J. Giles Powell

“ How strange it is, that from all those who have arrived at the Colony, as men ought to do; that is, after making every inquiry at home of the probable nature of the soil, climate, and production of the country, and rather under than over rating their good qualities—having property, and knowledge of the cultivation of the soil—resolution and industry to bring both into operation, no complaint has been received. ”

“ But on no account take out one person whose character is blemished, or whom you think will either be inclined to insolence or laziness, for otherwise they will be of more trouble than profit. You can have no notion of the work necessary to be done upon an allotment, on which there is no hut to shelter you, no yard to confine stock of a night, no ground levelled for the plough—for if one labourer is required all the year upon a small farm in England, the whole of which is in an improved state, how much more is one wanted here, where every thing is in a state of nature. ”

“ The removal of a family, even to a far distant country, is a matter of no trivial moment, when connected with the permanent establishment of that family in an advantageous or disadvantageous situation. There can be no retreat but at a calamitous loss, when the capital has been invested in an unpropitious allotment, or in a country whose manners and laws are quite at variance with the habits and native jurisprudence of the settler ”

“ Like the great and good King George, "born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton"—firmly attached to the institutions of the Empire from principle, I love my church and honour my king, and cannot therefore, look with approbation upon those who are anxious to cry down all that is venerable, pious, and excellent amongst us. ”

“ This unhappy event is a good lesson to those passengers who are unaccustomed to the management of a ship not to go aloft or get into the rigging, for, as in the present instance, the consequences may be fatal. Passengers have their berths assigned them, and they have the privilege of walking the deck, and with these they ought to be satisfied, and not meddle with what they have no concern. The captain has a great charge. And sailors are bound to obey the word of command immediately, and indeed the safety of the vessel may at times depend upon the instantaneous performance of a manoeuvre. ”

“ If thus these Colonies, which scarcely were in being at the commencement of the late war of unexampled duration and extent, flourished during its continuance, notwithstanding the stigma which is attached to them, is it too much to expect that the Colony on the Swan River, possessing superior natural and commercial advantages—founded in the time of profound peace, not by convicts, without money, but by respectable persons, with capital at their command, will increase and flourish with greater rapidity and success? ”

“ I daily and hourly wish my brother was with me; never having been alone for a day before, I feel most deeply the solitude of my situation, and being here without a friend to advise or assist me, is very miserable. But if —— was here, there is no doubt we could make it answer our purpose; but to be alone, is like a ship in a storm without a rudder, very liable to sink.
Boats at present, and for some time to come, will be wanting here, as there is no possibility as yet of exploring grants but by water, and this method is attended with great expence. ”

“ Much of the most useful land in England was once a barren sand or burning gravel. Yet patience and industry have produced fertility and added to its value ten fold.
When the Colony increases in capital and labouring hands, may we not believe that the land between Preemantle and Perth, now described as a barren sand, will be enriched by manure, and improved by cultivation? The sand which is so much complained of, is probably the accumulation of ages from the strong coast winds, and underneath it may be found a soil which will correct its sterility. ”

“ In England the father cannot always insure the occupancy of the farm to the son, at least he can very rarely improve it with the certainty that he will not thereby entail an additional rent upon himself and the child who succeeds him; but the case is different abroad; there the settler is improving not his landlord's farm, but his own estate. And is there not something grand, is there not something encouraging to the settler in the reflection that his posterity will be benefited by this investment of his capital—this exertion of his industry. ”

“ An investment of property in France for agricultural pursuits, has been very warmly recommended by some, who, it is more than probable, have never lived in that country, and are strangers to its manners, its views, and its laws; for it is unlikely that an Englishman can be pleased with the effeminate manners which so peculiarly distinguish a native of France, or that he who properly estimates his rights, his privileges, and his liberty, can, even in imagination, consent to live in a country, where he cannot travel from one town to another without a passport. ”

“ But in the rule before us there is no bonus to induce any one to leave his home, no encouragement to the idler who would wish to maintain himself at the public expense, no promise to replace the adventurer upon his own shore if circumstances should prove adverse or sanguine hopes become dissipated in illusion or adversity. Whoever then undertakes a voyage to the Swan River, must proceed thither at his own charge, and support himself either by his own finances or labour; government refusing either to assist, or incur any responsibility respecting him. ”

“ Under existing circumstances, I would by all means caution the emigrant not to take out any species of live stock from England. Let not the vanity of introducing a superior breed of cattle or sheep induce him to sink any portion of his capital in the purchase of animals which, after all, may not thrive in the Settlement, or may soon degenerate far below their present excellence. If he is not deterred by the charge of 60l. for the passage of a horse, and from three to five guineas for a sheep, let him consider the probability of their surviving a voyage of four months. ”

