Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

(No. 5.) — Captain W. C. Symonds to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary

(No. 5.)
Captain W. C. Symonds to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.

Bay of Islands, 12th May 1840.

Sir,—

I have the honour to submit to you, for the information of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, a report) of my proceedings in the Manukau and Waikato districts in my late mission to page 27obtain the adherence of the principal chiefs on the west coast of this Island to the Waitangi Treaty, and herewith transmit to you a copy of the Treaty, signed by upwards of forty of the most influential chief of that part of the country.

On the receipt of your letter, dated 13th March, I immediately assembled as many of the Manukau chiefs as could be collected on a short notice, and with the assistance of Mr. Hamlin, a catechist in the Church Mission, explained to them the views of Her Majesty's Government and solicited their signatures to the Treaty. Rewa, one cheaf of the Bay of Islands, and the principal follower of the Roman Catholic bishop, was present and exerted all his influence against me; in consequence of which all I effected was to dispel many of the doubts which his misrepresentations had created in the minds of all. At a second meeting, however where many of the Waikato and some of the Tauranga and Taupo chiefs also attended – having come from the southward in the interval between the two meetings – I obtained some signatures and the promise of others from some of the most influential chiefs, who yet had to overcome a feeling of pique at their having been left among the last whose concurrence in the Treaty had been demanded, and among these to wherewhere who is the leading chief or king of Waikato.

I left Manukan on the 3rd April intending to proceed to Taranki taking Waikato, the Waipa and several western harbours in my way. I hauled my boats across the isthmus which divides the Manukau from the waters of the Waikato—a distance of 2,260 yards By measurement – and proceeded down the Awaroa to the Church Mission station at the Waikato Heads, where I was received by the Rev. R. Maunsell with the almost attention. Mr. Maunsell had been furnished with a copy of the Treaty, and had obtained many signatures at a meeting which he had holden in the middle of March for Missionary purposes. On my arrival great excitement prevailed amongst the Natives yet about the Settlement, owing to the report which had reached them of presents having been given by the Government to all to the northward who had subscribed to the Treaty, and they were in the act of remon strating very angrily with Mr. Maunsell on his having kept them in the dark on the subject, demanding the paper to destroy it. My coming was most opportune. I soon allayed the excitement and distributed a few presents, promising the like to all others who had signed their names. Had I been a day later Mr. Mannsell's influence would have been lost, to the great detriment of the advancement of his Missionary labours. On examination of the signatures obtained by Mr. Maunsell I found that, with the exception of very few, all the leading men of the country as far a Mokau had acknowledged the sovereignty of Her Majesty. These few belonged to the neighbourhood of Aoeta and Kawhia wherefore I determined on proceeding myself no further, being well as assured of the disposition on the part of the Wesleyan Mission to support the Government by ever exertion in its power. And I sent a letter, whereof the accompanying is copy, to the Rev, John Whiteley, claiming his assistance in procuring the remaining names.

I returned to Manukan on the 18th Aprils where I obtained the adherence of seven other chiefs to the Treaty, Te Where and several others having objected though they manifested no illwill to the Government. This I attribute partly to the bishop's influence, partly to; the extreme pride of the Native chiefs, and in great measure to my being alone and unable to make that display and parade which exerts such influence on the minds of savages, I labored also under the disadvantage of the want of Mr. Hamlin's services, who was absent on his Missionary dutnies.

I should not fail to mention that, in personal communication with several chiefs who affixed their signatures to the Treaty, I found the best dispositionn disposition towards. Her Majesty Government but at the same time their expectations are raised very high as to the immediate benefits which they are to derive from its establishment in their country; and, if I might presume to offer an opinion. I would suggest that, in order that they might not be disappointed, measures might be adopted to put the chiefs in communication with the Government officers to make arrangements for the purchasing of land, &c.

I have, &c

W C Symonds

The Colonial Secretary, &c