169:
Forsaith, a Maori interpreter and
Protector of Aborigines. Spain closed his court on 6 June and announced that the company was entitled to almost all the 60,000 acres it claimed. The ruling pleased European settlers but enraged the local Āti Awa Maori, who were restrained from destroying outlying settlers' property only with the assurance by Clarke that Governor FitzRoy would listen to their appeals. On 2 August FitzRoy arrived in New Plymouth and made it known that he did not agree with Spain's dismissal of the absentees' claims; in early October FitzRoy returned and confirmed that he had overturned Spain's judgment, declaring that all the awarded land would have to be repurchased from the Maori owners. The move infuriated Spain. His final inquiry, in August 1844, was into sales in the Nelson area, including the Wairau Valley, scene of the bloody
66:, a clerk in the Native Department who served as a translator during the land claim commission hearings, described him as "a man of solid intelligence, but with a good deal of legal pedantry about him. He was somewhat slow in thinking, very wooden in his apprehension of ways of dealing with new emergencies, steady and rather plodding in his ways, thoroughly honest in intention, and utterly immovable in threats, though he may have been softened by flattery." Continued delays in resolving questions of ownership of land in many areas led to strong public criticism of Spain by mid-1843, although the delay was almost all due to stalling tactics by New Zealand Company principal agent
145:
Nicholson, Porirua, Manawatu, Wanganui and New
Plymouth, though the guarantee was conditional on the company proving it had fairly extinguished the Maori title. Spain's task, then, was to first established who had actually held the title to those lands bought by the company, a difficult task in itself, and then find whether the sales were legitimate.
153:, who had thought the hearings would be a mere formality. In fact Spain was determined to investigate thoroughly the background of all land purchases including whether Maori who had sold land had the right to do so. His interrogation of witnesses was exhaustive, with lengthy evidence taken and recorded in both
176:
Spain's commission ended in 1845 amid great hostility between the
Commissioner and the Governor, a continuation of the friction over FitzRoy's decision to overturn his ruling on the Taranaki claims. Their relationship continued to deteriorate, leading to mutual accusations to the Colonial Office and
441:
The original Land Claims
Commissioners were Francis Fisher, Captain Mathew Richmond and Colonel Edward Godfrey; they had arrived in New Zealand in October and November 1840; Fisher, who had provisionally been appointed Attorney-General, resigned on 25 June 1841. Tonk explains (pg. 52, 53) that Lord
98:
The
Colonial Office and the New Zealand Company came to an agreement in November 1840 under which the company would be given a royal charter of incorporation and also a Crown grant to land in defined areas of the country. On 3 December the British Government told the company that a commission would
168:
Spain's decision at the conclusion of his
Taranaki hearings became his downfall. From the outset of his Taranaki investigation he refused to accept the claims of former landowners who returned from slavery in the Waikato, a view that was strongly opposed by both his assistants, Clarke and Thomas
139:
Spain moved to
Auckland, where he had bought a 110-acre block of land, and claimed superiority over the two land commissioners who remained of the original three appointed by Gipps. He proposed that either he remain in Auckland and hear claims from the Auckland district while the other two would
106:
selected Spain to fill the role of commissioner, to take effect from 20 January 1841. He intended that Spain be the sole commissioner, believing that having a
British rather than a local government appointee would be seen as more impartial. Spain was given a fixed annual salary of £2000, which
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refused the request and instructed him to proceed to
Wellington immediately to investigate the New Zealand Company purchases defined in an agreement he had made with the company in September 1841. In that agreement the Crown indicated its acceptance of certain earlier land purchases at Port
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Assisted by interpreter and Sub-Protector of
Aborigines George Clarke, then aged 19, Spain began his hearings in Wellington in May 1842. Within weeks he began encountering opposition and obstruction from the New Zealand Company's principal agent,
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Legislative Council passed the New Zealand Land Claims Bill to establish a New Zealand Land Commission, which would investigate the validity of all purchases of land in New Zealand from Māori prior to the signing of the
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travel to conduct hearings through other regions; or that he would review the work of the other commissioners, then hold hearings in Wellington with one of the other commissioners. Governor
91:. The inquiry, by three commissioners, was designed to determine who owned what land, in order to formalise and regulate land ownership in the new colony. In late 1840 Governor
58:, Hampshire, England, a son of George Spain. He worked as an attorney in London before his appointment as New Zealand Land Commissioner and was an active supporter of the
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on 13 October 1851, a position he held until 1 May 1852. Spain was again a member of the Council from 31 October 1856 to 20 May 1858, and built a family home at
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be set up to investigate all the company's New Zealand land titles, after which bona fide purchases would be confirmed with a Crown grant. British
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equalled that of the Chief Justice and made the pair the second-highest paid public officials in New Zealand, behind the Governor.
