Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/86

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72
Western Australia.

been raised to £1 an acre, in pursuance of the then fashionable Wakefield system, which however was not fully carried into effect; and so, during Governor Hutt's tenure of office, the attention of the Colonists was mainly directed to reducing the price of land, making it more available for the depasturing stock, and the obtaining labor. Small efforts at immigration were made, and, in the interest both of the settler and farmer, in 1841, remission on the purchase of land was granted to any one who succeeded in training a native to be an useful farm servant. A society was also formed for diffusing knowledge respecting the Colony; but the most important effort to develop its resources by increasing its population was made by the West Australian Company at their settlement of Australind, near Leschenault. The Company had purchased Colonel Latour's property there, which they now proposed to re-sell at £1 an acre, in farms of 100 acres, and Mr. M. W. Clifton was sent out with a sufficient staff of surveyors, &c., to prepare for the reception of the first immigrants. The Colonial Government, however, proposed to resume those lands in forfeiture, and Mr. Clifton sought another location in the country discovered by Grey about Champion Bay; this proved in his estimation of inferior value, and by agreement with the Local Government he returned to his original location to prepare for the reception of the new settlers who arrived to the number of 467; but the Company in London broke up, the work was stopped, and the fair promise of the commencement was not fulfilled. The settlement had been named Australind, in anticipation of its becoming a place of resort, if not residence, for invalids and others from India. At this time also, the application of the Wakefield system on a large scale in New Zealand and South Australia, where it was carried