migration and immigration to the area. Land was easy to purchase from Māori as the isthmus had been fought over by many hapu for several generations during the musket wars and the native population had either been killed and eaten as at Panmure or fled or welcomed the protection afforded by large numbers of Europeans and their technology. The whole of Eastern Auckland was bought by William Fairburn after local Māori pleaded with him to buy the land to protect them from the feared Ngapuhi invaders. After 1847 large numbers (over 2,500) of retired British soldiers called fencibles and their families came to Auckland and established new outlying settlements at Panmure, Howick, Otahuhu and Onehunga. They were organized by Governor Grey and the force was called Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps. These formed a defensive ring against any possible Māori attack from the south. By 1853 there were approximately 8000 people living in the Auckland area with a wide range of skills among them and with about 17000 acres (69 km²) in crops. Auckland was the closest in New Zealand to an agricultural settlement. 20th century Pākehā settlers were still arriving well into the 20th century, with Department of Health statistics showing that post-1900, tuberculosis was still the main cause of unnatural death among them. The 1906-1908 Native Land Commission, headed by Robert Stout and Āpirana Ngata, encouraged the sale of unoccupied or seemingly underdeveloped Māori lands to Pākehā settlers. Historian David Vernon Williams suggests, by the early 20th century, "colonial state power had overwhelmed tribal rangatiratanga in an insistent and persistent exercise of forceful measures to individualise land holdings and to promote colonisation by Pākehā settlers". Reasons for settlement The voyage from England to New Zealand was long and arduous and often took over three months so settlers choosing to move to New Zealand had to have good incentives. One factor that attracted people to New Zealand was the fact that it was such a young country. It was not highly political like England, did not have a rigid class structure and, in their opinion, New Zealand provided equal opportunities for all new immigrants. This newness gave settlers a chance to start from scratch at the same level everybody else was starting and to many people who may have struggled financially in England, this was very attractive. Environment Campaign posters advertising New Zealand in England did give many settlers