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J.C. Seymour, who had recently bought it from the oiginal grantee,
Dr Browne ll, a ten acre allotment located in the area previous ly marked
out by Sir George Arthur 's Government to be the township of Brighton .
At the time of the purchase it was only temporarily fenced and had a 'rude '
stone cottage on it. The purchase price of two hundred and fifty pounds
\qas considered a fair price for an allotment in a proposed _ township, on
which understanding Hall bo_ught it, the title deed being gazetted on
December 14, 1838 . He made further improvements , enlarging "Seymour Cottage11
and erecting fencing , the whole costi.ng one hundred pounds . By the end of
1838, however , it was clear that the proposed township of Brighton was not
gong to eventuate. In fact , the township was moved across the valley to
Pontville in spite of the disappointment and losses of those who had
invested their money and their faith in Brighton . The first indication of
the Government 's lack of faith was the arrival of a surveyor with orders to
survey all the unoccupied lands of the Bighton township, preparatory to
thei being offered for sale in lrge lots . On Novemb er 1, 1838, Hall
protested indignantly to the Colonial Secretary . With three hundred and
fifty pounds he could have purchased a farm of two to three hundred acres .
He had willingly paid this amount on the understanding that Brighton would
be a township . A few weeks before , a ten acre allotment comparab le to his
own had been offered at public auction and, becaus e of the rumoured change,
had bro.ught only one hundred and seventy pounds . This amounted to a
decrease in value of fifty per cent ; a greater depreciation still was
expected. Hall called upon the Government to compensate those affected by
the change in plans by allowing them to purchas e a certain numb er of acres
most convenient to their allotments at a minimum price in proportion to
the amount they had expended on the faith of its being a township . He
suggested land be solq in lots of fifty to two hundred acres to enab le
present proprietors to acquire enough to turn their present holdings into
small farms . On December 14 Hall received a reply from A. Turnbull that
the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council did not consider he [Hall] had any claim
for compensation and that he was misinformed about sizes of lots to be sold
the lrgest being two hundred and ninety acres . Almost four years later,
bitterness and anger at the Government 's loss of faith still persisted in
the community . The un located land round Brighton was sold to various
landed proprietors who rented it out in small farms ; repeated comp laints
of losses sustained were met with refusal. Hall, indeed, suffered
considerab le financial loss , which he could ill afford. 9
cso 5/58/1307