1842 - Terry, Charles. New Zealand: its Advantages and Prospects as a British Colony - Part III. On the Sale of Crown Lands in New Zealand - Chapter II

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AUCKLAND
Commercial Bay from the Eastward. (see p.131)

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CHAPTER II.

In the month of April, notice was given in the Sydney Government Gazette, of the sale of Crown land in SUBURBAN and CULTIVATION allotments, in the vicinity of Auckland, for the 12th July 1841, but on the 24th June, notice was given in the New Zealand Government Gazette, published at Korarika, that such sale was postponed until Wednesday, the first September following. The quantity of Crown lands then advertised was increased by the addition of fifty-four SMALL FARMS, forty-two of which were from five to twenty acres, and the remainder fifty acres each. The suburban allotments were twenty of four acres, and the cultivation ten of three acres each, making the total quantity of land offered for sale, only, twelve hundred and seventy-five acres.

At the time of sale, in September, 1841, the Government had been on the shores of the Waitemata twelve months, and yet there was not an acre of country land, either occupied or in cultivation.

By this delay and postponement of the sale of country lands, when there was not an acre either

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NECESSITY OF SETTLERS OBTAINING

in occupation or cultivation, all prospect was prevented to the settlers and inhabitants of Auckland, of any supply of vegetables or grain, for at least eighteen months longer from that period, as it was impossible that any land, all being covered with fern or wood, could be brought into cultivation--- September being in New Zealand, the corresponding season to March in England, much more of production---before the summer and autumn, January to April, of 1843.

The facility of settlers, in any colony, obtaining country land immediately on their arrival, at a low uniform rate of cost, is an obvious indispensable measure for the benefit of the whole Colony. If the land were given to them, it would ultimately be more conducive to the interests of the Government and Colony; considering that the real intent of emigration to such a Colony, is to provide for those, whose only capital, speaking comparatively, is their labour and industry, and who, by the course of events, have become surplus labour at home.

Looking back to the foundation and progress of the ancient, and now most important Colonies to Great Britain, nearer to it:---the sale of land at any time was unknown. To induce the emigrant to leave his native country and endure privation, the land was a boon, and thus he was enabled to expend, what little funds he possessed, on the soil to which his future industry was to be devoted.

Emigration and Colonization have been considered for many years past, as not only a relief to

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LAND WITH FACILITY.

the parent state from the onerous charge, which a surplus and unemployed population must necessarily entail on the more fortunate and wealthy classes of a community, but likewise as opening fresh sources and channels for the employment of the shipping of Great Britain, and for the export and consumption of her various manufactures. If such be the fact, the emigrant is entitled to every consideration and protection from the Home Government.

It may be urged that the circumstances of the colonization of the Islands of New Zealand are totally different from any other previous Colony, inasmuch as the Government have to pay the Natives for whatever land the former, now, in the early days of the Colony, have to offer to the first settlers. Giving full weight to such plea, it may be well to sell the town allotments, to the highest bidder, but it is unreasonable, to fix a high upset price in addition to public competition on country lands. To induce the emigration of such persons, as will be in the course of time the most beneficial settlers to the Colony---yeomen of small means, with families, who have left their native land with moderate views and expectations, and who look only to their personal exertions to base the foundations of their immediate comfort and future competence and independence--- to induce such persons, the land, if not gratuitously granted, should be sold at a very low fixed price on their arrival, without any unnecessary official impediments or restrictions. In the first formation of a

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INJUSTICE OF RESERVATION OF LAND.

Colony, the settlers should be encouraged to bring the land into early cultivation, so as to supply the increasing wants of additional numbers. As population thickens, and as surplus of production accumulates, property would be created, and settlers distant from the capital could support towns and villages, at which they could obtain their own wants of clothing and other domestic comforts, as well as supply agricultural produce to their inhabitants. As soon as the Colony becomes populated with farmers and agricultural labourers, so will the site of towns become more valuable and realize large sums to the Government. It is the farmers and peasantry in the country that support the villages and towns by their produce, or by the returns for it; therefore, allotments for towns will be more valuable when the country is actually occupied.

