Islands were attacked, enslaved, and nearly exterminated by mainland Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama Māori. In the 1901 census, only 35 Moriori were recorded although the numbers subsequently increased. Around this time, many Māori converted to Christianity. In the 1840s, there were probably a higher percentage of Christians attending services among Māori than among people in the United Kingdom, and their moral practices and spiritual lives were transformed. The New Zealand Anglican Church, (the missionary church), was, and is, the largest Māori denomination. Māori made Christianity their own and spread it throughout the country often before European missionaries arrived. Colonial period The Colony of New South Wales was founded by 1788. According to the future Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip's amended Commission, dated 25 April 1787 the colony of New South Wales included "all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes of 10°37'S and 43°39'S" which included most of New Zealand except for the southern half of the South Island. In 1825 with Van Diemen's Land becoming a separate colony, the southern boundary of New South Wales was altered to the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean with a southern boundary of 39°12'S which included only the northern half of the North Island. However, these boundaries had no real impact as the New South Wales administration had little interest in New Zealand. New Zealand was first mentioned in British statute in the Murders Abroad Act 1817. It made it easier for a court to punish "murders or manslaughters committed in places not within His Majesty's dominions", and the Governor of New South Wales was given increased legal authority over New Zealand. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of New South Wales over New Zealand was initiated in the New South Wales Act 1823, and lesser offences were included at that time. In response to complaints from missionaries, and a petition from Māori chiefs calling for King William IV to be a "friend and guardian" of New Zealand about lawless sailors and adventurers in New Zealand, the British Government appointed James Busby as British Resident in 1832. In 1834 he encouraged Māori chiefs to assert their sovereignty with the signing of the Declaration of Independence () in 1835. The declaration was sent to King William IV and was recognised by Britain. Busby was provided with neither legal authority nor military support and was thus ineffective in controlling the Pākehā