The Poor and the Land 



be laid under water. We consider that six 

 morgen is sufficient to support a man and his 

 family. Of course, a colonist may have to 

 wait for two years, or even longer, before he 

 can obtain a piece of ground, for the simple 

 reason that water must be led to each erf and 

 the trees cut down. The cost of clearing and 

 levelling an erf of six morgen is 300, and it 

 takes us about one month. We are spending 

 100 per week in labour alone in preparing the 

 ground for farm crops, or, in other words, 

 5200 per annum." 



" Do you give freehold to the settler ? " 

 " No ; that is vested in the colony. It might 

 happen that a settler did not work his land, and 

 we must have the power to take it away and to 

 give it to someone more deserving. Moreover, 

 a settler must pay a rental of 10 per annum for 

 his six morgen. But we do not ask any pay- 

 ment the first year ; the second he pays 2, 

 and so on each year until he reaches the maxi- 

 mum sum namely, 10. As the majority of 

 the people who come to us are quite destitute, we 

 advance them a small sum to buy a tent and a 

 few of the necessaries of life. But the very first 

 day the head of the family can get work on the 

 furrow. It may interest you to know that close 



85 



