The New Zealand Gliding Association was formed at a meeting in Wellington on 20 June 1947 called to organise the aims and activities of enthusiasts. Gliding began in the early 1930s and when the Second World War broke out there were several clubs or groups.

During the four years after the establishment of the association in 1947, a great deal of work was done by the Civil Aviation Administration and gliding enthusiasts before airworthiness requirements were agreed on, a technical committee appointed to see to gliding matters (delegated by the Director of Civil Aviation), and rules and regulations compiled. A standard trainer, the Slingsby T31, was adopted. The Canterbury and Auckland clubs began to assemble kitsets, and club flying began in Auckland in July 1952. A privately owned Olympia was flying in Auckland from February 1950 and a private Prefect flew in Christchurch later that year. Both played a big part in arousing local interest. When the Prefect was transferred to Dunedin it led to the start of a club there.

The association's council and technical committee met in Auckland until the end of 1954 when the council moved to Christchurch. Auckland again became the headquarters for the council in 1958. The technical committee has always been in Auckland. The association's work is mainly concerned with the issuing of certificates and the approval of ground engineers, but it has given much help in forming clubs willing to accept guidance. In 1952 two clubs were functioning. By 1964 there were 25 clubs, more than 60 gliders, and over 1,000 members. The Gliding Kiwi, published quarterly, is the official organ of the New Zealand Gliding Association (Inc.).

The standard, as well as the amount of glider flying, has risen impressively. A “C” certificate corresponds to the private pilot's licence for power flying. Over 260 “C” certificates have been issued since 1955: 1955, 15; 1956, 20; 1957, 48; 1958, 54; 1959, 58; and 1960, 71.

More than 530 glider pilots now hold “C”certificates; 140 hold the “Silver C”, 20 the “Gold C”, and three the “Diamond C” certificate. The first holder of the “Diamond C” certificate, G. A. Hookings, was only the second person in the British Commonwealth to win this award.

In June 1965 at Gloucestershire, England, a New Zealand team competed unsuccessfully in the World Gliding Championships.

• Achievements

• March 1951: First major distance flight, by G. A. Hookings – 66 miles from Ardmore to Waharoa.

• March 1952: Altitude gains of 7,380 ft by S. H. Georgeson; 10,300 ft by G. A. Hookings.

• March 1953: Distance flight of 205 miles, from Christchurch to Dunedin, by S. H. Georgeson, with an absolute altitude of 22,000 ft en route.

• December 1954: An absolute altitude of 30,400 ft by P. A. Wills.

• October 1957: A distance flight of 270 miles, from Christchurch to Palmerston North, by K. Wakeman.

• December 1957: A distance flight of 329 miles in three legs, by G. A. Hookings. Take off at Masterton, landing at Tutira. First flight in the British Commonwealth to exceed 500 kilometres.

• December 1960: World gain of height record, by S. H. Georgeson, of 34,400 ft.

• January 1962: World out and return record, Omarama-Hanmer-Omarama (400 miles), by S. H. Georgeson.

• October 1962: Central Districts gliding championships (first formal gliding contest in New Zealand) held at Masterton — winner, S. H. Georgeson.

• November 1963: First New Zealand gliding championships, held at Masterton — winner, J. D. S. Cooper.

• January 1965: World out and return record, Omarama — Dillons Point — Omarama (466 miles), by S. H. Georgeson.

, G.C.M.G., LL.D. (1833–1915).

Fourteenth Governor of New Zealand.

Lord Glasgow was born on 31 May 1833, the son of Patrick Boyle, M.A. (1806–74), of Shewalton, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire, and nephew of the Third Earl; and of Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Elphinstone, Bt. He entered the Royal Navy, where he saw active service in the White Sea during the Crimean War (1854–55), and in the Chinese War (1857). He was in command of HMS Niobe when she was wrecked off Miquelon in 1874, and in the inquiry which ensued Glasgow was completely exonerated. He retired from the Navy with the rank of captain.

Lord Glasgow married, on 23 July 1873, Dorothea Elizabeth Thomasina, daughter of Sir Edward Hunter Blair, Bt., by whom he had five sons and three daughters. He succeeded his cousin as Seventh Earl in 1890, and on 24 February 1892 was designated to succeed Lord Onslow as Governor of New Zealand.

