Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/174

 quit-rent. Finally no alteration was made. The exact amount was for the moment quite unimportant, as few quit-rents were collected before 1821 at the earliest. In 1820 the Assistant-Surveyor was appointed collector and assigned an extra allowance for that duty. He proposed that where old grants had been consolidated and new ones given he should wait until the quit-rent became due under the new grant; and that where land had been transferred he should collect from the last person to whom it had been transferred. The amount then due including arrears was no more than £375.

In 1821 Macquarie found that so many settlers arrived by each ship that his old system of inquiring separately into each case and giving grants in accordance with the settlers' merits was no longer practicable. With Oxley's help he drew up a scale of grants proportionate to the amount of capital at the settlers' disposal, which came into force in 1821.

To those who had larger capital than this Oxley proposed to sell Crown lands at 10s. or 7s. an acre. He proposed, also, the following changes in the system of land distribution, all of which met with Bigge's approbation.