The intention of this thesis is to determine the effects of education, age and political party affiliation on attitudes towards the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori 'special rights', and possible reasons for these effects. Following an analysis of past studies it was hypothesised that those with a higher level of education were more likely to support the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori special rights, that younger people were likely to be more supportive of the issues than older people and that National Party supporters would be less supportive than those who affiliate themselves with the Labour Party or the Alliance Party. A survey was undertaken to this end. This took the form of a questionnaire which was posted to Christchurch residents whose names had been taken randomly from the local electoral roll. A statistical analysis of the returned questionnaires revealed that attitudes towards the Treaty and Maori special rights do tend to be affected by p_eople's level of education, with stronger support found amongst those with a higher level of education. An analysis of the data according to age also revealed some statistically significant results, with younger people being more inclined to support both the Treaty and Maori special rights. The political party affiliation of respondents also appeared to affect the way these respondents felt about the issues, with National Party supporters showing less support for the Treaty and Maori special rights than Labour Party and Alliance Party supporters. Theories of representative democracy and both the ideal and the actual influence of the public on government policies are discussed. Past analyses of New Zealanders' attitudes towards the Treaty are also examined, and are compared with an earlier chapter which briefly outlines the ways in which the government and various Maori groups have reacted to the Treaty of Waitangi since it was signed. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the results, and suggests that the government would do well to develop an educative role to increase public awareness and support for its race policies.