Glasgow inherited Onslow's dispute with the Liberal Government over Legislative Council appointments pending a Colonial Office ruling. But the Government leant heavily upon his experiences as a naval officer whenever naval defence was considered. The one new constitutional issue during his term of office arose over interpretation of the Governor's powers as Commander-in-Chief, but apart from this his relations with his Ministers were most cordial. He relinquished the Governorship in February 1897, when he found himself unable to uphold the dignity of his office on the salary then provided.

Glasgow received a Barony (July 1897) for his New Zealand services. He died on his estate at Fairlie, Scotland, on 13 December 1915. His family seat is commemorated in New Zealand by Kelburn, a suburb of Wellington. He was a first cousin of Sir James Fergusson , one-time Governor of New Zealand.

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

• Governors' Papers (MSS), National Archives
• The Times (London), 14 Dec 1915 (Obit).

Glaciers have been tourist attractions for many years. The “Hermitage” tourist hotel, near the Mueller Glacier, had been built by 1887, but was later damaged by flood waters. It was rebuilt on a new site, but destroyed by fire in 1957. A new, very modern hotel was quickly built and today is the centre of New Zealand's alpine activities. Each year thousands of tourists are taken on guided tours to the Tasman Glacier. During the winter, ski-ing is popular on the Ball Glacier, and ski-equipped aircraft take skiers to the upper parts of the Tasman, Murchison, Fox, and Franz Josef Glaciers. There have been tourist hotels at the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers for many years. Although the West Coast glaciers have shown a marked retreat over the past 10 years, the sight of white ice cliffs in the dense rain forest continues to attract many people. The glaciers also provide access routes to the high peaks of the Southern Alps, and are traversed by many mountaineers.

by Arnold John Heine, Antarctic Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Wellington.

In 1861 Julius von Haast , Provincial Geologist of Canterbury, with Andrew Sinclair , Colonial Secretary, began the exploration of the Rangitata Valley glaciers. (Sinclair was later drowned while crossing the Rangitata River.) During the following year Haast, with A. D. Dobson , extended the survey to the Godley Valley and, later, to the Tasman, Hooker, and Mueller Glaciers.

The Murchison Glacier was viewed from the Mount Cook Range and the explorers then visited the Dobson and Hopkins Valleys. Haast also visited and named the Franz Josef Glacier; other West Coast glaciers were discovered, during the same period, by gold miners. Few records have been kept, but it is known that the La Perouse and Copland Glaciers were visited. During 1863 James Hector sighted the glaciers in the Mount Aspiring area when he explored the west branch of the Matukituki River and crossed to the Waipara and Arawata Rivers. In 1876, S. H. Cox and A. McKay compiled a geological map of the West Coast which showed the position of the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. Other famous explorers of the West Coast glaciers were G. Mueller , G. J. Roberts, C. E. Douglas, and A. P. Harper.

In the North Island there are seven small glaciers on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu, an active volcano (9,175 ft). Their size varies, but they are usually less than a mile in length and descend to about 7,000 ft above sea level. During the winter ski-ing period the Whakapapa Glaciers, near the Chateau Tongariro, are visited by several thousand people each week.

In the Southern Alps more than 360 glaciers have been named; they occur between 43° and 45 South latitude, and have a total area of 330 sq. miles. The major ones are located in the area around Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand (12,349 ft). Draining to the eastern side of the Divide, into the Waitaki River system, are the following glaciers: Godley (6.5 miles long), Hooker (6.5 miles long), Mueller (8 miles long), Murchison (9 miles long), and Tasman (17.5 miles long), their total area being 91 sq. miles. The two largest glaciers draining to the western side of the Southern Alps are the Franz Josef (7 miles long), and the Fox (8.5 miles long); their total area is 16.5 sq. miles.

Other glaciers lie north of the Mount Cook region, in the Rakaia-Rangitata River systems, the largest being the Ramsay and Lyell in the Rakaia catchment area. A further group is centred around Mount Aspiring (9,957 ft), 100 miles south-west of Mount Cook. The largest, the Bonar, Volta, and Therma, rise on the slopes of Mount Aspiring itself, and many smaller glaciers are clustered around the headwaters of the Arawata, Matukituki, Dart, and Hollyford Rivers. The eastern glaciers have a fairly gentle gradient and descend to between 2,500 and 3,500 ft above sea level; the western glaciers are much steeper and their terminals are as low as 1,000 ft above sea level, well down into the thick rain forests.

