Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/297

 GROSE AND THE LAND. 253 tie colony a little longer it would have become his duty to ^^^^ issue land grants to officers^ for the despatch of 14th July^ 1792,* giving the necessary power, was addressed to him, and arrived at Sydney five weeks after his departure. It fell to Grose^s lot as administrator of the government to issue the first land grant to an officer, and it seems to have been assumed from this fact that the practice originated with him* It is also implied that Grose not only did wrong in granting Gnmts to land to officers at all, but that he disposed of the territory « to one class of the community in unduly large quantities. The second supposition is as devoid of foundation as the first. An examination of the lists of land grants issued by him shows that he did not unduly favour the military class. In fact, so little value was then placed upon the land that there appears to have been no hesitation in granting it to whoever made application. The grants to the officers, as a rule, did not exceed one hundred acres; the maximum Ana of appears to have been one hundred and twenty acres. There *^'*° was one exception to the rule. Lieutenant Macarthur, according to his own account, had nearly two hundred and fifty acres in cultivation, in 1794, at Parramatta. He may have purchased part of his land from settlers who wanted to get rid of their grants, but in any case he had become entitled to an extra grant for special services. Grose, nacarthur finding the labour of regularly visiting all the settlements PananS^ta. too irksome, placed the Parraxnatta District in Macarthur's hands, creating for him the appointment of Inspector of Works, which he held in addition to his position in the New South Wales Corps. In reply to a question as to what salary should be attached to the appointment, Grose was informed that the establishment must on no account be increased. No additional salary could be given to Macarthur, but he might be rewarded, Dundas wrote, by an extra grant of land, or an extra allowance of convict
 * Historical Becords, toI. i, part 2, p. 681.