(i) What rivers, fountains, or other waters are found in the said districts, the source of the former, and the strength of all, to which it is particularly necessary to note if, and how strong each river, &c., is during every season of the year. (k) All further particulars which may appear to the commission on the said inspection, and which cannot be comprehended in any of the above points. The Report of this examination being compared with the diagram formed by the Land Surveyor, Government will be enabled at one view to see into the real state of lands in both the said districts, and to decide: 1st. What loan places the adoption of the above rule should begin with? 2nd. What Quit Rent places held on a 15 years lease it would be advisable and expedient to convert into perpetual quit rent? 3rd. What disposition circumstances might require should be adopted with respect to Government grounds which are cultivated without title beyond the limits of property, loan, quit rent, or other special concession? 4th. Whether, and in what manner, the use of waste Government lands for pasturage of cattle should be suffered to continue, at least till such time as the same can be more usefully employed for cultivation ? 5th. What rules should in future be observed with respect to the use of water, the source of which is upon Government ground, including loan land and actual Quit Rent? These regulations being made with proper judgment, I am of opinion that future Governments cannot easily mistake in promoting the attainable state of prosperity in this Colony, if only in carrying them into execution no untimely application be made nor any alteration allowed of Loan places in any of the remote districts previous to the above mentioned inspection and survey having been made, and thus Government be previously enabled to judge of the same, each alteration taking place by the concession of a usual Erfgrondbrief, whilst even the survey and inspection in none of the remote districts should be undertaken without special order from the Governor for the time being. For the rest, I am of opinion there should be observed in these gradual alterations, not only to effect the same on actually cultivated places, but also on those which are capable of profitable cultivation, and of which, when cultivated, the produce would find an equal market with that of other similarly situated places, for the holders of which latter mentioned, the right of resumption stated in my letter of the 28th of June last might act as a spur to awaken their industry and thereby enable them to secure the possession of their lands in future, in the same manner as on the other hand a liberal treatment of those who had cultivated their loan or quit rent places with care and industry would, by improving the actual situation of the holders, even in their own estimation, tend to attach to the measures of Government the co-operation of private interest, the best guarantee of success in all public undertakings in human society. The loan places and quit rent lands which could not immediately be converted should remain in the same state until Government think time and circumstances ripe for the intended alteration, always keeping as a principle the right of resumption established in my said letter of the 28th of June, from which great utility may eventually be derived for the Colony, while the present existing manner of granting loan places since the 8th of July 1809, by which the same are resumable at pleasure without any indemnification, should not only be expressed in the lease, but also be put into execution on the least cause, in order to keep alive as much as possible the idea of the precarious situation of those places, and to prevent the creeping in of injurious customs. These are my thoughts on the subject of lands, and on mature deliberation I have not found any other mode to recommend as more eligible. A general measure which immediately could be put into execution I do not believe would in this case be possible, because immediate cultivation or immediately possible advantage of cultivation is requisite for the application, and such cultivation under the present circumstances of the Colony, deprived in most parts of sufficient hands, and far distant from Markets, cannot possibly be expected. The execution of my proposal may, I readily acknowledge, perhaps be subject to some difficulties, but on considering of what might occasion difficulties, I find them principally to consist in the vague and uncertain state of the present form of tenure, by which some imagine themselves possessed of more right than they are justly entitled to, which difficulties it will in my opinion be easy to remove as soon as Government, as is the case at present, entertains the beneficial disposition to cause the permanent prosperity of the Colony to go hand in hand with the improvement of the situation of individual holders of land, to which however I feel it my duty to attach this peremptory condition, that the execution of the same be entrusted to persons who possess the necessary skill, integrity, firmness, and public confidence. Submitting these my sentiments very respectfully to the better judgment of His Excellency the Governor and Commander in Chief, I have, &c. (Signed) J. A. TRUTER, Fiscal. [Enclosure 1 in the above.] Advertisement. As it has pleased our Lords and Masters by their letters of the 14th September last, received by the ship Haamsteede, which arrived here yesterday, the 17th of this current month of February, graciously to permit the Inhabitants for the