When the Surveyor-General's plan of the country land for public sale was ready, and the land described and defined for inspection, it was apparent that more than double the number of acres, than what was advertised for sale, had been surveyed and marked out, but the majority and the best land was reserved for future sale.

This system of reservation, considering the great powers Government have at the time of sale, as previously explained, is highly to be deprecated, as it is unjust and oppressive to the first settlers, who had been so many months waiting for land to cultivate.

If any persons have claim on the Government for consideration, it is those who have undergone all the

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NATURE OF COUNTRY ALLOTMENTS.

hardships and privation naturally consequent on the first formation of a new settlement, and who have been the pioneers for all subsequent emigrants. Instead of being allowed occupation and cultivation of farms, even at a low fixed price, those who had come to the Waitemata for many months previously, to pursue agriculture, were obliged to enter into competition for the few lots of indifferent land that were submitted for public sale, at the enormous upset price of £2 and £3 per acre, or wait for the distant future sale of reserved better lands, if their means would permit, or leave for some other Colony.

The Suburban allotments of about four acres each, are situated to the eastward of, and adjoining to, Mechanics Bay, and extending to the high ground beyond the bay called Mataharehare. Of these suburban, those reserved were the only spots on which were shrubs and trees, such as would render a suburban abode desirable. The others were land covered with very low fern, on clayey ground, a true indication in New Zealand of very poor soil.

The Ten Cultivation, so termed, being adapted for Market Gardens, are situated about one mile to the southward of Mechanics Bay, on low swampy ground under Mount Eden.

The Fifty-four Farms, attracted the greatest interest, situated about two miles south-east from Auckland (see Map); but there were sixty-two other farms of about twenty-three acres each, of most excellent land, situated in the middle of the farms put up for sale, which were reserved. Of those to be sold, the smaller, under twenty acres each, were situated

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SALE OF GOVERNMENT LAND.

fronting the intended road to Manakao, and many of them on a spot where the road diverged into two branches, so that some were corner allotments and others had double frontages to these roads, thus forming the very precise areas desired by land jobbers and speculators.

Account of the Sale of Government Land, on Wednesday,
September 1, 1841.

TWENTY-FIVE SUBURBAN ALLOTMENTS.
Upset price £20 per Acre.

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SALE OF GOVERNMENT LAND.

TEN CULTIVATION ALLOTMENTS.---Upset price £10 per Acre.

FIFTY-FOUR SMALL FARMS.---Upset price £3. per Acre.

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SALE OF GOVERNMENT LAND.

The area of the whole allotments offered for sale was 1241 acres, 1 rood, 39 poles, of which only 559 acres, 1 rood, 23 poles, not half, were sold, notwithstanding the anxiety and demand for land. The few suburbans, of any value, from their being close to the town, and of the small farms, from their position between two roads, brought enormous prices, and were purchased by speculators and jobbers.

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IMPOLICY OF LARGE ALLOTMENTS.

The twelve largest farms, of fifty acres each, being very indifferent land, and put up at the price of two pounds per acre, did not meet with any purchaser.

The same impolicy and injudicious allotment of the land was as obviously manifest in this, as at the preceding sale, with regard to the size of the allotments, and the number submitted to competition. If the suburban sections were highly valuable from their proximity to the town, for the occupation and erection of both, houses, villas, and cottages with gardens, an area of three to five acres was far too much. For such purposes, one or half an acre, in such a climate, would be ample for a suburban abode, and its appurtenances of garden, &c. and those who wished for larger extent could have purchased more than one allotment. From the nature and quality of the soil, and the absence of all timber, the land itself was of no value, but what could be attached to it, from its contiguity to Auckland for the purposes mentioned, and where, like many suburban spots in the vicinity of London, and other large English towns, a natural sterile clayey soil, is transformed, by manure and other artificial means, into productive garden and pleasure grounds. If it was anticipated that a high price would result from this cause, the impolicy of such large sections is most clear. The upset price of £20. per acre, for such bad soil, and for land on which there was no timber for fencing, proved that the Government did not anticipate their appropriation to agricultural purposes, therefore the large area and high upset

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FORMATION OF VILLAGES AND TOWNS.

price, placed the competition and purchase entirely with speculators and land jobbers, and quite precluded all of moderate and small capital, desirous of a suburban residence, and who would willingly have given £25. or £50. for half an acre, but whose means prevented the first purchase, at an expense of £300. or £400. for four acres of farm land, without any natural boundary or fence, exclusive of the great expense, subsequently, of enclosing and bringing it into cultivation.