Glacier-movement measurements were first made in the Mount Cook region in 1889 by T. N. Brodrick . Rough estimates made by A. P. Harper of surface speeds of the Franz Josef Glacier in 1894 indicate very high rates of flow of 100 to 200 in. a day up to 2 miles from the terminus. Rates on the Tasman Glacier vary, being only about 20 in. a day from a point 7 miles up stream from the terminal. The glaciers are fed by snow brought to the Southern Alps by the prevailing winds off the Tasman Sea; total yearly snowfalls at the higher elevations (6,000–8,000 ft) vary from 10 to 20ft. The steeper West Coast glaciers have little moraine carried on their surface and have shown a marked terminal retreat in the last 10 years. The Franz Josef Glacier terminal, for example, has retreated three-quarters of a mile. The large glaciers on the eastern side of the Southern Alps are mantled with moraines, and lower parts of the glaciers have been reduced in thickness by up to 200 ft, with some terminal retreat.

Hundreds of lakes ranging in size from small ponds to bodies of water tens of miles long are scattered throughout the South Island, over an area which was ice covered during the later part of the Pleistocene era, about 20,000 years ago. This area extends from the main divide in South Nelson near Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa to the south coast of Fiordland west of the Waiau River mouth. Its eastern margin follows the eastern foothills of the Southern Alps through Canterbury to the Mackenzie basin and the upper Clutha Valley to northern Southland. Its western margin is close to the west coast from Greymouth south to Fiordland. Most of these lakes owe their permanence and great depth to over-deepening of valley floors by glaciers which are able to excavate depressions far below the level of the bedrock at the outlet end of their valleys.

The following large inland lakes occupy over-deepened valleys excavated by valley glaciers: Brunner, Coleridge, Hawea, Manapouri, Monowai, Ohau, Pukaki, Te Anau, Tekapo, Wakatipu, and Wanaka (qq.v.). Other large inland lakes in this category are Lakes Rotoroa and Rotoiti in Nelson, Lakes Alabaster and Wilmot in western Otago, and Lakes Hauroko and Poteriteri in west Southland. Most of these lakes have nearly flat beds of sand and mud and probably reach maximum depths of about 500 ft.

Of the great southern lakes of Canterbury, Otago, and Southland, those of Pukaki, Tekapo, Ohau, Hawea, Wanaka, Wakatipu, and South Mavora all have prominent ridges of terminal moraine encircling their southern extremities. These indicate that the lakes occupy the sites of late Pleistocene valley glaciers. During the early stages of melting back of the valley glaciers, the early lakes, impounded behind the terminal moraine barriers, probably stood at higher levels than at present and supported the floating ice tongues of the retreating glaciers. Clear evidence of older high lake levels can be seen in the strand lines and benches around Lake Wakatipu. Outlet streams cut progressively deeper valleys through the unconsolidated glacial drift, thus lowering the lakes to their present levels. In the case of Lakes Wakatipu and Hawea, this lowering process has been greatly retarded by the outlet streams exposing in their beds comparatively hard bedrock which has formed resistant sills at the lake outlets. Lake McKerrow, at sea level at the mouth of the Hollyford River in north-west Otago, is connected to the sea by a sinuous tidal river cutting through beach deposits and sand dunes, through which small ocean-going fishing boats can reach the lake. Lake McKerrow is very similar in origin to the glacially excavated fiords further south. Sutherland Sound is similarly connected to the sea by only a tidal river. Lake Hakapoua in southern Fiordland was also once reached by boat from the sea, but in recent years has been raised a little above sea level by a landslip in the outlet valley.

A very large number of smaller lakes and ponds dot the glaciated areas of the South Island, ranging in height from a few hundred feet above sea level almost to the summits of peaks 6,000–7,000 ft. Most of the higher ponds occupy the floors of cirques, that is, amphitheatre-shaped depressions on mountain slopes abandoned by ice comparatively recently in geological time. The water is retained behind iceworn sills of rock at the outer edge of the cirques across which outlet streams usually run in a shallow notch. Some of these small bodies of water have been named as lakes. They are particularly plentiful in the massive granitic rocks of Fiordland and in the highly metamorphosed schists of West Otago and South Westland. Lake Quill, west of Mackinnon Pass on the Milford Track and the source of Sutherland Falls(q.v.), is perhaps the best known New Zealand lake of this type.

