215 



bia wants, he applies for it, and is not put in posses- 

 sion. As soon as is practicable* it is, at the applicant's 

 expense, surveyed. It is then advertized, and, after 

 the expiration of one month, is put up to auction and 

 sold probably to somebody else, who, a thousand 



tiles off, may have been advised by letter that 

 ie spec is a good one, or possibly to some 

 .ie nearer at hand, who, not having taken any 

 trouble, nor expended either time or money in its 

 selection, is, of course, in a position to pay more 

 for it. But if the land is knocked down to our 

 settler, he must pay 10 per cent, of the purchase 

 money down, and 10 per cent, on the balance 

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



I if Jones had taken a grant of 4,000 acres, under 

 the old rules, he would have nothing to pay for 

 fifteen years, and then only an average of d. an 

 acre on three-fourths, or 75 per annum, for the 

 next eighty-four years ; but if he now takes a similar 

 grant, he 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 



I 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 iiow must, 





* One surveyor has been sanctioned for Assam a province con- 

 taining some five or six millions of acres of waste land. 



