temptations of a convict settlement. He therefore decided to buy some
land near to Paihia, and on this to settle his sons. The Maoris were
pleased to sell him the land, and the Home Committee approved of the
scheme. Several of the other missionaries did likewise. The plan seems a
reasonable one, and it received the approbation of Bishop Broughton, on
the condition that the lands so obtained should be strictly devoted to
the use of the children, and not to that of their parents. But it has
brought upon the missionary body, and upon Henry Williams in particular,
the reproach of land-speculating--a reproach which is still reiterated
by modern historians such as Saunders and Collier. Fortunately, an
incident occurred at the close of our period which is enough to furnish
a decisive test, at least in the case of Henry Williams.

One of the first acts of Governor Hobson was to seek for a site for the
capital of the new Colony. Wellington was vetoed by the Home Government,
and the only other European town was Kororareka in the Bay of Islands.
In this place or its neighbourhood the governor would doubtless have
fixed his headquarters, had it not been for Henry Williams. This
sagacious man had long noted the magnificent possibilities of the
Waitemata Harbour, and on being asked his advice he took the governor to
the spot. Hobson at once saw the value of the position, and selected the
place where the city of Auckland was soon to rise. But before he could
buy the land from its Maori possessors, he was disabled by a stroke of
illness, and returned invalided to find nursing and medical attention at
the mission station of Waimate. During the period of his convalescence
he fixed his abode at Russell--a house just opposite to Paihia--and the
Auckland scheme was left in abeyance. Speculators were busy about other
suggested localities in the Bay of Islands, but the real site was known
only to Henry Williams and to the governor himself.

What a chance was here for a speculator! Never, perhaps, before or
since, has such an opportunity occurred. Williams, with his unrivalled
influence over the Maoris, might have bought up large tracts of land
near the new site. If the charges against him are true, this is what he
would have done. As a matter of fact, _he never acquired a single acre
of land in that district_. He suffered the seat of government to be
removed a hundred miles away from his own doors to a place where he did
not possess, or try t