Excerpt from Historical Records of Australia, Vol. 17: Series I., Governors' Despatches to and From England, 1833-June, 1835The power of former governors to make land grants at their discretion, to decide on the merits of the applicants, and to deter mine the areas to be granted had been a source of constant friction between the governor and the settlers. If an application for a land grant was refused, the disappointed applicant thought the governor was unjust. If an applicant was granted one section or six hundred and forty acres, he might deeply resent it, considering he was entitled to two or more sections. If he was granted any area and his neighbour was granted a larger area, he might still be aggrieved thinking his claims were as good as those of his neighbour. It is evident that this power of former governors was an unfailing cause of discontent. In January, 1831, Viscount Goderich decided* to abolish the power of the governor to grant land and substituted the system of selling crown lands. In this way, Governor Bourke was protected from a great source of unpopularity.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.