[Colonizing Granada and other Islands.]
BY THE KING.
A PROCLAMATION.
George R.
Whereas We have taken into Our Consideration, the great Benefit which will arise to the Commerce of Our Kingdoms and the Interests of Our Subjects, from the speedy Settlement of Our Islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, Dominica, St. Vincent, and Tobago. We do therefore think fit, with the Advice of Our Privy Council, to issue this Our Royal Proclamation to publish and declare to Our loving Subjects, that We have, with the Advice of Our said Privy Council, given the necessary Powers and Directions for an immediate Survey and Division into proper Parishes and Districts, of such of the said Islands as have not hitherto been so surveyed and divided, and for laying out such Lands in the said Islands, as are in Our Power to dispose of, into Allotments for Plantations of different Size and Extent, according as the Nature of the Land shall be more or less adapted to the Growth of Sugar, Coffee, Cocoa, Cotton, or other Articles of beneficial Culture, reserving to Us, Our Heirs, and Successors, such Parts of the said Islands as shall be necessary for erecting Fortifications thereon, and for all other military Purposes, for Glebes for Ministers, Allotments for Schoolmasters, for Woodlands, High Roads, and all other publick Purposes; and also reserving such Lands in Our Islands of Dominica and St. Vincent, as, at the Time of the Surrender of those Islands, were and still are in the Possession of the French Inhabitants of those Islands, which Lands, it is Our Will and Pleasure should be granted to such of the said Inhabitants as shall be inclined to accept the same, upon Leases for Terms absolute, or for renewable Terms, upon certain Conditions and under proper Restrictions. And We do hereby further publish and declare, that the Allotments for Plantations in Our Islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, Tobago, and St. Vincent, shall contain to Three Hundred Acres, with some few Allotments in each Island of Five Hundred Acres; and that the Allotments in Our Island of Dominica, which is represented to be not so well adapted to the Cultivation of Sugar, and which from its Situation requires in Policy to be well peopled with White Inhabitants, shall be in general from Fifty to One Hundred Acres.
And whereas We have thought fit to declare to Our Parliament at the Opening of the present Session, Our Gracious Intention of reserving for the publick Use, whatever Sums shall be produced by the Sale of any of the Lands belonging to Us in the Islands of the West Indies, which were ceded to Us by the late Treaty; We do further publish and declare, that when these Allotments, or a sufficient Part of them, shall have been laid out, the same shall be set up to Sale by Auction, at a Price per Acre, to be fixed thereon by Commissioners appointed for that Purpose, under Our Great Seal of Great Britain, who shall give publick Notice of the Time and Place of such Sale.
And We do hereby further publish and declare, that the Lands so set up to Sale by Auction, shall not be sold, but upon the following Terms, and under the following Conditions and Reservations, that is to say,
That each Purchaser shall immediately pay into the Hands of such Person as We shall appoint to receive the same, Twenty per Cent. of the whole Purchase-Money.
That the Remainder of the Purchase-Money shall be paid by different Installments, viz. Ten per Cent. within the First Year after the Purchase, Ten per Cent. more within the Second Year after such Purchase, and Twenty per Cent. within every successive Year, until the Whole is paid.
That each Purchaser of Lands which have been cleared and improved, shall, within the Space of Three Months from the Date of the Grant, settle and constantly keep upon the Lot purchased, One White Man or Two White Women for every Hundred Acres contained in the said Lot; and, in Default thereof, shall be subject to the Payment of Twenty Pounds per Annum for every White Woman, and Forty Pounds for every White Man, that shall be wanting to compleat the Number.