degradation that accompanied it, followed up, too, as it was, by the uncompromising rigour with which the payment of the £100 fine was insisted on by the authorities. His friends have at least the consolation of knowing that he died at his post, and that almost his last act was in defence of the proper privileges of the press, and the right to criticise the acts of public men."
During the course of years the natives in the old settled districts had been rapidly disappearing, and those which remained, in physical stature, hardihood, and intelligence, were not to be compared to their ancestors whom civilisation had elbowed out existence. In the north-west, however, they were still a force which had to be reckoned with—as well for the services they could render as the opposition they could show. In 1871 the Legislative Council appointed a Select Committee to devise means for the more systematic protection of the aborigines. The committee suggested that grants of land should be made to natives, where recommended by the Principal of any Native Industrial Institution, on condition that such grants should not be sold, transferred, or let without the consent of the Governor; and if not improved or cultivated for three consecutive years, that the Governor should resume the land. The evidence of several philanthropists was taken. Bishop Salvado, while declaring that natives were incapable of sustained physical or mental effort, said that he successfully taught natives at New Norcia such trades as tailoring, boot and harness making, as well as agriculture, &c. In 1871 four men at New Norcia reaped 190 bushels of their own corn. Father Garrido had reported that they were good shepherds, teamsters, stockmen, and shearers. Mrs. Camfield described their adaptability for domestic work. Sums were appropriated from time to time, and blankets, &c., were periodically distributed. Under the 1878 land regulations the Governor was empowered to make grants at land to the aborigines. Rottnest Island continued to afford returns from the work of the prisoners, but hardly sufficient to make the establishment self-supporting. Some serious complications arose out of the native question.
In June, 1872, Mr. L.C. Burges was charged before Messrs. E.W. Landor, P.M., W.L. Brockman, H. Ashton, and B.H. Burke, J's.P., at Perth with shooting at a native with intent to murder. Although similar offences had been committed often enough before (and have been since), Mr. Burges was made to suffer. It would appear that Mr. Burges (a magistrate) was driving a flock of sheep from Nickol Bay district to Champion Bay through country inhabited by natives who had occasionally proved themselves to be dangerous. When about three weeks' journey from Champion Bay, after being nearly three months making the trip, three natives entered his camp, ostensibly to return a dog which they had picked up; they left the camp before daybreak, taking Mr. Burges's saddle, which they cut to pieces. The settler, in company with a native in his employ, pursued the offenders on horseback. According to one report, Mr. Burges's companion said at the trial that "he found Mr. Burges surrounded by seven natives, who were hustling him and trying to pull him off his horse. Mr. Burges struck some of them with his fists and others with the barrel of his revolver, but made no attempt to shoot any of them." Seeing the native boy the seven took to their heels, but two were captured by Mr. Burges and his follower, and one, in attempting to escape, was shot at and killed by the settler.
Mr. Landor and the justices, after hearing the evidence preferred by the law officers of the Crown, finally reduced the charge to the minor offence of shooting with intent to do bodily harm. Governor Weld forthwith suspended Mr. Landor on the grounds of "want of capacity, or partiality, or both, in favour of the accused, a member of an influential family of long standing in the colony." The three justices at once identified themselves with Mr. Landor, and resigned, but Governor Weld informed them that he "drew a distinction between them and Mr. Landor, believing that they acted from an honourable desire to screen" the police magistrate. The justices refused to accept any distinction, and persisted in their attitude. On the 8th August, the correspondence having been laid on the table, Mr. Brockman moved in the Legislative Council what was tantamount to a vote of censure, objecting to the Governor's interference with decisions given from the bench. After a heated attack on the administration he withdrew his motion.
Governor Weld, in having this case brought to the Courts, was no doubt actuated by a desire to protect the natives. In one way and another he had evinced a lively interest in their welfare, and having heard of the conditions arising out of pearling and northwest settlement, deemed it advisable to project the strong arm of the law between the natives and the whites. The position taken up by the settlers years before, and still assumed by the squatters, deserves consideration. The black, given the opportunity, would often murder with impunity, and destroy stock with the abandon of a huntsman—for his delectation and amusement. Upon occasion the settler was probably compelled to shoot down blacks to protect himself and his property. Governor Weld had not had this experience, and was moved by the desire, laudable in itself, to prevent the murder of his black subjects. But if Mr. Burges was to suffer for this offence, hundreds more should have been punished before him, some even during the reign of Governor Weld himself. That the natives had been brutally and inhumanly treated our narrative has proved; that the position of the settlers was difficult is equally clear. It was all a problem which no previous administration had solved, and has not been solved in the colony to this day. What the public wondered was why a representative of one of their oldest families should be made a scapegoat, and they asked themselves, "Could Mr. Burges have done anything else than shoot? Would we not have done the same in his place?" Governor Weld must be acquitted of all personal motives in this case, and be credited with an undoubted desire to do his duty. Whether he took the best means is another question; that he startled certain people out of a complacent attitude towards the native question is certain.
Mr. Burges was tried at the Supreme Court on 4th September, and was sentenced by Judge Burt to five years' penal servitude. The material evidence against him was found in these words taken from his own journal:—"My friend screwed himself away, and ran towards the creek. He turned round and was going to throw his douack, so I fired and shot him." The severity of the sentence and the whole bearings of the case created a sensation. Newspapers published columns of leaders, and numerous letters from contributors; the Government and Judge Burt's character were variously criticised, and generally met with condemnation. Extraordinary ill-feeling was excited, which took some time to allay. A "Juror," writing to the Gazette, disclaimed all authority in the affair, and explained that Judge Burt, in his charge, instructed the jury to return a verdict of murder or manslaughter, depriving them of the option of finding a verdict of justifiable homicide. On this last point the whole controversy hinged. The Secretary of State directed Governor Weld to reinstate Mr. Landor, to the evident satisfaction of colonists, and Messrs. Brockman, Ashton, and Burke also had their names replaced on the Commission of the Peace. The sentence at Mr. Burges was reduced to one year's imprisonment. Early in 1873
