In the ensuing list, recipients are listed in the order in which they appear in the Roll of the New Zealand Cross, and details are recorded in the following order: Rank; Christian and surnames; Unit; Date(s) of the act(s); place(s); and New Zealand Gazette announcement of the award.

1. Constable Henare Kepa Te Ahururu; 1st Div., Armed Constabulary; 7 November 1868; Moturoa; No. 16 of 25 March 1869. He later deserted, but was living at Ruatoki in 1878. Date of death not known.

2. Constable Solomon Black; 1st Div., Armed Constabulary; 8 January 1869; Ngatapa; No. 16 of 25 March 1869. When last heard of he was living in a Glasgow workhouse in 1910 and was then 77 years old.

3. Constable Benjamin Biddle; 1st Div., Armed Constabulary; 8 January 1869; Ngatapa; No. 16 of 25 March 1869. He was the last survivor of the recipients of the N.Z. Cross, and died at Whakatane on 10 March 1933, aged 85 years.

4. Trooper William Lingard; Kai Iwi Cavalry Volunteers; 28 December 1868; Tauranga-ika; No. 31 of 3 June 1869. Died at Wellington in 1922, aged 77 years.

5. Sergeant George (Rowley) Hill; 1st Div., Armed Constabulary; 10 April 1869; Jerusalem Pa; No. 34 of 26 June 1869. He also fought in the Baltic, Crimea, and Indian Mutiny and was awarded two medals by the Royal Humane Society for saving life, one in 1860 and the other in 1896. Tried unsuccessfully to enlist for the South African War at the age of 63. Died in Auckland on 15th February 1930, aged 93 years.

6. Cornet Angus Smith; Bay of Plenty Cavalry Volunteers; 7 June 1869; Opepe; No. 63 of 6 November 1869. Later promoted a captain, he also fought in the Crimea War. Died at Opotiki on 3 April 1902, aged 70 years.

7. Sergeant Arthur Wakefield Carkeek; Armed Constabulary; 8 February 1870; Ohinemutu; No. 36 of 7 July 1870. Died at Otaki on 24 May 1897, aged 54 years.

8. Dr Isaac Earl Featherston; Staff, Native Contingent; 14 January 1866; Otapawa Pa; No. 60 of 28 October 1875. Was a Member of Parliament, 1853–70, and was four times elected Superintendent of Wellington. Appointed Agent-General for New Zealand in London in 1870, where he died on 21 June 1876, aged 63 years.

9. Inspector John Mackintosh Roberts; Armed Constabulary; 7 November 1868; Moturoa; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Appointed the first Officer Commanding the Permanent Militia, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, when that body was formed in 1887 after the disbandment of the Armed Constabulary. Died at Wanganui on 12 October 1928, aged 88 years.

10. Major Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (Kemp); N.Z. Militia (Native Contingent); 7 November 1868, Moturoa; and 13 March 1869, Otauto; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Commanded the Wanganui Native Contingent and received a Sword of Honour from Queen Victoria for his services. Died at Wanganui on 15 April 1898, aged 75 years.

11. Major Ropata Wahawaha; (q.v.) Native Contingent; 5 January 1869; Ngatapa; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. A warrior of renown prior to the First Maori War, he led the Ngati-Porou Native Contingent from 1865 to 1871 and received a Sword of Honour from Queen Victoria for his services. He was a member of the Legislative Council from May 1887 until his death at Gisborne on 1 July 1897, aged 90 years.

12. Captain Francis Joseph Mace; Taranaki Militia; 4 June 1863 at Kaitikara River, 11 March 1864 at Kaitake, and 20 October 1865 at Warea; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Mentioned in dispatches eight times. Died at Oakura on 7 August 1927, aged 90 years.

13. Sub-Inspector George Augustus Preece; Armed Constabulary; 5 January 1869; Ngatapa; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Mentioned in dispatches three times and twice received the special thanks of the Government. Tried to enlist during the First World War in 1914 and again in 1918 when he was 73 years old. Died at Palmerston North on 10 July 1925, aged 80 years.

14. Assistant-Surgeon Samuel Walker; Armed Constabulary; 13 March 1869; Otauto; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Served in 34 engagements against the Maoris. Died at Taupo on 24 December 1880, aged 38 years.

15. Sergeant Christopher Louis Maling; Corps of Guides; 26 February 1868; Tauranga-ika; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Later rose to the rank of Major. His N.Z. Cross is in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. Died at England in February 1917, aged 74 years.

