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26 November 1841 Captain W.C. Symonds drowns in the Manukau Harbour when his boat is tipped over or damaged while he is taking medical supplies to the Orua Bay mission. 28 December 1841 A Land Registration Ordinance is passed setting up a system for the registration of land purchases and transfers. This provides for consistency in the description of land titles, and prescribes the preparation of district survey maps and the numbering of allotments within survey districts. 28 January 1842 The Crown purchases the 9000-acre Papakura block from Ihaka Takaanini and other 'Ngati Taihau' chiefs for £400 and six horses. This block includes land along the shoreline of the Manukau Harbour between the Otaimako Creek (near Puhinui) and Papakura, thus overlapping with the Fairburn Purchase. 14 March 1842 Robert Sutton, crossing the Manukau Harbour from Karangahape on his way to Wellington, notes the presence of John Bushell's trading station at Te Toro and numerous native villages along the shores of the 'Awaroa' (Waiuku) River. 2 May 1842 Alexander Dalziell, who has purchased 1800 acres at Waiuku, is awarded a lesser amount in 'scrip' (entitlement to unused Crown land). The Crown takes over the 'surplus lands' of his claim. 12 June 1842 Bishop George Augustus Selwyn, who has arrived in New Zealand on 29 May 1842, visits the Maraetai mission station; here he delivers what is believed to be his first sermon in the Maori language. 2 July 1842 Ensign Best visits the Fairburn mission at Maraetai. Two days later he visits the Maori settlement at Orere, before proceeding to Kauaeranga (near Thames). 14 July 1842 A decision is given on the Fairburn Claim. The commissioners decide that Fairburn's purchase was valid, but that he can be granted only the maximum 2560 acres allowable under the Land Claims Ordinance. Other recommendations are that the natives within the area should be left undisturbed; that the purchase excluded certain areas claimed by Takaanini and Te Tihi and that the area along the Otahuhu portage should be reserved to the Crown. 27 July 1842 Governor Hobson issues a proclamation establishing the County of Eden. This covers the area between the Kaipara Harbour to Matakana in the north, and Kohekohe to the Wairoa River in the south. (The boundary is later contracted in the north but extended as far as the Waikato River in the south.) 9 October 1842 The immigrant ship Duchess of Argyle arrives in Auckland, and the Jane Gifford arrives the next morning, the two ships bringing a total of 535 immigrant settlers from Scotland. Many of these eventually settle in South Auckland. 18 October 1842 James Reddy Clendon is granted 10,000 acres in Manurewa as part-payment for the Government's purchase of his farm at Okiato in the Bay of Islands. The 'Clendon Grant' covers an area bordered by present-day Puhinui Road, Boundary Road, Brookby, Alfriston Road, and Weymouth Road (thus including most of present day Manurewa and Manukau City Centre). Clendon does not live there, but sells a small portion of the land on 28 October 1842, and mortgages the remainder on 29 March 1843.