The narrative of a voyage to the Swan River/Appendix section II
SECTION II.
I Will call the reader's attention to the new Settlement now forming at Swan River; and, as he will naturally wish for a statement of the terms upon which land may be obtained in this Colony, he is here presented with the Government Regulations upon the subject. And I should be ungrateful if I did not express my obligations to the Gentlemen of the Colonial Office, for the readiness with which they have furnished me with copies of the important documents, to which, in due course, I have to refer.
1. "It has at no time formed any part of the plan of His Majesty's Government to incur any expense in conveying settlers to the New Colony on the Swan River. Government will not feel bound to defray the cost of supplying provisions, or other necessaries, to Settlers, after their arrival there, nor to assist their return to England, nor their removal to any other place, should they be desirous of quitting that Colony.
2. "Such persons as emigrate to the Swan River Settlement, and arrive there after the 31st of December, 1830, will receive, in the order of their arrival, allotments of Land, proportioned to the Capital which they have at command for the improvement of the Land, at the rate of 20 Acres for every sum of £3. which they may be prepared to invest in such improvement.
3. "Under the head of Capital will be considered, at a fair rate of valuation, Stock of every description, all Implements of Husbandry and other articles, which may be applicable to the purposes of productive Industry, or which may be necessary for the establishment of the Settler on the land where he is to be located.
4. "Those who incur the expense of taking out labouring persons to this Colony, will be entitled to Land to the value of £15., that is, to 100 Acres for the passage of every such labourer, over and above any investment of other Capital.
"In the class of 'labouring persons' are included Women, and also Children above twelve years old. They will further be allowed 30 Acres for every Child under the age of Six, and 60 Acres for every Child between the age of Six and Twelve.
5. "The licence to occupy will be given to the Settler, on satisfactory proof being exhibited to the Lieutenant-Governor (or other Officer administering the local Government) of the amount of property, as above specified, which has been brought into the Colony, to be invested. The proofs expected to be produced of the value of this property, will be such Vouchers of expenses as would be received in auditing Public Accounts. The Title to the Land in Fee Simple will not be granted, however, until the Settler has proved, to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant-Governor (or other Officer administering the local Government) that the sum required by Article 2 (viz. 3s. per Acre) has been actually expended in some investment of the nature specified in Article 3, or has been laid out on the cultivation of the land, or on some other substantial improvement, such as Buildings, Roads, or other works of utility.
6. "Any Land thus allotted which shall not have been brought into cultivation, or upon which improvements shall not have been effected in some other manner, to the satisfaction of the local Government, within two years from the date of the Licence of Occupation, shall, at the end of that period, be liable to an annual payment, into the Public Chest of the Settlement, of Is. per Acre, as Quit Rent, and at the expiration of another period of two years, so much of the whole Grant as shall still remain in an uncultivated state, or without such improvement being effected upon it, as shall be satisfactory to the local Government, shall revert absolutely to the Crown, or become liable to such additional Quit Rent as the local Government may think fit to impose, reference being had to the value of the adjoining Lands. But in cases where Land, so circumstanced, is required for Roads, Canals, or Quays, or for any other public purpose, the local Government will be at liberty to retain the Land absolutely, in place of allowing it to revert to the original Grantee on the condition of paying an additional Quit Rent."
"Colonial Office,
10th July, 1830."
An attentive consideration of these conditions will it is presumed afford convincing proof that they are framed with the most prudent and commendable policy, while at the same time they are dictated with that liberal spirit which affords to the industrious settler the certain possession of the allotment he is at first entrusted to improve.
To each of these rules it is submitted a few remarks will not be considered trivial or irrelevant to the subject.
1. "It has at no time formed any part of the plan of His Majesty's Government to incur any expense in conveying settlers to the new colony on the Swan River. Government will not feel bound to defray the cost of supplying provisions or other necessaries, to settlers, after their arrival there, nor to assist their return to England, nor their removal to any other place, should they be desirous of quitting that colony."
This rule appears to be framed with a prudent regard to economy, and, also, to avoid a multiplicity of trouble and complaints which would inevitably be produced by taking out or supporting adventurers at the public expense. If indeed such were the case, there would be innumerable applications from almost all classes of persons of various ages, and hence it would be an endless and invidious task to enquire into the character and means of every applicant, and then to select from the multitude the few which would be found eligible; and if no such enquiries were made, the reputation and tranquillity of the settlement would be most materially lessened by the numerous immoral and nefarious persons who would eagerly leave the scene of their vices and their crimes, and strive to indulge both in the new colony, where no experienced Bow-street Officer could watch over their movements, and where, in a widely scattered population, they would escape detection and punishment. But admitting that the introduction of such persons to the new Colony might be prevented by affording a passage to none but those who produced the most unexceptionable testimony to their honesty and moral worth, even then many excellent persons might successfully apply for a gratuitous passage who are by no means calculated to promote the interest and prosperity of such an infant establishment as that before us. As it is, many have arrived there at their own expense who, it is to be feared, are by no means qualified by previous habits or experience to undertake the cultivation of land and this evil would be greater were a passage given to the tradesman or any other person whose life had been passed in commercial or other pursuits than those of agriculture. The failure and disappointment of such persons in new scenes and speculations would be charged not upon their own folly in forming projects, and commencing operations which they scarcely knew by name, but the government would be accused with being the cause of their disappointment and unfortunate failure, and that abuse which discontented and evil-minded persons are ever ready to cast upon those in authority would be dealt out with no sparing hand: the tables of both houses of parliament would be covered with petitions for redress, and the time of the representatives of the people taken up in discussing the imaginary grievances of a few individuals, whose exparte statements and plausible cases would be advocated with all the warmth which the spirit of liberalism can kindle, and all the virulence which the rankling disappointment of office, or the lust of systematic opposition can bestow. Again, if the adventurer were to be supported at the public expense, the stimulus to labour would be blunted, the indolent would stroll about at their ease looking to Government for subsistence, and full of complaints if luxuries were not provided, and powder and shot liberally supplied so as to enable them to kill the kangaroo, and amuse themselves with parrot shooting, as some consolation for their absence from the pigeon matches at Battersea or Chalk Farm. And then the house would echo with the loudly reiterated complaints of the profuse expenditure of the public money, by some who are perhaps as well acquainted with finance, as the honest gentleman with the affairs of India, who complained " that the commander-in-chief of one of our armies there, had suffered the savage doolies[1] to come down and carry off the wounded." And even if no expense were incurred pither in taking out or maintaining settlers, yet if government undertook to remove them to England or elsewhere, the option of leaving the settlement would greatly militate against their zealous exertions to improve their allotment, which they might be anxious to leave when the love of novelty should induce them to seek another place of abode, or any difficulty or disappointment incline them to abandon their prospects, allotment, and little embarrassments altogether. But in the rule before us there is no bonus to induce any one to leave his home, no encouragement to the idler who would wish to maintain himself at the public expense, no promise to replace the adventurer upon his own shore if circumstances should prove adverse or sanguine hopes become dissipated in illusion or adversity. Whoever then undertakes a voyage to the Swan River, must proceed thither at his own charge, and support himself either by his own finances or labour; government refusing either to assist, or incur any responsibility respecting him. But although they neither induce persons to emigrate either by money, passage, or provisions, they nevertheless afford the most ample encouragement to those who are enabled to arrive at the settlement with even a small capital, as appears by the 2d Rule. "Such persons as emigrate to the Swan River Settlement, and arrive there after the 31st of December, 1830, will receive, in the order of their arrival, allotments of land, proportioned to the capital which they have at command for the improvement of the land, at the rate of twenty acres for every sum of £3. which they may be prepared to invest in such improvement."
