Editing Treaty of Waitangi (section)

==Treaty text, meaning and interpretation==

The treaty, its interpretation and significance can be viewed as the contrast between a literate culture and one that was wholly oral.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKenzie |first1=Donald Francis |title=Oral Culture, Literacy & Print in Early New Zealand: The Treaty of Waitangi |date=1985 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Google Scholar |isbn=9780864730435 |page=9}}</ref>

===English text ===
{{quote box|align=center|width=80%|'''Preamble:'''

HER MAJESTY VICTORIA Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland regarding with Her Royal Favor the Native Chiefs and Tribes of New Zealand and anxious to protect their just Rights and Property and to secure to them the enjoyment of Peace and Good Order has deemed it necessary in consequence of the great number of Her Majesty's Subjects who have already settled in New Zealand and the rapid extension of Emigration both from Europe and Australia which is still in progress to constitute and appoint a functionary properly authorised to treat with the Aborigines of New Zealand for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereign authority over the whole or any part of those islands – Her Majesty therefore being desirous to establish a settled form of Civil Government with a view to avert the evil consequences which must result from the absence of the necessary Laws and Institutions alike to the native population and to Her subjects has been graciously pleased to empower and to authorise me William Hobson a Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy Consul and Lieutenant-Governor of such parts of New Zealand as may be or hereafter shall be ceded to her Majesty to invite the confederated and independent Chiefs of New Zealand to concur in the following Articles and Conditions.

'''Article the first:'''

The Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand and the separate and independent Chiefs who have not become members of the Confederation cede to Her Majesty the {{sic|Queen of England}} absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty which the said Confederation or Individual Chiefs respectively exercise or possess, or may be supposed to exercise or to possess over their respective Territories as the sole sovereigns thereof.

'''Article the second:'''

Her Majesty the {{sic|Queen of England}} confirms and guarantees to the Chiefs and Tribes of New Zealand and to the respective families and individuals thereof the full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession; but the Chiefs of the United Tribes and the individual Chiefs yield to Her Majesty the exclusive right of Preemption over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to alienate at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective Proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with them in that behalf.

'''Article the third:'''

In consideration thereof Her Majesty the {{sic|Queen of England}} extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her royal protection and imparts to them all the Rights and Privileges of British Subjects.

(signed) William Hobson, Lieutenant-Governor.

Now therefore We the Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand being assembled in Congress at Victoria in Waitangi and We the Separate and Independent Chiefs of New Zealand claiming authority over the Tribes and Territories which are specified after our respective names, having been made fully to understand the Provisions of the foregoing Treaty, accept and enter into the same in the full spirit and meaning thereof in witness of which we have attached our signatures or marks at the places and the dates respectively specified. Done at Waitangi this Sixth day of February in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty.<ref name="Read English" />}}

The treaty itself is short, consisting of a preamble and three articles.<ref name="Read English">{{Cite web |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-treaty/english-text |title=English Text – Read the Treaty |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |access-date=13 January 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113150203/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-treaty/english-text |archive-date=13 January 2018}}</ref>

The English text (from which the Māori text is translated) starts with the preamble and presents Queen Victoria "being desirous to establish a settled form of Civil Government", and invites Māori chiefs to concur in the following articles. The first article of the English text grants the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Queen of England]] "absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty" over New Zealand. The second article guarantees to the chiefs full "exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties" but the Crown has a [[Pre-emption right|pre-emptive right to buy]] the land. The third article guarantees to all Māori the same rights as all other British subjects.<ref name="Read English" />

===Māori text===
{{quote box|align=center|width=80%|'''(Preamble):'''

KO WIKITORIA te Kuini o Ingarani i tana mahara atawai ki nga Rangatira me nga Hapu o Nu Tirani i tana hiahia hoki kia tohungia ki a ratou o ratou rangatiratanga me to ratou wenua, a kia mau tonu hoki te Rongo ki a ratou me te Atanoho hoki kua wakaaro ia he mea tika kia tukua mai tetahi Rangatira – hei kai wakarite ki nga Tangata maori o Nu Tirani – kia wakaaetia e nga Rangatira Maori te Kawanatanga o te Kuini ki nga wahikatoa o te wenua nei me nga motu – na te mea hoki he tokomaha ke nga tangata o tona Iwi Kua noho ki tenei wenua, a e haere mai nei.

Na ko te Kuini e hiahia ana kia wakaritea te Kawanatanga kia kaua ai nga kino e puta mai ki te tangata Maori ki te Pakeha e noho ture kore ana.

