How the Rogue James Freeman Version Of The Treaty Came Into Being1 What evidently happened is that Clendon kept the final English draft amongst his private papers which, in due course (but before 1856), were passed to Henry Littlewood, his solicitor, who had practised law in Auckland since 1841. It then disappeared from sight until it was found by Beryl Needham, great-granddaughter of Henry Littlewood, in mid-March 1989 amongst domestic linen in a sideboard in the living room of her deceased mother’s house. It was in a rough envelope with ‘Treaty of Waitangi’ scrawled on the back in ballpoint. Thus, nearly 149 years after its disappearance, a document which is a vital link in the process of the founding of our country was found. Some civil servant decided to call it the ‘Littlewood Treaty’. What it says is virtually the same as Te Tiriti, the document in Maori signed at Waitangi. It has been ignored almost entirely by officialdom which clearly does not want to know about it, as it gives a severe jolt to official beliefs of which it is an indictment. Thus it was ignored on the ‘Treaty 2 U’ caravan which was paraded around the country in 2007, supposedly to inform the citizens (and particularly school children) about these things. The quite spurious reason given to me is that ‘it isn’t signed’. Well, one doesn’t sign drafts formally! The explanation is something like this. While the cat was away the mouse was playing. James Stuart Freeman, 3rd class clerk in the NSW Government, was palmed off on Hobson by Governor Gipps as his private secretary – incompetent, pretentious, arrogant. Amongst English signatories to the Treaty he, uniquely, signed himself: ‘Jas. Stuart Freeman Gentleman’. Now, following his instructions, Hobson had been very careful to draft the Treaty in the plainest possible words. Freeman thought this was not good enough and set about drafting texts in very flowery language, as can be seen from his original rough drafts which survive, in what is now known as ‘Royal Style’. After the Treaty was signed he began writing English versions the way he thought they should be and over three months produced several versions in his flowery language. Five of these were sent overseas to important people whom he seemed to think ought to get this sort of thing. Hobson did initial two of them beforehand amongst material prepared by Freeman for despatch, but mostly Freeman just signed for him. Hobson was a very sick man and depended on his secretary who simply let him down. Proof of how sick he was? He had a huge stroke on March 1st, 1840, and died in 1842. Why did Hobson sign this rogue version? Answer? He was too sick to pay attention to great detail, so simply had to trust Freeman. To act in this way was a monumental error, as we have since discovered. On 13th March, 1840, a manuscript copy of the Treaty (in Maori), written by Freeman and signed by Willoughby Shortland, was issued to Captain W.G. Symonds who was assigned to collect signatures on the south side of the Manukau Harbour (with the help of James Hamlin, an excellent Maori linguist), at Waikato Heads (assisted by Rev Robert Maunsell, head of the mission there) and at Kawhia.
Captain Symonds
1 Full credit to Bruce Moon. Most of the material in this document comes from Bruce’s incredible work in the book Twisting The Treaty, 2014, Tross Publishing, pp 39-41