16. Sergeant Richard Shepherd; Armed Constabulary; 13 March 1869; Otauto; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Also served in the Crimean War and in Burma 1855–57. Died at Auckland on 2 November 1913, aged 76 years.

17. Sergeant Samuel Austin; Wanganui Volunteer Contingent; 7 January 1866 at Putahi Pa, and 17 October 1866 at Keteonetea; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Served in the Imperial forces in the First Maori War in 1846–47 and afterwards until 1859. Died at Wanganui on 25 January 1903, aged 74 years.

18. Trooper Antonio Rodriquez de Sardinha; Taranaki Mounted Volunteers; 2 October 1863 at Poutoko, and 11 March 1864 at Kaitake; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Twice mentioned in dispatches. Died at New Plymouth on 12 May 1905, aged 73 years.

19. Private Thomas Adamson; Corps of Guides; 7 May 1869; Ahikereru; No. 27 of 11 May 1876. Took part in 25 engagements against the Maoris. Died at Wanganui on 29 December 1913, aged 67 years.

20. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas McDonnell; N.Z. Militia; October 1863 at Paparatu, and 7 January 1866 at Putahi Pa; No. 20 of 1 April 1886. Took part in 40 engagements against the Maoris, many times mentioned in dispatches, and wounded four times. Died at Wanganui on 8 November 1899, aged 67 years.

21. Captain Gilbert Mair; N.Z. Militia; 7 February 1870; Rotorua; No. 20 of 1 April 1886. Commanded the Arawa Native Contingent and enjoyed the full rank and status of a chief of the Arawa. Later was native interpreter to the House of Representatives and a Magistrate of the Native Court. Died in the Bay of Plenty on 29 November 1923, aged 80 years.

22. Cornet Harry Charles William Wrigg; Bay of Plenty Cavalry Volunteers; 29 June 1867; Opotiki; No. 18 of 18 March 1898. Died at Auckland on 30 June 1924, aged 82 years.

23. Ensign Henry William Northcroft; Patea Rangers; 2 October 1866 at Pungarehu, and 5 November 1866 at Tirotiro Moana; No. 67 of 7 July 1910. Fought in 49 engagements against the Maoris. He was appointed Chief Justice and Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands in 1912. Died in Auckland in December 1923, aged 79 years.

• Order in Council, New Zealand Cross, 10 March 1869
• The New Zealand Gazette (Various dates as quoted in text)
• Army Records: File N.Z. Cross and Recipients' personal files
• Roll of Recipients of the N.Z. Cross (Turnbull Library)
• NZPD, Vol. XX, (L.C.) 13 Jul 1876 and 27 Jul 1876
• Appendix to Journal of the House of Representatives H. 31 and H. 31A, 1898.

by Capt. Geoffrey Troughear Stagg, F.R.N.S.N.Z., R.N.Z.A. (retired), formerly President of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

The dies of the New Zealand Cross had been left in the hands of Phillips the goldsmith who completed an order for a further five crosses in 1886, making a total of 25 struck ostensibly for awards. A few suitably engraved specimens were authorised to be struck for the Royal Mint Museum and eminent medal collectors in England, but the dies passed through two other hands before they were recovered by the Agent-General in 1908. In the intervening years a number of unauthorised specimens were struck, two of which are known to have been engraved so as to appear as the authentic decorations of Constable Black and Trooper Lingard, but are in fact spurious as they do not bear the Phillip's cartouche, and the originals still exist. The Phillip's cartouche was affixed on the reverse of the suspender clasp of the original 20 crosses made in 1871, but was omitted from the five made in 1886. The dies were returned to New Zealand in 1953 and deposited with the Dominion Museum, Wellington.

In 1885 the Premier proposed that the New Zealand Cross be extended for award to those who by outstanding bravery were responsible for saving human life. It was suggested that, to distinguish such awards from the military crosses, the stars be omitted from the cross and the ribbon be of a different colour. This proposal was rejected when it was found that the medal of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia, instituted in 1882, was available for rewarding bravery of this nature.

Although the Order in Council instituting the New Zealand Cross has never been annulled, it is unlikely that it will ever be invoked to make any further awards. Apart from the more general availability of the Victoria Cross since 1881, the various forces upon which the New Zealand Cross could be conferred have all been disbanded, the Armed Constabulary in 1886, and the Militia and the Volunteers in 1911.

