In the early 1890s, some Ngāti Maru were virtually landless and appealed to the Crown for help. The Crown's response was slow and ineffective. Legislation was not enacted until 1907, and the land provided was significantly smaller in size and not adequate to sustain the needs of Ngāti Maru. An agreement to consolidate individual awards into more economically viable family holdings was never carried out, and landless Ngāti Maru people who were not named in the 1907 Acts did not receive any land. 