Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/97

 When the first four ships arrived, Mr. Godley was much disgusted to find five Scotch families already settled in Canterbury. Those families bought their land in Scotland, with authority to select it in Wellington, and they were brought to an impasse by the Maoris declining to permit a selection. After remaining in Wellington for three years, hoping for a settlement of the difficulty, they eventually appealed to Mr. Wakefield, in the presence of Sir George Grey, asking that their grants might be changed from the North to the South Island. This request having been acceded to, they arrived in Canterbury in the April of 1843, and chose their respective blocks, Sir George Grey sending down Mr. Carrington to carry out the survey for them. All this was completed, and the families settled before the historic arrival of the first four ships heralding the settlement of the Province of Canterbury. Mr. Godley was determined that Canterbury should be exclusively a Church of England Province, and he was more than annoyed to discover those Scotch settlers already in possession. He intimated to them that they must quit. This they all positively declined to do. The Deans Brothers sold Dalethorpe