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The New Zealand Company (originally established for a short period in 1826 as the New Zealand Land Company) was a joint stock company formed in 1839 with the purpose of establishing settlements in New Zealand that would put into practice Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s theories of systematic colonisation. Despite being unable to secure the support of the British Government for the project, a preliminary expedition was still despatched by the Company in April 1839. This expedition, under the command of Colonel William Wakefield, was to select a site for the first and principal settlement of the Company, buy land from the Maori, and prepare for the arrival of immigrants. Port Nicholson was chosen as the site for the settlement, which was named Wellington, and settlers began arriving early in 1840.

On 18 November 1840 Lord John Russell, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, recognized the New Zealand Company as an instrument of colonisation for the British Government and to settle claims to land in New Zealand. On 12 February 1841 the Company was granted a charter of incorporation for forty years for the purpose of the purchase, sale, settlement, and cultivation of land in New Zealand. This involved the purchase of land from Maori, survey of that land, and its sale in England. Part of the profits from these land sales was to defray the cost of sending to New Zealand selected working class emigrants. Other parts of the profits were to be devoted to the provision of public works and education. It was understood that the landowners were to proceed to New Zealand to cultivate their properties, employ the working class immigrants, and provide capital for the young settlements.

After the grant of the New Zealand Company's charter in 1841, the Company decided to establish a second settlement. In September 1841 Captain Arthur Wakefield arrived in New Zealand with an advance party to choose a site and prepare for the arrival of settlers. Kaiteretere was originally chosen, but further investigations in the bay to the southeast resulted in the discovery of Wakatu. The proposed settlement was named Nelson and immigrants began arriving in February 1842.

The Plymouth Company of New Zealand was formed in Plymouth on 25 January 1840 with the purpose of raising capital to acquire land in New Zealand, and settling it with people from Devon and Cornwall. Its resources proved inadequate, and in February 1841 the Plymouth Company was merged with the New Zealand Company. However, in the meantime the settlement of New Plymouth was established in Taranaki and settlers began arriving in late 1841.

In 1844 the New Zealand Company purchased the Otago block from local Maori and in 1845 entered into an agreement with the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland for the establishment of a Free Church settlement. The Otago Association, which was formed as a result, was to be responsible for the selection of emigrants and the sale of land, the Company agreeing to charter ships, erect buildings, and carry out public works. The first settlers to be sent out under this scheme arrived in Otago in 1848 and the settlement was called Dunedin.

In 1848 the idea of establishing a Church of England settlement found expression in the formation of the Canterbury Association. Incorporated in 1849 by Royal Charter, the Association entered into an agreement with the New Zealand Company to purchase land, and received a grant of three hundred thousand acres and an advance from the Company for the initial public works and surveys. Otherwise the Association was an independent body. The first settlers arrived in Lyttelton in December 1850.

The New Zealand Company Executive consisted of a Court of Directors that were responsible to the shareholders for the administration of the Company's activities, and a Committee of Management which controlled the policy of the Company. Numerous sub-committees were set up to deal with such matters as emigration, shipping, finance, public dinners, advertising, and so forth. The activities of the Company were administered by a Secretary who had to keep the Principal Agent in Wellington informed of the latest developments in the Company's affairs in England, and to issue to him instructions in accordance with the wishes of the Directors. In New Zealand the Principal Agent was the officer responsible for the general administration of all the Company's settlements and of Wellington in particular. The Resident Agents at each of the other settlements were responsible to him. Communications between the Secretary and the Resident Agents were usually transmitted through the Principal Agent, but on occasions both Secretary and Resident Agents wrote directly to each other.

The principal object of the Company, to establish settlements, was fulfilled surprisingly well. By the end of 1850 the European population of the Company's settlements numbered: Wellington, 5,479; Nelson, 4,047; New Plymouth, 1,412; Otago, 1,482; Canterbury, 301. By far the greater part of this population had been brought to New Zealand under the Company's auspices, or under those of its associates, the Canterbury and Otago Associations. But the Company's settlements failed to realize Edward Gibbon Wakefield's ideals of systematic colonisation. There were a number of reasons for this: the lack of immediately accessible land suitable for agriculture, difficulties in securing a proper title to the land purchased by the Company, misunderstandings and arguments with Maori, and the reluctance of many of those who had purchased land to emigrate, which left the settlements short of capital.

By July 1850 the Company had got into serious financial difficulties and was unable to pay its debts. It ceased operations and surrendered its charter back to the British Government. The news of these events reached New Zealand by the end of 1850, and the Company’s responsibilities in New Zealand were taken over by the Central Government. The Company continued to function in London until 1858, being concerned mainly with the settlement of outstanding financial arrangements.

