771 N: E W H O 
vernor’s death, the lieutenant-governor takes his place ; 
and, on his deceafe, the authority is lodged in the hands 
of the fenior officer. 
It was not long after the convifts were landed that there 
appeared a neceffity for affembling a criminal court; and 
it was accordingly convened by warrant from the gover¬ 
nor. The members w'ere the judge-advocate, who prefi- 
ded, three naval and three military officers. The number 
of members is limited by aft of parliament to feven ; who 
are exprefsiy ordered to be officers either of his majefty’s 
lea or land forces. The court being met, completely ar¬ 
rayed and armed as at a military tribunal, the judge ad¬ 
vocate proceeds to adminifter the ufuaj oaths taken by 
jurymen in England to each member; oneof whom after¬ 
wards fwears.him in a like manner. This ceremony being 
over, the crime is laid to the prifoner’s charge, and the 
queftion “ guilty or not guilty” put to him. No law- 
officer being appointed on the part of the crown, the 
party at whofe fuit he is tried is left to profecute the pri- 
foner entirely by himfelf. All the witneffes are examined 
on oath ; and the decifion mull be given according - to the 
laws of England, or “ as nearly as may be, allowing for 
the circumllances and lituation of the fettlement,” by a 
majority of votes, beginning with theyoungeft member, 
and ending with the prefident of the court. No verdict, 
however, can be given in cafes of a capital nature, unlefs 
at lead five of the feven members concur therein. The 
evidence on both fides being finifhed, and the prifoner’s 
defence heard, the court is cleared, and, on the judgment 
being fettled, is thrown open again, and fentence pro¬ 
nounced. During the time of fitting, the place in which 
it is aflembled is direfted to be furrounded by a guard 
under arms, and admiffion granted to every one who 
choofes to enter it. Of late, however, fays Capt. Trench, 
our colonifts are fuppofed to be in fuch a train of fubor- 
dination, as to make the prefence of fo large a military 
force unneceflary; and two centinels in addition to the 
provoft-rnarffial are confideredas fufficient. 
The firft trials which came before this court were thofe 
of three convifts, one of whom was convifted of having 
Itruck a marine with a cooper’s adze, and behaving other- 
wife in a moft fcandalous and riotous manner. For this 
he was condemned to receive 150 laffies, being a fmaller 
punifhment than a foldier would have fuffered in a fimilar 
cafe. A fecond, for having committed a petty theft, was 
lent to a fmall barren ifland, and kept there on bread and 
water only for a week. The third was fentenced to receive 
fifty lathes; but, being recommended by the court to the 
governor, had his fentence remitted. The fame lenity, 
however, could not be obferved in all cafes. One fellow, 
wlvo had been condemned to be hanged, was pardoned 
while the rope was about his neck, on condition that he 
would become the common executioner ever after. 
Befides the criminal court, there is an inferior one, 
compofed of the judge-advocate and one or more juftices 
of the peace, for the trial of- fmall- mifdemeanors. This 
courtis likewife empowered to decide all law-fuits;andits 
verdidt is final, except where the fum exceeds 300!. in 
which cafe an appeal can be made to England from its 
decree. In cafe of neceffity, an admiralty-court, of which 
the lieutenant-governor is judge, may alfo be fummoned 
for the trial of offences committed on the high feas. 
This colony .has improved as fall as could be expefted, 
confidering the many difficulties with which every infant 
fettlement has to ftruggle for fome time. At the clofe of 
the year 179.7, the colony had of live-ftock, 26 horfes, 58 
mares, 132 bulls and oxen, 195 cows, 424.7 bogs, 74.3 rams, 
1714 fheep, 781 he and 1495 file goats. Of land in a ftate 
of cultivation, there were 3361 -J- acres in wheat, 1527 for 
maize, and 26^ in barley, befides a confiderable quantity 
of garden-ground, which produced potatoes, cailevances, 
and vines. The increafe of public buildings belonging to 
the government was alfo very confiderable. At Toon- 
gabbe a barn was erefted ninety feet long, in which eigh¬ 
teen men might thrall: corn, without interrupting each 
LLAND, 
other. At Sydney an entire new fuite of apartments was 
built of brick, for the accommodation of the two affiftant- 
furgeons, and a gaol eighty feet long was erefted at the fame 
place. Two wind-mills, and a granary feventy-two by 
twenty-one feet, were among the buildings of public uti¬ 
lity ; as well as an elegant church one hundred feet by 
forty-four, with a veftry twenty feet long, erefted upon 
pillars, befides a great variety of other edifices and ufeful 
improvements. 
