ii8 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



certain right to a grant l and the settlers from England had the 

 support of the Secretary of State, while the native-born had 

 only their own unaided merits. Bigge thought that these young 

 people had been treated with neglect, especially those who were 

 the children of convicts. He suggested that the same capital 

 need not be required from them as from immigrants, and that 

 they might receive small grants of land with greater generosity. 2 

 In general, land was given to any one who asked for it and who 

 had the means of cultivating and stocking it But the Governor 

 had complete, unfettered and unquestioned power to refuse such 

 a request without further explanation. 3 Under these circum- 

 stances some obtained land very easily while others had to wait 

 for it. Occasionally old settlers received new grants and with 

 them the indulgences of new settlers ; but though, on the face of 

 it, this seemed a corrupt practice, Bigge, who inquired into it, 

 decided that it had only been permitted in cases of hardship 

 where the settler had suffered some unexpected or overwhelm- 

 ing misfortune. 4 



The failure to increase in any great degree the agricultural 

 output of the Colony is obvious from the figures alone. While 

 Macquarie was writing vague but favourable accounts of progress, 

 the returns of the General Musters were telling a tale of agri- 

 cultural stagnation. In 1810, 21,000 acres had been cleared, and 

 7,500 acres had been under cultivation. In the five years 

 which followed some progress was made, for in 1815, 36,700 

 acres were returned as cleared and 19,000 under cultivation; 

 and the progress is the greater because the population had 

 altered very little. 5 But between 1815 and 1820 the popula- 



1 See Governor's Instructions, H.R., VII. The " right " was, of course, not 

 a legal right, but it was a kind of moral one. 



2 Bigge's Report, III. Bigge also suggested the foundation of a school of 

 agriculture where youths of this class especially might learn practical farming 

 at Government expense. 



Macquarie refused altogether to give grants to single women. A Miss 

 Walker, a woman of some fortune, asked for one and received the answer that, 

 " according to the regulations laid down," the Governor could not give grants to 

 ladies. See Correspondence with Bigge, igth January, 1821. R.O., MS. Ap- 

 pendix to Bigge's Reports. 



3 This was recognised by the Colonial Office, who seldom took up any settler's 

 complaint. 



4 Bigge, Report III. 



s The figures are given in round numbers. In 1810 the population was 

 10,452, in 1815 it was 12.911. 



