1865 Native Land Court established
In 1865, the Kingitanga leaders effected a ceasefire in the Waikato and the British Government announced that it would begin to withdraw its forces from New Zealand. In an effort to try to secure peace, successive settler governments passed laws that were intended to give practical effect to some of the promises implied in the Treaty. These included:
- The Native Rights Act 1865, which gave Māori the rights of natural-born British subjects and allowed them to sue and be sued in the Supreme Court;
- The Māori Representation Act 1867, which created the four Māori seats based on adult (male) voting;
- The Native Schools Act 1867, which provided funds for schools in Māori villages, teaching in English and many Māori communities were to embrace the programme eagerly in the 1870s and gift land for schools; and
- The Resident Magistrates Act 1867, which continued the system of salaried Māori Assessors and police and allowed some bicultural application of law in rural areas (a system that was wound down in the 1880s and abolished in 1893).
But the Government persisted with the land confiscations (or forced "cessions"), which gave rise to resistance by Te Kooti and Titokowaru.
Document Actions
Like us on Facebook