20.       Once that is accepted, it can readily be appreciated that the very fact of colonization presented the Crown with a number of unique and difficult governance issues. First and foremost was the relationship between the “colonizer” and the “colonized”. In New Zealand, of course, that relationship was conceptually governed by the Treaty. However the Treaty had no real historical precedent from which a template for action could be derived. Necessarily, both parties had to work it out as they went along. And, necessarily, mistakes were made.

21.       For example, to what extent did Maori want to participate in Government and to what extent did they want Government to intervene or assist in their everyday lives? What was to be the relationship between customary Maori law and colonial law? Was it possible to conceive of a system where a modicum of Maori self-government and British sovereignty could co-exist? What, for example, did the guarantee of te tino rangatiratanga mean in terms of whether the English criminal law should extend to Maori? How and to what extent should the Crown act “paternally” towards Maori in their land dealings? The Crown’s evidence this week will address at least some of these issues.

22.       On a purely administrative level, the difficulties faced by the colonial government in the 1860s and 1870s are difficult today to comprehend. On one level it might be thought that the administration of government in colonial New Zealand was, by comparison with the government of New Zealand today, a simple matter. Certainly there were fewer citizens who were in need of governance. Moreover, many of the complex commercial, economic and global issues that beset the government of New Zealand today were simply not present. On the other hand however, the very practical difficulties presented by a tiny population - such as an inevitable shortage of qualified or competent personnel, and the inevitable conflicts of interest that arose for those individuals who sought both to participate in government, but also to take advantage of what seemed to be on offer for those starting a new life in a new land - must have been acute.