LAND SALES. 245 



support one sheep to four acres. The inevitable 

 consequence was to prevent an augmentation of the 

 emigration fund, which inflicted a serious evil on 

 the colony, though by many the high price was con- 

 sidered a great boon, as it enabled them to enjoy, at 

 a trifling charge, immense back runs, as safe from 

 the intrusion of interlopers as if they had been 

 granted by the Crown in perpetuity. It is my 

 impression that the attempt to raise the largest 

 sum of money by the sale of the smallest number of 

 allotments is unwise, as it operates as a discourage- 

 ment to small capitalists, who wish to occupy the 

 land for themselves ; it would in the end be more 

 advantageous almost to give the land away, to a 

 certain extent, in order to encourage people to go 

 there. It may be worth remarking here, that on a 

 rough calculation the pound per acre system would 

 realise, supposing the whole continent were sold, 

 the sum of about £1,679,616,000. 



The most curious circumstance connected with 

 the division of land in New South Wales, is the un- 

 certainty that prevails respecting the boundary line 

 of estates, which must be the source of endless dis- 

 putes and expensive litigation among the colonists. 

 The whole arises from the system adopted of laying 

 down the boundaries by the magnetic north instead 

 of by the true. This is in itself no easy matter, 

 owing to the local attraction and the difficulty of 

 finding needles that agree. But the chief cause of 



