including letters to the editor of The Times in London. In May 1869, the Taranaki Provincial Council passed a resolution thanking Hursthouse for his "deep interest ... in the welfare of New Zealand during the last twenty-five years". In 1869 and 1870, Hursthouse advocated that New Zealand and the Australian colonies, excluding Western Australia, should federate to form an independent Australasian republic, comparing their situation to that of the United States a century earlier and setting out the benefits that would accrue from such action. In September 1870 Hursthouse arrived back to New Zealand, staying briefly in Wellington before returning to New Plymouth, where he remained until 1875. Later life and death Hursthouse spent the last few months of his life at the Mount View Lunatic Asylum in Wellington, afflicted by mental illness and convulsions. He died there on 22 November 1876, and was buried at Bolton Street Cemetery. References 1817 births 1876 deaths People from Wisbech English emigrants to New Zealand Pamphleteers Atkinson–Hursthouse–Richmond family Burials at Bolton Street Cemetery