the end of the same year he made a similar appointment at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. New Zealand was 1,500 miles away, Otaheite no less than 5,000. Macquarie claimed that both lay within the geographical limits of the territory of New South Wales.[1] They were so far as their latitude was concerned, but it is more than doubtful whether Otaheite could be called "adjacent". The appointments were passed over in silence by the Colonial Office, and though these magistrates kept Macquarie informed of events happening within their districts, there is no sign of their ever having acted in a magisterial capacity.[2] They did not materially improve the disorderly ways of the traders.
Over Van Diemen's Land, the Governor-in-Chief exercised general supervisory powers. Before Macquarie's arrival there had been two Lieutenant-Governors in the island, one at the Derwent[3] in the south, the other at Port Dalrymple in the north.[4] Both had previously been on an equal footing, and neither strictly subordinate to New South Wales. But from 1810 their relations were placed on a definite basis. Port Dalrymple lost its Lieutenant-Governor and received a commandant under the orders of the Lieutenant-Governor at Hobart Town in his place. The Lieutenant-Governor himself received his orders, and conducted his correspondence with the Colonial Office through the Governor at Sydney. The latter became his responsible chief, and being "held accountable by His Majesty's Ministers for the general control, improvements and expenses of those settlements,"[5] issued to the Lieutenant-Governor full and particular instructions. Collins' successor. Major Davey, an officer of Marines, who came out in 1813 bearing a bad reputation which his conduct in the Colony fully justified, received very "pointed and strict" directions from Macquarie.[6] His
- ↑ R.O., D. 1, 17th January, 1814. By a Proclamation issued on the 4th December, 1813, Macquarie attempted to restrain the masters of trading vessels from committing outrages on the South Sea natives. By its provisions only ships of British or Indian Registry were to be cleared out for these parts in the ordinary way. Masters of ships of the Plantation Registry were to enter into bonds with the naval officers in the sum of £1000 to refrain from molesting the natives. There is no indication that the terms of the Proclamation were complied with, and it is unlikely that the amount of the bond could have been recovered in any case.
- ↑ See Chapter VI. On the High Seas, p. 167.
- ↑ Headquarters were at Hobart Town on the Derwent.
- ↑ Now Launceston.
- ↑ D. 1, 28th June, 1813. R.O., MS.
- ↑ Ibid.
