Support for Christianity had increased rapidly throughout…

Support for Christianity had increased rapidly throughout the Southern Group of the Cook Islands after the early conversion of a number of important ariki (high chiefs) in the Kingdom of Raratonga.

Working through the ariki, the missionaries had drawn up draft legal codes, which, together with the abolition of violence as a means of dispute settlement, has led to unprecedented political stability.

The British Colonial Office decides in 1881 that New Zealand interests in the area need some form of protection against foreign powers and the British Government grants a petition by local European traders and planters for the appointment of an unpaid British Consul for the Hervey Islands, as the Southern Group is at this time known.