Claims For Company Not Justified

Having abandoned the idea of a chartered colony, the South Australian Association continued its existence, to further the aims of colonisation "as a private and temporary society for the purpose of promoting the success of the measure." Nothing eventuated from the last proposal made to the Colonial Secretary (Mr. E. G. Stanley) but the association hung on until Spring Rice took Stanley's place. 

The association issued a pamphlet during 1834 entitled "outline of the plan of a proposed colony to be founded on the South coast of Australia." This pamphlet reproduced the evidence previously gathered and recapitulated the ideas of the scheme, namely, founding a colony under Royal charter at or near Spencer's Gulf. The association held a meeting in Exeter Hall on June 30, 1834, when a resolution was carried "that amongst the unoccupied portions of the earth which forms part of the British Dominions, the south coast of Australia, appears to be a spot peculiarly suited for founding a colony upon the principles embodied in the preceding resolution." 

The preceding resolution was the one embodying Wakefield's scheme for colonisation. A speaker at that meeting said that leave had already been given "to bring the bill for the settlement of the proposed colony before Parliament. It will, in a few days, be read a second time, and I have no doubt. after the display which has been made today, that the colony itself will very soon be forwarded, and under the blessing of Providence, we may hope that in the course of time, it may become one of the finest colonies in the British Dominions." 

TERMS OF NEW PROPOSAL 

The new proposal was that Parliament should pass an Act creating South Australia a Crown Colony, incorporating Wakefield's scheme of land sales and emigration. The Government required guarantees that the soil, climate and water were suitable, that persons with £50,000 were ready to embark, and that sufficient funds were available to support the Government for three years. It also required that a land fund of £35,000 should be in existence, that is, that £35,000 worth of land should be sold and paid for. Provision was also to be made for the promotors to borrow up to £200,000. A Bill was drafted by Edward and Daniel Wakefield on these lines, including a clause for raising a guarantee fund of £20,000. 

So quickly did Parliament work and so little obstruction was offered, that on August 15, 1834, the Act for the establishment of South Australia became law. A Board of Commissioners was constituted to deal with the sale of land, survey and emigration, and shortly afterwards a governor was appointed. 

The next step was to carry out the provisions of the Act, and the necessary guarantees. I shall not attempt to trace all the trials, setbacks, and the final surmounting of the difficulties encountered, but it is necessary at this stage to consider the formation of the "South Australian Company," — not "association"; they were two separate bodies, one a private business concern and the other an advisory society. 

Dr. Grenfell Price in his book has given a very lucid description of how the company came into existence. He is doubtful whether the introduction of the company was necessary from the point of view of selling the first instalment of land, and he preserves an open mind on what effect the company had on other transactions in connection with the colony in its very early stages. 

CHANCE FOR SPECULATORS 

George Fife Angas and Robert Gouger saw a splendid chance for speculation and for flotation of companies. Angas had been on the provisional committee of the 1832 scheme, a pure money-making venture, and he feared that the clause relating to the sale of land could not be fulfilled, more especially when the price was fixed at 20/- per acre. He got in touch with other mercantile interests, and with sufficient backing from them, was in a position to approach the Colonisation Commissioners with a request for a reduction in the sale price of land to 12/- per acre, provided an application was lodged for a large area of land, and that the rate be subsequently raised to 20/-. On this basis he tendered for £20,000 worth of land. If the scheme was to go ahead, here was an almost certain profit of 8/- per acre. 

With such a prospect the public immediately rushed to participate in the scheme. In a few days only 29 lots were unapplied for, excluding the tender by Angas. To fulfill the necessary land guarantee, 437 applications were required for 81 acres at 20/- per acre. The 81 acres consisted of a country section of 80 acres and a town section of one acre. The applications were subsequently referred to as preliminary land grants, and the holders of them had priority in selecting their sections. This was the original intention if land was sold at 20/- an acre but when other factors were introduced, the acreage of country sections was altered. 

PRICE OF LAND REDUCED 

The board in the first instance rejected Angas's offer, as well as the reduction in the price of the land. But in going into details and trying to decide the applications, it was found that many of the applicants could not or would not be able to meet the necessary payments, so after consideration the board decided to cancel their previous decision and to reduce the price of land to 12/ per acre, being the minimum price mentioned in the Act, and to allot 102 of the 437 to Angas, the others having been satisfactorily arranged for. It was also arranged that each share application or grant should be valued at £81, so instead of getting only 81 acres, the applicants were allotted 135 country acres and one town acre, at 12/- per acre. Angas, with his colleagues, Smith and Kingscote, put down £3,000 each to enable the board, with the money received from other applicants, to immediately fulfill the sale of land guarantee. 

Although the South Australian Company was not actually founded until January 22, 1836, several months after the land was allotted, it is evident there must have been some understanding with Angas, and some initial steps taken between the time the land was applied for and the date of the company's formation. Angas stressed the fact that the company did not buy any of the original £35,000 worth of land, but that three private individuals joined together to buy about 10,000 acres at 12/- per acre, and they subsequently agreed to transfer the land to the company at prime cost, only charging interest on the money laid out. From this it is clear that the statement of some writers, that it was the Company, not the Government nor the Commissioners, which really founded South Australia, is not justified. 

As was remarked in a previous article dealing with the Henty family, the Colonial Secretary of Tasmania said that arrangements had been made with an English company, with the concurrence of Parliament, for the colonisation of that territory. This statement may be partly responsible for the idea that some writers in Victoria and Tasmania had and have on the colonisation of South Australia. 

The statement by the Colonisation Secretary of Tasmania is also misleading in that by the time Henty's application was dealt with even the idea of a chartered company had been abandoned ; and parliament never concurred in the settlement of the territory by any company. 

SPECIAL SURVEY SYSTEM 

Before leaving the subject of the South Australian Company, it is as well to notice that under an agreement the company would purchase additional land before March 1836. The board introduced, at the company's wish a system of special surveys. 

This clause in the land regulations played an important part in the history of Port Lincoln. It created a lot of extra work on surveys and the general work of the colony, so that when the British Government took more definite control, the Secretary of State suspended the regulation. 

One other trouble the Commissioners had was the raising of portion of the £200,000 loan. Applications were called for tenders. The amount offered was insufficient, and some of the proposals were declared illegal. The board put the completion of the whole transaction in the hands of Mr. John Wright, a member of the board. He offered to advance £30,000 at 10 per cent for a term of years, with an option of another £50,000 for a term of about ten years at 10 per cent, but in actual fact this latter sum was provided at a much more satisfactory term for the board. Twenty thousand pounds of the former amount was immediately deposited with the British Government, on which it allowed 3 per cent, the board losing 7 per cent in providing the monetary guarantee. In fulfilling the two guarantees, the Board of Commissioners lost two of its active members — G. F. Angas and J. Wright. 

(To Be Continued.)