New Zealand Company

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New Zealand Company founder and director, Edward Gibbon Wakefield  believed that a successful colony needed to attract a balance of capitalists and labour.  In reality, the thousands of fertile acres required were not available in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

View in the Nelson district.Heaphy,C.[1841]:View in the Nelson district Alexander Turnbull Library, C-025-004 [New Zealand Company Collection]Click image to enlarge

Maori welcomed the material benefits of European settlement, but believed they were only sharing use of the land when they signed land deeds.

By 1844, a lack of capital, absentee landlords, limited arable land, poor work opportunities and restive Maori resulted in hardship for the settlers.

Between 1840 and 1852, the New Zealand Company brought 15,000 European settlers of generally good stock and character to New Zealand.

A timetable of colonisation

 

March 1826: (First) New Zealand Company ship visits Southern New Zealand.

1830s

1836: Edward Gibbon Wakefield (EGW) tells House of Commons about the ‘fittest country in the world for colonization'.

22 May 1837: EGW chairs first meeting of the New Zealand Association.

1837: Opposition to NZ Association led by Colonial Office and missionary societies to protect Maori and control settlement

June 1838: NZ Association re-forms as the New Zealand Company.

1 December 1838: Captain William Hobson appointed as New Zealand Consul to address the ‘New Zealand problem' of unregulated British settlement.

1839: 2000 European settlers in NZ: mainly whalers, tradesmen and seamen.

August 1839: Hobson dispatched to NZ to establish British Colony.

August 1839: William Wakefield arrives in NZ on first Company ship, the Tory.

September 1839: William and 16 Te Whanganui a Tara chiefs sign land deed for Port Nicholson district.

1840s

The town and part of the harbour of Nelson in 1842Saxton, John Waring (1845) The town and part of the harbour of Nelson in 1842, Alexander Turnbull Library, PUBL-0011-06-2
Click image to enlarge

22 January 1840: Company's first immigrant ship the Aurora arrives in Wellington.

6 February 1840: Treaty of Waitangi. Maori chiefs agree to Crown sovereignty and exclusive rights to sale of land.

October 1840: British Colonial Office recognises Company as government instrument of colonisation, grants charter and land title.

12 February 1841: (Second) NZ Company formally incorporated.

1840-1842: Company ships arrive in Wellington, Wanganui, New Plymouth and Nelson.

1 February 1842: Nelson's first immigrant ship Fifeshire arrives. Each investor to receive one town acre, 50 suburban acres and 150 rural acres.

17 June 1843: Arthur Wakefield killed at Wairau. Company brought close to insolvency when news reaches England.

1843: Settlers short of food and NZ Company virtually bankrupt.

1844: All N.Z. Company work ceases, unemployment rife.

mid - 1845: NZ Co £60,000 in debt.

August 1845: Colonial Office advises Company settlements will become municipalities with legislative council representation.

Stanford's atlas of New Zealand (Nelson and Marlborough)Stanford's atlas of New Zealand, (Nelson and Marlborough), Auckland City Library Special Collection, NZ Map Number (conditions of use) 
Click to enlarge

1846: British Government advances money to cover Company liabilities.

1846: Constitution Act passed by Parliament to establish representative institutions in New Zealand.

1848: Company advertises assisted passages for mechanics, farm labourers and domestic servants.

1850s

mid-1850: NZ Company collapses after failing to repay three year loan to Government by end of June.

4 July 1850: NZ Company surrenders charters. Crown pays £268,000 for 1,092,000 acres Company land.

1858: NZ Company dissolved.

© The Nelson Provincial Museum, 2007

 

Written by:
  • Joy Stephens
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Sources used in this story

 

Want to find out more about the New Zealand Company ? View Further Sources here.

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Comments

  • what is that lame question for?
    but any way i got lots of cool info for school this web site roxx!!!!!!!!!!

    Posted by william Donahue, 17/08/2010 9:42am (1 year ago)

  • Hi,I am a member of the Manchester Unity Friendly Society of the Auckland District.I am writing a speech and going to include the history of Nelson and the Martha Ridgway which arrived in Nelson on 2sd April 1842 with the first 9 passengers to start the M.U.F.S.
    Could you please help me with any more information ,I was in Nelson at a conference 6 years ago love it very much. Kind regards, Alan Foster . Ed. - the most useful resource for the Martha Ridgway is Neale's Pioneer Passengers; there is some information about the ship and the Society in Broad's Jubilee History of Nelson (avaiable on NZETC) and in Allen's Nelson: a history of early settlement. Papers Past would also be a useful resource.

    Posted by Alan Foster., 19/06/2009 2:45pm (3 years ago)

Further sources - New Zealand Company

Books

  • Burns, P. (1989) Fatal success : a history of the New Zealand Company. Auckland [N.Z.] : Heinemann Reed
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21274991  
  • Colbert, C.J. (1948) The working class in Nelson : under the New Zealand Company, 1841-1851.Thesis (M.A.) Wellington, N.Z. : Victoria University College
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/154125496  
  • Concerning the settlement of Nelson, New Zealand : a few plain facts addressed to purchasers of land : comprising the petition of the Nelson settlers, to the House of Commons (1848) London : T.C. Newby
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/155460192  
  • Fox, W. (1849) Report on the settlement of Nelson in New Zealand  .London : Smith, Elder and Co., 1849
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/152416617  
  • Harrop, A.J. (1928)The amazing career of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, with extracts from "A letter from Sydney" (1829)
    London : Allen & Unwin
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/154307394  
  • Heaphy, C. (1968) Narrative of a residence in various parts of New Zealand : together with a description of the present state of the company's settlements. Dunedin, N.Z. : Hocken Library, University of Otago
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64042  
  • Moncrief-Spittle, M. (Ed.) (2008) The lost journal of Edward Jerningham Wakefield : being an account of his exploits and adventures in New Zealand in the years 1850-1858, including : his various visitations, conversations & observations &c. &c. To which is added, an introduction  Dunedin [N.Z.] : Kilmog Press.
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/235015046  
  • Palmer, L.R. (1963) Captain Arthur Wakefield, R.N. : an account of his life and work as coloniser of New Zealand [microform] [Wellington, N.Z.] : Govt. Printer
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/154515077  
  • Petre, H.W. (1841) An account of the settlements of the New Zealand Company : from personal observation during a residence there . London : Smith, Elder and Co., 1841.
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29087961  
  • Ward, J. (1975) (2nd ed) Information relative to New-Zealand : compiled for the use of colonists. Christchurch, N.Z. : Capper Press
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/222009200  
  • Wolfe, R. (2007) A society of gentlemen : the untold story of the first New Zealand Company. North Shore, N.Z. : Penguin, 2007
    http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/255688201

Articles

  • Manning, Helen (1972)  Lord Durham and the New Zealand Company. New Zealand Journal of History 6(1), p.1-19
  • Cheyne, S. (1991, May) The sailing of the 'Tory' : the myth that the New Zealand Company influenced the annexation of New Zealand. Historical News, 62, p.10-14

Other

Unpublished Sources from Nelson Provincial Museum

Web Resources