Penguin, 2000. First Edition. Faded spine, otherwise good secondhand copy.

THE FIRST YEARS... is a fascinating new series that focuses on the formative years of European settlement in New Zealand's four main centres. Illuminating and far reaching, the titles draw on up-to-date scholarship to explain the historical and geopolitical contexts of settlement, outlining the geography, transport and communications barriers and the social, political and economic development of each town. The books place particular emphasis on Maori use and ownership, land aquisition and the change in the balance of power between Maori and European.