Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/183

 155 SETTLERS ON THE SOIL. When Phillip left England he was directed to turn his 1780 attention, immediately upon landing, to the cultivation of the ARricuiture: soil. The difficulties which confronted him in attempting to comply with this order have already been alluded to. They arose, in part, from the nature of the undertaking, but principally from the imperfect manner in which the expedi- tion had been equipped. Great as these difficulties were, Difficuiues Phillip, from the outset, maintained that they would disap- ^superabie. pear with the introduction of suitable settlers ; and as soon as an opportunity offered he determined to prove whether industrious farmers could, within a reasonable time, support themselves by their own exertions on the produce of the land. In November, 1789, the opportunity he was waiting for presented itself. Several of the convicts claimed that they had served a large part of their sentences in England, on the hulks or elsewhere, before their embarkation, and that they were, soon after their arrival, entitled to their liberty. Amongst these was a young farmer from Cornwall, named James Buse, who had been sentenced at the Bodmin Assizes Fint umd of July, 1782, to sev3n years' transportation, and who had SmesRuee. been distinguished for his diligence and good behaviour. The authorities having omitted to furnish Phillip with a statement of the dates on which the convicts^ sentences expired, he placed Euse — spending the receipt of the papers from England — ^upon an acre of cleared and prepared land initial Btepe. on the right bank of the Parramatta Biver, where the town