Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official InformationQueensland
History
Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official Information
Queensland
Queensland -- History
It has been mentioned that the Alienation of Crown Lands Act of 1860
provided for granting to any immigrant who had paid his passage-money,
or to any other person by whom it had been paid, an L18 land order
on arrival, and a further land order for L12 after he had resided two
years in the colony. These land orders were made receivable as cash at
any Crown land sale, and they led to a large traffic, as the fact that
land orders could be bought from immigrants at a discount stimulated
the demand for land, especially for town lots. At first these
instruments could be bought at very low prices, but after a time the
L18 land order had become of the recognised market value of L15 to L16
cash, and could be readily purchased at those prices from agents in
Queen-street, Brisbane. But the effect upon land sales revenue alarmed
the Government, and after a time they refused to receive land orders
as payment in lieu of cash at sales of other than country land. In
1864 an Immigration Act was passed providing for the appointment of
an Agent-General for Emigration in London, and for the repeal of the
land-order sections of the 1860 Land Act. A new provision was made
by which the Agent-General was empowered to issue to an approved
passenger in London who had paid his passage-money a land-order
warrant for L30. On arrival in the colony the passenger was granted in
exchange for the warrant a non-transferable land order receivable as
cash at face value at sales of suburban and country lands only. These
restrictions lowered the market price of the instrument, although by
means of a power of attorney the non-transferable provision was for a
time evaded. Eventually, however, the restrictions were made so
severe that for market purposes the land order was worth little, and
immigrants who had come out and failed to settle on the land found
themselves in possession of a document of no practicable value. The
extent to which the land-order traffic prevailed will be understood
when it is mentioned that, in 1865, of L218,431, the total revenue
from land sales, only L59,461 was cash, the remainder being
represented by land orders. By 1875 the system had become discredited,
and was abolished by legislation, but outstanding land orders were
still used. In 1883-4 the amount so received had fallen to L16, while
the cash receipts for sales were L378,637. The total value of land
orders received as cash between 1861 and 1883-4 was L853,583. Some
public men have contended that, if the initial practice of receiving
the land order at face value in payment for any Crown land sold at
auction had been continued, the Treasury would have been recouped by
the larger demand and higher prices realised, but obviously a system
which stimulated speculation in land was not good for the country,
besides which it encouraged dummying. In 1886 the Griffith Government
determined to give the system a further trial, and in the Crown Lands
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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