In the early 1880s there had already been two failed petitions taken to the British government by Maori. By 1884 there were only 1,000 kingite supporters left. King Tāwhiao went around the North Island collecting money. This netted 3,000 pounds. He withdrew all the funds that had been deposited in the kingitanga bank by the many Maori land sellers and travelled to London to see Queen Victoria to try and persuade her to honour the Treaty between their peoples. Tāwhiao's petition was different from the previous failed ones. He asked for nothing less than the complete, separate, Maori self-government. He did not get beyond Lord Derby, Secretary of State for the Colonies, who said it was a New Zealand problem. Returning to New Zealand the Premier, Robert Stout, insisted that all events happening prior to 1863 were the responsibility of the Imperial Government. The Maori bank depositors finding their money gone, raided the bank, looking for their cash and finding none, burnt it down in 1884.