Chap. VIII. COURT OF LAND-CLAIMS. 199 
the Crown under the conditions of the agreement. 
This arrangement seemed to recognize the great boon 
of the Native Reserves, and those of civilization and im- 
provement of condition, as the real payment to the 
natives for their bond jide claims. It reserved for the 
consideration of a Commissioner those cases in which 
there should appear to have been some flagrant abuse 
of the system adopted by the missionaries and other 
private individuals at the time of the Company's pur- 
chases, and before the establishment of British autho- 
rity in the country, of satisfying the natives by a mere 
temporary payment. 
But Captain Hobson was of opinion that the treaty 
which he had executed with some of the native chiefs 
at JVaitangi, afterwards adopted by other chiefs in 
different parts of the island, had rendered such an 
arrangement impossible. He therefore refused to 
grant any title until after the Commissioner should 
have inquired into the particulars of the purchases; 
and he would only guarantee the Company against the 
claims of other European purchasers from the natives 
in the same districts. 
Colonel Wakefield had been obliged to submit, how- 
ever unwillingly, to this modified consideration of the 
agreement, trusting to the issuing of instructions for 
its being more completely fulfilled from England; 
and, above all, that, should Captain Hobson's view be 
thought correct, a Commissioner, sent out on purpose, 
would judge the case by the strict rules of equity, and 
keep in mind the circumstances existing at the distant 
time when the purchases were made. He trusted 
that the investigation would be speedy and decisive, 
and that this new delay in the final adjustment of 
the important question would not long retard the pro- 
gress of the settlement. 
