Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/47

 to renew your license at the end of the year or not, without assigning to you any reason. If he does not like the way you wear your hat, he may refuse to do so, and you are without any legal redress. You may, indeed, appeal to Sir George Gipps, or you may lay your case before the secretary of state for the colonies, or petition the House of Commons, or write a letter to The Times; but you have no legal right to ground your case upon, no fixed tribunal to resort to, and you must appeal only to the pity of those whom you address, or to their abstract sense of justice. I do not mean to say that in practice injustice is actually done; in fact, I believe that in every case where the renewal of a license is refused, the governor requires from the commissioner of crown lands a full statement of his reasons for doing so, and gives the aggrieved person an opportunity of explanation; but, still, it is not pleasant to have one's property depending on the caprice of any man. It must be remembered, also, that from the difficulty of disposing of stock without a station, except at ruinously low prices, to deprive a man of his run almost amounts to a confiscation of his property.

In all cases it is expressly stipulated that, when the lands are purchased, the occupier is to be turned out at the end of the year, and that he is not entitled to receive one farthing's remuneration for any improvement he may have made in the way of buildings or paddocks, however suitable or however advantageous they may prove to the incoming purchaser. Nor is he entitled to any right of preemption or preference whatever, but is in no respect more favoured than a mere stranger. In