John Robinson: New Zealand nonsense (three). How Maori rebels broke the Treaty.

I had a chat recently where a friend said: “I have never heard anyone say that Maori broke the Treaty before.”  Of course they did, and people should be told so.

New Zealand nonsense (three).  How Maori rebels broke the Treaty.

There is much questionable, indeed nonsensical, in today’s New Zealand.  A country which once opposed racism has a belief in race written into law[1], with measures of that Maori race increased to justify two extra Maori seats[2], and many actions asserting the special position of supposedly-indigenous Maori.

One such has been the insistence that the Crown only broke the Treaty of Waitangi, an assumption written into the 1975 requirements of the Waitangi Tribunal which is required to investigate claims only by Maori against historical Government decisions and actions, an assumption which is basic to the many Treaty settlements.[3]  Without a belief in that claim, the many payments and privileges can be seen to be a scam, and the Waitangi Tribunal to have no validity.

A careful analysis of the Treaty and what it then means to break that agreement leads to the opposite conclusion:

The Crown, the several Governors, and the government never broke the Treaty of Waitangi.  All actions taken were in accord with the accession of sovereignty and the assertion of British law.  A number of Maori chiefs, and their iwi, committed acts of treason and rebellion, in contradiction of the Treaty of Waitangi.[4]

Examples of grievous Treaty breaches by rebel Maori (while most Maori lived in peace, holding to their promise made in the 1840 accord) abound.  It takes deliberate, wilful blindness to turn a blind eye to so much evidence.

One such example is just one of the many actions of Te Kooti, whose rebel forces massacred 30 settlers and 37 Maori in the ‘Matawhero massacre’, in one night of December, 1868.  Yet, the historical account has been so distorted that, instead of remembering such savagery, an apology has been made that Te Kooti was simply reacting to previous government wrong-doing: “The Crown unreservedly apologises for its actions, which led to Te Kooti taking up arms, and contributed to the stigmatisation of Te Kooti and his descendants.” [5]

The Treaty was broken too many times to work through a comprehensive list; here I note one particularly significant act of treason, undoubtedly breaking the Treaty of Waitangi, the treason of the Waikato king movement – over many years.

In 1858, despite opposition from others in Waikato in two large meetings of 1857 and 1858, a group of Waikato and Maniapoto Maori announced a separate monarchy with the aged Te Wherowhero (who was to die less than two years later) as their captive puppet king.  Since the Treaty had ceded entire sovereignty to the Queen of England for ever, with New Zealand becoming a constitutional monarchy, this was a serious act of treason.

In 1860, despite the opposition of Te Wherowhero, warriors went to Taranaki to join the rebellion of Wiremu Kingi and fight against British troops.  An attack on Auckland was planned.

In 1863 the king movement declared a separate Waikato territory, forcefully threw out the government representative, and refused any government access.  New Zealand was to be dismembered, no longer a unified sovereign nation.

When Governor George Grey finally gave up on his many efforts to peacefully solve the problem, British troops moved in; Auckland and the Waikato were safe once the rebel forces were driven across the Puniu River in 1864.

Despite defeat and generous treatment by the government and settlers, Tawhiao continued his rebellion with an assertion that he was a king, setting up a separate government structure and declaring in 1876 that: “Sir George Grey has no right to conduct matters on this Island, but I have the sole right to conduct matters in my land – from the North Cape to the southern end.  No one else has any right.”  Since the threat from this king movement had been broken, successive governments, down to the present day, have turned a blind eye on the existence of a widely proclaimed second monarch within our constitutional monarchy – a nonsense in law and a threat for the future.

In those actions Maori caused many deaths and much hardship, destroying economic prosperity and growth for settlers and Maori alike, and undercutting positive efforts to develop better forms of local government to iwi (runanga) where Maori would be given increased government assistance in running their own local affairs (within the united framework of the sovereignty of the nation).  The Maori people of the Waikato lost dearly with the confiscation of much fertile lands that provided foods to the nearby Auckland market when Tawhiao (with the proclamation noted above) refused an extraordinary and generous 1875 offer by Governor Grey to return much of the confiscated land.

Yet in the face of so many grievous breaches such Maori rebellions have been swept under the rug, denied and ignored (as if no settlers had been attacked, killed or driven off their land).  The existence of a king is a potent symbol of racial division and a potential focus for a further extension of apartheid within the proposed two-government system of government, yet that continues with Government Ministers going respectfully to meet with the ‘king’ on his home marae.  The time is long past when he should end the farce and declare his role to be as the senior chief of his iwi.

Instead of dealing openly with all people as equals, the Waitangi Tribunal was established in 1975 to deal only with false grievances against the Crown. Under its establishing statute, the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, any Maori person who claims to be “prejudicially affected by the actions, policies or omissions of the Crown in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi” may make a claim to the Tribunal.[6]  A recognition of the Maori rebellions, breaking the Treaty of Waitangi, together with an understanding that the Crown (British Governors and national governments) acted in accord with the terms of the Treaty, destroys both the foundation of the Waitangi Tribunal and the validity of Treaty settlements.[7]

Dr John Robinson is a research scientist, who has investigated a variety of topics, including the social statistics of Maori. His recognition of fundamental flaws in the interpretation of nineteenth century Maori demographics led him to consider the history of those times in several books.

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[1] Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, s 6(1); Robinson J 2024. New Zealand nonsense (one). The Maori race

[2] Robinson J 2024.  New Zealand nonsense (two).  Voting by race: Unequal Maori seats

[3] Amounting to $4.3 billion by 2019, plus control over lands and waterways: Robinson J 2024. Who really broke the Treaty? Tross Publishing, page 83

[4] Robinson J 2024. Who really broke the Treaty? Tross Publishing, page 65; also many chapters of Robinson J 2016. The kingite rebellion. Tross Publishing

[5] New Zealand Parliament 2012. Rongowhakaata Claims Settlement Act 2012.https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2012/0054/latest/DLM4321630.html

[6] Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, s 6(1).

[7] This is worth repeating, shouting out, until the truth of the Big Lie is recognised and we become equal in our own country.