British Imperialism

James Belich claims that the British were “reluctant imperialists” due to the fact that they did not need to colonise a country in order to trade with it. Britain had little interest in colonising a country for the sake of it - Belich explains that it took a long time for New Zealand to be considered for the empire; 1820, twenty years after Britons initially began settling in New Zealand. Belich states that as Britain could already trade with New Zealand, there was no benefit in colonising New Zealand as it was very expensive to colonise another country. This is backed up by Paul Moon, in his book “The Path to the Treaty of Waitangi” where he states: “any thought of applying full political rule over the entire indigenous population...was out of the question as far as the Treasury was concerned, simply on the basis of the unwarrantable and unnecessary cost such a policy would impose.” Belich also claims that along with expense being a deterrent for colonisation, Britain in the 1800s was looking to change their reputation as a country responsible for many fatal impacts on indigenous people. …show more content…
The humanitarian approach Britain was taking is also reflected in Lord Normanby’s instructions to Hobson, further backing up Belich’s claim that Britain intervened in New Zealand to protect Maori: “an extensive settlement of British subjects will be rapidly established in New Zealand, and that unless protected by necessary laws and institutions they will repeat unchecked in the corner of the globe the same process of war and spoliation under which uncivilised tribes have almost invariably disappeared as often as they have been brought into the immediate vicinity of emigrates from the nations of