Sovereignty

Cretin on a rope

MĀORI RANGATIRA NEVER CEDED SOVEREIGNTY say various parties including the Waitangi Tribunal, law professors at the University of Auckland and VUW, and the protestors who dangled in front of Te Papa's Treaty display yesterday and began defacing it.

Because of the difference between the Treaty and Tiriti, said protestors yesterday, Māori at the various Tiriti signings never agreed to what the English translation claimed. Protestors' spokesperson Haimana Hirini said "the English Treaty of Waitangi text was not a translation because it incorrectly stated that Māori ceded sovereignty."

Mr Hirini thinks he knows better than the many Māori who spoke at the various signings around the country in 1840, who were --apparently -- confused. As were the many who, at Kohimarama twenty years later, reaffirmed their decision to sign. Confused, all of them.

Including the rangatira Maihai who, at the Mangungu hui in the Hokianga, said (in opposing the signing) that he would be agreeing to "Kwini Wikitoria" being "the great chief here." [1] (Which was true.)

And the rangatira Raumati, who supported the signing, who told Hobson, "I say come, come now it is for you to direct us and keep us in order."[2]

Or at the Kaitaia signing, where Chief Nopera Panakareao said the new Kawana would be "a helmsman for our canoe." [3]

Or at Waitangi itself, the first signing, when the day began with opposition from several rangatira, including Tareha, of the Ngatirehia tribe, who objected: "We only are the chiefs, rulers. We will not be ruled over. ... Thou high, and I, Tareha, the great chief of the Ngapuhi tribes, low!" [4] He clearly understood the position proposed. And he signed.

And Kawiti, rangatira of the Ngatihine tribe, who objected initially on the understanding that the Kawana would have the power to regulate, saying in horror, "What! ... even I, Kawiti, must no paddle this way, nor paddle that way, because the Governor said 'No' ..." [5] (He signed.)

Or Te Kemara, a rangatira of the Ngatikawa, who clearly understood that agreement would mean the Kawana having police power: "If thou stayest as Governor, then, perhaps, Te Kemara will be judged and condemned. Yes, indeed, and more than that--even hung by the neck. No, no, no. ... Were all to be on an equality, then, perhaps, Te Kemara would say 'Yes'; but for the Governor to be up and Te Kemara down--Governor high up, up, up, and Te Kemara down low, small, a worm, a crawler--No, no, no." [6]  He too understood that, like Roman governor Pontius Pilate in the New Testament (which had been recently translated into te reo and was enormously popular -- with the word governor transliterated therein as "kawana") the kawanatanga to be exercise, and thus ceded by signatories in Te Tiriti, could mean the power of life and death. (He too signed, but not before confessing that Bishop Pompallier had told him "not to write upon the paper, for if he did he would be made a slave." [7])

But not one of the speakers in any of the meetings recorded, even speaking in opposition, used the term "partnership." And no assurance was given anywhere that chiefs would be "up high" with governor in authority, somehow sharing power. The positions were clear to all. Like Pilate's governorship, Hobson's kawanatanga would mean only the Kawana would be "up."

These rangatira were very far from confused, and several had already seen something of the world beyond these shores. Rewa, chief of the Ngaitawake tribe for example, who also initially object to signing saying that "we," the rangatira, "are the Governor--we, the chiefs in our fathers' land. ... What! this land to become like Port Jackson and all other lands seen [or found] by the English. No, no." [8] (He too signed, after saying that Bishop Pompallier "had striven hard with him not to sign" as well. [9])

It was Tamati Waka Nene who turned the day at that first signing on the morning of February 6th: he "rushed into the tent attended by chiefs and other followers" to give "an address to his countrymen in a strain of fervid and impassioned eloquence..." [10] After damning many of the misbehaving "strangers," "foreigners" and "grog-sellers" who covered the land around Korareka -- "even as the grass and herbage" -- Nene turned to Hobson and concluded: "Do not thou go away from us; remain for us--a father, a judge, a peacemaker. ... Stay though, our friend, our father, our Governor. ... Do not listen to what 'the chiefs of ] Ngapuhi say. Stay thou, our friend, our father, our Governor. "[11]

A friend. A father. A judge. A peacemaker. A Governor with elevated authority above the rangatira, with the power to rule, to regulate, to exercise police power -- with the very power of life and death if necessary.

