Governor William Hobson : his health problems and final illness /Ronald V. Trubuhovich.

Royal Navy Captain William Hobson (1792-1842) arrived in New Zealand in January 1840 charged with taking the consititutional measures required to establish New Zealand as a British Colony. Hobson became New Zealand's first resident Governor and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi signed in February 1840 by Hobson on behalf of the British Crown and Maori chiefs. Hobson suffered from ill health throughout his career culminating in a debilitating stroke within a month of the signing of the Treaty. In the months before his death Hobson was increasingly criticised in the New Zealand press for being unable to adequately represent the interests of the new settlement. He died of a second stroke in September 1842.