French writers and politicians had for years been urging that Britain should not be left to monopolise New Zealand. Some had suggested that even if Britain took the North Island, there was no reason why France should not colonise the South. When news of the success of the French whaling fleet in New Zealand waters in the 1838 season reached France in 1839, a solid commercial project was added to all the others — a project which its promoters who had land to sell, hoped would develop into a scheme for effective French colonisation.