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In the English summer of 1831, Wakefield and Bacon, joining forces, called upon Torrens and explained the colonisation scheme by a chartered company, which had been previously submitted to Lord Howick.

In August, 1831, Torrens, Bacon, Gouger and Graham waited on Lord Goderich, who on behalf of the Government said it was adverse to any extension of colonies, with their heavy expense to the Home Government.

In another plan for a company in the same year, the River Murray was mentioned, but Spencer's Gulf was picked out for prominence and it was said that " either Kangaroo Island or Port Lincoln will probably be fixed on for the site of the first settlement."

Nothing daunted at their previous failures, the supporters of the colonisation scheme in 1832, formed themselves into a society, under the title of " The South Australian Society." Whitmore was chairman, but Torrens acted occasionally in his absence and on July 9, 1832, Colonel Torrens, as chairman of the provisional committee of the South Australian Land Company, acting on the advice previously tendered by Lord Howick, laid the details of the proposed charter before Lord Goderich. The details showed that the company intended to raise a capital fund of £500,0000 in shares of £50 each. Lord Goderich's reply was," But his Majesty's Government could not recommend to Parliament a measure so entirely subversive, in one part of his Majesty's Dominions, of those Royal preroga tives which, for the common benefit of all his subjects, it is his Majesty's duty to maintain."

Further correspondence between the parties ensued, but ultimately Lord Goderich, probably in August, 1832, definitely stated that the scheme "must now be considered as virtually abandoned."

ADVANCE OF £100,000

A second pamphlet in connection with the colonisation scheme is dated 1832 and is headed, "Evidence respecting the soil, climate and production of the South Coast of Australia." Wakefield in the same year stated that a body of intending settlers offered to advance £100,000 as the purchase money of land. Subsequently, one or two bodies of interested persons had been collected, but they had been dispersed by the cruel delays of the Government.

Whitmore, favoring the vicinity of Kangaroo Island and the Murray, obtained a copy of Sturt's journal. As a result of the new knowledge gained, the provisional committee of the South Australian Land Company passed a resolution that " the evidence this submitted in respect of the soil, climate and productions of Kangaroo Island and the shores of the Murray River and Lake Alexandrina, is sufficient to warrant the formation of a colony in these lands with all possible expedition."

On July 6, 1833, W. W. Whitmore submitted to the Right Hon. E. G. Stanley, a modified scheme for a chartered company which was to have the pre-emption of 1,000,000 acres to be selected within a given time at the first minimum price, with the understanding that the Government would not sell land at a lesser rate. In August, 1833, Lord Stanley advised Whitmore the conditions under which he was ready to treat the proposed company.

This company proposed a subscribed capital of £500,000 in £50 shares. Although Stanley, seemed to have been more favorably impressed than his predecessors, his conditions were not agreeable to the proposed new company, and apparently negotiations fell through about August 22, 1833. Gouger, in 1833, heads his journals as a " renewal of the attempt to form a colony in Spencer's Gulf."

POSITION CHANGED

The position as regards forming a settlement in South Australia had undergone a considerable change since 1831. In that year Barker made his memorable discoveries on the east side of St. Vincent's Gulf, but they were apparently unknown in England until 1833.

Barker on his return from, Western Australia to New South Wales was instructed to examine the Gulf and the land between it and the Murray, to see if there was an outlet from the Murray into the Gulf. In his examination of the Gulf he landed at Port Noarlunga(?) and from there walked up the hills to Mount Lofty, where he had a magnificent view of the Gulf, the plains, and the inlet (afterwards Port Adelaide). He had not seen the inlet when making his examination by sea, so when he returned to his boat, he explored the opening. Barker then travelled overland, possibly from or near Yankalilla, to the Murray mouth where he was speared by the natives.

Mr. Kent, who accompanied him, related the results of the trip to Sturt, who embodied the information in his book. " Two expeditions into the interior of Southern Australia," which was published in 1833. In addition to this book, Sturt made known his view in an account of his visit to the office of the colonisers, recorded in Gouger's journal of January 27, 1834, and in a letter to the Colonial Office written on February 17, 1834.

STURT'S INFORMATION

Sturt had only seen the land adjacent to the Murray, but he had collected a lot of information from ships' captains, whalers, and so on, and he was so convinced of its accuracy that he wrote : "A spot has at length been found on the South Coast of New Holland to which colonists might venture with every prospect of success, and in whose valleys the exile might hope to build for himself and his family a peaceful and prosperous home. All who have ever landed upon the eastern shores of St. Vincent's Gulf agree as to the richness of its soil and the abundance of its pastures."

Further, Dr. Grenfell Price says : "Sturt proclaimed the proper site for a settlement would be the angle formed by the coast and creek (Port Ade laide inlet) and the position would be the proper and natural site for the capital."

Not disheartened by previous rebuffs, but cheered by the better news disseminated by Sturt, the advocates for the settlement made yet another attempt. In December, 1833, the South Australian Association was formed by the efforts of Wakefield, Gouger and others, to carry out Wakefield's scheme for colonisation.

This association at first advocated a chartered company. Its idea was " to found a colony by means of an authority delegated in perpetual succession to certain persons who should incur the trouble and responsibility of conducting the undertaking." This proposition was placed before the Government on January 23 and February 21, 1834. On the latter date a draft of the proposed charter was handed to the Right Hon. E. G. Stanley.

The Colonial Office, under Stanley, was entirely opposed to the scheme unless the company would undertake to buy sufficient land to make the scheme effective, and unless the English Government had complete control. Under the scheme proposed, Stanley's idea was that the Government would have to accept all responsibility in case of the failure of the experiment, without being able to contribute to its success. As the association could not persuade Stanley to accept its views, the idea of a chartered colony was abandoned on March 21, 1834, and the committee submitted a draft of an Act to Stanley for the founding of the colony by virtue of an Act of Parliament, with Commissioners for managing the sale of public land and emigration. The committee of this association, like its forebear, was strong and influential, under the presidency of Whitmore M.P., with Robert Gouger as honorary secretary.

(To Be Continued.)