Terms of Settlement
The settlers' hopes were bolstered by favourable terms offered by the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company. In addition to a 100-acre farm, each family was promised five cleared and cropped acres, a comfortable log house, a 50-year lease at a yearly rent of one shilling per acre with an option to purchase the freehold, company employment on public works, medical aid, a loan to pay the cost of passage, and company storehouses to supply necessary goods at fair prices. Realizing that the immigrants would need time to establish themselves in New Brunswick, the company offered a grace period of two years before requiring the settlers to pay on their leases and repay passage money.
When the new arrivals first toured the settlement, they found, to their dismay, that many inducements in their agreement remained unfulfilled. Although company houses, barns, and storehouses were either completed or under construction, none of their homes had been built, no land had been cleared, and no crops planted. In an attempt to mollify the settlers, Commissioner Kendall extended the repayment clause on their lease and passage money from two to three years, and he offered them temporary lodgings rent-free and free food for 14 days. To remedy the most significant discrepancy, paid employment for the settlers was extended to the building of their own homes and clearing their own land at a wage equal to that promised by the original contractor. By November most of the English settlers had moved into their new homes in English Settlement, located on the Stanley Road.