JOSEPH IIENSLEY A DELEGATE. 167

natu 'al result of that vicious system of land tenure, for the origin and continuance of which the imperial government was responsible. Mr. Hensley poured into the ear of the colonial secretary (the Duke of Buckingham) wholesome truths concerning the constant source of trouble, expense, and discontent the system had proved, and the extent to which the prosperity of the colony had been thereby retarded. The demand of the imperial government was consequently modified. \Vith respect to the loan of fifty thousand pounds, sterling

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which Mr. Hensley was empowered to arrange, he wisely deferred, for' solid financial reasons, placing the application before the public, and otherwise executed his commission with discretion, diligence, and ability.

The confederation of the island with the Dominion having been effected, in a manner hereafter to be described, and according to stipulation under the terms of union,—eight hundred thousand dollars having been placed at the disposal of the island government for the settlement of a question which, through the disgraceful supineness of successive imper- ial governments, had been a perpetual source of strife and bitter contention fo ' a nearly century,——thc government of the island, as a forlorn hope, resolved to take furthe‘ action in order to ensure a settlement of the question, by introducing the land purchase act of 1875, which received the formal sanction of the governor-general of the Dominion. This act provided that commissioners should be appointed to determine the value of the various estates \vhose sale, under the provisions of the act, was to be rendered compulsory. 'The lieutenant-governor of the island was to appoint one commissioner; the governor—general of the Dominion an- other; and a third was to be appointed by each of the proprietors whose land was to be valued. As we write, the commissioners are sitting, and the value of the lands is