Chapter 37: Chapter 37

"Look, we had to create a treaty to protect M?ori from European decimation. The damned French would have behaved no differently than the New Zealand Company and don"t attempt to tell me different. Our response then was reactionary. The result of those treaties is that New Zealand is now a place where M?ori have to adjust to European influence. We couldn"t prevent Europeans from coming, just as M?ori couldn"t prevent them from coming. We did the next best thing," stated Busby with conviction.

"And what could have been the alternative?" Hobson asked. He leaned forward to listen.

"Now that, my friend, is the real issue. We could have created a place where the Europeans had to adjust to M?ori. And I"m sorry I didn"t have the vision five years ago to see it."

"M?ori came to New Zealand for exactly the same reason as Europeans came to live here, for a better life and promise of a future. So what"s the difference?" asked Hobson.

"They arrived here first."