Of the three groups of settlers on the north side of the Peninsula, only the Deans brothers appear to have come to an arrangement with the local Māori before occupying the land, and even this agreement does not appear to have been put in writing before 1845. William Deans however, always prepared to be on good terms with the Māori, possibly because he had taken the trouble to learn their language. As finally drafted in 1846 his agreement gave him a lease for 21 years of a tract of land extending across the plain ‘six miles in every direction’ from the tributaries of the Avon River. The rental was eight pounds a year. At Port Cooper, the Greenwood brothers squatted for nearly a year without attempting any arrangement with the Māori, and only entered into a lease at Edward Shortland's suggestion after the Māori had begun to threaten them in February 1844. The lease then negotiated provided for a yearly payment of six blankets and some printed calico of a total value of between three and four pounds. In return for this payment the Greenwood brothers were permitted to cultivate near their homestead at Purau, and to graze their stock on the surrounding hills. At Pigeon bay, Sinclair and Hay were occupying land which the Māori considered they had sold to the French, although this fact did not prevent them from demanding further payment from the two settlers.