Part 11 (1/2)

[58] The name of this priest does not seem to have been preserved.

[59] They were members of the Mounted Police Force which Captain Hobson had brought with him from Sydney.

[60] _Rangatira_: Chief, gentleman, one in authority.

[61] In his discussions with the Maoris, Bishop Pompallier had stressed the point that he held the advantage over the Protestant Missionaries in that he was a member of the Episcopacy. The best attempt on the part of the natives to render into their own language the word Episcopo, in its varied forms, was ”_Pikopo_,” hence the Bishop and his converts became known as _Pikopo_.

[62] The Revs. Ironside and Warren, of the Wesleyan Mission, arrived at a later hour, with the contingent of Hokianga natives, including Tamati Waaka Nene; and on the following day they were amongst the witnesses to the signatures.

[63] _Authentic and Genuine History of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi_, by the Rev. W. Colenso.

[64] These were all of foreign manufacture, and were the gifts of Bishop Pompallier. On this point Jameson says: ”But the most virtuous of human actions are liable to be misinterpreted and misjudged, and M.

de Pompallier's liberality to the natives was uncharitably stigmatised as an attempt to bribe and lure them to the adoption of the Catholic persuasion. This conduct was invidiously contrasted with that of the Church of England and Wesleyan Missionaries, who deemed it a point of duty to hold out no temptation to the cupidity of the natives, as an inducement for them to become Christians, and also to encourage among them regular habits of industry, gave them nothing except in fair exchange for agricultural produce or for services performed. The Protestant Missionaries have laboured with great zeal and success amongst the New Zealanders. But in acknowledging their merits, we, in common justice, cannot condemn the motives of M. de Pompallier.”

[65] A short spear.

[66] ”Captain Hobson spoke briefly but emphatically and with strong feeling.”--Felton Mathew.

[67] Rewa once replied to a European who had chided him because he had ceased to pay him his customary visits, ”I was ashamed to go, because I had no present to offer you. Formerly, when I went to see my friends I always carried them a present of pigs and potatoes, but I am a poor man now. I have sold all my land and I have nothing to give my friends.”

[68] Mr. Gilbert Mair was a merchant at Kororareka. Mr. James E.

Clendon was likewise a merchant there, and had been a.s.sistant British Resident at Hokianga. He was at this period U.S.A. Consul.

[69] Meaning the Proclamation referring to land t.i.tles.

[70] Colenso repudiates the suggestion that the speeches were not properly interpreted, and explains that Maori oratory is redundant with repet.i.tion which, of course, was very properly eliminated during the course of the translation.

[71] The Bishop of Australia thus wrote to Mr. Williams on the subject of the Missionaries' land claims: ”I am led to believe that the immediate consequence of establis.h.i.+ng the British Dominion will be the settlement of t.i.tles to land according to the principles of law and equity. This proceeding will necessarily lead to a judicial investigation of the landed properties transmitted to the Society.

These should be exactly and jealously re-examined, that you may be prepared to sustain them, even to the minutest point when brought under the scrutiny of the world at large, as beyond all doubt they will be. I think also that it will be expedient that you should take advantage of the warning thus given of what you are to expect, by preparing a most full and explicit account of all the transactions between you and any of the natives.”

[72] This native had been actually christened at his own request as ”King George,” Mr. Williams having taken the responsibility of reversing the names, and entering them in that form in the Register.

[73] This was not the great t.i.tore, who was the first to commence the felling of kauri spars for the Navy, but another chief of the same name. t.i.tore Nui (the great) signed the Treaty under the name of Takiri.

[74] The Rev. R. Taylor relates an instance in which Tareha was about to despatch a slave for some real or imaginary offence. Mr. Kemp, one of the Missionaries interposed, and could not be persuaded to let the killing go on. Whereupon Tareha picked him up (for he was a small man) and carried him over to his cottage, deposited him inside, and told Mrs. Kemp to shut him up and keep him out of harm's way. He then returned to the business on hand. On another occasion the Missionaries discovered Tareha in a choking condition, a fish bone having lodged in his throat. He being _tapu_ (sacred) none of his people dared touch him, but after considerable labour the Missionaries succeeded in dislodging the bone with the aid of a pair of scissors. After he had recovered, the punctilious Tareha claimed the scissors as payment for the desecration of his sacred throat.

[75] Here he held up the canoe paddle, which he had used dramatically throughout his oration.

[76] This was a reference to the New Testament, which had just been printed in the native language at the Missionary Press, at Paihia, and circulated amongst the tribes.

[77] Amongst the many contradictions which the historian of the Treaty of Waitangi has to reconcile, none is more difficult than the explanation of Hone Heke's att.i.tude towards the negotiation. The report of his speech as printed above is taken from Colenso's account of the proceedings, and would lead one to suppose that Heke was in favour of the treaty. Colenso's view is supported by the Rev. Henry Williams, who tells us that Heke ”fully approved” of the treaty and advised the people to sign it. Other accounts are quite different. The Rev. Mr. Burrows states that Heke ”gave a lot of trouble” at the signing of the treaty. The Rev. Mr. Ironside reports that Heke ”was violent in his harangue against Captain Hobson, vociferating repeatedly in his native style, '_Haere e hoki_' ('Go, return').

Tamati Waaka came to me and said his heart was _pouri_ (grieved) with Heke's violence, and the way Captain Hobson was being treated.

'Well,' I said, 'if you think so, say so'; whereupon Tamati sprang up and made his speech.” In some interesting annotations made on the treaty by Mr. William B. Baker, translator to the Native Department in 1869, that gentleman says: ”I remember distinctly being present during the whole of the meeting; that Hone Heke Pokai was very violent in his language, though he is not mentioned by Captain Hobson. The chief whose name is given, Kaiteke, was a better-known character in those days than Heke, who, though a person of high rank and influence through his marriage with Hongi's favourite daughter, Rongo, had previously led a very quiet and retired life. A war of words ensued between Tamati Waaka Nene, who came in at this crisis, and Heke, the result of which was that Waaka 'removed the temporary feeling that had been created.'” There is thus a distinct difference of opinion and impression between Mr. Colenso and the above writers who were also present and heard what was said.

[78] _Vide_ Captain Hobson's despatch to Sir George Gipps, February 5, 1840.

[79] The Treaty.