William Colenso, the Church Missionary Society printer at Paihia, printed 100 copies of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni at the request of the British Resident, James Busby. The printing appears to have been delayed until the Declaration was formally acknowledged by Great Britain, and was carried out in April 1837. In preparing the text for printing, Colenso standardised the spelling of English words transliterated into Maori, and inserted additional punctuation. Hapu information not recorded on the original document has also been added.

34 rangatira signed the original document on 28 October 1835. The printed version records 31 of them – Waikato, Te Peha and Hone Wiremu Heke Pokai are not recorded. Busby deliberately left Waikato’s name off the printed copy due to his involvement in a conflict at Waitangi, but it is not known why the others are not recorded.

A further 18 rangatira signed the original document between 29 October 1835 – 22 July 1839. Six of these names are recorded on the printed copy. As the last signature of these six was collected in February 1836, it is possible that Colenso may not have had access to the original copy (IA9/1) at the time of printing.

You can view the original, signed document here: www.flickr.com/photos/archivesnz/10430000633/in/album-721...

Archives Reference: ZZZZ 6249 W5243 Box1 archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=32806