This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/18/2024
[NEW ZEALAND]. -- [MAORI PEOPLE]. Victoriae Reginae, No. 47. Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette, No. 58. Wellington, New Zealand, November 5, 1867. One 4to page. Approximately 331 x 198 mm. Toned, chipped, some marginal tears. One of the earliest newspaper appearances of the Maori Representation Act of 1867, “An Act to provide for the better Representation of the Native Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Colony of New Zealand [10th October 1867.] Whereas owing to the peculiar nature of the tenure of Maori land and to other causes the Native Aboriginal inhabitants of this Colony of New Zealand have heretofore with few exceptions been unable to become registered as electors or to vote at the election of members of the House of Representatives or the Provincial Councils of the said Colony…” This act established that the Maori would be allowed to have four representatives in the government not based on land ownership, which, on paper, was an innovative step taken by a colonial power. In practice, many of these reforms did very little to address the political disadvantage that the Maori People (like most indigenous people) had to suffer through.