NEW SOUTH WALES. (Hansard, 13 March 1844)

Mr. Scott

said, he rose to move for the production of certain papers, relative to the condition of licensed occupiers of Crown Lands in New South Wales, with a view to establish their claim to pre-emption of the lands they held and had improved. He said they were a class of men, of whom, perhaps, little might be known in this country, but who were, nevertheless, a most important and influential body, both in the colony and in the commerce which is carried on with Great Britain. The rapid increase of co- 983 lonial imports, their value, and the consumption of exports from this country, is in a great measure owing to these men. At present that colony, with a population of about 150,000 persons, consumed annually the almost incredible proportion of from 10l. to 12l. per head of British exports. It was a wonderful example of an infant state, at the distance of 16,000 miles, in which 150,000 persons take two-fifths of the amount of exports taken by the thirty millions inhabiting the states included in the Zollverein of Germany, and send two-thirds of the whole quantity of wool that is sent by the same states to this country. This result, within the last ten years has been mainly produced by the licensed occupiers beyond the boundaries. It was now about ten years since the ground within the limits of the colony of New South Wales became so fully stocked that it was necessary to seek for land without. To find space for their herds, enterprising parties went in quest of favourable localities on which to form sheep establishments. Exposed to every privation, their men frequently killed, their huts plundered, their flocks carried off to the amount of thousands in a single night, such were the hardships endured by the squatters of New South Wales. The Aborigines gradually retired, crops sprung up in what was formerly a desert, roads or tracts were formed, the progress of location continued beyond them, and the country assumed the appearance of civilization. It is to these men, the real surveyors of the country, that the Government and this country are indebted for the discovery of the land, the acquaintance with its mountains and its rivers, the knowledge of its resources, the acquisition of its territory, and more especially for the addition of its wealth, for the colony must have remained comparatively insignificant had its resources been confined to the limits of the nineteen counties. Originally only colonists, their numbers received large additions subsequently from other quarters. Want of employment both for capital and individuals at home, and expectation of advancement abroad, carried out vast numbers to New South Wales. Amongst these were many men of character and education; but he could best describe the class by referring to the words of Sir G. Gipps, in a despatch dated December, 1840. He said— Among the squatters of New South Wales 984 are the wealthiest of the land, occupying with permission of Government, thousands and ten thousands of acres; young men of good family and connections in England, officers of the Army and Navy, graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, are also in no small number amongst them." (He further states, that) "The system they have pursued has been fostered and encouraged by successive governors of the colony, and by successive acts of the Legislature; and this had been done in the conviction that such easy occupation of Crown land is essential to the prosperity of the colony, and because it is wise to sanction and regulate that which the Government has no power to prevent, even were it disposed to do so. "As well might it be attempted (he continues in another place) to confine the Arabs of the Desert within a circle traced upon their sands, as to confine the graziers or wool-growers of New South Wales within any bounds that can possibly be assigned to them; and as certainly as the Arabs would be starved, so also would the flocks and herds of New South Wales, if they were so confined, and the prosperity of the country be at an end. Such is the testimony of the Governor of the colony respecting the enterprising class of men occupying the Crown Lands, and such are the sentiments entertained respecting the benefits they confer upon the colony. In these opinions he fully concurrred, but not in the statement that they had either been fostered or encouraged. Had they been either fostered or encouraged, they would neither be in the position in which they now are nor would they he seeking for redress of the grievances of which they complain. The House would recollect, that when these men go into the pastures, they go into a wilderness. Residences must be raised for themselves, and their shepherds; sheep-pens, barns, and wool-sheds erected, all the arrangements of a large establishment. These are absolutely necessary, in order to make their flocks a source of profit. And yet all these buildings are done in the most unstable manner; for the existing law, which he asked the House to reconsider, denies them a tenure which would enable them to give comfort to their dwellings, or stability to their farm buildings; the necessary expenses, however, cannot be estimated (says the Lieutenant Governor of Port Phillip) at less than 1,000l. on a