The settlers at any rate had paid ample value for their land.

They had given L1 for each acre of it.

Angry as the English Government had been with the New Zealand Company for the defiant dispatch of its settlers, Lord John Russell had instructed Hobson's superior, Sir George Gibbs, that the emigrants should be regarded with kindness and consideration.
On the other side were the native tribes, who, as the price of land went in those days, had certainly received the equivalent for a considerable territory.

There was room for an equitable arrangement just as there was most pressing need for promptitude.

Speed was the first thing needful, also the second, and the third.