Many of the speakers, it's true -- too many -- picked up on the idea of the Kawana being a "father." Which was certainly unfortunate, and was not corrected. But a judge. And a peacemaker. That was valuable.

But perhaps it was intended, even so, that the Governor/Kawana only have sovereignty over settlers? Not so, Hobson corrected a rangatira at the Hokianga meeting, who had expressed that view, explaining calmly that "English laws could only be exercised on English soil."[12]

IT MIGHT STILL BE THOUGHT that, perhaps, rangatira remained confused, and were only signing because they thought the "strangers" and "foreigners" would remain in low numbers, and could be ignored. Yet, two decades later, at Kohimarama, while the Kingitanga in the Waikato were expressing violent opposition to the government, and after "tangata Tiriti" now outnumbered tangata whenua in these islands (this point was officially passed in 1858[13]), several of these same signatories were invited to reaffirm their support for Te Tiriti. Which they did, Tamati Waka Nene telling listeners why he had supported the signing so vehemently:

0 people listen: These are my words for ourselves to Speak about the Governor and about the Pakehas. I am not accepting the Pakeha for myself alone but for the whole of us. My desire when Governor Hobson arrived here was to take him as our Governor in order that we might have his protection. Who knows the mind of the Americans or that of the French? Therefore I say let us have the English to protect us. Therefore my friends, do I say, let this Governor be our Governor and this Queen our Queen. Let us accept this Governor, as a Governor for the whole of us. Let me tell you, ye assembled tribes, I have but one Governor. Let this Governor be a King to us. Listen again, ye people! When the Governor came here he brought with him the Word of God by which we live; and it is through the teaching of that Word that we are able to meet together this day under one roof. Therefore I say, I know no King but the Queen [i.e., he rejected the Māori king] and I never shall know any other. I am walking by the side of the Pakeha. Mr. McLean, this is all I have to say. People of the Runanga I have finished.[14]

The putative host for the hui, Paora Tuhaere of Ngati Whatua o Orakei agreed, saying:

Hearken, all ye people to my words! These were my words to the first Governor, to the second Governor and to the third Governor: I want the Laws of England. Hearken, ye people, two things commend themselves to my mind - the Governor and the Queen. For thereby do we, both Pakeha and Maori, reap good. This is my speech. The best riches for us are the Laws of England. [15]

"The Kohimarama Conference had begun with then Governor Gore Browne recalling to those assembled (including more than 100 rangatira from Nga Puhi in the north to Ngai Tahu in the south):

On assuming the Sovereignty of New Zealand Her Majesty extended to her Maori subjects her Royal protection, engaging to defend New Zealand and the Maori people from all aggressions by any foreign power, and imparting to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects; and she confirmed and guaranteed 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 to retain the same in their possession.
    In return for these advantages the Chiefs who signed the Treaty of Waitangi ceded for themselves and their people to Her Majesty the Queen of England absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty which they collectively or individually possessed or might be supposed to exercise or possess.

The astute reader will notice that these are almost exactly the words to which yesterday's protestors expressed such violent objection -- that is  to say, almost a recapitulation of the Treaty terms.

The Conference itself concluded on 10 August 1860 with rangatira gathered there giving unanimous agreement that:

the several Chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen's sovereignty and of the union of the two races ... [16]

It was Apirana Ngata six decades later who reminded Māori that 

The Government placed in the hands of the Queen of England, the sovereignty [mana] and the authority to make laws. ... it made the one law for the Maori and the Pakeha. If you think these things are wrong and bad then blame our ancestors who gave away their rights in the days when they were powerful.

Those ancestors were not stupid. They knew what they were about, and and had a pretty fair idea of what they were promised.

But perhaps they knew less about what they were agreeing to and signing than the geniuses who took power tools yesterday to Te Papa to make their argument.

