The Aboriginal attacks fuelled settlers' anger and a craving for revenge, but according to Clements the primary emotion colonists experienced was fear, ranging from a constant unease to paralysing terror. He noted: "Everybody on the frontier was afraid, all the time." The financial loss from theft, destruction of stock and arson attacks was a constant threat: there were no insurance companies and settlers faced financial ruin if crops and buildings were burnt or their stock destroyed. The "Hobart Town Courier" newspaper warned that the Aboriginal people had declared a "war of extermination" on white settlers, while the "Colonial Times" declared: "The Government must remove the natives. If not they will be hunted down like wild beasts and destroyed."