1840 May Sovereignty proclaimed over New Zealand

In early March, while heading down the eastern coast to obtain further signatories for the Treaty, Hobson suffered a paralytic stroke and so he deputised a number of men (including seven missionaries) to collect more signatures from around the country on copies of the Treaty. Hobson wished to have signatures from the Cook Strait area (particularly that of Te Rauparaha) and so Henry Williams was despatched to get these, while other copies were sent to the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Tauranga, and Kaitaia. Major Bunbury, on the Herald, was sent to get signatures from the South Island, Stewart Island and Hawke's Bay. On 21 May, while this was still under way, Hobson proclaimed sovereignty over all of New Zealand: over the North Island on the basis of cession by the Treaty and the southern islands by right of discovery. Some historians suggest that he wanted to declare the Crown's authority over the whole country because he had learned of possible moves by the New Zealand Company to set up its own administration around Cook Strait. His second-in-command, Major Bunbury, also made proclamations of sovereignty over Stewart Island by right of discovery on 5 June, as no Māori could be found to sign the Treaty, and over the South Island on 17 June by virtue of cession.