Na kua pai te Kuini kia tukua a hau a Wiremu Hopihona he Kapitana i te Roiara Nawi hei Kawana mo nga wahi katoa o Nu Tirani e tukua aianei amua atu ki te Kuini, e mea atu ana ia ki nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga o nga hapu o Nu Tirani me era Rangatira atu enei ture ka korerotia nei.

'''Ko te tuatahi (Article 1):'''

Ko nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga me nga Rangatira katoa hoki ki hai i uru ki taua wakaminenga ka tuku rawa atu ki te Kuini o Ingarani ake tonu atu – te Kawanatanga katoa o o ratou wenua.

'''Ko te tuarua (Article 2):'''

Ko te Kuini o Ingarani ka wakarite ka wakaae ki nga Rangitira ki nga hapu – ki nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani te tino rangatiratanga o o ratou wenua o ratou kainga me o ratou taonga katoa. Otiia ko nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga me nga Rangatira katoa atu ka tuku ki te Kuini te hokonga o era wahi wenua e pai ai te tangata nona te Wenua – ki te ritenga o te utu e wakaritea ai e ratou ko te kai hoko e meatia nei e te Kuini hei kai hoko mona.

'''Ko te tuatoru (Article 3):'''

Hei wakaritenga mai hoki tenei mo te wakaaetanga ki te Kawanatanga o te Kuini – Ka tiakina e te Kuini o Ingarani nga tangata maori katoa o Nu Tirani ka tukua ki a ratou nga tikanga katoa rite tahi ki ana mea ki nga tangata o Ingarani.

(signed) William Hobson, Consul and Lieutenant-Governor.

Na ko matou ko nga Rangatira o te Wakaminenga o nga hapu o Nu Tirani ka huihui nei ki Waitangi ko matou hoki ko nga Rangatira o Nu Tirani ka kite nei i te ritenga o enei kupu, ka tangohia ka wakaaetia katoatia e matou, koia ka tohungia ai o matou ingoa o matou tohu.

Ka meatia tenei ki Waitangi i te ono o nga ra o Pepueri i te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau e wa te kau o to tatou Ariki.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-treaty/maori-text |title=Māori text – Read the Treaty |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |access-date=2018-01-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117191014/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-treaty/maori-text |archive-date=17 January 2018}}</ref>}}

The Māori text has the same overall structure, with a preamble and three articles. The first article indicates that the Māori chiefs "give absolutely to the Queen of England for ever the complete government over their land" (according to a modern translation by [[Hugh Kāwharu]]).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/en/about/the-treaty/maori-and-english-versions |title=Contemporary translation of the te reo Māori text |website=www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz |access-date=4 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203230225/https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/en/about/the-treaty/maori-and-english-versions |archive-date=3 December 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLqyAAAACAAJ |title=Waitangi Revisited: Perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi |last1=Belgrave |first1=Michael |last2=Kawharu |first2=Merata |last3=Williams |first3=David Vernon |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780195584004 |pages=390–393 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-date=3 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103051444/https://books.google.com/books?id=sLqyAAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> With no adequate word available to substitute for 'sovereignty', as it was not a concept in Māori society at the time, the translators instead used {{lang|mi|[[kawanatanga]]}} (governorship or government).{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} The second article guarantees all Māori "chieftainship over their lands, villages and all their treasures" (translated), with 'treasures' here translating from {{lang|mi|[[taonga]]}} to mean more than just physical possessions (as in the English text), but also other elements of cultural heritage. The second article also says: "Chiefs will sell land to the Queen at a price agreed to by the person owning it and by the person buying it (the latter being) appointed by the Queen as her purchase agent" (translated), which does not accurately convey the [[Preemption (land)|pre-emption]] clause of the English text. The third article gives Māori the "same rights and duties of citizenship as the people of England" (translated); roughly the same as the English text.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