That we may properly estimate this condition, so highly advantageous to the settler, let us compare it with the boasted advantage of emigrating to the United States wherein land cannot be obtained, however far removed from the sea, or any navigable river,—however distant from any town, or even neighbour,—however encumbered with trees of the greatest magnitude, at less than two dollars per acre; and, as hath already been observed, not even at that price unless 200 acres be included in the purchase. In America then, the settler must sink a small capital before he can enter upon his allotment; here, he need not expend a shilling in purchasing an estate; all that is required is, that he should possess the means to occupy it, and without this means, any land would be useless to him, and remain an injury to the community, as the extent of his allotment would be "waste" to the no small inconvenience of those who might have occasion to pass through it, and to the deprivation of perhaps valuable property to him who has the capital as well as the inclination to bring it into a good and useful state of agriculture. On what terms land is granted in the various provinces of North British America, it is not necessary here to enquire, but admitting that it is gratuitously given, still it cannot be denied that it must be either miserably poor in its nature, or else very far in the interior, and consequently at a most inconvenient distance from markets and shipping ; and this too in a country wherein the Winter is so intense as to paralyze the arm of the labourer, and render the earth callous to the plough during its continuance. But in Western Australia the newly arrived settler obtains his land merely by the possession of capital,—he is permitted to take possession of that unoccupied part, which in his own judgment is best adapted to his purpose: and this too in one of the finest climates in the world, where the Winter's frost never impedes the labours of the husbandman, where a navigable river runs by his door, and the produce of his farm can, in a few hours, be put on board-a-ship. In England a miserable brook, being the boundary of a farm is considered to add to its value, and if an estate intended for sale, which even for a few yards is washed by a navigable river, the advantage is dilated upon in the advertisement of sale, if not with the descriptive eloquence of Mr. George Robins, at least in such terms as to enhance its price. It is somewhat amusing to observe how the ideas of men change with their situations. Our adventurer (whose letters are the basis of the preceding Narrative) before he became such, was well aware of the convenience and advantage of any estate at home, even in the neighbourhood of a canal or a river, but now he declines an allotment he might have, because a frontage of no more than half a mile is washed by (according to his own account) one of the finest navigable rivers directly communicating with the sea. Admitting that all the good land is already taken up on both sides of the Swan and Canning Rivers for twenty miles, still much of that which the epicures in land reject might be cultivated to very beneficial purposes. Many thousand acres in England, which forty years ago were considered scarcely worth occupation at almost a nominal rent, are now, from cultivation, manure and draining, considered perhaps as profitable to the husbandman as any in the kingdom. I appeal to the inhabitants of the villages "upon Dunsmore" for the truth of my assertion. This extensive part of Warwickshire, which still is called a "Heath," is surpassed by very few districts either in the industry of its occupiers, or the spirited and husbandlike manner in which it is cultivated.
3d Rule. "Under the head of Capital, will be considered at a fair rate of valuation, stock of every description, all implements of husbandry and other articles, which may be applicable to the purposes of productive industry, or which may be necessary for the establishment of the settler on the land where he is to be located."
This Rule demands the most serious attention of the emigrant, for by a reasonable interpretation of it, he may most likely lay the foundation of his future prosperity and happiness. A judicious selection of such articles as will form a capital to authorize him immediately to occupy an allotment will be his first care and consideration. Let him purchase land and become an agriculturist wherever he may, implements of husbandry and stock for a farm must be had, and in most cases he has two capitals to sink; one in purchase of the land, and secondly in providing the means to cultivate it. But the individual who contemplates a settlement at Swan River, has but to estimate his ability to procure " such articles as may be applicable to productive industry, or which may be necessary for his establishment on a location," according to the hands he may take out; which will enable him to judge what quantity of land he may prudently take up.[2] It is a rule stated in general terms, as it is impossible for the Government to designate every article, the number and value of each, which may be requisite for every settler; the emigrant will do well therefore to avoid the purchase of any article, however trifling in cost, which he is not persuaded will be really useful to him either on his passage or on commencing residence upon his allotment. Unless his funds are considerable, he will need the prudent expenditure of every shilling, on arriving in a colony where at present all is in a state of nature, where labourers of every description are scarce, and the necessaries and comforts of life consequently at high prices. He assuredly will find a hundred wants, which he has not hitherto experienced, and of which he can form no idea until they are felt. And as agricultural implements are expensive, let him purchase none but those of the most simple kind. The drill, the hay-making machine, the double plough and scuffler, which the English farmer employs, with the no small reduction of labour and the dispatch of business, will be totally useless upon land from whence the stumps of trees have not been removed, and every obstruction cleared away. And admitting that some spots may be found which present no impediment to these machines, yet it must be remembered that the freight out is expensive, that they are liable to be out of order from time, accident, or carelessness; and, where will the settler find an expert mechanic with a variety of tools to repair them ? Certainly for several years to come, the common plough, the harrow and the hoe alone will be of real service to the Australian farmer in the tillage of his ground, and these he should take care to have made of the strongest materials, and furnished with extra shares, coulters, and all other ironwork in abundance. Rollers he may obtain of any magnitude by cutting down trees of suitable dimensions, but the iron work and shafts he had better take out with him.
4th Rule. "Those who incur the expense of taking out labouring persons to this Colony, will be entitled to land to the value of £15. that is, to one hundred acres, for the passage of every such labourer, over and above any investment of other capital."
"In the class of 'labouring persons' are included women, and also children above twelve years old. They will further be allowed thirty acres for every child under the age of six, and sixty acres for every child between the age of six and twelve."
On examining this Rule, it may be proper to observe that, in consequence of the expence attendant upon a long voyage, few among the labouring classes have the means of emigrating to our colonies,—and hence we perceive the cause of that scarcity of useful hands which must constitute such a bar to the cultivation of newly occupied districts, and presents an almost insurmountable obstacle to the acquisition of comfort, and the rapid improvement of the settler's estate. In order therefore to promote as much as possible the importation of that class of persons which is so indispensably necessary, Government have offered, by this Rule, a bonus of no trifling encouragement to those who are disposed to carry with them that assistance, without which their grants must remain uncultivated and useless. No reflecting person can for a moment deny that, even if no remuneration were made to the settler for the expence of taking out labourers, even then he would derive no small profit by so doing. At the Swan River, the wages of a labourer is five shillings a day, and of a carpenter more than seven shillings a day, and of course the person hired will consult his own convenience as to the time he will work for any particular individual, and perhaps leave him for higher wages, at the very moment when circumstances or seasons may render his assistance most peculiarly important r but if the settler takes a man from England, bound by Indenture, for a certain time, as will be presently discussed, he can confidently reckon upon the services of this person for a positive period, and at a much less rate of wages, than if he were dependent upon the casual and expensive assistance which he might pick up in the Colony: but with the liberal remuneration thus promised to the settler who takes out labouring persons, unwise indeed must he be if he does not avail himself of it to the utmost of his power; for he can have no just conception of the variety and extent of the work which must be performed before he can have a house over his head, a few fields properly fenced in, and a moderate extent of land prepared for the plough and sowed with grain. He cannot, as in his native land, purchase timber sawed to any dimensions he may prescribe. He cannot obtain bricks from one neighbouring tradesman and lime from another. Here no fallows are made by an outgoing tenant, no hedges planted at the expence of the late proprietor, no growing crops to be obtained at the nominal trouble of a fair valuation. Whatever he requires, and whatever he obtains, must originate from his own labours and exertions,—money cannot procure it. Any further argument to prove the importance and benefit of being attended by as many work-people as possible would be an insult upon the understanding of the reader; yet it is desirable that his attention may be directed to the sort of persons whom it will in all probability answer his purpose to engage. Selfishness, which is often blind to its real and permanent interest, advises that the settler should take out none but single men, that no expence be incurred by the passage of a wife or other incumbrance, but religion and morality both exclaim against this unnatural economy, this incentive to vice which is thus presented and strengthened by avarice; but as, unhappily, all men will not act according to Christian principles, it is hoped that they will be governed by common sense and right reason. A single man rarely considers himself settled in any situation, and generally looks forward to the time when matrimony will afford him permanent residence and prospects. It is of no small importance to the settler that those whom he may take out should become attached to him, and desirous of continuing with him after the completion of the term for which they engaged to serve. Now an unmarried man having no incumbrance feels that there is no obstacle to prevent him from removing from one master or place to another,—on the contrary, the husband and father of a family has in most cases some little property which he cannot without inconvenience remove; he will hesitate before he can make up his mind to abandon his present abode and employer, lest he be not able to obtain a permanent residence and engagement elsewhere; and he also discovers that his incumbrances render him less welcome to any other master whom he might wish to serve: besides his wife naturally is unwilling to change; if she is a good wife he wishes to spare her the pain of a removal,—if not, he dreads her tongue and her temper. And in many cases for the sake of his family, a father will submit to inconveniences which, if he were alone in the world, he would abandon without hesitation. It is then a most material object for the settler to take out those that have been recently married; I say recently, out of humanity; for it must indeed be miserable for a woman with a numerous family of young children to undergo the perils, confinements, privations and hardships of a long voyage.
