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1791

letters, is necessary, but I am persuaded that a large body of convicts on the account of Government will not answer any good 4 March. purpose until the country can support itself.

The convict, however, must be fed, and to him it is very imma- Convicts terial at what expence. The person I have now appointed to must be fed. direct the convicts' labour will want some assistance-and I have in a former letter requested that a proper person might be sent out to be charged with the cultivation of the ground and the collecting and distributing the grain. Something more than a common farmer will be necessary, if the convicts are to be continued on the account of the Crown.

The Commissary is directed to make the necessary returns of stores and provisions; and I hope the speedy arrival of ships from England will prevent the reducing the present ration, which is far from being so satisfactory as the established ration would be. There are neither pease nor butter in the colony, nor any Stores spirits, except the remains of what was sent out for the use running of short. the Sirius. I know not whether it is the intention of Government to allow spirits to the new corps, raised for the service of this country, and to the civil department, or not. The flour brought from Batavia is full one-sixth bran, though purchased at an excessive price, and the rice is bad. You will, sir, readily conceive that where inconveniences are felt, which are not met with in the common course of service, if despondency and discontent once take place, they spread, and are not easily removed.

Marshal.

The Provost-Marshal appointed in England having never ap- Provostpeared, the necessity of such an officer has made me detain Mr. Henry Brewer, late midshipman of the Sirius. He has acted as Provost-Marshal three years, and I beg leave to recommend him for the appointment.

Island cloth.

Two small pieces of cloth, made at Norfolk, are forwarded with Norfolk my dispatches, and the letter I received from the superintendant who was sent there to attend particularly to the cultivation of the flax-plant, by which it will be seen that there are some articles necessary which we cannot make in this country, the want of which, and not having any oil when the flax was dressed, is, I am told, the reason the cloth is so very indifferent. A quantity of flax-seed is likewise sent home.

At Rose Hill, two hundred and thirteen acres will be sown Farming at this year. The progress made in agriculture since last June has Rose Hill. been considerable; and I hope we shall be enabled, by the arrival of the necessary supplies of provisions, to continue our labours. Black cattle are much wanted, and for the security of which Black cattle inclosures have been made, and the timber thinned on the ground, so that we shall not in future risk their loss.

His Majesty's ship Sirius will, I presume, be replaced, and the Supply, armed tender, relieved, as the repairs that vessel will soon

wanted.

1791

4 March.

Two ships necessary.

Guard-ship.

5 March.

Expirees.

stand in need of cannot well be given in this country. I therefore beg leave to observe that two ships will be necessary for the station, and that the most useful will be from three to four hundred tons burthen.

The want of two small vessels has been mentioned in my former letters.

The guard-ship mentioned in my former letters would be very convenient; but there is not that necessity for such a ship at present as there was when I made the request.

I have, &c.,

A. PHILLIP.

GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO THE RIGHT HON. W. W. GRENVILLE [LORD GRENVILLE].

Sydney, New South Wales, March 5th, 1791.

Sir, In my former letters I have requested instructions relative to those convicts who say that the terms for which they were sentenced are expired, and who, refusing to become settlers, desire to return to England. To compel these people to remain may be attended with unpleasant consequences; for they must be made to work, if fed from the publick store and if permitted to be their own masters, they must rob, for they have no other way to support themselves.

:

The language they hold is, that the sentence of the law has been carried into execution, that they are free men, and wish to A difficulty, return. I have no means of knowing when the sentences of any of the convicts expire who came out in the first ships. Many of these people would find a passage to China in the ships which stop here, if those ships were permitted to receive them on board; but here are many, whose sentences are said to be expired, that no ship would receive, aged and infirm.

Convicts as soldiers.

Emancipated convicts

allowed to

return to

England.

Three or four convicts offer themselves as soldiers.