New Zealand Crosses, either as genuine awards or specimens, are held by the following museums and notable collections: The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle; The House of Commons, Westminster; The Royal Mint Museum, London; The British Army Medal Office Collection, Droitwich; Dominion Museum, Wellington; Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington; United Services Officers' Club, Wellington; War Memorial Museum, Auckland; Hawke's Bay Museum, Napier; Taranaki Museum, New Plymouth; Otago Museum, Dunedin; Te Awamutu Museum, Te Awamutu; Melbourne Museum, Australia; Los Angeles County Museum, U.S.A.; and the American Numismatic Society's Collection, New York, U.S.A.

A Royal Commission was appointed on 12 July 1870 to decide upon a design for the decorative distinction, the selected design being forwarded to England for approval by Queen Victoria in January 1871. On 7 June 1871 the Agent-General of the colony in London was instructed to have 20 crosses made to the approved design, and the work was entrusted to Messrs Phillips Bros. and Son of Cockspur Street, London. The Agent-General, Dr I. E. Featherston (who was later to be awarded the cross), in conjunction with Colonel Whitmore who happened to be in London at the time, authorised various modifications of the design as suggested by the goldsmiths. These included a major change in the shape of the crown and the introduction of a suspender clasp having a V-link that was a direct copy from the Victoria Cross. By the time the Government received notification of the design changes, it was too late to do anything as the crosses were already being struck.

The decoration consists of a silver cross pattée, 1 in. across the limbs, surmounted by a gold crown. In the centre of the cross is “NEW ZEALAND”, surrounded by a gold laurel wreath, and on each limb is a six-pointed star in gold. The reverse of the cross is plain in the centre except for two concentric circles in relief, between which are engraved the recipient's rank, name, and unit. The date of the action is engraved within the inner circle, while some of the crosses also record the place of the action above the date. The silver suspender clasp, ornamented with a sprig of laurel in gold, bears on the lower edge a V-link to which the cross is attached by two gold rings. A two-pronged buckle brooch in gold was provided to attach the decoration to the jacket or coat.

A Royal Commission was appointed on 25 September 1873 to examine a number of recommendations submitted following the award of the first seven crosses, and to make recommendations to the Governor for any further awards. A number of recommendations were rejected on the grounds that the events concerned had taken place prior to the institution of the decoration, and the Commissioners considered that no retrospective authority was contained in the Order in Council. In spite of the fact that the Commissioners were required to report to the Governor within 10 days and a number of recommendations were upheld, no further awards were made for almost two years.

In August 1875 the Governor, on a recommendation forwarded from London by General Sir Trevor Chute, late Imperial General Officer Commanding the Forces in New Zealand, approved of the award of the cross to Dr I. E. Featherston for meritorious and intrepid services rendered in 1865–66. The Governor's action was the subject of considerable discussion in the Legislative Council as some of the members were of the opinion that the General should have recommended Featherston for the Victoria Cross at the time, as he was competent to do so, and not to have waited until the New Zealand Cross was instituted several years later. A special board of officers appointed to review the recommendations of the Commissioners of 1873 reported in April 1876 that all were upheld, as was also the case of some that had been declined by the Commissioners on the grounds that they were time-barred for the award. No doubt this change of view was influenced by the award made to Dr Featherston a few months previously.

The New Zealand Cross, a decoration peculiar to New Zealand and the Second Maori War of 1860–72, ranked in New Zealand next to the Victoria Cross. It is one of the rarest decorations in the world, only 23 having been awarded. Instituted by the Governor of New Zealand by an Order in Council, dated 10 March 1869, it met an urgent need for some decoration equivalent to the Victoria Cross, for which the locally raised forces had been considered ineligible. The Governor, Sir George Bowen, conferred five of the crosses before notifying the Secretary of State for the Colonies of the unprecedented action he had taken. In his dispatch, the Governor pleaded the low morale of the local troops and the need for some tangible form of recognition for bravery in action, which could be awarded immediately and without the inevitable delays should each case be referred to the Home Government for royal approval. The Governor was officially rebuked by the Secretary of State for the Colonies for overstepping the limits of the authority confided to him by the Queen, who was the fountain of all honour. As a number of crosses had already been conferred, Queen Victoria had little option under the circumstances but to ratify the Order in Council, which merely referred to the new award as a “Decorative Distinction” without giving it a name. The title, “New Zealand Cross”, was not adopted for some considerable time. In the intervening period it was vicariously referred to as the New Zealand Cross of Valour, Order of Valour, Order of Merit, Colonial Order of Merit, Order of the Southern Cross, Cross of New Zealand, Colonial Cross, Southern Cross, and Silver Cross. Even after its title had been settled, it was sometimes referred to as the New Zealand Cross or Order of Valour, the latter part of the name no doubt being added to justify the letter “V” used to form a link between the ribbon suspender clasp and the cross.