The Maoris had many interesting legends to account for the origin of these glacial lakes, one of the most fanciful being the tale of the exploits of Raikaihaitu, the great digger of lakes. According to the legend, when the chief and his followers arrived in the Uruao canoe (c. 850 A.D.), they explored the interior of the South Island, naming the various lakes they met. Raikaihaitu had brought with him from his former home in the tropics as long ko or wooden spade, and with this he dug “the wells of Raikaihaitu”. The names of the lakes are Takapo (Tekapo), Pukaki, Ohou (Ohau), Hawea, Wanaka, Whakatipu-wai-maori (Wakatipu), and Whakatipu-wai-tai (McKerrow). Legend affirms that Wakatipu was the most difficult one to dig because of its great depth, its rocky surroundings, and the height of the adjacent mountains. Only after strenuous exertions and many invocations (karakia) was Raikaihaitu able to complete the task. He next went on to Te Anau and down the Waiau River till he reached the southern limits of Murihiku. He then returned along the east coast as far as Banks Peninsula.

by lan Charles McKellar, M.SC., Geologist, New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.

(1825–98).

Politician, public servant, and author.

A new biography of Gisborne, William appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Gisborne was born in England in 1825, the third son of Thomas John Gisborne of Home Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, and Sarah, the daughter of J. A. Krehmer of St. Petersburg. His family came originally from Hartington, Derbyshire, and migrated to the county town of Derby, where for more than 200 years the office of Mayor was filled almost without exception by a member of the family. He was educated at Rugby.

At the age of 17 Gisborne emigrated to South Australia. A cousin, Henry Fyshe Gisborne (1815–41), had left seven years earlier for New South Wales where he held with distinction the offices of Police Magistrate, private secretary to the Governor, and Commissioner of Crown Lands. In 1847 Gisborne came to New Zealand and was appointed private secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of New Munster. In the following year he moved to Auckland and became Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Province of New Ulster. In 1852 he went to England on 18 months' leave of absence and in 1853, on his return to the colony, joined the Colonial Secretary's Office as chief clerk. In July 1856, on the inauguration of responsible Government and the retirement of the old permanent officials, he succeeded Sinclair as Under-Secretary in the Colonial Secretary's Office, thus becoming the senior public servant in the colony and the principal adviser to Cabinet on the organisation and staffing of the Service. His advice on Service questions was sound and progressive. He pressed, without success, for orderly and adequate salary scales, and in 1858 was influential in securing pensions for retiring officials. For a short time in 1857 and 1858 Gisborne was also Secretary to the Treasury. His appointment as Secretary to the Cabinet was confirmed in 1864. Two years later he was a member of a Royal Commission which inquired into the clerical strength and efficiency of the Public Service. The Commission's recommendations were sensible and well suited to the needs of the day, but successive Governments failed to enforce them even though they were incorporated in the Civil Service Act 1866. The Public Service Act 1912, which created the framework of present-day personnel administration in Government Departments, contained provisions substantially the same as those recommended by the 1866 Royal Commission.

In July 1869 Gisborne resigned from his official posts when he was appointed, on the nomination of the Premier, Sir William Fox, to a seat in the Legislative Council and elevated to the Ministry as Colonial Secretary. In 1871 he resigned from the Legislative Council and was elected unopposed to the House of Representatives as member for Egmont. When the Fox Government was defeated in September 1872, Gisborne resigned his seat in Parliament and became permanent head of the Government Life Insurance Office, which he administered for five years. In 1877 he was again returned to Parliament by the electors of Totara (Westland) – this time as a supporter of Sir George Grey – and during the last months of the Grey Ministry was Minister of Lands, Immigration, and Mines. The practice of alternating between membership of Parliament and Government employment was not uncommon at the time, although it was commented upon adversely in the House of Representatives.

For several years Gisborne took an active interest in the management of Wellington College. He was a member of the Board of Governors (including a term as chairman) and also the college examiner in history, geography, and English grammar. In 1881 Gisborne returned to England to manage family property which came into his possession on the death of his brother. He devoted his later life to this work, to literature, and to county affairs. In 1886 he published Rulers and Statesmen of New Zealand, and in 1888 The Colony of New Zealand. An enlarged and revised edition of The Colony of New Zealand was published in 1891 and of Rulers and Statesmen of New Zealand in 1897. In 1886 Gisborne acted as a member of the New Zealand Commission for the Colonial and India Exhibition. In 1892, as heir to his cousin, Sir Thomas W. Evans, he came into the possession of Allestree Hall, Derby, and for a time was a Magistrate for Herefordshire. In 1861 he married Caroline Gertrude, daughter of Assistant Commissary-General Charles Brigden, by whom he had one son and three daughters. He died on 7 January 1898 at one of his residences, Lingen, Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire.

Gisborne was an able and high-spirited youth, quick to react to real or imagined insults. In 1850, as a result of an orange being thrown at a social gathering, he fought a duel with a fellow public servant. The Executive Council expressed the “greatest regret” that “neither one of the parties concerned had recourse to the advice or mediation of brother Officers in their own branch of the Public Service”. On the Council's recommendation, he was reprimanded and (temporarily) removed from the Commission of the Peace. As he grew older, Gisborne became aloof and reserved. He had a wide range of interests, and wrote or spoke on subjects as varied as socialism, public works, imperial federation, Maori affairs, defence, poetry, and tourist attractions. He was a sound judge of character and a good financier.

Gisborne was a versatile and able public servant of high administrative capacity, although his political impartiality was suspect because of his close association with Fox and Grey. He had sound ideas on the management of the Public Service, but they were in advance of the time. As a Minister of the Crown, he was proficient although unspectacular, lacking both in debate and in personality those qualities which would have fired the popular imagination. He was liberal in outlook, and his writings give a shrewd, good-natured, and invaluable account of early events in New Zealand and of the politicians and officials who took part in them. He was popular and successful in the management of his estates in England.

by Raymond Joseph Polaschek, M.COM., B.A., D.P.A., Commissioner of Transport, Wellington.

• The Colony of New Zealand, Gisborne, W. (1897)
• Rulers and Statesmen of New Zealand, Gisborne, W. (1891)
• The Times (London), 11 Jan 1898 (Obit).

Gisborne is situated on the shores of Poverty Bay where the Taruheru and Waimata Rivers join to form the Turanganui River. To the north-east of the city runs a narrow coastal plain, while to the north-west stretch the Poverty Bay Flats. In the south the land rises to the hilly country inland from the Mahia Peninsula. Kaiti, Mangapapa, Te Hapara, and Elgin are the suburbs. The east coast railway line from Wellington through Napier ends at Gisborne. By road the city is 145 miles north-east of Napier (132 miles by rail), 64 miles north-east of Wairoa by road and rail, and 94½ miles south-east of Opotiki via Waioeka. Inner harbour facilities for small coastal vessels are in the Turanganui River. Larger vessels use the roadstead. Shipping tonnage handled in 1963 was 92,786 tons, the major exports being wool, meat, and dairy produce. The airport is at Darton Field, 3 miles west. Gisborne is the chief port and town of the Poverty Bay district. Secondary industries include a freezing works (on the Kaiti River bank), dairy factories, ham and bacon processing, brewing, canning and food processing, a hosiery factory, fertiliser, tallow and wool-scouring works, and general engineering. Commercial fishing is a growing industry for internal and export markets. Catches of tarakihi are exported to Australia, and crayfish tails and meat to the United States. Experimental work is also being carried out in tuna fishing. The city also attracts summer holiday visitors with its beaches and places of historical interest nearby.

Rural activities of the district include market gardening, dairying, and sheep and cattle farming. Kumaras, pumpkins, and maize are cultivated around Maori settlements and, on the Poverty Bay Flats, dairy farmers grow maize and pumpkins as cattle or pig food or for sale. Sixty-five per cent of New Zealand's maize comes from this area. For many years the flats were subject to severe flooding, but the completion of a flood-control scheme has removed this threat. The inland hill country poses some of the most difficult problems of soil erosion. The “cover” rocks are weak and slip easily on the steep slopes, generally during heavy rain. Waste from the hillsides slips into the streams and causes them to fill them to fill their valleys with shingle.