Women will not be found the "incumbrances" which they are called, by those who are great politicians in their own eyes. If industrious and willing to oblige, they will be found in a multitude of instances quite as active and useful as men, and in those light labours which they can easily perform, they will save the expense of a man, at a time when perhaps the value of his work under particular circumstances can scarcely be rated too high. When the settler is building a log house to shelter himself and family, when all his goods are exposed to the open air, when nothing is done—but all remains to do, he will find that the women who are watching the cattle, cooking the provisions and caulking the seams of his house with moss and grass, are any thing but incumbrances.
Will he think them incumbrances, when sinking under a day's fatigue, he and his people homeward plod their way, received and cheered with gladdened eyes, kind looks, and silent but eloquent welcome of a comfortable fire and well-cooked meal beneath the bark roof of their wigwam? and when he is prostrated upon the bed of sickness far from medical assistance, when the dew of agony is wiped from his forehead by a female hand, and when that hand lifts the cup to his burning lips and raises his feeble emaciated frame to the refreshment of the evening breeze, will he then find a wife an incumbrance?
But it may further be observed that, although in populous countries, the attachment of a labourer to his employer, and his long continuance in the same service, are supposed by some persons to be of little importance, they are most essentially necessary to the settler here ; it is his interest to attach his people to him, to form a permanent union of confidence and mutual obligation, and a mutual desire to promote each other's interest.
That attachment of the Scotch and Irish to their chief, which is so amiable in itself, ought, if possible, to be created and preserved here; and were I going to emigrate, I would decidedly select followers from Ireland or Scotland, who are accustomed to look upon their chief with respect and kindness, to identify their welfare with his, rather than take out English labourers who, from the long habit of changing their masters perhaps every week, have long ceased to feel any interest in his prosperity. As children above the age of twelve years will be included among the "labouring persons" for the passage of which land will be given, it is advisable for the emigrant to ascertain whether he might not take out young persons of both sexes legally apprenticed to him by indenture. The fees which he would receive with them would defray part of the expence of their passage, they would submit more easily than grown up persons to the unavoidable inconveniences of commencing a residence in an uncultivated country; they would be trained to useful and colonial labour under his own eye ; and, it may be added that, in agricultural business, where neither hard labour nor great strength is required, a lad is as serviceable as a man. If apprentices cannot be obtained with a fee, it would he very desirable to engage them without, for their master would have the benefit of their services at the expence of their maintenance and clothes; but if he were obliged to hire labourers he must pay them high wages in addition to the cost of their maintenance.
An opinion has prevailed among the lower classes, that any mechanic or labourer, who proceeds to the settlement at his own expence, is by this regulation, entitled to a grant of one hundred acres of land. And it is to be regretted that certain ship-owners and brokers in their advertisements and printed circulars, have not scrupled to declare this to be the case. But there appears to be no foundation for this forced interpretation of the Rule; by which land is offered only to those who may incur the expence of taking out labouring persons. Neither in this, nor in the foregoing Rules is land offered to any but persons of capital.
This appears more clear from the fourth Rule in the official information published for those who might arrive at the Swan River previous to the 31st December, 1830, in which it is stated that provision will be made by law, at the earliest opportunity, for rendering those capitalists who may be engaged in taking out labouring persons to this settlement, liable for the future maintenance of those persons, should they from infirmity, or any other cause become unable to maintain themselves there.
But if land were to be thus granted, as is erroneously supposed, so far from its being a benefit, it would be a serious injury to the labouring person. How can he cultivate a hundred acres of land without a capital ? or support himself till his allotment produces the means of subsistence ? He may, it is true, obtain liberal wages for working for other settlers, but then his own land must be neglected ; and, in consequence of not being able to devote his whole time to its improvement, it would be subjected to fines which perhaps he could with difficulty pay, and at length forfeited from his inability to improve it within the prescribed period.
If a person of this description can only land in the Colony with his clothes and his tools, he will find immediate employment, on such terms as will enable him, if he has common prudence, soon to save a little capital, by which, if he is desirous of becoming a farmer, he will be entitled to an allotment ; and by the employment of this capital, and the exercise of his trade, he will doubtless become a prosperous man. If, after paying his passage, he has five pounds to spare, I would by no means dissuade him from obtaining an allotment upon his arrival in the Colony ; let him purchase a few spades and other agricultural implements, which he can use with his own hands, and those kitchen utensils which are absolutely necessary, and then let him take up a small grant—the less the better, provided it will supply him with bread and keep a few animals, which by their increase will afford him the means of purchasing a farm from a settler, or of claiming a larger allotment as a capitalist.
Another erroneous opinion has arisen from an unfair interpretation of this Rule—that the wife and children of a settler intending to become an agriculturist will be considered as labouring persons for whose passage an allotment of land might be claimed in proportion to their number and ages.
The wife and children of a farmer in England are never considered "labouring persons," and as these Rules are drawn up in England for the information of those proceeding to an English Colony, we cannot suppose that any expression in them is to be understood otherwise than in the idiom of the country. Indeed as these Rules have been framed with careful deliberation, there is no reason for believing that they will be permitted to be interpreted in any sense but in their plain literal meaning. Much, in this case, may depend upon the capital, or rather the appearance and station in life, of the settler. If his capital be extensive, or himself and family evidently shew that they have not been accustomed to labour, it is more than probable that he will not be allowed any land for them ; but if he is a weather-beaten countryman, with a small capital, whose hands and those of his family bear the unquestionable evidence of hard work, it seems likely that his family would be considered as "labouring persons," and that he would, therefore, be entitled to the prescribed allotment for the passage of each of them. But this is stated only upon conjecture.
From the fifth Rule, we learn that "the license to occupy will be given to the settler, on satisfactory proof being exhibited to the Lieutenant Governor (or other officer administering the local Government) of the amount of property, as above specified, which has been brought into the Colony to be invested. The proofs expected to be produced of the value of this property, will be such vouchers of expences as would be received in auditing public accounts. The title to the land in fee simple will not be granted, however, until the Settler has proved, to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant-Governor, (or other officer administering the local government) that the sum required by Article 2 (viz. 3s. per acre) has been actually expended, in some investment of the nature specified in Article 3; or has been laid out in the cultivation of the land, or on some other substantial improvement, such as buildings, roads, or other works of utility."
It is to be feared that there are some, who are desirous of putting a higher value upon the property brought by them into the Colony than it is actually worth; and instances have occurred in which fictitious bills and receipts have been prepared by friends, whose varied hand-writing might give a colour to this iniquitous practice. But, if persons arc not actuated by good and honest principles, let them beware how they engage in such a transaction as this. It is possible that they might be tried and convicted for uttering a forgery; and, in such a case, it would be very distressing to be sent on to Sydney as a knight of the fetterlock, instead of being permitted to build villas upon Melville Water. But, seriously, it is not to be supposed that the Commissioners for the management of Crown Property are so careless or inexperienced, as not to ascertain the value of every article of productive industry. They will not admit tradesmen's bills as the sole or indisputable evidence of the worth of goods submitted to their inspection—but "the value will be estimated by the Commissioners according to such fair standard as they may think fit to adopt." One of the regulations published by Captain Stirling relative to the Crown Lands states, that if, within the term of three years from the date of the grant, it be proved that the statements made by applicants in obtaining grants were not substantially true, the same shall revert to the Crown.
It would save much trouble if an account were kept of the expence, package, wharfage, and freight of all articles which are expected to be considered as capital, that the bills of the same be forthcoming if called for, and that a correct list be made of the contents of every package belonging to the settler, that he may know the particular box he has to open for any article he may want.
It must be remembered, that the land to which the settler may be entitled will not be given to him until he has actually expended a certain sum in the improvement of the same, and till then he is only permitted to occupy it. It does not appear necessary that 3*. should be expended upon every acre; but, if a man obtain an allotment of 1000 acres, he must expend at least £ 150. in the improvement of that allotment. If it were not for restriction of this nature, the grantee might not commence residence upon his land at all, but content himself with having obtained his license of occupation, and employ his time and capital in trade or commerce. But the interest of the Colony is not to be promoted by the mere proprietor of an estate, but by him who has both the inclination and the means to increase its value by cultivation. As land is granted only to the possessor of capital, so it is properly required that this capital be invested or kept upon it. Every encouragement will be given to the industrious settler, and it is reported, that even the expence of making a ditch as a boundary to an allotment, will be permitted to be entered into the settler's account of improvement.
