142-559: A range of naval vessels were used in New Zealand from its early settlement years to the formation of the New Zealand Naval Forces in 1913. In the mid-19th century, these vessels included frigates , sloops , schooners , and steam-driven paddlewheel boats. In 1846, five years after New Zealand was first proclaimed a colony , it bought its first gunboat. In the 1840s and 1850s, steam boats were used to survey
284-549: A British colony followed by a period of wars . New Zealand gradually became more self-governing and achieved the relative independence of a dominion in 1907. In 1788 the colony of New South Wales was founded with a commission that technically included responsibility for New Zealand. In practice this had little consequence, since the New South Wales administration was not really interested in New Zealand. From
426-547: A House of Commons committee which itself comprised many Wakefield supporters, and when the committee handed down a report endorsing his ideas, he wrote to Lord Durham explaining that New Zealand was "the fittest country in the world for colonisation". Wakefield formed the New Zealand Association, and on 22 May 1837 chaired its first meeting, which was attended by ten others including MPs Molesworth and William Hutt , and R.S. Rintoul of The Spectator . After
568-558: A battlecruiser, and in 1913, the New Zealand Naval Forces were created as a separate division within the Royal Navy . The initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE when it was discovered by Polynesians who arrived in oceangoing canoes, or waka . The descendants of these settlers became known as the Māori , forming a distinct culture centred on kinship links and land. The earliest war boats to operate in New Zealand were
710-609: A book, promoting the concept of systematic emigration to Australasia through a commercial profit-making enterprise. Wakefield's plan entailed a company buying land from the indigenous residents of Australia or New Zealand very cheaply, then selling it to speculators and "gentleman settlers" for a much higher sum. The immigrants would provide the labour to break in the gentlemen's lands and cater to their employers' everyday needs. They would eventually be able to buy their own land, but high land prices and low rates of pay would ensure they first laboured for many years. In May 1830 Wakefield
852-524: A business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand . The company was formed to carry out the principles devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield , who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the Southern Hemisphere . Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists, who would then have a ready supply of labour: migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners but would have
994-468: A confirmation of their titles to 110,000 acres of land, as well as their town, subject to several conditions including that the 110,000 acres were taken in one continuous block, native reserves were guaranteed and that reserves were made for public purposes. In late September or early October 1840, MP and New Zealand Company Secretary Charles Buller appealed to the Colonial Office for help for
1136-610: A cost of about a halfpenny an acre. On 25 October he persuaded 10 chiefs at Kapiti to add crosses at the foot of an 1180-word document that confirmed they were permanently parting with all "rights, claims, titles and interests" to vast areas of land in both the South and North Islands as far north as present-day New Plymouth . On 8 November in Queen Charlotte Sound he secured the signature of an exiled Taranaki chief, Wiremu Kīngi , and 31 others for land whose description
1278-688: A cruiser presence in their waters. It also allowed New Zealanders direct entry into the Royal Navy. This arrangement suited both parties and remained in force for the next twenty years. The 1902 Imperial Conference modified the Naval Agreement and New Zealand's annual subsidy increased to £40,000. The subsidy was further increased in 1908 to £100,000. In 1907 the Marine Department acquired an 805-ton gun boat and converted her to New Zealand's first training ship NZS Amokura . Over
1420-481: A freight vessel, the Glenbervie , which all sailed with instructions to rendezvous on 10 January 1840 at Port Hardy on d'Urville Island where they would be told of their final destination. It was expected that by that time William Wakefield would have bought land for the first settlement and had it surveyed, and also inspected the company's land claims at Kaipara and Hokianga. The company provided Wakefield with
1562-496: A high price to make a profit for shareholders and fund colonisation. The news created the need for swift action if private enterprise was to beat the Government to New Zealand. In a stirring speech, Wakefield told those present: "Possess yourselves of the soil and you are secure—but if from delay you allow others to do it before you, they will succeed and you will fail." Members of the two colonisation groups subsequently formed
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#17327910803211704-485: A lengthy list of instructions to be carried out on his arrival. He was told to seek land for settlements where there were safe harbours that would foster export trade, rivers allowing passage to fertile inland property, and waterfalls that could power industry. He was told the company was eager to acquire land around harbours on both sides of Cook Strait and that while Port Nicholson appeared the best site he should also closely examine Queen Charlotte Sound and Cloudy Bay at
1846-610: A lot of land from Māori using questionable contracts and in many cases resold that land, with its title in doubt. The company launched elaborate, grandiose and sometimes fraudulent advertising campaigns. It vigorously attacked those it perceived as its opponents—chiefly the British Colonial Office , successive governors of New Zealand, the Church Missionary Society and the prominent missionary Reverend Henry Williams , and it stridently opposed
1988-552: A lottery to determine the ownership of specific allotments. Three ships, the Arrow , Whitby , and Will Watch , sailed that month for New Zealand with surveyors and labourers to prepare plots for the first settlers (scheduled to follow five months later). Land sales proved disappointing, however, and threatened the viability of the settlement: by early June only 326 allotments had been sold, with only 42 purchasers intending to actually travel to New Zealand. Things had improved little by
2130-521: A meeting on 6 June 1837 the Church Missionary Society passed four resolutions expressing its objection to the New Zealand Association plans, including the observation that previous experience had shown that European colonisation invariably inflicted grave injuries and injustices on the indigenous inhabitants. It also said the colonisation plans would interrupt or defeat missionary efforts for the religious improvement and civilisation of
2272-406: A meeting with local Māori, expedition leader Arthur Wakefield claimed to have gained recognition – in exchange for "presents" of axes, a gun, gunpowder, blankets, biscuits and pipes – for the 1839 "purchases" in the area by William Wakefield. By January 1842 the advance guard had built more than 100 huts on the site of the future town in preparation for the arrival of the first settlers. A month later
2414-472: A million acres of New Zealand land acquired during its 1826 voyage, and Lord Durham, chairman of that company, was suggested as an ideal chairman of the new partnership. By the end of the year he had been elected to that role. Through late 1837 the New Zealand Association vigorously lobbied both the British government and Prime Minister Lord Melbourne , then returned with a revised Bill that addressed some of
