Chap. n. PORT COOPER PUBLIC MEETING. '33 
Banks's Peninsula, with a view to the selection of a 
site for the expected colony of " Nelson." They had 
coasted from Kaikora, or the Lookers-on, to the north 
side of the peninsula, and Mr. Duppa had ascended 
the banks of one of the rivers which flow into Pegasus 
Bay, for eight miles from its mouth. They described 
the isthmus, which connects the peninsula with the 
main, to be not a sandy neck, as hitherto represented in 
the charts, but a broad extension of the level, low, and 
fertile country which reaches from the broken ground 
of the peninsula to the foot of the snowy range of 
Southern Alps, and extends far to the north and 
south, watered by several small rivers. They united in 
describing this tract of country as affording rich pas- 
turage and excellent soil, and sprinkled with numerous 
groves of pine timber. They also spoke in the highest 
terms of the harbour of Port Cooper, and Port Levi, 
now called Port Ashley. 
As the last paragraph in the Governor s letter to 
the Magistrates seemed to imply that he was really 
" coming," a meeting was held on the 30th of July, to 
consider the manner in which he was to be received, 
Mr. George Butler Earp presided ; and 250 people 
of all classes were present. 
A motion was made, which met with the support of 
Mr. Hanson, for the preparation of a merely formal 
address to the Governor, expressive of the satisfaction 
of the settlers at the visit of the Queen's representative 
to this port, and of their unfeigned loyalty to the British 
Government. The very proposers, however, of this mea- 
sure, declared that they had signed the petition for the 
recall of the Governor, and that they were still of the 
same mind. These were Mr. John Wade, an auc- 
tioneer, and Mr. Rowland Davis, a carpenter ; the two 
great leaders of the "popular" party in the Wellington 
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