It is a great object, that the land taken up by settlers should be brought into cultivation as soon as possible, or, at least, if it has been entrusted to the management of those who, from indolence or ignorance, do not make a good use of it, that it may revert to the Crown, for the benefit of some worthier occupant. We must, therefore, admit the policy of the 6th Rule, viz.— " Any land thus allotted which shall not have been brought into cultivation, or upon which improvements shall not have been effected in some other manner, to the satisfaction of the local Government, within two years from the date of the license of occupation, shall, at the end of that period, be liable to an annual payment into the public chest of the Settlement of 1s. per acre, as quit rent; and at the expiration of another period of two years, so much of the whole grant as shall still remain in an uncultivated state, or without such improvement being effected upon it as shall be satisfactory to the local Government, shall revert absolutely to the Crown, or become liable to such additional quit rent as the local Government may think fit to impose, reference being had to the value of the adjoining lands. But in cases where land, so circumstanced, is required for roads, canals, or quays, or for any other public purpose, the local Government will be at liberty to retain the land absolutely, in place of allowing it to revert to the original grantee, on the condition of paying an additional quit rent."
This rule was most probably drawn up to prevent the evil consequences which arose from the imprudence of certain free persons who obtained grants of land in Eastern Australia: instead of applying themselves to their business, they passed so much of their time at the neighbouring towns, that they soon were reduced to distress, and their land, instead of proving a benefit to them by industrious management, became, by their idleness, a detriment to the community from lying waste. It cannot be expected that, by the term "cultivation," (of land in a state of nature) we are to understand that cultivation which is so generally adopted in England, where labourers are plentiful, and every farm is cleared and fenced in. For several years, the settler must content himself with ploughing those parts of his farm which have the fewest obstructions, and even these, perhaps, very imperfectly, till roots and stumps can be removed, and large stones carried away. A portion of land which is made a field by the erection of posts and rails, will certainly be considered to be "brought into cultivation," and that upon which trees and bushes have been partially cut down, "improved." In fact, a liberal construction will be made of the term "improvement," in those cases where industry deserves it. It is true that great discretionary power is given to the local government, but this is called for by circumstances. Allotments must unavoidably differ so much from each other in quality of soil, in mode of access, in the labour required to prepare a few acres for the plough, that it is impossible to lay down any mode or extent of cultivation, which will not bear too hard upon the occupiers of certain allotments. It is much better, then, to leave the matter to the decision of those who, from residing in the Colony, know the character of the man, the advantages of his situation, and the impediments and difficulties he has to remove and overcome.
It may, perhaps, at first view be considered, that two years is not a sufficient time to allow the settler for the improvement of his land; but a reflection will convince us, that he will eventually be greatly benefited, from being stimulated to great exertion at first. Perhaps it was found, by experience, that the indolence of many adventurers in our numerous colonies rendered it necessary that stricter rules, and a more limited period of trial should be adopted, to compel all succeeding emigrants to the Swan River to become more industrious. But, after all, in two years much may be done, if one or more men, according to the extent of the allotment, be exclusively employed in the necessary work of thinning the trees and brushwood, where most needed, they will, in the course of the two years, improve many hundred acres, especially if care be taken that they do not remain too long in one spot, nor employ that time in sawing through one large tree, which might be better employed in chopping down several small trees. Every acre which is ploughed, should be cultivated in the best manner the state of the ground will admit ; but the remainder of the farm need not be thoroughly cleared or drained, but as it may be required for increasing tillage and cattle. If circumstances should prevent the occupier from becoming entitled to the fee simple of his grant in the two years, he has to pay only the moderate sum of one shilling per annum upon every acre which is not improved to the satisfaction of the local Government; and, at the expiration of the second period of two years, all that is still left in an uncultivated state, will revert to the Crown; and so, indeed, it ought. Nevertheless, Government seem disposed to act with leniency even then, for they hold out a hope, that the occupier will be permitted to rent this forfeited portion of his grant upon moderate terms, according to the value of contiguous lands.
Such are the Rules dated at the Colonial Office in July, 1830; and as the reader may not be acquainted with the Regulations published for the information of those who have already arrived in the Colony, I think it right to insert them.
"1. His Majesty's Government do not intend to incur any expense in conveying Settlers to the New Colony on the Swan River; and will not feel bound to defray the cost of supplying them with Provisions, or other necessaries, after their arrival there, nor to assist their removal to England, or to any other place, should they be desirous of quitting the Colony.
"2. Such persons as may arrive in that Settlement before the end of the year 1830, will receive, in the order of their arrival, Allotments of Land, free of Quit-rent, proportioned to the Capital which they may be prepared to invest in the improvement of the Land, and of which Capital they may be able to produce satisfactory proofs to the Lieutenant Governor (or other Officer administering the Colonial Government), or to any two Officers of the local Government appointed by the Lieutenant Governor for that purpose, at the rate of 40 acres for every sum of £3. which they may be prepared so to invest.
"3. Under the head of investment of Capital will be considered stock of every description, all Implements of Husbandry, and other Articles which may be applicable to the purposes of pn>ductive industry, or which may be necessary for the establishment of the Settler on the Land where he is to be located. The amount of any Half-pay or Pension which the applicant may receive from Government, and which he may be prepared to invest as before mentioned, will also be considered as so much Capital.
"4. Those who may incur the expense of taking out laboring persons, will be entitled to an allotment of Land, at the rate of £15., that is, of 200 acres of Land for the passage of every such laboring person, over and above any other investment of Capital. In the class of 'laboring persons' are included Women, and Children above ten years old. With respect to the Children of laboring people under that age, it is proposed to allow 40 Acres for every such Child, above three years old; 80 Acres for every such Child, above six years old; and 120 for every such Child, above nine and under ten years old. Provision will be made, by Law, at the earliest opportunity, for rendering those Capitalists, who may be engaged in taking out laboring persons to this Settlement, liable for the future maintenance of those persons, should they, from infirmity, or any other cause, become unable to maintain themselves there.
"5. The Licence to Occupy will be given to the Settler ou satisfactory proof being exhibited to the Lieutenant Governor (or other Officer administering the local Government) of the amount of Property brought into the Colony, to be invested as above specified. The proofs required of this property will be such satisfactory Vouchers of Expenses, as would be received in auditing Public Accounts. But the Title to the Land will not be granted, in fee simple, until the Settler has proved, to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant Governor (or other Officer administering the local Government) that the sum required by Article 2 (viz. 1s. 6d. per Acre), has been actually expended in some investment of the nature specified in Article 3, or in the cultivation of the Land, or in solid improvements,—such as Buildings, Roads, or other Works of that kind.
"6. Any land, thus allotted, of which a fair proportion, at least one-fourth, shall not have been brought into cultivation, or otherwise improved, to the satisfaction of the local Government, within three years from the date of the Licence of Occupation, shall at the end of the three years be liable to one further payment of 6d. per Acre for all the land not so cultivated or improved, into the Public Chest of the Settlement ; and, at the expiration of seven years more, so much of the whole grant as shall still remain in an uncultivated or unimproved state, will revert absolutely to the Crown. And in every Grant will be contained a condition, that, at any time, within ten years from the date thereof, the Government may resume, without compensation, any Land not then actually cultivated, or improved as before mentioned, which may be required for roads, canals, or quays, or for the site of Public Buildings.
"7. After the year 1830, Land will be disposed of to those Settlers who may resort to the Colony, on such conditions as His Majesty's Government shall determine.
"8. It is not intended that any Convicts be transported to this new Settlement.
"9. The Government will be administered by Captain Stirling, of the Royal Navy, as Lieutenant Governor of the Settlement; and it is proposed that a Bill shall be submitted to Parliament, in the course of the next Session, to make provision for its Civil and Judicial Administration."
Colonial Office, 13th Jan. 1829.