2556-780: A new organisation, the New Zealand Land Company, with Lord Durham as its governor and five MPs among its 17 directors (in 1840 the directors were Joseph Somes , Viscount Ingestre , M.P., Lord Petre, Henry A. Aglionby , M.P., Francis Baring, M.P., John Ellorker Boulcott , John William Buckle , Russell Ellice, James Robert Gowen , John Hine, William Hutt, M.P., Stewart Marjoribanks, Sir William Molesworth, M.P., Alexander Nairn, Alderman John Pirie , Sir George Sinclair , M.P., John Abel Smith , M.P., Alderman William Thompson, M.P ., Frederick James Tollemache , M.P., Edward G. Wakefield, Sir Henry Webb, Arthur Willis, George Frederick Young ). The company acted urgently to fit out
2698-426: A permanent militia and given the formal, but more manageable title, Torpedo Corps. The torpedo boats had galvanized plating, which meant they could not stay in the water and had to be kept on slipways. Each Torpedo Corps had its own quarters and boatshed. Their main role soon became training, and by 1900 they were well out of date. An event that was to have an important bearing on New Zealand naval policy in later years
2840-601: A portion of the funds would also be used to send emigrants to New Zealand. That plan, says historian Patricia Burns, was further proof of the "pervasive influence of the Wakefield theory". In April the Rev. Henry Williams was sent south by Hobson to seek further signatures to the treaty in the Port Nicholson area. He was forced to wait for 10 days before local chiefs would approach him and blamed their reluctance to sign
2982-485: A price high enough to generate profit to fund emigration. The Whig government in 1834 passed an Act authorising the establishment of the British Province of South Australia , but the planning and initial sales of land proceeded without Wakefield's involvement because of the illness and death of his daughter. Land in the town of Adelaide was offered at £1 per acre on maps showing town and country sites—though
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#17327910803213124-668: A process to appoint commissioners who would investigate all lands acquired from Māori and the conditions under which the transactions had taken place. The Bill also stipulated that Māori owned only the land which they "occupied", by living on or cultivating it; all other land was deemed "waste" land and owned by the Crown. The subsequent Act, passed on 4 August, prohibited the grant of any land purchase greater than four square miles (2560 acres). The New Zealand Company had already claimed to have bought two million acres (8,000 km ), part of which it had sold directly to settlers, and when news of
3266-532: A property in land intermixed with the property of civilised and industrious settlers and made really valuable by that circumstance." Wakefield arrived at Cook Strait on 16 August and spent several weeks exploring the bays and sounds at the north of the South Island. The Tory crossed Cook Strait on 20 September and with the aid of whaler and trader Dicky Barrett —who had lived among Māori in Taranaki and
3408-458: A prospective quasi-government of New Zealand and in 1845 and 1846 proposed splitting the colony in two, along a line from Mokau in the west to Cape Kidnappers in the east, with the north reserved for Māori and missionaries and the south becoming a self-governing province, known as "New Victoria" and managed by the company for that purpose. The British Colonial Secretary rejected the proposal. Only 15,500 settlers arrived in New Zealand as part of
3550-573: A resolution to the effect that "notwithstanding this temporary failure", members would persevere with their efforts to establish "a well-regulated system of colonization". Two months later, on 29 August 1838, 14 supporters of the association and the 1825 New Zealand Company convened to form a joint-stock company, the New Zealand Colonisation Association. Chaired by Lord Petre , the company was to have paid-up capital of £25,000 in 50 shares of £50, and declared its purpose
3692-520: A skirmish over land in the Wairau Valley, 25 km from Nelson. Arthur Wakefield claimed to have bought the land from the widow of a whaler who, in turn, had claimed to have bought it from chief Te Rauparaha . The chief denied having sold it. Although settlers in Nelson and Wellington were appalled at the slaughter at Wairau, an investigation by Governor Robert FitzRoy laid the blame squarely at
3834-613: A tenth of the land will be far more valuable than the whole was before ... the intention of the Company is not to make reserves for the Native owners in large blocks, as has been the common practice as to Indian reserves in North America, whereby settlement is impeded, and the savages are encouraged to continue savage, living apart from the civilized community ... instead of a barren possession with which they have parted, they will have
3976-604: A total of 13 ships. Another immigrant vessel, the London , sailed for New Zealand on 13 August, and before the year it was followed by Blenheim , Slains Castle , Lady Nugent , and Olympus . The New Zealand Company had long expected intervention by the British Government in its activities in New Zealand, and this finally occurred following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840. The English text of
4118-521: A wealthy shipowner and member of the committee. Within the British Government , meanwhile, concern had grown about the welfare of Māori and increasing lawlessness among the 2,000 British subjects in New Zealand, who were concentrated in the Bay of Islands . Because of the population of British subjects there, officials believed colonisation was now inevitable and at the end of 1838 the decision
4260-583: The Tory , advertise for a captain and surveyor and select Colonel William Wakefield as the expedition's commander. William Wakefield was authorised to spend £3000 on goods that could be used to barter for land. By 12 May 1839, when the Tory left England under the command of Captain Edward Chaffers, the company had already begun advertising and selling land in New Zealand, and by the end of July—months before
4402-823: The Australian Squadron of the Royal Navy, participated in the attack on Puketakauere pā during the First Taranaki War . Later that year, the crew landed at Kairau to support British troops under attack from Māori and in January 1861 a gun crew from the ship helped defend the British redoubt at Huirangi against the Māori. In 1862, HMS Orpheus replaced Pelorus as flagship of the Australian Squadron. In February 1863, while delivering naval supplies and troop reinforcements to Auckland, Orpheus
Early naval vessels of New Zealand - Misplaced Pages Continue
4544-561: The Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Islands . In January 1827 Herd surveyed parts of the harbour at Hokianga , where either he or the company's agent on board negotiated the "purchase" of tracts of land from Māori in Hokianga , Manukau and Paeroa . The price for the land was "five muskets, fifty three pounds powder, four pair blankets, three hundred flints and four musket cartridge boxes". After several weeks Herd and
4686-636: The Cuba , with a surveyors' team headed by Captain William Mein Smith , R.A., set sail, and a month later—still with no word on the success of the Tory and Cuba —on 15 September 1839 it was followed from Gravesend, London, by the Oriental , the first of five 500-ton immigrant ships hired by the company. Following the Oriental were the Aurora, Adelaide, Duke of Roxburgh and Bengal Merchant , plus
4828-579: The Manukau . This maintained a Royal Navy presence in these regions during the 1863–64 Waikato conflict, both as warships and in providing personnel for the fighting on land (the Naval Brigade) and for operating the Waikato flotilla. Though there was no official New Zealand navy the ships were run as a naval force and transport service, and in that sense constitute the first New Zealand navy. However
4970-608: The New Zealand Company announced plans to establish colonies in New Zealand. This alarmed the missionaries, who called for more British control. Captain William Hobson was sent to New Zealand to persuade Māori to cede their sovereignty to the British Crown . On 6 February 1840, Hobson and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands . The first general charting of
