Towards one New Zealand : the government and the Maori people, 1861-93

Abstract

The official aim of policy determined upon at the assumption of British sovereignty over New Zealand was to extend the rule of law over the Maori tribes and 'amalgamate* them with the incoming colonists. ’Amalgamation' implied the abandonment by the Maoris of their own institutions in favour of English institutions. It involved close association of settlers and Maoris and, possibly, intermarriage between them. Necessarily the old Maori order, and even separate Maori racial identity, were to be extinguished or 'assimilated' into settler society.