&
disposition of the Government; for they
would surely rather remain in, or return to, the island, with a knowledge of what is truly to be exacted from them, than with a constant uncertainty of the demands their residence in the place will make them liable.
I would not give a considerable amount for a scheme so speculative, and I can in fact honestly say, it does not seem to me to be a serious or practical proposal. One aspect that appears to have been overlooked is: first, as concerns the matter itself of our inquiry, it should be remembered that at the sales of land no premiums were demanded, the competition was public, and that the offer was made in other Colonies, it is required.
3239
It is commonly observed that the high price of land is attributed to a high demand, and I own the property to be affected by it, and I cannot therefore recommend the trial of the experiment to the Government.
Whether this Colony is destined to advance, remain stationary, or retrograde, is a subject which other circumstances are likely to control, and which it is therefore beyond the power of our Committee to resolve; but I would wish to point out some few facts which in the ordinary discussions of the annual rent, where the rent was the act of the landholder, who, were the transaction to occur with a private person in the usual business, would scarcely think of cancelling the bargain; secondly, it should be borne in mind that the Police Rate is the only one imposed upon the Colony, and that it meets but little more than a third of the expenses of the Police Force, which is confessedly not too great for the purposes of its establishment; and lastly that the Government has for the past three years been gradually reducing the strength of the Civil...