benefit and promotion of Agriculture, new pieces of land annexed to the old, which can in the mean time rest and lie still, without however that the one shall prejudice the other, to be granted on quit rent for the term of fifteen years, provided that the property of such land remains with the Hon'ble East India Company, who at the expiration of that time desiring to take back said land at all events shall not be obliged to pay to the Tenants or Renters of the same anything more than the mere buildings or plantations at a proper valuation for which the Honorable East India Company shall have the right at the expiration of the said time to retract the said lands without any further melioration, and that a proper yearly rent be paid to the Company for the same. Information is therefore given hereof to all persons, in order that those who may be willing to receive any land from the Honorable Company on the above conditions can address themselves to His Excellency the Governor for the purpose of further speaking and agreeing respecting the conditions of the same and the yearly rent to be paid. In the meantime, that all the Inhabitants holding lands are hereby specially warned to take care that the Company's ground situated near their own lands or elsewhere, excepting the above mentioned right obtained thereto, shall not be sown or cultivated under such penalties as have been enacted against the same of old; as in future a watchful eye will be kept over the same, and which will be rigorously levied, and care taken that these our orders are not rendered illusory or transgressed with impunity. In the Castle of Good Hope, the 18th of February 1732. [Enclosure 2 in the above.] Extract of Resolution taken by the Council of Policy in the Castle of Good Hope on Tuesday the 4th of April 1747. Whereas the term of 15 years for which lands were first begun to be granted on quit Rent in the year 1732 is already expired with respect to some of the same, and as the time of the others is also about to expire, the one earlier the other later, His Excellency the Governor and the Members of the Council have been pleased to give into consideration in what manner one should act herewith for the most advantage of the Hon'ble Company, namely, If those lands, as being left to the choice and option of the Company in the quit rent cases to withdraw them on payment of the Opstal at a valuation to be made, should be retracted, or if those lands should be left to the holders or renters on the above mentioned conditions for 15 years more, and therefore to renew and prolong the leases thereof for that time, and after that the same was deliberated on with consideration, what was for and what was against, it was judged most advisable for the interest of the Honorable Company that the holders and renters of the said lands should be continued in the possession of same in the manner above mentioned. [Enclosure 3 in the above.] Extract of Resolution taken by the Governor and Council of Policy at the Cape of Good Hope on Tuesday the 11th of May 1762. Whereas the term of 15 years for which lands were granted on quit rent in the year 1732, and prolonged agreeably to the Resolution of the 4th of April 1747, is expired with respect to some of the same, and as the term of the others is also about to expire, it was therefore judged proper, on the proposition of His Excellency the Governor, to resolve to allow the present holders of those lands requesting the same to continue anew in the possession for 15 years, under such regulations as the said lands were granted the first time. [Enclosure 4 in the above.] Extract of a Memorial of Instructions left here by His Excellency the GOVERNOR GENERAL IMHOFF, dated 25th of February, 1743. 5. If it be an inconvenience against the better cultivation of lands that one gives out places on loan? is not to me so probable as that the said places must remain so; for by this latter the Landman is not only obliged to a yearly (payment?) of the loan, but is also prevented from applying as much industry and expense as he would with his own goods, because he is always in danger of being supplanted by the one or the other in these already revocable grants, without speaking of other inconveniences which can still be caused by the avidity of men, and to which the possession by gratuitous concession opens a large field. The orders on this subject are numerous and different, but the last are of the year 1720 and 1722 when by the European letters of the 7th of October of the former and 17th of July of the latter mentioned years, the Ministers of this Government were referred to the high Government of India in order to correspond with them respecting the granting of lands, and since that time nothing else followed excepting a letter dated the 14th of September 1731 out of the Netherlands, by which qualification is given to grant lands on quit rent for 15 years, of which however no great use has been made, and that their Highnesses by letter of the 3rd September 1735 not only approved of what had been done respecting those quit rent, but also by their further letter of the 12th September 1736 the grant of some lands in property to those who assisted the Governor De la Fontaine on his journey to Mossel Bay. This letter would cause one to suppose that their Highnesses did not wish to see lands disposed of in property except in such special cases, and no wonder! as long as it is done on that footing that the Company loses what the loan places at present yield annually. But as I could not find why this should take place, |