Economic Considerations.

He signed the Treaty, but his dissatisfaction when British authority became effective soon after 1840 is not to be wondered at. It struck at his pocket—or his substitute for a pocket—for it deprived him of most of his accustomed revenue from the visiting ships. Before the British flag was hoisted he and his cousin, Titore (whose pa was on a hill just in rear of the present town of Russell) divided a levy of £5 on each ship, a kind of Maori port fee. They collected their dues from the whaleships and other vessels outside the anchorage, boarding them in their canoes before Tapeka Point was rounded. Then there was Pomare, whose pa was on Otuihu, that beautiful place where great pohutukawa trees adorn the cliffs and shore, in the inner waters between Kororareka and Opua. Pomare collected the toll from ships using Wahapu Bay and the inner waters. The Customs duties, and the introduction of British maritime control, spoiled all that trade for the chiefs; it moreover made every pakeha commodity, especially tobacco, more expensive.