1790 letter No...; and if settlers should arrive before I receive any further directions on this head, and they should wish to be placed 17 July. in such distant and separate farms, I presume complying with this request will not be deemed an improper deviation from my instructions. ment to first settlers. The consequence of a failure of a crop, when we no longer depend on any supplies from Great Britain, will be obvious, and to guard against which is one reason for my being so desirous of having a few settlers, and to whom, as the first settlers, I think Encourageevery possible encouragement should be given. In them I should have some resource; and amongst them proper people might be found to act in different capacities, at little or no expence to Government, for as the number of convicts and others increase civil magistrates, &c., will be necessary. tions. The fixing the first settlers in townships will, I fear, prevent Settlers in that increase of live stock which would be raised in farms at a townships. distance from a great body of people, where the stock will be less liable to suffer from the depredations which may be expected Depredafrom the soldier and the convict, and against which there is no effectual security. The convicts, if they are to be employed by the settlers, or those people they may bring with them, will be more industrious, and lay under less temptation to be dishonest, if living only twenty or thirty together, and detection will be easier. between convicts. I wish, sir, to point out the great difference between a settle- Difference ment formed as this is and one formed by farmers and emigrants emigrants who have been used to labour, and who reap the fruits of their and own industry. Amongst the latter few are idle or useless, and they feel themselves interested in their different employments. On the contrary, amongst the convicts we have few who are inclined to be industrious, or who feel themselves anyways interested in the advantages which are to accrue from their labours, and we have many who are helpless and a deadweight on the Incumsettlement. Many of those helpless wretches who were sent out in the first ships are dead, and the numbers of those who remained are now considerably increased. I will, sir, insert an extract from the surgeon's report, who I directed to examine these people. brances. "After a careful examination of the convicts, I find upwards of one hundred who must ever be a burden to the settlement, not 100 useless being able to do any kind of labour, from old age and chronical persons. diseases of long standing. Amongst the females there is one who has lost the use of her limbs upwards of three years, and amongst the males two who are perfect idiots." Such are the people sent from the different gaols and from the hulks, where it is said the healthy and the artificers are retained. The sending out the disordered and helpless clears the gaols, and A bad may ease the parishes from which they are sent; but, sir, it is obvious that this settlement, instead of being a colony which is practice. 1790 17 July. The sick list. to support itself, will, if the practice is continued, remain for years a burthen to the mother country. The desire of giving you a full and clear information on this head has made me enter into this detail. Of the nine hundred and thirty males sent out by the last ships, two hundred and sixty-one died on board, and fifty have died since landing. The number of sick this day is four hundred and fifty; and many who are not reckoned as sick have barely strength to attend to themselves. Such is our present state; and when the last ships arrived we had not sixty people sick in the colony. But, sir, I hope the many untoward circumstances which the colony has hitherto met with are now done away; and I flatter myself that after two years from this time we shall not want any further supply of flour. At the same time, I beg to be understood that various accidents may render a supply necessary after that time. How long a regular supply of beef and pork will be necessary depends on the quantity of live stock which may be introduced into the settlement, and of its increase, of which I can form no judgment. The live stock with which we first landed was very inconsiderable, and has been accounted for in former letters. We have not at present any Live stock. public stock in the settlement, what swine remained soon after we landed having been sent to Norfolk Island or distributed amongst the convicts. The question of supplies. Fish no help. Township at Accommodation. A street a mile long. Convicts and their gardens. Pease and such articles as formed the established ration will of course be expected by the regiment and the Civil Department; but flour, beef, and pork are the only species yet received. It was supposed some saving might have been made by the fish which would have been caught, but I have always found that the established ration was expected while the store was able to furnish it. I am laying out a town at Rose Hill, in which the principal street will be occupied by the convicts; the huts are building at the distance of one hundred feet from each other, and each hut is to contain ten convicts; in these huts they would live more comfortable than they could possibly do if numbers were confined together in large buildings, and having good gardens which they cultivate, and frequently having it in their power to exchange vegetables for little necessaries which the stores do not furnish, makes them begin to feel the benefits they may draw from their industry. The huts now building are for the convicts who came out last, and they will form a street of one mile in length and two hundred feet in breadth. Some little inconveniencies attend the convicts being so much dispersed, but the being indulged with having their own gardens is a spur to industry, which they would not have if employed in a publick garden, tho' intirely for their own benefit, as they never seemed to think it was their own; and I do not find that many of these people who have now been some months in huts, and consequently more at liberty than they would be if numbers were confined together, have abused 1790 the confidence placed in them; when they have, it has been only 17 July. by robbing a garden. The