Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/222

 184 THE THIKD FLEET» 17M convicts that might be sent to the colony. When they had cleared the gaols and sent the prisoners on board the trans- ports, their difficulties were ended. There seems, indeed, to have been some suspicion on the part of the Home Department that an inconvenient, if not an imprudent, course was being pursued, for in the despatch of 19th February, 1791, informing Phillip of the impending Half-yearly departure of the Third Fleet, Grenville stated that a tion scheme, system was to be adopted of sending out convicts " m two embarkations in the course of each year." By this plan it was hoped that a regular intercourse between the mother country and the settlements in Australia would be kept up, and inconvenience from the " accidental failure" of supplies prevented.* Phillip, in replying to this despatch, expressed gratification that a system which promised so well was to be adopted. But the expectation was not realised, and for Jj^i« many years afterwards the colony suffered from the want of regular supplies. When Phillip received Gren villous despatch of 19th Feb- ruary, 1791, he had less than three months in which to prepare for the reception of over two thousand criminals. Owing to the numerous deaths on board the transports, the actual number to be provided for was 1,863; and this large influx of population severely taxed the resources of the Accommo- settlement. The sick, of whom there were upwards of five new arrivals, hundred, wcre placed in the hospitals ; those who were capable of work, no matter in what degree, were sent to Parramatta and the neighbourhood, where the cultivation of the soil was proceeding. It was impossible to provide houses for the whole of these convicts by the time they arrived, so Phillip erected two large buildings, thatched great satisfaction we heaid, that from our Gk>vemmeDt having adopted a syrtem of sending out convicts at two embarkations in every year, at which time pro* visions were also to be sent, it was not probable that we should again experionM the misery and want with which we had been but too well acquainted, froA not having had any regular mode of supply." — Collins, vol. i, p. 168.
 * arenville to PhUlip, Historical Becoids, vol. i, part 2, p. 458. *< Witil