Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/202

 I imagine that the course proposed would prove injurious to the natives, I should be as backward to recommend it as the loudest of those who arrogate to themselves the exclusive title of "Friends of the Aborigines;" but I am convinced that it would have a directly contrary effect. There is this difficulty in making laws for distant colonies, (and the present subject must be dealt with, if at all, by the British parliament,) that those who have an opportunity of witnessing the practical bearing of a system, and its every day working, are generally suspected of being prejudiced, and candour compels me to admit, are liable to be so, while those who judge from a distance are, at least, equally likely to be misinformed. In order, however, to give full weight to what I have said before on this subject, which appears to me of great importance in more than one point of view, and not for the sake of speaking of myself, I may perhaps be excused for stating, that personally, I cannot be affected by the way in which this question is disposed of, as I have my residence in a part of the country where the natives are perfectly harmless—that I have never lost a single sheep, or any thing else, through their means, but, on the contrary, have frequently availed myself of their assistance in recovering such as were lost, and in other ways, and that I have always lived on the best terms with them—that from the calls of duty or of business I have on many occasions been in those parts of the country not so happily circum-