Island) hydro-electric project. A 600 Mw station at New Plymouth in the North Island, the estimated cost of which is $134 million, is being constructed to burn oil or natural gas. Investigations are being made to further the development of power from geo-thermal sources in the North Island.

Other developments recently completed include: a $20 million natural gas project at Kapuni in the North Island: an iron and steel works near Auckland using iron sand from West coast beaches as raw material (stage one costing approximately $35 million); major port developments in Auckland and Wellington in connection with container handling.

HISTORY

New Zealand was first discovered and settled by the ancestors of its present Polynesian inhabitants some time before A.D. 1000. Over the centuries further immigrants arrived; and as their numbers increased they spread over the North Island until the whole island was divided up among a number of tribal communities, each under its own chief, each claiming descent from one or other of the crews of the canoes which had brought their ancestors from overseas. The South Island, where the climate was less congenial, was more sparsely inhabited; but at the time when contact with Europe began, it is estimated that the total population may have been more than 100,000 persons. The name Maori, meaning 'normal' (indigenous) person, used to describe these peoples, did not come into use until the nineteenth century.

The first European to sight New Zealand, on 13th December 1642, was the Dutchman Abel Janzoon Tasman. An employee of the Dutch East Indian Company, he was searching on behalf of the Company in Java for the legendary southern continent which geographers then believed must exist in the southern hemisphere. He charted part of the west coast of the South Island, and, hoping that he had found part of the continent he was seeking, named it Staaten Landt, that being the name of land discovered south of South America and believed to be part of the same continent. When the latter land was found to be an island, the new land was renamed Niew Zeeland, after the Dutch province. Although he did not land, Tasman found the inhabitants hostile and the land poor; no further European visitor touched its shores for over a century.

The next visitor was Lieutenant, later Captain, James Cook, preceding the Frenchman de Surville by only two months. Cook, who was sailing under the auspices of the Royal Society and the Admiralty, with the scientist Joseph Banks on board, had made a further search for the legendary continent before sailing west to look for the land which Tasman had discovered. On 7th October 1769 he sighted the eastern shores of the North Island, and in the months that followed circumnavigated the country and brilliantly charted its shores, proving that it consisted of two main islands. He was followed later by other explorers, Marion du Fresne, Crozet, d'Entrecasteaux and Vancouver, among others.

Cook found the inhabitants generally friendly; and his reports of good harbours, of the abundance of seals, and of the existence of timber and flax, attracted the attention of sealers and traders. Many of these came from the flourishing community growing up at Sydney across the Tasman Sea; but the existence of whales brought also whalers from America, Britain and France. Among the first settlers were the missionaries, organized initially by the Reverend Samuel Marsden from New South Wales, who aimed to assist the Maoris and to introduce European farming. At the end of the 1830s a slump in New South

Wales increased the inflow of settlers, and by 1839 it was estimated that there were 2,000 of them, and that 130 ships were calling annually at the Bay of Islands.

The arrival of sailors, traders, missionaries and settlers in a land lacking an established administration and a rule of law, and their inter-relationship with the Maoris, whose traditional customs began to break down under the impact of association with the West, gave rise to problems which the British Government were at first reluctant to face. Cook's declarations of British sovereignty in 1769 and 1770 were repudiated; and as late as 1828 New Zealand was named in a British Act as a place not under British sovereignty. However, the need for action led the Governor of New South Wales to take, or be given, powers to try to maintain order. In 1814 Thomas Kendall, a missionary, was made a Justice of the Peace to assist in bringing British offenders to justice in the courts of New South Wales; and the Reverend John Gare Butler was made a Magistrate in 1819 with jurisdiction over the British settlements. In 1828 the jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales was extended to deal with all kinds of offences committed by British subjects within the islands of New Zealand. In 1832 James Busby was appointed as British Resident at the Bay of Islands. His appointment indicated that the British Government still looked upon New Zealand as an independent country, but legislation to give him authority failed on the grounds that it was not lawful to legislate for an independent country. Two years later, in 1835, as a counterblast to the activities of the French Baron de Thierry, Busby convened an assembly of chiefs who signed a Declaration of Independence which was recognised by the Crown. Finally, pressure by settlers, traders and missionaries, and the clear need to protect the Maoris and to control the settlers, who were about to be re-inforced by settlers sent by Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Association, together with a suspicion that other nations had become interested,led the British Government to intervene more directly. Letters Patent of 5th June 1839 authorised the Government of New South Wales to include within the boundaries of that Colony any territory in New Zealand that might be acquired in sovereignty; and Captain Hobson landed in the Bay of Islands on 29th January 1840 and assumed the office of Lieutenant-Governor. Hobson was instructed to treat with the Maoris as an independent nation for recognition of the Queen's sovereignty over the whole of the country or over any parts which they might be willing to cede. A meeting of Chiefs was held at Waitangi on 5th February, and on the 6th February 1840 forty-six chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi ceding sovereignty to Queen Victoria; and their example was followed by many others. Finally, on 21st May, Hobson issued two proclamations, one declaring British sovereignty over the North Island by virtue of the cession of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the other over all the islands of New Zealand from 34° 30' N. to 47° 10' S., and from 166° 5' E. to 179° E. by virtue of the right of discovery by Cook. This strip in fact included not only Fiji but the Marshall Islands and even Wake. New Zealand remained as part of New South Wales until 16th November 1840, when Letters Patent made it a separate colony. The boundaries were corrected by the charter of April 1842.

