Story: Economic thought

Free passage

The New Zealand Company placed conditions on those who could receive free passage to the colony. They wanted people who were going to work for wages, not those who were going to buy land. This policy was derived from economic thought at the time, and from bitter experience in other colonies where speculators bought land and sat on it – waiting for the development of the colony by others to increase its value.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: Eph-D-IMMIGRATION-1842-01-front

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How to cite this page:

Gary Hawke, 'Economic thought - Wakefield and the economics of colonies', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/zoomify/22294/free-passage (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Gary Hawke, published 11 Mar 2010