Volume 01: Production and resources of the northern and western districts of New South Wales, 1854 [ca. 1850-1857] - Page 627

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for the small farmer, but were eagerly purchased by speculators & capitalists; & the consequence of all this was that multitudes were driven into the towns, forced into unsuitable & unprofitable employments, and thereby entailing loss on themselves & their connections; whilst many had returned to the old Country or re emigrated to the neighbouring Colonies.
Under the second head the plan the Committee proposed was as follows:-
That the whole Colony should be laid out in Township Sections as nearly as possible six miles square; that each township should be one mile square, subdivided in to eight or sixteen lots of eighty or forty acres respectively; that land offices should be established in different parts of the Colony and that any Subject of Great Britain should be entitled to select & enter on any unsold land, from 40 to 640 acres at 5/- per acre, on the following conditions - that he forthwith commence the improvement of the same by fensing [fencing] , erecting a habitation & Cultivating; that one half of the purchase money should be paid within the first Year & the remainder within the second, receiving a clear title deed from the Government for £1, and that all real property in each township should be taxed for the costs and keeping in repair the roads, for the support of schools, maintenance of the poor and for other improvements -
Under the third head the Committee conceived that the advantages of such a scheme would be a vast increase of immigrants, & a relieving of the Government from the expense of providing magistrates, police etc for all parts of the country; at the same time giving to the Colonists self-government, which would render them more contended and happy - The Committee Closed their report with the following Statement: -
They condemned the sale of land by auction, and consequent Competition had shown the evil effects of a high price without any provision for Cultivation & improvements thereby causing Capital to leave the Colony; impoverishing the Colonists by their means being spent on the importation of food: further they recommend land at a low price, easy terms of payment, provision for Cultivation & improvement, local government, taxation for roads, etc etc district land offices, & by abandoning government immigration, destroying that Competition which had raised the free emigrants, passage money at least fifty per cent - The members of the Chamber, after the report had been read, adjourned its consideration for week

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Volume 01: Production and resources of the northern and western districts of New South Wales, 1854 [ca. 1850-1857] - Page 627

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Volume 01: Production and resources of the northern and western districts of New South Wales, 1854 [ca. 1850-1857] - Page 627

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