“ Although great advantage is expected to result to the Colony from convicts not being sent to it, yet the present high price of labour induces many of the Settlers to wish the restriction removed ; and from the idle, dissolute character of the people taken out as labourers, who for the most part were of a very discontented disposition, and, most probably, no inconsiderable number of them bave saved this country the expence of their transportation. Such being the free labourer, who, from not being bound by indenture, possesses the liberty to work for whom he chooses, or not to work at. ”

“ He sees his country's banner—he exultingly remembers it displayed its triumphant defiance to the world:—he hears the spirit-stirring march and the national anthem—his breast once more kindles with patriotism—it is warmed with the pure flame of loyalty again, and he feels that, though years have elapsed since he left Great Britain, his heart is English still. ”

“ An emulative feeling stimulates the natural industry of his constitution. The rattling clank of a neighbour's axe, the crashing fall of a heavy tree, seem to demand responsive exertions on his part, and give rise to an energy which quickly rouses within him the spirit of active labour. The work of his young children is of a value to him far exceeding the expence of their maintenance and he enjoying the consciousness of being able to leave them an inheritance of peace, if not of affluence. ”

“ But the interest of the Colony is not to be promoted by the mere proprietor of an estate, but by him who has both the inclination and the means to increase its value by cultivation. As land is granted only to the possessor of capital, so it is properly required that this capital be invested or kept upon it. Every encouragement will be given to the industrious settler, and it is reported, that even the expence of making a ditch as a boundary to an allotment, will be permitted to be entered into the settler's account of improvement. ”

“ He may be permitted to acquire wealth—"to add house to house and field to field"—"to call the land after his own name," and "to have man servants and maid servants, and very much cattle ;"but whose shall all these things be when his soul is required of him? What will it avail him to be an Abraham in herds and dependents, if he have not the faith and the piety of Abraham? What will it avail him to be a Job in riches, if he be not a Job in patience and resignation to the will of God. Let him be industrious as a man, but let him seek after righteousness also. ”

“ Yet it cannot be denied, that in every one of them there is much to deter the Englishman from abandoning the comforts of his home, for a residence amongst those whose habits are dissimilar to his—whose laws are at variance with the equitable spirit in which those of the United Kingdom are framed— where the climate may be injurious to his health, and the only land he can conveniently obtain, of very moderate fertility, or at an immense distance from a mart for its produce. ”

“ But surely no person who is sincerely attached to this country, and consequently wishes that its sources should be extended, that its trade should flourish and its strength encrease, can willingly deprive it of his support and prospects, however trifling they may be, much less will he apply them to promote the prosperity and capital of a nation which attempts to be the rival of England and boasts of soon equalling her in commerce and in ships; and what must be his feelings in the event of a war between his native and his adopted country. ”

“ But in Western Australia the newly arrived settler obtains his land merely by the possession of capital,—he is permitted to take possession of that unoccupied part, which in his own judgment is best adapted to his purpose: and this too in one of the finest climates in the world, where the Winter's frost never impedes the labours of the husbandman, where a navigable river runs by his door, and the produce of his farm can, in a few hours, be put on board-a-ship. ”

“ But if a person discovers that with all his industry and economy his capital is decreasing—that from an overgrown population he really cannot obtain eligible situations for his children—if he then desire to emigrate, not from the love of change or from the vain and ridiculous notion of becoming a gentleman, and the proprietor of an estate which till it be cultivated is worth nothing: not from being overpersuaded by the artful insinuations of some, or the credulous expectations of others ”

“ Now, either from forgetfulness or miscalculation, the settler may not have laid in provisions to maintain his party till he raises subsistence from his farm, and the remote distance which he may be situated from a market, and more than all, the want of cash, may prevent his obtaining a supply. In such cases the party must be maintained by the net and gun, and any wholesome substitutes for bread and meat which they can procure.
But when the beef-barrel is empty, will the English labourer willingly submit to live for a month upon fish and kangaroos? ”

“ With the sea on its edge, and the Swan running through it, with lime rocks in the vicinity, above all with the animal and vegetable matter which the sea and its beach affords, this plain, once the source of disappointment, will doubtless be made to repay the labours of the spirited farmer, and, from its situation, become more valuable than some of the land now so greatly prized. ”

