While the Chatham Islands became part of the Realm of New Zealand in 1842, the Crown took no action to free Moriori from the enslavement that ensued subsequently, and it wasn't until 1862, after repeated petitions from Moriori, that any steps were taken to address the plight of Moriori. Further, in the 1870s, the Native Land Court ruled that 97 percent of the land of the Chathams belonged to the iwi, and only 3 percent to Moriori. So, effectively landless, the Moriori population, once numbering in the thousands, fell to just 31. But for more than 100 years, individuals and institutions, including Crown institutions, collected Moriori remains taken from the Chatham Islands. These remains were tapu, or tchap', in the Moriori language.