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34:. He spent about four years in New Zealand, where he was one of the most highly-paid officials in the colony, before moving to
120:, an emigrant ship, in mid-April. Spain was accompanied by 13 members of his family, while the colony's new Surveyor-General,
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from 1 January 1851, to 31 December 1851. Spain was appointed as Non-Elective Member of the first
124:, and five assistant surveyors were also on board. In early September the ship was wrecked at the
165:, Manawatu and Wanganui and then Taranaki, where his commission opened hearings on 31 May 1844.
22:(14 March 1803 – 5 April 1876) was an English lawyer who was appointed in 1841 as a New Zealand
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to carry Spain and the surveyors to New Zealand. They arrived on 8 December 1841.
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rejected the instruction, explaining the workload was far beyond that of one man.
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Russell had intended that Spain replace all three commissioners but Governor
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exempted all New Zealand Company purchases from the commission's inquiry.
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Spain left for New South Wales in 1845 and practised as a solicitor in
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culminating in a demand by FitzRoy that Spain resign.
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and English. Spain held further hearings in Porirua,
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642:(MA thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch)
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Fatal Success: A History of the New Zealand Company
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690:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
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639:The First New Zealand land commissions, 1840—1845
38:where he returned to work as a solicitor, became
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625:Moore, D.; Rigby, B.; Russell, M. (July 1997),
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700:Commissioners of the New South Wales Police
553:"Appointment: Inspector-General of Police"
228:. Canberra: National Centre of Biography,
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680:English emigrants to colonial Australia
561:. No. 1. 3 January 1851. p. 2
26:to investigate land purchases from the
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384:, pp. 193, 194, 199, 216, 222.
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283:Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
195:New South Wales Legislative Council
44:New South Wales Legislative Council
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558:New South Wales Government Gazette
225:Australian Dictionary of Biography
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288:Ministry for Culture and Heritage
675:English emigrants to New Zealand
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636:Tonk, Rosemarie V. (May 1986).
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316:"Mr William Spain (1803-1876)"
230:Australian National University
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128:and the Governor of the Cape,
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110:Spain eventually sailed from
220:"Spain, William (1803–1876)"
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191:Inspector-General of Police
40:Inspector-General of Police
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50:Early career and character
199:Waverley, New South Wales
584:Burns, Patricia (1989).
494:, pp. 260–262, 267.
24:Land Claims Commissioner
320:Former members of the
685:Australian solicitors
610:. Auckland: Penguin.
396:, pp. 14–29, 38.
132:, chartered the brig
16:Australian politician
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42:and a member of the
631:, Waitangi Tribunal
530:, pp. 284–294.
506:, pp. 262–269.
408:, pp. 125–127.
367:George Clarke Jnr,
276:Tonk, Rosemarie V.
189:until 1851. He was
78:In August 1840 the
32:New Zealand Company
588:. Heinemann Reed.
569:– via Trove.
101:Colonial Secretary
85:Treaty of Waitangi
54:Spain was born in
480:Moore et al. 1997
239:978-0-522-84459-7
151:William Wakefield
130:Sir George Napier
126:Cape of Good Hope
104:Lord John Russell
68:William Wakefield
64:George Clarke Jnr
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28:Māori people
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659:Categories
604:Moon, Paul
565:5 November
418:Burns 1989
328:5 November
293:1 December
261:3 February
205:References
540:Moon 2012
528:Tonk 1986
516:Moon 2012
504:Tonk 1986
492:Tonk 1986
468:Tonk 1986
456:Tonk 1986
430:Tonk 1986
406:Tonk 1986
394:Tonk 1986
382:Tonk 1986
355:Tonk 1986
343:Moon 2012
248:1833-7538
218:Bach, J.
112:Gravesend
646:10 April
606:(2012).
256:70677943
159:Waikanae
134:Antilla
114:on the
30:by the
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187:Sydney
163:Otaki
155:Maori
89:Crown
56:Cowes
648:2016
612:ISBN
590:ISBN
567:2019
330:2019
295:2011
263:2013
252:OCLC
244:ISSN
234:ISBN
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