Aftermath

• Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over the North Island on 21 May 1840, basing this on the English text of the Treaty. The South Island was also claimed on 17 June 1840, and Stewart Island on 5 June 1840, once Treaty signatures had been collected from Māori chiefs in some of those areas.
• Hobson was unable to personally make the trip around New Zealand to collect signatures to the Treaty because he suffered a stroke. He recovered briefly but died in 1842.
• After the signing of the Treaty there was a huge increase in the number of Europeans wanting to buy land and settle in New Zealand.
• Problems arose when new settlers or companies representing them tried to buy land without consulting all of the Māori landowners. Many Europeans had no understanding of the concept of ownership of the land by the tribe.
• Māori also gradually realised that they were not free to sell their land to anyone, and that under the terms of the Treaty they could only sell to the government, and not to anyone else if the government did not want to buy it. Land sold to the government was sold on to settlers, usually at a much higher price than that received by the Māori owners.
• Despite assurances by the British Government that Māori people owned all of New Zealand, not just the lands they occupied, within a few years the pressure from new settlers for land led to the taking of the unoccupied land, described as 'wastelands' by the Crown.
• One dispute was between the New Zealand Company and the Māori chiefs Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata, which came to a head in the Wairau Affray of 17 June 1843.
• Another was in 1844 when Hone Heke, disillusioned with what had happened since the Treaty was signed, decided to protest by chopping down the British flagpole at Russell (known before as Kororareka).
• Within 10 years of the signing of the Treaty Māori had begun to appeal to the Government with claims about dubious land sales, but with no success.
• The Crown kept the Treaty at first, partly because the new settlers needed the help of the Māori people for food and other necessities of life, and partly because the Māori outnumbered them.
• However as settler demand for land grew, and it became more obvious that the British expected Māori to be subject to British law and authority, tension between the two peoples erupted into what is now known as the 'New Zealand Wars'. Despite the name, this conflict took place mainly in Auckland, Hawke's Bay and Taranaki, and even in these areas a number of tribes supported the government or remained neutral.
• One result of these wars was that the government confiscated large areas of land from the Māori people.
• By 1877 the obligations entered into under the Treaty had been ignored to the point where there was a judgement in the courts, which dismissed the Treaty. And in 1890 when New Zealand celebrated its 50th anniversary, the Treaty was not mentioned, and the official anniversary date became the date of Hobson's arrival at Waitangi, 29 January.
• For the next 100 years Māori continued to demand that the Crown honour the Treaty. For them this means the return of land that was taken illegally, or compensation for the loss of that land, and also that Māori have control and authority over things that are theirs and are consulted on decisions affecting all New Zealanders.

Wairau Affray:

On 17 June 1843 a party of 50 Europeans, led by Arthur Wakefield, walked into the Wairau Valley from Nelson. They tried to arrest Te Rauparaha and another Māori chief, Rangihaeata, on a flimsy charge of arson from when a survey party had tried to survey disputed land in the Wairau Valley. The European claim to the land was based on a false deed of sale, which the Māori owners had been tricked into signing. The chiefs refused to go with them, and one of the Europeans fired his gun (probably by accident). Fighting broke out and people were killed on both sides. After Wakefield called on the Europeans to surrender, Rangihaeata demanded utu; his wife, Te Rongo, had been killed by a stray shot while sitting by the fire. Wakefield and others were then executed. Despite demands for revenge from settlers in Wellington and Nelson, Governor Fitzroy refused to act, saying that the Māori had been provoked by the unreasonable actions of the Europeans.

Hone Heke:

Hone Heke and his men first chopped down the flagpole that stood on the hill behind Russell (Kororareka) in July 1844. It was repaired but Heke cut it down a further 2 times before the government set up a guard post to protect the flagpole. On March 10 1845, Heke first attacked and killed the guards at the post, and then attacked the town of Russell. Fighting between the government forces and Heke continued until the battle of Ruapekapeka, the 'Bat's Nest', in January 1846, when peace was finally negotiated.

Forward to: The Waitangi Tribunal