The New Zealand Company had resolved to…

The New Zealand Company had resolved to "take steps to procure German emigrants" and appointed a Mr. Bockelman as agent of the Company in Bremen, as early as 1839.

At one stage, the Company had made an agreement in principle to sell the Chatham Islands to the Deutsche Colonisations Gesellschaft, but were thwarted by the British Government.

However, Lord Stanley had agreed to make the German colonists instant British subjects upon arrival in Nelson after being vetted in Hamburg first.

The New Zealand Company in London planned the settlement of Nelson, intending to buy cheaply from the Māori some 200,000 acres (800 km²) which they planned to divide into one thousand lots and sell (at a considerable profit) to intending settlers.

The Company earmarked future profits to finance the free passage of artisans and laborers and their families, and for the construction of public works.

However, by September 1841 only about one third of the lots had sold.

Despite this the Colony pushed ahead.

Three ships had sailed from London under the command of Captain Arthur Wakefield.

Arriving in New Zealand, they discovered that the new Governor of the colony, William Hobson, would not give them a free hand to secure vast areas of land from the Māori or indeed to decide where to site the colony.

However, after some delay, Hobson had allowed the Company to investigate the Tasman Bay area at the north end of the South Island.

The Company had selected the site now occupied by Nelson City because it had the best harbor in the area.

But it had a major drawback: it lacked suitable arable land; Nelson City stands right on the edge of a mountain range while the nearby Waimea Plains amount to only about 60,000 acres (243 km²), less than one third of the area required by the Company plans.

The Company shad ecured from the Māori for £800 a vague and undetermined area, but including Nelson, Waimea, Motueka, Riwaka and Whakapuaka.

This allowed the settlement to begin, but the lack of definition would prove the source of much future conflict.

The three colony ships had sailed into Nelson Haven during the first week of November 1841.

When the four first immigrant ships arrive three months later they find the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds.

These ships are the Fifeshire, the Mary-Ann, the Lord Auckland and the Lloyds.