198 QUIT RENTS. 



eighty dollars ; but the quit-rent, if a permanent 

 lease be taken out, would be two hundred dollars 

 a year, which leaves two hundred and eighty 

 dollars only to pay the interest of the money ori- 

 ginally spent on the property, exclusive of other 

 charges. This property is, however, to be dis- 

 posed of, at a sum amounting to about one-half 

 of what the owner expended in building on it ; 

 yet, with such a reduction, and although the 

 ground is so eligibly situated, no purchasers can 

 be found, solely because the prospect of paying 

 two hundred dollars a year quit-rent, deters 

 those who are willing to purchase, while it makes 

 the owner anxious to part with the property at a 

 great sacrifice. 



"We believe the local government is fully 

 sensible of the impolicy and ruinous conse- 

 quences of the present rate of rents ; and we 

 understand that the present governor, Mr. Ibbet- 

 son, even recommended a reduction, substituting 

 sicca rupees for dollars ; but that the Court of 

 Directors would not hear of such a thing, and 

 insisted on a strict observance of all Mr. Fuller- 

 ton's regulations, and an adoption of his prin- 

 ciples. We need scarcely add, the land-regula- 

 tions, now under review, were framed by the 

 latter gentleman. 



' ' It seems to us, that this refusal to accede to 



