Mr Spain investigating the land claims at New Plymouth, Mt Eliot, June 1844 from the original pencil sketch by Mr Lewis, one of the NZ Company’s surveyors.

Hocken Pictorial Collections - 12,762

a46

Lower right (l.r.) in ink: E.M.H.; l.l. - l.r. in ink in Dr Hocken’s hand: Mr Spain investigating the land claims at New Plymouth, Mt Eliot, June 1844 from the original pencil sketch by Mr Lewis, one of the NZ Company’s surveyors in the possession of W.H. Skinner, Esq, New Plymouth. Mount Eliot - Puke-ariki Pa is now excavated out of existence. The precise spot of this scene is about 50 yards SE from the New Plymouth Railway Platform between St Aubyn & Chilman Streets and facing the sea. T.M. Hocken; label: Na Te Hakena Tenei Tiki; note: Mr William Spain was appointed by Lord John Russell to examine the land claims of the New Zealand Company in the Colony. He decided that they were entitled to a Crown Grant for 60,000 acres in Taranaki, a purchase made by them in 1840 from the Waikato Tribe & with Governor Hobson’s consent. The original; owners, however, the Ngatiawa, objected to Mr Spain’s award, & Governor Fitzroy, fearing strife & bloodshed, refused to ratify it to the intense disappointment & disgust of the settlers. Many of them attributed to this vacillation and cowardice, as they chose to call it, the later outbreak in 1859 of the Taranaki War. In this historic picture, Mr T. Forsaith is interpreting the award whilst Messrs Spain, J.T. Wicksteed, the company’s agent, & Colonel Wakefield are under the verandah. The house was the courthouse, the residence of Cap H. King, R.N. the Magistrate, & for long used as the church. T.M.H.

475 x 555 mm

pen, ink, wash & watercolour on card

Dr T.M. Hocken’s Collection.

Dr T.M. Hocken’s Collection.