Julian Batchelor discusses Hon. Sor Apirana Ngata and the Significance of the Treaty of Waitangi

Today the Treaty of Waitangi is being reinterpreted and used to justify apartheid rebranded as co-government.

Julian Batchelor is roaming the country talking about the Treaty of Waitangi. During his STOP Co-Government Tour, he has been talking about Sir Apirana Ngata who is one of Maoridom's greatest leaders and a prominent New Zealand Statesman who dedicated his life to reforming the social and economic conditions of the Māori.

Sir Apirana Ngata was knighted in 1927 in recognition of hos services to Māori communities and for his efforts as Chief Recruiting Officer during the First World War. His portrait features on the New Zealand fifty-dollar banknote.

The Māori did not have any Government when the European settlers arrived. The Māori did not have a system of Government which could make laws to govern all of the People in New Zealand. At the time of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Māori tribes were fighting fiercely among themselves.

The signing of the Treaty was "to protect their just Rights and property and to secure to them the enjoyment of Peace and Good Order." These are the words which describe the reason for the Treaty of Waitangi, the reason to set up a government in New Zealand, which is to "to protect their just Rights and property and to secure to them the enjoyment of Peace and Good Order...to avert the evil consequences to the Māori people and the Europeans living without laws." The intention of the Treaty was to make laws, good laws for the Nation.

The Treaty protects property Rights by the permeant establishment of titles to the land and having the provision for the CROWN to purchase this property. "The Treaty guarantees to the Māori people their rights and possessions to their lands, their forests and their fisheries." While British law states that the sea from high water mark to a point three miles out belongs to the CROWN. The mudflats, the pipi beds, the oyster rocks and the fishing grounds are all below the high-water mark.

In the third article of the Treaty is says "In consideration thereof, Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her Royal Protection and imparts to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects." According to the British code of Law adopted as the law under this provision of the Treaty, when crimes were committed against people and property, people faced the arm of the law. This articles states that the Māori and the Pakeha are equal before the Law, that is, they are to share the same rights and privileges of British subjects. British Law was the benefit that the Queen gave to the Māori through the Treaty. Let's uphold the Treaty of Waitangi, and it be exercised to the very end, that we impart to the Māori "all the rights and privileges of British subjects." The Treaty made the one law for the Māori and the Pakeha.