New Zealand Company - The 1839 Expedition and Land Purchases

The 1839 Expedition and Land Purchases

The New Zealand Company hastily organised a land-buying expedition, which sailed to New Zealand in the Tory on 12 May 1839, commanded by Wakefield's younger brother, Colonel William Wakefield and with Edward Main Chaffers as the ship's Master. A second vessel, the Cuba, with a surveyors' team headed by Captain William Mein Smith, R.A., sailed in August, followed a month later by the first of nine immigrant ships, even before word had reached London of the success of the Tory and Cuba. The immigrant fleet had instructions to sail to Port Hardy on D'Urville Island where they would be told of their final destination.

With the aid of whaler and trader Dicky Barrett, who had good contacts with Māori and a grasp of their language, William Wakefield began negotiating to buy land from the Māori around Petone in the Wellington area as soon as he arrived in New Zealand, and by the end of 1839 had concluded several purchases extending as far north as Patea that quickly became mired in controversy over their legitimacy.

The settlement differed greatly from what had been planned in England: among the many falsehoods in company prospectuses and advertising about the nature of the country, Wellington had been described as a place of undulating plains suitable for the cultivation of grapevines, olives and wheat. Plans prepared in England showed parallel streets and sections that bore no relation to the physical contours of the area. Streets and sections, parks and cemeteries had been drawn in an area that consisted of swampy delta or high hills and steep gullies.

In November 1839 Henry Williams and Octavius Hadfield arrived in Port Nicholson, Wellington days after the New Zealand Company purchased the land around Wellington harbour. Within months the Company purported to purchase approximately 20 million acres (8 million hectares) in Nelson, Wellington, Whanganui and Taranaki. Henry Williams attempted to interfere with the land purchasing practices of the Company. Reihana, a Christian who had spent time in the Bay of Islands, had bought for himself 60 acres (24 hectares) of land in Te Aro, in what is now central Wellington. When Reihana and his wife decided to go and live in Taranaki, Henry Williams persuaded Reihana to pass the land to Henry to hold it in trust for Reihana. On his journey north, Henry Williams records in a letter to his wife Marianne “I have secured a piece of land, I trust, from the paws of the New Zealand Company, for the natives; another piece I hope I have upset.” Upon arriving in Whanganui Henry records “After breakfast, held council with the chiefs respecting their land, as they were in considerable alarm lest the Europeans should take possession of the county. All approve of their land being purchased and held in trust for their benefit alone.”

The Church Missionary Society in London rejected Henry’s request for support for this practice of acquiring land on trust for the benefit of the Māori. The Society were well aware that the Company actively campaigned against those that opposed it plans. While the Church Missionary Society had connections with the Whig Government of Viscount Melbourne, in August 1841 a Tory Government came to office. The Church Missionary Society did not want to be in direct conflict with the New Zealand Company as its leaders had influence within the Tory Government led by Sir Robert Peel. In any event the actions of Henry Williams in attempting to thwart the ambitions of the New Zealand Company, lead to attacks on his character by members of the Company and their supporters.