ABSTRACT
The Crown was aboard the HMS Herald in the form of documents given to Captain William Hobson as he sailed into the Bay of Islands in January 1840. The documents comprised instructions from Lord Normanby to negotiate and enter a Treaty with the Maori inhabitants of what was then called Niu Tireni. Today, though the Crown has evolved considerably in some ways, the governor-general has these three roles: constitutional, ceremonial and community. As far as constitutional things are concerned, the governor-general acts in lieu of the Queen. A New Zealand governor-general does not wear a crown, and the Government House Jaguar is just short of being a fairy-tale carriage – despite being an XJ8 – but the same principles apply at the State Opening of our parliament. There is pomp and ceremony, albeit with a distinctively New Zealand flavour.
