealand’s true Founding Document and first Constitution and that was, Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent dated 16 November 1840. It made New Zealand into a British Colony under one flag and one law, irrespective of race, colour or creed with one Principle, “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people” – New Zealanders.

See: www.onenzfoundation.co.nz/the-six-documents-that-made-new-zealand-into-a-british-colony/ 

Prepared by the One New Zealand Foundation from documents held in the New Zealand, Australian and American Archives plus the British Parliamentary Papers. (C).

Website: www.onenzfoundation.co.nz. Email; ONZF@bigpond.com.au/.  6/2/2025.