“ I am fully persuaded that by this system he would, at the expiration of twenty years, be a much richer and more extensive proprietor than any of those who possessed equal capital and industry, but who at first grasped at every acre they could claim, and for the period of probation found their best exertions must be devoted not for the comfortable support of their families, or for the acquisition of wealth, but to make those trifling yet general improvements, without which their land will be forfeited. ”

“ We do, indeed, sometimes hear of the exorbitant wages which some persons obtain, but we must remember, in most cases, these wages are great, in consequence of the currency of the district, for there are, I understand, some parts of the United States in which the dollar passes for more than its coined value; but then, if a labourer is paid at a very high nominal rate, there is reason to believe that articles of provision, and other necessaries, must be selling at high prices also. ”

“ It is an object to him that every farm should be occupied by persons of as much capital as possible. Although the maintenance of stock belonging to the labourer will cost nothing to the proprietor on whose land they are kept, still a remuneration could be paid him which he might honourably receive, and the labourer well afford to give. For instance, if he buys a breeding mare, the master might work her, except when she was suckling her colts. If he purchases a few sheep, the master might be allowed the fleeces and the wether lambs, or part of them, as might be agreed upon. ”

“ And after he has embarked his capital in this, his most sanguine speculation, and taken up his abode upon that spot where he flattered himself he should meet with no inconvenience to annoy —no impediment to retard, the rapid acquisition of wealth; he finds difficulties which he never expected, and obstacles which can only be surmounted by great labour and length of time. ”

“ I am confident we that stay shall have some 'roughing' yet, but of that we care not a groat, as I fully anticipate those that persevere in support of the Colony, will find it to answer their purpose in a few years. Stock is very numerous of all kinds already, and good bargains may be made from those who are leaving the settlement. If Government will step forward, and assist us in some shape or other, as they have done to other Colonies, I do not hesitate in saying that in a very short time those that have left will be induced to return, and likewise many will emigrate from England. ”

“ Will he think them incumbrances, when sinking under a day's fatigue, he and his people homeward plod their way, received and cheered with gladdened eyes, kind looks, and silent but eloquent welcome of a comfortable fire and well-cooked meal beneath the bark roof of their wigwam? and when he is prostrated upon the bed of sickness far from medical assistance, when the dew of agony is wiped from his forehead by a female hand, and when that hand lifts the cup to his burning lips and raises his feeble emaciated frame to the refreshment of the evening breeze, will he then find a wife an incumbrance? ”

“ And how consoling it must be to the pious man, whom circumstances have compelled to leave his own village for ever, and to take a last and sad farewell of his relatives and friends, and to place the ocean between him and his native land—how cheering it must be to him in moments of sorrow or despondency, to hear the duties of patience and resignation enforced by a minister of that Church in which he was dedicated to God by his parents in infancy ”

“ When biscuit and flour are exhausted, will he good humouredly satisfy his hunger with rice? Will he who for his whole life has slept in a bed, and had a house to shelter him, contentedly lay down to rest on the ground with a tarpaulin to shelter him from rain and wind? ”

“ As common sense has not yet universally refuted these absurd opinions, let truth assure the reader, that the United States of America, on the seaboard from Maine to the Floridas, is so saturated with population, that many families, for economy, have quitted the soil inherited from their ancestors, and have emigrated to the more Western settlements, distant 1000 miles or more, there is, therefore, no room or temptation for an emigrant to settle there. ”

“ It is usual for the employer to bind himself to grant the labourer a farm, say 100 acres, at the expiration of their agreement, for his life. The master is to lend the stock, corn, &c. which the man may require and actually employ in the cultivation of his farm on receiving his promissory note for the value of the same, without interest; but at the same time binding himself to pay a third of the annual produce of the farm as rent, into which the interest of the stock advanced will merge. ”

“ For several years, the settler must content himself with ploughing those parts of his farm which have the fewest obstructions, and even these, perhaps, very imperfectly, till roots and stumps can be removed, and large stones carried away. A portion of land which is made a field by the erection of posts and rails, will certainly be considered to be "brought into cultivation," and that upon which trees and bushes have been partially cut down, "improved." In fact, a liberal construction will be made of the term "improvement," in those cases where industry deserves it. ”

“ I cannot listen in silence to those whose idleness and extravagance have reduced them to embarrassment, and now endeavour, by finding fault with their country, and railing against its administration and its laws, to excuse their own bad management and to conceal their imprudence and their vice. ”

“ In order therefore to promote as much as possible the importation of that class of persons which is so indispensably necessary, Government have offered, by this Rule, a bonus of no trifling encouragement to those who are disposed to carry with them that assistance, without which their grants must remain uncultivated and useless. No reflecting person can for a moment deny that, even if no remuneration were made to the settler for the expence of taking out labourers, even then he would derive no small profit by so doing. ”

