The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British ColonyBuick, Thomas Lindsay
History
The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British Colony
Buick, Thomas Lindsay
New Zealand -- Politics and government; Treaty of Waitangi (1840)
"Yes, what else? Stay, sit if not what? Sit, if not how?" were the
opening queries of Warerahi, a chief of Ngaitawake, who was popularly
known as George King. "Is it not good to be at peace?" he asked. "We
will have this man as our Governor. What! turn him away! Say to this
man of the Queen, 'Go back?' No, no."[72]
The next speaker was to be Hakiro, who wanted room to deliver himself
as became a great chief, and whilst the reclining natives were being
moved back to make a clear space in which he could run from one end of
the platform to the other a chief from the Waikare, whose name has not
been recorded, rose and complained of the unjust dealings of the white
people, who had no sense of justice. For a very little thing--a
shilling--they wanted a pig as big as himself. What he wanted to know
was could the Governor make the _Pakeha_ give a payment as large as
the article he bought, but the speech was little noticed in the hustle
caused by the clearing of a passage for Hakiro.
Hakiro belonged to the Ngatirehia tribes, being the son of Tareha, but
on this occasion he essayed to speak for Titore,[73] though it is
highly questionable whether he reflected the sentiments to which that
chief would have given utterance had he been still with the living.
Titore was justly regarded as one of the noblest of the Nga-Puhi
chieftains, and his early death was generally mourned, not only as a
personal loss, but as a misfortune to the cause of national unity. Be
that as it may, his illustrious representative on this auspicious
occasion, swayed by other influences, elected to throw the weight of
his great name into the opposite scale to which he would almost
certainly have thrown it himself.
"To thee, O Governor! this. Who says sit? Who? Hear me, O Governor! I
say, no, no."
As he shouted these questions and answers he ran swiftly backwards and
forwards brandishing a _taiaha_ as he ran.
"Sit indeed! Who says sit? Go back, go back. Do not thou sit here.
What wilt thou sit here for? We are not thy people. We are free. We
will not have a Governor. Return, return, leave us. The Missionaries
and Busby are our fathers. We do not want thee, so go back, return,
depart."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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