1789 24 Aug. Instructions for land grants. THE RIGHT HON. W. W. GRENVILLE TO GOVERNOR PHILLIP. Sir, Whitehall, 24th August, 1789. I transmit to you herewith an instruction under the royal sign manual with respect to the grants of land to be made to the several non-commissioned officers and private marines who may be desirous of remaining within your Government upon the relief of the detachment, as also to such other persons as may be disposed to become settlers, and I have no doubt of your exact compliance with his Majesty's commands, as signified to you by this instruction.* If farther regulations should any appear to to be necessary regulations. for the purpose of promoting the settlement and cultivation of the lands within your Government, you will take the earliest opportunity of apprising me of your opinion thereupon, that I may submit the same to his Majesty's consideration. Further 20 Aug. to marines. [Enclosure.] you I have, &c. W. W. GRENVILI E. PHILLIP'S ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS. Additional Instructions to Our Trusty and Well-beloved Arthur Phillip, Esq., Our Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over Our Territory called New South Wales. Given at Our Court at St. James, the [twentieth] day of [August] 1789, in the twenty-ninth year of our reign.† Land grants WHEREAS it has been represented unto Us that assurances were given to the non-commission officers and men belonging to the detachment of Our Marine Forces serving on the continent of New South Wales that such of the said non-commission officers and men as shall have behaved well shall be allowed to quit Our Service on their return to England, or be discharged abroad upon the relief (designed to take place at the expiration of three years after their landing) and be permitted to settle in that country: And whereas it is probable that in consequence of that engagement some of the said non-commission officers and men will be desirous of continuing in that settlement or upon the islands comprised within Your Government: And as persons of that description will be of great utility in the new settlements, not only for the purposes of protection and defence, but for the cultivation of the land: We have thought it advisable that every reasonable encouragement should be held out to them to induce them to be aiding in such salutary purposes. It is therefore Our Royal Will and Pleasure that You do issue Your Warrant to the SurveyorGeneral to survey and allot to such of the non-commission officers and men as shall be disposed to become settlers within Your * Phillip acknowledges the receipt of these instructions in his despatch of 17th June, 1790 (post, p. 346). ↑ Phillip's original instructions were dated 25th April, 1787. Ante, p. 85. Government, on their desiring the same, the proportions of land hereinafter mentioned, subject, however, to the following conditions and regulations : 1789 20 Aug. To every non-commission officer one hundred acres, and to every Conditions. private man fifty acres, over and above the quantity directed by Our General Instructions to You to be granted to such convicts as may hereafter be emancipated or discharged from their servitude, free of all fees, taxes, quit rents, and other acknowledgements for the space of ten years; but after the expiration of that time to be liable to an annual quit rent of one shilling for every ten acres. And whereas it will be of advantage to Our Service that the Bounty. non-commission officers and men disposed to continue in New South Wales or the islands dependant thereon can be prevailed upon to enlist into the corps appointed for their relief: It is Our farther Will and Pleasure, and You are hereby authorised to offer to each of them a bounty of £3 per man, at the same time to assure them that in case of a proper demeanor on their part they shall, after a farther service of five years, be entitled to double Double the proportion of land that would be granted to them, provided grant. they should quit Our Service on the intended relief, free of all fees, fines, quit rents, &c., for the space of fifteen years, subject, however, after that time to the same quit rent for every ten acres as is specified in the preceding article of these Our Instructions. provisions, And as a farther encouragement to the non-commission officers Clothes, and men composing the detachment of Our Marine Forces serving and seedon the continent of New South Wales or the islands dependant grain. thereon who may be disposed to continue therein: It is our farther Will and Pleasure that you do upon their discharge, either on the intended relief or after a farther service of five years, issue to them out of the publick stores a proportion of clothes and of provisions for their subsistance for one year, together with a suitable quantity of seed grain for the tillage of the land, to be granted to them as before mentioned, and also a proportion of tools and implements proper for their use. ment to settlers. And whereas from the disposition of many people to emigrate Encouragefrom this country there is a great probability that some of them may be desirous of becoming settlers in New South Wales or the said islands dependent thereupon: It is also Our Will and Pleasure that in case persons of that description should arrive from hence, or from any other part of Our Dominions, and apply to You for grants of land, You do afford them every encouragement that can be given in that undertaking, without subjecting the public to expence; and that grants of land to such amount Land grants. as you shall judge proper shall be made out for each person applying, not exceeding, however, in quantity the number of acres which you are hereby instructed to grant to the non-commission S 1789 20 Aug. Assignment of convicts. Form of grants. Registra tion. The fat and the lean. Special reservations. Townships to be laid out. officers before mentioned, and subject to the same quit rents payable unto Us at the expiration of five years after the passing of such grant. And whereas many of the non-commission officers and men of the marine detachment, or other persons who may become settlers upon Our said continent