“ It may perhaps appear hard that the settler, whose means will only authorize him to claim less than 640 acres, should be obliged to take it wherever it may be marked out for him, while the greater capitalist is permitted to select his grant. But here, as in other cases, private interest must give place to public good. Great injury to the community would be sustained if the allotment of extensive grants were impeded by patches of small estates, and these, doubtless, consisting of the choicest spots which could be found. ”

“ The emigrant may consider how far it might answer his purpose to form an arrangement with some person in London, previous to his departure, to whom his wool may be consigned, and whom he could direct to purchase with the proceeds any articles he might require. Indeed, when cultivation has a little extended, and capital increased, it will be well worth the attention of the settler to import some of the very finest-woolled sheep he can procure, and to pay them that particular attention, without which the sheep will degenerate and their wool become coarse. ”

“ Again, if the adventurer were to be supported at the public expense, the stimulus to labour would be blunted, the indolent would stroll about at their ease looking to Government for subsistence, and full of complaints if luxuries were not provided, and powder and shot liberally supplied so as to enable them to kill the kangaroo, and amuse themselves with parrot shooting, as some consolation for their absence from the pigeon matches at Battersea or Chalk Farm. ”

“ Every hour which he wastes in idleness, or in unnecessary delay will inevitably be attended with loss, and certainly in many cases with privation and serious inconvenience, if his labours are retarded, or the sowing of his seed postponed to an unseasonable period. Let him be diligent, prudent, and frugal, at first, and in a little time he will be enabled to " rest upon his oars" with the pleasing reflection that he has acquired a competency, and can bequeath an estate to his children, daily increasing in value, which has been made what it is by his own honest and laudable industry. ”

“ Another erroneous opinion has arisen from an unfair interpretation of this Rule—that the wife and children of a settler intending to become an agriculturist will be considered as labouring persons for whose passage an allotment of land might be claimed in proportion to their number and ages.
The wife and children of a farmer in England are never considered "labouring persons," and as these Rules are drawn up in England for the information of those proceeding to an English Colony, we cannot suppose that any expression in them is to be understood otherwise than in the idiom of the country. ”

“ Till a field is properly fenced in (a work of time and labour, when trees are to be felled and posts and rails cleft and put down) it will unquestionably require one person to attend them, and his time, according to the usual wages of the Colony, is worth five shillings per day. Let the settler first erect a hut to dwell in; let him next sow corn for the subsistence of his family, and when he has enclosed some fields, if he must stock them with English cattle, let him purchase them from those who, having more money than experience, have brought them to the Settlement. ”

“ The drill, the hay-making machine, the double plough and scuffler, which the English farmer employs, with the no small reduction of labour and the dispatch of business, will be totally useless upon land from whence the stumps of trees have not been removed, and every obstruction cleared away. And admitting that some spots may be found which present no impediment to these machines, yet it must be remembered that the freight out is expensive, that they are liable to be out of order from time, accident, or carelessness ”

“ Any land, thus allotted, of which a fair proportion, at least one-fourth, shall not have been brought into cultivation, or otherwise improved, to the satisfaction of the local Government, within three years from the date of the Licence of Occupation, shall at the end of the three years be liable to one further payment of 6d. per Acre for all the land not so cultivated or improved, into the Public Chest of the Settlement ; and, at the expiration of seven years more, so much of the whole grant as shall still remain in an uncultivated or unimproved state, will revert absolutely to the Crown. ”

“ When the settler is building a log house to shelter himself and family, when all his goods are exposed to the open air, when nothing is done—but all remains to do, he will find that the women who are watching the cattle, cooking the provisions and caulking the seams of his house with moss and grass, are any thing but incumbrances. ”

“ The landed proprietor rarely considers that his estate was purchased at a lower rate, in consequence of this legal incumbrance upon it. The tithe-payer does not seem to be aware, that if tithes were abolished the public would derive no advantage, and that he himself would only be nominally benefited, for his landlord would undoubtedly increase his rent to the amount of the payment from which his farm would be relieved. If a landlord raises his rent, little is said, unless it be to a greater extent than the yearly value of the land. ”

“ The fictitious statements of the "dreadful accident-makers," who more than once caused accounts of the starvation of the settlers to appear in the public prints, and the report of those settlers who were chagrined and disappointed at not meeting with all their too sanguine expectations induced them to anticipate, have led the public to look upon the Settlement rather with an eye of pity, than with a generous satisfaction at its promising success. But, notwithstanding all this, the Colony not only exists, but it increases. ”