Edward Jerningham Wakefield (1820–1876) was the son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796–1862), who was the driving force behind the early colonization of New Zealand and South Australia, founding the New Zealand Association in 1837 with the aim of creating a colony in that country. His son was appointed secretary of the first settler expedition to New Zealand in 1839, and remained in the colony until 1844. This volume, edited by Sir Robert Stout and first published in 1908, contains Wakefield's account of his stay in New Zealand. He describes in detail the social conditions during the founding of the colony and its explorations in New Zealand, and includes detailed first-hand ethnographic information concerning the Maori tribes the expedition encountered. This volume provides a valuable and fascinating insight into the society and development of one of the earliest colonies of New Zealand.
