Page:The new British province of South Australia.djvu/105

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The proper disposal of waste land, the first object in colonization—Purpose of the Government in disposing of waste land—Evils of profusion in granting land—Effects of profusion at Swan River—Causes of the failure of the Swan River settlement—Best mode of dealing with waste land—Method of proceeding for the new colony—Disposal of the purchase-money of waste land—Selection of poor emigrants—Anticipation of the emigration fund.

is scarcely necessary to say, that, in planting a colony, one of the chief elements with which we have to deal, is the unoccupied land of the new country.

All this land is held by the government in trust for the public; and the mode in which the government disposes of public land to individuals, inevitably exerts the most important influence on the state of the colony. This subject is so very important to all who may think of settling in the new colony, that we shall endeavour, with the aid of a recent work wherein the whole subject is carefully examined, to give a full explanation of the peculiar mode of disposing of waste land, which is to be pursued in South Australia. "All these cases pretty well establish, that in no modern colony has the best way, or indeed any one way of treating waste land been pursued systematically: to these cases, it would be easy to add several hundreds of