MARTIN, SAMUEL McDONALD, was born at Kilmuir, Isle of Skye. Highly gifted and possessed of marked literary attainments, he emigrated to New South Wales and took up land for sheepfarming. In 1839 he visited New Zealand, and made purchases of land from the natives in prospect of the declaration of British sovereignty.

Returning to Sydney, he convened a meeting of Australian land claimants and on the arrival of Hobson (q.v.) in Jan 1840 he led deputations, one seeking assurances as to their titles; another to present an address of welcome. In partnership with another land claimant, Martin purchased machinery in Sydney to start a sawmill at Coromandel harbour. He visited Cloudy Bay and Port Nicholson, meeting E. J. Wakefield and Te Rauparaha at Kapiti.

Reaching Coromandel via Bay of Islands, he now encountered unexpected obstacles in gaining possession of his land at Coromandel, where Taraia had robbed his sawyers. After an arduous visit to Matamata he returned to Bay of Islands and reported to Hobson on the prospects for settlement of the Thames valley. A month or two later a meeting of land claimants at Coromandel adopted a protest to the Government of New South Wales against the recent land ordinance and the seizure of sovereignty in New Zealand. The association for mutual protection deputed him to wait on Hobson, and he received assurances which encouraged claimants to proceed with their improvements. Martin returned to Sydney at the end of 1840, discouraged with events in New Zealand. He was appointed a magistrate of the territory (Nov 1841), but resigned a few months later. He came back to the Colony in Jan 1842 to edit the first paper at Auckland, the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, founded by a Sydney joint stock company. Henceforth he opposed Hobson's Government at every step, and eventually called on the sheriff to convene a public meeting demanding the Governor's recall. The feud continued during the administration of Shortland, who was represented on the directorate of the paper by three government servants (of the four directors). Early in 1844 the paper closed down, the plant being sold to make way for a new paper edited by the Attorney-general (Swainson).

Governor FitzRoy befriended Martin, asked his advice and called him to the Council (Jun 1844), of which he was a member until Mar 1845. Martin left New Zealand in that year and with W. Brown (q.v.) petitioned the House of Commons protesting against the ill-treatment of the Maori by settlers. Though very much attached to New Zealand he did not return, but spent the last few years of his life as a stipendiary magistrate at Berbice, British Guiana, where he died 22 Sep 1848. In 1842 he published his letter to the Secretary of State and in 1845 a more pretentious volume of letters on New Zealand, containing much information and controversy.

S.M. Martin, op. cit; N.Z. Herald, 1, 8 Jun 1895.

Reference: Volume 2, page 33

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