New Zealand Company

The New Zealand Company was a British joint-stock company. It coordinated most of the early settlement of the islands, which were still independent through the 1830s. The company was formed in 1839 and continued operating until 1858. The New Zealand Company established the first settlement for European immigrants in 1840, and was responsible for heavily promoting the country as a destination for settlers from Britain and Ireland. Conflict in 1843 between the company and Māori people ignited the New Zealand Wars.

Background

English explorer James Cook visited the islands in 1770 and explored the coasts of New Zealand. Not long after he returned to Europe with detailed coastal maps, whalers and traders became common in the waters. Missionaries arrived in 1814 and established several stations.

The primary force behind New Zealand colonisation was Edward Gibbon Wakefield . Wakefield wrote a series of essays on colonisation while imprisoned for kidnapping. His essays and book—which was published after his three-year term ended—detailed ideas about preventing or ‘curing’ poverty through colonisation. According to his theories, the Crown needed to colonise its land through sale rather than give it away to those willing to emigrate. Free land, he argued, led to shortages of manual labourers, which forced landowners to either use convicts or slaves or to perform the work themselves. He believed this would lead to the elevation of profit as the primary pursuit of colonists. Selling the land increased its value and would stimulate economic growth, both in Britain and in the colony; colonisation would also provide work for a surplus of labourers in Britain, thereby improving the prospects of workers in both economies.

Much of Wakefield’s theory of colonisation ran counter to prominent ideas at the time. While innovative overall, it had at its centre a questionable idea: Investors would be willing to buy and improve land and would see a good return. Wakefield also did not address the rights of the indigenous peoples in his theories of colonialism.

Robert Rintoul, a newspaper editor who had published many of Wakefield’s essays, found the argument for investing in colony building compelling and introduced Wakefield to influential politicians. The men formed the National Colonization Society in 1830. Wakefield was also a founder of the New Zealand Association, which promoted emigration to that country.

The prospect of emigrating from Britain to one of the most distant place on Earth was daunting. The sea journey took one hundred days. The crossing was often miserable, with rough seas and illness in cramped quarters. Few were willing to emigrate without incentives such as free passage and guarantees of work.

Some officials and organisations disagreed with Wakefield’s ideas to colonise New Zealand. The Church Missionary Society and the Colonial Office argued that the Māori people were likely to suffer. In response to opposition, Wakefield reorganised the association into the New Zealand Company in 1839 and sent representatives to purchase land. The non-Māori population at that time was about two thousand, mostly men.

Impact

While representatives of the New Zealand Company were negotiating for land, Britain annexed New Zealand under the Treaty of Waitangi. In the agreement, which was signed on 6 February 1840, the Māori were guaranteed possession of their land in exchange for recognising British sovereignty. In October of 1840, the British Colonial Office recognised the New Zealand Company as a government agent in colonising the islands and granted it a charter and land title.

The New Zealand Company negotiated the purchase of 1.2 million hectares in the Cook Strait area. It established the first permanent European settlement at Wellington, then called Port Nicholson, and welcomed the first ship of immigrants in January of 1840. Due to flooding, the settlers moved across the harbour, where they clashed with Māoris already living there. A second land purchase at Port Whakatū became the site of the Nelson settlement. Residents of Nelson initially traded with the Māori for food, but these transactions came to a halt when the New Zealand Company and the Crown failed to uphold some of their agreements.

In 1843, the New Zealand Company tried to negotiate purchase of the Wairau Valley plains, about 70 kilometres south-east of Nelson, to be used as farmland. Surveyors were stopped by Chief Te Rauparaha of the Ngāti Toa, who insisted this land was not part of the company’s agreements. The terms of the Treaty of Waitangi required that the company’s transactions be examined. Ngāti Toa wanted the valley property matter to be included in the investigation.

Wakefield believed that if colonists were living on the land, the Crown would recognise the company’s claims. He sent his brother, Arthur Wakefield, and a surveying team to the Wairau Valley in April of 1843. The men were driven out several weeks later and their shelters burnt. Forty-nine settlers, including a constable and Arthur Wakefield, returned to arrest Te Rauparaha and his nephew, Te Rangihaeata. During a heated exchange between the Europeans and Māori, someone fired a musket. About nine of the Europeans were killed or fatally wounded in the chaotic fighting that followed. Two Māori, including one of Te Rangihaeata’s wives, Te Rongo, also died. Four more Europeans were killed as they retreated and the survivors were surrounded and forced to surrender. Te Rangihaeata was allowed to execute nine prisoners, including Arthur Wakefield. The conflict—which left four Māori and twenty-two Europeans dead—became known as the Wairau Incident.

Settlers demanded the new governor, Robert FitzRoy, arrest the Ngāti Toa. However, officials who investigated believed the New Zealand Company had provoked the conflict when it continued to survey the land without a clear claim to it. The Colonial Office agreed with FitzRoy, but the New Zealand Company and its settlers were furious.

Over the course of five years, many of the New Zealand Company’s land purchases were declared invalid, which left many settlers angry. FitzRoy renegotiated Crown grants for smaller tracts, which required the New Zealand Company to pay more money to the Māori. FitzRoy reasoned that a smaller land grant was the safest choice if clear titles were secured, and that peace was necessary for the settlements to survive.

From just two thousand non-Māori residents in 1839, the population of New Zealand exploded. Thirteen years later, the population was about 28,000. Conflicts between Māori and settlers would continue for decades.

Bibliography

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Fairburn, Miles. “Wakefield, Edward Gibbon.” Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1w4/wakefield-edward-gibbon. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

Owen, Dylan. “The Wairau Affray: A Series of Unfortunate Events.” National Library, 16 June 2020, natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/the-wairau-affray-a-series-of-unfortunate-events. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

Phillips, Jock. “History of Immigration.” Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 1 Aug. 2015, teara.govt.nz/en/history-of-immigration. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

Stade, Karen. “The First Meeting—Abel Tasman and Māori in Golden Bay/Mohua.” The Prow, 2020, www.theprow.org.nz/events/the-first-meeting-abel-tasman-and-maori-in-golden-bay/#.X9fhgGhKiM8. Accessed 14 Dec. 2020.

Stephens, Joy. “The New Zealand Company.” The Prow, www.theprow.org.nz/society/new-zealand-company/#.X9fi82hKiM8. Accessed 14 Dec. 2020.

“Taming the Frontier: Page 4—Land Issues on the Eve of the Treaty of Waitangi.” New Zealand History, nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/background-to-the-treaty/land-and-ideals. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

“The Wairau Incident: Page 1—Introduction.” New Zealand History, nzhistory.govt.nz/war/wairau-incident. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.