THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 555 



Tinder proprietary titles. Townships and close settlements were formed and 

 drown lands outside of these places were not put up for sale.™ Inside of these 

 settlements only small lots were sold, thus tending to concentrate the popu- 

 lation in them. A portion of the proceeds of sales was devoted to the build- 

 ing of roads, digging public wells, and making other improvements for the 

 public good. A desire was thus created for the possession of these tracts. 

 A scale of prices was adopted which was graduated according to the size of 

 the lots. Prices were enhanced above what the permanent values warranted. 

 Lands that could hardly have been sold for 2s. per acre sold here in some 

 instances for £5 or £6 per acre.™" Some of the purchasers labored by the 

 day on the public works in order to pay for their allotments. At Pitman's 

 €ove on Eleuthera, all the land that had been surveyed was soon disposed of 

 and there was a considerable demand for more.°" Eligible sites were selected 

 wherever they could be found in the Colony, and the people were settled on 

 them. But this kind of settlement continued only for a short time. The 

 first flush of success carried it much farther than its permanent value justi- 

 fied, owing to the lack of virtue in the land itself. Colebrooke continued to 

 form them while he remained in the Colony. Soon after his successor had 

 assumed the government, the folly of his plan was demonstrated in the 

 failure of these ."settlements. The plan was abandoned under the administra- 

 tion of Cockburn. 



Changes Made by Cookbuen. 

 Some other plan for the alienation of land had become a necessity. More 

 and more of the apprentices were becoming free, and lands on which to locate 

 them were needed. Adhering to the circular of 1836, Lord Glenelg ordered 

 that no more Crown lands should be offered for sale for less than £1 per acre.'" 

 Lieutenant-Governor Cockburn objected, with good reason, that that price 

 was too high for the Bahama lands and that the apprentices would be pre- 

 cluded from making purchases."^ On application Cockburn was granted dis- 

 cretionary power to fix the price according to the value of the land.™ Most 



""Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (115). Report of Colonial Land and Emigration 

 Commissioners on the Bahama lands, made in July, 1840. 



•"Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (115). Also Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 79. 



™ Loc. cit., Vs., No. 79. 



'" Ds., S. St., 1838, circ. of Nov. 12. 



*'- Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 5. 



°" Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (112). The Marquis of Normanby, now Secretary 

 of State for the Colonies, wrote to Cockburn to fix the minimum price at the average 

 price for lands fit for agricultural purposes. See also Ds., S. St., 1839 (Nor- 

 manby), No. 39. 