5112-563: The Ngāti Raukawa of Ōtaki who were expected to attack at any time; and they were aware of the wealth that a European settlement—"their Pākehā"—would bring them through trade and employment. Some sales were also motivated by complex power struggles among Māori iwi , with assent to purchases deemed as proof of status. Company officials and the Colonial Office in London each argued that if the Māori were to be compensated for land they had not sold,
5254-634: The St Pauli , with 140 passengers including John Beit, the "overbearing and arrogant, greedy, untruthful" New Zealand Company agent in Hamburg, went to Nelson instead. The New Zealand Company had begun its colonisation scheme without the approval of the British government; as late as May 1839 Parliamentary Under-secretary Henry Labouchere warned company director William Hutt that there was no guarantee that titles to land purchased from Māori would be recognised and that such land would be subject to repurchase by
5396-484: The Tory in 1839, espoused the company's hope that interspersing Māori with white settlers would help them change their "rude and uncivilised habits". In a later book on his New Zealand adventures he wrote: "The constant example before their eyes, and constant emulation to attain the same results, would naturally lead the inferior race, by an easy ascent, to a capacity for acquiring the knowledge, habits, desires and comforts of their civilised neighbours." In November 1840,
5538-465: The Treaty of Waitangi , which was an obstacle to the company's obtaining the greatest possible amount of New Zealand land at the cheapest price. The company, in turn, was frequently criticised by the Colonial Office and New Zealand governors for its "trickery" and lies. Missionaries in New Zealand were also critical of the company for fear that its activities would lead to the "conquest and extermination" of Māori inhabitants. The company viewed itself as
5680-542: The "Australasian Auxiliary Squadron". Two ships, one from the Imperial squadron and one from the new squadron, would be stationed in New Zealand waters. An annual subsidy of £120,000 was to be paid to London by Australia and New Zealand, of which New Zealand's share was £20,000. This policy of subsidising Imperial navy forces allowed the Admiralty to retain central control over the navies, yet for New Zealand it guaranteed
5822-654: The "Great Survey". HMS Pandora took over and continued until 1856, when the harbours and most of the coast had been freshly surveyed. In the 1890s until 1905, HMS Penguin updated the surveys. From 1840 immigration , mainly from the United Kingdom , increased markedly. New Zealand became a colony of Britain in its own right on 3 May 1841, and the New Zealand Constitution Act of 1852 established central and provincial governments. As more European immigrants ( Pākehā ) arrived,
Early naval vessels of New Zealand - Misplaced Pages Continue
5964-563: The "unlimited power" the colony's founders would wield and what they regarded as the inevitable "conquest and extermination of the present inhabitants". Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the colonies Lord Howick and Permanent Under-Secretary James Stephen both were concerned about proposals for the settlements' founders to make laws for the colony, fearing it would create a dynasty beyond British government control, while Anglican and Wesleyan missionaries were alarmed by claims made in pamphlets written by Wakefield in which he declared that one of
6106-547: The 1790s the New Zealand coast was increasingly visited by explorers, traders and adventurers. They traded European goods, including guns and metal tools, for food, water, wood, flax and sex. European settlement increased through the early decades of the 19th century, establishing trading stations and buying land from the Māori. However different concepts of land ownership led to increasing conflict and bitterness. Missionaries were also settling, attempting to convert Māori to Christianity and control European lawlessness. In 1839,
6248-490: The 1830s known as Lord Durham) continued to pursue ways to become involved in commercial emigration schemes and was joined in his endeavours by Radical MPs Charles Buller and Sir William Molesworth . In 1831 and again in 1833 Buller and Molesworth backed Wakefield as he took to the Colonial Office elaborate plans to recreate a perfect English society in a new colony in South Australia in which land would be sold at
6390-601: The Colonial Office of its total outgoings, which included £20,000 paid to the 1825 company and £40,000 paid to the New Zealand Colonisation Company of 1838 as well as £5250 paid for the Tory . The company's spending on placards, printing and advertising, employee salaries, and food and transport for the emigrants were also included in the total, along with the costs of goods, including firearms, that had been used to buy land. A final calculation in May 1841
6532-597: The Colonial Secretary over his rejection of the association's plans, and later that month the association's second Bill, introduced by Whig MP Francis Baring on 1 June, was defeated 92 votes to 32 at its second reading. Lord Howick described the failed Bill as "the most monstrous proposal I ever knew made to the House". Three weeks after the Bill's defeat, the New Zealand Association held its final meeting and passed
6674-528: The Colonisation Association and the 1825 New Zealand Company learned from Hutt the disturbing news that the Government's Bill for the colonisation of New Zealand would contain a clause that land from then on would be able to be bought only from the Government. Such a move would be a catastrophic blow for the Colonisation Association, for whom success depended on being able to acquire land at a cheap price, directly from Māori, and then sell it at
6816-510: The Crown. In January and February 1840 both New South Wales Governor George Gipps and Hobson in New Zealand issued proclamations that all land previously purchased from Māori would have to be confirmed by government title, and that any future direct purchases from Māori were null and void. Gipps introduced his New Zealand Land Claims Bill to the New South Wales Legislative Council in May 1840, instituting
6958-640: The King, she sailed on a ten-month world cruise, arriving in Wellington in April 1913. For ten weeks she called at every port and was inspected by an estimated half a million people, nearly half the population of the country. She was 590 feet (180 m) long, weighed 19,000 tons, and had four propellers connected to turbine engines of 44,000 hp (33,000 kW) which drove her at 26 knots (48 km/h). New Zealand took part in all three major naval actions in
7100-500: The Māori. The society resolved to use "all suitable means" to defeat the association and both the Church and Wesleyan missionary societies began to wage campaigns in opposition to the company's plans, through pamphlets and lobbying to government. In September 1837, four months after the New Zealand Association's first meeting, discussions began with the 1825 New Zealand Company over a possible merger. The 1825 company claimed ownership of
7242-470: The New Zealand Company agent decided the cost of exporting goods was too high to be of economic value and they sailed to Sydney , where Herd paid off the crew and sold the stores and equipment, then returned to London. The venture had cost the New Zealand Company £20,000. The failure of Lambton's project came to the attention of 30-year-old aspiring politician Edward Gibbon Wakefield , who
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#17327910803217384-481: The New Zealand Company directors advised Wakefield that they wished to name the town at Lambton Harbour after the Duke of Wellington in recognition of his strong support for the company's principles of colonisation and his "strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonising South Australia ". Settlers enthusiastically accepted the proposal. The New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator
7526-399: The New Zealand Company in a very difficult position. It did not have enough land to satisfy the arriving settlers and it could no longer legally sell the land it claimed it owned. Under instructions from the Colonial Office, Hobson was to set up a system in which much of the revenue raised from the sale of land to settlers would be used to cover the costs of administration and development, but
