OUR ISLAND STORY { 77

ing ancestral acres, but by the act of a Legislature Whose office should be rather to protect than to oppress the fatherless.” Lady Georgina Fane wrote: “I protest against this Act as one of spoli- atiOn and tyranny that could emanate only from a communistic and socialist assembly.”

There was much more to the same effect. On the other hand the exceptional conditions—exceptional 1n all North Am- erica——under which the wild forest— covered lands of Prince Ed-

ward Island were disposed of by lottery to persons who had ac-

quired no claim upon them were referred to on the part of the tenantry. It was shown that the terms on which these lands were so disposed of had been repeatedly violated; that all the grants might have been practically annulled by the enforcement

of quit rent; that the lands could have been seized and sold by 'the Crown at various times without the slightest impeachment

of its honor; that the proprietors had hitherto been treated by the Crown with an excessive indulgence ;———that, in view of these

facts, they ought to acquiesce cheerfully in any reasonable and

equitable plan for the quieting of the disturbed people of Prince Edward Island, the restoration of harmony, and the promotion of the prosperity of the Province; that $800,000 ewere at the

disposal of the Provincial Government for the purchase of the . ' proprietory estates at prices to be fixed by independent arbit—v

rators; that. numerous precedents might be quoted in which private property has been dealt with by law when its possession

by individuals was proved to be inimical to the public interests; and that the Land Purchase Act, 1874, was in accordance with

justice and the interests of the people, and not inimical to the

true interests of the proprietors, who would receive payment for every acre they possessed. The Governor General was, how- ever, advised that, in view of the circumstances, the Land Pur- chase Act, 1874, ought not to be assented to by him.

In the next session of the Legislature, another Land Pur- chase Act, modified in some respects to meet certain objections of the Crown Law officers, was passed. This bill, also, was “re- served" by the Lieutenant Governor, and on the 15th of June, 1875, the Administrator of the DominionoGovernment assented to it.

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