The institution of the cross can be attributed to the efforts of Colonel G. S. Whitmore who, on 19 November 1868, requested that a sum of money be made available from the Armed Constabulary Reward Fund for the purchase of 20 rosettes and special chevrons to be awarded to members of the Armed Constabulary who distinguished themselves in action and to whom a monetary grant of £5 should be made from the same fund. From this modest request, on behalf of the Armed Constabulary, the idea gradually developed into the New Zealand Cross as instituted. In his letter of 19 November 1868 Whitmore recommended Constable Henare Kepa Te Ahururu for a monetary reward for bravery and, in a further letter dated 14 January 1869, also nominated Constables Benjaman Biddle and Solomon Black for similar awards which they all duly received. These men became the first three upon whom the New Zealand Cross was bestowed.

The decoration could be conferred upon members of the Militia, Volunteers, and Armed Constabulary who, “when serving in the presence of the enemy, shall have performed some signal act of valour or devotion to duty, or who have performed any very intrepid action in the public service, and neither rank, nor long service, nor wounds, nor any other circumstances or condition whatsoever, save merit of conspicuous bravery, shall be held to establish a sufficient claim to the honour”. It was laid down that the decoration should consist of a silver cross with the name of the colony and the name of the recipient engraved thereon, and be suspended from the left breast by a crimson riband. The ribbon, which is 1½ in. wide, is deep crimson, and identical with that of the Victoria Cross. The order also provided for a silver bar to be attached to the riband in the event of a second award, but no such award was ever made.

The order required a Roll of Recipients to be kept with brief descriptions of the acts of valour, and that every inscription on the roll be published in the Government Gazette. The name of any recipient who was convicted of treason, felony, cowardice, or an infamous or disgraceful act, was to be erased forthwith from the roll. Although the first recipient of the cross, a Maori, later deserted, his name was not erased from the roll which was deposited with the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, by the Army Department in 1945.

The New Zealand Cross Endowment Act of 1869 provided for the setting aside of 5,000 acres of land, the revenue from which was to be used to provide pensions for recipients who had become too old or infirm to earn their own livelihood. No action was taken to set aside the land until 1875, when surveys were made of an area of land for this purpose, but it was never proclaimed a reserve. After lengthy discussions, extending over a period of two years, Cabinet decided that the Endowment Act should be repealed and in 1877 the Defence Department was instructed to provide in its annual estimates for a yearly pension of £10 for each recipient as from 1 January 1878.

The Company has often been sharply criticised for its conduct of affairs, both in New Zealand and in England. It is true that the Wakefield plan of systematic colonisation proved impracticable in all the Company's settlements, that its agents were land hungry to the point of foolhardiness, and that too little regard was paid to the claims of Maori land rights. But it must never be forgotten that, in the first great phase of its colonising activity, from May 1839 to January 1843, the Company disposed of 244,619 acres of land for settlement; moreover, it dispatched to the colony 57 ships and 8,600 emigrants. Without Company propaganda and organisation it is doubtful whether these settlers, the majority of whom were of good stock and character, would ever have turned their attention to New Zealand. In this respect – the choice of settlers – the Company did well. Their grand object had been to create in a new country a balanced society, with men of capital to develop it and labourers to bring it into production. They believed it was possible to reproduce all that was good in the older society without its painful blemishes. In short, the Company's colonising theories were excellent; it was in practice that they fell down.

It is also important to remember that, in the years of its decline, the Company was able to perform another notable service for the colony. By means of powerful, if biased propaganda, the directors ventilated the grievances of the colonists in Parliament and out, and if their earlier strictures on the Hobson and FitzRoy administrations were unfair and prejudiced, they later atoned for this by the persistence of their attacks on colonial mis-government. No other colony had such compelling advocates. The New Zealand Constitution Act of 1852, with its very generous provisions for self-government, owes much in spirit to the efforts of the Company to convince the Colonial Office of the importance and justice of the colonists' demands.

by Alexander Hare McLintock, C.B.E., M.A., DIP.ED. (N.Z.), PH.D.(LOND.), Parliamentary Historian, Wellington.

• Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958)
• The Colonisation of New Zealand, Marais, J. S. (1927)
• The New Zealand Bubble: the Wakefield Theory in Practice, Turnbull, R. M. (1959).

The Association

The genesis of the New Zealand Company is to be found in the New Zealand Association, which took shape in the spring of 1837 as a practical expression of Wakefield's challenging theories concerning emigration and colonisation. The Committee of the Association was a strong one and among its members were Francis Baring, Lord Durham, Lord Petre, W. B. Baring, Rev. S. Hinds, B. Hawes, W. Hutt, Sir W. Molesworth, and H. G. Ward-names which are now a part of our own nomenclature. The Association comprised two classes of members: first, prospective settlers, and, secondly, public-spirited men who were willing to lend their support to the venture, on the clear understanding, as Lord Durham put it, that they would “neither run any pecuniary risk, nor reap any pecuniary advantage from the undertaking”. Despite these disinterested motives, the Association faced bitter opposition from the powerful missionary societies when its prospectus was made public in the summer of 1837. The Colonial Office lent a willing ear to their protests and the Association was forced to appeal to Parliament in June 1838, knowing full well that it could not count on Government support. The Bill did not survive the second reading. It was expecting too much of Parliament to grant the Association's “board of commissioners” powers of self-government in a country which – so ran the debate – “was as independent of Great Britain as France or any of the nations of Europe”. In the face of official obduracy, one course only was left to the Association – to reconstitute itself as the New Zealand Colonisation Company which would function on the joint stock principle.

Formation of the Company

On the dissolution of the Association, therefore, some of its members formed the New Zealand Colonisation Company which took shape on 29 August 1838. The project gradually gathered support, with the result that in the spring of 1839 sufficient funds had been raised for fitting out an expedition for making land purchases in New Zealand and preparing for the early arrival of the first emigrants. The reaction of the Colonial Office was anything but cordial, for plans for the establishment of British sovereignty in New Zealand were already well advanced. But the Company held to its course and, in May 1839, took the bold step of dispatching the Tory to New Zealand under the charge of its principal agent, Colonel William Wakefield. In one respect the Company was in a strong position. It had a nominal capital of £400,000, in 4,000 shares of £100 each, and among its membership were many men of influence and talent.

With the arrival of the Tory in New Zealand in August 1839, Colonel Wakefield at once began negotiations with the Maoris for the purchase of land in the Port Nicholson (Wellington) district. Four months later, on 22 January 1840, the Company's first emigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived, and before long the town of Wellington came into being. Unfortunately the Company was soon at loggerheads with the British administration at the Bay of Islands, where Captain William Hobson, following the Treaty of Waitangi of 6 February 1840, had set up his Government. At once the Company's land claims, which amounted to 20 million acres, were in jeopardy, for the treaty expressly gave to the Crown the exclusive right of pre-emption over lands alienated by the natives. When, later in the year, Hobson decided to move his capital to Auckland, on the Waitemata, the Company's settlers in the south were openly resentful and did their utmost to undermine confidence in the Hobson and, later, the FitzRoy administrations.

The Charter

Meanwhile in London the Colonial Office and the Company had at last come to terms, in large measure through the attitude of Lord John Russell who in October 1840 decided to recognise the Company as an instrument of government in the colonisation of New Zealand. It therefore received a charter of incorporation and a generous land title and was formally incorporated on 12 February 1841. For its part the Company had to disclose its expenditure on the purchase of native land, on the dispatch of emigrants, and on surveying, public works, and the like. For every pound it expended the Company was to be entitled to four acres of land. Heartened by this official volte face, the directors proceeded with plans to extend their field of operations, and to that end they renewed their propaganda. They could always count on the support of such London magazines as the Colonial Gazette and The Spectator. Moreover, on 8 February 1840, there had appeared the first number of the New Zealand Journal, which, though claiming to be independent, received financial aid from the Company and worked hard on its behalf. In an effort to stimulate interest in its projects the Company endeavoured to form subsidiary companies in Scotland and England. Only one, at Plymouth, took shape. It was absorbed by the parent company early in 1841, but it did establish a successful settlement at New Plymouth, Taranaki, the first settlers arriving there on 19 November 1841.

