 Fairburn originally estimated the total area to contain , but it was later surveyed as being around 83,000.When the purchase came under scrutiny from the CMS, in 1837 Fairburn signed a deed promising to return one third of the land to the original inhabitants (a transaction which never took place), and unsuccessfully attempted to offer another third to the Church.Following the Treaty of Waitangi establishing New Zealand as a British Overseas Territories in 1840, Fairburn came under investigation from the new Government's Land Claims Commission.