this shows that 111,226 acres were, at the end of 1876, held by tillage lease holders, and special occupiers; none of the redemption money for these lands is credited to the sales, but classed as rent charges. The accruing claims of Pensioners, Volunteers, and Immigrants already threaten to amount to 70,000 acres (which at ten shillings an acre is £35,000,) disposable in lots of 20 to 50 acres and upwards. When I mass together the whole of these, and take certain other claims for scrip which are outstanding, the large area of nearly 200,000 acres of the best of the Crown Lands appears pledged in the future. I am an advocate for the policy that if bonâ fide settlement on the land is obtained, direct revenue from the sale is not material, and if the result of this liberality in disposing of the public lands is such as the designers meditated, well and good; but I cannot conceal from myself the fact that when all these land orders and occupation certificates are going into the hands of the public, there will be something like a scramble for the pick of the country, and I fear the chief benefit may be to those of the runholders whose means and carefulness enable them to acquire large quantities of ground; and after they have simply complied with the conditions on which the grants are issued, will then be able to hold the country locked up in their hands. How long the present system shall be maintained, will be a question ere long to be considered. The cost of locating these selectors must be a heavy expense, and a considerable portion of the actual receipts from Crown Lands will have to be appropriated, in order to provide proper surveys of the plots and blocks for which no money is paid in return."
Transfer of Land.—The "Torrens System" was introduced into this Colony by an Act which became law in
