The price paid for the Karioi Block (which amounted to 11½d an acre) was in keeping with the Government's view of native land values in the middle '50s, particularly in this instance, when the extent of mountainous terrain was taken into account. From the heavily forested summit of Karioi Mountain, steep-sided ridges and ravines descended on both seaward and landward sides. When Rogan took over land negotiations in the Whaingaroa and Aotea districts in 1855, McLean told him: You cannot do wrong in acquiring land at prices varying from 6d to 1/6 per acre in a part of the country that promises to become such a valuable appendage to the Crown territory.