THE LAND QUESTION AND THE EARLY SALES 207 



Sherbrooke, was one of the most vigorous representatives, and as 

 its claims received strong support from influential merchants in 

 England, the demands of the pastoralists were, upon the downfall of 

 Lord Stanley, conceded by his successor Earl Grey, and embodied in 

 the Act referred to. By the celebrated Orders in Council the colony 

 was divided into settled, intermediate, and unsettled districts. In the 

 first division the squatter could only obtain an annual license for occu- 

 pation without any rights of purchase : the lands coming under this 

 definition being those within twenty-five miles of Melbourne, fifteen 

 miles of Geelong, and ten miles of Portland, Belfast, Warrnambool 

 and Alberton, at that time the only considerable centres of settlement. 

 The intermediate division included all land outside the foregoing 

 reservations, in the counties of Bourke, Grant and Normanby, and 

 in this division the squatter might obtain a lease of his run for eight 

 years, with the right of pre-emption of 640 acres at 1 per acre at 

 any time during his tenancy. The area was limited to 16,000 acres 

 for each holding, and there was no provision for any right of renewal. 

 Finally, the unsettled districts, representing the rest of the colony, 

 were to be leased for fourteen years, in areas up to 32,000 acres, 

 with a right of renewal for a further period of five years, and the 

 still more valuable right of pre-emption to any extent during the 

 lease, while a special clause in the Orders (cap. 2, sect. 6) debarred 

 any person except the lessee from becoming a purchaser. 



It would be tedious and unprofitable to follow at length the bitter 

 controversies which raged round the so-called squatting monopoly. 

 It furnished very lively " copy " for the daily journals, and abundant 

 material for the most vituperative platform oratory. A class hatred 

 of a virulent kind was fomented, and found expression later on in 

 such sentiments as induced the people's tribune, Charles Jardine 

 Don, to call upon the colonists to "drive the squatters across the 

 Murray with their own stock whips ! " Much of this feeling was 

 based upon misapprehension of facts, and generally it may be said 

 to have ignored justice and fair dealing. 



The squatters certainly were entitled to some consideration, for 

 they had risked their capital, and faced the trials and privations 

 of opening up the country, which sometimes involved also the further 

 risk of their lives. And they paid a rental for their privileges, which, 



