Denis Hampton: Orange Treaty book a lemon

 

It is now generally accepted that the true Treaty of Waitangi is Te Tiriti (the Maori version). However if this document is to have ongoing significance we must be certain of what those early good folk had in mind when they made their marks. In my quest for a better understanding, I recently acquired a copy of Claudia Orange's The Treaty of Waitangi. According to Wikipedia this book “has become a definitive reference for interpreting the relevance” of the treaty.

Denis Hampton: Treaty Myth Persists

In December 2010 the Government confirmed that it would conduct a wide-ranging review of New Zealand's constitutional arrangements.  An advisory panel co-chaired by Emeritus Professor John Burrows and Sir Tipene O'Regan of Ngai Tahu has since been appointed.  The panel will consider a wide range of topics including whether New Zealand should have a written constitution and the role of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand's constitutional arrangements.

In recent years there has been considerable debate – often heated – on what the principles of the Treaty are.  Little thought, however, has been given to what the words of the Treaty actually mean, or more to the point, what the good folk of 1840 had in mind when they put their marks on those early documents.