VAN dieman's land. 209 



on the principles of English Law. There are also, connected 

 with the administration of justice in the Island, a Chief and 

 Puisne Judge, Solicitor, and Attorney General, &c. they have 

 also the trial by jury, but, in all capital cases, the juries are 

 wholly composed of Naval and Military officers. 



To the eternal disgrace of the Colonial legislature, they have 

 no Bankrupt Act ; so that if a poor debtor get incarcerated for 

 £5. he is liable to remain so for life. While I was in the 

 island, in consequence of the petitions of some of the debtors, 

 a temporary act was passed for the relief of those then confined ; 

 and among those who took the benefit of this act, was one poor 

 man who had been in goal for six years, for the paltry sum of £4. 

 The Legislative Council sit with closed doors, notwithstanding 

 the able and spirited address of Dr. Ross, the intelligent editor 

 of the ^* Hobart Town Courier,'^ who was allowed, by courtesy, 

 to speak before the Council on the propriety of admitting the 

 Editors of the Newspapers, so that they might report the debates : 

 one of the greatest opposers of the freedom of the press was a 

 **ci devant" shoe-maker, named Willis, who left this country 

 about fourteen years since, a poor man, and by good fortune has 

 become rich enough to take his seat as a M.L.C., in which ca- 

 pacity he signalizes himself by the assumption of aristocratic airs, 

 which fit him as a regal dress does a strolling player. He, a short 

 time since, endeavoured to pass an act for making all newspapers 

 liable to postage, which would at once put a stop to the colonial 

 press. 



W^ith regard to the produce and exports of the island : the 

 principal is wool, to the cultivation of which ; as I have observed 

 before, great attention is paid, and many thousand bales are an- 

 nually exported ; the prices which it fetches in this country are 

 from 1.9. 3d. to 2.?. 9^. Next to wool, as an article of profit to 

 the settlers, is the whale fishery, which, of late years has been 

 a very profitable speculation to those engaged in it. Sealing also 

 has been followed up with a great deal of spirit by ^ome of the 

 enterprizing settlers ; and every year several thousand skins, 

 which are of the best fur, are sent home. Corn also is grown 

 here, and sometimes to a great extent, but owing to the dryness 

 of the seasons there is sometimes a scarcity, so that the price of 

 course fluctuates, varying from 4s. per Winchester bushel, to 

 14s, ditto; but the average price may be quoted at 6s. All En- 

 glish fruits and vegetables thrive here ; and the former even in 

 greater profusion than in England; but none of tliem possess 

 VOL. V. — 1835. cc 



