THE AUSTIN PAPERS. 823 nounce to be unjust-for my plan so far from Oppressing the poor was Calculated And intended to relieve them-I also wished to do justice to myself and family which it was my duty to do- lt is well Known to you all that I have contracted to pay $5 per Mile for the surveying that is Already done And thnt by the late regulation I am only allowed $27 per League Now let nny candid man say whether it would be just for me to suffer this loss, a loss which would be incurred by me solely for 'the individual benefit of the Settlers-As regards the future surveys much difficulty presents itself, unless my first plan is still continued, for it will be difficult to procure surveyors at $27 per League and I am induced to believe im- possible to procure them-The Settlers must therefore be content with imperfect Surveys of their land or aid the surveyors in carry- ing the chain marking etc.-Another difficulty is that unless the land is regularly run off, so as to join where the nature of the situation will admit of some Confusion may Arise in making locations and the Settlement of a neighbourhood be greatly disarranged which might have been Compact, for the Governor has ordered that here- after no sitio tracts can be run in any other way than in full Leagues -So that if locations are made so as to leave fractions of ¼or½ etc etc of a League between them, those fractions could not be occupied at all untill the public lands were generally disposed of-I wish to make one observation as regards the Surveys generally-Many of you say that you ca.me here to procure Land for your children, if so ought you to get that Land for them in a way that even by possibility might involve them in lawsuits hereafter relative to their linesi And if the surveys are not regularly and fully Completed and marked will it be possible to avoid interference and consequent future litigation and perhaps ruin to yourselves or to your heirs, and is it not better that you should have your land surveyed in full even at any reasonable cost than to locate at random- I will now make a few observations relat.ive to the Civil Government of this Colony And then Close this Statement-The responsibility of the public Order and Administration of justice in this Colony was imposed upon me by the Superior Government as you see by the Decree of the Emperor-This charge is however only provisional as I have always informed you until! the Colony is filled up And you have the members to appoint your Ayuntamientos or representative bodies-The legal jurisdiction of each of these Aynntamientos As the Governor informs me is five Leagues square when tlrn popula- tion Admits of that division-these divisions are called partidos or prescincts And also elect their Alcaldes-A number of these pre- scincts forms a district, And the Ayuntamiento of the Capital of the District has in some respects a kind of superintendnnce in a few things over the others, And there is Also appointed a Judge for each
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