<P> The New Zealand Company was a 19th - century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand . The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new - model English society in the southern hemisphere . Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour--migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings . </P> <P> The New Zealand Company established settlements at Wellington, Nelson, Wanganui and Dunedin and also became involved in the settling of New Plymouth and Christchurch . It reached the peak of efficiency about 1841, encountered financial problems from 1843 from which it never recovered, and wound up in 1858 . </P> <P> The company's board members included aristocrats, members of Parliament and a prominent magazine publisher, who used their political connections to ceaselessly lobby the British government to achieve its aims . The company indulged in many questionable land purchases from Māori, in many cases reselling land it did not own, and launched elaborate, grandiose and sometimes fraudulent advertising campaigns . It vigorously attacked those it perceived as its opponents--chiefly the British Colonial Office, successive governors of New Zealand, the Church Missionary Society and prominent missionary the Rev. Henry Williams--and it stridently opposed the Treaty of Waitangi, which was an obstacle to the company obtaining the greatest possible amount of New Zealand land at the cheapest price . The company, in turn, was frequently criticised by the Colonial Office and New Zealand Governors for its "trickery" and lies . Missionaries in New Zealand were also critical of the company, fearing its activities would lead to the "conquest and extermination" of Maori inhabitants . </P> <P> The company viewed itself as a prospective quasi-government of New Zealand and in 1845 and 1846 proposed splitting the colony in two, along a line from Mokau in the west to Cape Kidnappers in the east--with the north reserved for Māori and missionaries, while the south would become a self - governing province, known as "New Victoria" and managed by the company for that purpose . Britain's Colonial Secretary rejected the proposal . </P>

Who did the nz company buy land off before selling it to settlers