for the surveying of 420,000 acres, which The Advertiser cynically reckoned would result in no, or exceedingly inflated, bids and would therefore be undertaken by the Surveyor-General's department. The outcome was a little of both: George Goyder (the Surveyor-General) offered to organise and lead the expedition, and survey receiving his usual salary plus a bonus of £3,000 for successful completion within a year at a cost of £25,000, not counting shipping costs. Parliament leapt at the proposal, such was Goyder's reputation for integrity, energy and vision. The fact that the South Australian Government was losing no time and grudging no expenditure on a successful outcome, and putting their best man in charge of the venture, restored much confidence in the investors in Northern Territory property. Goyder's plan was to appoint six 1st Class Surveyors of his choosing; they would appoint their own 2nd Class Surveyors and Cadets, and where possible the "arms and legs": the chainmen, trenchers, cook and stock handlers, otherwise these appointments would be made by Goyder from men he knew. He agreed with the purchase of horses and cattle from Brisbane, but rejected suggestions that any men should be picked up there; he wanted men he knew and who respected him. They would land at Port Darwin and work their way towards the fertile lands of the Upper Adelaide and Victoria Rivers. He insisted on all provisions being supplied in Adelaide to his specifications (10,000 lbs beef and mutton prepared by the Melbourne Meat Preservation Company (S. S. Ritchie's process), rather than relying on store cattle and sheep. He also ordered 20 tons of dry-ground flour, being less affected by tropical conditions than the moist-ground flour used by bakers). and personally inspected by him. Goyder gave strict instructions to his men that for their own safety, interactions with the natives should be strictly limited: none to be allowed in the camp; strictly no touching Aboriginal women under any circumstances, the greatest source of animosity; never to go out alone, and not to leave the camp unarmed; to use firearms as a last resort and to aim at a person only when one's own life was in peril. To respect Aboriginal property, and not to engage in any form of retribution. Two men, Hardy and Greene, ignored this last injunction and smashed several of their canoes and pushed two others into the current, for no good reason, and