Waitangi Day - A Day For Togetherness

"We don't think enough of our "national" day to make it a weekday holiday."

In actuality though it is a day full of angst! It is a day of protest and introspection and self-examination. For some years, we were even unsure whether it should be called NZ Day or Waitingi Day. If the National Day is to commemorate a Treaty that has become a matter for Tribunals and Court cases, what should we expect? The NZ Herald does not help by its series questioning our flag, which is still relatively popular. It has succeeded in encouraging this Waitangi Day to be a day for argument too. Waitangi too commemorates biculturalism - hardly inclusive of the MULTI-cultural society that we have become.

Yes, the Treaty was signed in the South Island, but Hobson had declared the South Island and Stewart Island annexed to the Colony of New South Wales by virtue of Terra Nullis and Cook's claim of possession before Bunbury had returned from the South Island.

I'm afraid this is historical fact, it isn't nonsense, though there is an awful lot of that talked about the Treaty.

I quote:

By this acceptance of the terms of the treaty, Hobson felt justified in concluding that such action “must be deemed a full and clear recognition of the sovereign-rights of Her Majesty over the northern parts of this land ….” This explains why he signed the treaty as “Consul and Lieutenant Governor” since the cession concerned the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />northern territory only. Thus the treaty signed on 6 February 1840 was but one of many steps in the “progressive acquisition of sovereignty”, for the cession of the whole of New Zealand, as Hobson realised, had to be won by instalments. With this in mind, Hobson was at the Waitemata on 21 February, but sudden illness ruined his plans. He therefore provided certain officials and missionaries with signed copies of the text of the treaty, and commissioned them to secure the signatures of the chiefs in districts hitherto uncanvassed. When, moreover, Major Thomas Bunbury arrived at the Bay of Islands from New South Wales in April 1840, he was sent as far south as Stewart Island in quest of signatures. But before Bunbury had time to return, Hobson forced the issue by proclaiming on 21 May 1840 that, by virtue of the rights and powers ceded to the Crown by the Treaty of Waitangi, the sovereignty of the Queen was established over the whole of the North Island. At the same time he proclaimed the authority of the Queen over the South Island and Stewart Island, on the grounds of discovery. These actions were subsequently approved by the British Government. When Hobson's dispatch of 25 May 1840, with its enclosures, reached London, the proclamations were published in the London Gazette of 2 October. The British title to sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand was then beyond legal question; it was an accomplished fact.

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(http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/W/WaitangiTreatyOf/Preliminaries/en)

What a shame we seem to have lost all that other material during site maintenance. Would you like me to re-post it?

It does seem like you are ashamed of your country for having the constitution it has. Obviously the monarchy become part of the Government in NZ from the time the Treaty of Waitangi was signed . So at what point in NZ;s development do you think that the Monarchy became foreign to government in NZ? Has the British and latterly the NZ monarchy always been foreign? Has non-maori society developed here illegally because Maori were duped and deceived into signing the treaty? Have non-maori settlers and their descendants always been foreigners in NZ? 

Actually republic proclamation day should be on 30 January 2049.