THE CHURCH AND SCHOOL ACT.

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which were afterwards carried into effect by an act of the Legislative Council. This despatch has had a very important influence on the religious and educational institutions of the colony, and displayed principles much in advance of the traditions of the colonial government.

After stating that the followers of the Church of England were most numerous; that one-fifth of the population was Roman Catholic; that the members of the Church of Scotland were less numerous, but among the most respectable, consisting almost entirely of free emigrants; that the annual charge for the Church of England amounted to £11,542 10s.; for the Church of Scotland to £600; and for Roman Catholic chaplains and chapels to £1,500; while Protestant dissenters of several denominations, who had formed congregations, "received no support from government beyond some small grants of land for sites of chapels;" that the Church of England possessed seven churches of stone or brick in or within forty miles of Sydney, two in more remote districts, and several less permanent buildings in various places; the Church of Scotland one respectable building in Sydney, and three temporary buildings in country districts, the one church having been built by subscription, aided by a loan from government of £520; the Roman Catholics one handsome church, towards which the government had, at various times, granted sums amounting to £1,200; that the chaplains of the Church of England were provided with glebes of forty acres each, and with houses or lodging-money; that the magnitude of the sums annually granted to the Church of England in New South Wales were a subject of general complaint, and had been the origin of a public meeting and petition numerously signed, praying for a reduction,-Governor Bourke proceeded to observe, that "in a new country, to which persons of all religious persuasions are invited to resort, it will be impossible to establish a dominant and endowed church without much hostility, and great improbability of its becoming permanent; if, on the contrary, support were given, as required, to every one of the three grand divisions of Christians indifferently, and the management of the temporalities of their churches left to themselves, the public treasury might in time be relieved of a considerable charge, and, what is of more importance, the people would become more attached to their respective churches, and be more willing to listen to the voice of their respective pastors."

He then proceeded to sketch out the plan afterwards carried out by the act which will presently be quoted, and recommended that New South Wales should be created into a separate diocese, instead of being included in that of Bengal.

From the same despatch it appears that the schools which had been established under the Church and School Corporation consisted of a male orphan school, in which 133 boys were boarded and taught at an annual expense of £1,300, and a female orphan school, in which 174 girls cost £1,500 annually, exclusive of supplies from lands cultivated for the use of the schools.

At Paramatta there was a boarding-school for the wealthier classes, who paid £28 each for boarders, and £10 for day scholars, the head master, a clergyman, receiving £100 a year and the rent of a house.

There were thirty-five primary schools in various parts of the colony, in which 1,248 children were taught, at an expense of £2,756. In all these schools the catechism of the Church of England was part of the instruction.

The Church of Scotland had received a loan of £3,500 toward the erection of the Scotch college founded by Dr. Lang; and £800 had been granted to the Roman Catholic schools.

The governor stated that the disproportionate assistance for education was a subject of very general complaint, and expressed an opinion, "that schools on the Irish system, in which Christians of all creeds are received, where approved extracts from Scripture are read, but no religious instruction is given by the master or mistress, such being imparted one day in the week by ministers of different religions attending at the school to instruct their respective flocks, would be most suitable to the condition of the colony. It would be necessary that the government took the lead in their institution, erecting schoolhouses, appointing wellqualified teachers at liberal salaries." In like manner infant schools should be established in the towns. And he adds, "I may without fear of contradiction assert, that in no part of the world is the general education of the people a more sacred or necessary duty of the government than in New South Wales."

Unfortunately Sir Richard Bourke's successor was so anxious to work out his own abstract theories of legislation, and so busy in battling with the colonists, that he had little time to attend to education.

In 1836 the Legislative Council passed an act, under which, whenever £300 had been raised by private contributions toward the building of a church or chapel, the governor, with the advice of his Executive Council, might issue from the colonial treasury, in aid of the subscribers, any sum not exceeding £1,000.

And for minister of church or chapel with 100 adult attendants, If 200 adults, £150 per annum. If 500 adults,

£100 per annum. £200 per annum.

Under special circumstances the governor and council could grant a salary of £100 per annum where the congregation amounted to less than 100.

Where there was no place of worship, £100 might be granted from the colonial treasury if £50 a year were raised by private contributions. Under this act £3,000 a year was divided between the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, and the Church of Rome, and recently the Wesleyan Methodists shared part of the grant.

In his attempt to introduce an improved system of education Sir Richard Bourke was defeated by religious jealousies, but the despatches and act quoted will remain monuments of his patriotism and statesmanship.

The two great events of General Bourke's government were the abolition of the assignment system, and the substitution of sales by auction, at a minimum upset price, for free grants of land.

The Pastoral System and the Sale of Land.

Scarcely second in importance to the discussions on the Church and School Act are the still-continuing contests on the land question, in which Governor Bourke again displayed his foresight and legislative capacity.

