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194 buildings, (2) that no grants or sales of land that bad taken place previous to the exchange of the Treaty ratifications should be deemed valid, (3) that all equitable claims and titles of land-holders should be inquired into with a view to confirmation, (4) that the payment of rents should commence from the day when the Treaty ratifications were exchanged, and (5) that henceforth no land should be sold except by public auction, at a reserved minimum price, equal to the value of the annual rent. On this basis, the Governor appointed (August 21, 1843) a Committee, consisting of A. T. Gordon, Land Officer and Colonial Engineer (Head of the new Public Works Department), Captain de Havilland (Assistant Surveyor), Ch. E. Hewart (Financial Secretary), assisted by R. Burgass (Legal Adviser). The instructions of this Committee were, (1) to inquire into the equitable claims and titles of all holders of land, (2) to define the classes to which particular lots should henceforth belong, (3) to fix their annual rent, and (4) to arrange for the sale of further lots. The Committee accordingly inquired into and settled all claims on land previously sold, and granted leases of 75 years in all cases of proved ownership. It was on the basis of the above-mentioned principles, that the land-sale of January 22, 1844, was held, when about 25 acres of land, divided into 101 lots, each about 105 feet square, were sold for £2,562 annual rental, prices ranging from £11 to £88 annual rental, at an average rate of £20 per lot or £100 per acre. The solution of the land question was pushed a step further by the establishment of a Registry Office (Ordinance No. 3 of 1841), which provided ready means for tracing all titles to landed property. It was laid down by law that thenceforth all deeds, wills, conveyances and mortgages relating to land, should be registered within a certain time after execution. But what kept discontent rankling in the minds of many was the fact that the Crown had refused and in spite of all remonstrances persisted in refusing to confirm, as a matter of right. Captain Elliot's land sales, disavowing in fact any grants of land made prior to the signing of the Treaty, and prohibiting the granting of perpetuities.