7668-598: The New Zealand coast was done with great competence by Cook on his first visit in 1769. The chart was published in 1772 and remained current for 66 years. By 1840 several Royal Navy ships were engaged in hydrographic surveys directed by the Admiralty . Captain Owen Stanley , on HMS Britomart , drew up an Admiralty chart of the Waitematā Harbour . The Britomart was a Cherokee -class brig-sloop of
7810-550: The North Sea: at Heligoland Bight , Dogger Bank and Jutland . She also contributed to the sinking of two cruisers . Throughout these battles the captain wore a Māori piupiu (a warrior's skirt of rolled flax ) and a greenstone hei-tiki , given to the ship by an old chieftain in 1913 with the injunction that they were always to be worn by the captain of the New Zealand when she was fighting. The seamen showed much faith in these Māori mascots. According to lower deck legend,
7952-464: The Royal Navy. In this survey, he named Britomart Point after his ship. Stanley was a talented painter, but he seemed to suffer from a temporary lack of invention when he named another prominent point the Second Point. Today this is called Stanley Point. A detailed survey of the New Zealand coast was essential for economic development and in 1848 HMS Acheron , a steam paddle sloop, began
8094-496: The Russian scares was that four standard design second-class spar torpedo boats were ordered, one for each of the main ports. These were built in 1883 by John Thornycroft & Co , London. They displaced 12 tons and measured 18.2 × 2.3 × 1 m (63 × 7.5 × 3.2 feet). They were powered from a single shaft with a steam locomotive engine generating 173 hp (130 kW), which give a speed of 17 knots (31 km/h). Their main weapon
8236-401: The South Island sold vast areas of land. For Māori, land ( whenua ) was not just an economic resource but the basis of their identity and a connection with their ancestors. Land was normally in the control of the chiefs of hapū. Land sale records show that hapū and their leaders still willingly sold land to the government. Pākehā, especially from 1860, were keen to buy more land. This clashed with
8378-466: The South Pacific, late in 1883. As a contribution to port defences the government ordered a small "submining" steamer from Scotland. It was shipped to Wellington for assembly in sections, fitted with a locally made engine, named Ellen Ballance , and went into service about 1884. She was put under the responsibility of army engineers, who gained Engineer Corp status in May 1887. Submarine mining
8520-536: The Tongariro River system and Lake Taupō , New Zealand's largest lake, before running 400 kilometres though the Waikato Plains until it empties into the sea at Port Waikato . The river and its tributary Waipā River , joining at Ngāruawāhia , took the British forces right into the heart of the war. Some of the river ships went up as far as (now) Cambridge on the Waikato and almost to Pirongia on
8662-744: The Treaty is considered by many to have transferred sovereignty from Māori to the British Crown but this is far from a settled debate as the Te Reo Māori version has different wording. Regardless however, while under the Colonial Government's so-called pre-emption clause, Māori were prohibited from selling land to anyone but the Government and its agents. Lieutenant-Governor Hobson immediately froze all land sales and declared all existing purchases invalid pending investigation. The treaty put
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#17327910803218804-625: The Waikato River were destroyed by New Zealand militia to prevent rebelling Māori from attacking Auckland. Settlers were annoyed that the waka had not been destroyed earlier in the war. This had allowed rebelling Kingitanga Māori from the Waikato to cross into Auckland and murder a total of 18 settlers living on the outskirts of Auckland. Waka taua are no longer used in warfare, but they are still built and used for ceremonial purposes. Replica waka taua are built in traditional wood, fibreglass and plastic. The first European known to reach New Zealand
8946-511: The Waikato River. The flotilla comprised shallow draught boats, including gunboats and barges for transporting troops and supplies, as the front line moved progressively south. Many of these vessels were sourced from Australia and captained by experienced Australian officers. Cameron also opened a second maritime link by bringing troops and supplies over the Raglan bar and building a redoubt at Raglan. Troops were marched over an old Māori trail that
9088-653: The Waipa (using present place names). Eight ships were built, of which only the Avon and the Pioneer saw extensive action. Most of the seagoing ships served first on the Waikato ( e.g. Gundagai , Lady Barkly , Sturt ) and were later used for troop and stores transport between coastal ports. A substantial naval dockyard with workshops was set up at Putataka (now Port Waikato ) where the gunboats and barges were built and repaired. The dockyard and other depots were closed down and
9230-489: The Wakefield system of colonisation the company would carry out: 1100 sections, each comprising one " town acre " and 100 "country acres", would be sold in London, sight unseen, at £1 per acre, with the funds raised used to transport the emigrants to New Zealand. Emigrants would be selected either as capitalists or labourers, with labourers being required to work for the capitalists for several years before obtaining land of their own. One in 10 surveyed sections—scattered throughout
9372-452: The Wellington area since 1828 and also spoke "pidgin- Māori " —Wakefield began to offer guns, utensils and clothing to buy land from the Māori around Petone . Within a week he had secured the entire harbour and all surrounding ranges, and from then until November went on to secure signatures and marks on parchments that supposedly gave the company ownership of 20 million acres (8 million hectares)—about one-third of New Zealand's land surface at
9514-400: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 970539070 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:51:20 GMT New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company , chartered in the United Kingdom , was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on
9656-524: The accompanying schedule, to yield up possession of their habitations" as long as no force was used. FitzRoy pressured Te Aro Māori to accept £300 for valuable land in the middle of Wellington for which they had never been paid, by explaining that their land was almost valueless. In May 1842 Hampshire attorney William Spain , who had been appointed by Russell in January 1841 as an independent Land Commissioner, opened his official inquiry into New Zealand Company land claims and any non-Company counter-claims to
9798-489: The aims of colonisation was to "civilise a barbarous people" who could "scarcely cultivate the earth". Māori, Wakefield wrote, "craved" colonisation and looked up to the Englishman "as being so eminently superior to himself, that the idea of asserting his own independence of equality never enters his mind". Wakefield suggested that once Māori chiefs had sold their land to settlers for a very small sum, they would be "adopted" by English families and be instructed and corrected. At
9940-484: The area was still little more than a sandhill—but sales were poor. In March 1836 a survey party sailed for South Australia and the first emigrants followed four months later. Wakefield claimed all credit for the establishment of the colony, but was disappointed with the outcome, claiming the land had been sold too cheaply. Instead, in late 1836, he set his sights on New Zealand, where his theories of "systematic" colonisation could be put into full effect. He gave evidence to
10082-479: The assembly of wooden houses that had been carried on each ship, while tents also soon dotted the dunes behind the beach. Local Māori assisted with the construction and also provided food—fish, potatoes and other vegetables and occasionally pork. Eight weeks later, in March, after all passenger ships had arrived, settlers voted to abandon surveying at Pito-one—where the swamps, repeated flooding and poor anchorage facilities were proving too much of an obstacle—and move
