Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 7, 2016 13:19:04 GMT 12
Lets celebrate 'New Zealand Day'
LET’S HAVE A “NEW ZEALAND DAY” I’d like to see Winston Peters put up a Private Member’s Bill to provide for statutory recognition of 3 May as “New Zealand Day” for the reasons set out below.
The Treaty of Waitangi was no more than a simple, moral and practical way of allowing Britain to obtain sovereignty over all the Islands of New Zealand, to unite all the people of New Zealand (which included the Europeans already here as well as the settlers to come) under one flag and one law, and to ensure the survival of Tangata Maori and the preservation of their lands.
Once the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, all Maori (including the chiefs) became British subjects, rendering it analogous to a used table napkin after a meal, and other than as a historical artefact, about as important.
As Governor Hobson unequivocally stated as he shook the hand of each chief on the lawn at Waitangi: “He iwi tahi tatou” (“Now we are one people”).
Britain obtained sovereignty over the North Island by Treaty and over the South Island by Proclamation of Discovery on 21 May 1840. The Proclamation made New Zealand a dependency of New South Wales as an interim measure.
Five months after Britain declared sovereignty over all the Islands of New Zealand, Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent dated 16 November 1840 superseded the Treaty and the Proclamation, and was enacted into law on 3 May 1841. The Royal Charter/Letters Patent was Our True Founding Document and First Constitution.
This separated New Zealand from New South Wales, turned New Zealand into a stand-alone British Colony with its own Governor and Constitution, and empowered a legal government to make laws with courts and judges to enforce those laws, all under the watchful eye of Great Britain. In 1947 we became a Sovereign Nation when we adopted the Statute of Westminster.
It is not the Treaty of Waitangi, but Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent, that is our First Constitution and True Founding Document. It lies in the Constitution Room at Archives New Zealand in Wellington gathering dust.
Forget Waitangi Day, that’s not our day. Real New Zealanders of all races will instead have the alternative statutory holiday of “New Zealand Day,” 3 May, to celebrate as our true national day.