1814. 3 Feb. Civil court established in Tasmania. Limited jurisdiction of court in Tasmania. Dismissal of deputy judgeadvocate Bate. Appointment of Evans as deputy-surveyor at Hobart. Appointment of Bowden as senior assistant surgeon. The commissariat administration. Proposed is established in Van Dieman's Land to take cognizance of, and decide without appeal, all Causes not exceeding £50 in amount. Mr. Abbott has been selected as the Deputy Judge Advocate who is to preside in this Court, and a Salary of £600 per Ann. for this officer will be proposed in the next Estimate. 8. As it has not been considered adviseable to extend the Jurisdiction of this new Court beyond that which I have already specified, it will still be necessary that all Civil Causes, where the Value of Debt exceeds £50, as well as such Criminal Causes as cannot be taken cognizance of by the Magistrates, should be carried for Adjudication to the Chief Settlement as heretofore. Upon the Receipt of this dispatch, you will acquaint Mr. Bate that H.R.H. The Prince Regent has no further occasion for his Services as Deputy Judge Advocate; but he may be allowed to draw his Salary 'till this Intimation is made to him, in Consideration of the Circumstances which induced you to defer his Suspension.* 9. His Royal Highness has been pleased to confirm your Nomination of Mr. G. W. Evans to be Deputy Surveyor of Lands at Hobartstown, and I may here acquaint you that Authority has been given for the Payment of Salary to this Person as Deputy Surveyor at Port Jackson for the period he acted in this Capacity, tho' his appointment does not seem to have been altogether regular. 10. The Appointment of Mr. M. Bowden, Senior Ass't Surgeon at the same Settlement to succeed Mr. W. I'Anson, the Surgeon. is also confirmed.* 11. The Commissariat Establishment of the Colony having been taken out of the annual Parliamentary Estimate and transferred to the Department of the Commissary in Chief, I have notified to the Lords Comm'rs of the Treasury, for their Consideration, your Recommendation of Mr. Williams to succeed Mr. Sutton; A Free Passage will be ordered for Mrs. Williams on her making application for that purpose. 12. I did not receive your Recommendation* of an Addition to increased salary the Salary of the Revd. Mr. Knopwood at Hobartstown, until the for Rev. R. Knopwood. Estimates for the year 1814 had been voted for the House of Commons. An Addition of £77 10s. for this purpose will be submitted in the Estimate for 1815, which will make Mr. Knopwood's Salary equal to that of the 2nd Clergyman at Port Jackson, and as no Endeavour shall be omitted on my part to procure a proper person to proceed in that Capacity to Port Dalrymple, I hope soon to have it in my Power to relieve Mr. Knopwood from being obliged to cross the Island to do duty at the latter Settlement. 13. I approve with particular Satisfaction the Retrenchment of those useless or superfluous Salaries, the discontinuance of which has been recommended by you, as it has given me the Opportunity of augmenting the inadequate Allowances, hitherto made to deserving Persons, without imposing any additional Burthen on the Public. I enclose for your information a Schedule of the Alterations, which I propose to make in the Distribution of the Sum voted by Parliament next year. 1814. 3 Feb. Redistribution of salaries. lieut.-governor at Hobart. 14. You will have long ago received, by the Ship "Spring Salary of acting Grove," Lord Liverpool's letter, No. 25, which regulates the amount of Salary to be drawn by the acting Lt. Governor of Van Dieman's Land, and which does not much differ from the Statement made by you in Paragraph 16* of your dispatch No. 6. But Lt. Govr. Davey having received one Moiety of his Salary from 1st Sep., 1811, The Officer Administering the Government at Hobartstown can only be entitled to draw the other Moiety from that period as explained to you in my letter No. 11.* of marines in 15. The Measures,† you have taken for settling at the Derwent Settlement such Men of the Detachment of Marines as chose to remain in Tasmania. the Colony and for sending home the remainder, appear very proper. Norfolk island. 16. As the Delay in the Evacuation of Norfolk Island will not Evacuation of be attended with Expence, I am not aware of any objection to its having been postponed. of colonial 17. I am sorry that the Capture of the Colonial Brig "Emu," Loss of services and the delay that has taken place both in fitting "The Kan- brigs. garoo," and in procuring a proper Vessel to replace The Emu, will have deprived you of the Assistance of these Vessels to perform this Service. proposal to 18. In my letter, No. 13,4 by the Ship Fortune, I acquainted Disapproval of you that the Contract, into which you had entered for building establish a a General Hospital at Sydney, put it out of the Power of II.M.'s distillery. Government to sanction the distillation of Spirits within the Colony, even if that Measure had appeared less objectionable than, upon Consideration, it was found to be. And I stated for your Consideration some of the Arguments, which then occurred against its Adoption. I confess that I see nothing, in the 20th Paragraph of your Dispatch, which recommends this Measure, that in the least tends to remove the force of any of those objections which I had previously stated. I am ready to admit that the Consumption of the Surplus Grain of the Colony would be of itself a very strong reason in favor of Distillation, if it were certainly ascertained that the Colony would hereafter continue * Note 20. * Note 21. ‡ Note 22. 1814. 3 Feb. Irregularity in available supplies of grain. No preference Unrestricted importation of spirits to be established. to produce the same abundant Crops as those of 1811 and 1812. But when I reflect that so late as the year 1811, not more than 12 Months previous to the date of your Dispatch, you had found it absolutely necessary to authorize an Importation of Wheat from India, and when I add to this Consideration the possibility of the Recurrence of Floods in the River Hawkesbury, attended with the doubt how far your Measures had been hitherto successful for inducing the Settlers on the Banks of that River to secure their Crops from this danger, I cannot but think that it will require the Experience of a longer time to determine whether the Colony is capable of producing such a Surplus of Grain as would authorize the adoption of a Distillery. Under this impression, I forbear to enter into any detailed Examination of the mode in which you would propose to regulate the distillery, tho' it appears in many parts liable to serious objections; but I cannot avoid