THE NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA LAND COMPANY
This company flourished in Australasia from 1858 to 1969, and from its beginning until the collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1879, it was conceived, set up and managed by James MORTON. The main financing of the company was from the City of Glasgow Bank, and land was purchased in Australia and New Zealand by the company for leasing to immigrants as farming land. There are various accounts of the role played by James Morton, and, whilst his business tactics are called into question on many occasions, it is generally agreed that he was a formidable and capable businessman, with very bright ideas which he loyally upheld once they became reality. There is no doubt that the forming of a large pastoral company in Australasia was extremely creditable; his widespread connections in financial circles in Scotland and England made it possible to start the concern using English and Scottish capital. The general opinion seems to be that James MORTON was widely respected , and, whatever ways his character was later called into question, he was a responsible and moral man; his loyalty to an idea, and then to the reality of the NZALCO was unfaltering, and contributed greatly to its success.
The NZALCO, until the collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank, owned the following properties in New Zealand and Australia:-
The Totara Estate - North Otago (14,000 acres freehold + small area leasehold)
The Moeraki Estate - North Otago (7000 acres freehold + grazing run of 26,000 acres)
The Mataura Run - Southland (21,930 acres freehold)
Seaward Bush - Southland (12,000+ acres)
Oteramike Hundred - Invercargill (1750 acres)
Spar Bush - Southland (5000 acres freehold)
Halfway Bush, Silver Stream and Kaikora - all on the outskirts of Dunedin (3,600 acres freehold in total)
Bluff Harbour - Southland (55 acres)
Stores in Oamaru and Dunedin; town sections in Invercargill, Port Chalmers and Tokomairiro (Milton); 105 acres of Invercargill Hundred, and five shares in the Dunedin Daily Times newspaper!
In addition the company owned properties in Australia as follows - Yawong Springs, Bundure, Humula, Chinchilla, Cardbeign and Greendale.