tude, and between the southern ocean and twenty-six degrees of south latitude, together with the islands adjacent thereto, consists of waste and unoccupied lands which are supposed to be fit for the purposes of colonization: and whereas divers of his Majesty's subjects, possessing amongst them considerable property, are desirous to embark for the said part of Australia: and whereas it is highly expedient that his Majesty's said subjects should be enabled to carry their said laudable purpose into effect: and whereas the said persons are desirous that, in the said intended colony, an uniform system in the mode of disposing of waste lands should be permanently established: be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, with the advice of his privy council, to erect within that part of Australia which lies between the meridians of the one hundred and thirty-second and one hundred and forty-first degrees of east longitude, and between the southern ocean and the twenty-six degrees of south latitude, together with all and every the islands adjacent thereto, and the bays and gulfs
of these interfere with the main provisions of the Act, which notwithstanding much opposition and numerous attempts to defeat them, are agreeable to the leading principles of the undertaking, as described in this volume. The Bill would probably have been rejected by the House of Lords, or at all events spoiled, if it had not been strenuously supported by his Grace the Duke of Wellington.
