88 



money down, and 10 per cent, on the balance for 

 ten years to come, or forfeit it if he fails. Thus, if 

 Jones had taken a grant of 4,000 acres, under the 

 old rules, he would have nothing to pay for fifteen 

 } T ears, and then only an average of tid an acre on 

 three fourths, or 75 per annum, for the next eighty- 

 four years ; but if he now takes a similar grant, be 

 must pay down, in addition to the cost of the survey, 

 c. &c. 1,000, or 100 within three months of 

 the day of sale, and 90 per annum until he is able 

 or willing to pay the balance, under pain of having 

 the grant sold in satisfaction of the Government 

 claim. But the cruelest part of the arrangement is, 

 that, while under the old rules, he had a good title, 

 holding his land, as he now must, subject to any 

 4 rights of property ' third parties may establish in it, 

 under the new, he has not a saleable title at all.* 

 Under these circumstances, to my mind, the last 

 state of Jones is very much worse than the first. 

 On this point, however, we are saved the trouble of 

 surmising. Will settlers who hold grants under the 

 old, commute under the new rules ? 



I think that the concession of the sale of waste 

 lands in fee -simple was in expedient for many rea- 

 sons. In ordinary sales the seller fixes, with refer- 

 ence to the demand, present or anticipated, the price 

 he will take, and holds until he gets it ; or, watching 

 the fluctuations of the market, he often exercises a 



* No law on this subject has yet been passed. 



