Land Question (Prince Edward Island): Difference between revisions

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In 1832, a tax was placed on land owned by the proprietors. In exchange for collecting the tax, the government promised to abandon its attempts to enforce the payment of quitrents. In 1836, a bill was passed to place a penal tax on unoccupied land. Although the Colonial Office initially refused to recommend Royal Assent, comments by [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Lord Durham]] led the [[Privy Council]] to give Royal Assent to the bill in 1838. Despite the change in property arrangements in Prince Edward Island with the introduction of these taxes, tenants were still unable to take possession of their land. In 1830, Roman Catholics were given the vote, and in 1838 the Escheat Party won a large majority in the General Assembly. Another bill to implement escheat passed the lower house, but was rejected by the Legislative Council. The leader of the Escheat Party, William Cooper, travelled to London to meet the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|Colonial Secretary]], but he was turned away without a meeting. Instead, the Secretary advised the [[Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island]] that the government would not recommend assent to any bill advocating escheat. The Escheat Movement disintegrated.<ref name=history/><ref name=encyclopedia/>

== Settlement (Sulivan and Stewart) ==

In 1851, the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberals]] gained office on Prince Edward Island. They immediately went about putting in place measures to gradually dismantle the proprietor/tenant system, although their efforts generally had limited effect largely because [[Samuel Cunard]], who owned one-sixth of the Island, refused to sell any of his land. In 1864, the tenants organised into the Tenant League, and vowed to resist the collection of rent by their proprietors. Efforts by law enforcement to quell this rebellion had little effect, so the government of the island requested the assistance of British troops to enforce the collection of rent. In 1865, British troops arrived in the colony and successfully enforced the collection of the unpaid rent, and the Tenant League crumbled.<ref name=jrank/> It appeared that the operation of the Tenant League was a matter of principle rather than practical necessity; the rent paid by tenants to the proprietors was to the amount of one shilling per acre, and the proprietors allowed rent to go unpaid for years at a time.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=ANhhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FJEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6925,4902104|title=The Irish in America|last=Maguire|first=John|date=March 6, 1868|work=The [[Sydney Morning Herald]]|page=6|accessdate=January 28, 2011}}</ref>

In the following years, many of the proprietors pulled out of the real estate market and voluntarily sold their property to the government so that sale to the land's occupiers could be facilitated. In 1873, Prince Edward Island joined the [[Canadian Confederation]]. One of the terms of the Island joining the Confederation was the sale of the estates of land to their occupiers. The agreement to join the Confederation contained a clause outlining the possibility that the federal [[government of Canada]] could provide a grant of up to [[Canadian dollar|CA]]$800,000 to the provincial government to facilitate the purchase of the land from the proprietors. In 1875, through the 'The Commissioners Appointed Under The Provisions of The Land Purchase Act, 1875' all of the outstanding proprietor-owned land was compulsorily soldpurchased toby the provincial government, at rates decided by a 'Commission of Enquiry'.<ref name=jrank/><ref name=encyclopedia/><ref name=history/>

The two largest landholders to be 'bought-out' by the new Canadian province, in 1875, did not readily agree with their forced sale, facilitated by the articles of the [[Land Purchase Act (1875)]]. On Monday, August 23rd, 1875, The ‘Commission of Enquiry’ began its enquiry of the largest estate, of an 'absentee' landowner, that of ([[Laurence Sulivan]]) Charlotte Antonia Sulivan of some 66,937 acres. She being awarded: $81,500 CAD 1875, at $1.22 per acre, Miss Sulivan challenged the authority of the Commissioners in their proceedings against her, she seeing the award set aside on appeal to the Supreme Court of PEI. She claiming $239,185 CAD 1875, the Province, appealing, for The Commissioner of Public Lands, took her challenge to the Supreme Court of Canada, it being The Court’s first case, [[Kelly v Sulivan]], sustained the forced sale and award. <ref>Margaret E. McCallum, Edited by G. Blaine Baker and Jim Phillips Essays in the History of Canadian Law: In Honour of R.C.B. Risk, University of Toronto Press, Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, Toronto, ON, 1999, Volume VIII, Chapter 11, Page 366</ref><ref>Supreme Court of Canada: Kelly v. Sulivan, 1 S.C.R. 3 Date: 1876-06-10. See: http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/6422/index.do Accessed 19.01.2016</ref><ref>MacGowan, P.S., Report of Proceedings Before The Commissioners Appointed Under The Provisions of "The Land Purchase Act, 1875", P.R. Bowers, Queen’s Printer, 1875, Charlottetown: Patriot Printing Rooms, 1877, Page 149. See: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433023035292;view=1up;seq=7 Accessed 20.01.2016</ref>

On Friday, August 27th, 1875, The ‘Commission of Enquiry’ enquired as to the estate of Robert Bruce Stewart, then the largest ‘resident’ proprietor on PEI, owning some 66,727 acres. Upon his father's death in 1852, Robert Bruce Stewart inherited, by title, Lots 7, 10, 12, and 30 as well as parts of Lots 27, 46, and 47. He having fought long and hard against the legislation enabling the Land Purchase Act 1875, against a claim of $240,905, the ‘Commission of Enquiry’ awarded him just $76,500 CAD 1875, the lowest per acre award, at $1.15 per acre. <ref>Archives Council of Prince Edward Island, Results for Fonds Acc2316, Stewart Family. See: http://www.archives.pe.ca/peiain/fondsdetail.php3?number=1030124&lang=E&fonds=Acc2316 Accessed 19.01.2016</ref><ref>Deborah Stewart, Robert Bruce Stewart and The Land Question, Island Magazine. See: http://vre2.upei.ca/islandmagazine/fedora/repository/vre%3Aislemag-batch2-275/OBJ </ref>><ref>MacGowan, P.S., Report of Proceedings Before The Commissioners Appointed Under The Provisions of "The Land Purchase Act, 1875", P.R. Bowers, Queen’s Printer, 1875, Charlottetown: Patriot Printing Rooms, 1877, Page 160. See: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433023035292;view=1up;seq=7 Accessed 20.01.2016</ref>

== References ==