New South Wales lay at Port Louis in the early part of the year 1836, no fewer than 1500 Hindoo labourers arrived in that port. It was confidently expected that the system would eventually completely change the aspect and character of the colony.

There is one other species of cultivation which might at least be attempted in the colony; I mean that of the tea-plant. That the climate of New South Wales, and especially of the settlements to the northward, is entirely congenial to the constitution and habits of the tea-plant, cannot be doubted. A fruit-tree of Chinese origin, called loquet, has been long naturalized in the colony; and its fruit, which is of a yellowish colour, and about the size of a plum, is sold in great quantities in the Sydney market. Various other specimens of the botany of the Celestial Empire have been cultivated successfully, both in the Botanic Garden and in the private nurseries of the colony; and I have seen the tea-plant itself growing in the open air in New South Wales in apparent health and vigour.

Such a species of cultivation would doubtless require a numerous and a Chinese population; and it may perhaps be supposed that such a population would not be easily attracted to New South Wales. The Chinese, however, are an emigrating nation; and as they are easily induced, by the prospect of bettering their fortunes, to emigrate to Singapore, Batavia, and Calcutta, there is no reason to doubt that a similar prospect would induce them to emigrate to New South Wales. If a considerable number of families were to be settled together on a tract of land to be appropriated for the

purpose at one of the northern settlements, either as tenants at a rental in produce or as proprietors, and allowed to adopt their own manners and customs without interference on the part of the colonists, there is no reason to doubt but that the object might be successfully accomplished, and the culture of the tea-plant introduced into the colony with every prospect of success. The benefit likely to accrue to the colony, in an agricultural and commercial point of view, from the formation of such a settlement in its territory, would undoubtedly be great, while the moral influence which it would afford the means and the opportunity of exerting on the emigrants themselves might lead to the happiest results.

The Dutch have long been alive to the benefits likely to result to their nation from the settlement of numerous families of Chinese in their colonial territories. Chinese are very numerous in the city of Batavia; and the police of that part of the city which is denominated the Chinese quarter, is entrusted to individuals of their own nation, under the superintendence of a chief, who is responsible to the European authorities, and whom they elect annually, with the approbation of the Dutch Government. They are uniformly industrious, frugal, and orderly; and there is no reason to doubt, that a settlement, consisting of families and individuals of the same nation, would maintain an equally reputable character, and could be governed with equal facility in New South Wales.

It must be evident at all events, that the field of exertion for the agriculturist of New South Wales is suffi

ciently extensive. With every variety of climate and every variety of soil, the colony requires only a numerous and industrious population to enable it to produce in abundance whatever is requisite for the sustenance and the comfort of man. Enterprise, of which there is at this moment no lack in the colony, will in due time discover a thousand new channels for the profitable outlay of capital and for the acquisition of wealth; and honest persevering industry will in the mean time be enabled to eat "pleasant bread," and to acquire that competent portion of the good things of this life," which is most conducive to the progress of society and the real welfare of man.

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APPENDIX.

No. 1. Page 107.

Governor Bligh's General Order of the 14th of February, 1807, forbidding the Distillation of Spirits.

"His Excellency the Governor, taking into his consideration the evils which will arise from the distillation of spirits of any description, does hereby confirm the General Order of the 28th of February, 1799, which is as follows:

"The Governor, having received information from various quarters, that in direct disobedience of public orders, and in defiance of the consequence of detection, several persons in different parts of this colony have taken the liberty of erecting stills, and providing materials for the purpose of distilling spirituous liquors; and as it is well known to the whole colony that this destructive practice has long been forbidden in this settlement, and under the immediate authority of every officer who has commanded in it; it is scarcely necessary to say more on the subject than to call on the aid and exertion of the whole body of officers, whether civil, military, or naval, in suppressing it; and to desire, that wherever they may understand it continues to be carried on or attempted, they may use every means in their power to detect the guilty person, and to seize or destroy the utensils they may have provided for a purpose so certainly calculated to ruin the present healthy state of the inhabitants of this territory. All constables, watchmen, and other persons, are hereby strictly enjoined, wherever they may have cause to suspect this forbidden trade is carried on, to make the same known to any magistrate or officer, in order that steps be regularly pursued for bringing any opposition to these orders to proof. If those persons who shall presume to carry on this noxious work after this information, do

happen to be free people, every indulgence they may have hitherto received from Government shall be immediately withdrawn, and they shall be ordered to quit the colony by the earliest opportunity :-if a convict, they will receive such treatment for their disobedience, as their conduct, in the opinion of a Court, may appear to merit.

"Whereas complaint hath been made before me upon oath, that John Macarthur, Esq., the owner of the schooner Parramatta, now lying in this port, hath illegally stopped the provisions of the master, mates, and crew of the said schooner; whereby the said master, mates, and crew have violated the colonial regulations, by coming unauthorized on shore; and whereas I did, by my official letter bearing date the 14th day of this instant December, require the said John Macarthur to appear before me on the fifteenth day of this instant December, at ten o'clock of the forenoon of the same day; and whereas the said John Macarthur hath not appeared at the time aforesaid, nor since these are therefore, in His Majesty's name, to command you to bring the said John Macarthur before me and other His Majesty's Justices, on Wednesday next, the 16th instant, December, at ten o'clock of the same day, to answer in the premises and hereof fail not. "Given under my hand and seal, at Sydney, this 15th day of December, 1807.

"It will, I am convinced, excite your surprise, as I think it must of every impartial man, to hear that I am brought a prisoner to this bar,