At this juncture the Company's main concern was with its Nelson settlement. The Company, through its agent, Captain Arthur Wakefield, was anxious to found the settlement at Port Cooper (Lyttelton), on the east coast of the South Island. But Hobson decided in favour of the Nelson site, which had the advantages of being in the Cook Strait area and of having good land in the Waimea, Moutere, and Motueka Valleys. But as there was insufficient available to meet the demands of the new settlement, the Nelson settlers turned their attention to the Wairau, a potentially rich farming district. The Company claimed it by right of purchase, though this was stoutly denied by the redoubtable chiefs Rauparaha and Rangihaeata. Exasperated by the delay and determined if possible to force the issue, Captain Wakefield and a band of Nelson settlers clashed with the natives on 17 June 1843, when 22 Europeans, including Wakefield, were killed. The “Massacre” was a serious blow to the Company; immigration fell away and its financial position deteriorated. In New Zealand the Cook Strait settlers demanded Government action against the chiefs, but Captain Robert FitzRoy, Hobson's successor, refused to punish the chiefs and, indeed, publicly castigated the settlers for precipitating a crisis by their folly. The Nelson settlers never forgave FitzRoy for his “cowardice” and from 1844 onwards, led by the talented Alfred Domett, they attacked the administration and its policy of “rewarding outrage by concession”. But their main grievance was directed against the Treaty of Waitangi, which confirmed the Maori title to the soil of New Zealand. They argued that, unless this agreement were annulled, the New Zealand situation and the Company's prospects would remain in a parlous state. The Company was certainly in a bad way and in February 1844 turned to the Government for help. In the following April things took a more favourable turn when a select committee of the House of Commons, with Lord Howick (later, the third Earl Grey) as chairman, investigated the Company's grievances. The report of July 1844 reviewed most critically the policy of the Colonial Office towards New Zealand. Moreover, it supported the Company in its land claims and made no secret of its dislike for the manner whereby the Crown had established its sovereignty over the country. The report, however, had little practical value, for its hostility to the Treaty of Waitangi had aroused the humanitarians en masse, and Lord Stanley, Secretary of State at the Colonial Office, indignantly repudiated the Company's assertion that the treaty was merely a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying savages. “You will honourably and scrupulously fulfil the conditions of the Treaty of Waitangi” was his firm direction to Governor Grey.

The Last Phase

By mid-1845 the Company, some £60,000 in debt, was again looking to the Government for a land grant and loan. In the following year, when Earl Grey became Colonial Secretary, the directors once more set out a case, which was well received. In addition to the £100,000 already promised by Stanley, the Government was prepared to advance a further sum to cover the Company's liabilities and to meet all colonising expenses for three years, on conditions which were most favourable to the directors. When, moreover, the Government piloted through Parliament a constitution Act in 1846, which was to establish representative institutions in New Zealand, the Company became in effect what it had long aspired to be, an instrument of government in the colonisation of the country. It was with renewed hope, therefore, that the Company resumed operations. But the drive of its earlier proceedings had moderated by 1847 and little of the former energy remained. Instead, there was a spirit of caution, which was shown by the solicitude of the directors for the interests of their shareholders. Dividends and salaries became of first importance and colonising schemes took second place. Furthermore, the purchase of land in New Zealand was no longer looked upon as a profitable form of investment, with the result that by the late forties the Company's prospects of success, always dubious, vanished completely. Nevertheless, in this last phase of its colonising activities, the Company could claim an indirect share in the success of two church-sponsored ventures, the Otago and the Canterbury settlements. The former was organised by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland and its settlement took shape at Dunedin, Otago Harbour, in March 1848. Similarly, the Canterbury Association, which was strongly supported by leading members of the Church of England, founded its colony around Christchurch in December 1850.

It is interesting to note that in these settlements, as in those earlier, the Company's plans for expansion on the basis of large-scale agriculture failed to materialise. Sheep, and not grain, became the key to prosperity. With the foundation of these last settlements, it was realised by the directors that the Company's colonising work was coming to an end, unless, of course, the Government could provide further financial assistance. When this was not forthcoming the proprietors, on 4 July 1850, put an end to the Company's existence as a colonising body and surrendered its charters. By the terms of the agreement of 1847, the Crown came into possession of the Company's entire landed property in New Zealand, some 1,092,000 acres, for which it was bound to pay the sum of £268,000. This amount, which was to be a first charge on the land revenue of New Zealand, became a bitter issue between Company and settlers. Everything that the Company had done to promote the colonisation of New Zealand was soon forgotten by the colonists when they found that they had to accept the responsibility of indemnifying its shareholders. The Auckland settlers in particular were vehement in protest, for they owed nothing to the Company and its works. But even the Canterbury Association turned against the parent body, and the feeling soon prevailed that the Company's difficulties arose mainly from its own mismanagement. Few tears were therefore shed when the Company was finally dissolved in 1858.

