On 8 April 1840 the Tūranga missionary William Williams received a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi from his older brother Henry Williams, along with instructions ‘to obtain the consent of the chiefs from East Cape to Ahuriri, the present-day port of Napier.’ [1] Williams was joined by the teenaged student of Māori George Clarke Jnr, who also acted as a witness to the signings along the East Coast between 5 May and 9 June.
On 5 May the two men discussed the treaty and its principles with Tūranga chiefs. Over the next week they gained 24 signatures, ‘almost the whole leadership of the district’. [2]
[1] Claudia Orange, The Treaty of Waitangi, Allen & Unwin, Port Nicholson Press with assistance from the Historical Publications Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1987, p. 71
[2] William Williams, Turanga journals, in Orange, p. 71
