Countdown to the Treaty

Key Players: The Brits

Yesterday’s Newspaper

• How might New Zealand be “rocked constitutionally” by this hearing?

• How might New Zealand’s history and constitutional structure be “built on a fairytale”?

Recap of yesterday’s work• Question 2

• Question 12

• Question 15

• Question 17

Key players and their roles• Sir James Stephen • Head of the Colonial

Office for a quarter of a century, during which he earned the nickname ‘King Stephen’.

• “Stephen, more than any other man, virtually governed the Colonial Empire”.

Sir James Stephen

• A staunch humanitarian, and brother-in-law to William Wilberforce a key leader in the Abolitionist movement.

• Evangelical Christian – with a strong connection to the CMS.

• Shifted colonial policy to protect the civil rights of indigenous peoples

Stephen and New Zealand

• New Zealand was on the backburner at the Colonial Office – they had bigger fish to fry.

So who brought NZ to the fore?

• Edward Gibbon Wakefield

• Colonisation as a commercial venture

• Wanted to solve British social issues by alleviating overcrowding and over-population

Clashes• Wakefield’s scheme got a lot of press• Many officials were apprehensive about

private enterprise turning colonisation into a business.

• Examples from today?

Prophetic words

• Stephen was Wakefield’s worst enemy• Stephen said any assumption of British

sovereignty over New Zealand would “...infallibly issue in the conquest and extermination of the present inhabitants.”

Captain Hobson – Naval Hero• Born 1792 in Ireland• Joined the Navy before

the age of ten!• HMS Rattlesnake

Captain Hobson and the Treaty

• Hobson was first sent to NZ in 1837 where he prepared a report on potential NZ held.

• Sent back again by Lord Normanby (Colonial Secretary – Stephen’s boss)

• To negotiate with Maori and create a framework within which the expected swarm of settlement could be managed.

Hobson’s instructions

• Read the sheet provided – it contains the instructions Lord Normanby gave to Captain Hobson.

• Answer the questions