( 41 ) 
of all land situated at a greater distance from the 
town at five rupees an acre, the rate of ten rupees 
to be subject to modification by the local authorities 
according -to circumstances. These proposals were 
referred to the Government of India and approved 
in 1843 and from 1845 onwards a large number of 
freehold grants were issued for land outside the 
limits of the town. The margin allowed for the 
expansion of the town was however insufficient with 
the result that land in the most densely crowded 
part of the present town is held under these titles 
which were originally issued for land required for 
agricultural purposes. The Court of Directors, who 
had previously left the matter to the discretion of 
the Government of India, took a sounder view of 
the matter and time has fully justified the following 
comment made by them on hearing of the decision : 
“ From the map which you have now transmitted 
of the town and environs of Singapore it appears 
that the new limits within which the land is to be 
retained as the property of the Government coincide 
in most places with the present outline of the 
town, and that its further extension is scarcely at 
all provided for except on the western side. We 
presume that thi£ was well considered, but we should 
have expected that you would have reserved at so 
flourishing a Settlement a more ample margin for 
future increase/' During this period the issue of 
99-year leases for town lands continued. 
After the transfer to the Colonial Office in 1867 
the titles issued for land both in town and country 
were 99-year leases and 999-year leases. Ordinance 
No. II of 1886 provides for a Statutory form of 
Crown Title — the present Statutory grant, which is 
a grant in perpetuity subject, to a quit rent, the 
