 The party of German migrants on the "St Pauli", with 140 passengers including John Beit, the "overbearing and arrogant, greedy, untruthful" New Zealand Company agent in Hamburg, went to Nelson instead.The New Zealand Company had begun its colonisation scheme without the approval of the British government; as late as May 1839 Parliamentary Under-secretary Henry Labouchere warned company director William Hutt that there was no guarantee that titles to land purchased from Māori would be recognised and that such land would be subject to repurchase by the Crown.In January and February 1840 both New South Wales Governor George Gipps and Hobson in New Zealand issued proclamations that all land previously purchased from Māori would have to be confirmed by government title, and that any future direct purchases from Māori were null and void.