(5) if one-third of grant not settled within four years from the date of grant the whole grant would be forfeited. Thus on July 1, 1767 the whole island was disposed of in one day. This system was not very satisfactory because many of the men who received land on P. E. I ., were not interested in their lot and did not keep the conditions of settlement. The fact that large tracts of land were left in a wilderness state hindered the development in several ways: (1) the absentee landlords did not pay their quit rents and hence, revenue was lost; (2) fewer settlers were brought out which meant less revenue for the government; (3) large tracts of wilderness made commun¬ ication difficult; {k) the unimproved land hindered development. After 12 years many proprietors had not paid their quit rents; kS of the 67 lots had not a single settler. 18 years after the lottery, 23 lots were still uninhabited and 12 others had only a total of 36 families. The Island Legislature tried continuously to fid itself of the absentee landlord system but was unable to do so because the landlords had a strong influence on the British Government. The land question was not settled until after 1873 when P. E. I . joined Confederation and the Canadian Government purchased the land from the landlords. In the lottery of 1767, Lot 16 was drawn by Stephen Sullivan from Broom Field Parish, Middlesex, England . In later years Lawrence Sullivan con¬ ducted business transactions and later, prior to ■873, the deeds were signed by Lady Charlotte Sullivan . Many of the original deeds can be seen with the signatures attached.