Chap. VI. MR. HANSON. 155 
they were obliged to employ the labourers to whom they 
had promised employment. 
But ]\Ir. Hanson got no credit for public spirit, and 
was ably exposed by Dr. Evans. The single instance 
of Captain Chajffers was sufficient to disprove his invi- 
dious statement. For the Governor had refused to 
allow that deserving officer to continue as Harbour- 
master, even in the pay of the Company at 300/. per 
annum, because he had signed the petition for his 
recall. The approval of the Governor was of course 
necessary to all measures for the benefit of the har- 
bour ; and the only duty of the Company was to conduct 
emigration. Any buoys, beacons, lighthouses, pilots, 
or harbour-master, were liable to be pulled dow n, re- 
moved, or disregarded, so long as they were unsanc- 
tioned by authority. 
And the meeting carried the original proposition by 
a large majority. 
It was from this time that might be dated Mr. 
Hanson's violent opposition to the Company and to the 
interests of the settlers in Cook's Strait. From this 
time forward it was manifested in various ways, by 
secret letters as well as by public speeches. 
1 have omitted till now to describe, because it was 
not till now that it became thoroughly known, the 
nature of Mr. Hanson's transactions in the Chatham 
Islands. He had always refused to give any account to 
the Principal Agent of the way in which a large quan- 
tity of the stores of the surveying-vessel, Cuba, were 
disposed of, or to hand over the deeds by which he 
had purchased the land for the Company, or to give 
any details of his dealings with the natives. But it 
had only been a matter of general knowledge, that he 
had found means to buy up the stores of a whaler which 
had been wrecked there, and to set up a whaling station 