It is one of the minor enigmas of New Zealand history that so little is known of the origin and plans of the first New Zealand Company which was formed for the purpose of colonising this country. Its promoters were men of wealth and distinction and included such names as John George Lambton (later, Lord Durham), Colonel Torrens, Russell Ellice, Lord Hatherton, T. Marjoribanks, and G. Lyall. Twenty thousand pounds were raised to finance the preliminary scheme. According to a claim made many years later, the aim of the directors was to set up “agricultural and commercial” settlements at Hokianga and the Thames. Apparently the Colonial Office raised no objection to a purely commercial venture, though it was made clear that the Government was not pledged to give military assistance. The preliminary expedition, which was under the command of Captain Herd, consisted of the ship Rosanna and the cutter Lambton (Captain Barnett), along with some 60 artisans and mechanics. They reached Stewart Island on 25 March 1826 and spent a month there in general refitting, already uneasy at the thought of meeting the ferocious savages of the north. Their fears were justified, for when at length the expedition arrived at the Bay of Islands and Hokianga, the reception was so unpromising that they moved on to Sydney. Later, a few of the bolder spirits returned to Hokianga, where they engaged in shipbuilding. A tight money market in Britain thwarted the promoters' hopes of organising another expedition on a larger scale, and the Company dissolved. In the late thirties its land holdings at Hokianga and Kaipara were taken over by E. G. Wakefield's New Zealand Company. It is of interest to note that in 1837 a number of the old promoters submitted a plan for setting up, under the protection of the Crown, an “Independent Native Government” in New Zealand. There was to be an incorporated company invested by Royal charter, which would maintain a regular form of government over the islands, with the King as “Parent and Protector” of the infant state. But the proposal was too fanciful for serious consideration and the Colonial Office would have none of it.

From the outset it was understood that the New Zealand Alliance was not a “temperance alliance” for it aimed at the total suppression of the liquor traffic. Although the Alliance has originally intended to be a union of the various temperance organisations, provision was made in the constitution for individuals to become members; and, over the years, efficient branch organisations were created in many districts. In its heyday, the 1920s, the New Zealand Alliance placed most emphasis on political activity and campaigned uncompromisingly for total prohibition. After the 1929 depression increasing financial difficulties led the Alliance to curtail its public campaigns and to concentrate on educating the electorate. To a certain extent it relaxed the demand for total prohibition in favour of fuller public control over the liquor trade; and, in this connection, it has accepted trust control as a desirable, but not ultimate, step forward. Moreover, the New Zealand Alliance continues to exercise a strict and often politically embarrassing scrutiny over every change in the country's licensing legislation.

Nowadays the New Zealand Alliance carries on much educational work through its youth department, the Young Abstainers' League. This organisation, which is the successor of the Young Men's and Young Women's National Prohibition Guilds of former days, functions through church and youth groups. The principal aim of the Y.A.L. is to educate young people to accept total abstinence from alcoholic liquor as a way of life, and it urges this by means of national competitions, rallies, and the distribution of literature.

The official organ of the New Zealand Alliance is The Vanguard, and the Y.A.L. publishes quarterly The Young Abstainer.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Temperance and Prohibition in New Zealand, Cocker, J., and Murray, J. M. (jt. eds.) (1930)
• Constitution of the New Zealand Alliance as Amended and Adopted at the Annual Meeting, March 21st 1946
• New Zealand Alliance 75th and 76th Annual Reports, 1962 and 1963; New Zealand Herald, 11 Sep 1869
• Evening Post, 1, 2, 3 Mar 1886.

The New Zealand Alliance derives from the United Kingdom Alliance formed in Manchester in 1853. During the early 1860s several members of the latter emigrated to New Zealand where they formed “Auxiliary” branches of the United Kingdom Alliance, the most notable being at Drury and Port Albert. On 10 September 1869 some members of the Drury Auxiliary formed an auxiliary in Auckland. This soon acquired the status of a “Provincial Committee”, and, for some years, it maintained a careful scrutiny over the Auckland Provincial Government's licensing legislation. The Auckland Auxiliary continued to meet until 1873 when most of its members transferred to the Good Templars Lodge. In 1877 the Auckland Auxiliary was revived and remained in existence until its merger with the New Zealand Alliance.

