Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/407

 Mr.G.F.Angas ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 381 When the Government of the Province was rendered bankrupt in 1 840-1, by the decision of the Colonising Commissioners and of the Colonial Office to dishonor bills drawn by Governor Gawler, he was the first to advocate the cause of the colonists, and was one of the witnesses examined by the Select Committee of Inquiry. His "evidence as to the progress and resources of the Province strongly favored the view that its financial success under proper management was only a question of time," and he assisted to dispose the Committee to " recommend the measures of relief, the adoption of which started the Province upon the career of prosperity it has ever since, with but slight deviations, pursued." He induced the South Australian Company to establish the Bank of South Australia, which was founded in 1837 by Mr. Pldward Stephens. In the same year "he was principally instrumental in founding the Union P)ank of Australia, which came into existence through the Tamar Bank of Tasmania being placed on the London market for sale with a view to the extension of its operations." He succeeded in getting several capitalists to join him in forming an independent company, and was appointed the first Chairman of Directors. Mr. Angas was so fully seized with the subject of colonisation that, even during his unequalled services to South Australia at this period, he found time to assist in the foundation of another colony, which is now not the least of the gems in the British Crown. Early in the present century white people opened fisheries in New Zealand, and gradually their numbers increased and a missionary station was established in the Bay of Islands. A British Consul or Resident Magistrate had for vears been stationed there, and in 1837 several gentlemen, some of whom had taken part in the colonisation of South Australia, formed " The New Zealand Association," the objects of which were to establish a colony on the island. The colonising scheme failed, and there was the likelihood that New Zealand would fall into the hands of the P>ench. Mr. Angas received a visit from two gentlemen, one of whom was Baron de Thierry, a PVenchman, who casually informed him "that the French Government was actually engaged in fitting out an expedition for planting a PVench colony in New Zealand." Such intelligence was supremely important; and to secure for England such valuable islands in the neighborhood of Australia it was necessary that immediate steps should be taken. Mr. Angas at once wrote to Lord Glenelg, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies, declaring that the British possession of New Zealand was "intimately connected" with "the peace and safety of Her Majesty's Australian Colonies," and strenuously advising that the islands should be taken over by the Imperial Government before France obtained a footing. A few days later, at the request of Lord Glenelg, Mr. Angas had an interview with that gentleman, and proposed several points for his consideration, which in effect advised that New Zealand should be claimed as belonging to Great Britain, that a charter should be given to merchants, and that every encouragement should be afforded missionary societies to work among the natives. After slight delay and further representation on the part of Mr. Angas, Captain Hobson was dispatched in H.M.S. Druid "to enter into a treaty with the native chiefs for the cession of the islands to Great Britain." The negotiations were concluded on August 10, 1840, when the raising of the royal standard at Akaroa completed the annexation of the group. " Five days later," says one biographer, "the F"rench frigate LAube, followed by the Conifc dc Paris, arrived in the port, only to find that they had been forestalled in their plans." The