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Chapter III.

At this important juncture Captain William Cargill, then in his 59th year, appears for the first time in this history. His assistance to the projector was of considerable value. It was he who with his coadjutor, Mr. Burns, afterwards gave to the movement its distinctly special character of a class settlement, and who finally assumed the leadership, when Mr. Rennie, unsuccessful and wearied out, relinquished it.

Captain Cargill was a descendant of Donald Cargill, one of the Scottish Worthies who was martyred in the cause of religion in 1680. Born at Edinburgh on the 28th of August, 1784, he received his education at the High School of that metropolis. In 1802 he joined the 84th Regiment of Foot, and the following year the 74th Highlanders as lieutenant. For three or four years he saw active service in India, and afterwards, from 1810 to 1814, in the Peninsular Campaign, where, at the battle of Busaco, he was severely wounded. Upon his recovery he rejoined his regiment as captain and fought through several engagements. His regiment was commanded by Col. the Hon. Sir Robert Le Poer Trench. He received the Peninsular medal with seven clasps for these services. In 1821 he retired from the army and then contemplated emigrating to Canada. This idea was however abandoned on two occasions in deference to the wishes of his family, and he engaged in various pursuits, chiefly that of banking. For emigration he continued to entertain a great predilection, as was to be expected in one whose life had been so restless and changeful. No wonder then that the correspondence published in the columns of the Colonial Gazette excited anew the old desire, and impelled him to seek an interview with Mr. Rennie. As the sequel will show he superseded his leader, and after much toil and anxiety successfully planted the young colony on the shores of New Zealand. Over its growth he watched with patriarchal care and page 14pride until the time of his death, which occurred, alter a short attack of paralysis, at Hillside, Dunedin, on the 6th of August, 1860. He was thus in his 76th year. His wife, who was the daughter of Lieutenant Yates, R.N., survived him several years, and of his numerous descendants to the third generation many cling to what is now an old home.

It would be as tiresome as unnecessary to detail at any great length the correspondence between Mr. Rennie, Lord Stanley, and the New Zealand Company, which is to be found in the Appendix to the Thirteenth Report of the Directors, and which extended over a period of nearly two years. It was eminently complicated and unsatisfactory, and well illustrated the feeling entertained by the Colonial Office of that day towards the colonies. They were viewed with something akin to abhorrence; they were troublesome, cumbrous, expensive outgrowths, and every obstacle was thrown in the way of fresh settlement. What a different aspect do they present to day! Not only are they bright gems in the Crown, but they are recognised as being important sources of Britain's wealth, greatness, and solid extension of empire. They may even prove to be an important element in her future safety. Every effort should be made to strengthen those ties which must exist between so great a mother and such fair children.

Mr. Rennie forwarded to Lord Stanley a copy of his correspondence with the Company, and begged for favourable consideration of his case and for an interview, especially as many persons whom he represented were in a state of suspense and uncertainty. The reply was curt and unfavourable, and expressed surprise that the proposal had not proceeded from the Company. At the same time no encouragement was held out to further settlement in the Middle Island. Fruitless negotiations followed, in which Mr. Rennie made the most earnest, almost piteous, appeals on behalf of many who had relinquished home and occupation on the strength of his representations. Lord Stanley finally suggested that he should lay his views before the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, and seek their co-operation. Upon this advice he acted, but with little better result. The commissioners sought to impose conditions quite unacceptable to him. The financial arrangements proposed were embarrassing, and the settlement was decreed to be located in the neighbourhood of Auckland. To these neither he nor his party would consent. The attractions of a new site for a town page 15and port were absolutely necessary to make the venture successful, and the Middle Island, with its freedom from native troubles, its more suitable climate and grain-producing soil was the one upon which their hearts were unalterably fixed. And then for a time the dispiriting struggle ceased.

Early in May, 1843, the Directors announced that a very satisfactory arrangement had been concluded between the Government and themselves, whereby all doubts and questions affecting the Company's title to land had been removed, and that they were again enabled to resume their suspended functions. This propitious announcement induced Mr. Rennie and Captain Cargill on the 23rd of May, 1813, again to address the Company with a plan differing in some important particulars from the previous one. They considered that the former suggestions entailing lengthy preliminary arrangements were now no longer necessary, seeing that there was already a large staff of competent surveyors in the colony under the direction and control of the Company. Further, that under the concessions so recently granted it would be perfectly safe to entrust the selection of a site to the Company's Principal Agent in New Zealand. They suggested that the new settlement, for which they proposed the name of New Edinburgh, should be a Scotch Presbyterian one, comprising provision for religious and educational purposes connected therewith, and that the whole of the emigration fund derived from the sale of the Company's lands should be used in promoting the emigration of Scotch labourers only. Here they defended themselves from a charge of narrowness by contending that the Company itself contemplated founding a Church of England settlement, and that indeed the best way of colonising New Zealand was in a special but not exclusive manner. Englishmen and Irishmen would be received with welcome provided they, comprehended and assented to the scheme of endowments. By the new propositions, or "Terms of Purchase" as they were called, it was suggested:—

1.	That the Company should appropriate 120,550 acres.
2.	That the land should be divided into 550 acres for the town, 20,000 for suburban lots, and 100,000 for rural lots.
3.	That the town should be divided into 2200 lots of a quarter acre each; the suburban land into 2000 lots of 10 acres each; and the rural land into 2000 lots of 50 acres each.page 16
4.	That there should be reserved, free of charge, as a property for the future municipal corporation of the town, 200 town lots.
5.	That 1 town lot, 1 suburban lot, and 1 rural lot should constitute a single property.
6.	That there should be reserved for the Company 200 properties.
7.	That the remaining 1800 properties should be submitted for sale at the price of £120 for each property.
8.	That the purchase-money so received, viz., £216,000, should be disposed as follows:— £54,000 to the Company as the price of the land at 10s. an acre. £30,000 for surveys and other expenses of founding the settlement. £81,000 for emigration. £26,000 for roads, bridges, and other improvements. £5000 as a church building-fund. £10,000 as a provision for ministers. £10,000 as a school-fund for building, and masters.
9.	That the priority of choice in selecting the lands should be determined by lot.1

The Directors' reply was favourable, and expressed their willingness to assume the proposed trust functions after the details and negotiations had been carefully discussed, and when a sufficient number of applications had been received to ensure the success of the movement.

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