FARMS FOR FREE SETTLERS. SUPPLY OF FOOD, 45 calarly directed, . . . The ntimbera employed in cultivation will, of course, be iucreaaed as the fiecesam'y buOdiiigs are tftiished, which will be a work of time, for the numbers in the settlement wlio do Dothing t4)ward« their own support exceed those em.ployed for the piiblie." He proposed at the same time to place his fuee settlers on the banks of the Nepeaii river, where there was *' as fine land for tillage as most in England." He would grant from 500 to a 1000 acres to each farmer; he would give to each at least twenty convict labourers, and would for two years support the labourers ** from the public stores/* In that time, if they are
- indTistrioiia, they will be in r aituiition to support themselves, and I do
not think they woidtl be able to ilo so in leaa time, At the expiration of two years they may return half the cod Wets they have been allowed, and would want no further assistanee from government. It may be necessary to grant lan»l to otticerB and soldiers, wbo^ becounng settlers, will, of course, be entitled to every iudidgence. But few officers now here ' have reaped any great atlvaiitage fron being allowed convicts, and it is attended with unavoitlable inconvenience, from their convicts being left THuch to themselves, and from their mixing with the soldiers.'* Phillip never allowed the government to lull themselves into a conviction that the colony could exist wuthout supplies from England. Ho told them (May, 1788) that he had sent the Snppltf to Lord Howe Island '^ to endeavour to procm^e turtle, in hoj^es of checldng the scurvy with which most of the people were effected, and near 200 rendered incapable of doing any work/' As early as July, 1788, he wrote (privately) : — I "Your lordship may be assured that, anxious to render a very essential service to my country by the establishment of a colony whieh from its situation must hereafter be a valuable acquisition to Ureat Britain, no i>er- severanee will be wanting on my part, and which consideration alone could make amends for the l>eing surrounded l>y the nio«t infamoua of mankind. It is to your lordship and to Nepean alone that I make a , declaration of this kind. Time will remove all ditHculty, and with a few families who have been used to the cultivation of land, this country wiU wear a more pleasing aspect. ... As to myaelf^ I am satisfied to remain so long as my aerices are wanted. I am serv^ing my country and serving the cause of humanity. I tlEttter myself that by the return of the ships that bring us out provisions, and on which is placed our xoU (lepevdence, I shall bo able to giv^e your lords lup a more satisfactory account of this countr}'." He wrote by the transport ships which, with Lieut, Shortland, agent for them, sailed northwards m May, sent duplicates by another vessel, and triplicates by the BorronuMc; but agam (1st Sept,), thinking it "not inipos-
