them full control of their internal affairs. The ministry hesitated to submit to parliament proposals of so bold a character, but on 8 Feb. its publicity was assured by Wakefield, who communicated it to the ‘Times.’ His exact part in writing the report is uncertain, but he undoubtedly had a large share in the original conception. Wakefield twice returned to Canada, in December 1841 and in September 1843. In 1843 he took part in Canadian politics, both as a member of parliament and in the more important capacity of secret adviser to Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe [q. v.] Wakefield was the author of the noble character of Metcalfe, ‘whom God made greater than the colonial office,’ which appeared in 1844 under the title ‘A View of Sir Charles Metcalfe's Government of Canada’ (London, 8vo), and also of the article ‘Sir Charles Metcalfe in Canada,’ published in ‘Fisher's Colonial Magazine,’ July 1844.
After the severance of his connection with South Australia, however, his remaining life was chiefly occupied with the foundation and guidance of the colony of New Zealand. In 1837 he formed the New Zealand Association, which comprised among its members Lord Durham, Francis Baring, Buller, Molesworth, and William (afterwards Sir William) Hutt [q. v.], and which was intended to bring the questions of the annexation and colonisation of the islands before the public and parliament. Under its auspices a body of intending settlers was formed. In 1838 a bill was introduced into parliament embodying the proposals of the association, but, failing to obtain the support of government, was thrown out in the commons. In October the matter was put in more precise shape by the formation of the New Zealand Colonization Company, formed principally of city men, with hardly any of the representatives of colonial reform. After much hindrance from the timidity of the colonial office and the opposition of the Church Missionary Society, which feared that an extensive influx of colonists would alienate native feeling, the New Zealand Land Company was formed in 1839 by the amalgamation of the Colonization Company, the Association, and an earlier company founded in 1825 with the support of William Huskisson [q. v.] They were unable to obtain the sanction of the government, and on 5 May the Tory sailed from London with the first detachment of settlers, without any distinct assurance of support. This decided action compelled the government to extend its authority over New Zealand, just in time to anticipate annexation on the part of France. Government, however, declined to co-operate with the New Zealand Company, and despatched Captain Hobson to New Zealand, placing him under the orders of the governor of New South Wales. Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty on 21 May 1840.
While Wakefield's brother William controlled the operations of the colonists in New Zealand [see Wakefield, William Hayward], Wakefield directed the New Zealand Company in London, fighting its battles with the colonial office and the missionary interest. Save for the comparatively brief interval in 1840 and 1841, when Lord John Russell held the secretaryship, the attitude of the colonial office was consistently hostile. In February 1841 he won a legal status for the company by obtaining from Russell a charter of incorporation. Wakefield's labours in obtaining evidence for the parliamentary committees were especially important. In 1836 he gave evidence before one appointed to consider the question of granting colonial lands, which approved his views in their report. In 1837 the transportation committee condemned the system of transporting criminals to Australia, and recommended the institution of an immigration fund as an alternative method of providing labour. In 1840 the result of the inquiry into South Australian affairs was entirely favourable to the views he advanced in his evidence. In 1840 and 1844 he was examined before the two great New Zealand committees. His labours in the business of the company were unceasing. In 1846 he succumbed to overwork, and on 18 Aug. was struck down with paralysis of the brain.
On his partial recovery a year later he found that his influence in the company was gone, and that the management had passed into the hands of men who attached greater importance to financial success than the original promoters had done. In January 1849 he resigned his directorship and joined Lord Lyttelton and John Robert Godley [q. v.] in founding the church of England settlement at Canterbury. In 1850 he joined Charles Bowyer Adderley (now Lord Norton) in forming the Colonial Reform Society, and in 1852 he left England for New Zealand, landing at Port Lyttelton on 2 Feb. 1853. He threw himself at once into New Zealand politics, and rendered important services as adviser to the acting governor, Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard [q. v.] The confidence of Wynyard, however, ruined his popularity with the legislature, and the excitement of conflict caused a complete breakdown in December 1854. The rest of his life was
