Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 in the Bay of Islands, Waitangi, North Island. The British Crown wanted to curb lawlessness and the Maori chiefs wanted to stay in power of their treasures and keep their mana. There was confusion among the Maori chiefs about what they were signing, because the translation of Maori to English was not accurate. After the Treaty was signed more settlers arrived. The British population was increasing rapidly. Maori were losing their belongings to the British Crown, especially their land. Traditionally Maori shared a large piece of land as a tribe, but, under British law, if the land didn’t belong to a specific person the Crown could take it away from them.

The British Crown committed social sins by not honouring the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. An example is that the Maori were excluded from early parliament. In 1852, the British had more settlers arriving. They appointed a governor, and they didn’t let the Maori to be a part of it. Although in 1867, the British allowed the Maori to have 4 seats in parliament but this was not fair either because 4 votes is not enough to make any change. So the Maori still had no voice in what was happening in New Zealand. As a consequence of no representation in parliament, Maori lost even more land to the British, which was another group sin. In the early 1860’s Maori had lost ⅕ of the North Island and nearly lost all of the South Island, because of unfair trades.

One way christian people can restore tika (just) and pono (truth) to the Treaty of Waitangi is by learning the Maori language so that it doesn’t become a dead language. Another way to restore tika and pono is to respect the Maori culture and rules, such as taking off your shoes when you enter a Marae, and not sitting on a table where food is.