The farms shew the very same results as the suburban sections, for those of such area, as to be really applicable and useful for agricultural purposes, did not sell on account of the high upset price of £2. per acre. Those that were sold brought prices, not in ratio of the value of the soil itself, but on account of their frontage to a proposed high road from Auckland to Manakao.

The consequence and real effect of this impolitic system, was evident within three days subsequent to the sale, when there were no less than four suburban sections advertised for sale as villages, terraces, &c. What the Government conceived to be only sufficient for one, was divided into thirty-six allotments, which was thus metamorphosed into the village of " Parnell." Another suburban allotment formed " Windsor Terrace" and others formed into lanes, and all put up for re-sale at a price per foot according to frontage. Some of the small farms were simultaneously appropriated to similar purposes, with all the charlatanerie of New South Wales.

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SYSTEM IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

The towns of "Anna," "Epsom" &c. with reserves for churches, market places, hippodromes, with crescents, terraces, and streets, named after heroes and statesmen, were then advertised, with all the technical jargon, with which colonial advertisements are characterised.

The town of Anna comprised about forty-two acres,---had reserve for two churches---" St. Anna" and " St. Pauls," a hippodrome in the centre of the town, reservoirs, market place, and a multitude of terraces, streets and places, at right angles, the whole divided into above two hundred allotments.

This colonial system of land jobbing cannot be better described, than by an extract from a letter of a resident in New South Wales.

"We have seen in too many instances the fate of mushroom townships. These itinerant speculators, which many of them are, appear very plausible, and gulling many, enrich a few, and really when hung up in the auctioneer's room, the plans look quite beautiful, every thing is so complete. There is the green market-place, and the parish church reserve, with a miniature of St. Paul's upon it, and the Roman Catholic reserve, with a neat crowquill likeness of St. Peter's, and the delicately tinted squares, &c. All this combination of colouring, makes a very handsome thriving town; and when we see some hundred acres already occupied in magnificent business streets, crescents and squares, we are tempted to part with a few pounds, a mere bagatelle, to secure a valuable " corner allotment," in so ex-

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SYSTEM IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

tensive a place; and delighted with our bargains, as we are paying down the money, the auctioneer consummates our happiness, by whispering to us in a confidential manner: "You have got the best bargain sold to-day, why that 'corner allotment' is invaluable for an Inn."

"But those who are not easily gulled, know very well that this comforting intelligence is given to each purchaser in turn, and is, probably, the most valuable return he gets, or ever will get for his money.

"I was riding the other day through a part of the bush with another gentleman, who, when he came to the top of a stony barren range, pointed out to me the boundaries of several one hundred acre farms, which had been sold a short time previously, in an auctioneer's room, as suburban farms to a township, to which we should soon come. At the bottom of the range, we found the ground dotted in all directions, by painted little pegs, lettered, which constituted the town, and by which we soon discovered the various streets and crescents, which had been cutting so grand a figure in the advertisements and plans. This was the only indication of a township, which we saw, and from the locality, I should be decidedly of opinion that no other was ever likely to be seen, as nothing more than a few occasional drays to a few stations upon a bare brook, (which in the advertisements was stated to be likely to become one day a navigable river,) at present traffic along the bush road. This township and these suburban

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SYSTEM IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

allotments, were marked off from a part of an estate, because it was not fit for any other purpose. It could not grow grass for cattle or sheep, and cultivation was out of the question, so what could the proprietor do else with it, than sell it as a township."

Precisely so was it at Auckland. In the auctioneer's room, whatever inequalities swamps and scrub might be on the land itself, all was smooth and beautiful on the plans, which plans were not made from actual measurement and survey of the ground, for the few days that had passed quite prevented any such proceeding; but merely the boundaries and limits taken from the Surveyor-General's plan, and then, on an enlarged scale, the area divided into as many portions as could just be sufficient for small houses and cottages, and thus creating an immense extent of frontages, which is the great secret of land jobbing in the re-selling of allotments.