TO THE EDITOR OF THE "COLONIAL GAZETTE."
Sir—The proofs you have so often given that the acts of the Colonial-office are mean, paltry, and oppressive, have lately received additional testimony from the shameless conduct of the Colonial-office towards New Zealand; and its spite at a Company that did, what the Colonial-office could not, namely, secure to England a valuable colonial possession.
I yesterday heard by chance, of another bit of dirty work in which the Colonial-office is engaged, and which, unless strenuously opposed, my Lord Stanley will succeed in smuggling through Parliament. I refer to the bill introduced into the Lords for making reserves to Government out of the mineral productions of the colonies. This step is caused by the discovery of mineral wealth in South Australia and the attempt now making by the Colonial office I can fairly designate as one of great injustice and treachery.
The circumstances are these. Under the act of Parliament passed in August, 1835, for establishing the colony of South Australia (4 and 5 Wm. 4, cap 95), and by the regulations made by the commissioners appointed to carry the act into execution, "nothing, whether above or below the surface of the land, will be reserved to the Crown." This has been hitherto the law, and the grants are made without reservation. The only difference made by the acts passed subsequently to the establishment of South Australia, has been to substitute the Crown in the place of the Commissioners, and to introduce sale by auction, instead of at a fixed price.
The principle of making no reserves was not a chance thought of the promoters of the settlement of South Australia. On the contrary, the system of making these reserves had been long condemned by those who had thought on the subject: it had been found to check enterprise; it was one which, in the case of South Australia, was opposed successfully, the settlers of South Australia have always prized and highly esteemed the privilege they enjoyed; and,subsequently, the South Australian system of exemption from reservations has been very properly extended to other Australian provinces. When mineral productions were discovered in South Australia the Governor showed a great indisposition to put up mineral lands for sale, and many of such lands have been(against the wishes of the colonists) withheld from the periodical auctions. The reason of this could not be publicly known, but it was rumoured that the Governor [Ed.: Captain George Grey ] had written to Lord Stanley to suggest the making of reservations. The colonists were very indignant at this, and almost one and all were strongly opposed to the system proposed by the Governor; but, inasmuch as all the Government measures were secret and done in the dark, no public meeting or demonstration could be held. On my arrival from South Australia, a short time since, I had a meeting with the Emigration Board—a board useless, as it seems to me, in all except improper interference,and in publishing every year what is termed a report, but which consists of nothing except some statements intended to show how easily this board earns its pay. I could collect nothing definite at this meeting, except that it was considered that, under the last Land Sales Act, reservations could be made without any fresh act. At that time I considered that a fresh act would be necessary; and now, at the close of the session, when Lord Stanley thinks no notice will be taken of the attempt, he is endeavouring to smuggle through Parliament an act to effect his purpose.
If it was considered that there were no mineral productions in the province of South Australia, what was the use of granting land free from reservation? Yet now, when it is discovered that there are such productions, the Government is seeking to put its claw on the profit. Whilst the principle of free grants meant nothing, the Government let it stand; now it is becoming of service, it is sought to be abrogated. I know I am expressing the feelings of the South Australian settlers when I state that they are most strongly opposed to the principle of Government reserves, and that, could they have known as a fact that such reserves were to be attempted, they would have met to have remonstrated on the subject.
But, Sir, setting aside the views of any particular body of settlers, the principle of reserves is odious, unjust, and highly impolitic. It fetters the tenure of land with conditions inconsistent with the free enjoyment of the freehold. It checks the spirit of enterprise and discovery, and prevents the sale of public land, is creating a new species of tax, when in South Australia such new tax is unnecessary and when the colonists, being very unfairly deprived of free representation, have no voice in the imposition of such tax, and, if they had such voice, would oppose it. It is creating in South Australia an unfair difference between those who have purchased land heretofore, and those who shall buy hereafter. It is, on the part of the Government, seeking to obtain a double profit, inasmuch as lands containing minerals sell at a very large advance in price ; and yet the Government, not content with this advanced price, grasp at a royalty. It is, on the part of the Government, yielding to the opinion of the Governor, who has not even obtained the consent of the Council nominated by the Crown—a consent the Governor well knows he could not have obtained. It is, Sir, making laws and regulations for a colony containing nearly 20,000 people, regardless of the wishes, opposed to the interests, and with a wanton violation of the rights of such persons. I have to apologise for the length of my letter, but I feel strongly on the subject, and I am sure I shall not in vain appeal to your inteference to oppose this underhanded attempt of the Colonial-office.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "COLONIAL GAZETTE.". (1845, November 26). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 2. Retrieved August 3, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27451395
