old the townland on which they had squatted, and which is
now the site of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.

Cooped up in their narrow plots by the sea, Colonel Wakefield and his
settlers established a provisional Government. Captain Hobson,
hearing probably some very exaggerated account of this, sent down his
Lieutenant, Mr. Willoughby Shortland, in a Government vessel, with
sailors and marines, to put down this act of insubordination. Mr.
Shortland, who suffered from the not uncommon failing of a desire to
magnify his office made the process as ridiculous as possible. He
began by stealthily sending a scout on shore at daybreak to haul down
the Company's flag in Wellington and hoist the Union Jack instead.
Then he landed amongst the settlers, who had gathered to welcome him,
in the fashion of a royal commander sent to suppress a rebellion.
The settlers consoled themselves by laughing at him. Apart from one
circular visit occupying two months, Captain Hobson himself kept
sedulously away from the southern settlements, and stayed in the
north, then a longer journey away from Wellington than Australia is
now. Under the rather high-sounding title of Chief Protector of
the Aborigines, Mr. Clarke, a missionary, was appointed to be the
Governor's adviser on native matters; yet Mr. Clarke, the settlers
complained, was a larger land claimant than any of themselves. It
is not to be wondered at if a feeling grew up among the New Zealand
settlers directed against both officials and missionaries, which at
times intensified to great bitterness, and which took many years to
die down. Even now its faint relics may be observed in a vague feeling
of dislike and contempt for the Colonial Office.

The New Zealand Company, however, cannot be acquitted of blame in more
respects than one. The foundation of the Wakefield theory rested on a
secure supply of useful land. This not available, the bottom dropped
out of the whole scheme. When in New Zealand the Company's estate was
put into chancery, the Wakefield system could not, of course, work.
Not only were the Company's purchases such as could not be sustained,
not only did the directors hurry out thousands of settlers without
proper knowledge or consideration, but they also committed a capital
error in their choice of localities for settlements. Wellington, with
its central position and magnificent harbour, is undeniably the key
of New Zealand. It was in after years very properly made