New Zealand Banknotes

Lot 2583    Session 9 (4.30pm Wednesday)    New Zealand Banknotes

Estimate $5,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $3,500

NEW ZEALAND, receipt to James R. Clendon, 23rd June 1837 from the Bay of Islands for £15 (fifteen pounds) sterling being the amount due on the 17th-Instant 'which I have for the present mislaid', signed James Busby, written on watermarked paper. Very fine and very rare.

James. R. Clendon was a British citizen and businessman in New Zealand who had accepted the official position of Consul of the United States. He reported, to Washington D.C. any significant political developments related to New Zealand. According to Ian Wards, N.Z. Government Historian (1946-1968) and Chief Historian (1968-1983), a number of individuals were instrumental in creating the final English draft wording of The Treaty of Waitangi on the 3rd-4th of February 1840. Their combined efforts resulted in the final English draft document, which was handed to Rev. Henry Williams at 4pm on the 4th of February 1840, for translation into the Maori language. This Treaty, soon to be known as the Treaty of Waitangi, was prepared by William Hobson (Lieutenant Governor), James Busby (British Resident), J.S. Freeman (Hobson's personal secretary), J.R. Clendon (US Consul), H. Williams, (Head missionary) and A. Brown (missionary). At an earlier time Clendon's signature appears on the 1835 Declaration of Independence for the Confederation of United Chiefs. The British Resident Busby, Head CMS Missionary Williams and U.S. Consul Clendon formed a confederation of their own and supported each other during the drafting and implementation of these two major New Zealand founding documents in 1835 and 1840. In the Dictionary of New Zealand biography it states that early in 1837 the British Resident in New Zealand, James Busby, sent word that tribal war was endangering British subjects. Hobson left in the 'Rattlesnake', arriving at the Bay of Islands on 26 May. He met Busby, spoke with missionaries, prominent settlers and Maori leaders. With Samuel Marsden and Busby he interviewed the warring chiefs, Pomare II and Titore, attempting to reconcile them, and warned against violence to British subjects. He visited other parts of the North Island, returning to the Bay of Islands on 30 June 1837. Clendon had first visited New Zealand in 1830 and bought 220 acres of land at Okiato, about four miles upstream from the developing settlement of Kororarika (Russell, Bay of Islands). This acquisition was greatly added to in a latter purchase of coastal property where the present town of Russell now stands. Clendon moved permanently to New Zealand on the 31st of August 1832 and set up a trading station to supply the needs of the growing whaling industry. He was a close personal friend of James Busby, British Resident, and an ardent supporter of Busby's political incentives. According to land deed descriptions amidst the Clendon House papers, Busby was a neighbour of James Reddy Clendon, whose boundary ran past Busby's house. Clendon was appointed to be U.S. Consul on the 12th of October 1838 and between 1839 and 1841 recorded the arrivals of 151 American vessels. Running a very profitable business dealing with shipping in and out of the port, he also had mercantile facilities at Kororarika. It is also noted that in 1833 on January 28th the 'FORTITUDE' a 90 ton schooner was under the command of Capt. J.R. Clendon and it had arrived in the Bay of Islands from Sydney with merchandise. The merchants or traders carried out their business almost entirely by means of negotiable bills, drawn upon the owners of the vessels with which they traded or with other residents in the Bay of Islands. In a further note a marriage was announced between CLENDON - WILLIAMS at Russell in the Bay of Islands, on 7th December 1861 by Archdeacon H Williams. James Christopher, only son of J R Clendon Esq, was married to Elizabeth Frances, eldest daughter of Mr J B Williams. This suggests that J.R. Clendon lived in the area for many years. He also appears to have sold land to Lt. Governor Hobson prior to 1840. A most important and historical document relating to significant people in the area at that time who had a close relationship with New Zealand's important Treaty of Waitangi.