On comparing these Rules with those to which succeeding settlers are subjected, we find that only half the land which was offered to the possessor of a certain capital by the old Regulations can be obtained under the new, and that the time allowed for effecting the requisite improvements is materially shortened, and the fine for not making them to a satisfactory extent more than doubled. And this proves most decidedly the increased value of the Colony in the estimation of those who are in authority, and in the opinion of the public also, or else who would now emigrate to the Colony. And when we consider the circumstances under which the Colony was established, the difficulties which it had to contend with, and the numerous and unfounded reports which were circulated to its prejudice, our surprise is, not that it has made little progress, but that it has succeeded so well. It was not founded at the public expense—nor established under the patronage or promised assistance of Government, but by individuals, at their own responsibility and with the aid of their own capital alone. The first settlers were greatly disappointed at finding the land near the sea-coast unfit for cultivation, when they had been led to suppose that it was naturally fertile. The first ship unfortunately anchored in Gage's Roads (instead of the safe harbour of Cockburn Sound), at the lime when the Roads were most unsafe from the winterly winds. The loss of the Marquess of Anglesea, and damage sustained by other vessels, in a tremendous gale, gave almost a deathblow to the infant colony. The fictitious statements of the "dreadful accident-makers," who more than once caused accounts of the starvation of the settlers to appear in the public prints, and the report of those settlers who were chagrined and disappointed at not meeting with all their too sanguine expectations induced them to anticipate, have led the public to look upon the Settlement rather with an eye of pity, than with a generous satisfaction at its promising success. But, notwithstanding all this, the Colony not only exists, but it increases. Intelligent men have gone out to form their own opinions upon its capabilities — several very opulent persons have emigrated thither—ships have gone out, and returned without sustaining any damage— letters have been received from persons of sound judgment, expressing their opinions of the ultimate prosperity of the Colony, and hence emigrants are still anxious to sail for the Swan River, though they know well that they cannot obtain land upon terms half so favourable as if they had arrived there in the year 1830. Nor can any one, with justice, complain that the new Regulations are less liberal to the capitalist than the old. It is right that those early settlers, who risked their all upon the probability of success —who cheerfully encountered and surmounted every difficulty—who felt and prepared the way for those that now follow them, should be fully rewarded for their anxieties, and receive an ample recompense for the toil and privation which they must have experienced upon landing in a country where there was no hand to welcome, no roof to shelter, and not an inch of ground yielding food for man.
The intention of Government not to send convicts to this Settlement, has given it that respectability which otherwise it would never have attained, and unquestionably has, and will be the cause of inducing many persons of property and high character to proceed thither, who otherwise would never for a moment entertain a thought of emigrating to it. Prejudice is ever too general, and rarely ceases to exist. Though a generation has passed away since convicts were sent to the United States of America, and though, perhaps, not one tenth of its inhabitants are the descendants of persons banished from this country, the illiberal and the scurrillous will still point to "the blot in the escutcheon," they will still sarcastically refer the North American to the Newgate Calendar for the pedigree of his family. Hundreds of persons of irreproachable character have established themselves in the convict settlements in Eastern Australia, but it will be long before the native of Sydney or Hobart Town will be readily received into good society "at home;" and assuredly thousands would have emigrated to these parts since the peace of 1815, if they had not been deterred by the fear of being subjected to the annoyance and depredations to which a residence amongst persons of undeniable bad character in all probability would expose them; and and as it is extremely difficult to engage or retain domestic servants and labourers in those Colonies who have not been sent thither as convicts ; moral and religious persons are most averse to employ notorious offenders, or subject their children to the hazard of having their minds corrupted, by those who have been banished from their country for their vices and their crimes. Yet, without being obstructed by prejudice, and the great disadvantages which these Colonies sustain in many respects, from the influx and employment of convicts, they continue to flourish, and have for some time carried on no contemptible commerce with the mother country. It appears from the public prints, that the amount of the revenues collected in one of these settlements is equal to the charges attendant upon it. If thus these Colonies, which scarcely were in being at the commencement of the late war of unexampled duration and extent, flourished during its continuance, notwithstanding the stigma which is attached to them, is it too much to expect that the Colony on the Swan River, possessing superior natural and commercial advantages—founded in the time of profound peace, not by convicts, without money, but by respectable persons, with capital at their command, will increase and flourish with greater rapidity and success? May we not cherish a hope, that the period is not far distant when it will be doubtful whether Western or Eastern Australia exceed each other in population, opulence, and commerce?
At present, the government of the Settlement is in the hands of Captain Stirling, who gives evident proofs that his zeal for the Colony is equalled only by the sound judgment and justice with which he exercises the power entrusted to him. As soon as the arrangement of matters of more importance will admit, there is no doubt that a code of laws will be promulgated for the civil administration of justice, which is much to be wished, if it were only to relieve Captain Stirling from the great, and, perhaps, in some cases, unpleasant responsibility of office and power, which have not been defined by the legislature.
I have next to lay before the reader a "Copy of Government Notice," containing "General Regulations And Instructions Relative To Crown Lands."
"1. The territory is progressively to be divided into Counties, Hundreds, Townships, and Sections; each Section is to contain one square mile, or 640 acres; each Township 25 Sections; each Hundred four Townships, and each County 16 Hundreds.
"The Counties, Hundreds, and Townships will be designated on the maps by names, and the Sections by numbers; the numbers will begin and count from left to right on the upper row, looking to the North; and in like manner in each subsequent row.
"2dly. In each County, the Crown will reserve 200 Sections for the liquidation of expences of a general character; 200 Sections for the erection, endowment, and support of schools and churches; and 200 Sections for meeting the expenditure of the county, in the construction of high-ways, bridges, gaols, the prosecution of offenders, and the maintenance of constables and other county officers, and for the sites of towns, race-courses, and other similar uses.
"3dly. Counties will be open for location as soon as they shall have been surveyed and mapped, and the Surveyor General will declare, from time to time, the Counties in which free grants of land may be obtained by the public. No free grants of land will be given, beyond the limits of counties declared to be open for location.
"4thly. Grants will be made in complete Sections of one square mile; persons requiring smaller quantities, or fractional parts of Sections, will not have permission to select those quantities, but will receive such only as the Government shall award.
"5thly. All complete Sections will be bounded by lines, having a true North and South, West and East direction, and will contain an exact horizontal superficies of one square mile. Such Sections, however, as are situated on the banks of rivers, or on the sea-shore, will probably be incomplete or broken Sections, whose boundary lines will not preserve the general direction, and such Sections will be marked and numbered on the maps as broken Sections accordingly.
"6thly. No allotment of land will be allowed to have a frontage, on any considerable river, of more than about a fourth part of its exterior boundary line; and the amount of frontage, in any particular case, will be awarded agreeably to the report and recommendation of the Surveyor General.
"7thly. No person will receive a grant of land, until he shall have fulfilled the conditions relative to cultivation and improvement, on all other grants which he may have previously received.
"8thly. No grant will be made to servants under indenture, nor will persons receive grants who shall appear to have come to the Settlement at the expence of other individuals, without sufficient assurance of their having fulfilled the conditions of any agreement under which they may have come.
"9thly. Such places as may be reserved by Government as the sites of towns will be laid out in lots; these will not be granted in fee simple, but will be let on lease upon such conditions as may, from time to time, be established and made public.
"10thly. The area reserved as the site of the Town of Perth, will comprise an extent of three square miles, and will be divided into building lots, generally containing 9-10ths of an acre each. Some of these lots may now be obtained by individuals desirous of building, and the remainder will be thrown open to selection as circumstances may permit. The ground plan of the future Town of Freemantle, near the entrance of Melville Water will be laid down without delay, and as speedily as the town-lots therein can be marked off, individuals will be permitted to select and to build thereon. By instructions from His Majesty's Government, the building lots in these towns will be granted on a lease for 21 years; but the right of resuming such lease is reserved by Government, if it should be rendered necessary by the urgency of the public service. Government, in such case, paying to the grantee the appraised value of the ground and buildings at the time of resumption. After the expiry of 21 years, if no such resumption should take place, the right of property will be vested in the grantee or his assigns, who will at all times possess the right to sell, or to transfer his right of property in the lot, such transference being duly registered. All town lots thrown open for selection, must be built upon in such time, and according to such conditions, as the Surveyor General may point out; and they will also be liable for their proportion of the expense which Government may incur, in making and repairing the roads and lines of communication within the town. The Surveyor General will be directed to exhibit to applicants the ground plans of the towns, and point out such lots as may be selected.
"11thly. Whenever the site of any town may be determined on, and a sufficient reserve of land for that purpose shall be set apart, an additional quantity of land, in the immediate vicinity of such site, will be set apart, and will be granted only in small portions, not by lease, but as free grants, to persons making application, for the same; and the rule as to the extent of land to be allotted to every individual wishing to possess a grant of this description, will be, that each person shall be considered entitled to claim land so situated, in the ratio of one acre for every thousand acres which he or she may possess, or be entitled to possess, in the Settlement at large.
