ABSTRACT
Finally it was necessary simultaneously to remove the settlers' sense of grievance. The Governor knew that the honour of England required a satisfactory solution of this problem of showing Maoris and settlers alike that in the long run their interests were the same. The first step was to abolish the Protectorate Department. The Protectors had been well-meaning men and had been useful as political agents, but when the Maoris held the settlements at their mercy the term 'Protector of Aborigines' had become a mockery: and they had been too ready to interpret their duty as that of taking sides with the natives against the colonists.2 Grey dismissed the Chief Protector and appointed a new man with the title of Native Secretary, but he of course intended to direct native policy himself. The next step was to provide for the acquisition of native land for settlement purposes. First Grey had to repair the breach made in the Treaty ofWaitangi by the 'penny an acre proclamation' of Captain FitzRoy. Not a little land had been acquired under the terms of this proclamation, but in Grey's opinion it was unjust to the natives, because it allowed of no competition between purchasers; to earlier purchasers, because they had paid £1 per acre; and to the colony generally, because many of the purchasers had been mere speculators, and because the variety of native claims made private purchase dangerous to peace.3 Though the proclamation had been disavowed the claims of purchasers under it
