It was but natural that they felt with extreme bitterness that the Queen's Government only appeared on the scene as the friend and protector of the aborigines.

For the Whites the Government had for years little but suspicion and restraint.
It would have been only just and statesmanlike if the recognition of Maori ownership had been accompanied by a vigorous policy of native land purchase by the authorities.

But it was not.

Captain Hobson was only scantily supplied with money--he had L60,000 sent him in three years--and did not himself appear to recognise the paramount need for endowing the Colony with waste land for settlement.

He is said to have held that there need be no hurry in the matter inasmuch as the steady decrease of the Maoris would of itself solve the problem.