THE LAND COMMISSION OF 1860. 135

gregatc cost of the estate, would warrant; and the wild lands were at once rescued from the leasehold system. and were 'subjected to the wholesome control of the local government, to be hereafter disposed of in fee simple, at mode 'ate prices, as they are in all the other North American provinces. The commissioners unanimously recommended the application to the whole island of the principles embodied in the land pur- chase act, under modifications which appeared to be essen- tial to their more extended adoption.

“lith respect to escheat, the commissioners reported that there was no light in which the present escheat of the titles, on the ground of the conditions of the original grants having been broken, could be Viewed, which would not exhibit consequences most disastrous t0 the island. They therefore reported that there should be no escheat of the original grants for non-performance of conditions as to settlement.

The commissioners recommended that the imperial par- liament should guarantee a loan of one hundred thousand pounds, so that the money could be borrowed at a low ‘ate of interest. \Vith the command of such a fund, the govern- ment would be in a condition to enter the market, and to purchase, from time to time, such estates as could be ob- tained at reasonable prices. They did not doubt that many of the proprietors would be glad to sell, and the compe— tition for the funds at the disposal of the government would so adjust the prices that judicious purchases could be made without any arbit 'ary proceedings or compulsory interference with private rights. The commissioners felt that it might be beyond their duty to make such a suggestion, but they hoped Her Majesty’s government would regard the case of Prince Edward Island as exceptional, its grievances having sprung from the injudicious mode in which its lands were originally given away.