Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/256

 4102 214 STATE OF THE 17W YTB^ that no provisions were received from India until 2Qth June^ 1792^ wlien the transport Atlantic^ despatched to India by Phillip, returned to Sydney with a cargo of flour and grain. Phillip wrote to Dundas on the 19th March, 1792, report- ing the arrival of the Pitt^ and ten days later he explained filiation: matters in a letter to Under Secretary Nepean. The popu- «i women latiou of the settlements at Port Jackson and Norfolk 224 childr n Island at this time numbered 4^192,* and Phillip felt it his duty to point out that : — '' A great quantity of provisions are consumed daily by such a number of people, and nine or twelve months' provisions brought by the transports for the three or four hundred convicts they are bringing out last but a short time when divided amongst such numbers."! The supplies brought by the Pitt were as a drop in the ocean in comparison with the wants of the settlement; they did not enable the Governor to make any increase in the ration. The position of affairs as regards the supply of Phillip food and the incapacity of the people for work was stated in language that could not be misunderstood. At the low ration then issued there was only enough flour in store for fifty-two days, and pork for one hundred and forty-seven days ; the only hope of replenishing the stores rested in the Atlantic, which had been sent from Sydney to Calcutta, and the vessel that was to follow the Pitt from England. It Anuizioufl was impossible to say how long the Atlantic would be in making the voyage to India and getting back to Port Jack- son ; and it was equally uncertain when the storeship from England would arrive. The people had learned from painful experience that delays frequently took place in despatching vessels from England, and that unreasonably long voyages were sometimes made. They had also a vivid recollection 2, p. 611 ; vol. ii, pp. 466, 467. t HiBtorioal Becords, vol. i, part 2, p. 611.
 * 3,277 men ; 691 women ; 224 children. — ^Historioal Becoxds, vol. i, part