convicts who will occupy the huts now building will be removed in a few years to cultivate lands at a distance, and I should suppose that settlers will hereafter be glad to build on the ground, which will remain the property of the Crown, as well as The future. all the lands to a certain distance round the settlement, and increase in its value. Now, sir, in consequence of what is said in the letter which accompanied the directions for granting lands, I shall take the liberty of offering to your consideration whether it would not be to the advantage of the Crown, and in nowise distressing to those to whom lands may be granted, if, in the room of the fine of one shilling to be paid for every fifty acres of land, a small proportion of grain was to be paid to the Crown, after the expiration of ten Grain as or fifteen years, was to be paid for every acre of grain sown. The quantity being small would not, I apprehend, be felt by the cultivator of lands not subject to any other tythe, and would hereafter furnish a very considerable quantity of grain for the service of the troops. rent. There may be objections to a fine of this nature which I do not see, and I only give an opinion on a matter with which I am so little acquainted, as being desired to point out any regulation which might appear to me as tending to the advantages of the colony, and which will, I presume, hereafter support its garrison. It now only remains for me to assure you, sir, that everything The best will which is possible shall be done to render supplies of provisions from England no longer necessary, and to make this colony answer the intentions of Government, in which I feel myself so much interested, and which has ever been the guide of my conduct, independent of every other consideration. I have, &c., [Enclosure.] A. PHILLIP. GENERAL RETURN OF MALE CONVICTS. Sydney, 23rd July, 1790.* FORTY making bricks and tiles; 50 bringing in bricks, &c., for the new store-house (N.B.-This is only a temporary employment, these men being intended for agriculture at Rose Hill in a few days); 19 bricklayers and labourers employed in building a store and huts at Rose Hill; 8 carpenters employed at the new store, and in building huts at Rose Hill; 9 men who can work with the axe, and who assist the carpenters; 2 sawyers; 9 smiths; 10 watch This return, it will be observed, is of later date than the despatch with which it was sent. The discrepancy is explained by the fact that the despatch, though written on the 17th July, was not forwarded until the 25th, when the Lady Juliana sailed. The fact that the Commissary's return (p. 365) is of later date than Phillip's letter to Nepean is accounted for in the same way. be done. 23 July. 1790 men; 40 receiving provisions and stores from the ships; 12 23 July. employed on the roads-mostly convalescents; 18 bringing in 19 July. timber; 4 stonemasons; 10 employed in the boats; 3 wheelwrights; 6 employed in the stores; 38 employed by the officers, Civil and Military Departments, at their farms (these men will be employed for the public when the relief takes place); 2 assistants to the provost-martial; 3 gardeners and labourers employed by the Governor; 3 coopers; 6 shoemakers; 4 taylors; 5 bakers; 6 attending the sick at the hospital; 3 barbers; 3 gardeners and others employed at the hospital; 3 employed by the Governor bringing in of wood-316 at work; 413 sick. Total, 729. At Rose Hill. Two employed at the store; 3 servants to the three superintendants; 1 employed in taking care of the stock; 2 employed at the hospital; 5 men who work with the axe, building huts; 1 baker; 1 cook; 4 boys variously employed; 1 assistant to the provost-martial; 3 thatchers; I servant to the storekeeper; 1 servant to the assistant surgeon; 4 overseers; 25 sick; 113 clearing and cultivating the ground; 12 sawyers. Total, 176. NORFOLK ISLAND-PROCLAMATION. By his Honour the Lieut.-Governor and Council. THE Lieut.-Governor and Council having judged it absolutely necessary that as long as the birds at Mount Pitt are to be had in such abundance, and as the season of the year is approaching for the boats to be employed in fishing, that there should not be Issue of beef any more salt beef or pork issued from the store until those most and pork valuable resources should fail us; and as it is very possible that for some months longer we may find ourselves disappointed of the supplies we have so long expected from Europe, and to prolong as much as possible some small proportion of animal food to everybody before it is entirely exhausted, we have therefore ordered that the ration of beef and pork should not be issued until further orders. suspended. 24 July. Done at Head-quarters, this 19th July, 1790. Sir, ROBT. ROSs. GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO UNDER SECRETARY NEPEAN. As the iron mills sent out for the purpose of grinding wheat are easily rendered useless, and destroyed, and will require great labor to grind corn for a considerable number of people, Wind-mills wind-mills will be wanted, and for the sending out of which I am to request that you, sir, will take the necessary steps, if it is approved of by Mr. Secretary Grenville, to whom I have written on the subject. wanted. 1790 As we have not any good millwright in the colony, I presume some convicts who have been brought up in that branch might 24 July. be procured. A miller will be necessary, and as he will have a trust A miller reposed in him he should not be a convict. necessary. No butter, oil, or pease have been received for the use of the Deficient colony. At present there are not any spirits in the settlement, to supplies. continue which for three years a promise was made to the marines when they were embarked; nor will there be any for the officers of the Civil Department until sent out, if intended to be continued. I am this moment informed of the following accident: a boat Boat which had been down the harbour fishing, was, on its return, accident. pursued by a whale, who overset the boat, by which accident a midshipman, Mr. John Ferguson, and two marines were drowned. I have, &c., A. PHILLIP. A return of the number of people in the colony is enclosed. [Enclosure.] TOTAL number of people victualled in New South Wales and its 25 July. New South Wales. Norfolk Island. |