===Differences===
[[File:The Treaty of Waitangi (in Maori).jpeg|thumbnail|right|Manuscript copy of the Treaty of Waitangi (in Māori) in the hand of Henry Tacy Kemp|214x214px]]
The English and Māori texts differ.{{sfn|Orange|1987|p=31}} As some words in the English treaty did not translate directly into the written [[Māori language]] of the time, the Māori text is not a literal translation of the English text.<ref name="Meaning-Tribunal"/><ref name="B&T II"/> It has been claimed that [[Henry Williams (missionary)|Henry Williams]], the missionary entrusted with translating the treaty from English, was fluent in Māori and that far from being a poor translator he had in fact carefully crafted both versions to make each palatable to both parties without either noticing inherent contradictions.<ref name="Moon, Fenton (2002)">{{cite journal |last1=Paul Moon |last2=Sabine Fenton |title=Bound into a Fateful Union: Henry Williams' Translation of the Treaty of Waitangi into Maori in February 1840 |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |date=2002 |volume=111 |issue=1 |page=58 |jstor=20707042 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20707042 |access-date=5 October 2022 |archive-date=5 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005093417/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20707042 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The differences between the two texts have made it difficult to interpret the treaty and also continue to undermine its effect. The most critical difference between the texts revolves around the interpretation of three Māori words: {{Lang|Mi|[[kāwanatanga]]}} ('governorship'), which is ceded to the Queen in the first article; {{Lang|Mi|[[rangatiratanga]]}} ('chieftainship') not {{Lang|Mi|[[Mana (Oceanian mythology)|mana]]}} ('leadership') (which was stated in the Declaration of Independence just five years before the treaty was signed), which is retained by the [[rangatira|chief]]s in the second; and {{Lang|Mi|[[taonga]]}} (property or valued possessions), which the chiefs are guaranteed ownership and control of, also in the second article. Few [[Māori people|Māori]] involved with the treaty negotiations understood the concepts of [[sovereignty]] or "governorship", as they were used by 19th-century Europeans, and lawyer [[Moana Jackson]] has stated that "ceding mana or sovereignty in a treaty was legally and culturally incomprehensible in Māori terms".<ref>{{cite web|title=Facing the truth about the Maori Wars|publisher=The Mana Trust|year=2016|url=http://www.e-tangata.co.nz/news/moana-jackson-facing-the-truth-about-the-wars|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003110533/http://www.e-tangata.co.nz/news/moana-jackson-facing-the-truth-about-the-wars|archive-date=3 October 2016}}</ref>

Furthermore, {{Lang|Mi|kāwanatanga}} is a [[Calque|loan translation]] from "governorship" and was not part of the Māori language. The term had been used by Henry Williams in his translation of the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand, which was signed by 35 northern Māori chiefs at [[Waitangi, Northland|Waitangi]] on 28 October 1835.<ref name="nzhistory dec of independence">{{cite web |work = Translation from Archives New Zealand, New Zealand History online |title = The Declaration of Independence |url = http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/interactive/the-declaration-of-independence |access-date = 18 August 2010 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150707130520/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/interactive/the-declaration-of-independence |archive-date = 7 July 2015}}</ref> The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand had stated "{{Lang|Mi|Ko te Kīngitanga ko te mana i te w[h]enua}}" to describe "all sovereign power and authority in the land".<ref name="nzhistory dec of independence"/> There is considerable debate about what would have been a more appropriate term. Some scholars, notably Ruth Ross, argue that {{Lang|Mi|mana}} ('prestige', 'authority') would have more accurately conveyed the transfer of sovereignty.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ross |first=R. M. |year=1972 |title=Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Texts and Translations |journal=New Zealand Journal of History |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=139–141}}</ref> However, it has more recently been argued by others, including Judith Binney, that {{Lang|Mi|mana}} would not have been appropriate. This is because {{Lang|Mi|mana}} is not the same thing as sovereignty, and also because no-one can give up their {{Lang|Mi|mana}}.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Binney |first=Judith|year=1989|chapter=The Maori and the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi|title=Towards 1990: Seven Leading Historians Examine Significant Aspects of New Zealand History|pages=20–31}}</ref>

The English-language text recognises Māori rights to "properties", which seems to imply physical and perhaps intellectual property. The Māori text, on the other hand, mentions "taonga", meaning "treasures" or "precious things". In Māori usage the term applies much more broadly than the English concept of legal property, and since the 1980s courts have found that the term can encompass intangible things such as language and culture.<ref>{{cite web |first=Brian |last=Easton |title=The Maori Broadcasting Claim: A Pakeha Economist's Perspective |publisher=Brian Easton |year=1990|url=http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=293 |access-date=1 September 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927093405/http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=293 |archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Report of the Waitangi Tribunal on Claims Concerning the Allocation of Radio Frequencies (Wai 26) |publisher=Waitangi Tribunal |year=1990 |url=https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/WT/reports/reportSummary.html?reportId=wt_DOC_68476762 |access-date=1 September 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622091906/https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/WT/reports/reportSummary.html?reportId=wt_DOC_68476762 |archive-date=22 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Radio Spectrum Management and Development Final Report (Wai 776)|publisher=Waitangi Tribunal|year= 1999|url= https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/WT/reports/reportSummary.html?reportId=wt_DOC_68205950|access-date= 1 September 2011|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170819231417/https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/WT/reports/reportSummary.html?reportId=wt_DOC_68205950|archive-date= 19 August 2017}}</ref> Even where physical property such as land is concerned, differing cultural understandings as to what types of land are able to be privately owned have caused problems, as for example in the [[New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy|foreshore and seabed controversy]] of 2003–04.

