Tuckett And Symonds.

This visit ran into the year 1844, and the stage was now set for the entry of Tuckett. Frederick Tuckett, a young Quaker, was a surveyor on the staff of the New Zealand Company, and he arrived on the 25th of April, 1844. to finally select a suitable site for the Otago Settlement. He came from Nelson on the brig Deborah, which also–carried the Rev. C. Creed, who relieved Watkin at Waikouaiti, and the Rev. J. F. H. Wohlers, who proceeded to Ruapuke, where for so many years he carried out such devoted work. Among the passengers was a certain Lieut. J. J. Symonds, a magistrate whose difficult job was to restrain Mr. Tuckett from trespassing unduly on the rights of the Natives.

In the tragic affair at the Wairau in June, 1843, twenty–two–pakehas were killed in an affray with Rauparaha and Rangihaeata. In 1841 Captain (not Colonel) Wakefield, agent for the New Zealand Company, had persisted in surveying land about which there was a dispute. Despite Rauparaha's entreaties, the survey proceeded, and on an accidental shot by one of the pakehas killing one of Rangihaeata's wives (a daughter of Rauparaha) the massacre took place. “Mr. Tuckett, one of the surveyors, escaped as soon as the firing began, and crossing the Strait on the second day after the fight to Wellington, told us as much as he had seen.” (Clarke.)

So it was not surprising that the Government sent a magistrate of the type of Symonds to see that the agents of the New Zealand Company did not again provoke an affair with the Natives. The series of letters writteen by Tuckett and Symonds show how, both being determined men, they quarrelled.

Tuckett's reports on the Otago Block are printed in Dr. Hocken's book, so there is no need to reproduce them here. In June, 1844, Tuckett, having consulted his employers, decided on a block of approximately 400,000 acres for the settlement.