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ue su worueu jio i,u ueiieui uhu. IThe Customs Bill disposed of, the members of the Lower House devoted themselves to the|Sugar Cultivation Bill, which was passed with some judicious amendments not of a sweeping character. There was something ludicrous in Mr. Rosa, who once proposed to give about half the Northern Territory away to any capitalists who would construct a railway from Port Augusta to Port Darwin, earnestly opposing, as too large a sacrifice of the waste lands, the grant of 20,000 acres to the pioneers of successful sugar cultivation in Alexandra Land. Enormous gTants of land, given in the unreasonable impatience to see a vast region reclaimed from a state of nature and settled ell in a day, should not be encouraged, hut a moderate concession limited in its operation and for a definite object of great importance comes under another category. It is time that something was done to start the cultivation of tropical produce in the Northern Territory, and though we have no sympathy with persons who talk about it being worth while to give the whole country away if we can thereby get it occupied, yet some exceptionable liberality is advisable for a beginning, and if there are once a few prosperous planters there others will rapidly follow. If the Bill should pass in its present form Messrs. John Spence, David Spence, and William Owston will have a grant of 20,000 acres on certain conditions, among which one requires them to spend £10,000 on the land and another to produce 500 tons of sugar, and all the terms of their agreement having been complied with they will receive the fee-si.uple oi Ue land at the end of six years. The l)e Lissa Company will receive on similar conditions 10,000 acres, the quantity they have applied for; the maximum area of nny other such grant will be 5,000 acres, pud the total quantity of land disposed of under llm Bill is not to exceed 70,000 acres. The concession after all 's not so large as at first sight appears, for under an existing Act any person can take up 1,230 acres on cultivation conditions, paying sixpence an acre p«r annum for the five years, at the end of which period if he baa carried out his agreement the fee-simple will be his, and it is expressly provided that any number of persons holding such blocks can form a partnership or company and join them together to be dealt with as one property. Practically this sixpence, or half-u-crown per acre in the five years, is all that the planters can save by taking advantage of the Bill before Parliament, so that the concession to the pioneer grantees only amounts to £2,500. If by such a sacrifice the industry of sugar’ growing can be established in the Northern Territory, it would be extremely difficult to make an arrangement that would be so beneficial to the Tervitoiy or to South Australia proper at so slight a cost.
Newspaper Details
Adelaide Express and Telegraph
Adelaide, South Australia, AU
Wed, Sep 22, 1880
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
GB 17 Apr 2023
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