Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/268

 226 STATE OF THE 17W Other necessaries were wanting besides food and clotliing. The progress of the settlement depended upon the cultiva- tion of the land^ but after four years the deficient supply of The wwit of ordinary tools of husbandry was still a cause for complaint.* The want of iron pots, which were required for cooking' purposes, was a standing grievance. It must be regarded as a supremely ridiculous thing that the powerful organisa- tion which had the affairs of the colony in hand was unequal i^Dgiis. ^^ *^® ^^*y ^^ supplying the people with the commonest utensils. An effort was made to meet the difficulty when the Kitty was sent out, but while the greatest care was shown in ordering supplies, none appears to have been taken in stowing the cargo. The consequence was that a great many of the utensils sent by the Kitty were destroyed before they reached their destination.t Seven months later Grose com- plained of the want of common utensils and tools. J One portion 'of the Kitty's shipment arrived safely, and was very welcome, although it was not of so much import- ance as were provisions, or even iron pots. It consisted of a A consign- quantity of silver money in dollars, valued at £1,001. Phillip silver ooins had asked in one of his early despatches (28th September, 1788) that money might be sent out to pay the wages of the marine artificers, "as bills would be attended with great loss and inconvenience. '^ In reply, Nepean stated, 20th June, 1789, that a remittance would be sent by the weekly ration, which, by means of this addition, stood on his departure at — 3 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of rice, 4 pounds of pork or 7 pounds of beef. 8 pounds of dholl, 6 ounces of oil." — Collins, toI. i, p. 247. t *' When her careo [the Kitty's] was landing it was found to have suffered considerably by the bad weather she had experienced The conricts had for a long time been nearly as much distressed for utensils to dress their provisions as they bad been for provisions ; and we bad now the mortification to find, that of the small supply of iron pots which had been put on board, a great part were either broken or cracked, having been literally stowed among the provision-casks in the hold." — Collins, vol. i, p. 245. t On 30th May, 1798, Grose wrote to Dundas :— " We suffer the greatett inconvenience from the want of hand-mills and iron pots. If Sre hundred mills and a thousand pots were sent in the first ship they will do away more distress than can be conceived. Tools are so much wanted that until the small supply we got in the Daedalus we had not an axe, and at this tune we haye not a cross-cutting saw in the stores." — ^Historical Records, toL ii, p. 80.
 * Historical Records, toI. i, part 2, p. 643.