Article the Third.

In consideration thereof, Her Majesty the 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.

W. Hobson, Lieutenant-Governor.

Now, therefore, we, the Chiefs of 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 Tribes and Territories which are specified after our respective named 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.

The first meeting at which this Treaty was presented to the Northern Chiefs for their approval and adoption was held at Mr. Busby's station, at Waitangi, on the 5th and 6th February, 1840; and which was fully reported by the Lientenant-Governor to His Excellency Sir George Gipps, in the following despatch:

Her Majesty's Ship "Herald,"

Bay of Islands, 5th February, 1840.

Sir,—I have the honor to acquaint Your Excellency that immediately on my arrival here I circulated notices, printed in the Native languages, that on this day I would hold a meeting of the Chiefs of the Confederation, and of the high Chiefs who had not yet signed the Declaration of Independence, for the purpose of explaining to them the commands I had receive from Her Majesty the Queen, and of laying before them the copy of a Treaty which I had to propose for their consideration.

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Accordingly, a vast number of Chiefs, with a multitude of followers, crowded in from every quarter, and at 12 this day they assembled under the spacious tents, decorated with flags, which had been previously erected at Waitangi by the direction of Captain Niaz, of this ship.

And so on with several other despatches of Lieutenant-Governor Hobson to His Excellency Sir George Gipps, and also to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

With the foregoing remarks and extracts from Parliamentary documents, we leave these sheets to the scrutiny of all interested inquirers. However curious they may appear now, they will become much more so as time rolls on; and whatever may be the opinions of the present or future generations as to the policy adopted in 1840, it is certain that, without some such Agreement between the two races as was determined by "The Treaty of Waitangi," the Queen's authority and government would never have been so peaceably admitted and established in this country.

H. Hanson Turton.