ected to be their employers had abandoned the
idea of going out into the country to cultivate the soil. There was,
therefore, nothing for them to do; they had no money with which to
speculate in town allotments, they had no land on which to commence
farming for themselves, and they were in a wretched plight. Provisions
had rapidly increased in price, so that flour rose from L20 to L80 per
ton; no food was being produced from the land, and nothing whatever was
being done to develop the resources of the colony, whilst the money
which the settlers had brought with them was rapidly being spent in
importing shiploads of provisions from other countries.

In order to give employment to those of the settlers who were really
destitute, Governor Gawler commenced a series of Government works. He
constructed a good road between Adelaide and its port. He formed
wharves, and reclaimed the unwholesome swamp; he built a Custom House,
with warehouses and many other costly buildings, the Government House
alone costing L20,000. Now, these were all in themselves very desirable
things; but it was difficult to see how they were to be paid for.
Colonel Gawler spent nearly the whole of his own private fortune in
paying the wages of the unfortunate persons he employed, but that could
not long support so great a concourse of people. He persuaded merchants
in England to send out provisions and clothing for the famished people;
but the only means he had of paying for these goods was by drafts on the
British Treasury, which were accepted at first as equivalent to money,
for it was believed that, whenever they were presented in London,
payment would immediately be made by the British Government. But this
was a serious mistake: though the first series of drafts were paid
readily enough, yet when the authorities in England found that others,
for larger and larger amounts, continued to pour in, they refused to
pay, and reminded the colony that, by the terms of its charter, it was
to be entirely self-supporting. A series of drafts, to the amount of
L69,000, were therefore dishonoured; and the merchants, finding the
drafts to be worth no more than so much paper, demanded their money from
the Governor; but he had nothing with which to pay, and the colony had
to be declared insolvent, having debts to the amount of about L400,000
which it could not meet.

#7. The Collapse.#--Matters were now in a very gloomy condition. Most of
the colonists became anxiou