 The chartered body was to take responsibility for the administration, and the legislative, judicial, military and financial affairs of the colony of New Zealand, subject to safeguards of control by the British Government.To receive the charter, however, the association was told by Colonial Secretary Lord Glenelg it would have to become a joint stock company, and therefore have "a certain subscribed capital".In a letter to Lord Durham, Lord Glenelg explained that the government was aware of the risks of the proposed New Zealand venture and knew that the South Australian colony established under the Wakefield system was already heavily in debt.