Gisborne was the first spot in New Zealand on which Captain Cook set foot, the date being 8 October 1769. His reception was so unpromising that he called the place Poverty Bay. The first permanent trader at the site of what is now Gisborne was Captain J. W. Harris, who arrived in May 1831. He established several posts in the district and commenced to graze cattle, horses, and sheep on the Poverty Bay Flats. Christianity was introduced in 1834 by two Maori converts who arrived from the Bay of Islands. Three local Maori catechists, also trained at the Bay of Islands, returned to the district in 1838. When the Rev. W. Williams came in 1841 to found a mission station at Kaupapa, he found that the Maori evangelists had built several places of worship and that there was an aggregate Christian congregation of about 1,500 people, some of whom could read the Maori New Testament and also write. Credit for the foundation of Gisborne is accorded to Captain G. E. Read, who settled there in 1852. The first impact of the Hauhau troubles was felt in the district in 1865 following the dissention created among the Ngati Porou people by the apostles of the cult. In November loyalist Maoris and Government forces besieged the rebels at Waerengaohika and ultimately compelled them to surrender. It was decided to deport 300 of the prisoners to the Chatham Islands. Among them was a local Maori called Te Kooti, who had fought on the side of the Government but who was suspected of being in league with the rebels. Te Kooti assumed leadership of the prisoners, captured the schooner Rifleman, and landed his band at Whareongaonga Bay, about 8 miles south of Young Nicks Head, in July 1868. Eluding the forces sent in pursuit, he gathered reinforcements and made plans for a surprise attack on the Poverty Bay settlements. Shortly before midnight on 9 November the Hauhaus descended on Matawhero and there was a terrible slaughter, 33 Europeans and 37 friendly Maoris being murdered.

The township was surveyed and laid out in 1870. It was named in honour of William Gisborne, Colonial Secretary. Originally it was known as Turanga-nui-Kiwa, “the great abiding place of Kiwa”, “who was one of the chiefs of the Takitimu canoe, which made its landfall at the Mahia Peninsula.

The frozen-meat industry was established early in Gisborne. In 1886 the first freezing works was completed. Transport for many years was chiefly by sea, and lighters and barges served cargo and passenger vessels in the roadstead. Gisborne was constituted a borough in 1877 and became a city in 1955.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 19,774; 1956 census, 22,622; 1961 census, 25,065

by Susan Bailey, B.A., Research Officer, Department of Industries and Commerce, Wellington.

(1791–1847).

Governor of New South Wales and first Governor of New Zealand.

Gipps was born in 1791 at Ringwold, Kent, and was the son of the Rev. George Gipps. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Woolwich Military Academy. In 1809 he joined the Royal Engineers and, two years later, was posted to Portugal. He served throughout the Peninsular campaigns and was wounded at the siege of Badajoz. In November 1814 Gipps was ordered to Flanders, but was not present at Waterloo. After the war he travelled widely in Europe. In 1824 he joined the Colonial Service and served in the West Indies. His reports on the West Indian slave trade so impressed his superiors that he was asked to join the two Boundary Commissions which defined the parliamentary constituencies created by the first Reform Bill. In 1834 he became Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Auckland; and, a year later, he was sent to Canada as a Commissioner, together with Lord Gosford and Sir Charles Grey, to inquire into the discontent there. He returned to England in April 1837 and was knighted for his Canadian services.

Gipps assumed the governorship of New South Wales on 23 February 1838; but, on 15 June 1839, his powers were extended to give him, as Governor-in-Chief, jurisdiction over British interests in New Zealand. Owing to the fever of speculation in Maori lands, the Sydney merchants made strong attempts to induce Gipps and Hobson to recognise their immense claims in New Zealand. Gipps decided to issue a public warning against such transactions and, on 19 January 1840, the day after Hobson sailed from Sydney, he proclaimed that no title to land henceforth purchased in New Zealand would be recognised unless derived from a Crown grant. Commissioners would investigate all past purchases, and all future acquisitions of land from Maori chiefs or tribes would be illegal. These instructions were badly received in Sydney and led to trouble between Gipps and the New South Wales Government.

Because they realised the difficulties involved in setting up a legislative body in a country as sparsely settled as New Zealand, the Home authorities entrusted the Legislative Council of New South Wales with power to enact all laws necessary for its new dependency. The New South Wales Land Regulations were extended to New Zealand and the New South Wales Treasury made small temporary grants to finance the new administration which was staffed by five New South Wales officials. Until statutory authority could be obtained, New Zealand was governed directly from Sydney, and Hobson was listed as a member of Gipp's administration. For his part Hobson had to forward all his correspondence to the Colonial Office through Gipps in Sydney. As Governor-in-Chief, Gipps left the routine administration of his New Zealand dependency in his Lieutenant-Governor's hands and only retained for himself such matters where the Royal Prerogative or Imperial interests were involved.

