Agent General
The Agent General - New Zealand's Representative in London
With the passing of the Immigration and Public Works Act in 1870, it was recognised early on that New Zealand would need a formal representative based in London, with sufficient authority to enact the various instructions he would receive with regard to selecting suitable immigrants, negotiating loan money as and when needed at suitable interest rates, and coordinating the supply of materials for the various sections of railway that were planned. Prior to formalising a position, let alone an appointment to it, a situation arose where the New Zealand Government sent two commissioners to England in 1870, primarily to attempt to reverse a decision by the British to withdraw the last regiment of British troops from New Zealand at a time when Te Kooti was causing trouble in the East Coast area. The two commissioners who were appointed to the task were Isaac Earl Featherston and Francis Dillon Bell, both having a history of being well respected politicians. While their primary task was unsuccessful, they did negotiate a loan guarantee scheme and explored ways of administering assisted immigration on a large scale. Featherston also arranged for 10 Scandinavian couples to come to New Zealand as an experiment. In 1871, Julius Vogel went to England primarily to negotiate a mail service from England to New Zealand via San Fransisco, but also to raise the first installment of the £4,000,000 loan approved the previous year.
Irrespective of the outcomes of the various negotiations, these trips were seen to be quite inefficient given it took 3 months travel each way. A decision to appoint a permanent representative in London had been made prior to Vogel's visit so that only added to the public's view of unnecessary expenditure on trips 'home'. In April 1871 Isaac Featherston was appointed the first Agent General, arriving in London in August that year. He had a formidable task ahead of him in the setting up of all that was required for his office to function as needed. Over the next 4 year the staff steadily grew till 29 were employed, mainly supporting the immigration aspects of the work load. The coordination of the supply of materials for railway construction and many road bridges was largely put in the hands of consultants who were more familiar with the British industries that needed to be contracted.