4lt ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XV. 
what counteracted by a letter received by a carpenter 
named Cockburn from a brother chip, who, being of the 
wandering class, had proceeded to the Thames some 
time before : it spoke in the most discouraging terms 
of the prospect for labourers at a place where there 
was no other employer than the Government. The 
Reverend Mr. Churton, who had for some time shown 
a strong disinclination to fulfil his engagement with 
the colonists by remaining with them, and an irre- 
sistible craving for a situation graced by the pre- 
sence of a Governor, Colonial Secretary, and other 
people with fine titles, took up the cudgels for the 
infant metropolis, and expressed vehement doubts as to 
the authenticity of the letter. Unfortunately for his 
theory, Cockburn brought the letter to the Gazette 
Office, where he left it for inspection, after begging 
attention to the post-mark. We were not surprised at 
a rumour that Mr. Churton had been appointed by the 
Bishop of Australia to the Bay of Islands, and that he 
would soon leave us. 
An American brig, which had called at the Bay of 
Islands, on her way hither with a cargo of " notions " 
from Rhode Island, had brought a file of newspapers 
from the Bay. These contained the reports of meet 
ings of land-owners at the Bay of Islands, in the frith 
of the Thames, and at Manganui, north of the Bay, 
the parties to which had voted memorials to the Queen 
and Parliament for the separation of New Zealand from 
New South Wales, and had joined the Sydney Asso- 
ciation in opposing Sir George Gipps's Land Bill. A 
colonel and a captain had been appointed Commis- 
sioners according to that measure, and had arrived 
from Sydney at the Bay. 
There was also a ridiculous account of the taking 
formal possession and foundation of Auckland by the 
