32 OUR ISLAND STORY

on a new settlement hemmed in by wilderness land which has been placed out of control of the Government and is entirely neglected by its absent proprietors.”

This true presentation of the case evidently influenced to some extent the opinion of the Colonial Department in London. An Act of the Legislature authorizing the levy of an assessment on the proprietory lands remaining in a state of wilderness was confirmed by an Order of the Privy Council passed on the 12th December 1858. Some attention was also given to the proposal that the proprietory lands in respect to which quit rents re- mained unpaid should be escheated. The establishment of a Court of Escheat for which the Speaker of the House of Assembly, ' Mr. William Cooper, contended was, however, rejected. Nor was the suggestion that the British Government should guarantee a loan to the Government of the Island for the purchase of pro- prietory estates received with favor. Nevertheless, an Act providing for the purchase of estates the proprietors of which were willing to sell their lands at a reasonable price and on favorable conditions was passed and assented to in the year 1853. In accordance with this Act, the Worrell Estate and the Selkirk Estate, comprising together about 140,000 acres were purchased by the Government of the Island and resold to the tenants. The proprietors of other estates were unwilling to sell their lands upon terms that were considered to be reasonable. For the greater part of the tenantry the handicap of rent payments to absentee proprietors remained and the Land Question continued to be a fruitful cause of political discontent and agitation.

In the year 1860, a Land Commission was authorized to investigate and report upon the situation then existing. The Commissioners were the Honorable Joseph Howe, of . Nova Scotia, representing the tenants; Mr. Ritchie of Nova Scotia, representing the proprietors; and Mr. John Hamilton Gray of New Brunswick, representing the Crown. After a prolonged and thorough examination, assisted by Counsel on both sides, the Commissioners issued a long report, dated January 18th, 1861. They recommended the settlement of the Land Question by means of a compulsory law similar to the Land Purchase Act