478 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XVIII. 
This last piece of intelligence, however, was already 
becoming too worn-out to attract much attention. It 
was a byword and a joke at all the hotels, at the 
Club, the Exchange, and other places of assemblage 
where the gossip of the day was discussed. To the 
question, " what news from the north ? " the inva- 
riable answer was " Hobson's coming!" and it be- 
came the custom to say of a waiter, a ship, or anything 
else proverbially dilatory, but which was " coming," 
instead of '*so's Christmas," "so's Hobson!" This 
was in fact a better figure of speech, for Captain 
Hobson, unlike Christmas, had been "coming" for 
more than a year. 
On the 5th of May, the Brougham sailed for 
London with a full cargo of oil and whalebone and 
several passengers. Among these was Captain Chaffers. 
He had been independent enough to sign the petition 
for Captain Hobson's recall. His services as Harbour- 
master had then been declined by the Government, 
while they refused even to authorise his acting in the 
pay of the Company, and neglected to appoint an 
officer in his stead. He carried with him, however, a 
highly creditable testimonial of his great ability and of 
the services which he had rendered to the colony, 
signed by seventy of the most respectable of the 
settlers, who moreover presented him with a sum of 
money which they had subscribed and begged him to 
apply to the purchase of a piece of plate in England, 
commemorative of this opinion. The other passengers 
were persons who, like Mr. Petre, went with the in- 
tention of returning to take up their final abode in the 
colony. 
The inhabitants of Wellington, anxious to secure the 
advantfiges of a Municipal Corporation, as proposed to be 
granted them by Sir George Gipps, determined to meet 
