ﬁ

212

Eleven Lots. at Two Shillings per one bun-z "o o o dred acres, - - - - - Rent Town and pasture lots uncertain.

It is therefore our will, that out of the pro- duce of our said Revenue of Quit rents, so to be paid as aforesaid, you do take to yourselfas Governor of our said Island, the sum of Five Hundred pounds sterling per annum 3 and you do also cause the following annual salaries to be paid out of the said Revenue, to the several oﬂcers herein after mentioned-that is to say, to the Secretary and Register of our said Is- land. One Hundred and Fifty pounds sterling

r annum. To 'the Chief Justice of our said Is- and,,Tonundred ounds sterling per annum. To the Attorney General of our :aid Island, One Hundred pounds sterling per annum. To the Clerk of the Crown and Coroner, Eighty pounds sterling per annum. To the Provost Marshal, Fifty pounds sterling per annum. To aMinisterofthe Church ofEngland, One Hun. dred pounds sterling per annum. To the Clerk ofthe council, Fifty pounds sterling per on- num. And it is our further will and pleasure, that the said salaries, as well to yourself, as to the rest of the oﬁcers above mentioned, do commence and become payable, from and after the first day of May last past, and that the same be paid quarterly by our Receiver Ge- neral ofOur Quit rents, for our said Island, or his deputy, pursuant to warrant signed by you, our Governor, with the consent of our Council, for our said Island, as directed by our commis- sion under our great seal of Great Britain; provided nevertheless, thatit be understood, and we do hereby declare it to be our Royal will and pleasure that the foregoing appro- priation of our said Quit Rents to the support ofthe Civil Establishment of our said Island, as aforesaid, shall be only for a limited time, that is to say, not to exceed the space of ten years: and that in case the annual amount of said Quit Rents shall fall short of the appointments above mentioned, either by afailure of con. sent in any number ofthe Proprietors to the alterations proposed in the terms of their

, grants, or hereafter by any accident or casu- ‘ alty whatever, the salaries and ,allowances to

the several ofﬁcers above mentioned, shall be diminished in proportion.

2. Resolved That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the original Grantees or Pro- prietors, ﬁnding it impracticable for them to fulﬁl the terms and conditions of their respec- tive grants, by setting their Lands with the

* required number and description of persons,

and withinthe time prescribed for that pur. pose, or to pay the Quit-Rents speciﬁed there- in, were generally induced to dispose of their lands many years ago for atriﬂing considera- tion, to speculators, who had no claims what- ever on the Crown, but who neVertheless found indirect means to impose on His Ma- jesty’s Government from time to time by mis. representation, and thereby easily obtained re- mission of their Quit-Rent, although they have notoriously neglected the Settlement and Improvement of the Colony, to the great and manifest injury of those few persons who had been induced to emigrate and settle therein, relying on the rapid settlement and improve- ment of the Island.

.3. Resolved. That it is the opinion of this Com- mittee, that from the just representations formerly made to His Majesty’s Government

THE BRITISH AMERICAN .

by these who knew best the desperate state of the Island,it graciously pleased His late Ma- jesty King George the Third, by Lord Hobart his Minister, in the year 1803, to direct and sanction the passing of an Act to establish and regulate a Court of Escheat in this Colony, and His Majesty’s gracious design in this in- stancewas communicated to Governor Fanning in a despatch, of which the following is an ex- tract:

DOWNllG-ITRII‘I', Aug. 0th. 1802.

The present state of the Island of Prince Edward, and the representations which have been made in behalfof the Inhabitants. having been brought under the consideratio n of His Majesty’s Ministers, it has been determined that a composition should be accepted in lieu of the full amount of the claim which Govern. ’ment has against the Proprietors of Land for arrears of Quit rent, and that each Proprietor should stand excused a part of his arrear, pro- portioned to the number of acres he has settled according to the terms of the Original Grants.

To form a scale by which this might be de- termined, the proprietors have been divided into Five Classes, and a plan has been pro- posed and approved by his Majesty, of which the following is the substance:—

lst Class.—Proprietors whose Lands are fully settled, to be excused the whole arrear except tor/our years, to be paid within one month after notice given to them.

9d CIass.—-Proprietors of whole Townships or Lots who have settled 10,000 acres and up- wards, or Proprietors of smaller tracts whose land are above halfsettled, to be excused the rear except forﬁve years, to be paid within one month after notice given to them.