"12thly. Persons entitled to receive from Government half-pay or pension, for wounds or services, will be admitted to claim land, in the ratio of 40 acres for every £3. of annual amount of such pension.
"13thly. Officers belonging to the civil or military establishment of the Settlement, will be admitted to claim and receive grants of land on the same conditions, and by the same mode of proceeding, as private individuals, provided the quantity be reasonable, and on the understanding that their public duties are not to be neglected for the management of their private affairs.
"14thly. Every grant of land will be duly described and registered before delivery, and, by the terms of the grant, no transfer or alienation will be legal until the same shall be registered. The registered owner of every grant or portion of land will be the legal owner, and thus certainty and security will be afforded to land-holders, as well as to persons advancing money on such security. Land which may at any time be occupied without a grant and proper registrations, will be taken as belonging to the Crown.
"15thly. All persons acting as the agents of absentees, for the purpose of acquiring, managing, or registering grants of land, will be required to produce their credentials, and to follow the same course of proceedings as if the grant were for themselves, with the exception of that part which relates to registration, which must be effected in the name of the real owner.
"16thly. The Surveyor General will afford claimants for Crown Lands every information in his power, and will exhibit to them such maps as they may desire to inspect, and give them instructions in the mode of describing accurately, in their report of selection, the lands they may desire to obtain.
"17thly. The mode of proceeding by which land may be obtained, will be understood by attending to the following instructions.
"All persons who may be desirous to receive allotments of land, are to make application to the Lieutenant Governor, according to a form which will be furnished to them at the office of the Colonial Secretary. If the application be admissible, it will be referred to the Board of Commissioners for the Management of Crown Property, who will report to the Lieut. Governor the extent of land to which the applicant may appear to be entitled, upon a strict examination into the value and description of property imported by him.
"The kinds of property on which claims may be founded, are such only as are applicable to the improvement and cultivation of land, or necessary in placing the settler in his location ; and the value thereof will be estimated by the Commissioners, according to such fair standard of reference as they may see fit to adopt.
"On receiving the report of the Board, the Lieutenant Governor will accord permission to the applicant to proceed to select such land, to the extent recommended, as may suit his particular views, and, having selected, the applicant is to make his selection known to the Surveyor General, by filling up the form which may be attached to the permission to select. This report of selection will be examined by the Surveyor General, and transmitted by him to the Lieut. Governor, with such remarks as may be necessary to enable the Lieut. Governor to decide on the propriety of the allotment being made; and, if no prior claim to the land in question, or other objection exist, the applicant will receive a grant thereof, in the usual form of a primary conveyance.
"Land thus granted will belong in perpetuity to the grantee, his heirs and assigns, to be held in free and common sociage, subject, however, to such reservations and conditions as may be stated in the conveyance.
"The nature of these reservations and conditions will be to the effect of hereinafter following—
"First. All transfers of the whole, or any part of allotments, are to be registered within a reasonable time, not in any case exceeding one year.
"Secondly. Allotments shall be liable to all assessments for the benefit of the county or township in which they be situated, and the same shall be paid in due course upon order of the magistrates of the county, or the county officers authorized to make such assessments.
"Thirdly. The right of making roads in and through allotments being reserved by Government, as well as a right to construct canals, bridges, churches, schools, and works of defence, on any part of them, this right shall not be contested, nor opposition be made to the taking of indigenous timber, or materials necessary for such purposes.
"Fourthly. On failure of appearance of a legal claimant to an allotment, or his agent, within one year after due notice be issued by the Surveyor General, the same shall revert to the Crown, and may be resumed without further process.
"Fifthly. All lands granted on the shores of rivers, which may be found desirable by Government to render navigable, or to improve the facilities which they may offer for navigation, are to be held liable to pay their allotted proportion of the expense necessary to effect such improvements, in the ratio of the extent of frontage which these lands may have upon such improveable rivers."
"LIABILITIES WHICH ARE NOT PERMANENT.
"First. The intention of the circular notice issued by His Majesty's Government, and dated Colonial Office, 13th January, 1829, and hereunto appended, being, that the property imported and made the foundation of a claim for land, shall be duly applied to its cultivation and improvement ; any evasion of this principle, by re-exportation or otherwise, if proved within three years of the date of the grant, will render it subject to forfeiture—or if, within that term, it be proved that the statements made by applicants in obtaining grants were not substantially true, the same shall revert to the Crown.
"Secondly. A right will be reserved to the Government, acting on the Report of the Commissioners of Crown Property, to assign, within three years, the proper boundaries of grants; and if the quantity of land be thereby lessened, an equivalent in extent shall be awarded within the same county.
"Thirdly. It being the intention of Government £hat every allotment shall be improved to the extent of 1s. 6d. per acre within three years of the date of the grant, grantees are bound, on pain of forfeiture, to make such improvements in that period as may be agreed upon between themselves and the Government at the time of obtaining the grant; and if a fourth part of these improvements be not effected within the three first years, the grantee shall be liable to pay on demand to the Government a fine of 6d. per acre.
"Fourthly. It being also the intention of Government, that the power of alienating allotments shall not rest with grantees until they shall have effected the improvements above-mentioned, to the extent of 1s. 6d. per acre, and shall have proved the same to the satisfaction of the Lieut. Governor, and shall have obtained from the latter a certificate to that effect, grantees shall not alienate their allotments until such certificate be obtained, on pain of forfeiture of their grants. Grantees or their representatives shall not quit the territory until they shall have obtained the certificate of cultivation and improvement, and thereby completed their title, on pain of forfeiture, except in cases where permission to that effect shall have been obtained from the Lieutenant Governor.
"Fifthly. Allotments will be subject to maintain all settlers who may have been brought to the Settlement at the expense of the grantee, if such Settlers shall have become chargeable to Government within three years after their arrival,
These "Regulations and Instructions" will affect the persons who may arrive in the Colony after the expiration of the current year, as well as those who are already established there; except in those cases wherein they are superseded by the Regulations subsequently issued from the Colonial Office, for example, under the head of liabilities which are not permanent, for eighteen pence an acre, the new comer must read, three shillings; for ten years—four years
Although, from each of these counties containing 1,024000 acres, they will be considerably larger than most of the counties in England, they will, in fact, from being squares, be much more convenient for their local administration and dispatch of public business. Several of the counties at home are sixty miles in extent, and the larger ones considerably more; but the counties in Western Australia will be about 40 miles square.
The reservation of land for the endowment of schools will be extremely gratifying to every benevolent and pious mind, and ought to excite the gratitude of each inhabitant of the Settlement. During the infancy of a colony, the means of instruction to children are generally very limited. Schoolmasters are established in few situations within any convenient distance of several families. Parents are too frequently so unavoidably engrossed in raising the necessaries of life, as to have little leisure for cultivating the minds of their children; and, from necessity, the children themselves are employed in such occupations as their strength will permit, at earlier ages than is customary in districts where population is numerous. Under these circumstances, it is very pleasing to observe the parental care evinced, by the appropriation of land for the support of institutions which will not fail to promote the moral and intellectual welfare of the children of the Settlement.
But, as a Christian and a priest, I cannot refrain from expressing my joy and exultation at the reservation of land, instead of tithes, for the endowment of churches. In this country, although land was originally granted with the payment of its tithes charged upon it, (and thus tithes are the most ancient inheritance in the kingdom) and although the land has been held for more than a thousand years[3] with this tax upon it, it cannot be denied that tithes, or payments in lieu thereof, are rendered with the greatest reluctance, and by many considered rather as a burthen upon the public, and a tyrannical tax upon agriculture, than a rent charge upon each particular farm. The landed proprietor rarely considers that his estate was purchased at a lower rate, in consequence of this legal incumbrance upon it. The tithe-payer does not seem to be aware, that if tithes were abolished the public would derive no advantage, and that he himself would only be nominally benefited, for his landlord would undoubtedly increase his rent to the amount of the payment from which his farm would be relieved. If a landlord raises his rent, little is said, unless it be to a greater extent than the yearly value of the land. But if an incumbent attempt to increase the payments which his predecessor has received, even if these payments are only one-fourth of the actual value of the tithes, the whole neighbourhood will exclaim against his "unsatiable avarice" and "illegal extortion." In nineteen parishes out of twenty, even Rectors do not receive more than a tenth of the amount of rent and parochial payments instead of a tenth of the produce, to which the law entitles them. And yet the public prints report the revenues of the Church to be "enormous," and the weathercock writer and lecturer of the day, tells the.labouring classes how much they are oppressed by the tyrannical imposition of tithes. These are not the only evils. The law of tithes is, perhaps, less understood by the laity than any other law in the kingdom; and hence (for I will not attribute it to obstinacy or a wish to defraud) arises that litigation, so very unpleasant to any man, much more to a clergyman; so ruinous in expence to both parties, and such a fertile source of various evil passions, diametrically contrary to that Gospel which teaches us meekness, justice, brotherly love, and "to render to all their dues." Far be it from me to condemn the payment of tithes for the support of the clergy. It is that which God himself laid upon his own people Israel; it is that which the laws of this country, for many hundred years, have recognized and upheld; but I cannot avoid lamenting the consequences which too commonly arise from a system in itself equitable, both to priest and people.