I hope, sir, to receive your instructions on this head by the first ships; for though there has been no very great impropriety in the conduct of any of those who say the time is expired for which they were sentenced, it is more than probable that they will become troublesome as their numbers increase. Since my

last letters, two convicts have been emancipated-one from his very meritorious behaviour and the great service he has rendered the colony by his own labour, and by instructing others, in the business of a bricklayer.

The other was particularly recommended by the LieutenantGovernor as having been the means of saving the Sirius from being burned, after that ship went on shore. Both these men will be permitted to return to England. I have, &c.,

A. PHILLIP.

GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO THE RIGHT HON. W. W. GRENVILLE
Sir,
[LORD GRENVILLE].*

1791

March.

The increase of people in the colony, and two surgeons being requisite at Norfolk Island, having made it necessary to appoint an additional assistant-surgeon, the surgeon's first mate of his Majesty's late ship Sirius, Mr. Thomas Jamison, having acted in that capacity from the time the island was settled in March, 1788, until February, 1791, whose good conduct and Assistant knowledge in his profession gave him a claim, is appointed by Jamison. Commission, dated the 4th of March, 1791, and I beg leave to recommend him for a confirmation of the Commission I have given him as assistant-surgeon to this territory, and for such a gratuity for his three years' attendance to the duty, prior to his appointment, as he may be deemed to merit.

I have, &c.,

A. PHILLIP.

(Banks Papers.)†

Surgeon

9 March.

LORD CHATHAM TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS. Sir, Admiralty, March 9th, 1791. I received the favor of your letter, and in consequence will lose no time in giving the necessary directions for preparing a vessel for the purpose of the expedition to procure the bread- The fruit. I have not lately seen Captain Bligh, but I trust his health expedition. is enough re-established to undertake this service. I have sent to desire to see him, in order to concert with him what sort of vessel may be best adapted to the object in view. 1

The idea you suggest of a tender to accompany him certainly appears highly proper.

Sir,

I am, &c.,

CHATHAM.

SECRETARY STEPHENS TO LIEUTENANT BALL.

10th March, 1791.

bread-fruit

10 March.

I received on the 20th of Dec'r by Lieut. King, and immediately communicated to my Lords Comm'rs of the Adm'y, your letter of the 29th July last, enclosing a journal of your passage from Port Jackson, and an account of the state and condition of the armed tender under your command, together with a The copy of the orders you had received from Gov'r Phillip, and in- Supply. forming their Lordships of your arrival at Batavia, of your having obtained an order from the Governor and Council there to freight a vessel with provisions for the colony at Port Jackson, and of your intention to return again thither in eight or ten days; and, in return, I am commanded by their Lordships to acquaint you that Lieut. Ball's they approve of your proceedings, and to observe to you that the proceedings.

Undated. Written about 5th March, 1791.

† Endorsed by Sir Joseph Banks: "Ld. Chatham, March 9, '91."

The Bounty, which was seized by mutineers when in command of Captain Bligh, had been fitted out to carry the bread-fruit tree from the Society Islands to the West Indies. The expedition having failed, another was undertaken, which proved successful. The Providence, a 28-gun ship was chosen for the service, and the command given to Bligh.

1791

10 March.

A rediscovery.

land you fell in with, and which in your journal is called Ball's
Maiden Land, had been before discovered by Messrs. Surville and
Bougainville, as well as by Lieut. Shortland on his return from
New So. Wales.
I am, &c.,

MEMO. BY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR KING*

P.S.

10th March, 1791.

IF Governor Phillip should be dead when I arrive at Port Jackson, and Major Ross should not choose to give up the government A dormant of Norfolk Island and come home. In that case ought I not to have a dormant commission to superceed Major Ross?

commission.

Criminal
Courts at
Norfolk
Island.

Clergyman.

Live stock.

12 March.

Judge-
Advocate.

Law-books.

Clergyman.

A certain number of officers should be stationed at Norfolk Island to compose the criminal courts; and as it will be necessary to have a president, who is to perform that office? and whoever it is, a sett of common-form law books should be furnished.