10224-444: The association's third meeting, by which time London banker John Wright, Irish aristocrat Earl Mount Cashell and Whig MP William Wolryche-Whitmore were also on board and the group was attracting favourable newspaper attention, Wakefield drafted a Bill to bring the association's plans to fruition. The draft attracted stiff opposition from Colonial Office officials and from the Church Missionary Society , who took issue both with
10366-523: The bow, and equipped also with a small brass gun as protection against musket shot. The Calliope took the boat to Porirua in July 1846. The gunboat was used for some time at Porirua on patrol duty, manned mainly by crew from the Calliope . In December it was transferred to Wanganui , again aboard Calliope . At Wanganui a young crew member accidentally wounded a Māori chief with a pistol. The Māori wanted
10508-650: The charter had therefore been withdrawn. The New Zealand Association's plans would again hinge on a Bill being introduced to, and passed by, Parliament. Public and political opinion continued to run against the association's proposals. In February 1838 The Times wrote disparagingly of the "moral and political paradise", the "radical Utopia in the Great Pacific" conceived in "the gorgeous fancy of Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield", in March Parliament debated—then defeated—Molesworth's motion of no confidence in
10650-535: The charter, however, the association was told by Colonial Secretary Lord Glenelg it would have to become a joint stock company , and therefore have "a certain subscribed capital". In a letter to Lord Durham, Lord Glenelg explained that the government was aware of the risks of the proposed New Zealand venture and knew that the South Australian colony established under the Wakefield system was already heavily in debt. It therefore considered it reasonable that
10792-663: The company had even learned the Tory had arrived in New Zealand—all available sections for its first settlement had been sold. The company had already been warned in a letter from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary that the government could give no guarantee of title to land bought from Māori, which would "probably" be liable to repurchase by the Crown . The company had also been told that the Government could neither encourage nor recognise its proceedings. The company's prospectus, issued on 2 May, detailed
10934-459: The company to have not millions of acres at the top of the South Island, but just the two small areas of Whakatu and Taitapu. And in December, a week after arriving at Hokianga to inspect the land bought from the 1825 New Zealand Company, Wakefield was told by Ngāpuhi chiefs that the only land the New Zealand Land Company could claim in the north was about a square mile at Hokianga. Further, there
11076-438: The company were: The company unsuccessfully petitioned the British Government for a 31-year term of exclusive trade and for command over a military force, anticipating that large profits could be made from New Zealand flax , kauri timber, whaling, and sealing. Undeterred by the lack of government support for its plan to establish a settlement protected by a small military force, the company dispatched two ships to New Zealand
11218-525: The company which he claimed was in "distress". Over the next month, the two parties negotiated a three-part agreement that, once agreed, was hailed by the company as "all that we could desire". Colonial Secretary Lord John Russell agreed to offer a royal charter for 40 years, which would allow the company to buy, sell, settle and cultivate lands in New Zealand, with the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission , formed in January 1840, to have oversight of
11360-443: The company's colonisation activities. Russell also agreed to assess the total sum of money the company had spent on colonisation and then grant the company title to four acres for every pound it had expended. In return, the company would relinquish its claim to 20 million acres. He also promised the company a discount—at a level to be decided later—for a purchase from the government of 50,000 acres. The company began providing figures to
11502-463: The company's colonisation schemes, but three of its settlements would, along with Auckland , become and remain the country's "main centres" and provide the foundation for the system of provincial government introduced in 1853. The earliest organised attempt to colonise New Zealand came in 1825, when the New Zealand Company was formed in London , headed by the wealthy John George Lambton , Whig MP (and later 1st Earl of Durham ). Other directors of
11644-510: The company's intentions and seek approval. In line with his instructions, Wakefield promised local Māori they would be given reserves of land equal to one-tenth of the area, with their allotments chosen by lottery and sprinkled among the European settlers. The reserves were to remain inalienable to ensure that the Māori would not quickly sell the land to speculators. Jerningham Wakefield , the nephew of William Wakefield who had also arrived on
11786-421: The complicated nature of land ownership in the Port Nicholson area because of past wars and expulsions and from late October Wakefield was informed of—but dismissed—rumours that Māori had sold land that did not belong to them. Problems with some of their purchases were emerging, however. Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha boarded the Tory near Kapiti to tell Wakefield that in its October agreement Ngāti Toa intended
11928-463: The conclusion of negotiations begun the previous November); the company explained to the 1842 Land Claims Commission that while the earlier deeds covering the same land had been with the "overlords", these new contracts were with residents of the lands, to overcome any resistance they might have to yield physical possession of the land. In July the company reported it had sent 1108 labouring emigrants and 242 cabin passengers to New Zealand and despatched
12070-605: The crew as the target. They were obsolete before they were completed, and only the last two had the up-to-date Whitehead "fish" torpedo fitted when built. In 1884 torpedo boat units were formed to operate them. They were organised in a similar way to the artillery "Navals" with appropriate naval uniforms. They were at first called the Torpedo Branch of the Armed Constabulary. Then in June 1887 they were gazetted as
12212-597: The decision of the militant Kingitanga Māori in the Waikato to refuse to sell. This refusal to sell land and an attempt to set up an independent Kingitanga state was seen as rebellion by the government and was the primary cause of the New Zealand Wars in the 1860s, when the Taranaki and Waikato regions were scenes of conflict between the New Zealand government supported by British troops, colonial troops, local militia and loyal (kupapa) Māori fighting against
12354-484: The deeds of purchase for land it had claimed to have bought from the 38 deg. to the 42 degrees parallel of latitude were drawn up in English, which was not understood by Māori who had signed it, and that the company's representatives, including Barrett, had an equally poor grasp of Māori. Williams found that company representatives had met Māori chiefs at Port Nicholson, Kapiti and Taranaki, where neither party understanding
12496-536: The dock so they could develop naval workshops. For years the Royal Navy operated an imperial squadron in Australia called the "Australian Squadron". The 1887 Imperial Conference in London lead to a naval agreement that the Australian Squadron would be supplemented by another squadron, a joint Australian and New Zealand naval force of five cruisers and two torpedo gunboats. These ships would be based in Sydney and called
