Twisting the Treaty, a book by John Robinson, Bruce Moon, David Round, Mike Butler, Hugh Barr and Peter Cresswell

This is probably the most important book published in recent times as it shows how in 27 years the Treaty of Waitangi has been reinterpreted, the "partnership" myth created, tribal corporations set up, public assets transferred to those corporations which are now on the brink of securing a special place in a new, treaty based, written constitution.
The treaty was Britain's reluctant response to pleas by Maori chiefs to rescue the tribes from a culture of cannibalism, slavery and inter-tribal warfare that had wiped out about a third of their race by 1840.
The treaty was a simple and straightforward agreement by which the chiefs agreed to pass the sovereignty of New Zealand to Queen Victoria in return for protection and rights as British subjects as well as being guaranteed possession of whatever lands they were currently holding by long use, conquest or otherwise. By the treaty every Maori, including the slaves, gained a prize unheard of for native people at that time: full and equal citizenship of the world's largest and most benign empire.
https://trosspublishing.co.nz/publication/twisting-the-treaty

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