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The Eleventh Report of the Directors of the New Zealand Company,
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London: Printed by Richard Barrett, 13, Mark Lane.
1844.
New Zealand Company.
Governor,
- Joseph Somes, Esq.
Deputy-Governor,
- Hon. Francis Baring.
Directors.
- Henry Aglionby Aglionby, Esq., M.P.
- John Ellerker Boulcott, Esq.
- John William Buckle, Esq.
- Charles Buller, Esq., M.P.
- Viscount Courtenay, M.P.
- Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, Bart.
- James Robert Gowen, Esq.
- Archibald Hastie, Esq., M.P.
- Sir Ralph Howard, Bart., M.P.
- William Hutt, Esq., M.P.
- Viscount Ingestre, M.P.
- William King, Esq.
- Ross Donnelly Mangles, Esq., M.P.
- Stewart Marjoribanks, Esq., M.P.
- Alexander Nairne, Esq.
- The Lord Petre.
- Jeremiah Pilcher, Esq.
- Sir John Pirie, Bart., Alderman.
- John Abel Smith, Esq., M.P.
- William Thompson, Esq., Alderman, M.P.
- Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Esq.
- George Frederick Young, Esq.
Secretary.
- Thomas Cudbert Harington, Esq.
Agents in New Zealand.
- Principal Agent at Wellington—colonel William Wakefield.
- Resident Agent at Nelson—william Fox, Esq., (Acting.)
- Resident Agent at New Plymouth—john Tylston Wicksteed, Esq.
At an Adjourned Special Court of Proprietors of the New Zealand Company, Held at the Company's House, in Broad Street Buildings, London, on Friday, the 29th Day of March, 1844:—
Joseph Somes, Esq., the Governor, in the Chair.
Read and confirmed,—The Proceedings of the Special Court, held on the 15th of March, instant.—
I.—Moved by the Lord Provost of Glasgow:—Seconded by John Heath, Esq.:—
Resolved:—
That the Report now read be adopted;—and that this Court be adjourned until Friday, the 19th of April next, to be then held at this House, at One o'Clock precisely.
II.—Moved by George Robins, Esq.:—Seconded by John Percival, Esq.:—
Resolved:—
That instead of the 19th, this Court be adjourned until Friday, the 26th of April next, to be then held at this House, at One o'Clock precisely.
III.—Moved by George Robins, Esq.:—Seconded by the Honorable Frederick Tollemache, M.P.:—
Resolved:—
That the thanks of this Meeting be presented to the Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Directors, for their constant and valuable attention to the affairs of the Company, together with an expression of the unqualified confidence of the Proprietors in their judgment, and in their solicitude for the interests of the Share-holders and Settlers.
Eleventh Report
It was not till yesterday that your Directors received an expression of the views of the Secretary of State for the Colonies with respect to the representations to his Lordship mentioned in their last Report.
They were then honored with some unofficial communications, from which your Directors understand, in the first place, that Her Majesty's Government would be strongly disposed to entertain favorably a proposal for pecuniary assistance, to be afforded by the Government on the following conditions:
1st. That such assistance shall not exceed £40,000 in the whole.
2ndly. That it shall be applied to the payment of the bills now unpaid, which have been drawn from the Colony to provide for the employment of laborers, and to the payment of such other bills as may be drawn for the same purpose, during the interval which must elapse, before a Report can be received from Governor Fitzroy as to the state of the Company's Settlements, and the steps which he may have taken in consequence. And,
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3rdly. That the whole of the property of the Company, including that part of the capital which has not been paid up, and which the Company would be required to engage to raise within a limited period, shall be made liable as an available security for the repayment of such advance."
And, further, the Directors have received "assurances of the desire of the Government to maintain the most cordial relations with the Company in carrying on the work of colonization; and that the instructions issued to Captain Fitzroy were intended to have, and, it is believed, will have had, the effect of quieting the titles of those Settlers who have obtained land under the Company, and of facilitating the acquisition by the Company, of a valid title to the remainder of their lands."
There are however various points respecting the relations between the Government and the Company, which are of more importance even than that of pecuniary assistance, and without the satisfactory settlement of which your Directors think that nothing would be gained by the acceptance of that assistance. The negociation has not yet advanced to the settlement of these points; and on these, therefore, it would be obviously improper to offer partial information, or to enter into any discussion.
Your Directors consider it indispensable to the establishment of the affairs of the Company on a satisfactory basis, after the crisis that has occurred, that the points at issue should be settled as a whole.
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Having therefore, as they considered themselves bound, laid before you thus much of the communications received from the Secretary of State, they abstain from all comment on the subject; and they accordingly recommend that you adjourn the present Meeting until Friday, the 19th of April, assuring you that they should have much preferred an earlier day, were it not that the near approach of the Easter holidays precludes the hope of their being sooner able to lay before you the full information which you must receive before you can prudently determine on any course of future proceedings.
29th March, 1844.
Richard Barrett, Printer, 13, Mark Lane.