'Access to the Treaty', New Zealand Listener, 5 February, 1990

The most studied and least understood document in New Zealand’s history will be very much in the news in 1990. On a personal level, each of us will need to decide whether to commemorate, celebrate or boycott the 150th anniversary of its signing. We have long needed a simple reference book to answer those teasing questions about the Treaty of Waitangi. A few schools and homes may well still have the booklet written by Ruth Ross for the Department of Education, but academic research has moved on since then. Terrific timing, then, for the publication of this book – a modified version of the more academic work by the same author.

The book is user-friendly. The language is simple enough to be understood readily by secondary-school students from at least the fifth form. A variety of presentation techniques, including boxed sections of background information, make the text more vital. The excellent black and white historical photographs are effectively integrated with the text. Charts and maps help the reader assimilate more detailed information. One chart, for instance, shows where the principal participants were placed on the day of the signing. In spite of its ‘frozen in time’ quality, many readers will find this informative.

The book provides useful historical background to the issues before the Waitangi Tribunal today. The author outlines the traditional importance of sea and fresh-water fishing to Maori communities. This is perhaps the most significant difference between Maori and Pakeha perceptions of the Treaty today. The concept of private ownership of ‘gardens in the sea’ is as foreign to Pakeha culture as the complete alienation of land in exchange for money was to Maori culture.

Detailed discussion of the social context of Pakeha and Maori attitudes to the Treaty, however, is missing from this book. As an outline of events and description of attitudes to the Treaty it is very useful, but many students and other readers will need to look elsewhere for an explanation of the origin of those attitudes. The differences between an oral culture and one where official documents formed the basis of the legal system are barely discussed. Many teachers may also be disappointed that the Waitangi Tribunal receives relatively cursory treatment.

But these are minor quibbles. We have only just begun to examine the principles of equality between two major cultures in our society. The Story of a Treaty will certainly give a much wider audience a better understanding of one of the most significant events in our history. Every secondary school should purchase a class set and every home should have a copy.