11 May Sovereignty was never ceded – iwi (The New Zealand Herald)
The country’s largest tribe, Ngapuhi, says it never gave up sovereignty to the Crown – the idea that its chiefs surrendered their mana to Queen Victoria defies belief, the Waitangi Tribunal was told yesterday. Northern leader Erima Henare’s opening remarks at the inquiry – where the 122,000-strong tribe will advance its belief that sovereignty was never ceded when it signed the treaty – were based on the martial culture of the time. Mr. Henare said chiefs rose to power through merit by proving themselves in war. Every single one present in 1840 at the signing of the Treaty was a battle-hardened warrior… go to article