accomplished in the letter of the Land
Committee to your address.
In the various points embraced in
that letter, we fully concur,
but we are decidedly 18th May, 1850.
of opinion that the evils sought to be remedied
are of greater extent than can be cured by a few partial changes in a system of Land tenure
found in its working to be defective.
In recommending to the favorable
consideration of His Excellency the several cases which came before us of excessive Land Rent,
and as shown in the joint letter of the Land Committee, we did so, following up the request
contained in your despatch above referred to, 5th October, 1847, then being cases of extreme hardships.
At the same time, to meet and entirely remove
the complaints of Land owners, ground rents, from the state of the law, much
be considered excessive,
could not, in our estimation, materially, if at all affect the
real interests of the Colony; so permanent beneficial
effect could result therefrom,
not lawfully
394
look upon the remissions of a few hundreds of pounds,
annually, to some land owners, as the end or object of the present inquiry.
We conceive the objects for which the present Committee was formed, are
important character:
We are of opinion that the diminution of Land Revenue for the last few years, and the prospect of further considerable reductions indicate very clearly that more has been attempted to be collected than the Land
afford to pay,
and, to this
over-taxation exists,
long prosperity in the Colony cannot be looked for
It should be borne in mind that the
trade with China is carried on at the Ports of Canton and Shanghai, the one ninety (90) miles,
the other nine hundred (900) miles distant,
while the Revenue is collected in a
Colony yielding little, or nothing
to the Land-owner and
Payer of Taxes, by way of trade, and that the