NOTES:
1. Waitangi Tribunal 2014, p. 380
2. Waitangi Tribunal 2014, p. 383
3. Lindsay Buick, The Treaty of Waitangi, 1914, p. 150
4. W. Colenso, The Authentic and Genuine History of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, 1890 facs., Government Printer, (reprint, 1971, by Caxton Press) p. 24
5. Colenso, p. 22
6. Colenso p. 17
7. Colenso, p. 34
8. Colenso, p. 19
9. Colenso, p. 34

10. Felton Mathew, The Founding of New Zealand: The Journals of Felton Mathew, ed. Rutherford, 1940, (AH & AW Reed for Auckland University College) p. 37
11. Colenso, p. 27
12. Waitangi Tribunal 2014, p. 380

13. "In 1858 [Māori] were estimated at 56,049, of whom 31,667 were males and 24,303 were females." History of New Zealand, Rusden, Vol II. ch. 12. Population of non-Maori was now 59,328. [Stats NZ]

14. Te Karere Maori, July 13th, 1860, p. 15

15. ibid

16. Claudia Orange, in her discussion of the Kohimarama Conference ("possibly the most important gathering of chiefs since Waitangi," p. 77), notes that "sovereignty" was translated in the proceedings as "mana." Ref: 'The Covenant of Kohimarama,' NZ Journal of History, July, 1980, pp74-75

17. Proceedings of the Kohimarama Conference, comprising Nos. 13 to 18 of The Maori Messenger. 

Kawanatanga katoa > tino rangatiratanga

 

"'There’s no doubt that both Māori and Pākehā in 1840 understood tino rangatiratanga to be a bigger deal than kāwanatanga” [says an idiot called Hooton]. However whilst this is undoubtedly the modernist position on how we should interpret the Treaty, the historical evidence suggests something very different.
    "Article One of the Treaty states that the chiefs agreed to 'give absolutely to the Queen of England forever, the complete Government (Kāwanatanga katoa) over their land' ... 
    "[T]hat little word katoa ... is rarely mentioned. But it means complete, all-encompassing, totally, without exception. It’s no wonder [that in 1840] it focussed the minds of the chiefs on the issue of Crown authority. ...
    "Nowhere in the historical records do we find any indication that either the chiefs or the Pākehā protagonists understood anything other than that Kāwanatanga katoa meant the Crown was being established as the pre-eminent governing authority in the land. ...
    "'Te Kawenata Hou' (the 'Māori New Testament') ... would have had significant influence on how the chiefs understood the Treaty. ... In 'Te Kawenata Hou' the term rangatira is a general term for leadership. In contrast kawana is a very specific term used to denote governors who represent the authority of kings. To use [the] example of Pilate – as the kawana (governor) he represented the sovereignty of the Roman empire in Jerusalem. He had the authority to tax and to execute judgement. The local Jewish leaders who wanted Jesus crucified had to get his permission. Those leaders are described in Te Kawenata Hou as rangatira. From this the chiefs at Waitangi would have quickly understood what was being proposed in the Treaty. And it certainly did not involve them retaining 'absolute sovereignty'."

~ Ewen McQueen from his post 'Kāwanatanga katoa was the fundamental question at Waitangi'

When was sovereignty properly established here?

  

So here's a quiz question for you: When did Britain legally acquire sovereignty over the New Zealand isles? (Supplementary questions: What IS sovereignty? And was it EVER ceded by the locals?)

• Was it when Cook first planted his flag in 1760 and 1770?
• Or in 1787, when Captain Phillips was installed as governor of NSW "and adjacent isles"?
• Perhaps in 1813, when NSW Governor Macquarie issued his General Order "purporting to bring the natives of certain Pacific islands, including New Zealand, under the protection of His Majesty" — followed by the appointment here of magistrates in 1814 and 1819?
• Maybe in 1823, when the jurisdiction of Australian courts was extended here to deal with miscreant British subjects?

All this activity reveals there was already a great deal of legalistic British engagement with the place loooong before Hobson landed here for the first time in 1837. (No, not a typo.) But none really convey sovereignty as we understand it, i..e, the exercise of legitimate power by a recognised state. 

In that respect, some argue that 14 January 1840 is the important date, marking the day when NSW Governor Gipps proclaimed the extension of NSW's boundaries to NZ,  English laws applying here for the first time. Or 30 January of that year when Hobson landed and proclaimed himself Lieutenant-Governor.

Even after Hobson re-landed here in January 1840, he and his ship's captain reckoned on the one hand that sovereignty was acquired peacemeal -- the northern parts after the northern signings (Hobson issued a proclamation on 17 Feb 1840 on that basis), and thence from Auckland north after a signing there on 4 March, 1840 ("thus confirming to Her Majesty the Sovereignty of this Island to this Parallel," wrote his ship's captain.)

