Chap. XHI. RETURN OF MR. PETRE. 327 
Plymouth on the 11th of that month. Governor Hob- 
son had deigned to spend five weeks at Wellington ; 
the Acting Governor managed to spare three from the 
superintendence of Auckland. 
It w^as at this time that I first saw some New Zea- 
land copper-ore. Captain Nagle, the commander of 
the Government brig, was the owner of part of the 
Barrier Island in the Gulf of Hauraki, on which a 
very promising mine had been discovered. About 100 
tons of the ore have been since forwarded to Eng- 
land through Sydney. I believe a company of Sydney 
capitalists has been formed to work the mines; but 
their means are so limited that their operations appear 
to be suspended for the present. 
The people of Nelson were now thinking of petition- 
ing for the extension of the Municipal Ordinance to 
that town as well as to Wellington. Auckland could 
not yet boast the required population of 2000. 
On the 31st of January, Mr. Henry Petre arrived 
with his new-married wife and his whole establishment 
in a ship from England. Almost everybody that was 
in Wellington went on board to greet him warmly on 
his return. The Reverend Mr. O'Reilly, a Roman 
Catholic clergyman, was a passenger on board. Mr. 
Petre brought valuable importations to the colony. 
First and foremost were " .^ther" and " Riddlesworth," 
two thorough-bred English horses, which had come 
in boxes on deck, as fat and in as sleek condition as 
though turned out of a London stable. Between 
decks were 19 brood mares and a mule from the Cape 
of Good Hope. Peacocks and pheasants completed the 
muster-roll of the menagerie. 
Mr. Petre was a thoroughly "staunch colonist." 
When he landed on the beach, he confessed that he 
had never been quite happy till he got back. 
