,oo6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



The Xe\v Zealand Land Company meantime had been actively at work. When the 

 proclamations declaring the sovereignty of the Queen were published, there had been landed 

 from the Company's vessels in Port Nicholson more than a thousand' passengers, who had 

 " formed themselves into a Government, elected a Council, appointed Colonel Wakefield 

 President, and had proceeded to enact laws and appoint magistrates." As soon as the 

 (iovernor heard of their proceedings, "without one hour's delay" he sent thirty men of 

 the Eighth Regiment, who had been drafted from New South Wales, and Lieutenant 



'"* c> 



Smart with five of the mounted police of that colony, under the command of Lieutenant 



Shortland, R.N., with instructions to publish a proclamation declaring the Provisional 

 Government of the Company illegal and usurping, and calling on all persons, upon their 

 allegiance to the Queen to withdraw therefrom, and to "submit to the authorities in 

 Xew Zealand legally appointed." The settlers informed Lieutenant Shortland that they 

 had formed themselves into a Council only until the Governor was enabled to act. All 

 they had done was to make provision for their own good order and safety in a country 

 possessing no settled form of Government. They had no disloyal intent or purpose 

 whatever, and welcomed his arrival amongst them. The proclamation was read and 

 responded to by both races, while an address of congratulation was carried by Colonel 

 Wakefield to the Bay of Islands and presented to the Governor. 



Lord John Russell, on receipt of Captain Hobson's despatch detailing his proceeding, 

 gave his "entire approbation" to all that had been done, and stated that he would 

 soon transmit Letters Patent constituting New Zealand a separate Government, with a 

 commission appointing Captain Hobson the first Governor. The latter pursued his 

 inquiries as to the best site for the seat of Government, and at last determined to select 

 Auckland for various reasons, as set forth to the Secretary of State, namely, on account 

 of its central position ; the great facility of internal water communication ; the facility 

 and safety of its port ; and finally, the fertility of its soil, which was stated by persons 

 capable of appreciating it, the Governor said, to be exceptionally well adapted for every 

 agricultural purpose. Previous, however, to his fixing the site, he had been assured, in 

 the address presented to him by the inhabitants of Port Nicholson, that they had antici- 

 pated as far as possible the wants of the Government, and set apart the most valuable 

 sections of land for the convenience of the Public Offices, and the personal accommoda- 

 tion of his Excellency, feeling assured that sooner or later Port Nicholson would 

 become the metropolis and the seat of Government. 



The selection of Auckland as the capital disappointed the expectations of the New 

 Zealand Land Company, and apparently deprived the Governor of the good-will of the 

 Company's agents and settlers, the latter of whom had been led to expect that the 

 spot selected by the Company's agents would be the future capital of the colony. It 

 was also the Governor's duty to report to Sir George Gipps that the title of the 

 Company to Port Nicholson itself was disputed by the natives, and thus to manifest to 

 them his determination to honourably fulfill the conditions of the Treaty, which, on behalf 

 of the Crown, he had concluded with them. A great deal of angry feeling was evoked 

 in consequence of these two circumstances, anil the Press, under the influence of the 

 Company, both in Wellington and in England, misrepresented much that the Governor 

 did, impugning his motives and assailing his Administration. Conscious of his rectitude, 