On the other hand, Hobson also reckoned that "the Treaty which forms the base of all my proceedings was signed at Waitangi on the 6th February 1840 ... This instrument I consider to be de facto the Treaty, and all  the signatures that are subsequently obtained are merely testimonials of adherence to the terms of the original document." 

This looks contradictory. Yet the two views can be easily reconciled: in Hobson's mind, it was not the Treaty that confirmed sovereignty, but his proclamations largely on the basis of those signatures-- the most important being on 21 May 1840 when he proclaimed sovereignty over the whole place (and clumsily claimed the Treaty's signing date to be 5 February).

It's all a bit of a mess.

Many years ago, Auckland University's senior history professor James Rutherford had a crack at answering that question: When exactly did Britain acquire sovereignty over the New Zealand isles?

Turns out there's not exactly a straightforward answer.

Rutherford dismisses all those early dates with ease.

• Cook's flag-planting was never ratified by the British Parliament, and not followed up by occupation.
• Both Phillip and Macquarie probably overstepped themselves here, and once again their declarations were not followed up by immediate occupation.
• The 1823 ordnances only applied to British subjects (and only if caught)
• Gipps himself said his 1840 Proclamation was "only intended to give warning" that Hobson and pens and parchment were on their way to New Zealand, not to suggest he was already ruling here. It was "anticipatory" of sovereignty; it did not establish it.

So when Hobson arrived here in January 1840 to "treat with the Aborigines of New Zealand for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereign authority" he arrived only as Consul, no matter what he read out when he landed. 

He would only legally become Lieutenant-Governor when or if sovereignty could be properly established.

And when was that?

Well, it's complicated because of the confused legal status of the Treaty/Tiriti. As of 1949, when Rutherford was giving his opinion, even the date of 6 February 1840 could not be admitted:

Thus we come to Hobson's proclamations of 21 May 1840. He issued two:

Rutherford:

The first proclamation (a) recites that Hobson was authorised to proclaim sovereignty over the South Island on the grounds of Discovery [although Hobson did not know, on 21 May, that a number of South Island chiefs had signed the Treaty. Their signatures imply that the Treaty applies to the South Island as well as the North Island], and that the North Island had been ceded in sovereignty to Her Majesty. The second (b) recites more fully that by the Treaty of Waitangi the chiefs have ceded all rights and powers of sovereignty to the Queen absolutely and without reservation. 
    Hobson's action in issuing these proclamations is clearly one of the important definitive acts of State for which we are looking. For the first time during the period of transactions under review, an accredited government agent, acting, it may be said, reasonably in accordance with instructions received, proclaims British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand. 
    His action is still subject to the approval of the Crown. 
    In event of such approval being given, it will be reasonable and, I think, correct to date back the acquisition of British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand to this date. ...
    Whereas the first proclamation clearly implies that sovereignty is asserted over the South Island on and as from 21 May 1840, sovereignty over the North Island is specifically asserted 'from and after the Date of the above-mentioned Treaty.' ... 

Hobson regarded the treaty proper as that which was signed at Waitangi on 6 February, the later signatures being merely supplementary. It is doubtful how far such a view can be taken as correct. If accepted, however, it has the effect of dating back the assertion of British sovereignty over the North Island to 6 February 1840.

Alternatively, it is possibly correct to consider that, as the chiefs signed the Treaty, they were recognising the sovereignty of the Queen over their tribal lands and were thereby fulfilling that political condition which H.M. Government had laid down to their consul, Hobson, as a prerequisite to his assertion of British sovereignty, which he could then proclaim at his convenience. 

Which he did.

However, we're still not there yet. (Did I say it was complicated?)

By 21 May around 400 chiefly signatures had been acquired on Hobson's various sheets of parchment, although not all had signed, and not all those signatures were yet in his kitbag. (The mail was awfully slow back then.) He acted quickly, before he was truly ready, because Wakefield's settlers at Port Nicholson were starting to make noises about republicanism.

So two things must at once be admitted, says Rutherford, about Hobson's assertion of sovereignty over the North Island in May 1840: 

(1) that it was premature, in the sense that the process of treaty-making was still incomplete; and (2) that in extending sovereignty over the whole of the North Island, as well as the South, Hobson was probably exceeding both what the strict letter of his instructions authorised, and what the Treaty, even in its finished state in October, warranted.

