Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/63

 and good management of his wife. Having a knowledge of baking, she commenced in a very small way at Perth; and, being noted for her steady conduct and integrity, merchants and masters of vessels entrusted her with considerable quantities of flour, for which she paid with punctuality. From her success in this, and other undertakings, her husband has now the principal bakery and inn, besides a general shop. Equally successful is Edward Barron, the proprietor of another inn there, who had also been in the 63rd regiment, Sergeant-Major of the detachment. His wife, whose dairy is one of the most extensive in the colony, principally supplies the town with milk and butter.

Perth contains several good shops, and merchants’ stores. Horses and boats can be obtained here, as at Fremantle, on hire. The church is the only one in the colony. It is a temporary building, erected a few months after the establishment of the town in 1829, under the direction of Archdeacon Scott, who, on his way to England from New South Wales, happened to arrive in the colony at that period in H. M. ship Success; and to whose gratuitous and zealous services, as an officiating clergyman, for several months prior to the arrival of Mr. Wittenoom, the colonial chaplain, the colonists were deeply indebted. Mr. Wittenoom is, up to this time, the only minister of the gospel, of any denomination, in the settlement.

Leaving Perth, the Swan winds considerably towards Guildford, a village on its left bank. The distance between these places by water, following the channel of the river, is about twelve miles; but, during summer, considerable difficulty is at present experienced in crossing the “Flats,” which are shoals a little above Perth, and extend about a mile. To remedy this, the Government has cut a canal, about a quarter of a mile long; and so serpentine is the river in that part, that the undertaking, when completed, will shorten the