9 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. I. 
The application was transmitted by the Rev. Wil- 
liam Yate, then head of the mission in New Zealand, 
and supported by the managers of the Church Mis- 
sionary Society in England, who have for many years 
enjoyed an influence at the Colonial Office, not the 
less for being exercised in secret ; and accordingly 
Lord Goderich, then the Colonial Minister, wrote to 
the thirteen chiefs, granting their request in the name 
of the King. Instructions were at the same time trans- 
mitted to the Governor of New South Wales, which 
induced him to appoint an officer of the British Go- 
vernment to reside at the Bay of Islands, in a capacity 
which it is impossible otherwise to define than by ob- 
serving that its title, that of Resident, would indicate 
diplomatic functions. If we are to judge by the in- 
structions given to Mr. Busby, the Resident, and by 
his official dispatches to the Governor of New South 
Wales, under whose authority he was placed, he was 
accredited, not to any natives, but to the missionaries 
inhabiting the small peninsula at the northern ex- 
tremity of the North Island. Governor Sir Richard 
Bourke says to him : — " You will find it convenient 
*' to manage this conference (with the chiefs) by means 
" of the missionaries, to whom you will be furnished 
" with credentials, and with whom you are recom- 
" mended to communicate freely upon the objects of 
" your appointment, and the measures you should adopt 
" in treating with the chiefs." And Mr. Busby as- 
sures Sir Richard Bourke, that ** unless a defined and 
" specific share in the government of the country be 
"allotted to the missionaries, the British Govern- 
"ment have no right to expect that that influential 
" body will give a hearty support to its representa- 
" tive." Defined functions the Resident had none. 
His authority for the repression of evil was never 
