1842 Commission investigates early land purchases

Following Lord Normanby's instructions, and as proclaimed by Governor Gipps in Sydney and Hobson when he arrived in New Zealand, three Land Claims Commissioners (M. Richmond, E. L. Godfrey and W. Spain) were appointed to investigate all pre-Treaty land purchases made by Europeans. If the Commissioners concluded that a purchase was made in good faith, they could validate it and award a Crown Grant limited to 2560 acres (4 square miles). If the purchase was invalid or exceeded that size, the excess land in question was not returned to the original Māori owners but became Crown land. One Land Claims Commissioner, English lawyer William Spain, was appointed especially to investigate the huge purchases claimed by the New Zealand Company. Over several years, Spain determined that most of the New Zealand Company purchases in Wellington and elsewhere were invalid but not all his recommendations were acted upon. There was subsequently a shift from investigating the validity of the Company's land claims to arbitrating agreements with Māori to allow settlement in Wellington to go ahead.