Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/349

 rations. However, no exertion will be wiintiiig to prevent you from want. I tliink 3'ou will l>e perfectly jiistiliable in the eKisting state of ' our settlement in causing every uaelesa »log to Ije destroy ecL Every nse- leas dog I eonaid«r not only as a public nuisance, but a destroyer of what onght to maintain the inhabitants/' I To the Secretary of State King wrote that hecause of the y^ uncertainty of supplies of salt meat arriving from England, I have directetl that kangaroo fle.sh he received into th" stores (at Hohart and Port Dah-jmplo) from the officers and sokiiers who can procure thera, at Gd, a lb», and issued as rations, which I hope your Lordship may approve," A later despatch on the subject (March 180G) to Lord Camden, said : — I of receiving provisions, itc, from Kngland. Wlnit reason he haa for that f hope I am not acquaintcMl with, but 1 trust it may be the caae. His wants have been liberally supplied, and indeetl iintioipated, from hence as long aa onr stores and resources admitted. Wlmt those auppliua have been is stated in the en closure. .formation of that settlement was entirely from hence, whereas Colonel iCollins brought the mmi ample supplies from Knglaud— many still remain- ling, except provisions which have been long sbice expeuded. Providing ' tbeste supplies in the still infant state of this part of the territory, I can assure you, my Lord, rerpiirea much attention and forethought, as it is nob only the present but the future wants of the new settlements I have to provide for. It may rettaonably be hoped that Colonel Collins' settle- ment will very soon proibice a sufhciency of gmin fcu' its own consumption, having now been settled two years, and that Port Dalrymplc will soon ^contrionte to its own support,, ,. Still they must be fostered, nor mist they be suffered to languish, or to cut at the root of their future aub- Bisteuce by the great reduction of labour tlmt attends a reduced ration, or being obliged to kill their breeding Btock, which has coat so much, and cannot be replaced Imt at a very great ex t>ense." 1 Six hundred and twenty-two cows were landed safely from one vessel at Port Dah^ymple in 1805, under the contract with Caniphelh Two hundred and eighty-eight had ched on the voyage. Those landed appeared healthy, but disease afterwards swept off nearly two-tliirds of them. To Hobart, King had sent other cattle brought from India by H.M.S. Bufalti,mj( by a vessel of Campbeirs in 1B04. At both settlements there were robberies to obtain food. Three soldiers and a convict charged with robbing the stores were sent by Colonel Paterson to Sydney for trial by I the Criminal Court. All were sentenced to death. One
 * Colonel Colli ns has informed me that he has long been in expe(tatiori
 * 'The wants of Port Dalryojple are equally, if not more, pressingt aa the