New Zealand Timeline: 1840 - 1900
Land Ownership and Settlement
The New Zealand Association, which is later called the New Zealand Company, begins plans in 1837 to settle New Zealand using its founder Edward Gibbon Wakefield's ideas of systematic colonisation. Wakefield's idea involved rejecting the practise of granting land to settlers for no cost. If the land had to be purchased labourers could not afford to buy land immediately and would have to work for those who could purchase land. Edward Gibbon Wakefield wanted the complete cross-section of English rural society to be transplanted to the new colony.
In 1840 the first shiploads of British settlers arrive, and the New Zealand Company occupies land around Wellington, New Plymouth, Wanganul and Nelson. Māori see the presence of British settlers as commercially useful.
By 1845 9,000 settlers have arrived. There is conflict in the mid 1840s about the terms of the New Zealand Company land purchases in Wanganui, Wellington and Nelson.
A lot more land is sold during the remainder of the 1 840s and in the 1850s. In particular most of the South Island is sold to the Crown - 20 million acres or nearly 9 million hectares of it by Ngai Tahu under the Kemp Purchase of 1848.
The sale of land slows in the North Island in the 1880s after the emergence of the King Movement. War breaks out between Māori tribes and the settler government in Taranaki in 1860. Further conflicts follow. The wars are fought mainly in Taranaki, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay After these battles a lot of Māori land is seized as punishment for rebellion against the Crown, eg 400,000 hectares of Waikato land is confiscated. Much of the confiscated land is allocated to settlers.
In 1865 the Native Land Court is established by the Crown with authority to decide on who owns Māori land. Up to 1873 the Court doesn't recognise that land can be owned by more than 10 people. This means the sale of Māori land is easier to arrange, as the degree of communal ownership is often reduced. Subsequently this is altered, but the Court still does not recognise communal title to large blocks of land and encourages partition of interests. The Crown leases land for grazing sheep throughout the South Island and part of the North Island, especially Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay. Some of this land is bought by the people leasing the land.
Gold rushes in Central Otago, the West Coast and Coromandel cause massive increases in the population of these districts. Gold mining causes environmental damage such as silting and flooding.
During the 1870s there is large-scale government-assisted immigration to New Zealand from Europe under the Vogel scheme. The scheme almost doubles the non-Māori population from 267,000 in 1871 to 490,000 by the end of the decade.
Land Use
During the 1840s Māori supply potatoes, kumara, wheat, maize, pigs, fish and fruit to Pakeha. The New-Zealander states in 1848: "The Māoris are our largest purveyors of foodstuffs. So large indeed as nearly to monopolise the market and to exclude Europeans from competition."
The Monterey pines (Pinus insignis later renamed Pinus radiata) are introduced in the 1850s. They are found to be well suited to New Zealand conditions. The trees reach maturity up to three times quicker than they do in California where the species is a native.
In the 1860s-1870s South Island pastoral runs are freeholded and developed into mixed livestock and cropping operations. Railroads and importation of new farm machinery help make this possible. Widespread deforestation takes place from the 1870s as farmers burn off native bush to clear land. Around 36,200 sq.km. is cleared, mainly in the North Island.
Commerce
Timber is felled for building and export. In the early 1850s timber is the colony's most valuable export product and earns £93,000. Kauri gum is exported from Northland.
By 1858 there are 1 million sheep in New Zealand.
In 1862 the first shipment of gold goes to England from Dunedin. Gold boosts the South Island economy In the late 1860s gold earns about 60% of New Zealand's total export income.
By the mid 1870s the first gold boom is over. Wool becomes New Zealand's biggest single export. The value of wool exports in 1873 is over £2.7 million. In 1873 there are 230 km of railway By 1880 1500 km have been laid as a result of Prime Minister Julius Vogel's policy of colonial development.
In the late 1870s wool and wheat prices fall. Land prices decline and the "Long Depression' begins and lasts until 1895.
In the 1880s trade with Britain in refrigerated butter and meat begins. In the 1890s returns are significant. and smaller more intensive sheep and dairy farms become viable.
