of grants of three, four or five thousand acres in chosen localities. These great estates lay chiefly in the Sydney and Paramatta districts. In these, 66,938 acres were occupied, of which 56,939 were given over to pasture and less than a tenth to crops. At the Hawkesbury more than a third of the area occupied was under crop or lying fallow, and only 18,000 acres were used for pasture. In this district small holdings were the general rule.
As early as 1805 Governor King spoke of the scarcity and "exorbitant" cost of labour.[1] He attributed it to the common practice pursued by the colonists of obtaining larger grants than they could afford to cultivate themselves and then letting out the surplus. It was a bad system, and was one cause of the growing jealousy felt by Government against large estates. It created a wholly unnecessary class of middlemen, and by increasing the amount of land on the market weakened one of the incentives to good conduct for the convict, making it less important for him to earn his grant during the period of servitude. The need for labour, however, was not likely to be great so long as pastoral farming held first place, for climate and natural grasses favoured even careless breeding. While a few men of enterprise and foresight were occupied in improving fleeces with a view to exporting wool, both sheep and cattle brought large profits to those who bred for slaughter only. But the amount of stock in the Colony was not yet sufficient to guarantee a constant supply and salted meat was still sent from England. To check wasteful destruction of cattle and also cattle-stealing, Government officials supervised all slaughtering and received a fee for so doing.
There was, indeed, no freedom of trade, internal or external. The two staple products, meat and wheat, found their chief market with the Government, and were bought at a set price approved by the Governor. Following the English custom, the retail bakers sold their loaves at a cost fixed each week by the Sydney bench of magistrates, who based their decision on the price of corn in the market. The bakers were also ordered by the same authorities to make their bread of a certain fineness, or in times of scarcity of a certain coarseness of grain.
- ↑ H.R., VI., p. 39, King to Earl Camden, 15th March, 1805.
