80 Transactions. 



and establisliing a French colony in New Zealand. Matters connected 

 with this project were conducted by a company calling itself the Nanto- 

 Bordelaise Company. A certain Captain Langlois had, on the 2nd August, 

 1838, made a provisional purchase from Tuaanau and other natives, of 

 the greater part of Banks Peninsula, paying a deposit in commodities 

 valued at £6, further commodities to the value of £234 to be paid at a 

 later period. They were so paid, but not until the arrival of the French 

 colonists in August, 1840. Consequently, owing to the Proclamation of 

 Governor Gipps above referred to, the purchase was, strictly speaking, 

 illegal, and need not have been recognized by the Crown at all. Captain 

 Langlois sold part of his interest to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, and 

 on the 9th March, 1840, sixty-three emigrants left Rochefort in the 

 " Comte de Paris," an old man-of-war given by the French Government 

 for the purpose. 



Another man-of-war, the " Aube," under Captain Lavaud, was sent 

 as escort, and also to take possession for the French Government and 

 protect the colonists on their arrival. The captain, in order to consult 

 the Roman Catholic bishop resident there, ' sailed for the Bay of Islands, 

 arriving on the 11th July, 1840. Certain proceedings took place subse- 

 quently to her arrival, which have given rise to the romantic account of 

 the " taking possession " at Akaroa. It is said that the captain in an 

 unguarded moment revealed the object of his presence in New Zealand 

 waters, whereupon the " Britomart " was secretly despatched to forestall 

 the French by taking possession of the South Island at Akaroa. Lavaud 

 was obliged to make some mention of his mission in order to explain his 

 presence in the bay, and was placed in an extremely awkward position 

 when he was told that the whole of New Zealand, including the South 

 Island, had been proclaimed a possession of the British Crown. At the 

 time he left France New Zealand was stiU a No Man's Land ; and he had 

 had two separate instructions — one to protect the French whaling industry 

 in the southern waters, the other to prepare Akaroa for the reception of 

 the emigrants by the " ComtJe de Paris," part of such preparation being 

 the annexation of Banks Peninsula or further territories on behalf of 

 France. He knew nothing even of the appointment of Hobson as 

 Lieutenant-Governor, and he was at first disposed to refuse recognition of 

 his authority. 



Hobson appreciated his difl&culty ; and in order partly to safeguard 



such British interest in the peninsula as had been established, partly to 



convince the French that the territory was undoubtedly regarded as 



British, he despatched Captain Stanley with two Magistrates to hold Courts 



at Akaroa and other places on the peninsula. The following is a copy 



of the instructions to Stanley : they are printed in part in Rusden's 



History of New Zealand, though not in the printed collections of official 



documents : — 



Government House, Russell. 

 Sir,— Bay of Islands, 22nd July, 1840. 



It being of the utmost importance that the authority of Her Majesty should be 

 most imequivocally exercised throughout the remote parts of this colony, and more 

 particularly in the Southern and Middle Islands, where, I understand, foreign influence 

 and even interference is to be apprehended, I have the honour to request you to pro- 

 ceed immediately in H.M. sloop, under your command, to those islands. 



On the subject of this commission I have to request the most inviolable secrecy 

 from all except your immediate superior officers, to whom it may be your duty to report 

 your proceedings. 



The ostensible purpose of your cruise may appear to be the conveyance of two 

 magistrates to Port Nicholson, to whom I will elsewhere more particularly refer. The 



