COLONIAL 1'OLICY. 299 



home; in New South Wales 10 per cent, is commonly received for 

 money borrowed. Therefore it must be evident, that the difficulty 

 of paying five shillings ready money for each acre of land, will almost 

 be equivalent to paying ten shillings for the same in annual instal- 

 ments. Should the ready money price of five shillings per acre be 

 found upon experiment too low, it will be very easy to raise it; yet 

 I should recommend that in case of the prosperity of the colony ad- 

 mitting of an increase, that the price be raised gradually for instance, 

 by adding one shilling every year, until the admitted proper price be 

 arrived at ; otherwise, a sudden change in the value of property, 

 already occupied, would take place, in proportion to the increased 

 price of the wild land, which might induce the coldnists to speculate 

 upon such a change, which they might represent as necessary to the 

 government, with a view to their own advantage. As in all other 

 commodities, the value of land is regulated by the quantity in the 

 market, and the difficulty and facility of acquiring it. If further 

 evidence were necessary to be adduced, it will be found amongst the 

 whole of the early settlements in North America. Since the far west 

 has been opened to the enterprise of the emigrant, the value of land 

 in those parts has not increased in many cases it has actually fallen ; 

 instances of which may be observed at the head of Lake Ontario, in 

 Upper Canada. Of course I do not allude to those parts of the coun- 

 try that have become sites for towns j and their vicinity, those spots 

 have risen in value to an enormous amount. 



One of the great advantages resulting from selling all lands, whe- 

 ther good or bad, at a regular fixed price, would be in causing the 

 settlers to concentrate themselves ; the whole country being equally 

 open for purchase at one price, there would not be the same induce- 

 ment held out to wander afar in search of a cheap location, or as the 

 Americans term it, " a good fix." The French, in their settlements 

 in Canada, have borne this object in view ; and a very material one 

 it is to the advancement of a colony ; few who have not been in a 

 new country can sufficiently appreciate the reciprocal benefit arising 

 from contiguous settlements. The French system of seigneuries was 

 admirably adapted to the age in which they were established ; with a 

 few modifications it would not be found inapplicable to the present 

 feelings of society. The Lower Canadian farms have only three 

 acres frontage upon the high road, or upon the river, which gives the 

 country the appearance of one continued village. Such concentration 

 of the inhabitants conduces admirably to preserve civilized habits, 

 and engender kindly feeling towards each other. 



As long as the stream of emigration flows into a colony, it is pre- 

 sumed that the annual receipts arising from the sale of wild lands, in 

 addition to a small duty upon imported goods, would be equivalent 

 to defraying the expenses of the government, civil and military, as 

 well as providing an income for making general improvements in the 

 colony j I allude particularly to roads connecting distant parts of the 

 country, the construction of harbours, building of light-houses on the 

 coast, &c. The facility of collecting such a revenue must be apparent. 



In order to provide for local improvements, and the expenses at- 

 t ending the interior government of each county, a land-tax should be 