12638-409: The drawing of the lottery in late August 1841, when only 371 of the allotments were drawn by purchasers, three-quarters of whom were absentee owners. The ships arrived at Blind Bay (today known as Tasman Bay ), where the expedition leaders searched for land suitable for the new colony, before settling on the site of present-day Nelson , an area described as marshy land covered with scrub and fern. In
12780-449: The expectation of one-day buying land with their savings. The New Zealand Company established settlements at Wellington , Nelson , Wanganui and Dunedin and also became involved in the settling of New Plymouth and Christchurch . The original New Zealand Company started in 1825, with little success, then rose as a new company when it merged with Wakefield's New Zealand Association in 1837, received its royal charter in 1840, reached
12922-766: The feet of the New Zealand Company representatives. As early as 1839 the New Zealand Company had resolved to "take steps to procure German emigrants" and appointed an agent in Bremen . A bid in September 1841 to sell the Chatham Islands to the German Colonisation Company—yet to be formed—for £10,000 was quashed by the British Government, which declared that the islands were to be part of the colony of New Zealand and that any Germans settling there would be treated as aliens. The party of German migrants on
13064-630: The flotilla dispersed after the New Zealand Wars ended in 1867. A long-standing fear of invasion by the Imperial Russian Navy , symbolised by the hoax Russian warship Kaskowiski raid on Auckland, 1875, led to the arming of New Zealand ports with heavy guns in the decade from about 1880. A further hoax Russian warship attack, this time in Wellington in 1885, was spurred by fears over French, German and Russian policies in
13206-474: The flotilla was largely manned by Royal Navy personnel. It is to be hoped that the Calliope's gunboat, the schooner Caroline , the paddle-steamers Avon and Sandfly , and the river-steamers Pioneer , Koheroa , and Rangiriri , and the men of the British Navy who manned them, will not be forgotten in our histories The Waikato River rises in the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu and flows through
13348-461: The following year under the command of Captain James Herd, who was given the task of exploring trade prospects and potential settlement sites in New Zealand. On 5 March 1826 the ships, Lambton and Rosanna , reached Stewart Island , which Herd explored and then dismissed as a possible settlement, before sailing north to inspect land around Otago Harbour . Herd was unconvinced that area was
13490-559: The form of the Victorian naval screw steam sloop Victoria , in the first Taranaki conflict of 1860–61. They and the East Indiaman Elphinstone provided gun and crew, to form militia units for fighting ashore. The ships served mainly as communication, transport and supply links between places of conflict but, more importantly perhaps, also served as real symbols of British authority in areas where conflict
13632-569: The gift included the prophecy that the ship would one day be in action and be hit in three places, but her casualties would not be heavy (this turned out to be true). The New Zealand was scrapped in 1923. Her 4-inch (100 mm) guns came to New Zealand and were used at Fort Dorset and Godley Head. The piupiu also came back to New Zealand and is now in the possession of the Royal New Zealand Naval Museum. Naval ship Too Many Requests If you report this error to
13774-452: The government move reached Wellington in August it sparked panic, prompting hundreds of settlers to prepare to abandon their land and sail to Valparaíso , Chile . In a bid to restore certainty to the settlers over their land claims a three-man deputation was sent to Sydney to meet Gipps; in early December the deputation returned with news that Gipps would procure for the Wellington settlers
13916-411: The government would waive its rights of pre-emption in those defined areas (thus abandoning any move to reclaim or resell lands possibly still owned by "residents" in the wake of the company's purchase from the "overlords"), and in a confidential note Hobson promised that the government would "sanction any equitable arrangement you may make to induce those natives who reside within the limits referred to in
14058-424: The government's concerns. On 20 December 1837 it was rewarded with the offer of a royal charter similar to those under which British colonies had been earlier established in North America. The chartered body was to take responsibility for the administration, and the legislative, judicial, military and financial affairs of the colony of New Zealand, subject to safeguards of control by the British Government. To receive
14200-545: The ground. Surveyors became involved in skirmishes with the Māori, most of whom refused to budge, and were provided with weapons to continue their work. Wakefield had purchased the land during a frantic week-long campaign the previous September, with payment made in the form of iron pots, soap, guns, ammunition, axes, fish hooks, clothing—including red nightcaps—slates, pencils, umbrellas, sealing wax and jaw harps . Signatures had been gained from local chiefs after an explanation, given by Wakefield and interpreted by Barrett, that
14342-426: The ideal location and sailed instead for Te Whanganui-a-Tara (present-day Wellington Harbour ), which Herd named Lambton Harbour. Herd explored the area and identified land at the south-west of the harbour as the best place for a European settlement, ignoring the presence of a large pā that was home to members of Te Āti Awa tribe. The ships then sailed up the east coast to explore prospects for trade, stopping at
14484-424: The interests of shareholders should coincide with those of emigrants in the pursuit of the colony's prosperity. But members of the association decided the requirement was unacceptable. Reluctant to invest their own money in the venture, and wary of the risks of the shares being subject to fluctuations in the stock market, they rejected the offer. On 5 February 1838 the Colonial Secretary in turn advised Lord Durham that
14626-617: The land would no longer be theirs once payment was made. Evidence later provided to the Spain Land Commission —set up by the Colonial Office to investigate New Zealand Company land claims—revealed three major flaws: that chiefs representing pā of Te Aro, Pipitea and Kumutoto, where the settlement of Thorndon was to be sited, were neither consulted nor paid; that Te Wharepōuri , an aggressive and boastful young chief eager to prove his importance, had sold land he did not control; and that Barrett's explanation and interpretation of
14768-487: The large decorated war canoes or waka taua of the Māori. These could be over 30 metres long and were manned by up to 100 paddlers. It was a double hulled waka that rammed the ship's boat of Abel Tasman enabling Māori to board and kill 4 sailors. Waka taua were used to transport warriors to and from battle especially during the Musket War period 1805 to 1843. Less often battles were fought at sea. In late 1863 many waka on
14910-499: The moves as smacking of "high treason," Hobson declared British sovereignty over the entirety of the North Island on 21 May 1840, and on 23 May declared the council illegal. He then despatched his Colonial Secretary, Willoughby Shortland , with 30 soldiers and six mounted police on 30 June 1840, to Port Nicholson to tear down the flag. Shortland commanded the residents to withdraw from their "illegal association" and to submit to
15052-440: The next 14 years, 527 boys trained in her, 25 of them going on to naval service and most of the others into the merchant marine. The boat was originally a three masted auxiliary barquentine, square rigged on the foremast, fore-and-aft on the after masts. Her hull was composite; carvel teak planking on steel frames. In 1909, Great Britain was in the middle of a naval and political crisis; Germany had expanded her naval programme and
15194-421: The north of the South Island. He was told to explain to Māori that the company wanted to buy land for resale to allow large-scale European settlement and that he should emphasise to tribes that in every land sale, one-tenth would be reserved for Māori, who would then live where they were assigned by a lottery draw in London. Wakefield was told: "You will readily explain that after English emigration and settlement
