1842: Crown admits failing to stop Maori from ‘enslaving’ Moriori
September 23, 2018
By AHNZ
Crown (National 5.0) admits failing to stop Maori from ‘enslaving’ Moriori
“In 1835 two iwi originally from Taranaki migrated to the Chatham Islands and enslaved Moriori. Following the annexation of the islands to New Zealand in 1842, the Crown failed to take appropriate action to end the enslavement, despite Moriori pleas for relief.- Newshub, 2017
Failing to stop Maoris from keeping their slaves in 1842? What was Willoughby Shortland expected to do? Robert FitzRoy had no army either. The fledgling government certainly didn’t have the resources to lead a sea attack 1000 miles away on these offshore islands to liberate Moriori.
The Treaty was made with the Crown and the slave-holding Maori anyhow, not their offshore human capital.
Besides, Maori kept slaves elsewhere in far greater numbers. The Crown was thousands of years too late to stop anyone from enslaving anyone. But maybe they could put a stop to the continuation.
This was done during this time period with religion and persuasion. Especially by FitzRoy who tried to make nice with the noble savage rather than crack him over the head and drag him into the humanitarian age.
Anyway, this latest Crown concession has little to do with history or reason. It’s a resource transfer between buddies paired with an election bribe which the public would see as a scandal except that it’s obscured by fictitious social justice cloaking devices.
and contributed to the myth that Moriori were “racially inferior and became extinct”.
They are most certainly extinct. See previous post.
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Ref. The Chathams were annexed by New Zealand on 4 April, 1842
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