Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/71

 contemplate, in terms, grants to superior officers, and Phillip reported that several officers desired "grants of land, which they would cultivate for their own advantage while they remain in the country, and convey to children or others on return to Europe." He asked for "such information on this head as your lordship may judge necessary for my guidance."

The capable Henry Dundas conveyed the answer from Whitehall in July, 1792 (having previously ordered supplies of "grain and live stock" to be sent from the East Indies from time to time).

"In answer to the request made by several of the military and civil officers to have grants of land made to them which they may dispose of at their departure, I do not foresee that any inconvenience can arise from your complying with their requisition, provided the allotments are made, not with a view to a temporary, but to an established settlement thereon—that is, comprehending such portions of land and in such situations as would be suitable for a bond-fide settler, should it ever come into the hands of such a person."

Previously Dundas had written:—

"With respect to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and such convicts whose time of transportation has expired, who propose to become settlers, His Majesty's servants do not think it either advisable or necessary to limit you to any number of convicts to be assigned to individuals so widely differing in situation of life, character, and description; but from the opinion they entertain of your prudence and discretion, they leave you to decide upon a point which must be in a great degree decided by your knowledge of the character and ability of those to whom convicts are to be assigned."

Dundas strongly urged that the increase of live stock should be encouraged. Some could be obtained from the Cape of Good Hope, "but it is to Bengal that I chiefly look for an efficient supply of that nature." He enclosed a list of emigrants who had embarked in the Bellona, which