rest and Importance to
the Welfare, Prosperity and Happiness of this rising Colony; which, as
it was originally settled for the Reception, Punishment, and eventual
Improvement of Convicts, appears to Me to require that their
Improvement, Welfare and Happiness should form the first and chief
Object of Attention in the important Duties entrusted to the Governor of
it.

This Despatch will be delivered to your Lordship by Lieutenant Richard
Lundin of the 73rd Regiment, to whom I take the liberty of referring
Your Lordship for any particulars relative to the Colony that may have
escaped my recollection in my Public Despatches; and I further beg leave
to recommend him to your Lordship's Favour and Protection.

I have, etc.,

L. MACQUARIE.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

+Source.+--The State and Position of Western Australia, by Captain
Frederick Chidley Irwin of H.M. 63rd Regiment; late Commandant of the
Troops, and Acting Governor of the Colony, 1835, pp. 32-37, 42-46.

The settlement of Western Australia was undertaken in 1825, with
the purely philanthropic idea of relieving the overcrowded
population of Great Britain. The early difficulties were due to the
ignorance of conditions in the country, and the unsuitability of
the emigrants. Mr. Peel was chief promoter of the scheme.

The reader's attention will now be drawn to some of the mis-statements
with respect to the colony, which have appeared in recent publications.
Under this head he would especially notice a work entitled "England and
America." At page 33, Vol. 2 of the work in question, there is said to
be, in Western Australia "abundance of good land and of land, too,
cleared and drained by nature." After adverting to the amount of capital
and live stock, and the number of labourers introduced by the first
settlers, it is asked, what has become of all that capital, and all
those labourers? Then comes the following passage: "Why this failure
with all the elements of success--plenty of good land, plenty of
capital, and enough labour? The explanation is easy: In this colony
there never has been a class of labourers. Those who went out as
labourers no sooner reached the colony than they were tempted by the
superabundance of good land to become landowners."

The writer proceeds to state, that Mr. Peel (who, as he had been
informed, had brought out a capital of L50,000 and 300 persons of the
labouring class) had been thus left without a serva