When Captain Hobson became ill shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Gipps sent Major Bunbury to New Zealand with orders to assume the Government should the Lieutenant-Governor's health render it necessary. He also advised the proclamation of sovereignty which Hobson made on 21 May 1840. In October 1840 he received a deputation from the company's settlers who protested against Willoughby Shortland's brusque dissolution of the Port Nicholson Council. Gipps' connection with New Zealand ended on 3 January 1841 when by reason of the Charter of November 1840, the dependency became a Crown colony in its own right. He remained Governor of New South Wales until his return to England in November 1846 and died at Canterbury, England, on 28 February 1847.

In 1830 Gipps married Elizabeth, daughter of Major-General Sir George Ramsay, by whom he had one son, later, General Sir Reginald Ramsay Gipps.

Although, during his governorship, Gipps' actions aroused much ill feeling among the New South Wales settlers, he was rated highly by the Colonial Office at the time, and is now generally considered to have been an able administrator.

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

• Hart's Army List 1847
• Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958).

(1880–1960).

Social worker.

A new biography of Gilmer, Elizabeth May appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Elizabeth May Gilmer was born in Kumara, Westland, on 24 March 1880, the seventh daughter of the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon and of Louisa Jane, née Spotswood. She was educated at the Kumara School and at Wellington Girls' College and passed the Civil Service Examinations on two occasions. Her first introduction to social work came when she assisted in collecting for Mother Aubert's Homes of Compassion and, about the same time, was active in organising for the Wellington City Mission. During the Boer War she was a member of the “Women's Contingent” and accompanied her parents when they visited the New Zealand troops in South Africa. She served on several women's patriotic organisations during the First World War; and, during the Second, was chairman of the Lady Galway Guild and an executive member of the Women's War Service Auxiliary and the Loans and National Savings Committees. For these and other services she was awarded in 1946 the O.B.E. and the medal of the Greek Red Cross.

In addition to her patriotic services Dame Elizabeth devoted considerable time to local and educational bodies. She was a member of the Wellington Hospital Board from 1938 to 1953 and, as a result of her encouragement, the hospital developed the most up-to-date maternity service in New Zealand. Her interest in nurses' welfare led to improvements being made in the conditions under which they worked. From 1934 to 1957 she was the Government nominee on the Wellington Colleges' Board of Governors and, afterwards, served on the Wellington Post-primary Schools' Council. She also played a prominent part in the Secondary School Boards' Association. In 1942 she was elected to the Wellington City Council, where she served for 11 years, being chairman of the Libraries and Parks and Reserves Committees.

Dame Elizabeth was interested in many cultural, charitable, and sports organisations and, at different times, held office in most of them. Among these may be included the Social Club for the Blind, the YWCA, the Crippled Children's Society, CORSO, the Save the Children Fund, the Plunket Society (Wellington Branch), the Wellington Free Kindergarten Society, the Tuberculosis Association, the Forest and Bird Society, the United Nations Association, the Wellington Harmonic Society, the Wellington Operatic and Dramatic Society, the British Music Society, the New Zealand Libraries Association, and various women's social and sports clubs. She was a member of the Wellington Branch of the National Council of Women and represented New Zealand at the international council's conference at Lugano, Switzerland, in 1949.

Throughout her life Dame Elizabeth took a deep interest in horticulture. She was an F.R.Hort.S. (England) and a member and office holder in similar organisations in New Zealand. She worked hard to secure the passing of the Native Plant Protection Act and the reinstatement of Arbor Day. A keen gardener herself, she won the Bledisloe Cup for her roses in 1936 and the Loder Cup for native flora in 1938. Dame Elizabeth stood for Parliament in 1935 and 1938 but declined to accept nomination for any political party. She was awarded Coronation Medals in 1937 and 1953 and, in 1951, was created D.B.E.

On 3 July 1907, at St Paul's Church, Thorndon, Wellington, she married Knox Gilmer (1879–1921). She had two daughters. Dame Elizabeth died at Wellington on 29 February 1960.

After her death, the Dominion summed up Dame Elizabeth in these words: “Unselfish service marked her life. She gave unstintingly of her time and energy, modestly explaining her industry with the remark, “I was brought up by parents whose whole object was service, and I have tried to follow that upbringing'. She succeeded magnificently”.

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

• Dominion, 1 Mar 1960 (Obit and Edit.)
• Evening Post, 29 Feb 1960 (Obit).