New Zealand after Fifty Years

by Wakefield, Edward

Price: $250.00

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Description

New York, London, Paris & Melbourne: : Cassell & Company, , [1889]. . First edition. . 8vo, . Illustrated with folding map and plates. original brown pictorial cloth. Extremities a trifle rubbed, else a very good copy. Wakefield was a "man of extraordinary energy and compelling enthusiasms...He could also be unscrupulous, treacherous and vindictive" (Jackson & McRobie's Historical Dictionary of New Zealand). Wakefield was born in London in 1796 and spent his youth in and out of trouble. At the age of 20, he eloped with a 16 year old heiress to a fortune. After the death of his wife four years later, he again eloped with a young girl but was subsequently thrown in prison. While incarcerated, he read many of the renowned economists, and published a paper whilst still in prison entitled "Cure and prevention of pauperism, by means of systematic colonisation". His interest in colonization grew after his release and in 1838 he went to Canada as Lord Durham's unofficial adviser. He returned in 1841 and the following year was elected into the Lower Canada Assembly. During this time he also was involved with plans to colonize New Zealand and from 1850 he devoted his energies there. His move to New Zealand proved to be disastrous as his entry into politics created a rift in Parliament. (DAB.W5).