Nu Tireni · Evidence Series · Part 10 · 2 October 1840
What changed when London published the proclamations on 2 October 1840?
Hobson's local assertion became an officially approved British imperial position. That is a different legal event from obtaining new consent from rangatira.
Imperial confirmation
Hobson sent his May proclamations to London. On 2 October 1840 they were published in the London Gazette. New Zealand constitutional histories describe that publication as the British Government's formal approval of the assertion of sovereignty.
This is a major link in the chain because it moves the constitutional claim from Hobson's administration in New Zealand to the metropolitan government in Britain. From Britain's point of view, the acquisition was now official.
But publication cannot retrospectively change the words agreed at Waitangi. It does not insert the English word “sovereignty” into te Tiriti, create a missing cession by the February Te Raki signatories, or constitute a new negotiation with hapū.
This is therefore the first place where the two constitutional questions visibly separate. One question is whether Britain had, according to its own constitutional and international practice, completed the steps it considered necessary to claim New Zealand. The other is whether the source of that claim matched the authority actually granted by the rangatira whose consent Britain had said it would obtain.
Older constitutional commentary often treats the Gazette publication as completing the British title for the purposes of the legal order Britain was constructing. The Waitangi Tribunal's later finding addresses a different issue: the meaning and effect of the February agreement for Te Raki signatories.
Imperial confirmation strengthens the Crown's chain of title inside the British legal order. It is not additional evidence of Māori consent.
Internal Crown chain
Hobson's assertion was reported to London, accepted and formally published. Britain thereafter proceeded on the basis that sovereignty had been acquired.
Consent chain
No new agreement with rangatira appears at this step. The instrument confirms Britain's claim; it does not renegotiate te Tiriti.
Primary and official sources
Archives New Zealand — Proclamations and Treaty history ↗
Te Ara — New Zealand Becomes a Colony ↗
National Library — The Treaty in New Zealand's law and constitution ↗