15336-626: The other and had not visited other places where the company claimed to have purchased land. Hobson, meanwhile, was becoming alarmed at the news of the company's growing assumption of power. He learned of their bid to imprison a Captain Pearson of the barque Integrity and that on 2 March they had raised the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand at Port Nicholson, proclaiming government by "colonial council" that claimed to derive its powers from authority granted by local chiefs. Interpreting
15478-434: The peak of efficiency about 1841, encountered financial problems from 1843 from which it never recovered, returned its charter in 1850 and wound up all remaining business with a final report in 1858. The company's board members included aristocrats, Members of Parliament and a prominent magazine publisher, who used their political connections to ceaselessly lobby the British government to achieve its aims. The company bought
15620-472: The ports and the coastline. In the 1860s, New Zealand established the Waikato flotilla, its first de facto navy. By the late 19th century, New Zealand was using cruisers and torpedo boats. In the 1880s, in response to the Russian scares , coastal defences were established, a mine-laying steamer was ordered, and spar torpedo boats began patrolling the main ports. In 1911, New Zealand funded the construction of
15762-429: The pressure on the indigenous Māori to sell land increased. Māori initially welcomed Pākehā for the trading opportunities and the opportunity to learn new technologies, but by the late 1850s some Māori began to resent the loss of their autonomy. The Hapū (sub-tribes) who willingly sold their land by the late 1850s were refusing to sell and putting pressure on other Māori to do the same. Some tribes such at Ngāi Tahu in
15904-407: The rebelling Kingite Māori . On their defeat in 1864 the Māori rebels forfeited some of their land. 3% of New Zealand's land was taken, although large areas of this were reserved for Māori and some of the land was never surveyed or occupied and subsequently returned to Māori. Defeat of the rebels was aided by the large flotilla of vessels brought to New Zealand by General Cameron in 1863 to operate in
16046-602: The representatives of the Crown. Hobson, claiming his hand had been forced by the New Zealand Company's actions, also proclaimed sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand—the North Island by right of cession at Waitangi, and the South and Stewart Islands by right of discovery. Ignoring the wishes of William Wakefield, who wanted the initial settlement at the southwest side of the harbour where there were excellent anchorages for ships, Surveyor-General William Mein Smith began in January 1840 to layout 1100 one-acre (4047 m ) sections of
16188-467: The same lands. Spain quickly discovered that the New Zealand Company purchases in the Port Nicholson, Wanganui, and New Plymouth districts were hotly contested by Māori. In Wellington several important chiefs, notably those of Te Aro, Pipitea and Kumutoto pā took little or no part in the proceedings. Those in favour of "selling" the land gave two main reasons for their stance: European arms and settlement would give them protection against their enemies, notably
16330-456: The settlement—would be reserved for Māori who had been displaced, and the rest would be sold to raise £99,999, of which the company would retain 25 per cent to cover its expenses. Labourers would travel to New Zealand for free, while those who bought land and migrated could claim a 75 percent rebate on their fare. The Tory was the first of three New Zealand Company surveyor ships sent off in haste to prepare for settlers in New Zealand. In August
16472-547: The ships (seagoing and river gunboats) which were purchased, requisitioned or purpose built for the New Zealand Colonial Government, for duties connected with the New Zealand Wars in the Waikato , Bay of Plenty and Taranaki , during the decade from 1860. In addition, the Royal Navy operated HMS Curacoa , Esk , Fawn and Miranda out of Auckland , plus Eclipse and Harrier on
16614-516: The surrender of the youth, which was refused, and this was the direct cause of the Gilfillan murders . The gunboat saw more action in Wanganui until, damaged by its own gun recoil, it was disarmed in late 1847. In March 1860 the First Taranaki War started, and the colonial government requested help from Royal Navy and other ships based in Australia. In June 1860, HMS Pelorus , the flagship of
16756-581: The terms of the sale was woefully inadequate. Barrett told the Spain Commission hearing in February 1843: "I said that when they signed their names the gentlemen in England who had sent out the trade might know who were the chiefs." Historian Angela Caughey also claimed it was extremely unlikely that Wakefield and Barrett could have visited all the villages at Whanganui-a-Tara in one day to explain
16898-417: The town and also from as far afield as Porirua and Kapiti that they had never sold their land. Hobson assured them that their unsold pā and cultivations would be protected, but within days provided William Wakefield with a schedule, dated 1 September, which identified 110,000 acres at Port Nicholson, Porirua and Manawatu, 50,000 acres at Wanganui and 50,000 acres (later lifted to 60,000 acres) at New Plymouth;
17040-511: The town and country areas close together and the Hutt Valley appeared to promise that space. The drawback was that his chosen locality was a mix of dense forest, scrub, flax and swamp, its river was prone to flooding and the beach so flat that when the first passenger ships began to arrive—just four days after Smith began his survey work—they were forced to anchor 1600 metres from the shore. But construction of temporary houses began, as well as
17182-429: The town to Wakefield's preferred location of Thorndon at Lambton Bay (later Lambton Quay ), which was named in honour of Lord Durham . Surveyors quickly encountered problems, however, when they discovered the land selected for the new settlement was still inhabited by Māori, who expressed astonishment and bewilderment to find Pākehā tramping through their homes, gardens and cemeteries and driving wooden survey pegs into
17324-471: The town, initially called "Britannia", on the flat land at Pito-one (now Petone ), at the north of the harbour. The sections, near the mouth of the Hutt River , were laid out in parallelograms, with the plan including boulevards and public parks. Settlers who had bought a town section had also bought 100 "country acres" (about 40ha), where they could grow their food. Smith considered it important to locate
17466-475: The township was described as having a population of 500, along with bullocks, sheep, pigs and poultry, although the company was yet to identify or purchase any of the rural land for which purchasers had paid. The search for this remaining 200,000 acres (810 km ) would ultimately lead to the Wairau Affray – then known as the "Wairau Massacre" – of 17 June 1843, when 22 Europeans and four Māori died in
17608-429: The treaty on pressure by William Wakefield. On 29 April, however, Williams was able to report that Port Nicholson chiefs had "unanimously" signed the treaty. William Wakefield was already strongly critical of both the treaty and Williams and repeatedly attacked the missionary in the company's newspaper for his "hypocrisy and unblushing rapaciousness". Williams, in turn, was critical of the company's dealings, noting that
17750-566: Was wrecked on the sandbars at the entrance to Manukau Harbour . Of the ship's complement of 259, 189 died in the disaster. It was New Zealand's worst maritime tragedy. In 1856, the Australian Colony of Victoria had received its own naval vessel, HMCSS Victoria . In 1860 Victoria deployed also to assist the New Zealand colonial government. When Victoria returned to Australia the vessel had suffered one fatality and taken part in several minor actions. The following tables cover
