LAND, LABOUR AND COMMERCE. 1 1 r 



by him until May, 1811. He found in the grant certain condi- 

 tions of which he complained angrily, stating that in the original 

 compact in 1807 there had been no mention of conditions as to 

 capital, cultivation or residence. 1 Sir John Jamison, who had 

 some property left to him in New South Wales and went out in 

 1814, asked for a grant of 2,500 acres. His request was refused, 

 and Goulburn wrote to him that such promises had been made 

 in the past " when the inconvenience of improvident grants had 

 not been sufficiently known ". z 



These words give the key to the policy pursued with 

 tolerable consistency from 1812 until Bigge's Report of 1823, 

 a policy to which Macquarie fully assented. 3 " Large grants 

 of land to individuals," wrote Goulburn in 1820, "have been 

 the bane of all our Colonies, and it has been the main object 

 of Lord Bathurst's administration to prevent the extension of 

 this evil by every means in his power." 4 



From 1810 onwards no. acreage was specified in any order 

 for land given by the Colonial Office, but settlers were furnished 

 with letters to the Governor from the Secretary or Under-Secre- 

 tary of State directing him to grant them land in amounts 

 proportionate to the capital of which they could show them- 

 selves to be possessed. The area and location of a grant was 

 thus placed within the Governor's discretion. His Commission 

 restricted the former to 2,000 acres, unless special recommenda- 

 tion were transmitted to the Secretary of State. The Colonial 

 Office was probably not aware how often Macquarie overstepped 

 these limits without making any reference to the subject in his 

 despatches. 5 



In 1812 the following circular letter was drawn up for the 

 information of applicants : 



" Mr. Peel is directed by Lord Liverpool to acquaint . . . 



1 Townson, enclosure to letter of Wilberforce to C.O., igth April, 1817. R.O., 

 MS. 



3 Goulburn, Under-Secretary of State to Jamison, 3rd January, 1814. C.O., 

 MS. 



3 D., 3oth April, 1810. H.R., VII., p. 335. 



4 Goulburn to the Lord-Register of Scotland, ist December, 1820. R.O., MS. 

 He mentions 1,500 acres as too large a grant to be given to one man. 



5 Jamison, who only received a grant of 1,500 instead of 2,000 acres, gives five 

 instances of grants of 3,000 and four of 2,000 acres each. No special representations 

 had been made of any of these. Letter to C.O., roth July, 1819. R.O., MS. 



