 Barrett guided the "Brougham" around barren areas near Nelson, highlighting swampy areas that would be unsuited to settlement.Biographer Angela Caughey claimed Barrett's choice of locations to show Carrington was part of a strategy, motivated by self-interest, to discourage the surveyor from siting New Plymouth in that area instead of Taranaki.On 26 January Carrington informed Wakefield that despite his reservations, he had opted to site his town at Ngamotu.