The pre-emption clause is generally not well translated.{{sfn|Orange|1987|p=86}} While pre-emption was present in the treaty from the very first draft, it was translated to {{Lang|Mi|hokonga}}, a word which simply meant "to buy, sell, or trade".{{sfn|Orange|1987|p=84}} Many Māori apparently believed that they were simply giving the British Queen first offer on land, after which they could sell it to anyone.<ref name="Signing the treaty">{{Cite web |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/making-the-treaty/signing-the-treaty |title=Signing the Treaty |date=1 July 2016 |website=NZ History |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=23 July 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708174636/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/making-the-treaty/signing-the-treaty |archive-date=8 July 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Orange|1987|p=84}} Another, less important, difference is that {{Lang|Mi|Ingarani}}, meaning England alone, is used throughout in the Māori text, whereas "the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]" is used in the first paragraph of the English.{{sfn|Orange|1987|p=33}}

Based on these differences, there are many academics{{who|date=August 2024}} who argue that the two versions of the treaty are distinctly different documents, which they refer to as "Te Tiriti o Waitangi" and "The Treaty of Waitangi",<ref>{{Cite book |title=Colonising Myths: Maori Realities-He Rukuruku Whakaaro|last=Mikaere|first=Ani |publisher=Huia|year=2011|location=Wellington}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=View of Te Arewhana Kei Roto i Te Rūma: An Indigenous Neo-Disputatio on Settler Society, Nullifying Te Tiriti, 'Natural Resources' and Our Collective Future in Aotearoa New Zealand|journal=Te Kaharoa|date=2 February 2016|volume=9|issue=1|doi=10.24135/tekaharoa.v9i1.6|url=https://www.tekaharoa.com/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/6/4|access-date=9 October 2018|doi-access=free|archive-date=9 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009211325/https://www.tekaharoa.com/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/6/4|url-status=live}}</ref> and that the Māori text should take precedence, because it was the one that was signed at Waitangi and by the most signatories.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/14137 |title=Constitutional Intentions: The Treaty Texts |last=Margaret |first=Mutu |date=Feb 2010 |publisher=Huia Publishers |isbn=9781869694043 |access-date=15 October 2018 |archive-date=13 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013093618/https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/14137 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Waitangi Tribunal, tasked with deciding issues raised by the differences between the two texts, also gives additional weight to the Māori text in its interpretations of the treaty.<ref name="Waitangi Tribunal Meaning">{{Cite web |url= https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/meaning-of-the-treaty/ |title= Meaning of the Treaty |via= Waitangi Tribunal |website= waitangitribunal.govt.nz |access-date= 15 October 2018 |archive-date= 8 July 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160708084042/http://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/meaning-of-the-treaty/ |url-status= live }}</ref>

The entire issue is further complicated by the fact that, at the time, writing was a novel introduction to Māori society. As members of a predominately oral society, Māori present at the signing of the treaty would have placed more value and reliance on what Hobson and the missionaries said, rather than on the written words of the treaty.<ref>Belich, James (1996), ''Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century'', pp.195–6.</ref> Although there is still a great deal of scholarly debate surrounding the extent to which literacy had permeated Māori society at the time of the signing, what can be stated with clarity is that of the 600 plus chiefs who signed the written document only 12 signed their names in the [[Latin alphabet]]. Many others conveyed their identity by drawing parts of their {{Lang|Mi|[[Tā moko|moko]]}} (personal facial tattoo), while still others marked the document with an X.<ref name="Simpson 2015">{{cite book | last = Simpson | first =Tony | title = Before Hobson | publisher = Blythswood Press | date = 2015 | location = Wellington | isbn = 9780473312848}}</ref>

Māori beliefs and attitudes towards ownership and use of land were different from those prevailing in Britain and Europe. The chiefs would traditionally grant permission for the land to be used for a time for a particular purpose. A northern chief, [[Nōpera Panakareao]], early on summarised his understanding of the treaty as "{{Lang|Mi|Ko te atarau o te whenua i riro i a te kuini, ko te tinana o te whenua i waiho ki ngā Māori}}" ("The shadow of the land will go to the Queen, but the substance of the land will remain with us"). Nōpera later reversed the statement – feeling that the substance of the land had indeed gone to the Queen; only the shadow remained for the Māori.<ref name="EncNZ">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Taonui |first=Rāwiri |title= Muriwhenua tribes – European contact |encyclopedia= The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand |url= http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/muriwhenua-tribes/page-4 |access-date= 26 November 2013 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131203204010/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/muriwhenua-tribes/page-4 |archive-date= 3 December 2013}}</ref>