Chapter 2
The Coming of the Pakeha

The first European known to have visited New, Zealand was Abel Tasman, the celebrated Dutch navigator. Unfortunately the page 4 Maoris did not welcome him, and he failed to land. Some claim that Portuguese navigators had touched at New Zealand at an earlier date.

The first European to set foot on New Zealand was Captain James Cook, who landed in Poverty Bay and then circumnavigated both islands and produced a remarkable map. This happened in 1769. At Mercury Bay he took possession in the name of the King of England, but it was not until 1832 that the British Government appointed James Busby as British Resident.

I am one of those people always proud of being British and thankful that this splendid little country which we inhabit fell into the hands of our Nation, but yet I can enjoy the humour of the following analysis of the character of its component parts. The Welshman prays on his knees and on his neighbours; the Scotchman keeps the Sabbath day, and everything else he can lay his hands on; the Irishman does not know what he wants but he'll fight for it; the Englishman says he is a self–made man and, my oath, doesn't he praise his maker.