 Apart from a short period doing contract surveying for the New Zealand Company in March 1849 , Brunner remained unemployed and wrote numerous letters to his contacts . His former travelling companion , William Fox , and Dillon Bell , chief agent of the New Zealand Company , also sought to find him a job and through them , he was able to find work as a clerk with the Canterbury Association between September 1849 and February 1850 . He returned to Nelson in May 1850 and secured full @-@ time employment as a surveyor with the New Zealand Company , but with the proviso that he would be able to take on private work which did not interfere with his duties . To supplement his income Brunner began to take on architectural commissions . 
