1. 'Chieftainship': this concept has to be understood in the context of Māori social and political organisation as at 1840. The accepted approximation today is 'trusteeship'.

2. 'Peace': Māori 'Rongo', seemingly a missionary usage (rongo — to hear: ie, hear the 'Word' — the 'message' of peace and goodwill, etc).

3. Literally 'Chief' ('Rangatira') here is of course ambiguous. Clearly, a European could not be a Māori, but the word could well have implied a trustee-like role rather than that of a mere 'functionary'. Māori speeches at Waitangi in 1840 refer to Hobson being or becoming a 'father' for the Māori people. Certainly this attitude has been held towards the person of the Crown down to the present day — hence the continued expectations and commitments entailed in the Treaty.

4. 'Islands': ie, coastal, not of the Pacific.

5. Literally 'making': ie, 'offering' or 'saying' — but not 'inviting to concur'.

6. 'Government': 'kawanatanga'. There could be no possibility of the Māori signatories having any understanding of government in the sense of 'sovereignty': ie, any understanding on the basis of experience or cultural precedent.

7. 'Unqualified exercise' of the chieftainship — would emphasise to a chief the Queen's intention to give them complete control according to their customs. 'Tino' has the connotation of 'quintessential'.

8. 'Treasures': 'taonga'. As submissions to the Waitangi Tribunal concerning the Māori language have made clear, 'taonga' refers to all dimensions of a tribal group's estate, material and non-material — heirlooms and wahi tapu (sacred places), ancestral lore and whakapapa (genealogies), etc.

9. Māori 'hokonga', literally 'sale and purchase'. 'Hoko' means to buy or sell.

10. 'Rights and duties': Māori at Waitangi in 1840 refer to Hobson being or becoming a 'father' for the Māori people. Certainly, this attitude has been held towards the person of the Crown down to the present day — hence the continued expectations and commitments entailed in the Treaty.

11. There is, however, a more profound problem about 'tikanga'. There is a real sense here of the Queen 'protecting' (ie, allowing the preservation of) the Māori people's tikanga (ie, customs) since no Māori could have had any understanding whatever of British tikanga (ie, rights and duties of British subjects). This, then, reinforces the guarantees in article 2.