The Brothers (New Zealand) with the largest being only some one hectare in area. The Māori name for the group, "Ngāwhatu-kai-ponu" literally means "the eyes that witnessed", and the islands are considered "tapu" to Māori. North Brother Island is a sanctuary for the rare reptile species, the Brothers Island tuatara and is the type locality for a rare beetle, the "Amychus granulatus, although it is possibly extinct there now. The Brothers (New Zealand) The Brothers is a group of small islands in Cook Strait, New Zealand, off the east coast of Arapaoa Island. The Brothers form two small island groups, each containing one main
Constitution of New Zealand into two provinces (North Island—New Ulster, South Island—New Munster), named after the Northern and Southern Irish provinces. In 1841, New Zealand was established as a colony in its own right. The Imperial Parliament (Westminster) passed the first New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 empowering the government in New Zealand in 1846. The Act was to be fully implemented in 1848, but was never put in place because the Governor-in-Chief at the time, Sir George Grey, declined to apply it for a number of reasons. Instead, the Act was suspended for five years. Grey ruled with the powers of a dictator for