Waitangi Tribunal: The Declaration and the TreatyOfficial website The Report on Stage 1 of the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry. "Did the rangatira of the Bay of Islands and Hokianga cede sovereignty – that is, the power to make and enforce law – to the British Crown when they signed te Tiriti o Waitangi in February 1840? If not, what was their understanding of the relationship they were establishing with the Crown? These are questions we face in this, stage 1 of our Te Paparahi o Te Raki (the great land of the north) inquiry."