And then on June 5, in the South Island, having acquired several chiefly signatures, but spying many foreign vessels sunning themselves in Port Underwood, claimed the South Island on the basis of cession, and Stewart Island (being empty) on the basis of discovery. (Adding nothing to what Hobson had already claimed on 21 May but at least bolstering it.)

But as Rutherford points out, "Sovereignty could, in the last resort, be established only by the sanction of the Crown, and the form that Crown sanction took was approval of the terms of Hobson's May proclamations. ... The essential political condition of the assertion of British sovereignty was the 'free and intelligent' consent thereto of the Maori chiefs of the North Island. This was obtained in a considerable measure by means of the Treaty of Waitangi (February-October 1840)."

And thus by October 1840 the British Government could be sufficiently satisfied that its instructions to Hobson had been successfully carried out, and was able to give official approval. And so, Rutherford concludes, 

Not until they were satisfied that there was a general measure of native consent to British sovereignty did the British Government take any definitive legal step to assert or confirm sovereignty. Prior to the formal approval of 2 October of Hobson's May proclamations, all their actions were of a  preparatory sort. 
    The decision to assert sovereignty was based (i) upon the political facts that Hobson had secured a considerable measure of native consent by the Treaty; (il) in respect of the South Island and Stewart Island, partly upon native consent, partly upon rights of discovery, and partly on the fact of settlement; and (iii) in the North Island, in so far as native consent was withheld, upon rights of settlement or occupation. 
.   The Treaty of Waitangi is not recognisable as a treaty in international law, and is not part of municipal law; therefore the legal position is that New Zealand was acquired by an act of State, and falls in the category of colonies acquired by occupation. The definitive acts of State are Hobson's proclamations of 21 May 1840, and H.M. Government's approval of 2 October 1840.

Maybe we should make 2 October the National Day?

Treaty Principles: Still much the same after all these years?

"New Zealanders are involved at the moment in a somewhat introspective examination of what their heritage means to them," said Geoffrey Palmer. "To outsiders the process must seem somewhat curious. Yet it is not inappropriate in the 150th year after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi."

What's that? ... 150 years?  ...when did he say that?

He said it in 1989, thirty-five years ago, as Attorney-General -- explaining to an audience of legal academics what he reckoned to be the government's five Treaty Principles. 

Thirty-five years ago! And we're still engaged in that same introspective examination.

It's instructive to compare Geoffrey's five principles -- as well as his argument for them and why they were thought necessary -- which is worth reading -- with those contained in this week's leaked Treaty Principles Bill.

The 3 principles in what's said to be the proposed Treaty Principles Bill are:

1. A Governance principle: "the New Zealand Government has the right to govern all New Zealanders"
2. A Rangatiratanga principle: ""the New Zealand Government will honour all New Zealanders in the chieftainship of their land and all their property"
3. An Equality Principle: "all New Zealanders are equal under the law, with the same rights and duties"

Curiously, despite all the tedious scholarship since and the fumarole of huffing and puffing this week, those principles aren't a million miles from those espoused by Geoffrey Palmer's Government back in 1989, in response to recent decisions from the Court of Appeal and the Waitangi Tribunal:

In summary .... the Crown has identified five principles which will guide its activity in dealing with issues which arise out of the Treaty of Waitangi:

The Kawanatanga Principle [which] recognises the right of the Government to govern and to make laws.

The Rangatiratanga Principle[which]  recognises the right of iwi to organise as iwi and, under law, to control the resources they own.

The Principle of Equality [which] recognises that all New Zealanders are equal before the law.

The Principle of Reasonable Co-operation [which] recognises that both government and iwi are obliged to accord each other reasonable co-operation on major issues of common concern.

The Principle of Redress [which] acknowledges that the Government is responsible for providing effective processes for the resolution of grievances in the expectation that reconciliation can occur. This principle makes it clear to New Zealanders that the system of grievance resolution will be orderly, fair, and effective. We will take the steps necessary to ensure that justice is done and seen to be done.

I know that as the whole picture of this complex matter becomes clear to New Zealand the country will see that this is an issue that can be dealt with calmly and rationally. Moreover they will see that there are no hidden traps. That this is a process from which we can all emerge winners.

