New Zealand Company ships
The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere. Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour—migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings.
New Zealand Company
Three weeks after the Bill's defeat, the New Zealand Association held its final meeting and passed a resolution to the effect that "notwithstanding this temporary failure", members would persevere with their efforts to establish "a well-regulated system of colonization". Two months later, on 29 August 1838, 14 supporters of the association and the 1825 New Zealand Company convened to form a joint-stock company, the New Zealand Colonisation Association. Chaired by Lord Petre, the company was to have paid-up capital of ₤25,000 in 50 shares of ₤50, and declared its purpose was "the purchase and sale of lands, the promotion of emigration, and the establishment of public works". A reserved share of ₤500 was offered to Wakefield, who by then was in Canada, working on the staff of that colony's new Governor General, Lord Durham. By December, although it was still yet to attract 20 paid-up shareholders, the company decided to buy the barque "Tory" for ₤5250 from Joseph Somes, a wealthy shipowner and member of the committee.