HERD, JAMES, a Scottish seaman, was first in New Zealand in 1822 in command of the Providence trading in spars with the natives at Hokianga. Kendall assisted him as interpreter. Herd was in command of the New Zealand Company's expedition in the Rosanna, which sailed from Leith in 1825 with a large body of mechanics and arrived off the southern coast of New Zealand early in 1826. He paid a visit to Port Nicholson, and at the Thames he remained for some weeks. He made a purchase of land, which included the islands of Waiheke and Pakihi, but owing to the unfriendly manner of the natives he left for Hokianga. Calling at Bay of Islands (26 Oct 1826) he complained of the hostility of the missionaries who, he said, feared that colonisation would impair their influence with the Maori. At Herd's Point, Hokianga, he purchased a block of land for settlement. Some of the mechanics settled there under the protection of Patuone, Moetara and other chiefs and established the respectable colony of artisans which later visitors remarked upon.

The Rosanna arrived in Port Jackson on 11 Feb 1827, where her tender, the Lambton, was sold, and the mechanics were discharged. She took a cargo for England. Herd's report practically ended the venture, and the Company's interests were bought by the New Zealand Company of 1840. Marsden remarked that Herd's dishonest treatment of the natives on his earlier visit was responsible for their unfavourable reception.

NZ. Archives, Carleton; Marsden, L. and J.; Sherrin and Wallace; Earle; E. J. Wakefield; Dillon; Harrop, England and New Zealand; Parl. Jour., 1841; McNab, Murihiku

Reference: Volume 1, page 207

🌳 Further sources