New+Zealand+Company

The New Zealand Company
 The New Zealand Company was set up by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Wakefield was in prison from 1827-30. While in prison he came up with some ideas about immigration. He wanted to settle the colonies with settlers not convicts (as in Australia) and sell them small plots of land. Wakefield and some other wealthy British established the New Zealand Company.

The plan was to send shiploads of settlers out to New Zealand where was plenty of room. England was over crowded, there was poverty and very little opportunity. The New Zealand Company aimed to buy Maori land at a cheap rate and sell it to the settlers to make a profit. They wanted to create a 'Britain in the South' where people could go for adventure to make a fortune and to have land of their own. The New Zealand Company advertised all over Britain. The settlers did not know that the voyage was long and difficult and that they were unlikely to ever see England again.