AUSTRALIA SIXTY YEARS AGO.

Dunstan Times, Issue 518, 22 March 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

AUSTRALIA SIXTY YEARS AGO.

A correspondent of the Australasian writes of Australia sixty years ago. —“ I have before me a remarkable book, published in 1811, being “A Present Picture ofNewSouth Wales.” Some of the general orders issued by the then Government are curious reading now. Here is a specimen of fairness in the. good old days : “ Convicts are hot to strike or bo struck by free persons: penalty—two hundred lashes to the prisoner and gaol gang for twelve months ; a free nan to pay 21. for the first offence, ami to be bound over.” Another regulation would suit the strictest of Sabbatarians : “ General attendance at Divine Service is required, during the performance of which strollers are to be appr headed and confined.” The times were bad for loafers, as “ all idlers loitering about the -wharves” were directed to be sent to hard labor. The retail dealers were kept well under authority, as not more than twenty per cent, on the importer’s price is permitted on the retail.” Pure water wan highly prized, and the penalty for taking fresh water except at the tanks was 51., and “ the offender’s house to be rased to the ground.” By these regulations wheat and live stock, at Government prices, were made a legal tender. How a purchaser of a tig of tobacco was to get change out of a fat bullock is not explained.