Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa since September 1795, Volume 1 (1908).pdf/284

254 and gave the government for a commonage ninety-five morgen of ground adjoining Melville, which, however, was not formally transferred until after his death many years later. Ten erven on the lower side of the present main street were then surveyed, and in 1826 individuals were allowed to occupy them, though no titles were issued, because the new commodore on the station put in a claim to the whole of the ground as really intended in the first instance to be a grant to the admiralty.

After much negotiation this claim was admitted by the colonial government, and on the 22nd of May 1832 Melville was legally ceded to the naval authorities, without any reservation of the occupied erven, though it was understood that anyone who had built a house would not be disturbed. The growth of the hamlet was thus effectually checked.

The timber sent to the English dockyards was found less serviceable than oak, and consequently it was not in demand. The rugged nature of the surrounding country prevented easy intercourse with other parts of the colony, but the coasting trade in waggon wood and planks increased with Capetown, and thus a demand arose for ground on which to build houses and stores.

After long correspondence and references backward and forward, an arrangement was at length arrived at, which enabled the government to dispose of building allotments and check the squatting which was becoming common. In May 1844 the admiralty consented to retransfer Melville in exchange for a portion of the commonage, including that part along the shore on which the slip constructed in 1820 was still standing. It was only after that date, therefore, that the hamlet grew to the dimensions of a village.

Nothing had ever yet been done to relieve the most miserable of living creatures in South Africa, those fortunate people who were afflicted with the dreadful disease of leprosy. They were to be found scattered over all parts of the colony, but chiefly in the fishing hamlets along the coast. In some instances they were quite unable to do