532 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



as have passed their time of servi- 

 tude, and are unwilling to remain 

 in the colony, either by affording 

 them a suffieient sum ot" money, 

 or by some stipulation in their fa- 

 vour with the masters of vessels 

 touching at the settlement. 



It will be seen by the accounts 

 laid before your committee, that 

 the expenses of the colony are con- 

 siderable. The bills drawn in the 

 year 1810 amounted to 72,600, 

 being a great increase upon any 

 preceding year, and the expendi- 

 ture of the year 1811 promised to 

 be still greater : in addition to 

 these, a great annual expenditure 

 is incurred in the transmission of 

 stores and merchandize, and in the 

 freight of transports. Your com- 

 mittee trust that when the build- 

 ings absolutely necessary for the 

 public service shall be completed, 

 as the commerce of the colony 

 shall prosper, the duties become 

 more productive, and, from agri- 

 cultural improvement, the supply 

 of stores to its present amount shall 

 be discontinued, that this expense 

 will be materially diminished ; and 

 it is their opinion, that it might 

 even now be considerably reduced 

 by the removal of part of the mili- 

 tary force in the colony, which ap- 

 pears to them to be unnecessarily 

 large. The whole population does 

 not amount to 11,000, and of 

 these 1100 are soldiers. 



Such is the viev taken by your 

 committee of the colony of New 

 South Wales; and it is, in their 

 opinion, in a train entirely to an- 

 swer the ends proposed by its 

 establishment. It appears latterly 

 to have attracted a greater share of 

 the attention of government than 

 it did for many years after its 

 foundation ; and when the several 

 beneficial orders lately sent out 



from this country, and the liberal 

 views of the present governor, 

 shall have had time to operate, the 

 best effects are to be expected. 

 The permission of distillation with- 

 in the colony, and the reform of 

 the courts of Justice, are two mea- 

 sures which your committee, above 

 all others, recommend as most ne- 

 cessary to stimulate agricultural 

 industry, and to give the inhabi- 

 tants that confidence and legal 

 security which can alone render 

 them contented with the govern- 

 ment under which they are placed. 

 10//j July, 1812. 



Account hy Nicolai, the Author and 

 Bookseller of Berlin, of the Phan- 

 tasms with tvhich he xvas qf- 

 Jected. 



(From Dr. Ferriars Theory of 

 Apparitions.) 



" Those who pretend to have 

 seen and heard ghosts, obsti- 

 nately maintain, that they per- 

 ceived these apparitions by means 

 of their senses. In order to de- 

 feat that belief, we generally de- 

 sire them to consider how many 

 people have been imposed on by 

 artful novices, and how liable we 

 are to deceive ourselves ; we advise 

 them to lay hold of the supposed 

 spectres ; assuring them that they 

 are generally found to be of a very 

 corporeal nature. But those who 

 have a predilection for the miracu- 

 lous, pay no regard to these objec- 

 tions ; insisting that the produc- 

 tions of their disordered imagina- 

 tions are real beings. We cannot 

 therefore collect too many of such 

 well substantiated facts, as show 

 how easily our imagination im- 

 poses on us erroneous notions, and 

 deludes not only delirious persons 