The member of the Church of England and the sincere Christian of any denomination, will indeed rejoice at the ample appropriation of land for the erection of churches, &c. and the maintenance of the Ministers who officiate in them. Land which is given either to any body of men, or for any religious or charitable purpose, cannot be any burden upon the community, to whom it must be of little consequence whether an estate be held by a Bishop or an Earl. The reservation of land for the support of the clergy is the most equitable in itself, and more advantageous to them than any other mode of remuneration for their service.
I thank God that the appropriation of land for the support of the clergy in Western Australia, will prevent all evil feelings and litigation between them and their parishioners respecting their dues: and I pray Him that they may ever look upon each other with feelings of kindness and respect, and may there never be but one contest between them—never decided but always doubtful—a contest whether the clergy best perform their duty to the people, or the people theirs to the clergy and their God.
But to return:—The proprietor or occupier of land in this Settlement will not only hold it discharged from the payment of tithes, but freed also from those county charges which press so heavily upon the farmer at home. The reservation of land to meet these expences, and for other purposes, is certainly a bonus, and a saving also either to the Colony or the United Kingdom. If they were to be defrayed by a tax upon the county, it would be felt severely by the landholder at present; and murmurs would undoubtedly arise if they were paid out of the public purse of the mother country.
As every one may unquestionably do what he will with his own, the Crown has a right to grant lands under such conditions or restrictions as it thinks proper to impose; and settlers solicit grants under certain "Regulations" with which they are fully acquainted, and they have no more right to be dissatisfied at the reservation of half a county for Government purposes than a farmer can justly complain, that a landlord will let him only a part of his estate, and retain the remainder for his own use. It might have been reasonably expected that as all the land in "Western Australia" belonged to the Crown, a large portion of it would have been reserved for the private revenue of the Sovereign, but all is most generously given up to the Colony ; not an acre is reserved but for the public good.
The restriction of grants of land to those counties which may be prepared for location, will condense the inhabitants of the Settlement within proper bounds, and they will thus be enabled to render that mutual assistance and protection to each other, which, if they were more widely scattered, would be totally out of their power. And if persons were permitted to take up their grants wherever they pleased, in any unallotted part of the Settlement, the whole country would be interspersed with patches of land, greatly in the way of any extensive capitalist, who would naturally wish to take up his grant in one place, without the annoyance of having it intersected by the estate of another; and it is most probably for this reason, that those who are only entitled to a part of a section are obliged to accept it wherever the local Government may appoint, for a whole district would be greatly deteriorated, if the most valuable parts of it were engrossed by petty proprietors, to the no small loss and inconvenience of those who are entitled to considerable allotments, which, on account of their extent, must include land of inferior quality, as well as of the best description.
The straight lines by which the complete sections are bounded, will, in fact, become the boundaries of estates; and hence much of that dispute and litigation which is caused by the vague and irregular boundaries of property in other countries will be avoided, and settlers, by having their land marked out by straight lines, will take up their grants with much more regularity and proximity to each other than otherwise might be the case. Besides, the allotment of land in squares is the most equitable means of dividing it. Persons must then "take rough and smooth together," and thus prior or more knowing claimants will be precluded from selecting all the most valuable and easily-cultivated spots, to the manifest injury of those who were obliged to content themselves with what they considered not worth their selection.
The Regulation relative to the extent of frontage upon a river, will prevent a few from engrossing all the (at present) most valuable land in the Colony, which they soon would, if they were permitted to take the number of sections to which they were entitled in continuation along the bank of a river, by which means their estates would be daily becoming more valuable, and all those who were obliged to take up their grants in the interior would, in more senses than one, "remain in the back ground."
The reservation of land for general and county purposes, is, in fact, a bonus to the settler to the value of the charges from which he will be thus exonerated. As population increases, and land is progressively taken up, the Government reserves may readily be let upon leases, and as they expire, may he re-let upon rents which will meet the increasing expenses of the county.
The refusal to grant land beyond the limits of counties opened for location, will be attended with the three-fold advantage of making the march of colonization advance in regular order—of condensing the population to their mutual protection and assistance—and preventing land being taken up in spots in the interior of the country to the inconvenience of those who might come up to them in the general progress of allotment.
The irregular boundaries of estates at home are attended with great inconvenience in many instances, and sometimes are the fruitful source of expensive litigation ; but here the division of the land into sections by straight lines, will at once benefit the owner of the property from its compactness, and also prevent the boundaries from becoming the cause of dispute. It may perhaps appear hard that the settler, whose means will only authorize him to claim less than 640 acres, should be obliged to take it wherever it may be marked out for him, while the greater capitalist is permitted to select his grant. But here, as in other cases, private interest must give place to public good. Great injury to the community would be sustained if the allotment of extensive grants were impeded by patches of small estates, and these, doubtless, consisting of the choicest spots which could be found. We are, however, warranted to suppose, from the tenor of all the "Rules" and "Regulations," that every settler will be treated with equal justice, and that the advantage of the claimant of 100 acres will be as carefully regarded as that of the capitalist who is entitled to 10,000.
If persons were permitted to take their grants in any direction they pleased, all the most valuable land on the bank of the River would be engrossed by narrow yet extensive allotments, which would render the land to the rear of little value, and place those who possessed it at the mercy of those who might refuse to grant them that access to the river, which is so important. A fourth of the circumference of an estate of any magnitude being bounded by a river will be amply sufficient to afford it every advantage which can be derived from navigation or water for cattle.
The refusal to allow a person a second grant, until he has fulfilled the conditions of improvement upon his first, will have the beneficial effect of obliging him to keep a greater proportion of capital upon his allotment, than he would if permitted to remove his stock, or apply the receipts of his produce, or remittances to the acquisition of an additional grant. It is better to cultivate an hundred acres well, than five hundred indifferently. Settlers naturally wish to obtain as large a grant as possible, and that altogether; but it may be questioned whether it would not be highly advisable for the settler at first to content himself with one fourth of the number of acres to which his claim has been admitted by the Board of Council, and thus employ four times the capital upon it with industry and spirit. His returns would be great and speedy. He would acquire an accurate knowledge of the country, and might, when experience suggested, and opportunity offered, take up the remainder of the land to which he is entitled in such other part of the Colony which he is convinced is peculiarly valuable, either from its fertility or its situation; and the price he would receive for his small but well cleared estate, would enable him to cultivate his new and more extensive grant with much more spirit and effect. I am fully persuaded that by this system he would, at the expiration of twenty years, be a much richer and more extensive proprietor than any of those who possessed equal capital and industry, but who at first grasped at every acre they could claim, and for the period of probation found their best exertions must be devoted not for the comfortable support of their families, or for the acquisition of wealth, but to make those trifling yet general improvements, without which their land will be forfeited. I make this remark with confidence from a passage contained in a recently-received communication from him whose letter the narrative is compiled from. "His Excellency the Governor has this month opened another district about eighty miles to the South of the Swan River, at Port Leschenault, where there is better anchorage for shipping, a river (the Preston) clearer from impediments, and the soil better than upon the Swan and Canning. The good soil is found here even within a mile of the sea-shore, and continues inland for ten or twelve miles. I mention this not from hearsay, but from personal observation; the Governor having done me the honour to take me with a few other settlers in his boat on an exploring expedition to this port. We were absent three weeks, and consequently had the opportunity of surveying it with attention, and judging of its capabilities. I am so much pleased with all I saw, that I intend, with my brother, to remove, and take up my permanent grant there. The Governor has already sent down twenty-six settlers, seventeen privates, and four women, with a surgeon. It is his intention to take up a ship now lying in Gage's Roads as a Colonial vessel, and she is now loading with goods and passengers, who are to sail immediately for Port Leschenault. I have no doubt that, with proper industry, we shall all do better there than in the country round about Perth, for the climate is cooler and certainly the land preferable, and therefore on both accounts better adapted to the growth of vegetables and corn."
