146 



A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



quit-rent 1 Finally no alteration was made. The exact amount 

 was for the moment quite unimportant, as few quit-rents were 

 collected before 1821 at the earliest. 2 In 1820 the Assistant- 

 Surveyor was appointed collector and assigned an extra allow- 

 ance for that duty. He proposed that where old grants had 

 been consolidated and new ones given he should wait until the 

 quit- rent became due under the new grant ; and that where land 

 had been transferred he should collect from the last person to 

 whom it had been transferred. 3 The amount then due including 

 arrears was no more than ^375- 4 



In 1821 Macquarie found that so many settlers arrived by 

 each ship that his old system of inquiring separately into each 

 case and giving grants in accordance with the settlers' merits 

 was no longer practicable. With Oxley's help he drew up a 

 scale of grants proportionate to the amount of capital at the 

 settlers' disposal, which came into force in i82i. 5 



Settlers with a capital of .100 received grants of 100 acres. 



200 

 300 

 400 

 500 

 750 

 1,000 



1,500 

 1,700 



2,000 

 2,500 



3,ooo 



2OO 



300 



400 



500 



640 



800 



1,000 



1,280 



1,500 

 1,760 



2,000 



To those who had larger capital than this Oxley proposed to 

 sell Crown lands at ros. or 7s. an acre. He proposed, also, the 

 following changes in the system of land distribution, all of which 

 met with Bigge's approbation. 



1 See D. ii, 7th October, 1814. R.O., MS. 



2 1^., since 1809. Certainly none had been collected in the towns, and there 

 are no accounts of its collection anywhere else. 



3 See Meehan to Macquarie, 3rd February, 1821. Appendix to Bigge's Re- 

 ports. R.O., MS. 



Bigge's Report, III. 



8 Bigge recommended this scale. See Report, III., and D. 32, 28th November, 

 1821. R.O., MS. 



