Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/139

 by him until May, 1811. He found in the grant certain conditions of which he complained angrily, stating that in the original compact in 1807 there had been no mention of conditions as to capital, cultivation or residence. Sir John Jamison, who had some property left to him in New South Wales and went out in 1814, asked for a grant of 2,500 acres. His request was refused, and Goulburn wrote to him that such promises had been made in the past "when the inconvenience of improvident grants had not been sufficiently known".

These words give the key to the policy pursued with tolerable consistency from 1812 until Bigge's Report of 1823, a policy to which Macquarie fully assented. "Large grants of land to individuals," wrote Goulburn in 1820, "have been the bane of all our Colonies, and it has been the main object of Lord Bathurst's administration to prevent the extension of this evil by every means in his power."

From 1810 onwards no acreage was specified in any order for land given by the Colonial Office, but settlers were furnished with letters to the Governor from the Secretary or Under-Secretary of State directing him to grant them land in amounts proportionate to the capital of which they could show themselves to be possessed. The area and location of a grant was thus placed within the Governor's discretion. His Commission restricted the former to 2,000 acres, unless special recommendation were transmitted to the Secretary of State. The Colonial Office was probably not aware how often Macquarie overstepped these limits without making any reference to the subject in his despatches.

In 1812 the following circular letter was drawn up for the information of applicants:—

"Mr. Peel is directed by Lord Liverpool to acquaint &hellip;