Jfido'ioson's Present State of Van Diemans Land. 199 



place. Now, though this would take place without the aid of machinery, 

 the extra-heat of the hold escaping at the scuttles and gangways, yet in 

 closely decked vessels, the process is too slow for the requisite purpose 

 of thorough ventilation. 



By the machinery recommended, any decked ship may, at any time, be 

 completely ventilated from stem to stern ; and the consequences held forth 

 by its adoption, are, durability of the timbers, safety to the cargo, and, 

 what is not less material, highly conducive to the health of the crew. 



In order to seize every advantage arising from this discovery, and to col- 

 lect proofs of its efficiency, it may be worth while to enquire whether ships 

 stationed in high latitudes are more liable to decay from dry rot, than those 

 more frequently in lower. The affirmation must follow from Mr. George's 

 doctrine, and especially as it regards the ships employed in the late Arctic ex- 

 peditions ; because it is impossible, consistently with the comfort of the crews, 

 to maintain any thing like equably of temperature, within and without the 

 ship. A vessel in such a region must be a nucleus of radiation of heat, and 

 by consequence, her external timbers must be a constant channel to the cur- 

 rent of its escape. 



Respecting the liability of ships of war to dry rot, attention should be given 

 to the steam-bending process of compass timbers ; it being questionable, 

 whether timber remains the same, as to structure and durability, after, as it 

 is before, undergoing this unconstitutional flexure. 



We have often, ourselves, when on board ship, conceived the idea of 

 both pumping and ventilating the hold of a ship by machinery worked by 

 the vessel's motion. Any contrivance, and especially the author's apparatus, 

 would be far better than the ivindsails now in use. 



Fully sensible of the great national importance of this new discovery, we 

 sincerely hope to witness or hear of the complete success of the under- 

 taking ; and that Mr. George will receive the reward, as well as the credit, 

 of giving to his country one of the most valuable of modern improvements. 

 — J.M. 



Widowson, Henry, Esq., late Agent to the Van Dieman's Land Agricultural 

 Establishment : Present state of Van Dieman's Land ; comprising an Ac- 

 count of its Agricultural Capabilities, with Observations on the present 

 State of Farming, (fee, pursued in that Colony: and other important Mat- 

 ters connected with Emigration. Dedicated by Permission to the Right 

 Honourable Lord Althorp. London. 8vo, pp. 200, with a Map. 8,s. 6d 



This writer agrees with those who have preceded him, in considering 

 Australasia the most favourable country for Britons to emigrate to, and 

 Van Dieman's Land as the preferable settlement there. A few years ago, 

 he says, this settlement was literally a " den of thieves ; " but the sort of ta- 

 lent called forth there in order to live, being of a peaceful kind, the reforma- 

 tion which has taken place in the moral character of the convicts, " is really 

 astonishing." The truth is that nine tenths of the sinners against the laws 

 of society, have become so from the difficulty of procuring the means of 

 existence in the regular way, and it is only the few whose tastes have been 

 vitiated by a long course of depravity, that will not or do not become honest, 

 when from plenty they can afford to be so. Mr. Widowson contemplates 

 the independence of New Holland, and Van Dieman's Land, at no very 

 distant period ; but, like a liberal and enlightened man, sees^only in this the 

 natural progress of things, and the increase of human happiness. The idea 

 of one great power, having colonies and dominions all over the world, 

 is only suitable for a certain state of the world ; as all mankind become en- 

 lightened and free, nations and governments will settle themselves down 

 into those magnitudes and forms, which are found to afford the greatest 

 quantity of personal liberty and happiness at the least possible expense. 

 -No man will ever question the advantages to Great Britain and Ireland, of 



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