76 OUR ISLAND STORY

that would yield, annually, at six per cent., a sum equal totheir , rental. But for the most part the proprietors of most of the land in the Island were evidently unwilling to part with their estates at prices deemed by the Government and the tenantry

to be reasonable.

At the opening of the Legislature on the 5th of March, 1874, the Administrator of the Government Sir Robert Hodgson, stated that ”since the formation of the present Government my constitutional advisers have been anxious that the tenants on the remaining proprietory townships should have an early oppor- tunity of becoming freeholders and have, therefore, entered into; communication with the proprietors in order, if possible, to effect a speedy purchase upon just and equitable terms. The corres- pondence will be laid before you; and I am confident it is un- necessary for me to direct your. special attention to a subject of such paramount importance”

In the course of the session that followed, the Land Pur- I chase Act, 1874, was passed by the Legislature, but was reserved by the Administrator of the Government for the GovernorlGen- eral’s consideration. Petitions, memorials and protests were forthwith forwarded to the Governor General from all the pro- prietors and their agents. His Excellency was implored to withhold his assent to this bill. It was pointed out that the bill involved the transfer of nearly, if not quite, one- -fourth part of ‘ the whole area of the Province by an official functionary neces- sarily unacquainted with the description, boundaries, areas and other details of the respective properties, even without the con- currence or the consent of the undoubted owners, and 1n some instances 1n contravention of their expressed desire—such mode of transfer amounting to confiscation.’ It was declared to be

“the most radical attack upon the rights of property that, in.

modern days, has emanated from any Legislative body Within the British Empire.” It was denounced as “class legislation of ' the most hurtful and pernicious kind.” It Was urged that, as to orphan children and other inexperienced persons “their con- dition would be truly humiliating and disastrous,——brought about, not by any fault or crime of their own, save that of inherit-