New South Wales, One Hundred Years Ago.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 240, 4 February 1888, Page 3

New South Wales, One Hundred Years Ago.

To-day marks an important epoch in the history of the Anglo-Saxon race. One hundred years ago saw the birth of British colonisation — the landing of the "first fleet" of convicts at Sydney Harbour— and though with shameful surroundings the first colony of Britons was planted on these southern lands, the softening finger of time has swept over the record of our first Australasian century, and we, the four millions of Englishmen who populate Australasia, are prepared to regard with almost tender solicitude the cargoes of wretched creatures who were the virtual pioneers of civilisation. One hundred years is but an insignificant span in the history of the world ; with us the century now ■completed has seen vast and mighty changes. The little handful of convicts has swelled into a nation, the good has predominated over the vile, and the advance in material prosperity has been such as the world has never before seen.

The First Fleet. At this period a brief history of the events connected with the establishment of the colony of New South Wales will not be uninteresting. Towards the end 01 the last century a feeling of repugnance to the Draconian severity of the old penal code had commenced to grow and made itself felt in the counsels of the British nation. Death was the punishment for upwards of •one hundred different offences, the now -comparatively trifling crime of stealing 5s being punished capitally. But it was found that this drastic method of dealing with of* fenders, insteadof checking, increased crime, .and even those legislators who were not actuated by philanthropic motives felt that indiscriminate use of the halter had ceased to •have a rqpreeeing effect Consequently

when the establishment of a penal colony on tho shores . of far-away Australia was mooted, the suggestion met with , universal acceptance, and a new ora opened in the method of dealing with the criminal classes. Captain Phillip, an officer of the Navy, was selected as the commander of the first expedition, and Governor of the colony of New South Wales. The first fleet sailed from England on March 10th, 1787, andcom* prised the followingvessels :— Sirius, Prince of Wales, Lady Penrhyn, Scarborough, Alexander, Friendship, Fishbourne, Borrodale, and Golden Grove, of a united tonnage of 3,500, and with 1,017 soule on board, of whom between 600 and 700 were convicts. On the 19th of January, 1788. tho fleet arrived at Botany Bay, after an eight months' voyage, but the first site of the settlement proving unsuitable, on the 26th inst. Sydney Cove was selected as the site of the colony. The colonists landed, and the British flag was hoisted amidst volleys of musketry and the drinking of King George's health. There, in the midst of a dense wood, was the first Australian colony founded.

The Founding or the Colony A few days later, according to Barrington, Governor Phillip ordered Her Majesty's Commission, which appointed him "Captain-General and Governor-in* Chief in and over the Territory of New South Wales, and its dependencies," to be read in public, together with the letters patent for establishing Civil and Criminal Courts in the territory, which was now found to extend from Cape York to the southern extremity of the coast in latitude 43° 39', comprehending all the islands adjacent. The ceremony of reading these instruments was performed with great dignity by the Judge Advocate, after which the Govsrnor addressed himself to the convicts, and assured them that he would ever be ready to encourage those who might deserve it ; but on the contrary, those who acted in opposition to propriety would inevitably meet the punishment they deserved. Nor did he close without showing them how much it was their duty and interest to forget the ways in which they had lived, and to become good, honest, and industrious members of the community. At the end of his affectionate address three volleys were fired, after which he received the honours due to his rank on the parade, and entertained all the officers and gentlemen of the settlement under a tent pitched for the purpose.

The Founders. The officers of the colony, in addition to the Governor, were : — Majorßobert Ross, lieu tenant-Governor ; Richard Johnson, Chaplain ; Androw Millar Commissary ; David Collins, Judge-Advo-cate ; John Long, Adjutant ; James Furzer, Quartermaster ; John White, Surgeon ; Thomas Arundell and William Balmain, Assistant Surgeons ; John Hunter, Captain of the Sirius; Lieutenant H. L. Ball, in command of the Supply ; Lieutenant John Shortland, agent for transports. The garrison consisted, of 2,000 marines, with the following officers :— Captains Campbell, Shea, Meredith, and Tench ; Lieutenants Johnston, Collins, Kellow, Morrison, Clarke, Faddy, Cresswell, Poulden, Sharp, Davey, and Timmins. The persons under their charge/ who were to remain in the settlement were, besides the 200 soldiers, 40 of whom were allowed to take their wives and families, 81 free persons, and 696 convicts. The founders of the colony thereforo consisted of one free person to every two prisoners. The exact proportion of the sexea among them is not known. The females were probably less than 300 in number, of whom twenty-eight were wives of the military, and 192 convicts. The prisoners were mostly young persons from the agricultural districts of England ; ninetenths of them being natives of the southwestern and midland counties. Very few had been convicted of serious crime. Out of the whole 696, only 55 were sentenced for longer periods than seven years ; and the sentences of a large number would expire within two or throe years after their landing.

