North Island Settlement

OF the organising of the ‘six colonies’ — Wellington, Auckland, New Plymouth, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury, to note them in order of actual origin and by the names they then bore— little need here be said. Suffice it to recall the fact that the best of plans, the rosiest of hopes, the stoutest of resolves, the happiest of voyages, could not ensure immediate prosperity. The settlers found, on arrival, that their own hand-grapple with the pioneering task was the only certain way to success.

Wellington, first and most elaborate of the New Zealand Company’s ventures — Nelson was a sequel and Petre (Wanganui) an offshoot—began at the mouth of the Hutt River as Britannia, only to be flooded out; the move to Te Aro, although final, resulted in trouble about land titles. Altogether, the start was unfortunate.

Auckland, about the same time, was Hobson’s creation after he realised that the Bay of Islands, where missionary settlement had begun in 1814, was an unfavourable location for a seat of govern­ment. Whereas Wellington had its eight immigrant ships, the first arriving on 22^nd January 1840, Auckland’s earliest population was attracted from a wide area, later in that year, by the news of its founding as capital, and not until October of 1842 did its first two immigrant ships arrive direct from Great Britain. But difference in manner of origin and even competing ambitions could no more separate the experiences of pioneers in the two places than did the hundreds of miles dividing them.

Life was necessarily strenuous, in varying degree, for all. Sometimes it was haunted by fear of Maori attacks, and economic stress was suffered; nevertheless, courage and patience were not want­ing, and a cheery tone marked many a letter sent Home.