Andersen. — Mission of the " Britoniart " at Akaroa. 79 



attacked by paralysis, the Lieutenant-Governor was disabled from travelling 

 to obtain the signatures personally, and he deputed Major Bunbury to 

 visit parts of the North Island, and also the Middle and Stewart Islands, 

 for that purpose. Major Bunbury sailed in H.M.S. " Herald," with 

 instructions, dated 25th April, 1840, to obtain signatures at all places 

 possible, and to visit such places as he might deem most desirable for 

 establishing Her Majesty's authority. 



In reporting the results of his mission Major Bunbury stated that he 

 had, on the 5th June, 1840, proclaimed the Queen's authority, by right of 

 discovery — no natives being there met with — at Southern Port (Stewart 

 Island) ; and at Cloudy Bay (Middle Island) on the 17th June, the 

 sovereignty at this place having been ceded by the principal chiefs signing 

 the treaty. 



Writing on the 25th May, 1840, to the Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies, Lieutenant-Governor Hobson concluded his despatch by saying 

 that without waiting for Major Bunbury's report he had, on the 21st May, 

 1840, proclaimed the sovereignty of Her Majesty, owing to affairs at Port 

 Nicholson pressing him so to do, over the North Island in accordance 

 with the consents given by the natives in the treaty, and over the southern 

 islands bv right of discovery. This despatch was acknowledged and 

 approved by Lord John Russell, and the Proclamations making the islands 

 subject to Her Majesty were inserted in the London Gazette. New 

 Zealand was at the time promised a charter -of separate government, 

 which charter was sent on the 9th December, 1840. Lest, however, the 

 proclamation of sovereignty over the Middle Island " by virtue of 

 discovery " should be considered either insufficient or illegal, the Queen's 

 authority was again proclaimed over it by Major Bunbury on the 17th 

 June, 1840, by virtue of the Treaty of Waitangi. This same proclamation 

 was also made at Cloudy Bay, and Captain Nias, of H.M.S. " Herald," 

 landed with a party of marines to honour the occasion, twenty-one guns 

 being fired from the ship. 



Sir George Gipps, writing to Lord John Russell on the 24th July, 1840, 

 reported that Major Bunbury appeared to have carried out his instructions 

 very satisfactorily. He says, inter alia, "" One of the places visited by 

 the ' Herald ' was Banks Peninsula, the spot at which it has been said 

 that a settlement is about to be made by a company formed in France. 

 Of this company, however, and of its proceedings I know nothing, save 

 what I have derived from English newspapers." The French discovery- 

 ships " Astrolabe " and " Zelee " were at Banks Peninsula in April, 1840 : 

 they knew of no project for forming a settlement there, and, indeed, 

 thought the locality a disadvantageous and undesirable one for such a 

 purpose. 



Strong feeling had been excited in France by the publication in London 

 of the instructions to Captain Hobson when he was sent out as Lieutenant- 

 Governor to New Zealand. The French Press teemed with calls on their 

 Government to take steps similar to those the British Government pro- 

 posed to adopt, and to take a share in the colonizing of New Zealand, 

 as a country open to all nations. Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield, giving 

 evidence on the 17th July, 1840, before the Select Committee on New 

 Zealand afiairs, stated that he had received as many as forty different 

 French newspapers containing comments on Captain Hobson's instructions. 

 The French Chamber of Commerce also petitioned the Government, and 

 from all this excitement sprang a project for sending French colonists 



