The Husbandmen ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 89 Stood the test, although with many cries of complaint, much suffering, and a budget of accusations. By 1843 the worst of the trouble was over, but years of quiet development were needed to bring general prosperity to the Province. Hundreds of people were ruined in the interval, and never regained their former position. Latterly, under Governor Gawler, the expenditure had been five times greater than the revenue, but at the beginning of 1843 Governor Grey presented a more encouraging balance-sheet. His receipts amounted to ^81,813 19s. 5d., and his expenditure to ^84,531 i6s. lod. Of the latter amount ^18,069 los. 5d. had been spent in the Immigration Department, chiefly in the maintenance of destitute persons, and ^26,013 had gone in paying outstanding claims. The position was, therefore, better than would appear by the bare statement of accounts. Governor Grey had appointed a Board of Audit and an Immigration Board, the one to carefully check accounts, and the other to hear and judge cases requiring relief. He had purchased the South Australian Company's road to Port Adelaide for 12,000 acres of land, built a highway over the hills, made and repaired streets, established a system of tender for the supply of the public service, and provided for mail communication with the eastern colonies. In the year 1843 the Governor still further cut down expenses, and in a manner that aroused some animosity. He gave notice that the salaries of public servants were to be reduced by ^4,000 ; that the master of the signal station was to be dismissed unless the public subscribed his salary ; that tenders would be called for leasing " to the public the Government wharf at the Port, and that the leases of premises held by the Government for bonded stores, for the buildings used by the Supreme Court in Whitmore Square, and for the house used for the Resident Magistrates' Court in Currie Street, would each be abandoned." As a final indication of his thoroughness, it is but necessary to add that he dispensed with the services of the- letter carrier to North Adelaide. The popular clamor was renewed a faw weeks later, and as a result of " inflammatory articles " in the newspapers blaming Governor Grey for all the disasters that had fallen on the Province, a monster meeting was held in the Queen's Theatre on March 16. Governor Gawler, by his personal character and lavish expenditure, had made friends of all the people, but Governor Grey was as yet unpopular, mainly because of his incisive retrenchment. The friends of Governor Gawler also thought that Governor Grey had been discourteous in the manner in which he relieved his predecessor of office, especially after being an honored guest at Government House in 1840. At the meetin<^ a motion of want of confidence in Governor Grey's administration was carried, and a petition to Her Majesty was drawn up, humbly praying " that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to take the case into your most gracious consideration, and either recall his Excellency the Governor, or issue directions for such an amended mode of administering the government of the Province as shall to your Majesty seem meet." The Act providing for the alteration in the system of Government came into force on February 20, and the new Council was called together on June 20. This consisted of eight
