THE LAND QUESTION AND THE EARLY SALES 201 



into the method of dealing with its property. It was not unreason- 

 ably regarded as the asset which should bear the outlay incurred in 

 founding the settlement, as well as the cost of its maintenance and 

 development. 



In 1824 the Secretary of State directed that the whole territory 

 of New South Wales should be surveyed and divided into counties, 

 hundreds and parishes, the area of the latter being fixed approxi- 

 mately at twenty-five square miles. This was with a view to arrang- 

 ing an average price for each parish, at which any intending settler 

 should be entitled to purchase the fee simple up to the extent of 

 about 10,000 acres. Although the terms indicated were cash, payable 

 in four quarterly instalments, the regulations provided certain con- 

 ditions under which the employment and maintenance of a certain 

 number of convict labourers would commute such payment, or ensure 

 its refund by the Government after a given time. Further, there 

 were complicated conditions covering reduced and deferred payments, 

 extending up to twenty-five years, in consideration of proved inten- 

 tion to expend capital on the land equal to half its value. These 

 regulations showed the hopeless ignorance of the nominal rules of 

 the colony as to its geographical character and social requirements, 

 and their impracticability was promptly recognised by Governor 

 Darling, who wisely disregarded them. 



After some years of indecision, a new series of regulations was 

 promulgated by Lord Eipon in 1831, when some 4,000,000 of acres 

 in all had been alienated. These finally abolished the issue of any 

 further grants to colonists, and decreed that all lands should in 

 future be sold by public auction at an upset price. The minimum at 

 first fixed for country lands was five shillings per acre, which in 1839 

 was raised to twelve shillings, and in 1840, so far as the Port Phillip 

 district was concerned, to twenty shillings per acre. This last in- 

 crease was not based upon any theory of supply and demand, but 

 was apparently to secure uniformity, the price of 1 per acre having 

 been adopted by the new colony of South Australia under the Wake- 

 field r&glme. The Board of "Colonial Land and Emigration Com- 

 missioners," which was appointed by the British Government in 

 1840, was responsible for the increase. This action seems to indicate 

 that the Commissioners, who were largely interested in the South 



