NINETY YEARS AGO.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 4002, 26 September 1929, Page 1

NINETY YEARS AGO.

FOUNDING OF WELLINGTON,

THE ARRIVAL OF THE TORY.

Ninety years ago last Friday the

Tory, the first ship despatched from England to (New Zealand hy the New Zealand 'Company, entered Port Nicholson so that the company’s officials might examine the harbour lands as a place for establishing the first settlement. The previous four weeks had been taken up exploring Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds, and as flat land in sufficient quantity was not apparent, Colonel Wakefield, the leader i of the expedition, had decided by | August |3'l, 1839, to ojxen up nego- | tuitions with the native chiefs of I Pert Nicholson for the acquisition ! of land areas suitable for require- .. nients of settlement. Tjhe whalers I and other European settlers at the j ! Sounds were not enthusiastic of I this, as, owning, property in those ! localities, they were hoping the set- ! tlement would be founded there. I However, (Colonel Wakefield had [ obtained from, them such good ac- | counts of port Nicholson that he I ,decided to proceed there to pursue | the object of his Voyage. Anchor was weighed at daylight at Te Awaiti on September 20. I Cook Strait was crossed, and early in the afternoon the Tory beat into the harbour of- Port Nicholson. I ,W|h en inside Barrett’s Reef, then I not so named, the vessel was board- I ed 'by two canoes containing the I two principal chiefs of the tribe I living on shore. They were Te Puni and Te Wiiarepouri, and they I passed the night on board the ves- I sol at anchor north of Matiu, now Somes Island.

The chiefs had already assented to sell the harbour and the land adjoining to the representatives of the New Zealand Company, subject to certain native reserves, and by the mid of a week the negotiations wex-e practically finalised as far as immediate circumstances were concerned.