228 HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, ETC., 



is spent in wandering about the country in search of what is not 

 very easy of attainment. Another difficulty of the newly-arrived 

 settler consists in getting information concerning the unoccupied terri- 

 tory. No land-office or land-agent is found here for the emigrant to 

 apply to, and he not unfrequently falls into the hands of those who 

 defraud him, or is led astray by the reports of the ignorant or preju- 

 diced, and at last is induced to purchase much more than he requires, 

 and in consequence fails of success. The government lands are dis- 

 posed of in a different way from what ours are. A certain parish 

 having been surveyed and mapped, is advertised as being open for 

 sale ; persons select and make application, and if a less quantity than 

 six hundred and forty acres is desired, he is obliged to state the reasons 

 of his wish to obtain it, and the use to which he purposes to put it: the 

 land is then advertised to be sold on a certain day (of the month), at 

 public auction. If the land offered for sale happen to be in the neigh- 

 bourhood of some wealthy proprietor, he cannot fail to become informed 

 of it; the section is bid up, and the person may be disappointed in ob- 

 taining the allotment selected and advertised by his own desire. 



The minimum price must be paid, at any rate : this originally was 

 five shillings an acre; it is now twelve. Ten per cent, must be paid 

 down, and the remainder in one month, or the deposit is forfeited. 

 On payment of the money the title-deed is given, subject to the 

 nominal quit-rent of a peppercorn. Before delivery of the deeds, the 

 law provides that forty shillings shall be paid to the colonial secretary, 

 and five shillings to the register. The crown reserves to itself the 

 right of making roads and bridges, as well as of taking timber, stone, 

 and other materials for making and keeping them in repair ; as well 

 as all mines of coal and precious metals. No land within one hun- 

 dred feet of high-water mark on the sea-coast, harbours, or bays, is to 

 be considered open to purchase, unless for purposes of commerce and 

 navigation. 



As respects the discontents arising from what the colonists call the 

 misapplication of the land-fund, her Majesty's ministers have deter- 

 mined that she has a right to alienate the waste lands, and divert the 

 appropriation of the proceeds, and that the doubts raised would, if 

 sustained, be laid aside by a declaratory act of Parliament. 



All free persons are admitted as purchasers of land, without any 

 limitation whatever as to quantity. 



In order to show that the statement of the extent of crime in the 

 colonv, however extraordinary it may appear, is not exaggerated, I 

 will give extracts from the charge of Judge Burton to the jury, at the 

 close of the session of the Supreme Court, in November, 1835, and 



