Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/156

 128 THE DISPOSAL OF 1790 The Additional InstriKS tiODfc Sixe of giants. Fees. Iee settlera The Additional Instructions were accompanied by a table of fees, but it was expressly directed that the non-com- missioned officers of the marines and convict settlers were not to be subjected to the payment of such charges. The fees were moderate in amount, and the schedule would excite no attention but for the revelation it makes of the existence in the minds of British Ministers of much larger views with regard to the occupation of the land than are disclosed by the Instructions. The largest grant that Phillip was authorised to make was one hundred and fifty acres, with the addition, in the case of non-commissioned officers who were married, of ten acres for each child. The grants to non-military settlers were not to go beyond this limit. But the list of fees authorised by the table, which was to be '' hung up in one of the most public places," provides not only for small grants of land, but grants of great extent. The Governor's fees, which come first, are as follows : — ^' For the Great Seal to every grant not exceeding 1,000 acres, 5s. ; for all grants exceeding 1,000 acres — for every 1,000 acres each grant contains, 2s. 6d. ; for a license of occupation, 5s.'^ Under the heading '' Secretary's Fees" a charge of 5s. is made for grants under 100 acres ; a charge of 10s. for grants between 100 and 500 acres ; and ^' for every grant from 1,000 to 20,000 — for the first 1,000 acres, 15s., and for every 1,000 acres more, 2s. 6d." Another item under the head " Secretary's Fees" is as follows: — "For grants of land where the number of proprietors shall exceed twenty, each right, 2s. 6d." Licenses of occupation, with no limit as to the area of land to be occupied, are also provided for. While, therefore, the Additional Instructions restricted the area of land to be granted to any one person to a comparatively small area, provision was made in the schedule of fees for grants up to 20,000 acres, either to settlers, associated proprietors, or companies. It is evident that at the time the schedule was prepared the British Government had in view the occupa-