94 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



of the increment should certainly be applied to the repayment of 

 the outlay from which it arose. But under the dead level of all the 

 Victorian Land Acts this principle was ignored, and the Government 

 continued to sell land at the uniform 1 per acre, alike to the buyer 

 for whose crop railway transit was adjacent as to the man who re- 

 quired many days' journey with bullock teams to reach his market. 

 The costly means of communication decided on had no effect in en- 

 hancing the value of the public estate to the community as a whole, 

 though it made many individual fortunes. The desire to meet the 

 requirements of the "poor selector," who was also an elector, led 

 Parliament so to extend the measure for his benefit that the final 

 Land Acts practically gave him his freehold for nothing, for the nomi- 

 nal payment of Is. a year for twenty years was only a moderate 

 rate of interest on the real value of the property. 



When it was decided in 1857 to borrow 7,000,000 or 8,000,000 

 for the construction of the two main trunk lines, the method of 

 floating so large a loan was a fertile subject for discussion. Mr. 

 Haines had addressed himself to the eminent English firm of Baring 

 Brothers, and asked them for terms. Not caring to submit a tender 

 which might appear as an ultimatum, they promptly consulted Mr. 

 Childers, who had just arrived in London, and persuaded him to 

 return to the colony as their representative, with full power to con- 

 clude an arrangement for all the financing required. By this time 

 the resources of the colony were so well known in London that other 

 eminent dealers in credit were stirred to action. Mr. Gabrielli, who 

 had done so well for himself out of the Corporation Loan, hastened 

 back to Melbourne, and made a dashing offer to take the whole issue 

 at the rate of 700,000 every six months. Messrs. De Pass Brothers 

 & Co., representing a wealthy English syndicate, sent in a proposal 

 far more favourable to the Government than any of the others, but 

 it was not entertained. All these offers were only for the raising of 

 the necessary funds, but in the previous year overtures had been 

 made by Mr. Thomas Brassey, the father of a subsequent Governor 

 of Victoria, to undertake the construction of 200 miles of railways 

 within four years, and to accept payment in Government Debentures 

 at par. The agents which this gentleman sent out were, however, 

 coldly received by Mr. Haines, who suspected some sinister design 



