Ka ahu mai te kupu kāwanatanga i te kupu Ingarihi mō te kāwana (governor). Kāore ōna ritenga i te ao Māori. Ka mutu nā te noho ā-iwi mai o te Māori he rerekē ōna mana rangatira, ōna mana whakahaere me ōna tikanga noho i te huatau kāwanatanga i puea mai i te pūnaha karauna o Peretānia. Ko te rapunga tērā o ngā kanohi tuatahi o te kāwanatanga Peretānia i ētahi kupu hei whakamārama i ngā tū whakaaro i hiahia rātou ki te whakatinana.
1835, Te Whakaputanga
I te tau 1835 ka tāmokotia te Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Niu Tīreni e ngā rangatira o Te Tai Tokerau. Nā te Kainoho Peretānia nā James Busby te waikanaetanga i hoahoa. I roto i te whakaputanga kāore ngā rangatira e whakaae kia riro ki tētahi te mana kāwanatanga o tō rātou motu hāunga anō ngā tangata nā rātou i tohu, i whakamana hoki.1 Te āhua nei ko te whakamāramatanga ki ngā rangatira mō te kupu ‘kāwanatanga’, ka mau tonu i a rātou te tino rangatiratanga kia tukuna rā anō e rātou ki ētahi.
‘Governorship’, ‘governance’ rānei?
I rea ake te kupu ‘kāwana’ i tōna hoa kupu Ingarihi, ‘governor’, ā, ka hua mai te kupu kāwanatanga. I ētahi wā ko te whakamāoritanga tēnei o te ‘governance’. E ai ki ngā tumukōrero pēnei i a Judith Binney, nō te kitenga tuatahi o te kupu ‘kāwanatanga’ i te Tiriti o Waitangi ka mahara rātou ko ngā mana me ngā mahi tērā o te kāwana a William Hobson. Nā whai anō ko tō rātou whakaaro ki te kupu kāwanatanga ko te ‘governorship’, kaua ko te ‘governance’. Ka mutu he tino rerekē te aronga o ēnei kupu, ā, ki te whakaaro o ētahi koinei rātou i haina i te tiriti.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
I te tau 1840 ka hainatia te Tiriti o Waitangi. He nui noa atu ngā rangatira i haina i ērā i haina i te whakaputanga i te tau 1835. E ai ki te wāhanga tuatahi i te reo Māori, ‘ka tuku rawa atu ki te Kuini o Ingarangi ake tonu atu te Kawanatanga katoa o o ratou wenua’. I te taha Ingarihi o te tiriti ka mea, ‘he tuku rawa i te mana tūturu katoa o ō rātou whenua ki te Kūini o Ingarangi mō ake tonu atu.’2 Ka whakamahia e ngā kaiwhakamāori te kupu ‘kāwanatanga hei whakamārama i te ‘complete sovereignty’.
Te whakamārama anō i te kupu kāwanatanga
I namata nei i werohia ai e te hunga matatau ki te tika o ngā whakamārama reo. Kua kī ake rātou kāore tonu ngā rangatira e haina mena i te mārama ki te hōhonutanga ake, arā, ki te tuku atu i te mana ki ō rātou whenua. I te whakamāoritanga hōu a Hugh Kāwharu o te Tiriti ka whiua atu te kupu ‘sovereignty’, ka whakamahia te ‘government’ mō te ‘kāwanatanga’. E ai ki a Kāwharu, ‘Kore rawa e mārama ngā kaihaina Māori ki te kāwanatanga hei kupu mō te “sovereignty”: arā, kāore kau he māramatanga mō rātou i roto i ngā āhuatanga kua kitea e rātou i te ao Māori, i ngā tauira rānei i roto i te ao Māori, tae noa mai ki taua wā.’3
Tino rangatiratanga
Kei te wāhanga tuarua o te Tiriti i whakaūngia ko te ‘kāwanatanga’ o te motu ka haere ki te Karauna, engari ka mau tonu te Māori ki te tino rangatiratanga ki ō rātou hapū, ki ō rātou whenua me ō rātou taonga katoa. Heoi kei te wāhanga reo Ingarihi i te kaupapa tuatahi ka whakamāramatia te tikanga o ‘te tino rangatiratanga’ arā, ‘full, exclusive and undisturbed possession’.4 Ki tā Kāwharu whakamārama ko te ‘unqualified exercise of their chieftainship’.5
Mai noa e tautohe ana te Māori me te kāwanatanga ki te tikanga ake o te ‘kāwanatanga’ me te ‘tino rangatiratanga’. Ko tā te kāwanatanga mahi he whakatau i ōna mana kāwanatanga mā te taunaki, te whakamahitahi, te ringakaha me ngā ture hanganga. Heoi nō nātatanei ko te whakamārama o ētahi Māori mō te tino rangatiratanga ko te ‘Māori self-government’.
