Several North Island candidates who were asked to put themselves forward declined, but in February 1857 Wiremu Tamihana, a chief of the Ngāti Hauā in eastern Waikato, proposed the elderly and high-ranking Waikato chief Te Wherowhero as an ideal monarch and despite his initial reluctance he was crowned at Ngāruawāhia in June 1858, later adopting the name Pōtatau Te Wherowhero or simply Pōtatau. Though there was widespread respect for the movement's efforts in establishing a "land league" to slow land sales, Pōtatau's role was strongly embraced only by Waikato Māori, with of North Auckland and south of Waikato showing him scant recognition. Over time the King Movement came to have a flag, a council of state, a code of laws, a "King's Resident Magistrate", police, a bank, a surveyor and a newspaper, "", all of which gave the movement the appearance of an alternative government.