THE SQUATTERS' VICTORY 139 



under discussion in official circles when the thoughts 

 of all were absorbed in the vital question of protection 

 versus free-trade. Lord Stanley disappeared from 

 office with the fall of the Peel ministry, and, in England 

 at least, the question went to sleep for a time. 



But not for long. A new Secretary of State, Lord 

 Howick, soon to become Earl Grey, succeeded to Lord 

 Stanley. He too was masterful, even perverse, and ill 

 to deal \^ith. He quickly discerned the way the wind 

 was blowing. In his very first year of office, 1846, he 

 already expressed his willingness to grant leases. He 

 said, quite incorrectly, that Governor Gipps had re- 

 commended the granting of eight years' leases. He 

 could not but perceive that English opinion was steadily 

 growing favourable to the concession. He confessed 

 that it was thought by his predecessors and himself that 

 such a change should be made as would prevent the 

 squatters from continuing in a state of barbarism. A 

 bill was introduced in 1846, and Orders-in-Council 

 of 1847 gave effect to it, which provided for the granting 

 of leases for a maximum term of fourteen years, with 

 an average term of eight years. The right of pre- 

 emption was conceded. The squatters had gained all 

 that they asked for, and far more than they can ever 

 have hoped to obtain. 



The effect \vas immediate. Possessed with a feeling 

 of security they had never before known, the squatters 

 everywhere began to make " improvements." They 

 fenced, and were the better able to cope with the ravages 

 of disease in their flocks and herds. They built stock- 

 yards and commodious woolsheds, and were in a posi- 

 tion to perfect their breeds and accurately class their 

 wool. They built houses and could now, in most cases, 

 first offer a home to women of their own class, who 

 introduced the elegancies of life where rudeness had 

 prevailed, brought civilisation into the midst of bar- 

 barism, and refined the manners of the men who had 

 already sunk some degrees in the social scale and were 

 in danger of sinking further. They had lived from 



