Thierry had tried to enlist the sympathies of the French Government.

So also had another Frenchman, Langlois, the captain of a whaling ship, who professed to have bought 300,000 acres of land from the natives of Banks Peninsula in the South Island.

Partly owing to his exertions, a French company called "The Nanto-Bordelaise Company" was incorporated, the object of which was to found a French colony on the shores of the charming harbour of Akaroa, on the land said to have been purchased by Langlois.

In this company Louis Philippe was a shareholder.

In 1837, also, the Catholic missionary Pompallier was dispatched to New Zealand to labour among the Maoris.