one influential believer in colonies had long
been watching New Zealand. As early as 1825, a company was formed to
purchase land and settle colonists in the North Island. This company's
agent, Captain Herd, went so far as to buy land on the Hokianga
Estuary, and conduct thither a party of settlers. One of the first
experiences of the new-comers was, however, the sight of a native
war-dance, the terrifying effects of which, added to more practical
difficulties, caused most of them to fold their tents and depart to
Australia. Thus for the first time did an English company lose L20,000
in a New Zealand venture. The statesmen of the period were against any
such schemes. A deputation of the Friends of Colonization waited upon
the Duke of Wellington to urge that New Zealand should be acquired and
settled. The Duke, under the advice of the Church Missionary Society,
flatly refused to think of such a thing. It was then that he made the
historically noteworthy observation that, even supposing New Zealand
were as valuable as the deputation made out, Great Britain had already
colonies enough. When one reflects what the British Colonial Empire
was then, and what it has since become, the remark is a memorable
example of the absence of the imaginative quality in statesmen. But
the Duke of Wellington was not by any means alone in a reluctance
to annex New Zealand. In 1831 thirteen Maori chiefs, advised by
missionaries, had petitioned for British protection, which had not
been granted. The truth is, not only that the Empire seemed large
enough to others besides the Duke, but that the missionaries stood
in the way. As representing the most respectable and the only
self-sacrificing element amongst those interested in the islands, they
were listened to. It would have been strange had it been otherwise.
Nevertheless, the growing trade and the increasing number of
unauthorized white settlers made it necessary that something should be
done. Consequently, in 1832, Lord Goderich sent to the Bay of Islands
Mr. James Busby to reside there as British resident. He was paid a
salary, and provided with L200 a year to distribute in presents to the
native chiefs. He entered on his duties in 1833. He had no authority,
and was not backed by any force. He was aptly nicknamed "a man-of-war
without guns." He presented the local chiefs with a national flag.
Stars and stripes appeared in the design which the chiefs selected,
thanks, says tradition, to the sin