Governor FitzRoy was set up to fail

Without the disputed land sales of the 1850s and subsequent Land Wars and resultant land confiscations of the 1860s, New Zealand would have been a very different place today.

While it is tempting but futile to speculate on what modern New Zealand society would be like without that huge upheaval in our history, some things are almost certain: thousands of Maori would not have been dispossessed of their lands, the transition to a Britishstyle social and political structure would have been less bloody and modern New Zealand would not have been faced with the huge cost of Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

The actions, or inactions, of one man played a significant role in laying the foundations for the Land Wars and the 150 years or more of social dispute and acrimony that followed.

He was the second governor of New Zealand, Robert FitzRoy, who was given the nearly impossible task of managing that early transition but was denied even the most basic of resources to do it with. He also seems to have lacked the initiative or courage to tell the British Colonial Office what he needed.

The potential for major land disputes between Maori and idealistic British speculators had been predicted several years prior to the Treaty of Waitangi and became a reality with the arrival of the Wakefield family’s New Zealand Company land buyers and settlers. The company’s philosophy was to buy land as cheaply as possible and sell it to immigrant settlers at a profit to fund the development of their new colony.

The British Government adopted exactly the same system and included the ‘‘right of pre-emption’’ in the second clause of the Treaty of Waitangi. This clause told Maori they did not have to part with anything they owned and only the British Government could buy land they willingly wanted to sell. To add to the annoyance of the New Zealand Company, the first governor, Captain William Hobson, launched a review of all land sales prior to the establishment of British law.

He subsequently found that many sales had been unfair and improper and disallowed them.

Before he could complete the reviews, Hobson died of a stroke in 1842 and a year later FitzRoy was appointed to replace him.

By this time, the new colony was all but bankrupt, and there had been a tragic gun fight at Wairau in Marlborough between the New Zealand Company and Te Rauparaha. War was also brewing in the far north between opposing factions of Nga Puhi and unscrupulous European traders.

With such serious issues to deal with, it is hard to understand the refusal of the British Government and even the authorities in New South Wales to offer him any real assistance. Without money or an army, he was told to rely upon ‘‘moral suasion’’ to resolve the problems.

Following a lengthy enquiry into the Wairau gunfight, FitzRoy exonerated Te Rauparaha. He said he was not certain that the New Zealand Company had acquired the land legitimately. Without doubt he also realised that, without a military force, it would be impossible to take any other course of action.

In spite of these difficulties, FitzRoy displayed an unusually good understanding of the differences between British and Maori culture and introduced the Native Exemption Ordinance of 1844. This was a briefly successful attempt at a law enforcement system which took account of Maori custom. Rather than suffer culturally unacceptable imprisonment, Maori who had committed offences were to pay compensation.

Chiefs were also given an important role in settling disputes.

His other important decision, however, set New Zealand on an unstoppable course to war 20 years later. Although the Crown had taken a monopoly in purchasing Maori land, he had no money and was unable to purchase any for resale to settlers. This resulted in settler and Maori dissatisfaction and an increasingly dire economic situation.

FitzRoy’s solution was to allow Maori sellers to deal directly with settlers, many of whom he appointed as temporary Crown land agents to give some semblance of propriety.

The Colonial Office in London disapproved but still refused to allow him the funds to operate with.

When war finally erupted in the north of New Zealand, FitzRoy was recalled to Britain in May 1845, where he committed suicide 20 years later.