3d. Clam—Proprietors of whole Lots who have settled from 5,000 to 10,000 acres, or pro- prietors of smaller tracts whose lands are from oneofourth to one-halfsettled, to be excused the arrear except for nine years, to be paid within one month after notice given to them.

4th Class.—Proprietors of whole Lots who have settled less than 5,000 acres, or Proprie- tors of smaller tracts whose lands are not set- tled in the proportion ofone-fourth, to be ex- cused the arrear, except for twelve years, to he paid by two equal instalment, within four and eight months after notice given to them.

5th Class.—Pr0prietors whose lands remain totally unsettled, to be excused the arrear, except forﬁfleen years, to be paid by two equal instalments, within four and eight months af- ter notice given to them, and infailure oflhese payments, the Lands lo be resumed by the Crown.

In consequence ofthese arrangements, the Reteiver General of Quit-Rents has, in obe- dience to the instructions he has received from the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, ta- ken proper steps for settling with the Proprie- tors in England for the payment of the several proportions of the composition which Govern- ment is willing to accept; and he will shortly proceed to Prince Elward Island to call in like manner upon the Proprietors residing therein.

In order to give full effect to the measures which have been adopted here, it will be neces- sary that you should he prepared to pursue, without loss oftime. when circumstances shall render it advisable, the requisite and legal steps for effectually revesting in His Majesty such

£0. 21

lands as may be liable to be sum, forfeited.

lt is also highly expedient that a pro er and eﬂ'ectual method should be establishedo collec. ting, receiving, and accounting in future {0, the Quit-Rents, as they shall become payable. whereby all frauds, concealments. irregular“ or neglect may be prevented, and when}, the receipt thereofmay be effectually checked and controlled. I am, therefore, to signify, you His Majesty’s pleasure, that 'ou are, in the strongest manner, to recommen to the Leg, lature ofthe Island under your Government to pass an Act for these purposes, with as little delay as possible, and I enclose you herewith certain clauses put to together in the form of a Bill, which seem to me to comprehend 1h. points most material to be attended to. These clauses form part ofa Bill pre ared a conﬁde, rable time ago, under the irection of Hi, Majesty’s Law Ofﬁcers, with a view of bein sent out to thp Colony to be passed intoa L“. and they appear to be perfectly applicable on the present occasion.

With repect to the measure to be adopted for the recovery ofsuch Lands as may be liable to be escheated and forfeited to the Crown, either by non-improvement. non-payment of Quit-Rents, or non-performance of any other conditions ofthe Grants, the practiCe which has prevailed in this respect in Nova Scotialto the Lt. Governor of which Province you will, if necessary, apply for such information) will, it is conceived, be a sufﬁcient precedent for your guidance and direction; and it is His Ma. jesty’s pleasure, that after having fully inform. ed yourself upon this subject, you should follow the same line of proceeding which hasthere been established, and you will regularly report to me, for his Majesty’s information, the sir- cumstances which may from time to time arise, and the steps which may in consequence be taken. Full instructions with regard to the disposal oflands, the property of the Crown, or which may hereafter be resumed, will short. ly be transmitted to you.

(Signed) HOBART.

That this display of His Majesty’s Royal he- neﬁcence was hailed by the deluded colonists as a prelude to prosperity and indepen- dence, and as a measure which would ulti- mately place them on an equal footing with their neighbours in the adjacent Provinces; and an Act was immediately passed by the three branches of the Legislature in compli- ance with the despatch, and which in eﬂect would have revested in the Crown nearly the whole of the lands in this Island, as they were then beyond doubt liable to forfeiture and Escheat.

4. Resolved. That it is the opinion of this Committee, that although the Act of 1803 for regulating aCourt of Escheat, was passed to strict conformity with the despatch from HI! Majesty’s Minister on that subject, and al. though various other Acts were passed both before and since by the Colonial Legislature. containing the most just, proper and eqliitable enactments calculated to improve the trade of the Island, encourage the introduction 0f Emigrants, and thereby thevcultivation ofthe soil, yet, notwithstanding the obvious advan- tages to be derived from such Laws, had they been permitted to go into fair operation, cer- tain proprietors and their adherents have con-