station of a first class, and at 300l. or 400l. on one of the second order. Yet after this expenditure has been made, the Government reserves to itself the power of turning these men adrift at a moment's warning. The consequence is that no 985 prudent man would lay out one farthing more upon the buildings on his station than he was obliged: hence we see men whose property is worth thousands, and who have been brought up in the lap of luxury, living in a wretched cabin of rough slabs of wood. He would not detain the House with an account of the settler's abode, of the bark hut, the damp clay floor, the bed of sheets of bark, with perhaps a saddle for a pillow, no single article of furniture around him, his food of simplest and of rudest kind—the flesh of his flocks, the milk of his herds, cakes baked in the ashes on his hearth, being all his sustenance; yet these hovels and this sustenance are the dwellings and the food of nine-tenths of those located beyond the boundaries. It is not the inability of these persons to supply themselves with the necessaries and many of the comforts of life—it is the existence of the law of the Government, which by rendering it liable that that may be another's to-morrow, which is theirs to-day, renders it imprudent in them to raise buildings for another's benefit. They will not sow in order that another may reap; they will not plant in order that another may cut down. They dare not build a house which, meeting the eye of envy or of covetousness, they may lose in consequence of having built it, they dare not build, because the Governor may of his own free will, deprive them thereof. And if these discomforts apply with force to their domestic life, they apply still more prejudicially to the public by affecting the management of the large establishments. The wool of New South Wales is equal in quality to German wool, but the greater part of it is got up in a very inferior manner—the reason is obvious. The great flock-masters—for those without the boundaries already send more wool than all the stockholders within the nineteen counties designated New South Wales—dare not erect proper shearing sheds, wool sheds, or washing pens for the purpose required. These would call for a very great outlay, and in their present state of insecurity no one will erect to-day what may be taken from him to-morrow. Nor does this apply less to the protection of his crops, or to the mills required to grind his corn. No mills are erected, consequently the whole grain beyond the boundaries is ground by hand, at an expense four times that at which it could be done by mills. It applies to all permanent improvements. This system 986 of insecurity of tenure exists universally, and is universally ruinous. Nothing arrests energy so much as uncertainty. Has uncertainty of tenure contributed to the prosperity of Ireland? Do you seek to perpetuate such a system there? If uncertainty of tenure be unjust and inexpedient in Ireland, you will hardly recommend its adoption or continuance in New South Wales; nor do the evils of the system apply merely to the pecuniary circumstances of the parties. It affects them in every relation of life; it affects their morality. These settlers lead a pastoral life, in all but the social comforts and domestic virtues. Nineteen out of twenty of the stockholders beyond the boundaries are unmarried, not that the married state there is a more expensive one, it is the reverse; but in the dwellings they occupy, they cannot enjoy the comforts of social or domestic life, and they dare not, under the existing law, afford the risk of improvement; and that which applies to the masters applies also to those whom they employ. With so uncertain a tenure, they cannot be at the expense of sending into the interior families of whose services they may be deprived tomorrow, by an act of the Government. The want of certainty retards civilization. The principle applies with no less force to our intercourse with, and our hopes of civilization of the aboriginal natives. Introduce what law, make what regulations you please, the civilization of the natives depends mainly on the amount and influence of morality of the settlers; and nothing will contribute to this in a greater degree than the domestic virtues consequent on the introduction of wives into their families. Matthew Moreham, protector of the Aborigines, states that now the females are a frequent subject of quarrel between the blacks and settlers. The redress of these grievances, the remedy of these evils, the reform of these abuses, is the right of preemption. The right of the settlers to purchase, at the minimum government price, the lands which they have discovered almost as much as Columbus discovered America, and to which they, and they alone, have given the value they now have. This right has been given by America to those occupying lands in the interior. And he trusted that the Government may be disposed to take up the question, and to reconsider the law as it exists at present, 987 and to grant to reason and to equity the indulgence which the inhabitants of New South Wales claim, and which they so fully merit, by the benefits they have conferred on the colony, and on the mother country. But if the condition of these settlers does not induce you—if the