[GILPIN] LAND GRANTS IN NOVA SCOTIA 125 



war with France, had little time to study the details of colonizing 

 Nova Scotia. 



On May 29th, 1759, grants were passed of the townships of Horton 

 and Cornwallis, followed by grants of similar townships at Granville, 

 Cobequid, Onslow and Annapolis. This tide of immigration from 1759 

 to 1761 was from the New England colonies. 



It was followed by one of Irish and Scottish nationality from 1761 

 to 1763, and by Loyalists during and after the war with the United 

 States. 



So general had been the tide of settlement that in 1763 there were 

 nineteen townships, containing 1,861,000 acres of land, and settled by 

 1797 families. In 1767 there were thirty townships with a population of 

 13,374. 



In 1763, Cape Breton was ceded to England, and passed under the 

 administration of the Governor of Nova Scotia. It was erected into a 

 separate province in 1784, and re-annexed to Nova Scotia in 1820. Its 

 mineral reserves will form a separate note. 



The accompanying table shows the sequence of the mineral reserva- 

 tions. Up to the year 1763 coal was not reserved. Afterwards it was 

 reserved, except in a few cases between the years 1763 and 1767. From 

 the year 1808 iron ore was reserved. It follows, therefore, that in many 

 of the older townships grants issued between 1759 and 1785 the Crown 

 does not profit by the mining of this ore. This is notably the case in the 

 grants of Guysboro, Londonderry, Nictaux and Clementsport, and in 

 numerous large blocks of land granted to the Loyalists, and early Scotch 

 settlers in Antigonish, Pictou and Colchester counties. 



The grant of the township of Annapolis may be taken as an example 

 of the contradictory and confusing manner in which the mineral grants 

 were handled. On August 4th, 1759, the township was set off to contain 

 100,000 acres, and grants issued thereunder to 112 of the 200 shares. 

 On October 6th of the same year, 45 more shares were conveyed. On 

 the 12th of the same month 35 more shares were allotted. In these, 

 there was no reservation of minerals. However, on October 30th, 1765, 

 these grants were surrendered and new ones issued, containing reserva- 

 tions of gold, silver, coals, etc. In addition in many of the old grants 

 some of the lots were not occupied, or were abandoned. These lots were 

 frequently applied for under later grants, thereby introducing much 

 confusion about the mineral reservations. 



The reservations of 1808 continued in force until the mineral grants 

 were taken out of the hands of the Provincial Government. 



In the year 1825 numerous applications for coal leases were con- 

 sidered by the English Treasury. As it appeared that in the year 1788, 

 His Majesty's Government had recommended that a grant of the minerals 



