Policy from the Pacific

<p>In January 1832, the British Government recommended that a Resident be appointed to New Zealand in order to represent British interests in the territory. However, the immediate impetus for this decision came not from policy-makers in the Colonial Office, nor from British politicians, but from James Busby, a government employee based in New South Wales (NSW) with no previous experience in or responsibility for colonial policy. This example illustrates the extent to which individuals in the Empire's periphery could contribute in substantial and specific ways to aspects of Britain's formal colonial intervention, in this case in a South Pacific territory that was not part of the British Empire at the time. The example of Busby is examined here because he was the most influential of several individuals outside British officialdom who swayed policy towards the establishment of a Residency in New Zealand.</p>