ant of
Norfolk Island, had for some time been discharged from the ship's books;
and Mr. Newton Fowell, a young gentleman of the _Sirius's_ quarter-deck,
being deemed well qualified, was appointed by the governor (as the naval
commanding officer) to succeed him. To fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr.
Maxwell's unfortunate state of health, Mr. Henry Waterhouse, a young
gentleman of promising abilities, was taken from the quarter-deck. Both
these appointments were to wait the confirmation of the lords
commissioners of the admiralty.

Immediately after the departure of these ships, the governor directed his
attention to the regulation of the people who were left at Sydney, and to
the preservation of the stock in the colony. For these purposes, he
himself visited the different huts and gardens whose tenants had just
quitted them, distributing them to such convicts as were either in
miserable hovels, or without any shelter at all. It was true, that by
this arrangement the idle found themselves provided for by the labour of
many who had been industrious; but they were at the same time assured,
that unless they kept in good cultivation the gardens which they were
allowed to possess, they would be turned out from the comforts of a good
hut, to live under a rock or a tree. That they might have time for this
purpose, the afternoon of Wednesday and the whole of Saturday in each
week were given to them. Much room was made every where by the numbers
who had embarked (in all two hundred and eighty-one persons); the
military quarters had a deserted aspect; and the whole settlement
appeared as if famine had already thinned it of half its numbers. The
little society that was in the place was broken up, and every man seemed
left to brood in solitary silence over the dreary prospect before him.

With respect to the stock, his excellency directed, that no hogs under
three months old should be killed, nor were any to be butchered without
information being first given at headquarters.

Those who bred poultry were left at liberty to dispose of it in such
manner as they thought proper; and the commissary was directed to
purchase for the use of the hospital such live stock as the owners were
desirous of selling, complying with the above regulations, and receiving
one shilling a pound as the price.

Some provisions which yet remained in the old large thatched store were
removed for greater security into the store in the marine quarters. It
was