Canterbury Association

The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand.

The Association re-targeted its planned settlement from the Wairarapa to the Banks Peninsula hinterland,[2] where it arranged to buy land from the New Zealand Company for 10 shillings per acre (4,000 m2).

The Association then sold the land to its colonists for £3 per acre, reserving the rest, the additional £2 10s, for use in "public objects such as emigration, roads, and Church and school endowments" (20 shillings = £1).

The provision of funds for emigration allowed the Association to offer assisted passages to members of the working classes with desirable skills for the new colony.

A poster advertising the assisted passages specifically mentions "Gardeners, Shep[herd]s, Farm Servants, Labourers and Country Mechanics".

The religious nature of the colony shows in the same poster's requirement that the clergyman of their parish should vouch for applicants, and in the specific earmarking of some of the proceeds from land sales for church endowments.

[4] In 1852, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, which amongst other things established provincial councils.

Plaque at 22 Whitehall , London, commemorating the first meeting of the Canterbury Association
An 1850 Canterbury Association poster aimed at working-class people
The Canterbury Association ships Bangalore , Dominion , Duke of Portland , Lady Nugent , and Canterbury in the East India Docks in 1851