1. This agency description was compiled as part of a project to capture the finding aids created prior to 1987 into the GAIMS system.

2. The establishment date is based on dates of holdings (see Administrative History).

3. History of the NZC Archives

Head Office

In 1903 Dr T. M. Hocken (founder of the Hocken Library in Dunedin) examined all the papers of the New Zealand Company in the Public Record Office. He found that there were duplicate sets of many of these papers, made up mostly of drafts and fair copies of various documents and the originals and duplicates of letters from the Company's Agents in New Zealand. Dr Hocken requested the transfer of all the duplicate documents to New Zealand, and after a considerable amount of negotiation an Order in Council was issued on 4 June 1908 transferring to the New Zealand Government all the documents of the New Zealand Company which the Public Record Office did not require.

The Public Record Office retained all fair copies of documents, original copies of despatches, and unique documents. These form series CO 208 in the Public Record Office. Those which were transferred are described in the record series descriptions of Head Office papers.

The papers arrived in New Zealand in June 1909 and were placed in the custody of the Department of Internal Affairs, forming the nucleus of what was then called the National Historical Collection. These papers were all transferred to the custody of the Dominion Archives at various times between 1927 and 1933.

Principal Agent's Office

When the news of the surrender by the New Zealand Company of its charter reached the colony late in 1850, negotiations were started by the local Government to obtain possession of the archives of the Principal Agent's Office. The greater part of these documents were required by the local Government because of its assumption of the functions of the Company relating to land and immigration. However, William Fox, the last Principal Agent, was unwilling to surrender any of the Principal Agent's correspondence with the local Government, the Secretary of the Company, and the Resident Agents. He took his correspondence with him to England early in 1851 where he handed it over to the Head Office of the Company.

The remaining documents were surrendered to the Commissioner appointed at Wellington under the Crown Lands Amendment and Extension Ordinance. These were found to be completely useless for the issue of Crown Grants or for the satisfaction of claimants under the New Zealand Company Land Claimants Ordinance because of their incomplete and chaotic state. Repeated representations were made by the Governor to the Colonial Office pointing out the unsatis¬factory state of these documents and requesting the return of those that Fox had taken to England.

An acrimonious correspondence followed, but eventually, in September 1852, they were handed to the Colonial Office for return to New Zealand. Late in 1853 they arrived in New Zealand and were placed in the custody of the Commissioner of Crown Lands at Wellington, who retained them until their transfer to the Dominion Archives, which took place at various times between 1927 and 1948.

During the same period the documents which had been surrendered to the Commissioner in 1851 were transferred to the Dominion Archives from the Lands Office. The documents which Fox took to England now comprise series NZC 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 112, 114, 115, and 116.

Resident Agents' Offices at Nelson and New Plymouth

All the archives of both these Offices were transferred directly to the Commissioners of Crown Lands who were appointed for these settlements early in 1851. The archives remained in the custody of the Lands Offices at Nelson and New Plymouth until transferred to the Dominion Archives at various times between 1927 and 1952.

Documents from the Company's Offices at Wellington, Nelson, and New Plymouth which were actually used by the Commissioners of Crown Lands at those places in issuing Crown Grants and satisfying land claimants have been included in the archives of those Lands Offices. We have concluded that the rest of the documents deposited in the Lands Offices for safe keeping, do not form part of the Lands Offices' archives. This is notwithstanding the reasons advanced in 1851 by the local Government for the return of part of the Principal Agent’s archives from England. There is no evidence to show that these documents were ever used by the Commissioner at Wellington in the course of his business.

The New Zealand Company was originally established in 1825 in London by John George Lambton MP. The company unsuccessfully petitioned the British Government for a 31-year term of exclusive trade and for command over a military force, anticipating that large profits could be made from New Zealand flax, kauri timber, whaling and sealing. Undeterred by the lack of government support for its plan to establish a settlement protected by a small military force, the company dispatched two ships to New Zealand the following year under the command of Captain James Herd, who was given the task of exploring trade prospects and potential settlement sites in New Zealand. In early 1827 Herd returned to London and reported back that in his opinion the cost of exporting goods was too high to be of economic value.

