Page:The founding of South Australia.djvu/57

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A JOINT STOCK LAND COMPANY.
51


in the conveyance to the colony of young pauper labourers of both sexes in equal numbers.

"The selection of the emigrants to be made by the directors of the company so long as the company shall continue to advance money to defray the expenses of the government of the colony, careful regard being had to the ages of the emigrants, who, generally speaking, should not exceed twenty-live years.

"4. The minimum price of Government land to be advanced from time to time as the circumstances of the colony may admit.

"It is proposed that the first minimum price should be 5s. per acre: the necessity of such a regulation as this is therefore apparent. Five shillings an acre will give £100 as the price of 400 acres; this sum would convey to the colony six persons, three men and three women. The labour of three men is, however, obviously insufficient for the cultivation of 400 acres of land, and the advantages which are expected to arise from this plan cannot be realized in any great degree until the price shall be so raised as that the purchase money of the 400 acres shall suffice for the passage of as many labourers as are required to cultivate it effectively. The precise sum which it would be expedient to demand as minimum price of land must be left to experience to determine, but, as artificers of various kind must be provided for the colony, as well as mere farm-labourers, it is evident that a considerable increase in the minimum price would be desirable.

"The reasons for the low price fixed upon as the minimum price at first are—the fact of that being the price of land in the other Australasian settlements, and the necessity of offering some premium to the persons who undergo the hardships and incur the risks of the first settlement, and to give to the company a sufficient inducement to undertake the expense of founding the colony.

"5. A land tax, or a tax upon rent, to be levied