e deputy judge
advocate, and two of the respectable inhabitants appointed from
time to time by the lieutenant-governor. The jurisdiction of this
court is purely civil, and only extends to pleas where the sum at
issue does not exceed L50; but no appeal lies from its
decisions. All causes for a higher amount, and all criminal
offences beyond the cognizance of the bench of magistrates, are
removed, the former before the Supreme Court, and the latter
before the Court of Criminal Judicature at Port Jackson.

STATE OF DEFENCE, ETC.

These settlements are in a very bad state of defence, having
but two companies of troops for the garrison and protection of
them both. They have consequently been infested for many years
past, by a banditti of run-away convicts, who have endangered the
person and property of every one that has evinced himself hostile
to their enormities. These wretches, who are known in the colony
by the name of bush-rangers, even went so far as to write
threatening letters to the lieutenant-governor and the
magistracy. In this horrible state of anarchy a simultaneous
feeling of insecurity and dread, naturally pervaded the whole of
the inhabitants; and the most respectable part of the
agricultural body with one accord betook themselves to the towns,
as the only certain means of preserving their lives, gladly
abandoning their property to prevent the much greater sacrifice
with which the defence of it would have been attended. There is
no species of outrage and atrocity, in which these marauders did
not indulge: murders, incendiaries, and robberies were their
ordinary amusements, and have been for many years past the
leading events in the annals of these unfortunate settlements.
Every measure that could be devised was taken for the capture and
punishment of these wretches. They were repeatedly outlawed, and
the most alluring rewards were set upon their heads; but the
insufficiency of the military force, the extent of the island,
their superior local knowledge, and the abundance of game, which
enabled them to find an easy subsistence, and rendered them
independent, except for an occasional supply of ammunition, with
which some unknown persons were base enough to furnish them in
exchange for their ill acquired booty; all these circumstances
conspired to baffle for many years every attempt that was made
for their apprehension. This long impunity served only to
increase their cruelty and temerity; and it was at las