The failure of Lambton's project came to the attention of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and in 1837 Wakefield formed the New Zealand Association and began discussions with the 1825 New Zealand Company over a possible merger. The two colonisation groups merged in 1839 as a joint stock company called the New Zealand Land Company with the purpose of establishing settlements in New Zealand that would put into practice Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s theories of systematic colonisation. Despite being unable to secure the support of the British Government for the project, a preliminary expedition was still despatched by the Company in April 1839. This expedition, under the command of Colonel William Wakefield, was to select a site for the first and principal settlement of the Company, buy land from the Maori, and prepare for the arrival of immigrants. Port Nicholson was chosen as the site for the settlement, which was named Wellington, and settlers began arriving early in 1840.

On 18 November 1840 Lord John Russell, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, recognized the New Zealand Company as an instrument of colonisation for the British Government and to settle claims to land in New Zealand. On 12 February 1841 the Company was granted a charter of incorporation for forty years for the purpose of the purchase, sale, settlement, and cultivation of land in New Zealand. This involved the purchase of land from Maori, survey of that land, and its sale in England. Part of the profits from these land sales was to defray the cost of sending to New Zealand selected working class emigrants. Other parts of the profits were to be devoted to the provision of public works and education. It was understood that the landowners were to proceed to New Zealand to cultivate their properties, employ the working class immigrants, and provide capital for the young settlements.

After the grant of the New Zealand Company's charter in 1841, the Company decided to establish a second settlement. In September 1841 Captain Arthur Wakefield arrived in New Zealand with an advance party to choose a site and prepare for the arrival of settlers. Kaiteretere was originally chosen, but further investigations in the bay to the southeast resulted in the discovery of Wakatu. The proposed settlement was named Nelson and immigrants began arriving in February 1842.

The Plymouth Company of New Zealand was formed in Plymouth on 25 January 1840 with the purpose of raising capital to acquire land in New Zealand, and settling it with people from Devon and Cornwall. Its resources proved inadequate, and in February 1841 the Plymouth Company was merged with the New Zealand Company. However, in the meantime the settlement of New Plymouth was established in Taranaki and settlers began arriving in late 1841.

In 1844 the New Zealand Company purchased the Otago block from local Maori and in 1845 entered into an agreement with the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland for the establishment of a Free Church settlement. The Otago Association, which was formed as a result, was to be responsible for the selection of emigrants and the sale of land, the Company agreeing to charter ships, erect buildings, and carry out public works. The first settlers to be sent out under this scheme arrived in Otago in 1848 and the settlement was called Dunedin.

In 1848 the idea of establishing a Church of England settlement found expression in the formation of the Canterbury Association. Incorporated in 1849 by Royal Charter, the Association entered into an agreement with the New Zealand Company to purchase land, and received a grant of three hundred thousand acres and an advance from the Company for the initial public works and surveys. Otherwise the Association was an independent body. The first settlers arrived in Lyttelton in December 1850.

The New Zealand Company Executive consisted of a Court of Directors that were responsible to the shareholders for the administration of the Company's activities, and a Committee of Management which controlled the policy of the Company. Numerous sub-committees were set up to deal with such matters as emigration, shipping, finance, public dinners, advertising, and so forth. The activities of the Company were administered by a Secretary who had to keep the Principal Agent in Wellington informed of the latest developments in the Company's affairs in England, and to issue to him instructions in accordance with the wishes of the Directors. In New Zealand the Principal Agent was the officer responsible for the general administration of all the Company's settlements and of Wellington in particular. The Resident Agents at each of the other settlements were responsible to him. Communications between the Secretary and the Resident Agents were usually transmitted through the Principal Agent, but on occasions both Secretary and Resident Agents wrote directly to each other.

The principal object of the Company, to establish settlements, was fulfilled surprisingly well. By the end of 1850 the European population of the Company's settlements numbered: Wellington, 5,479; Nelson, 4,047; New Plymouth, 1,412; Otago, 1,482; Canterbury, 301. By far the greater part of this population had been brought to New Zealand under the Company's auspices, or under those of its associates, the Canterbury and Otago Associations. But the Company's settlements failed to realize Edward Gibbon Wakefield's ideals of systematic colonisation. There were a number of reasons for this: the lack of immediately accessible land suitable for agriculture, difficulties in securing a proper title to the land purchased by the Company, misunderstandings and arguments with Maori, and the reluctance of many of those who had purchased land to emigrate, which left the settlements short of capital.

By July 1850 the Company had got into serious financial difficulties and was unable to pay its debts. It ceased operations and surrendered its charter back to the British Government. The news of these events reached New Zealand by the end of 1850, and the Company’s responsibilities in New Zealand were taken over by the Central Government. The Company continued to function in London until 1858, being concerned mainly with the settlement of outstanding financial arrangements.