The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi is celebrated annually on 6th February (Waitangi Day).

The date on which Queen Victoria assumed the sovereignty of New Zealand also marked the beginning of the 'hungry forties' in Britain where many of those displaced by the industrial revolution felt that their only hope for the future was

to emigrate. The propaganda of the New Zealand Company, which had obtained a Royal Charter in 1840, turned attention to the opportunities which might exist in the new Colony with its temperate climate; and the stream of immigrants into New Zealand was such that by 1858 the newcomers had begun to outnumber the Maoris. Many of these settlers were assisted by the New Zealand Company until it lost its Charter in 1850. These European New Zealanders pressed in on the Maoris, not all of whom wished to sell land under the crown pre-emption system inaugurated by the Treaty of Waitangi. Disputes arose, resulting in greater unity among the Maoris, in a stiffening of their resistance to encroachment and finally in the Maori wars from 1860 to 1872. The defeat of the Maoris appeared likely at first to be disastrous for them; but the realisation by the now much more populous race that both had their part to play in the future of the country led to improved relations, to the greater integration of the Maori people into the life of the country, to returning pride in their Maori heritage and to an increased birthrate.

The hopes of quick prosperity held out to its settlers by the New Zealand Company were not at first realised. Timber and flax remained important articles of export, but wool soon became still more important. Meat was exported to the gold miners in Australia; and the discovery of gold in Otago in 1865 not only itself increased prosperity but led to an influx of miners to provide an additional market for the farmers. The slump of the 1880s was lightened by the departure to England in 1882 of the first ship carrying refrigerated meat, and this was the herald of a prosperity built on wool, meat and dairy produce which, with an interval during the great slump, has continued until the present.

The development of the country was furthered during the 1870s by the financial policy of Julius (later Sir Julius) Vogel who borrowed on a large scale to develop government-controlled communications and to double the population through immigration schemes; but this policy, while bringing the provinces closer together, also aggravated the effects of the slump. During the 1890s Richard (later Sir Richard) Seddon brought in a series of laws dealing among other things with land, income tax, old age pensions, factory conditions, and industrial arbitration; laws which were to make New Zealand for a time the most radical state in the world. The Boer War and the First World War brought New Zealand on to the world stage and to a full realization of her nationhood. The development of New Zealand into the first Welfare State gained momentum from 1936. The Second World War brought New Zealand still more into the world arena, and the war with Japan stressed the importance of her role in East Asia and the Pacific. This was reinforced by participation in military operations in Korea, Malaysia, and Vietnam. New Zealand has taken her full part in United Nations Affairs. Under the Colombo Plan substantial assistance has been given to the developing countries of South East Asia.

A British Protectorate was established over the Cook Islands in 1888, and the group was administered through the Governor of New Zealand until October 1900. These islands lie between 8° and 22° S. latitude and 156° and 167° W. longitude. The group was annexed to Her Majesty's dominions in October 1900. By a Proclamation dated 10th June 1901 the boundaries of New Zealand were further extended from 11th June 1901 by inclusion of the Cook Islands. Niue (Savage) Island, geographically within the Cook group, although administered separately by New Zealand, was also included. The Cook Islands became self-governing in July 1965, but remain in free association within New Zealand.

Western Samoa (or Navigators' Islands), together with some small islets, lying between 13° and 15° S. latitude and 171° and 173° W. longitude, formerly in the possession of Germany, was occupied by New Zealand in August 1914. A Mandate for the government of the Territory by New Zealand was approved by the Council of the League of Nations in December 1920. In December, 1946 the General Assembly of the United Nations approved a Trusteeship Agreement which replaced the Mandate. Western Samoa ceased to be a Trust Territory and became an independent country on 1st January 1962. Under a Treaty of Friendship which came into force on 8th March 1962, New Zealand affords Western Samoa assistance in the conduct of foreign relations.

CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

By the Proclamation of 21st May 1840 New Zealand became British Territory. On 16th June 1840 the laws of New South Wales were, so far as they were applicable, extended to New Zealand by Act of the New South Wales Legislative Council. However, by Letters Patent of 16th November in the same year, made under a Statute passed on 17th August, New Zealand became a separate colony, although the laws of New South Wales remained temporarily in force. The North Island, the South Island and Stewart Island (named after an unsuccessful flax planter) were renamed New Ulster, New Munster and New Leinster; an Executive Council, consisting of the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the AttorneyGeneral and the Treasurer was formed; and the Governor was authorised to set up a Legislative Council to make laws and ordinances for the peace and good government of the Colony. This Charter was promulgated on 3rd May 1841, and the Legislative Council was duly formed, consisting of three officials and three senior Justices of the Peace. The Council met on twelve occasions, and passed a total of one hundred and twenty-nine ordinances.

When Captain (later Sir George) Grey became Governor in 1845 there was pressure for a greater measure of popular representation, and a new Charter, dated 23rd December 1846, proposed to divide the Colony into two Provinces, one being named New Ulster, consisting of the whole of North Island other than the district around Wellington, and the other New Munster, which covered the rest. It was the intention to appoint Lieutenant-Governors to each Province and to set up not only a central General Assembly, with an elected House of Representatives, but also Provincial Councils, which, too, would have elected Houses of Representatives. In 1848 a suspending Act of the Imperial Parliament delayed the creation of both General and Provincial assemblies for a period of five years. The Colonial Legislative Council was therefore revived and in 1848 passed the Provincial Legislative Councils Ordinance, setting up nominated Provincial Councils with unofficial majorities. Since the composition of the New Ulster Provincial Legislative Council was almost the same as that of the Colonial Legislative Council, the former never met. That of New Munster met once, in 1849.

On 30th June 1852 the British Parliament passed an Act to 'Grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand'. The number of Provinces was increased from two to six, the Provinces being Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. In the centre, the General Assembly consisted of the Governor, a nominated Legislative Council and an elected House of Representatives. In each of the Provinces there was an elected Super

intendent and an elected Provincial Council with defined, if limited, powers. The General Assembly, and the Provincial Councils, were expressly debarred from regulating Crown Lands or lands in the possession of the Maoris; and the laws, customs and usages of the Maoris were 'for the present to be maintained for the Government of themselves, in all their Relations to and Dealings with each other, and that particular Districts should be set apart within which such Laws, Customs and Usages should be observed'. There were also a number of other restrictions on the legislative capacity of the General Assembly; and the laws passed by it required the Royal Assent and were not to be repugnant to the laws of England. Thus the constitutional picture of New Zealand as a result of this Constitution was that of six small scattered European settlements each with its own Provincial Government and having a central Parliament; the Maorioccupied country between the settlements having no part in this representative Government but governing itself according to Maori custom, subject to the overriding authority of the Governor in Council. In 1867 four Maori seats were established in the General Assembly on the basis of manhood suffrage.

No provision was made in the Constitution for a responsible Executive, and although three Members of the House of Representatives and two Members of the Legislative Council took office without portfolio, effective power remained in the hands of the three officials, who, with the Governor, still continued to sit in the Executive Council. This arrangement led to disputes between the legislature and the executive, the resulting deadlock only being resolved when, on 7th May 1856, Henry Sewell took office as the first Premier of a fully responsible administration. The title of Prime Minister, although in common use from that date, was not officially assumed until 1899.

The name of the Province of New Plymouth was changed in 1858 to Taranaki, and new Provinces of Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Southland and Westland were formed in 1858, 1859, 1861 and 1864 respectively Southland, however, was re-united with Otago in 1870. The system of having both central and provincial governments led, as the Provinces developed, to friction between them; and in 1875 the Provincial organisation was brought to an end by the Abolition of Provinces Act, which became operative in 1876.

Some of the restrictions placed on the powers of the New Zealand General Assembly were removed by the New Zealand Constitutional Amendment Act of 1857, which gave power to the Assembly to amend, alter, suspend or repeal the majority of the provisions of the Act of 1852. Responsibility for Maori affairs remained with the Governor until 1864, when it was finally handed over to the New Zealand Government; and from that date the New Zealand central Government was responsible for the whole of New Zealand. By a Royal Proclamation of 9th September 1907 it was declared that after 26th September 1907 the Colony of New Zealand should be known by the title of the Dominion of New Zealand. The few remaining restrictions on the powers of the New Zealand Parliament to change the constitution remained, and were confirmed by Section 8 of the Statute of Westminster (1931). This Statute was not, however, adopted by New Zealand until 1947, when the New Zealand Statute of Westminster Adoption Act was passed, to be followed by the New Zealand Constitution (Request and Consent) Act, which, after implementary legislation had been passed by the British Parliament, finally removed the last restrictions on the right of the New Zealand Parliament to amend the constitution.

As originally provided, the Legislative Council which formed the Upper House,