Administration of Justice. It was not long before the law, in its utmost severity too, was exercised in New South Wales. On February 26 a criminal court was held at Porb Jackson, at which six convicts, found guilty of stealing, were sentenced to death. One of these was executed on the day of sentence. The others were reprieved, and placed on a email island in the harbour, now known as Pinchgut, where they were left to live on bread and water. Toward the end of the year 1788 an unexpected difficulty arose in administering the affairs of the colony. A warrant had been issued for the holding of a general court-martial, when the marine officers who composed it discovered that as marine officers they could not sib under any other warrant than one from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The marine forces, in those days «.)♦■ all events, were so distinct from the >nnd forces that while on land in any portion of the King's dominions they were regulated by an Act of Parliament passed oypressly for their guidance, as had to be dono in the case of a corps of marines employed on shore during the American war. When the expedition to settle New South Wales left England this provision had been forgotten. In the light of present days, when marines and naval brigades havo done such splendid service on shore, the point under notice raised in New South Wales in 1788 reminds one irresistibly of the decision of Mr Weller, sen. , and his fellow coachman, that the business of drawing money left by Mrs Weller's will could not be legally proceeded with under the letter "Y." Yet, at the same time, the point, as taken, shows the inherent respect for the law in its very letter which is characteristic of the Briton.

The Rations. One of Governor Phillip's first acts was to tell off a number of convicts to clear a portion of the bush, for the purpose of starting cultivations, and in the meantime the whole colony was maintained from the stores brought oufc with them and the fish caught in the coves. We are told that the weekly ration of provisions was as follows : — To each male, 71bs. of biscuits, lib. of flour, 71bs. of beef or 41bs. of pork, 3 pints of peas, and 6ozs. of butter, and two-thirds of this quantity to the female convicts. Even this very liberal provision did nob satisfy the convicts, and for several years there were frequent larcenies from the Government stores, and several were executed in consequence,

The First Australian. The convicts early commenced to marry and give in marriage, and Barrington informs us that consent was never refused by the Governor unless proof were given that either of the parties had a husband or wife living in England. In this connection it may be mentioned that the first Australia born colonist saw light on the day of Governor Phillip's landing. His name was George Wintle, and he attained a great age, his death having taken place but a year or two back

Captain Phillip Governor Phillip, says an Australian contemporary, made the history of New

South Wales. It ia not exaggeration, to Bay that any other raoh but himself might, in the- circumstances of ' his time, have totally failed to settle. an English-speaking, community in Australia. The Government of the community, let it be remembered, began, continued, and ended with him. He might have truly said>, " L'etat cat mot." And, then, let the community he had to govern be considered. His days werein'tbe times when the laws of England made criminals. The punishments he administered were, looked at in the light of the present time,feari ully severe ; but in his days they were not so regarded. As Mr Samuel Bennott says in his book : " The punishments meted out to both soldiers and convicta at this time were of extraordinary severity. Two men, one a prisoner and the other a soldier, were sentenced to 700 lashes oach. The prisoner was not strong enough to bear the full sentence ; and, to prevent his death under the lash, the punishment had to be stopped when only half the number had been inflicted. The soldier,, whose offence consisted in having been found absent from his post, suffered the full penalty." That Phillip succeeded in founding a nation when he was opposed by so many things (not the least of them being the state of the law which he had to administer as an almost irresponsible ruler) is wonderful. And when, added to this, it is borne in mind that, for some years, all supplies of food, except those which fish and game afforded, had to be brought to the new settlement over thousands of miles of ocean, when ocean travelling was very stow, some of the difficulties of Phillip's task may be conceived. Yet, in spite of all these difficulties, he succeeded. When starvation stared the new community in the face, and some of the soldiers plundered the stores of rations which were being carefully husbanded, and fairly distributed to all alike, he met the danger boldly and fearlessly. Probably no man was better fitted than Governor Phillip to deal with such difficulties as were now before him. He hanged the detected soldiers, seven in number at once. Some of them had, up to that time, borne excellent characters, and were held in very high esteem by their officers, who used all the influence they possessed to save their lives. It was, however, useless. Nothing could move the Governor from his purpose. The position of the settlement under a man of less firmness and self-reliance would have been desperate in the extreme. The slightest relaxation of discipline would probably have been followed by a state of anarchy and crime frightful to contemplate, and impossible to control. Governor Phillip, at this time of depression and anxiety, set a noble example of disinterestedness and self-sacrifice. The weekly quantity issued to every person indiscriminately at this time was but 2£lbs of flour, 21bs of rice, and 21bs of pork. " The latter," says Collins, "when boiled, from the length of time it had been in store, shrunk almost to nothing, and, when divided, barely afforded three or four morsels." "The Governor," continues the same authority, " from a motiyo which did him immortal honour, in this season of general distress, gave up 3cwt of flour, which was His Excellency's private property, declaring that he wished not to see any more at his table than the ration which was received in common from the public store, without any distinction of persons ; and to this resolution he rigidly adhered, wishing that, if a convict complained, he might see that want was not unfelt at Government House."

