Alternatively, land rights could be exploited by allowing unrelated natives to settle on unused lands. To page 180 Rarotonga particularly came an influx of people without land rights there, and without kinship bonds to link them with the Rarotonga people. Apart from a handful who worked for European planters or traders, all native immigrants were dependent on land for their subsistence, though they had no land rights on the island. Not one native acquired a formal lease or other legal title to land,¹ and apart from those who acquired rights by marriage, the visitors merely entered into informal arrangements with local chiefs to reside and plant under a system of permissive occupation. Such tenancy at will was not only insecure, but, as demands for atinga were dependent on ability to pay, there was a direct disincentive to surplus production. Moreover, such use-rights did not carry the right to plant long-term crops.