It is necessary that servants and labourers should be under the reasonable control of their employers, and that a code of laws should be framed to punish the evil-doers; but at present it is understood that those who are in authority in the Settlement have but limited power, and numerous complaints have reached us, that many of those labourers who were taken out by thoughtless employers, without any regard to their moral or religious characters, have been idle and refractory in consequence of the non-existence of summary or effective laws to compel them to fulfil their contract; and it cannot be denied that the scarcity of working hands, and the consequent high price of labour in the Colony, prompt the labourer to grumble at those conditions which he once joyfully accepted; and by idleness, perverseness, and other ill-conduct, to urge his master to dismiss him, that he may obtain greater wages at the usual prices of the Colony.
While we hope that laws will speedily be enacted for the administration of justice in the Colony, we must admit that the 8th Regulation provides a most effective check upon the conduct of the working classes, by a refusal to allow them a grant till the prescribed period of their servitude be expired; nor even then, if they have not fulfilled the conditions of the contract under which they were brought to the Settlement.
It may at first sight appear singular, that the building lots in the town of Perth shall be confined to less than an acre, but on consideration we must commend that policy which at present prevents the monopolization of large portions of the intended site, and the subsequent sale of them in small lots at very high prices; under the present system, each lot is of sufficient extent for the erection of a house and such other buildings as are usually erected in towns, and also to form a garden as large as can reasonably be desired for a private family; and from the smallness of these lots, the houses which are built upon them will be nearer together, and thus the appearance of the town will be greatly improved, and general convenience and protection be more readily afforded. The reserves of land in the neighbourhood of towns will be a great accommodation to those who might wish to have a few acres in the vicinity of the capital or a market town, for general purposes, or for the erection of a villa, when increase of wealth should induce them to leave their allotment up the country for relaxation or pleasure; and here again speculation and monopoly are both prevented; for these lots will be awarded in the small proportion of one acre to each thousand possessed by the applicant; and thus every settler who desires it, may have a small but valuable property in the immediate vicinity of any town his inclination or advantage may point out.
The admission of persons entitled, from half pay or pension, to grants in the Settlement, will probably induce military and naval officers to emigrate thither ; but it may be doubted whether they will derive much advantage from the possession of land, for the cultivation of which it may be presumed they are not adapted, either by previous habits or experience; but though they cannot be expected at first to derive any profit from their agricultural labours, they may certainly find amusement and occupation, and obtain a partial subsistence from their gardens or farm;—their cattle will multiply, their grants wilt gradually become more valuable, as the population of the Colony increases, and from the annual remittances to which they are entitled for their past services, they will, with common prudence, be enabled to make some provision for their families, which the expences attendant upon a residence in the United Kingdom would not permit them to save.
Persons who are employed in the Colony under Government enjoy great privileges from being permitted to take grants on the same terms as those who hold no official situations. And though, from the attention they are required to pay to their duties, they are not permitted to reside upon their allotments, they may, by means of a faithful steward, improve their land to advantage, greater perhaps than if they superintended it themselves.
The division of town lots into small quantities, will at once benefit the community by the restriction thus imposed upon monopoly—improve the appearance of the town, and promote the convenience of the inhabitants, by the contiguity of the houses to each other. The letting these lots upon leases, will save the enormous expence of purchasing any freeholds which may be eventually required for public purposes or improvement.
The distribution of small lots in the vicinity of towns will effectually prevent the most valuable land from being engrossed upon speculation, and perhaps, in a short time, retailed at an immense profit to those who are eager to obtain a little land near a town. The indispensable registry of sales and mortgages of land, which is so desirable in every country, will be of great importance and utility here; fraud and litigation will be alike prevented. Titles to estates can be made with greater facility, and it may be presumed that it will not be necessary to make the expensive and redundant conveyances which appear to be required in the transfer of real property at home. It has been supposed from the term "absentee," in the 12th Regulation, that persons who are resident in England may send out capital and agents to obtain and manage land in the Colony. If this were the case, we should have joint-stock companies and speculators in abundance, who would dabble in land as well as in "the Alley." Persons who intend to become bankrupts—I beg their pardon—to become "unfortunate in business," would dispatch their emissaries to obtain an allotment, and build a house for their reception as soon as the usual certificate would cancel their obligations to their creditors. But upon inquiry at the Colonial Office, I was informed that no person would be permitted to obtain a grant in the Colony unless he applied for it in person. When he has obtained it, he may appoint an agent to act for him, and then absent himself from the Settlement, provided he obtains the Governor's permission, (see the 4th Rule of the "liabilities which are not permanent,") which we may presume will not be granted, but upon reasonable grounds nor even then for a permanency.
It may properly be observed that, with respect to the property which may entitle a settler to an allotment of land, it will be estimated by the Commissioners, as is said in the Regulations, by a fair standard of reference, such as they may see fit to adopt; and it may be a natural enquiry how that estimation will be made, whether by its actual cost and freight out, or its value when in the Colony ? As this is a point not absolutely and in express terms defined, a conjecture that the price, cost, freight, and other charges, which may be attendant, will be the scale that may actuate the local Government, as it is believed that this would be a fair mode ; and from every thing that has hitherto characterized the Government, the greatest liberality may be expected in considering what shall be styled property as a "capital" to procure an allotment, and how an estimation shall be made of the same.
But, strange to say, money will not be considered as "capital;" for otherwise, a number of settlers going up in succession with the same bag of sovereigns, might take up half the land in the Colony.—When the claimant has ascertained the number of acres to which he is entitled, he may select his grant in any district which may be opened for location, wherever the land be not reserved by Government or taken up by prior applicants. The advantage of this is self-evident; and the privilege of selection silences every complaint which disappointment may utter of the barrenness of the soil, or the inconvenience of situation. The settler chose it for himself, and therefore can only blame his own want of judgment, or of diligence in not fixing upon a more eligible spot.
In regard to the "permanent liabilities of grants," all that need be said is, the first affords additional security to the grantee and subsequent purchaser of an estate. The second is just, and the third is understood before hand, and therefore cannot be considered as a hardship, or the ground of the slightest complaint. The estates which are on the banks of rivers are very valuable in themselves, and will be rendered more so in proportion to the improvement of the navigation of rivers by which they are bounded, and the increase of traffic upon them; and it is only reasonable that every estate should be charged with a fair proportion of the expence of the improvement which has so greatly added to its value.
Among the "liabilities which are not permanent" we find every precaution to prevent fraud, and to excite industry; and I would particularly urge the settler to have, if possible, the clearest understanding as to the nature and extent of the improvements which he may become bound to make.
If the estates of settlers were not chargeable with the maintenance of the persons who have been brought out and located upon them by their owners, the Colony might be burdened with aged and helpless persons sent out by parishes in England, who would be glad to pay the emigrant a handsome sum for decoying them beyond the probability of their return, and be thus relieved from the expence of their support. As this liability will exist only for three years after the arrival of each person brought out, it presents no check to the importation of labourers, but a useful caution to the settler, to take out those only who are healthy, and not more than middle aged.
And now, Reader, from a minute and deliberate consideration of these Regulations, allow me to ask, if you were permitted to emigrate to Western Australia upon your own terms, could you make any more conducive to your real interest than those before us? Is there any harsh condition or unjust exertion of power? All is laid before you candidly and honourably. If you choose to proceed to the Colony, it must be at your own risk, responsibility, and expence.
An allotment of as much land as you can possibly cultivate, or reasonably wish for, will be given you upon this most generous condition, that you will improve it for your own advantage, otherwise it will revert to the Crown. This proviso, so far from being a hardship, is the greatest kindness which can be conferred upon the settler; for if he were to receive his grant without being obliged to improve it in a given time, he might injure his family by inactivity or procrastination.
- ↑ A dooley is. a sort of palanquin.
- ↑ Vide Observations on Rules 5 and 6.
- ↑ Councils were assembled of the spiritual and secular powers of England, in the year 786, where an ordinance was passed de decimis dandis, and thus the payment of tithes became the law of the land.—Vide Toller on Tithes, 2d Edit. p. 7.