of New South Wales, or the said islands dependant thereupon, may be desirous of availing themselves of the labour of part of the convicts now under your orders: It is Our Will and Pleasure, that in case there should be a prospect of their employing any of the said convicts to advantage, that you assign to each grantee the service of any number of them that you may judge sufficient to answer their purpose, on condition of their maintaining, feeding, and clothing such convicts in such manner as shall appear satisfactory to You, or to Our Governor of New South Wales for the time being. You are to take care that all grants to be given of lands in Our said continent or islands be made out in due form, and that the conditions required by these Our instructions be particularly and expressly mentioned in the respective grants. That the same be properly registered, and that regular returns thereof be transmitted by the proper officers to Our Commissioners of Our Treasury and to the Committee of Our Privy Council appointed for all matters of Trade and Foreign Plantations within the space of twelve months after the passing of such grant. It is also Our Will and Pleasure that in all grants of land to be made by You, as aforesaid, regard be had to the profitable and unprofitable acres, so that each grantee may have a proportionable number of one sort and of the other, as likewise that the breadth of each track to be hereafter granted be one-third of the length of such track, and that the length of such track do not extend along the banks of any bay or river, but into the mainland, that thereby the said grantees may have each a convenient share of what accommodation the said harbour or river may afford for navigation or otherwise. It is also Our Will and Pleasure that between every two such grants of one hundred acres or of fifty acres, and adjacent to one of them, you do reserve for the benefit of Us, Our Heirs and Successors, a space of ten acres in breadth and of thirty acres in length, which spaces so reserved You are not to grant without Our special direction and license; but You are at liberty to lease the same for any term not exceeding fourteen years, and on such terms and conditions as You shall judge advantageous to Our service. And whereas it has been found by experience that, the settling plantees in townships hath very much redounded to their advantage, not only with respect to the assistance they have been able to afford each other in their civil concerns, but likewise with regard to their security, You are therefore to lay out townships of a convenient size and extent, in such places as You, in Your discretion, shall judge most proper; having, as far as may be, natural boundaries extending up into the country and comprehending a necessary part of the sea-coast, where it can be conveniently had. 1789 20 Aug. You are also to cause a proper place in the most convenient Public part of each township to be marked out for the building a town buildings. sufficient to contain such a number of families as You shall judge proper to settle there, with town and pasture lots convenient to each tenement, taking care that the said town be laid out upon or as near as conveniently may be to some navigable river or the sea-coast; and You are also to reserve to Us proper quantities of land in each township, for the following purposes, viz., for erecting fortifications and barracks, or for other military or naval services, and more particularly for the building a town-hall, and such other public edifices as you shall deem necessary, and also for the growth and production of naval timber, if there are any woodlands fit for that purpose. And it is Our further Will and Pleasure that a particular spot Churches. in or as near each town as possible be set apart for the building of a church, and four hundred acres adjacent thereto allotted for the maintenance of a minister, and two hundred for a schoolmaster. And whereas it is necessary that a reasonable compensation Surveyors' shall be made to the Surveyor-General of Our lands for surveying fees. and laying out of the said lands for the use of such persons who may be disposed to become settlers in the said continent or islands dependant thereupon, We have thought fit to establish the table of fees hereunto annexed, which You are to allow him to demand from all persons whatsoever, excepting the non-commission officers and men of the detachment of Our Marine Corps, or to convicts emancipated or discharged, who are not to be subjected to the payment of such fees. exhibited. You are to cause the above-mentioned table of fees to be hung Table of fees up in one of the most public places, that all persons concerned to hib may be apprised of the demands which may be demanded of them on their taking up lands within the said continent or islands dependant thereon. FEES ON LAND GRANTS, 1789. Governor's Fees. For the Great Seal to every grant not exceeding 1,000 £ s. d. 050 026 ... 050 For all grants exceeding 1,000 acres, for every 1,000 acres Land grant fees. Governor, 1789 20 Aug Secretary. Chief Auditor. Registrar. 24 Aug. Assistant chaplain. Goods sent by the Guardian FEES ON LAND GRANTS, 1789—continued. For every grant, and passing the seal of the provinces, if £ s. d. 0 5 ... 0 10 0 15 0 26 For grants of land where the number of proprietors For do. where the number shall not exceed twenty, the ... For every license of occupation of land ... For every grant from 1,000 to 20,000-for the 1st 1,000 Fees to be taken by the Chief Surveyor of Land. 0 2 0 2 0 2 05 07 0 2 66 6966 THE RIGHT HON. W. W. GRENVILLE TO GOVERNOR PHILLIP. As from the increase in the number of convicts sent to W. W. GRENVILLE. THE RIGHT HON. W. W. GRENVILLE TO GOVERNOR PHILLIP. I enclose to you herewith a general invoice and bill of lading of sundry articles of clothing, tools, implements for agriculture, * The Guardian was wrecked in December. Mr. Crowther was one of the survivors. The boat in which he escaped was picked up by a French vessel, and those on board were taken to the Cape. Mr. Crowther returned to England by the first opportunity. The Rev. Samuel Marsden was afterwards appointed as second chaplain. |