17892-465: Was "the purchase and sale of lands, the promotion of emigration, and the establishment of public works". A reserved share of £500 was offered to Wakefield, who by then was in Canada, working on the staff of that colony's new governor general , Lord Durham. By December, although it was still yet to attract 20 paid-up shareholders, the company decided to buy the barque Tory for £5250 from Joseph Somes,
18034-562: Was an 11 m (36 ft) spar, projecting well forward over the bow, armed at its tip with an explosive device. A Nordenfelt gun was also fitted. The idea was that the boat would proceed at high speed towards the side of an enemy warship, where it would detonate the explosive at the end of its spar. The spar boats were constructed for speed, so they were narrow and shallow, and were armoured with plating only 1.6 mm thick. They could not operate in anything like rough water, and using them as attack vessels may well have been as hazardous for
18176-518: Was close to breaking out, or already had. Since roads were few and poorly formed, the sea, with all its hazards was often the only practical means of communication. Royal Navy ships and their well-trained and disciplined crews were the mainstays of battles and skirmishes. In 1846 the Colonial Records of Revenue and Expenditure listed the purchase of a gunboat for Porirua Harbour for 100 pounds 17 shillings and 6 pence. This modest acquisition
18318-430: Was made to appoint a Consul as a prelude to the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand. And when Lord Glenelg was replaced as Colonial Secretary in late February, his successor, Lord Normanby , immediately brushed off demands from the New Zealand Colonisation Association for the royal charter that had been previously offered to the New Zealand Association. On 20 March 1839 an informal meeting of members of
18460-455: Was near-identical to that of the Kapiti deal. On 16 November as the Tory passed Wanganui three chiefs came aboard the Tory to negotiate the sale of all their district from Manawatu to Patea . The areas in each deed were so vast Wakefield documented them by writing lists of place names, and finally expressed the company's territory in degrees of latitude. Wakefield had learned from Barrett
18602-635: Was nothing at all for them at either Kaipara or Manukau Harbour . There was a prize for him, however, with his purchase on 13 December of the Wairau Valley in the north of the South Island. Wakefield bought the land for £100 from the widow of whaling Captain John Blenkinsopp, who had claimed to have earlier bought it off Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha . That sale would lead to the 1843 Wairau Affray in which 22 English settlers and four Māori would be killed. Further purchases followed in Taranaki (60,000 acres in February 1840) and Wanganui (May 1840,
18744-424: Was published in Wellington from 1840 to 1844. Initially privately owned by Samuel Revans , it was regarded as a "mouthpiece of the New Zealand Company". In April 1841 the company informed the Colonial Secretary of its intention to establish a second colony "considerably larger" than the first. The colony was initially to be called Molesworth after Radical MP Sir William Molesworth , a supporter of Wakefield, but
18886-492: Was released from prison and joined the National Colonisation Society, whose committee included Wilmot-Horton, nine MPs and three clergymen. Wakefield's influence within the society quickly grew and by the end of the year his plans for colonisation of Australasia had become the central focus of the society's pamphlets and lectures. Despite the £20,000 loss incurred in his earlier venture, Lambton (from
19028-574: Was renamed Nelson (after the British admiral ) when Molesworth showed little interest in leading the colony. It was planned to cover 201,000 acres (810 km ), consisting of 1000 allotments. Each would be 150 acres (60 hectares) of rural land, 50 acres (20 hectares) of accommodation land and one "town acre" (4000 square metres), with half the funds raised by land sales being spent on emigration and about £50,000 ending up as company profits. The land would be sold at £301 per allotment or 30 shillings an acre, one pound an acre more than land at Wellington, with
19170-556: Was serving three years in jail for abducting a 15-year-old heiress . Wakefield, who had grown up in a family with roots in philanthropy and social reform, also showed an interest in proposals by Robert Wilmot-Horton , Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies for state-assisted emigration programmes that would help British paupers escape poverty by moving to any of Britain's colonies. In 1829 Wakefield began publishing pamphlets and writing newspaper articles that were reprinted in
19312-541: Was speeding up the building of ships of all classes. On 22 March 1909 the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir Joseph Ward , made an offer to fund "one first-class battleship, and if need be, two" as a gift to the Royal Navy. This offer was accepted by the British Government and the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand was built by Fairfield for £ 1,783,190. The New Zealand was commissioned on 23 November 1912 with three New Zealand officers. After being inspected by
19454-466: Was that under the agreed formula the company was entitled to an initial 531,929 acres, with possibly another 400,000 to 500,000 acres to come. In May Russell agreed to allow the company a 20 per cent discount on the cost of 50,000 acres it wished to buy in New Plymouth and Nelson. Hobson visited the Wellington area for the first time in August 1841 and heard complaints first-hand from Māori both in
19596-510: Was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman , who arrived with his ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen in 1642. Over 100 years later, in 1769, the British naval captain James Cook of HM Bark Endeavour made the first of his three visits. From the late 18th century, the country was increasingly visited by British, French and American whaling , sealing and trading ships. In 1841 New Zealand became
19738-408: Was the first boat purchased by a governing authority in New Zealand for use as a vessel of war. The boat was a longboat which had been recovered from the wreck of the barque Tyne , near Sinclair Head, Wellington on 4 July 1845. No name for the boat is mentioned in any sources. Carpenters from HMS Calliope converted her into a gunboat. She was lengthened, fitted with a 12 pdr carronade at
19880-819: Was the laying of defensive mines on the seabed about port entrances. In 1898 the New Zealand forces commander advised the government that Ellen Ballance was dangerous for laying out mines in anything approaching bad weather. He recommended that two "proper" submarine minelaying steamers should be acquired, one for Auckland and one for Wellington. This was approved, and in October 1900 the construction of two enlarged Napier of Magdala type vessels were ordered. These were named Janie Seddon and Lady Roberts . Ellen Ballance went to Lyttelton soon after being replaced by Janie Seddon , and then to Otago Harbour in October 1905 as transport to RNZ Artillery gun emplacements such as Ripapa Island and Taiaroa Head . A further consequence of
20022-654: Was the official opening on 16 February 1888 of the Calliope graving dock . This was constructed over three years by the Auckland Harbour Board at Calliope Point on the Devonport shore. Designed to take vessels up to 500 feet (150 m), the dock was the largest in the southern hemisphere. In 1892 the Admiralty acquired from the Harbour Board 4 acres (16,000 m) of reclaimed land adjacent to
20164-588: Was widened by the Forest Rangers to allow access to the area north of Pirongia . In the early years of European settlement, New Zealand's naval defence consisted of occasional visits by ships of the Royal Navy based on New South Wales. There was no base in New Zealand. In the quarter century from 1845, some twenty Royal Navy ships took part in actions between Māori and Pākehā, with the colonial government taking up some commercial ships in supporting roles. Another contribution came on loan from Australia , in
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