Te Karere o Nui Tireni

The Messenger of New Zealand.

Bibliographic Details    Background    Subject Matter    Availability

Bibliographic Details

Nā te Kāwana i mea kia tāia, Akarana, Hararei, Hanuere, 1, 1842.

The Messenger of New Zealand. Printed by order of the Governor, Auckland, Saturday, January, 1, 1842.

Published: January, 1842 - January, 1846. The paper ceased being published in January 1846 when war broke out in the North. Altogether there were 49 issues from 1842.

310 x 200mm., 4 pages (size and length vary), double columns, all Māori, issued monthly, no illustrations except for the Royal Coat of Arms surmounting the title, contains advertisements and public notices, probably distributed freely as financial support was requested. The imprint in the first ten numbers reads, "He mea ta tenei pukapuka e Hone Mua ki te Perehi o te Wakaminenga ta pukapuka o Akarana" [This paper is printed by John Muir at the Auckland Newspaper and General Printing Company]. Number 11 changes to, "Akarana: He mea ta ki te Perehi o te Kawana" [Auckland: Printed at the Governor's Press], and in Volume 3 Number 9 the name of the Government printer is added, "Kiritopa Purutana" (Christopher Fulton). For further physical details refer to Herbert W. Williams, A Bibliography of Printed Maori to 1900, Item 85.

This paper was edited for the Government by Hori Karaka (George Clarke), Government-appointed "Protector of Aborigines", Thomas Spenser Forsaith, a Hokianga settler and shopkeeper who was later appointed "Sub-Protector of Aborigines", and Dr. Edward Shortland. Dr. Shortland was a medical practitioner as well as an interpreter and Maori scholar. His brother, Willoughby, became the first Colonial Secretary of New Zealand (Hocken op. cit.).

This paper is written in Maori.

Background

According to Hocken, this newspaper promoted the view that "the Treaty of Waitangi enfolded both parties to the contract" (Otago Daily Times, July 20, 1910).

 The paper was published:

• ...kia mohio ai te tangata Māori ki ngā tikanga me ngā ritenga o te Pākehā, kia mōhio ai anō hoki te Pākehā ki ngā ritenga o te tangata Māori (Hanurere 1, 1842: 1)
• ...so that the Maori people would come to know the ways and customs of the Pakeha and the Pakeha would also come to know the customs of the Maori people (Hanurere 1, 1842: 1)

Subject Matter

Contents of this newspaper include:

• Maketu, the murderer at Motuarohia
• notices from Government, both proclamations and appointments to government positions taken from the New Zealand Gazette and translated into Maori
• explanations of laws - murder, theft, trespass
• text of the Treaty of Waitangi
• notification of land sales
• events in Auckland and other parts of New Zealand
• letters to the Governor from Ngapuhi chiefs
• reports from Kororareka (Russell)
• news of Hone Heke
• advertisements of goods for sale
• land at Pukaki
• the chief Taraia of Ngati Tamatera
• the tribes Ngati Te Ata and Ngati Tamaoho.

Availability

This newspaper is on microfilm and microfiche. Original copies are held at:

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington:

1846

Jan.

Hocken Library, Dunedin:

Jan. - Dec.

1842
1843	Jan. - Dec.
1844	Jan. - Dec.
1845	Jan. - Aug., Oct. - Nov.

The Parliamentary Library, Wellington:

1842	Jan., March - Dec.
1843	Jan. - July, Sept. - Oct.
1844	Jan. - July, Sept. - Dec.
1845	Jan. - March, Aug.