Why Was a Treaty Needed?

In 1830 there were 100,000 Māori and around 200 Europeans living in New Zealand. The behaviour of the Whalers, the Missionaries’ desire to help protect Māori rights and the Musket Wars were reasons that a treaty was needed. The Declaration of Independence was another contributing factor to the need for a treaty

 One of the reasons that a treaty was needed was the lawless behaviour of some British Settlers like Whalers. Whalers are people who could be in ships for months because of the hunting of whales. The Whalers who came to New Zealand arrived in Kororarika or Russell. When Whalers got to shore they would meet hundreds of others and because of this, they would end up drinking a huge amount of alcohol. Drinking alcohol causes trouble as the Whalers usually end up fighting. Not only did drinking and fighting occur when the Whalers got to shore but prostitution and trading with the Māori also happened. This issue contributed to the need for a treaty because the Whalers did not know how to behave and in order to fix some sort of law or agreement to make them act to how they are supposed to behave.

Another reason that a treaty was needed was to protect Māori rights. One group that felt strongly about this was the missionaries. The missionaries created a good relationship with Māori and this made a big influence on the Māori signing the treaty. Their relationship was so good that they even taught the Māori how to read and write in their own language. The missionaries were also concerned about the number of Māori being killed or enslaved. They were also worried about the behaviour of the Pakeha sailors. The large land sales also worried them as they did not know how this would impact the Māori. The missionaries were a big factor of signing the treaty because the way they treated and worried about the Māori were a huge influence. 

  Another reason that a treaty was needed was because of the Musket Wars. The Musket Wars started around the turn of the 19th century and over 20,000 people were killed during this. The first tribe to get Muskets were the northern tribe Ngapuhi. They had to trade in large quantities of flax and food in order to get these powerful weapons. But the musket trade was the cause of why the Māori population shifted and power had changed. Trading tied Māori to a new world they had never experienced before. A treaty could have helped during the Musket Wars as it would have set laws that may have prevented the killing of over 20,000 people.

The final reason that a treaty was needed was the existence of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was signed on October 20th 1935. There were 4 main purposes to the Declaration of Independence which was that Māori used this to declare themselves to have mana over the country, New Zealand was an independent country under the authority of the United Tribes of New Zealand, to frame laws and regulations of the country and lastly, it agreed to say thanks to the king and to ask him to act as their protector should their authority end for any reason. The existence of the Declaration of Independence itself contributed to the need for a treaty because of its different purposes.

   This essay has demonstrated that the lawless behaviours of the British Whalers, the Missionaries’ need to protect Māori rights, the Musket Wars, and the existence of the Declaration of Independence was the reason why a treaty was needed. Consequences were stated all over this essay, for example, Māori was overpowered by the Europeans and the weapon brought in by the Europeans were the reason why Māori turned against each other. My reflection from this is that if the Europeans and British did not arrive in New Zealand, then New Zealand wouldn’t have a reason for a need of a treaty. These events were the reason why New Zealand is what it is now.