J. Giles Powell

“ These persons, in consequence of the disappointment of their expectations at the Swan River, have not been sparing of bad reports, which have seemingly dropt into the mouths of all the idle and knavish at the Colony, and who are principally stationed on the coast; where, like sharks, they watch the arrival of new emigrants, of whose inexperience they will take advantage by every artifice in their power. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This "venture" not succeeding, the agent employed to sell, wrote to his employer a most deplorable account of the situation of the settlers at the Swan River, and assured him that "the soil was of so unproductive a nature that nothing would grow on it; the water so bad as to produce disease among the cattle, and, consequently, pernicious to man." ”

“ Neither will the dealer in superfine broad-cloths, kid gloves, silk stockings, china or cut-glass, or any other than the seller of the most plain and serviceable articles be any other than a logger to the infant Colony. But I fear the odds are enormous on the useless to the useful, and have good reason to believe that on board vessels sailing from this country to the Swan River with 300 or 400 passengers, out of that number not more than ten or a dozen have known much about the cultivation of land. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Of the unfounded Statements which have been circulated relative to the Colony and its natural Capabilities.
In no part of the globe do we find a country free from natural or artificial inconveniences, so salubrious in its climate as to prevent disease, so immaculate in its Government as to defy complaint. Some foreign countries may be eligible in some respects, either from the low price of provisions and labour, the lightness of taxation, or the facility of acquiring gain. ”

“ Persons who are unacquainted with navigation and commerce, know very little of the comparative safety and excellence of the harbours, even of their own country, and some of my readers may be surprized to learn that many of the harbours of England are unsafe even now, notwithstanding the immense sums which have from time to time been expended upon their improvement. ”

“ In the first place the Swan is situated 2,000 miles nearer to England, I may say to the greater portion of the commercial world, than Hobart Town and 3,000 miles nearer than Sydney. Should the new Colony succeed, the good folks of Eastern Australia and Van Dieman's Land, are well aware that the balance of the trade now carried on with those places, will be in favour of the Swan River Settlement. ”

“ And a long time after his arrival he must feel himself alone; every one looking upon him with a jealous or suspicious eye, and he regarding them with the natural apprehensions which all men entertain towards strangers. But in the Colony on the Swan River none of these disadvantages or inconveniences exist. The currency, the administration of justice, the Governor himself, are all British. The Englishman, on landing in the Settlement, finds himself among his own countrymen; in one he sees the native of his own county, in another perhaps a friend. ”

“ The entrance to the port of London is so much obstructed by shoals, that it is necessary to have a pilot to conduct every vessel through them—nay a ship does not pass through the Straits of Dover without a pilot. ”

“ These persons, although their expectations of the Settlement were somewhat disappointed, have, almost to a man, in their communications to their friends, expressed a conviction of succeeding, in spite of the malevolent reports of those who, from not having the necessary resources in themselves, are so woefully disappointed, and who so bitterly express it. ”

“ When they found that the first crop did not come to maturity, they abandoned the ground where it was planted in despair: but experience, it is to be hoped, in time will teach them better, and urge them to patience and renewed culture of that ground which can scarcely be expected to be rendered productive at once. ”

“ This home truth so disgusts them with the Settlement, that instead of making a virtue of necessity, and falling to work with the means they have taken with them, and immediately employing themselves and labourers to produce those necessaries, which they expected to have found ready provided, and by those efforts to shake off the lassitude produced by a long voyage ”

“ The commencement of a residence amongst foreigners is almost always attended with serious inconvenience and mistakes, which commonly arise from the stranger's non-acquaintance with the language and customs of those with whom he sojourns. ”

“ A third class of persons, and who have a facility of spreading any report they may wish to propagate to a greater extent than almost any other, is composed of merchants, traders, and speculators, who have imported various goods, under the impression of "making a good hand of them" with the colonists ”

“ He is liable to be imposed upon by his not understanding the currency of the country, and by those who will eagerly take advantage of his inexperience in the value of the commodities he wishes to purchase, or the weights, measures, and customary dealing by which they are sold. ”

“ One person speculated in blacking and olive oil! as though men employed in felling trees, digging the ground, and other laborious occupations, would consider it necessary to see their faces reflected from their shoes by Hunt or Warren's "Real Jet Blacking;" ”

“ A most desirable piece of information, to those who feel any interest in the well doing of the emigrants at the Swan River, would be, the number of really competent persons, out of from 1400 to 1800, now at the Settlement. The persons most competent to benefit the Colony must be those possessed of the information of most vital importance, i.e. ”