If this writer's statement be correct, that labourers on their arrival,
tempted by the superabundance of good land, did with impunity desert
their masters, leaving their property to perish, and did themselves
become landowners, it will be apparent, either that there were then no
laws in the colony, or that they were not in force. The reverse,
however, is the fact--there were laws, and they were enforced.
The following is No. 8 of the land regulations: "No grant of land will
be made to servants under indenture; nor shall persons receive grants
who shall appear to have come to the settlement at the expense of other
individuals without sufficient assurance of their having fulfilled the
condition of any agreement under which they may have come." The author
does not remember an instance of this regulation being relaxed; and it
is manifest that destruction of property and the ruin of the capitalist
must have been inevitable, had the Government not enforced it.
Equally without foundation is the statement that the indentured servant
could desert his master with impunity.
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