New Land Regulations

Australasian Chronicle

20 February 1841

Mr. Editor-

I regret to say that I do not agree with you in the question of separation, or what is called dismemberment; there are many parts of this colony over which a man may travel for thirty or forty miles and not get a drop of water either for himself or for his horse. How could families, or even an individual, or even a beast, subsist in a place so barren?

It is true we have the banks of Murrumbidgee, Tumut, and spots on the coast where families may settle on small farms, and cultivate them to advantage; but these spots are nothing in comparison to the immense ranges of scrub and unprofitable tillage land to be found in almost every district of the colony.

The government plan of selling land in small partitions is a wise and merciful one, and I trust they will persevere in it.

I am, Sir, &c., Philanthropos.

[We never meant to assert that the whole or even one-half the land of the colony is arable; but we do maintain that in many parts of the colony there is abundance of rich land fit to support a concentrated, industrious; agricultural population; and that it is the duty of government, by every means in its power, to promote this concentration, at whatever risk to individual interests.-Ed.]