If I may hold out any encouragement to a person to officiate as a clergyman untill one arrives?

Cannot the transports be ordered to take on board a proportion of stock from the Cape, or the Rio de Janeiro, if any of them should touch there?

MEMO. BY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR KING.

12th March, 1791. As the precept for assembling the criminal court on Norfolk Isl'd is to come from Port Jackson, who is to preside at that court as the Judge-Advocate? because the Act says the court is to consist of the Dy. Judge-Advocate and six officers.

Some copies of the Act of Parliament and a sett of law books will be necessary.

As it will be necessary for someone to officiate as a clergyman, may I hold out any hope of a person officiating as such that he will have any advantage from it?

12 March.

Sir,

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.

Whitehall, 12th March, 1791. His Majesty having judged it expedient that the strength N. S. Wales of the corps which had been raised for service in New South Wales should be increased in the manner stated in the enclosed estimate,† I have received his Majesty's commands to desire you will take the necessary means for that purpose.

Corps.

The vessels which are intended for the conveyance of the troops Augmenta composing this augmentation will be ready to proceed with them to New South Wales early in the month of April, by which time it is hoped they will be ready to embark.

tion.

I am, &c.,

GRENVILLE.

*King was promoted on the 2nd March, 1791, from the rank of Lieutenant in the Navy to that of Commander.

†The enclosure is not available.

Sir,

GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO SECRETARY STEPHENS.

Sydney, New South Wales,

14th March, 1791.

1791

14 March.

I have the honor to acquaint you, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the return of the Supply, armed tender, from Batavia, having put it in my power to send for the officers and seamen who had remained on Norfolk Island after the loss of his Majesty's ship Sirius, they were sent The crew of for accordingly; and as so many months had passed since I had the Sirius. reason to expect the Gorgon to arrive, that I concluded the destination of that ship had been changed, or that some accident had befallen her, the Dutch vessel that bought the provisions from Batavia was hired to carry them to England. She was Transport to taken into the service as a transport the 7th of February, 1791. England, The Supply lost five men in the voyage, and left six in the hospital at Batavia. Mr. Newton Fowell, who I had appointed second lieutenant of the Sirius (when Lieutenant King was sent to Norfolk Island), and the gunner of the Sirius, likewise died on Death of the voyage. Both these officers were to have been landed at Norfolk Island had the Supply made it in her passage to Batavia. The gunner had been left sick when the Sirius sailed.

Fowell.

Jamison.

Since the loss of the Sirius, the purser, Mr. John Palmer, has Palmer and been appointed Commissary, and Mr. Thomas Jamison, who was surgeon's first mate of the Sirius, to be an assistant surgeon to the colony. Two petty officers remain, the one as provostmarshal, the other as a storekeeper; two marines and ten seamen have been received as settlers, and two remain employed in the colony. They are all discharged from that ship's books. Lieut. George William Maxwell, who my former letters mention having Maxwell. been superceded as being insane, and in which state he still continues, returns to England in the transport; and I beg leave to recommend to their Lordships for a confirmation of the commission he has received, Mr. Henry Waterhouse, who was appointed Waterhouse. to act as third lieutenant of the Sirius, when Lieut. Maxwell was discharged from that ship.

returning to

Lieutenant Thomas Edgar and Mr. Richard Ayley [Alley], who were sent out in the Lady Juliana, transport, and Mr. John Turnpenny Altree, who came out as surgeon in one of the trans- Officers ports that left England in May, 1787, and who has been since England. employed at Norfolk Island, returns to England in this transport. Their Lordships will, I presume, have ordered the Sirius to be replaced, and as from the carpenter's report of the Supply's defect, which is inclosed, it is probable that vessel will be ordered

ships

to England, I beg leave to observe that two ships will be requisite Two warfor the service of this colony, and that the most useful would required. be ships of from three to four hundred tons burthen, with flush decks.

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