 For the next two years Brunner assisted in the laying out of the settlement , which was to be called Nelson . A drawback with the Nelson settlement was its lack of pasture and the colony began to appropriate more and more of the nearby Wairau Plain , much to the displeasure of local Māori . Several personnel of the company , including Arthur Wakefield , the senior official of the company in Nelson , were killed in the Wairau Affray in June 1843 . The New Zealand Company was forced to look south for more farming land . Brunner was sent to scout the Motueka Valley but failed to penetrate far due to poor weather . From local Māori he heard of a large plain to the south and passed on his findings to Tuckett . In August 1843 , Tuckett dispatched Brunner to confirm the reports . Brunner , accompanied by Kehu , a Māori he had befriended , was again defeated by poor weather . 
