A great impetus was given to the settlement of the wilderness parts of Nova Scotia by the proclamations issued by Governor Lawrence in 1758 and 1759 offering free grants of lands to those who would become settlers. In consequence of these proclamations attention was directed to the St. John river. The fertile lands along its borders greatly pleased the men of Massachusetts who explored it, and led to their founding the Township of Maugerville, while, almost simultaneously, Messrs. Simonds and White established their little colony at Portland Point. The Royal proclamation, issued at the Court of St. James in October, 1763, offering grants of lands to officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers that had served in the late French war, in token of his majesty's appreciation of their conduct and bravery, had the effect of creating a species of land-hunger which ere long led to a general scramble for the possession of all lands that were of value and were not already appropriated. However, up to the year 1765, only three land grants on the St. John river were recorded at Halifax. Then came the deluge! In the course of the month of October some twenty grants were issued, comprising nearly 750,000 acres of the best land on the River St. John, and immense tracts were granted in other parts of Nova Scotia. Charles Morris, the surveyor general at this time, explains that the vast number of applicants for land and their importunity were due to the fact that the obnoxious "stamp act" was about coming into operation and those desirous of securing lands were pressing hard for their grants in order to avoid the stamp duties. This land boom, if we may so term it, had the effect at first of stimulating the settlement of the country, but it is, to say the least, very doubtful whether subsequent growth and development were not retarded by the rashness of Governor Wilmot and his council in giving away the unsettled lands from the power of the crown and the people in so prodigal a fashion. The land grants of this period were usually made under the following conditions: First--The payment of a yearly quit rent of one shilling sterling to be made on Michaelmas day for every fifty acres, the quit rent, to commence at the expiration of ten years from the date of the grant. Second.--The grantee to plant, cultivate and improve, or inclose, one-third part within ten years, one-third part within twenty years and the remaining third part within thirty years from the date of the grant, or otherwise to forfeit such lands as shall not be actually under improvement and cultivation. Third.--To plant within ten years one rood of every thousand acres with hemp, and to keep up the same or a like quantity during the successive years.