noticing an opinion, which would appear from this part of your dispatch, to be prevalent in the Colony, that Persons, newly arrived, are looked upon as Intruders in the Occupation or Business, which they may follow, and as running away with a Branch of Business to which the older Settlers consider themselves exclusively entitled. There can be no good reason why a Settler, newly arrived from England, should not have the same permission to engage in any Trade that is given to the Colonists longer established. And I cannot too earnestly request you to take every means of shewing your Disapprobation of any such doctrines, which appear to me to be only calculated to produce the worst consequences to the Tranquillity and Prosperity of the Colony. * 19. As you acquaint me that the Contract, for building the Hospital, will expire on the 1st day of May next, I am to signify to you the Commands of H.R.H. The Prince Regent that you should carry into Execution the Instructions conveyed to you in the Earl of Liverpool's letter, No. 15, for permitting the Importation of Spirits upon payment of a Duty of 4s. per Gallon, which Instruction had previously received the Sanction of the Committee for Trade. And that you do increase the duty to 5s. per Gallon, if you shall continue to be of opinion that it can well bear this Increase. H.M.'s Servants are of opinion that unless this Importation is really free, that is, open at all times to all importers without distinction, the Evils, which have hitherto arisen from the Barter of Spirits, cannot be effectually removed. But that by opening the Trade, an Additional Revenue will not only be raised, and a Check given to the Practice of Secret Distillation, but a Stop will be put to all those Speculations. • Note 23. 1814. 3 Feb. Proposed which have hitherto arisen from a limited importation; and you will be moreover enabled to put an End to the Issue of Spirits at a fixed rate to the Civil and Military Servants in the Colony, abolition of a practice which has, even under your prudent Administration issue of spirits of it, the appearance, if not the actual effect, of encouraging the Barter of that Article.* to officials. free settlers. 20. As not more than 4 or 5 of the Persons, sent out as Settlers Character of from this Country since the year 1810, had arrived at the date of your last dispatch, I should hope that the Character,† given by you of the Settlers from England, has reference rather to such as left this Country at earlier periods than to those, who have received permission to become Settlers since the date of your Commission. recommending 21. Since the year 1810, every attention has been paid to Method prevent imposition as to the Character of Persons applying for adopted in permission to become Settlers. I do not find that any Person settlers. has been recommended to you under the Denomination of a Gentleman Settler, and in order still further to guard against the imposition, which might be practised upon this department, I have with very few exceptions always left it to your discretion to decide upon the Quantity of Land which it might be proper to allot to any Individual. Indeed I observe that the most extensive Grants have not by any means been made to Settlers from England. But should any of the Settlers, who have lately proceeded to the Colony, in any way misconduct themselves, I have to desire that you will report the Circumstances of their Misconduct for my information. government 22. I am to desire that you will report to me from time to time Issue of the Names of the Persons to whom you find it necessary to issue rations. rations under the Circumstances stated in your dispatch No. 6, Par. 24, because it would seem that in a Country, where Labourers are so scarce, Sickness alone should be held as a sufficient reason for issuing a Public Ration to any Person not otherwise entitled to it; a contrary Practice can afford only Encouragement to Idleness by diminishing the Necessity of Exertion. 23. I entirely approve of the Clausest you have inserted in the Land grants Grants of Land and in Leases for Town Lots. and leases. John Palmer 24. I am to acquaint you that Mr. Commiss'y Palmer has taken Departure of his passage to New So. Wales in the Ship Catharine, which sailed for the colony. from Falmouth on the § day of December last, and will therefore be able to afford in Person the Explanations of which you stand so much in need. 25. Until I received your Dispatches by the Isabella, I was not aware that the families of the Civil Servants in the Colony * Note 24. † Note 25. ‡ Note 26. § Blank in manuscript. 1814. 3 Feb. Allowance of rations and convicts to civil servants. Withdrawal of government servants from the military. Servants allowed to magistrates. Issue of fuel to public servants forbidden. Victualling of free settlers. Inquiries into financial status of intending settlers. Regulations for settlers. received Rations from the Public Stores, and I am to desire that 27. You will however consider whether this decision should apply to those Gentlemen, who act in the Capacity of Magistrates, and who have hitherto received the Advantages of Government Servants as a Compensation for their trouble in thus acting as Justices of the Peace. 28. I am also to authorize you to discontinue the Issue of fuel at the Public Expence to the Public Servants. 29. I have not been able to ascertain precisely for what periods the Settlers from England are victualled at the Expence of the Crown after their Arrival in New So. Wales, and for how long a time they are allowed to have Government Servants drawing Rations from the Stores, altho' I conclude from the Case of Messrs. Blaxlands that these periods are extended to Eighteen Months. 30. Since I have held the Seals of the Colonial Department. great Care has been taken that every Settler from this Country should produce satisfactory Evidence that he was possessed of Property to a certain extent, whereby he would be enabled to cultivate the land allotted to him with less assistance from Government. Any Exceptions from this Rule have been specially intimated to you. I shall make known to all Settlers, hereafter proceeding to the Colony, that they will not be permitted to draw Rations, or to have the Accommodation of Convicts fed and. clothed at the Public Expence, for a longer period than 6 Months after their Arrival in the Colony. You will not however consider yourself absolutely obliged to apply this Regulation to the Case of Convicts emancipated in the Settlement, either from good Conduct during their term of Servitude, or after having served that term, if you are of opinion that they are deserving of farther indulgence. |