dren assisted in any way they could.

When there was time to lift their heads and look around, Vere
and Elizabeth became aware of a serious problem faced by all Island-
ers. When they stepped ashore in Guernsey Cove in 1813 they found
themselves in the middle of a controversy that was to plague the
Island for another 60 years. It was a situation that was already 45
years old, dating from 1767 when Britain divided the newly-acquired
French possession - Isle St. Jean - into 67 lots and awarded them to
prominent British citizens in a lottery. In exchange for the land the
new landlords were to meet certain conditions. Within ten years they
were to bring out one settler for every 200 acres, or 100 people for
every lot or township. They were to collect rent from their tenants
and turn a portion of it over to the Crown to finance the operations
of the Island government.

In most cases the landlords ignored their obligations and used
their political clout in London to fend off any complaints from the
colony. It was a situation that caused seething unrest as the land-
lords pressed their tenants for rent, but did not honour their own
obligations to the government. Leases tended to be for relatively
short periods of time leaving the tenants in an uncertain situation.
Improvements made to the property increased its value, but could
be lost if the farmer was unable to pay his rent, or if the landlord for
some other reason refused to renew the lease. A settler could work
for years clearing and improving his land only to be evicted if he had
a crop failure and couldn't pay the rent. This led to much discontent
among the population.

The Becks were fortunate as they signed on with one of the best
landlords in the province. Unlike many of the other landowners in
PEI, John Cambridge actively recruited people to live on his land,
and would sell land to settlers as well as lease it. He was more in-
terested in building ships than collecting rent. He would often load
his ships with lumber and sail them to Britain, bringing back immi-
grants and supplies on the return voyage. Other times he would sell
both the cargo of lumber and the ship in Britain.

In the early 1800s the market for lumber in Britain was booming.

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