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APPENDIX TO Report FROM THE LAND COMMISSION OF 1886-87.
Appendix No. 5.
REPORT BY THE SURVEYOR GENERAL UPON THE SUBJECT OF SQUATTING.
Surveyor General to Colonial Secretary.
(Copy)
No. 73.
SIB,
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT,
30th May, 1885.
I have the honour to invite the attention of His Excellency the Governor to the large sums of money of which the Colonial Treasury continues to be defrauded year after year by the free and unauthorized occupation of Government lands without payment, on the part of persons who are perfectly well able to pay Crown rent or squatters fees, and I beg to submit some propositions which I think will do much towards systematizing the collection of squatters fees and put- ting a stop to the practices here exposed.
2. It is the custom of many new comers from the continent who desire to settle down on British territory and live under our laws, to look about them for eligible sites on Government land. These persons are generally very sly. They watch a favourable opportunity, and suddenly running up a house on the ground selected, make themselves thoroughly at home before the Police or other authority has realized the trespass which may or may not go undetected. No applica- tion having been made for the land at any Government Office, of course no rent ever reaches the Colonial Treasury, and the Police, who have neither the time or the training to attend to land matters, are unable to exercise the systematic control necessary to avert this incessant land-thieving and deprivation of legitimate revenue to the Government.
3. Another dishonest practice still more common among squatters is to obtain a licence for a plot of very small dimensions, bearing a correspondingly very small fee, and then to occupy, by virtue of the licence obtained, an area twice, three times, or even five times larger than that which they pay for.
4. An equally common ruse is to take out a Squatter's licence for twelve months, paying the fees corresponding to this term, and at its expiration, to forget to call and renew the licence or pay further fees, but to remain all the same in occupation of the ground until detected.
5. Another aquatter's device, very lucrative, and much in favour with the shrewder class of well-to-do natives of Victoria, is to take out squatter's licences in the villages at the usual very low Government scale of fees, and then to sublet these squattings to villagers at high rates, thus pocketing handsome profits from a class of tenure the main condi- tion of which is, that the licensee shall not sublet.
6. In addition to the four primary specific types of abuse set forth in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5, there are other cou- pound frauds, if I may so term them, consisting of combinations of the four radical ones. For instance, a combination of 2 and 5 is not infrequent by which a man first steals a piece of Crown Land, and after trespassing on it for a time, and thus establishing a sort of fancied right, lets it out to somebody else for a consideration pocketing the receipts until detected.
7. An equally favourite combination is that of 3 and 4, under which a man takes out a squatters licence for a very small plot with a correspondingly very small fee, and that only for 12 months, after which period he discontinues the licence and the payment of fees, but continues in occupation largely expanding his boundaries.
8. A third combination is that of 4 and 5 by which regular and authorized squatter discontinues his licence after a time, and consequently the payment of his fees, but continues to sublet the ground to tenants and to pocket the receipts.
9. A fourth combination of 3, 4 and 5 is more complex, but by no means infrequent. A man takes out a squatter's licence for a very small plot of ground with a correspondingly very small fee. He then gradually expands his boundaries, and occupies an area much larger than his licence warrants. Having done this, he discontinues the licence altogether and consequently the payment to Government of the fee corresponding even to the smaller area and having thus freed himself from any payments to the Crown, he sublets the ground to others for a consideration which he pockets.
10. I am often successful in finding out these abuses, but as in most instances of detection they prove to have been of long standing, I am satisfied that a large proportion of the squatters on Crown Land are either unauthorized or com- mitting in each case some one or more of the irregularities described in the preceding paragraphs to the detriment of the Public Revenue.