The Government were still wrestling with the perplexities of the position when the New Zealand Association rose into being, and served to still further complicate the issues. There was an opinion in political circles, afterwards crystallised into a definite recommendation by the House of Lords, that the colonisation of New Zealand was the duty of the State, if it was Britain's duty at all, but private enterprise had never been wholly disassociated from the scheme.[29] As far back as 1825 a New Zealand Company, "acting with the sanction and encouragement of the Government," had been formed under Lord Durham, and had acquired an estate on the banks of the Hokianga River. This settlement, under Captain Heard, had been of the most fugitive character; but the land still remained more or less an asset, and subsequently was acquired by the New Zealand Association, founded in 1837 by the Hon. Francis Baring, M.P. for Sheffield, in conjunction with other gentlemen prominent in English public life of that day. This Association grew out of an enquiry made at the instance of the House of Commons by a committee called the Committee on Colonial Lands, but the real subject of the enquiry was colonisation. One of the principal witnesses was Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who gave some account of the then existing state of New Zealand, and spoke of it as a country extremely eligible for the purpose of British colonisation, provided some regular system should be adopted in place of the lawless practices that were then rampant. In consequence of that statement, a member of the committee spoke to him upon the subject of colonising New Zealand. Subsequently other gentlemen were admitted to their discussions, and as a result of their joint deliberations they determined to form an Association for the purpose of obtaining from Parliament (for Parliamentary aid was considered essential) some regulation both for the colonisation and the government of the Islands, to take the place of the irregular practices that were then on foot. There is little doubt that in its inception the Association had a large measure of philanthropy underlying its principles, for it was the outcome of the unsatisfactory social conditions existing in England at that period. The scheme attracted to its aid men of wealth and culture, and under the organising genius of Edward Gibbon Wakefield it acquired an influence, both social and political, which no government could safely regard with indifference.[30]