Editing Nelson, New Zealand (section)

====Planning====
The [[New Zealand Company]] in London planned the settlement of Nelson. They intended to buy from the Māori some {{convert|200000|acre|km2}} of land, which they planned to divide into one thousand lots and sell to intending settlers. The company earmarked profits to finance the free passage of artisans and labourers, with their families, and for the construction of public works. However, by September 1841 only about one third of the lots had sold. Despite this, the colony pushed ahead, and land was surveyed by [[Frederick Tuckett]].<ref name="DNZB Tuckett">{{DNZB|last=Somerville|first=Ross|id=1t108|title=Frederick Tuckett|access-date=16 February 2015}}</ref>
[[File:(Nelson_from_Church_Hill_looking_east).png|left|thumb|260x260px|1845 Nelson from Church Hill looking east]]
Three ships, the ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Arrow|Arrow]]'', ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Whitby|Whitby]]'', and ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Will Watch|Will Watch]]'', sailed from London, the expedition commanded by Captain [[Arthur Wakefield]]. Arriving in New Zealand, they discovered that the new Governor of the colony, [[William Hobson]], would not give them a free hand to secure vast areas of land from the Māori or indeed to decide where to site the colony. However, after some delay, Hobson allowed the company to investigate the Tasman Bay area at the north end of the South Island. The Company selected the site now occupied by Nelson City because it had the best harbour in the area. But it had a major drawback: it lacked suitable [[arable land]]; Nelson City stands right on the edge of a mountain range while the nearby Waimea Plains amount to only about {{convert|60000|acre|km2}}, less than one third of the area required by the Company plans.

The Company secured land, which was not clearly defined, from the Māori for £800: it included Nelson, Waimea, [[Motueka]], [[Riwaka]] and Whakapuaka. This allowed the settlement to begin, but the lack of definition would prove the source of much future conflict. The three colony ships sailed into Nelson Haven during the first week of November 1841. When the first four immigrant ships – ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Fifeshire|Fifeshire]]'', ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Mary Anne|Mary-Ann]]'', ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Lord Auckland|Lord Auckland]]'' and ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Lloyds|Lloyds]]'' – arrived three months later, they found the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds. The town was laid out on a [[grid plan]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schrader |first=Ben |date=26 March 2015 |orig-date=11 March 2010 |title=City planning – Early settlement planning |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/city-planning/page-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923041133/https://teara.govt.nz/en/city-planning/page-1 |archive-date=23 September 2023 |access-date=23 September 2023 |website=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |quote=The New Zealand Company settlements – including Wellington, New Plymouth and Nelson – were highly planned...All towns were laid out on a rectilinear or grid plan. |ref=Schrader}}</ref> Within 18 months, the company had sent out 18 ships with 1,052 men, 872 women and 1,384 children. However, fewer than ninety of the settlers had the capital to start as landowners.