There is no treasure trove that the "Crown" has received from the British Crown or anywhere else to pay for treaty settlements. Everything comes out of cash and assets controlled by the government of the day on behalf of every taxpayer in New Zealand.

For instance, from Budget appropriations in the 2012-13 year alone, Vote Treaty Negotiations consumed $519.97-million. The Waitangi Tribunal took $10.7-million out of the Courts budget. Waikato River co-governance costs $16-million a year. Environmental accords and other Maori co-management cost a further $6-million.

Money is either collected from the taxpayer or earned from assets held on behalf of the taxpayer. There is nowhere else for the money to come from.

The Crown Forestry Rentals Trust was originally set up to fund claimants to pay for research, lawyers etc, to get their clams together and that was originally only to do with forestry claims. Accumulated rentals have been divided up and disbursed to tribes that received forest as part of their settlements.