Henry Williams (missionary) - The Controversy Over Land Purchases

The Controversy Over Land Purchases

In the 1830s Henry Williams purchased 11,000 acres (5,420 hectares) from Te Morenga of Tai-a-mai at Pakaraka, to provide employment and financial security for his six sons and five daughters as the Church Missionary Society had no arrangements for pensions or other maintenance of CMS missionaries and their families that lived in New Zealand.

The Church Missionary Society and implemented land purchase policies for its missionaries in Australia, which involved the Society paying for the purchase of land for the children of missionaries, but discussions for such a policy for the New Zealand missions had not been settled. The purchase of the land was reviewed by Land Commissioner FitzGerald under the Land Claims Ordinance 1841. FitzGerald, in the Land Office report of 14 July 1844, recommended that Governor FitzRoy confirm the award in favour of the Rev. Henry Williams of 9,000 of the 11,000 acres as Henry Williams "appears to have paid on behalf of himself and children enough to entitle them to (22,131) twenty-two thousand one hundred and thirty-one acres". This did not end the controversy over the purchase of land by Henry Williams as the New Zealand Company, and others with an interest in acquiring Māori land, continued to attack the character of Henry Williams.