Agricultural Events
| 1840 | Sheep dogs are imported from Scotland and England. |
| 1841 | Levin & Co of Wellington is the first stock and station firm to begin business. |
| 1843 | The Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association is the first agricultural association to get established in New Zealand. Similar Associations are set up in Hawkes Bay in 1858 and Canterbury in 1863 to disseminate knowledge to farmers and help improve the quality of farm products. |
| 1849 | A Scab Ordinance is issued to control scab in sheep. Strict controls help eradicate the disease by 1893. |
| 1851 | The first deer are released in Nelson. |
| 1853 | The first seed drill is used at Lyttelton. |
| 1858 | Australian possums are released as "valuable and harmless" animals in Southland for use in the skin trade. |
| 1862 | Thomas Syers arrives with 2 Jersey cows and a bull and establishes the Jersey breed in New Zealand. |
| 1867 | 450 tonnes of guano (bird droppings rich in phosphate) is imported to New Zealand as the first phosphate fertiliser |
| 1871 | NZ's first cooperative dairy factory opens on the Otago Peninsula. |
| 1877 | The first reaper and binder is imported to Christchurch. |
| 1880 | A School of Agriculture opens at Lincoln in Canterbury with 20 students. Its aim is to teach "practical and scientific" farming. The school later becomes Lincoln College. |
| 1882 | The first shipment of frozen meat is sent to the U.K. on board the S.S. Dunedin. |
| 1884 | The first farm cream separator is imported from Denmark. This means only the cream needs transporting to local dairy factories and the skim milk becomes available for raising pigs on dairy farms. |
| 1890 | The Babcock tester which is used to test milk nutrient content is imported from the United States enabling farmers to select the best producing cows. |
| 1892 | The New Zealand Department of Agriculture is established by the Liberal Government. |
Community
During the land wars many Māori die and many are imprisoned.
As a result of the loss of land, predominantly after 1890, many Māori lose their traditional means of support.
Many live in temporary camps. Many seek employment in public works or in seasonal farm work.
Settlers in Taranaki and Auckland in particular grow impatient waiting for the purchase of land from Māori.
During the 1860s the South Island develops more quickly than the North Island. The population is 159.000 compared to the North Island's 97,000. Expansion of North Island farming slows due to land wars.
Excessive alcohol consumption becomes a recognised social problem, especially on the goldfields. The Temperance Movement, which attempts to publicise the dangers of excessive alcohol, is well established by the 1880s. Women play a significant role in the Movement.
Wealthy Canterbury and Otago runholders dominate New Zealand life politically, socially and economically but others still have a voice because of the liberal franchise.
During the Depression of the 1880s-1895 many people lose their jobs, land or business.
In the North Island there is some upheaval during the New Zealand wars (wars over rand) and some settlers become soldiers. Some die and some early families become refugees.
By 1890 four fifths of the New Zealand population are receiving primary education. The 1890s see the rise of the "Young Māori Party" who are young, educated Māori men committed to Māori development. One of those is Apirana Ngata. Apirana Ngata actively promotes improvement of Māori farming with community initiatives to effectively manage farms.
Government Policy
In 1852 the Constitution Act establishes a system of government which consists of central government made up of a House of Representatives and a Legislative Council and six provincial governments. All adult men who meet minimal property owning requirements are eligible to vote, Māori are effectively disenfranchised because of their communal form of land ownership.
In 1858 the lands Department is established. It administers and maintains Crown owned rand, and keeps records of land ownership. Commissioners of Crown Lands, of which the first is appointed in 1849, supervise purchase of land from Māori. There is one Commissioner for each province. The provinces are later called rand districts.
In 1867 the four Māori electorates are created. Māori can vote without property requirements. From 1879 all adult males can vote.
From the mid I 870s the great pastoral runs of Central Otago are progressively subdivided.
In 1876 government surveying of land adds to the responsibilities of the Lands Department. It is renamed the Department of Lands and Survey.
The 1877 Land Act provides for the creation of forest reserves and the appointment of rangers.
In 1884 the River Boards Act is passed to coordinate flood control, eg stop bank construction.
In 1885 the New Zealand State Forests Act is passed. The Act establishes provision for a school of forestry forest management. and the setting aside of areas as state forest. Within four years, 520,000 hectares are designated as state forest.
During the 1890s the Liberal Government passes important legislation which aims to carve up what were seen to be large aggregations of land. The land and Income Assessment Act imposes a graduated land tax to encourage owners of large estates to sell significant portions or their whole estate.
The Land for Settlement Act provides for the Crown to purchase land for settlement, compulsorily if necessary although this provision is rarely used. land is then let under Crown lease as small farms to large numbers of settlers. The process becomes known as "bursting up' the large estates. Between 1892 and 1911 the Liberal Government offers 8.5 million acres for settlement and breaks up 223 estates into 4800 farms.
In 1898 the Lands Department begins the first state planting of pinus radiata trees. In 1893 New Zealand women are given the right to vote.
Contact for Enquiries
MAF Communications
Level 9
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0300
Contact this person
