Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/105

 has already resigned, or is about to do so; and such has been found the inconvenience, that I do not think in future that any resident at Port Phillip will be found willing to undertake the office.

The creation of the new legislative council has had this good effect, that it has made the entire population of the Port Phillip district unanimous in their wish for their separation from Sydney. And when, in addition to what I have stated above, the state of the accounts between the two districts is taken into consideration, this will not be matter of surprise.

By returns laid by the government before the legislative council it appears that the ordinary revenue derived from the district of Port Phillip from the period of its first settlement until the close of the year 1842, amounted to £222,984 0 7, and that the whole expenditure actually incurred for its government during the same period amounted to £254,965 0 6½, thus making it appear that there was a balance against the ordinary revenue of the district of £31,980 19 11½; but, on examining the details of this return, we find that a sum of £28,863 14 6½ for the surveyor-general's department is charged against the ordinary revenue, when clearly it ought to have been charged against the extraordinary revenue from crown lands, as it is an expenditure incurred solely on their account. We also find a further sum of £29,464 4 5½ charged for the expenses of the establishment for the aborigines; and as by law, as well as in justice, this is a charge on the land fund it has no business to appear in the charge against the ordinary revenue. Making these deductions, the account would stand thus: