le ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. L 
In 1836, a Committee of the House of Commons on 
Aborigines set before the British public, in a form to 
make a deep impression, a grievous picture of the state 
of things in New Zealand. 
In the same year, another Committee of the House 
of Commons inquired into the subject of the disposal of 
waste lands with a view to colonization, and received evi- 
dence as well of the fitness of New Zealand for the pur- 
pose of regular British settlements, as of the deplorable 
results of European settlement without law or order. 
In 1837, a society v^'as formed in London, under the 
name of the New Zealand Association, for the purpose 
of inducing the British Government to establish a suf- 
ficient authority in the islands, and to colonize them 
according to a plan deliberately prepared with a view 
of rendering colonization beneficial to the native inha- 
bitants as well as to the settlers. 
The author of the plan and founder of the Associa- 
tion was my father, Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield ; 
but the members of the Association whose position in 
public life attracted attention to the project, and whose 
zealous exertions ultimately saved New Zealand from 
becoming a French penal colony, were Mr. Francis 
Baring (the chairman). Lord Durham, Lord Petre, 
Mr. Bingham Baring, Mr. Campbell of Islay, Mr. 
Charles Enderby, the munificent promoter of Antarc- 
tic discovery, Mr. Ferguson of Raith, the Kev. Dr. 
Hinds, Mr. Benjamin Hawes, Mr. Philip Howard, 
Mr. William Hutt, Mr. Lyall, Mr. Mackenzie, Sir 
William Molesworth, Sir George Sinclair, Sir Wil- 
liam Symonds, Mr. Henry George M^ard, and Mr. 
Wolryche Whitmore. 
The Association, having matured their plan, but ap- 
prehensive of opposition from the Colonial Office, which 
might nip the project in its bud, addressed themselves 
