352 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



Government wavered, were bullied into withdrawing notices of sales 

 more than once, and tried to find a solution in counsel's opinion. 

 But definitiveness and unanimity that might have strengthened the 

 Governor's hands were not thus to be found. At first, the law 

 officers of the Crown in New South Wales gave an opinion (3rd 

 January, 1848) that the Government had the power to sell the land 

 despite the protests of the pastoral tenant. Later on (October, 1850), 

 when a contested sale was about to be enforced, the same authorities 

 advised that such sale would not be in accordance with the spirit 

 of the Order in Council. As separation was just then imminent, 

 Mr. Latrobe decided to hold his hand until his own law officers 

 were appointed. In July, 1851, when the conflicting interests were 

 becoming acute, Messrs. Stawell and Barry advised him that while 

 the Crown could reserve from lease and sell, unaffected by any claim 

 of pre-emption, sites for towns, and such adjacent lands as might 

 be required for the formation and maintenance of such towns, yet 

 the Governor would not be justified in reserving for sale land in 

 the squatting districts with a view to meeting the prospective wants 

 of the community. The question was practically left unanswered, 

 and its discussion continued for many years to provide fat fees for 

 distinguished counsel, both in the colony and in Great Britain. 

 Though a wide diversity of opinion resulted, the preponderance was 

 decidedly in favour of the squatters, though not conceding all they 

 contended for. The congested state of Government business blocked 

 the issue of the leases, which were never completed. The applicants 

 clamoured for them, and the new-comers who had money, and 

 wanted land, clamoured even more loudly against what they de- 

 nounced as an unjustifiable monopoly. The vehemence with which 

 the Crown tenants demanded their legal rights, or an equivalent 

 compensation, provoked their opponents into an ungenerous denial 

 of any relief. The most eminent counsel in England, Sir Eoundell 

 Palmer, gave an emphatic opinion that the squatters were justified 

 in their claims, but he could advise no way of enforcing them if the 

 representative of the Crown denied them. 



Mr. Latrobe was between two fires. He was jealous for the 

 honour of his Sovereign's pledged word, though he saw clearly that 

 it had been given under a misapprehension of the surroundings, 