Early in 1886 certain interested organisations arranged for T. W. Glover, a lecturer from the United Kingdom Alliance, to conduct prohibition missions in various New Zealand centres. On 1 March 1886, at the Rechabite Hall, Wellington, 30 delegates – representing Auckland, Nelson, Hawke's Bay, Woodville, Canterbury, New Plymouth, Dunedin, Wellington, Alexandra (Otago), Invercargill, Greymouth, Masterton, the Blue Ribbon Union, the Good Templars Lodge, the Rechabite Lodge, and the Wellington Alliance – met “to establish a union of the temperance alliances in the colony”. This conference formed and drafted a constitution for the New Zealand Alliance for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic. Financial arrangements were made for the forthcoming crusade and the following officers were elected: president, Sir William Fox; sixteen vice-presidents, including D. Goldie, Hori Ropiha, Sir H. A. Atkinson, L. M. Isitt, and Sir Robert Stout; executive committee, F. G. Ewington, Edward Withy, George Winstone, H. J. Le Bailey, J. Elkin, Dr C. Knight, John Waymouth, and R. Neal. H. Field (Nelson) became the first general secretary and T. W. Glover the first paid organiser. The conference adopted the United Kingdom Alliance's (1853) declaration of principles and framed the following policy:

This Alliance has been instituted for the suppression and prohibition of the liquor traffic. It seeks to unite in this effort those who are not abstainers as well as those who are…. The immediate aim of the Alliance is to secure for the people the legal direct power to veto the liquor traffic. This Alliance believes that when the people possess this power, with a sufficient facility for its exercise, they will free the colony from the heaviest burden that is laid upon its financial resources, and from the principal cause of its disease, destitution and crime. To attain this result the members of the Alliance are expected to use all the influence they possess to secure the election to Parliament, and to all other positions of power, of such candidates as are favourable to the principles of the Alliance.

Coming to European names for New Zealand, when Jacob Le Maire in 1616 discovered Le Maire Strait, he and his companions had no idea of the extent of the land on the south side of the strait. They called it Staten Land, a name which still endures for the small portion of land separated from the rest of South America by Le Maire Strait. In 1642–43, when Abel Janszoon Tasman sailed along part of the western littoral of New Zealand, he conjectured that it might be joined to Le Maire's Staten Land and accordingly named it Staten Landt. In 1643 Hendrik Brouwer skirted Le Maire's Staten Land on the south side. Any discerning geographer who knew of this might be expected to deduce that Le Maire's Staten Land was not a continent and that Tasman's Staten Landt did not join it. In 1644 Tasman sailed along the north coast of Australia. In the same year the Dutch authorities at Batavia had a composite map compiled; it is now in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. It shows large portions of Australia known from Dutch discoveries, including those of Tasman on the Tasmanian and continental north coast. “Compagnis Niev Nederland” occurs in this map in large letters within the Australian continent. The name means “Company's New Netherland”, the “Company” being the Dutch East India Company. Later, “Nieuw Holland”, meaning New Holland, became a standard Dutch appellation for the Australian continent, and the English translation, or its Latin equivalent, in due course appeared in the texts of British explorers and geographers. On a Dutch globe-map of the mid-seventeenth century, the name “Zeelandia Nova” – the Latin equivalent of the Dutch “Nieuw Zeeland” and the English “New Zealand” – appears for the parts of New Zealand discovered by Tasman. Zeeland is a Dutch maritime province. We may see in these facts the emergence of the designation Nieuw Zeeland and in due course of its English equivalent as a name replacing the unsatisfactory Staten Land and bestowed on New Zealand by analogy with the name Nieuw Holland for Australia.

by Charles Andrew Sharp, B.A.(OXON.), M.A.(N.Z.), Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• The Journals of Captain James Cook, Beaglehole, J. C. (ed.) (1955, 1961)
• The Quest and Occupation of Tahiti by Emissaries of Spain, Corney, B. G., (ed.) (1915)
• Polynesian Mythology, and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race, Grey, Sir G. (1855)
• The Discovery of New Zealand, Beaglehole, J. C. (1939)
• Tasman and New Zealand, McCormick, E. H. (1959)
• Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 46 (1937).