"On April 13, 1833, the Governor of New South Wales, in obedience to Lord Ripon's (formerly Lord Goderich) orders, addressed instructions to Mr. Busby, in which New Zealand was expressly mentioned as a foreign country, and Mr. Busby himself as being accredited to the chiefs. That document throughout assumes the independence of New Zealand. "On April 29, 1834, General Bourke transmitted to Lord Stanley a proposal from Mr. Busby for establishing a national flag for the tribes of New Zealand, 'in their collective capacity,' and advised that ships built in the Island and registered by the chiefs should have their registers respected in their intercourse with British possessions. Sir R. Bourke reported that he had sent three patterns of flags, one of which had been selected by the chiefs; that the chiefs had accordingly assembled with the commanders of the British and three American ships, to witness the inauguration of the flag, at which the officers of H.M.S. _Alligator_ were also present. The flag had been declared to be 'the national flag' of New Zealand, and being hoisted, was saluted with twenty-one guns by the _Alligator_, a British ship-of-war. "On November 21, 1834, a despatch was addressed to Sir Richard Bourke by Lord Aberdeen, approving of all these proceedings in the name of the King, and sending a copy of a letter from the Admiralty, stating that they had instructed their officers to give effect to the New Zealand Registers, and to acknowledge and respect the national flag of New Zealand. "If these solemn Acts[45] of Parliament, and of the King of Great Britain, are not enough to show that the pretension made on behalf of Her Majesty by this Company is unfounded, it might still further be repelled by a minute narrative of all the relations between New Zealand and the adjacent British colonies. It is presumed, however, that after the preceding statement it would be superfluous to accumulate arguments of that nature and the rather because they could not be intelligibly stated without entering into long and tedious details." While this discussion was proceeding in England, Captain Hobson was happily on his way to Sydney, with his instructions rendered still more explicit[46] by further explanation from Lord Normanby, thus eliminating, as far as human forethought could provide, the possibility of misunderstanding as to the extent of his authority, or to the sincerity of the broad humanitarian principles which were to govern his conduct towards the natives.