bounty immigrants had been received in Sydney. The bounty
orders were suspended in the autumn of the latter year, but in 1842
Lord Stanley was of opinion that the colony could beneficially
receive ten thousand more immigrants during the current year.

Many married labourers could find no work in Sydney, and in November,
1843, the Government requested persons sending wool-drays to the city
to take families to inland districts gratis.

A regular stream of half-pay officers also poured into the colony,
and made Sir George's life a burden. They all wanted billets, and if
he made the mistake of appointing a civilian to some office, Captain
Smith, with war in his eye and fury in his heart, demanded an
interview at once. He said:

"I see by this morning's 'Gazette' that some fellow of the name of
Jones has been made a police superintendent, and here am I, an
imperial officer, used to command and discipline, left out in the
cold, while that counter-jumper steps over my head. I can't
understand your policy, Sir George. What will my friends of the club
in London say, when they hear of it, but that the service is going to
the dogs?"

So Captain Smith obtained his appointment as superintendent of
police, and with a free sergeant and six convict constables, taken,
as it were, out of bond, was turned loose in the bush. He had been
for twenty years in the preventive service, but had never captured a
prize more valuable than a bottle of whisky. He knew nothing
whatever about horses, and rode like a beer barrel, but he
nevertheless lectured his troopers about their horses and
accoutrements. The sergeant was an old stockrider, and he one day so
far forgot the rules of discipline as to indulge in a mutinous smile,
and say:

"Well, captain, you may know something about a ship, but I'll be
blowed if you know anything about a horse."

That observation was not entered in any report, but the sergeant was
fined 2 pounds for "insolence and insubordination." The sum of
60,899 pounds was voted for police services in 1844, and Captain
Smith was paid out of it. All the revenue went to Sydney, and very
little of it found its way to Melbourne, so that Mr. Latrobe's
Government was sometimes deprived of the necessaries of life.

Alberton was gazetted as a place for holding Courts of Petty
Sessions, and Messrs. John Reeve and John King were appointed
Justices of the Peace for the new district.

Then Michael Shannon met James Reading