MR. LATROBE AS SUPERINTENDENT 247 



strings, and it was not easy to get the requisite sanction for local 

 expenditure. Up to the end of 1839 the revenue of the district 

 from custom duties, licenses, etc., had been 19,886, and land had 

 been sold producing 76,274, a total income of 96,160. Against 

 this the expenses of Government and public works had absorbed 

 48,103, and 12,404 had been expended by the Colonial Treasurer 

 on immigration to Port Phillip ; thus a balance of 35,648, less any 

 current commitments of the Emigration Commissioners, remained 

 lawfully available but not accessible. It was the gradual swelling 

 of this wrongfully withheld surplus during the ensuing four or five 

 years that gave such vehemence to the demand for separation, and 

 such bitterness to its discussion. There was certainly a great deal 

 to be done to make the place attractive as a permanent home, and 

 the rapidity with which the population was being augmented justi- 

 fied the general belief in a great future. 



Early in the year of Mr. Latrobe's arrival two vessels had 

 brought from Sydney a total of 400 free immigrants, who had reached 

 the latter port under Government auspices, and had been reshipped 

 to Port Phillip by Sir George Gipps, in response to the continuous 

 demands for more labour to develop the resources of that district. 

 Within a month after the Superintendent's landing, the first emigrant 

 ship direct from England anchored in Hobson's Bay. It was the 

 David Clarke, and she landed 229 passengers of the labouring class, 

 for whom many masters were soon eagerly competing. 



From the year 1832 the task, in England, of selecting and guid- 

 ing emigrants had been superintended by a London Committee, 

 formed at the request of the Secretary of State, and although the 

 settlers had complained that the selection embraced too large a 

 proportion of artisans and mechanics to that of agricultural and 

 outdoor labourers, there is no doubt that, on the whole, they 

 had provided the Colonies with a very sound and useful addition to 

 the population. About this time, however, when the funds available 

 for immigration had been swollen by the largely increased land sales, 

 and the local demand for labour grew more imperious, less care 

 appears to have been given to the selection. Dr. Lang is very 

 insistent on this point, and his History of New South Wales and 

 other publications declare that under the bounty system, whereby 