enumerated evils of uncertain tenure be insufficient—if the calls of morality and the claims of civilization do not appear to have sufficient weight—if you are unwilling to grant it for these reasons—do it on your own account. Consider the question in a commercial point of view. Is the House aware of the immense amount of increase in value imported from Great Britain into the colony, namely, from 409,344l. in 1832, to 1,837,000l. in 1841? and the whole of this amount is paid for in wool, of which the quantity imported in 1832 was 1,500,000 lbs., and last year was 10,500,000. Nor let it be forgotten that by far the greater quantity of the wool, of which the increase has been so surprising, and which goes to pay for the exports above enumerated, has been raised by the very men who live beyond the boundaries, and in whose behalf the question is thus brought before you, and is the only article in which they can pay you. You may object that their case has not heretofore been brought before you. But, then, dispersed as they must be whose occupation is grazing, in a country where from three to five acres are required to support a single sheep, they cannot so easily combine, and the hardships must both be pressing and of long duration before those who are reduced to so much suffering will raise a complaint. The House is aware of the wealth, of the importance, of the enterprise and intelligence of these men, and all these are so many and grave reasons for taking these complaints into consideration; but there is yet another and more grave:—There are no less than 1,000 stockholders who have licences beyond the boundaries, and about double that number besides, who hold stock running on the stations of licensed occupiers. Thus there are about 3,000 persons in and around the counties of the colony, comprising almost all that is distinguished from property, education, character, or energy, these men are powerful, but they are not contented. He had stated the number of flock masters. In 1839 Sir G. Gipps stated that they had 7,000 or 8,000 tenders, or shepherds, and 988 he also gave the numbers of their stock, which he believed to be very much underrated at 1,334,000 sheep, and taking the average rate of increase since 1832, we are warranted in assuming that the present number of sheep amounts to nearly 3,000,000. They occupy a tract of country extending along 1,200 miles of coast, stretching around and beyond the colony, along the whole line of frontier and of sea-coast, from Portland Bay to the 25th parallel of latitude, and dipping about 300 miles into the interior, and making an average advance latterly of from fifty to seventy miles a year. He asked whether it would not be a stroke of wisdom and sound policy, as well as of justice, to conciliate these men by the concession of their reasonable demands, or by a recommendation to the Colonial Government to adopt measures for that purpose? England boasts of dominions upon which the sun never sets; her colonies are found in every quarter of the globe, so her commerce enters into every port, and her flag is respected in every sea. It is the establishment of colonies, and their encouragement in every clime, that has thus contributed to her naval strength and commercial prosperity, and upon their extension and continuance he considered that her greatness mainly depends. They are the roots which the tree has thrown into distant and newer soil, which at once strengthen and sustain the poorest stem and add fresh vigour to the branches. In the event, however remote, of some foreign power seeking to establish a rival dominion in the Pacific or the Southern seas, would it not be most desirable to endeavour to cement the affections of the offspring to the parent? Would it not be better that considerable men in the Colonies should be favourably disposed towards, and warmly attached to the Government? And would it not be next to madness to alienate the affections of so powerful a body—of a Colony which at once supplies our markets so largely, and takes so largely of our exports? He rested his application for papers, with a view to obtain the right of preemption of lands, and to bring the matter under the immediate consideration of Her Majesty's Government, on the basis of reason and of justice—he appealed on the ground of equity and of fairness, and on the interests of the Colony and the mother country—he ap- 989 plied on behalf of the civilization of the natives and the morals of the colonists—he relied on the benefits which commerce would derive, on the principles of sound policy. He regarded the prospective security and safety to the Empire, but insisted more than all on the circumstance that the indulgence or act of justice which is asked would inflict no harm or injury on any one. If he did not believe that this measure would not hurt the wool-growers of this country, connected as he was with a county which supplies large quantities of wool to the manufacturers, he should be the last person in this House to bring forward such a measure; but, believing, as he did, that the competition is not between the home-growers and the colonial, but between the colonial and the foreign, he brought forward the question with the confidence that it would meet with the support of Her Majesty's Government.