Filosofía de los valores

When the representatives of the United States created the Treaty of Hopewell between the United States and the Cherokee, the treaty was classed as an international agreement. This was because the Cherokee were perceived as a distinct, independent, political people.123 Lindsay Cox argues that it was significant that the word ‘treaty’ was used as it showed that the situation was international124 _{and that the parties involved were distinct and sovereign}

political entities whose rights fell to be regulated by agreement.125

Accrding to Cox, 'in 1840 we can at least assume that rangatira and the

iwi/hapu for whom they stood held legal title and presumed to exercise both

123 _{Lindsay Cox, “Kotahitanga,” 27.} 124 _Ibid.

125 _{J. Williams, Towards a Treaty Driven Society: New Perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi (Wellington: New}

33 legislative and judicial functions of government.'126 _{For Tuwharetoa this is}

captured in the words of Mananui Te Heuheu. When Jerningham Wakefield asked permission to climb Tongariro he said:

I am king here, as my fathers before me, and as King George and his fathers have been over your country…. You white people are numerous and strong; you can crush us if you choose, and take possession of that which we will not yield; but here is my right arm, and should thousands of you come, you must make me a slave or kill me before I will give up my

authority or my land…Do not bring many white people into the

interior, who may encroach on our possessions till we become their servants.[sic]127

This statement by Mananui128 _{highlights how rangatira saw themselves, in that}

they had complete control and exercised it.

On the 6th _{of February 1840 when Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed at Waitangi}

in the Bay of Islands three-noted rangatira from Ngati Tuwharetoa are known

to have been present. They were: Pohipi Tukairangi from Ngati Rauhoto and Ngati Kurapoto, Iwikau Te Heuheu from Ngati Turumakina, and Te Korohiko

from Ngati Tutemohuta and Ngati Te Rangiita.129 At the main ceremony, none

of them signed Te Tiriti. It was done three days later when Iwikau and Te Korohiko were persuaded to do so by Reverend Henry Williams. The main

purpose of the rangatira from Tuwharetoa for being in Nga Puhi was to secure

missionaries for the Taupo area.130 Pohipi did not sign, as his father Te Paahi

126 _{Lindsay Cox, “Kotahitanga,” 27-28.}

127 _{Angela Ballara, "Tribal Landscape Overview: C1800-1900 in the Taupo, Rotorua, Kaingaroa, and the National Park}

Inquiry Districts" (research report prepared for the Waitangi Tribunal, Wellington, 2004), 433.

128 _{First names will be used in this analysis for people of Maori Descent when the name is consistently used. This is to}

reflect how they are recorded in whakapapa.

129 _{Grace, “Tuwharetoa,” 437; Crown Forestry Rental Trust, "Te Taumarumarutanga o Ngati Tuwharetoa" (research}

report prepared for the Waitangi Tribunal National Park Inquiry, Wellington, 2006), 277-278; Wall et al., “Ngati Tutemohuta,” 50.

34 was still alive.131 _{Te Korohiko and Iwikau knew they had no mana to do so for}

their respective hapu and Ngati Tuwharetoa. Iwikau commented:

…Me he mea koina te take, he whakaae kia eke mai te mana o Kuini Wikitoria ki runga ki a tatou. Ko te tangata e tika ana te kupu mo te whakaae, mo te whakakore, ko taku tuakana ko [Mananui] Te Heuheu; kei Taupo [ia]…[sic]132

It appears from Tureiti Te Heuheu’s dictation that Iwikau was encouraged to sign by Te Korohiko as both were very interested in receiving a red blanket.133

Upon arriving back in Tuwharetoa, Mananui was furious and stated:

E hara i te hanga to korua nei karoke! E ki! E ki! Ma korua rawe e uta mai i te mana o tena wahine ki runga ki a Te Heuheu. Kahore au e whakaae ki te mana o tetahi iwi ke. Kia eke mai ki runga tenei motu.[sic]134

He ordered Iwikau and Te Korohiko to give the blankets back and to take their

names off the document. Mananui made sure Tuwharetoa went to the hui held

in Ohinemutu at Papa i o Uru. When he stood to speak, he expressed his thoughts on the idea of a Treaty and the ceding of Tuwharetoa’s sovereignty by saying:

