120 A HISTOBY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



then acquire the freehold on payment of that sum, without competi- 

 tion. There were other clauses by which non-resident selectors who 

 made improvements within a year could have the land put up to 

 auction, with a valuation for their outlay, which they would receive 

 from the buyer if they failed to purchase. But up to this point the 

 leasehold rent in all cases was strictly a rent, and did not go towards 

 the purchase money, as in subsequent enactments. This Act was 

 memorable for the introduction of a principle somewhat akin to the 

 " Occupation Licences " of the Nicholson Act. The forty-second 

 clause became a very popular mode of settlement, as it enabled miners, 

 storekeepers and any one occupying Crown lands to obtain a licence 

 for a holding, up to 20 acres, at an annual rental of 2s. per acre. 

 It was intended to confine the provisions of this clause to the gold- 

 fields and their immediate vicinity, but the Minister had unfettered 

 discretion, and he used it very freely in extending the area of its 

 application. Any person of whose bona fides the Minister was sat- 

 isfied was allowed to hold four licences, and thus many small farms 

 of 80 acres were established, and frequently on the choicest parts 

 of squatters' runs. Within four years of this enactment 786,000 

 acres had been taken up under this clause by over 13,000 applicants, 

 the average holding being 46 acres. Widely as these facilities were 

 availed of, the selectors remained dissatisfied. They objected to a 

 rental of 2s. per acre while the pastoral tenant paid only about 2d., 

 and they eventually succeeded, under subsequent Acts, in getting 

 the rental accepted as instalments of the purchase money. In the 

 prolonged struggle, however, some of the attractions of a free farming 

 life had been dispelled by want of success. Uncertain seasons, in- 

 experience, make-shift methods, and perfunctory cultivation left no 

 profits, and during these few years many hundreds of selectors had 

 their leases forfeited for non-completion of conditions, and improve- 

 ments to the value of over 100,000 were confiscated by the Crown. 

 For three or four years the political arena was so fully occupied by 

 the contention between the Assembly and the Council that no con- 

 structive legislation was possible, and reformation of the abuses 

 which had crept into the administration of the existing Land Acts 

 was practically hung up until 1869. 



It is not easy to discover the specific grounds upon which the 