I make no judgement here on the value or otherwise of Palmer's Principles. 

I simply observe that while history doesn't always repeat, it does sometimes rhyme.

The Doctrine of Discovery: Not relevant to NZ

 

Many recent commentators have begun insisting that the Doctrine of Discovery is, as Paul Moon summarises, "an especially pernicious manifesto of colonisation that emerged originally from the bowels of the Vatican, and that subsequently propelled Britain’s involvement in New Zealand from the eighteenth century. And according to some of its proponents, the Doctrine has become a source of ongoing racism and an impediment to indigenous rights in New Zealand."

Among those claiming this are such luminaries as Mere Berryman, legal scholars Jacinta Ruru and Robert Miller, Margaret Mutu, and the Human Rights Commission —who express "anxiety" over the damage that the so-called Doctrine of Discovery has inflicted on the country, both culturally and constitutionally.

Moon mentions their arguments only to demolish them. The Doctrine, he explains, starts with the Pope, who was hardly an authority on which the British Colonial Office would rely:

The ‘doctrine’ itself derives from a sentence contained in a Papal Bull issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI. The Bull’s purpose was to support Spain’s wish to assert exclusive rights over certain territories discovered by Christopher Columbus the previous year. ... However, the 1493 Papal Bull did not influence intervention in the New World by Catholic nations so much as respond to incursions that were already well underway. It was descriptive of what was already taking place, rather prescriptive in terms of colonial policy and ideology. Recent scholarship on the Bull confirms that the Vatican exercised very little authority over the foreign policy of Catholic states at this time.

So even in Catholic states the Pope's Bull held little sway. 

So what of Protestant Britain? 

And what of its claim over New Zealand? Isn't it true that both James Cook in 1769 and William Hobson in 1840 proclaim sovereignty here by virtue of the Doctrine of Discovery?

Well yes, but only to a point. Cook did have a set of secret instructions from the Admiralty encouraging him to claim portions of uninhabited lands he might encounter. True enough. And he did plant the flag here and salute it. But as Moon points out he was only permitted to claim territory by right of discovery "'if you find the country uninhabited'. And if inhabited, only to assert sovereignty "with the consent of the natives." Moreover, Moon continues, "Cook conceded in his confidential journal on 31 March 1770, as he was departing New Zealand, that it had never been British policy to establish New Zealand as a British settlement. Such evidence directly contradicts the suggestion that Britain was looking to seize land in New Zealand and subjugate its occupants."

Seems clear.

As to Hobson, his May 1840 Proclamation asserted sovereignty over the lower North Island and the whole of the South Island "on the grounds of Discovery." So, a fair cop?

No, says Moon. 

By May 1840, Hobson was still unaware how many chiefs had signed the Treaty, and was becoming increasingly apprehensive about the threat that the New Zealand Company posed to his rule and the colony’s stability. This Proclamation was issued as a pre-emptive measure against the Company, and not part of any attempt to ‘claim’ the South Island by relying on the Doctrine of Discovery. Contemporaneous correspondence makes this indisputable, but as further evidence, Hobson explicitly continued to seek consent from South Island chiefs to the Treaty (which would have been redundant if he was applying the Doctrine of Discovery), and by June 1840, a total of 56 chiefs from the South Island had signed the Treaty. Moreover, the Treaty did not give (and Hobson’s administration never claimed) control either over any Māori land in the South Island or over its indigenous inhabitants. So by every measure, the Doctrine of Discovery did not apply to Britain’s colonisation of New Zealand through this Proclamation.

Seems very clear.

Furthermore, 

There is no mention of the Doctrine of Discovery in any British Government document relating to New Zealand’s colonisation – neither directly nor implicitly – and neither did its precepts form part of British policy in this period.
    In the approximately two years leading up to New Zealand’s cession of sovereignty in 1840 via the Treaty, British policy on the territory was developed on principles that contravene the central tenets of the Doctrine of Discovery. This is especially important because it negates the argument that somehow, the general sentiment of the Doctrine embedded itself in British colonial policy in the nineteenth century as a precursor to New Zealand’s colonisation.

Moon calls the idea "a conspiracy theory" to which alleged academics have now become addicted, that "betrays among its advocates an extraordinarily uncritical and impoverished understanding of history." 

Ouch!