ABSTRACT
True, Lord Grey disclaimed any desire to interfere with the Treaty, but with characteristic lack of finesse he had set forth his theory in full before announcing that he would only act on it in part. The report of the 1844 Committee had excited the suspicions of the natives and their friends, and their misunderstanding of Lord Grey's present policy was not unnatural. The registration of claims to ownership had been advocated by Governor Grey himself, but he soon realized that the time was not opportune.2 And in reality these academic discussions were a waste of time. There was another and better alternative-to act upon the secret
By keeping the purchases in advance of the actual wants of the settlers, the price could be kept down without real unfairness to the natives, whose reserves would after all steadily increase in value; and by paying the price in annual instalments, a hold would be maintained over the nativesagain without unfairness, as they were apt to squander the money they received.2 It would have been absurd to insist upon one policy when another was achieving the same end, and Lord Grey appreciated this fact and allowed the Instructions of 1 846 to become a dead letter. After all, the Governor had resolution, and he had ideas: these were the main things. Lord Grey gave him therefore a military and financial backing that Lord Stanley had never given to his predecessors.