131 _{Perry Fletcher (Local Archaeologist/ Historian) in interview with author 1 November, 2009.}

132 _{Elsdon Best Papers, MS-Papers-0072-036, “Dictated by Tureiti Te Heuheu 26-5-1913,” Alexander Turnbull Library.}

Chris Winitana of Tuwharetoa argues that, “It is a humble heart indeed that dares translate and explain the words of old, the words of on’s ancestor[s]. Such undertalings are fraught with despair, for who can really know the politics of the time, the nuances of the people, the thoughts and minds of the composer [/writer.] (Alex Frame, Grey and iwikau: A Jouney into Custom (Wellington: VUP,2002), 87. As such, text that are found in Te Reo will be used in the language of origin.

133 _{Best Papers, MS-Papers-0072-036, “Dictated by Tureiti Te Heuheu 26-5-1913,” Alexander Turnbull Library.; These}

are the, “paraekete whero” referenced in the waiata, “ Te Waiata mo Te Matenga” refer to page 21 of this thesis.

134 _{Ibid; The word “karoke” appears to be written as “koroke” in the manuscript however Tuwharetoa kaumatua}

maintain it is karoke as in the meaning something they had no authority to do. (Matiu Pitiroi, Kaumatua Advice Session, 15/10/09).

35

Hau wahine e hoki i te hau o Tawhaki…E kore rawe au e whakaae ki te mana o tera wahine[,] iwi ke [,] kia eke mai ki runga ki enei motu….Ma tenei waka ma Te Arawa, kaua e whakaae, ka riro tatou hei taurekareka ma te wahine.135

From those words Te Arawa waka did not sign the treaty. Neither did those who were influenced by Tupaea, from Ngai Te Rangi, after hearing of Mananui’s response.136

Benedict Kingsbury comments that, 'the Treaty was a valid international treaty of cession, and the parties in 1840 were recognised as having the necessary legal capacity to enter into such a treaty.'137 Since Tuwharetoa did not sign—or those that did, did not have the authority to do so—this would mean in theory that we remain a sovereign nation. It must be said that although Iwikau did sign he later stated that he regretted signing, as the Crown never lived up to its promises.138 _{Even if Iwikau was recognised as being the authority for}

Tuwharetoa to sign, it is highly likely that he would have withdrawn from this treaty based on his later comments. In addition to this Iwikau only took the position, left by Mananui, in a custodial capacity.139

A fundamental key concept that arises out of Te Tiriti is that of tino rangatiratanga, more broadly defined in modern terms as self-determination. It

is argued by Tuwharetoa kaumatua that ‘rangatiratanga’ is not something we

as Tuwharetoa could have understood in terms of Te Tiriti as it was never a

word in Tuwharetoa’s vocabulary. They argue that the only word we could have understood is 'mana'.140 _{In addition to this, according to Hugh Kawharu’s}

translation of Te Tiriti the Te Reo copy does not match the English version. So

135 _Ibid. 136 _Ibid.

137 _{Benedict Kingsbury, “The Treaty of Waitangi: Some International Law Perspectives,” in Waitangi: Maori & Pakeha}

Perspectives of the Treaty of Waitangi, ed. Hugh Kawharu (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1989).

138 _{CFRT, “Te Taumarumarutanga o Ngati Tuwharetoa,” 296.} 139 _{Refer to CFRT, “Te Taumarumarutanga o Ngati Tuwharetoa,” 297.}

36 while the British wanted to secure sovereignty, which is ‘mana motuhake’, they instead used the phrase 'kawanatanga' which translates to ‘governorship’.141

Given these arguments, it would be hard for Tuwharetoa to accept the arguments put forward by Kingsbury that the Crown’s treaty involved Maori ceding sovereignty. This guaranteed the Crown only governorship, as modern international law only recognises the indigenous language version under

contra proferentem.142 However, over time, in the later part of the 19th century the Crown ignored Tuwharetoa’s claims and continued to usurp that sovereignty despite the objections from Te Arawa and Tuwharetoa.