New Zealand Company - The Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi

The New Zealand Company had long expected intervention by the British Government in its activities in New Zealand, and this finally occurred following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840. The treaty transferred sovereignty from the Māori to the British Crown, while under its so-called pre-emption clause, Māori were prohibited from selling land to anyone but the Government and its agents. Lieutenant-Governor Hobson immediately froze all land sales and declared all existing purchases invalid pending investigation. The treaty put the New Zealand Company in a very difficult position. They did not have enough land to satisfy the arriving settlers and they could no longer legally sell the land they claimed they owned.

The British authorities progressively eased restrictions on land sales after an agreement at the end of the year between the Company and Colonial Secretary Lord John Russell, which provided for land purchases by the company from the Crown at a discount price, and a charter to buy and sell land under government supervision. Money raised by the government from sales to the Company would be spent on assisting migration to New Zealand. The agreement was hailed by the Company as "all that we could desire ... our Company is really to be the agent of the state for colonizing NZ." The Government waived its right of pre-emption in the Wellington region, Wanganui and New Plymouth in September 1841.

Hobson sent his Colonial Secretary, Willoughby Shortland, and some soldiers, to Port Nicholson (Wellington) to raise the Union flag and put an end to what his administration perceived as a challenge to British sovereignty – a "colonial council", complete with primitive legal institutions, headed by Wakefield and Smith. Hobson considered the colonists were creating a "republic" and regarded the council's activities as treason.