The term “Littlewood treaty” refers to a hand-written Treaty of Waitangi text found in a sideboard drawer on February 27, 1989, by John Littlewood and his sister Beryl Needham while clearing out their mum’s house after she had died.

Beryl Needham took the document to her local MP Bill Birch, who suggested that she should take it to the Auckland Institute and Museum for analysis, which she did, and where it stayed for a year. Treaty expert Claudia Orange looked at the document and provided information about Henry Littlewood.

Mr Littlewood took it to the Treaty House at Waitangi in a bid to establish its status but no interest was shown. Disinterest in details of the treaty coincided with top-level negotiations at the time that resulted in the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992.

The family responded to an appeal in 1992 for information from a group called the Descendents of the English Witnesses to the Signatures on the Treaty of Waitangi, the convener of which wondered whether it was the missing draft given to missionary Henry Williams at 4.30pm on February 4, 1840, to translate into Maori.

News that government historians were examining the document appeared in the New Zealand Herald on September 11, 1992, under the headline “Draft puzzles experts”. In that report, Internal Affairs Minister Graeme Lee confirmed the existence of a draft of the treaty that made no mention of forests or fisheries, that is dated February 4, 1840, and was handwritten on paper with an 1833 watermark.

Historian Donald Loveridge issued a memo on the document in 1993 in response to a request from the Treaty Issues Team at the Crown Law Office, noting that the document "is virtually identical in all respects to the Clendon translation", a reference to an English text of the treaty sent by U.S. Consul James Reddy Clendon to the United States on February 20, 1840.

That former British Resident James Busby wrote the text was confirmed in 2000, by Dr Phil Parkinson, a treaty researcher at National Archives.

This Busby February 4 document, also known as the Littlewood treaty, became the subject of an article titled “End of the Golden Gravy Train” in the December-January 2004 issue of Investigate magazine. On January 27, 2004, National Party leader, Don Brash, delivered his first Orewa speech expressing opposition to perceived Maori racial separatism in New Zealand.

The Treaty of Waitangi Information Unit commissioned Loveridge to do a full appraisal in 2006, 13 years after the document was found. In his appraisal, Loveridge re-stated his view the Busby February 4 document was a back translation of the Maori text of the treaty, especially because Clendon included the word “translation” in the covering letter with the documents he sent to the United States on February 20, 1840.

He noted the lack of any evidence that Governor Hobson, James Busby, Henry Williams or James R. Clendon ever stated or implied that the “official” English text dated Feb. 6th, 1840, was not the one that provided the basis for the Maori text. He asserted that there was no satisfactory explanation for absence of such evidence.

Loveridge did point to a 1972 article by Ruth Ross, titled “Texts and Translations”, in which she noted the existence of “five English versions” which “Hobson forwarded ... to his superiors in Sydney or London”. One of these omits the words “Estates, Forests, Fisheries” from the second article. There is no indication any scholarship has been done to match that version to the official Maori text.

But Loveridge also noted that "if Clendon’s description was not correct, however – for whatever reason – the possibility would remain that the date was used intentionally, and that the Littlewood document is in fact a copy of the missing draft”.

If the Busby February 4 document was a translation from the Maori Te Tiriti, it is by far the best translation, and if recognised as such, the claimed need for “treaty principles” to reconcile differences between the official English text and the Maori language Te Tiriti would evaporate.

The other point to note is that since there are only four words different between the Busby February 4 draft and Te Tiriti, with one of those differences being the date, for those who do not read Maori this Busby document is the text to read to understand the exact contents of Te Tiriti.

The Busby February 4 draft/Littlewood treaty is displayed in the Constitution Room at National Archives in Wellington. Here is the text of that document. The four variations between the texts are underlined – two in the preamble, one in article three, and the date at the bottom:

Busby February 4, 1840, draft (the Littlewood treaty)

Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of England in her gracious consideration for the chiefs and people of New Zealand, and her desire to preserve them their land and to maintain peace and order amongst them, has been pleased to appoint an officer to treat with them for the cession of the Sovreignty [sic] of their country and of the islands adjacent to the Queen. Seeing that already many of Her Majesty’s subjects have already settled in the country and are constantly arriving: And that it is desirable for their protection as well as the protection of the natives to establish a government amongst them.

Her Majesty has accordingly been pleased to appoint me William Hobson a captain in the Royal Navy to be Governor of such parts of New Zealand as may now or hereafter be ceded to Her Majesty and proposes to the chiefs of the Confederation of United Tribes of New Zealand and the other chiefs to agree to the following articles.-

Article first

The chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes and the other chiefs who have not joined the confederation, cede to the Queen of England for ever the entire Sovreignty [sic] of their country.

Article second

The Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and the tribes and to all the people of New Zealand, the possession of their lands, dwellings and all their property. But the chiefs of the Confederation of United Tribes and the other chiefs grant to the Queen, the exclusive rights of purchasing such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to sell at such prices as may be agreed upon between them and the person appointed by the Queen to purchase from them.

Article third

In return for the cession of their Sovreignty [sic] to the Queen, the people of New Zealand shall be protected by the Queen of England and the rights and privileges of British subjects will be granted to them.

Signed, William Hobson

Consul and Lieut. Governor.

Now we the chiefs of the Confederation of United Tribes of New Zealand assembled at Waitangi, and we the other tribes of New Zealand, having understood the meaning of these articles, accept them and agree to them all. In witness whereof our names or marks are affixed. Done at Waitangi on the 4th of February, 1840.[1]

In Article 2, “the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and the tribes and to all the people of New Zealand (tangata katoa o Nu Tirani), the possession of their lands, dwellings and all their property (taonga).” The phrase “all the people” means “all the people” no more, no less, and includes Maori and settlers. By contrast in Article 3, when referring specifically to Maori, the text says “all the Maori people of New Zealand” ("tangata maori katoa o Nu Tirani").

[1] End of the golden gravy train, Investigate Magazine, January 2004. http://www.investigatemagazine.com/jan4treaty.htm