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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]
Captain William Crush Daldy
Captain William Crush Daldy, who, for very many years has been a leading merchant in Auckland, was one of the five gentlemen who composed the first Fox Ministry. This Government held the reins of office for a brief period of fourteen days (the 20th of May to the 2nd of June), in the year 1856, and Captain Daldy held office as a member of the Executive Council without portfolio. Born at Rainham, Essex, in 1816, he went to sea, rising to the position of captain; he brought out the schooner Shamrock, eighty-five tons, to New Zealand, in 1841. On the voyage the vessel touched at Tahiti, at a time when there was trouble with the French. Captain Daldy was arrested as a political prisoner, and tried on the Bench by a black judge and jury—a circumstance that caused a good deal of correspondence between the Government of the day. It is worthy of note that the day on which Captain Daldy arrived with his schooner in Auckland, the 1st of July, 1841, was that on which the first Custom House was opened. After trading between Auckland and Sydney, in 1845 the subject of this sketch sailed for England, in the barque Bellina, which was the first vessel to load a cargo of merchandise for export to the Old Country. In 1849 he settled in Auckland, founding the firm Coombes and Daldy, general merchants and shipping agents. Captain Daldy took an active part in provincial politics in Auckland in the early days. In the fifties he was returned to the House of Representatives, and became a Minister of the Crown, as above described. During the Native troubles he commanded a company of volunteers. In local affairs he took a leading part, and held many offices, including the Chairmanship of the Auckland Harbour Board, which he held for seven years. At one time he was captain of the Volunteer Fire Brigade. In 1865 he went to England as Government Agent, and during the twelve months that he remained in London he sent out 1000 emigrants to New Zealand.