Willam Hobson had arrived in the Bay…
March 1840 CE
The Legislative Council comprises the above officials and three Justices of the Peace.
Hobson has appointed as three Magistrates, Messrs. Shortland, Johnson, and Matthew.
The Treaty of Waitangi had been first proposed by Hobson on his return to Britain from his first visit to New Zealand.
Upon arrival in New Zealand, Hobson had almost immediately drafted the Treaty of Waitangi together with his secretary James Freeman and James Busby.
Busby had previously drafted the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand.
Hobson heads the British signatories.
Of the forty or so Māori chiefs, the Ngapuhi chief Hōne Heke had been the first to sign the treaty.
As each chief signed, Hobson said "He iwi tahi tātou", meaning "We are [now] one people".
To enhance the authority of the treaty, eight further copies had been made and sent around the country to gather additional signatures.
After obtaining signatures to the Treaty at the Bay of Islands (6 February 1840), Hobson had traveled to Waitematā Harbour to obtain more signatures and to survey a suitable location for a new capital (he also sent the Deputy Surveyor-General, William Cornwallis Symonds, to other areas to obtain more signatures).
After suffering a stroke on March 1, 1840, he is taken back to the Bay of Islands, where he will recover sufficiently to continue work.
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