 The New Zealand Company had already claimed to have bought two million acres (8,000 km2), part of which it had sold directly to settlers, and when news of the government move reached Wellington in August it sparked panic, prompting hundreds of settlers to prepare to abandon their land and sail to Valparaíso, Chile.In a bid to restore certainty to the settlers over their land claims a three-man deputation was sent to Sydney to meet Gipps; in early December the deputation returned with news that Gipps would procure for the Wellington settlers a confirmation of their titles to 110,000 acres of land, as well as their town, subject to several conditions including that the 110,000 acres were taken in one continuous block, native reserves were guaranteed and that reserves were made for public purposes.In late September or early October 1840 MP and New Zealand Company secretary Charles Buller appealed to the Colonial Office for help for the company which he claimed was in "distress".