_5_ 
     
    

    
     In 1766, a survey was made by Captain Samuel Holland, 
     
     by which the Island was divided into 67 townships or lots, 
     
     each containing about 20,000 acres. These grants were made 
     
     by means of a lottery to a number of persons (principally 
     
     officers of the Army and Navy) who were considered to have 
     
     claims upon the British Government. Thus the whole Island, 
     
     with the exception of some small reservations, passed from the 
     
     Crown in one day. The results of this arrangement were very 
     
     unsatisfactory. According to the terms of their grants, the 
     
     grantees were to encourage the fisheries, pay a small sum as 
     
     quit rents, and were to settle one person on every 
     
     200 acres of land within IO years. Very few of 
     
     the original grantees carried out the conditions, 
     
     their only object being to convert the grants into 
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
       
     
       
     
        
     
        
     
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ready cash as quickly as possible, and many of 
     
     them sold their estates to parties in England. Not- 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     : the present century, the 
     
     4 country becameipopu- 
     
     lated with a race of hardy English, Scotch and 
     
     Irish settlers, who formed separate communities and 
     
     along with the French Colonists devoted themselves to-agricul- 
     
     ture and the fisheries. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Prior to Holland‘s survey, many plans were suggested for 
     
     the settlement of the Colony. The most strenuous efforts were 
     
     made by the Earl of Egmont, First Lord of the Admiralty, for 
     
     a grant of the Island, and to hold the same in fee simple of 
     
     the Crown. He proposed to settle it on a feudal plan, and 
     
     that he himself should be Lord Paramount of the whole Island. 
     
     His plans were set forth in a memorial to the King, and were 
     
     backed up by several communications addressed to the Lords 
     
     of Trades and Plantations, and ‘signed by influential gentlemen 
     
     distinguished for military and other services. The King re- 
     
     ferred the matter to the Board of Trade. In 1764 the Board