First Live Stock Statistics. The enormous pastoral and agricultuial resources of New South Wales will render of interest to the general reader the first statistics of live stock, taken in March, 1788. The official return was as follows :—: —

Alleged Discovery of Gold. Barrington, in his history, writes : " One of the most artful convicts amused the settlement with an account of a gold-mine ho pretended to have discovered, and offered to conduct an officer to the spot. A boat was just ready ; but on landing at the place he prevailed on the officer to send away the boat and afterwards loft him, and arrived at the colony several hours before the officer saying he sent him for a guard, but before that gentleman returned he escaped into the wood and did not return until next day, when he had 50 lashes for his imposition ; however, he persisted that he had discovered a metal of which he produced a bit. The Governor returned about this time from an excursion, and on learning his tale ordered him to bo again taken clown the harbour, and told the man that if it turned out a deception he would put him to death. This saved more trouble, for the man confessed he had invented the tale to impose on the crews of the Fishbourne and Golden Grove, who, under the idea of having gold dust from him, would let him have clothing', etc. The specimens exhibited wore made from part of a brass buckle and a guinea, the remains of which he produced. For this trick he had 100 lashes, and wore a canvas frock with an R cut and sewed on it, to render him a more conspicuous rogue than the test."

Early monopolists. The following account of fche method of dealing with the land is given by a contemporary. Although almost all the prisoners, who then formed probably threefourths of the population, were ostensibly engaged on public works, or in clearing or cultivating the land, the daily labour expected from each individual was absurdly small and insignificant ; and, paltry as it was in amount, it was seldom fully performed, or, if performed nominally, was executed in such a careless and improper way as to be almost useless. The labour was present ; and tne land on which to employ it profitably was not wanting. But there was no machinery to control and enforce the one, and in its absence no sufficient motive on the part of the convicts to take advantage of the other. The abundance of land ab the disposal of the soldier settlers was accompanied by an equally ready command of labour. Before they seized the opportunity of turning both to profit the land was useless and the labour idle. Suddenly finding themselves in command of both, they promptly took advantage of the circumstance to benefit themselves, If they helped each other to grants of land and assigned to each other gangs of men to cultivate it, they I acted selfishly, no doubt, but not illegally. I There was at once, when they found themj selves in the positon of rulers, a motive brought into play which did not before exist — the motiveof private emolument— for compelling the prisoners to work and learn habits of thrift and industry. They were taught to work in a rudo way, ifc is true, under fear oi the lash, generally. But anything was better than the lazy, aimless, vioioijs existence whjoh most of the convicts would otherwise have dragged out Those who worked hard, either from choice or compulsion, cannot have been very bad men. That idleness is the partnt of yioe is a maxim as true as it is old, and particularly true with regard to the oriminal class.

And' labour everu if enforced ha* its benefitsin such circumstances,, aparb. altogjetheu from! the wealth* it produces.. Habits of regularity, patient endurance,, and onder are induced; evil practices checked,, skill acquired, experience gained,, and vicious thoughts curbed or eradicated. Land and labour weno both unproductive while they remained the property of the State. But directly they came under the control of individuals,, the stimulus of private gain caused them to produce fruit If the officers of the New South Wales Corps and their friend? had confined themselves to grasping ac as much land as- they could possibly cultivate, and compelling their convict servants to cultivate all they could procure, they would not deserve half the hard things which have been written and said of them. But, unfortunately, human cupidity is almost inBatiablo, and the conduct of the gentlemen in question did not prove an exception to the general rule. In addition to monopolising most of th& available land and labour, they took advantage of their position to control, for their own benefit, the rising commerce of the settlement; they became dealers and hucksters. It would be absurd to call them merchants under such a state of things as then existed. They monopolised almost every species of traffic. The non-commissioned officers of the corps were licensed to retail tho spirits whicn their superiors purchased or distilled, and every petty dealer was obliged to buy his goods of them or through them at their own prices.

Prices of Commodities. Three years after the establishment of the colony the following prices for live stock were quoted : Cows, £80 ; horses, £90 ; sheep, £7 10s ; goats, £4 ; turkeys, £1 Is ; geese, £1 Is ; fowls, ss. At the same period wheat was 12s per bushel *, barley, 10s per bushel ; mutton, 2s per Ib. ; potatoes, 12s per cwt. ; tea, £1 4s per lb j sugar, Is per lb.

cows bulls stallion mares colts 29 sheep 19 goats 25 pigs 49 hog 3 5 rabbits 18 turkeys 35 ducks 29 geese 122 fowls 87 chicken