The Story of Christchurch, N.Z.
Chapter I.
1839–1844.
The New Zealand Land Company, founded by Edward Gibbon Wakefield—Selection of site for Nelson settlement—New Zealand Company’s proposal to found Scottish and Church of England colonies—Mr. Tuckett’s visit to Port Cooper (Lyttelton)—Leaves from Dr. Monro’s diary, giving reasons for rejection of Port Cooper as the site for Scottish settlement.
Every story must have a beginning, and, so far as the present volume is concerned, the natural point of departure would seem to be the incorporation in 1839 of the New Zealand Land Company. In the early part of the nineteenth century and even prior to that time, the whaling industry had been established in New Zealand, and settlements formed along the coast in connection with that industry. Some of these settlements were situated on the shores of Banks Peninsula.
Port Cooper, as Lyttelton was then called, and the Port Cooper Plains, were named after the senior partner of the Sydney firm, Messrs. Cooper and Levy, who had a whaling plant on the New Zealand coast, and traded with the Maoris.
The records show that at the opening of the last century the South Island of New Zealand carried a considerable native population. It was between the years