By a despatch dated February, 1831, the colonial secretary instructed the Governors of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land to discontinue the grants, and substitute sale by auction at a minimum upset price of 5s. an acre, without any of the privileges in assigned servants which had been annexed to sales at the same rate by Governor Brisbane. And in 1835 Governor Bourke carried through the Legislative Council the act to restrain unauthorized occupation (7. W. IV. No. 4), on which the squatting system is founded; and in the following year he commenced issuing the licences under which two-thirds of the stock of New South Wales and Victoria are now pastured. He did not then contemplate obtaining more than sufficient funds to defray the expenses of the necessary staff, crown land commissioners, and police. There he was much mistaken.

Before the appointment of crown land commissioners it was common for great settlers to "eat out," as they called it, any small settler, by sending sheep to devour all the pasture for miles round his hut. It took some years to convince the old magnates that they could no longer do as they did in the old days of white slavery and irresponsible government.

G

By these two measures the character of Australian colonization was completely changed. Their effects will be described in the next chapter. Here however it may be convenient to review the successive systems by which land had been alienated in New South Wales up to the time of Bourke.

Up to 1831 a variety of systems had been adopted, of which the following is an abstract :—

The Land System from 1788 to 1831.

From the foundation of the colony, until 1824, the regulations for the disposal of land were left entirely in the hands of the governor for the time being. Land was in the early days of the colony bestowed on any man, bond or free, who could undertake to support himself; as the colony progressed in wealth and population, certain situations became valuable, and were eagerly sought by parties of influence; but large portions were held, especially as pastures, under free licences of occupation, which were granted to encourage the explorations by settlers.

Sir Thomas Brisbane granted 180,000 acres at a yearly quit rent. of 2s. per 100 acres. He sold, between December, 1824, and 19th May, 1825, 369,050 acres at 5s. an acre, giving a long credit, with in addition a quit rent of 2s. per 100 acres; and he also granted in two years, between 1823 and 1825, 573,000 acres at 15s. annual quit rent per 100 acres. But it must be noted that all these grants and purchases were accompanied by an allowance of a certain number of convicts per 30 acres to clear and till them, and that these convicts, as well as the settler and his wife, were rationed for a limited period at the expense of the government.

During and previous to Macquarie's time, the settler frequently obtained with his grant the use of a government gang, who cut down, burned, rolled, and cleared the timber from lots which no one would have attempted to clear and cultivate with hired labour. The great object of the governors down to the time of Darling was to lighten the expenses of the commissariat in feeding convict prisoners.

The system founded on such simple aims, in spite of a crowd of abuses, answered admirably in one point of view: it colonized and cultivated the country; and if it had been accompanied by a large importation of wives for the settlers, and measures for reforming, educating, and christianizing the colonists, considering the slight offences for which transportation was awarded between 1788 and 1825, it would have provided New South Wales with a population well suited to assist and

REGULATIONS FOR THE SALE OF LAND.

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amalgamate with free labouring emigrants, when the time came for abolishing transportation, and giving up the land which convicts had pioneered to the use of a free population.

For instance, in 1822, the Hunter River district was in a state of nature, and in 1827, for a distance of 150 miles along the river, half a million acres had been surveyed, granted, and sold to settlers, whose capital was calculated at from four to five hundred thousand pounds, and whose stock included 25,000 horned cattle, and 80,000 fine-woolled sheep. Thirty miles of excellent road had been constructed by the government with convict labour between the Hunter River* and Sydney, and the remainder of the route was in course of execution, while the improvements, buildings, fences, and cultivation, were all effected by assigned servants, whom the government fed and clothed for the first eighteen months. Nothing but convict labour could have done so much in five years.

In 1824 the Secretary of State for the Colonies issued regulations for the disposal of land in New South Wales, of which the following is an abstract:

"1. A division of the whole territory into counties, hundreds, and parishes, is in progress. When that division shall be completed, each parish will comprise an area of 25 square miles. A valuation will be made of the lands throughout the colony, and an average price will be struck for each parish.

"2. All the lands in the colony not hitherto granted, and not appropriated for public purposes, will be put up for sale at the average price

thus fixed.

"3. All persons proposing to purchase lands must transmit a written application to the governor, in a certain prescribed form, which will be delivered at the surveyor-general's office to all parties applying, on payment of a fee of two shillings and sixpence.

"4. The purchase-money must be made by four quarterly instalments. A discount of 10 per cent. will be allowed for ready-money payments.

"5. The largest quantity of land which will be sold to any individual, 89,600 acres. The land will generally be put up in lots of three square miles or 1,920 acres.

"7. Any purchaser who, within ten years of his purchase, shall by the employment and maintenance of convicts have relieved the public from a charge equal to ten times the purchase-money, will have the

* In consequence of the facilities of steam navigation to the River Hunter, and the barrenness of this land route, it has been abandoned.