Wakefield system has been adhered to there, has been
tried under favourable conditions, and on the whole, at any rate up to
the year 1871, could not be called a failure. As long as the value
of land to speculators was little or nothing above the "sufficient
price," things did not go so badly. The process of free selection at
a uniform price of L2 an acre had amongst other merits the great
advantage of entire simplicity. A great deal of good settlement went
on under it, and ample funds were provided for the construction of
roads, bridges, and other public works.

Meantime, Grey was called upon to devise some general system of land
laws for the rest of the Colony. The result was the famous land
regulations of 1853, a code destined to have lasting and mischievous
effects upon the future of the country. Its main feature was the
reduction of the price of land to ten shillings an acre. Had this been
accompanied by stringent limitations as to the amount to be purchased
by any one man, the result might have been good enough. But it was
not; nor did those who ruled after Grey think fit to impose any such
check until immense areas of the country had been bought by pastoral
tenants and thus permanently locked up against close settlement.
Grey's friends vehemently maintain that it was not he, but those who
afterwards administered his regulations, who were responsible for this
evil. They point out that it was not until after his departure that
the great purchases began. Possibly enough Sir George never dreamt
that his regulations would bring about the bad results they did. More
than that one can hardly say. In drawing them up his strong antipathy
to the New Zealand Company and its system of a high price for land
doubtless obscured his judgment. His own defence on the point, as
printed in his life by Rees, is virtually no defence at all. It is
likely enough that had he retained the control of affairs after 1853
he would have imposed safeguards. He is not the only statesman whose
laws have effects not calculated by their maker.

Chapter XIV

LEARNING TO WALK

"Some therefore cried one thing and some another; for the
Assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore
they were come together."

The Constitution under which the colonists were granted the management
of their own affairs was partly based on Grey's suggestions, though
it was drafted in England by Mr. Adderley under Gibbon Wakefield's
supervisio