gement was given to the curing of pork upon Norfolk Island;
but the casks in which the salt meat was sent from England were in
general so extremely feeble by the time they arrived, that scarcely one
in a hundred was fit for that purpose a second time. Could any timber,
fit for this use, have been found in the country, yet a supply of hoops
and salt pans would have been necessary; and, unless it was cured in the
winter season, and the method observed by Captain Cook was practised at
Norfolk island, it remained a doubt whether it could be accomplished to
any considerable extent.

The price of fresh pork having been raised in consequence of the failure
of the late harvest, as a temporary relief to those who had suffered by
that misfortune, the commissary was, at the close of this month, directed
to return to the price formerly established, viz nine-pence per pound.

The state of the public stores with respect to salt provision having been
carefully examined, it became necessary to make a small reduction of the
ration in time, in order to prevent a greater. It was accordingly
ordered, that the following proportions should be issued, per man per
week; viz

Beef 5 pounds
or
Pork 3 pounds
Wheat 12 pounds
Sugar 6 ounces

and this they were informed was not to continue longer than the arrival
of a storeship with a supply of salted provision.

The commissary was also directed to issue to such men as might be
entitled, as much blue gurrah (an East India article not much better than
bunting) and thread as would make a frock and a pair of trousers, and a
proportion to the women and children. These gurrahs had been brought from
India in some of the speculative voyages to this country, and were now
found useful in covering the nakedness of the people.

By the arrival of the _Buffalo_, the governor at length had it in
his power to inform those people who had been convicted in Ireland, and
by the laws of that kingdom had been transported to New South Wales, that
he had received from thence a correct statement of the several sentences
of those who had been brought in the _Queen_; and an assurance, through the
secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, that the lists of those who had been
sent out since that period should be forwarded by the next vessel which
might sail from Ireland for this colony.

Those, therefore, who were remaining alive of the convicts received by
the _Queen_, might learn the extent of their conviction, by applying