From the 27th of January 1788, to the 7th of June 1800, 
not fewer than 120 fliips and veffels of various deferiptions, 
and from different quarters of the globe, had vifit'ed this 
country; a convincing proof that they either found it a 
place of refrefinnent after the fatigues of a long voyage, 
or an advantageous market for their commercial fpecula- 
tions. Thirty-feven of them, went from England with 
convifts, to the number of 5000, of whom only 157 were 
females. 
In the year 1801 the increafing profperity of the colony- 
was ftill confpicuous 5 for the live ftock of different indi¬ 
viduals confifted of 6269 fheep, 362 cattle, 211 horfes, 
1259 goats, and 4766 hogs; and what belonged to govern¬ 
ment confifted of 488 fheep, 931 cattle, and 32 hogs. 
Individuals had 4857 acres of land fown with wheat, and. 
3564acres for maize; and government had 467 acres for 
the one fpecies of grain, and 300 for the other. In the 
month of June 1801, there were 5547 perfons of all de¬ 
feriptions in the fettlement, which, witu 961 at Norfolk 
ifland, made a total of 6508 perfons fubjeft to the gover¬ 
nor’s authority. 
A correft and particular ftate of the colony in the year 
1810, with hints for new regulations, are contained in 
the Report of a Seleft Committee of the Houfe of Com¬ 
mons on Tranfportation, which was ordered to be printed 
July 10, 1812. 
“ The principal fettlement on the eaftern coaft of New 
South Wales, was formed in 1788. It is fituated in lati¬ 
tude 33 S. longitude 170 E. The moft confiderable dif- 
trift is that of Sydney, containing, by the return dated 
the ift of March, 1810, 615S inhabitants. Paramatta 
Contains 1807; Hawkefbury, 2.389; and Newcaftle, 100. 
Of the total number 10,454, 5513 are men, 2220 women, 
and 2721 children. Of thefe, from £ to t are convifts; 
the troops are about 1100 in number; and the remainder 
are free perfons. In addition to thefe, are the fettlements 
of Port Dalrymple and Hobart’s Town, in Van Diemen’s 
Land, about five degrees to the fouth of Sydney; con¬ 
taining 1321 Inhabitants ; and at the date of the iaft re¬ 
turns, 177 perfons were living in Norfolk-Ifland, but 
orders have been fince fent out for its total abandonment. 
The fettlement in New South Wales is bounded on the 
north-weft and fouth by a ridge of hills, known by the 
name of the Blue Mountains, beyond which, no one has 
yet been able to penetrate the country; fome have with 
difficulty been as far as one hundred miles in the interior; 
but, beyond ftxty miles, it appears to be no-where prac¬ 
ticable for agricultural mirpofes; and, in many places, 
the diameter of the habitable country is muchlefs: in 
length it extends from Port Stephens to Port Jervis, corn- 
prifing from north to fouth about four degrees ; beyond 
thefe, it is ftated, that the colony will not be capable of 
extenfion ; and of the land within thefe boundaries, about 
one-half is faid to be abfolutely barren. The ground 
aftually in cultivation, amounts to rather more than 
21,000 acres, and 74,000 acres -.are held in pafture. The 
ftock appears to. be confiderable: by the return in 1810, 
the amount was—horfes, 521 ; mares, 593; bulls, 193; 
cows, 6351; oxen, 4732; flieep, 33,818; goats, 1732; 
hogs, 8992. Of thefe, a fmall proportion is kept by 
government; of which, parr is killed for the fupply of 
the public ftore, and the remainder is made life of to 
ftock the farms of new fettlers. It appears from the 
evidence, that the colony has for fome years, except when 
the crops have failed, from inundations or ocher acci¬ 
dental caufes, been able wholly to fupply itfelf-with corn; 
1 but 
