hich, very
few of these individuals are at all acquainted with the art of
husbandry, particularly that system which ought to be adopted in
a colony, the climate, soil, and produce of which, are so
essentially different to those of the mother country; and those
few, as soon as they have attained a knowledge of the regular
method necessary there to be pursued, are generally taken away by
some cause or other, or claim their freedom, from the original
term of their transportation being expired, so that little better
than a succession of new hands have to perform a task of which
the chief part are totally ignorant.

By the opening of the stores, and the prevention of the losses
before mentioned, the Southseamen, and other vessels touching at
Port Jackson, might at all times receive ample supplies of such
refreshments as they stood in need of, in exchange for articles
more serviceable to the inhabitants than any recompense of a
pecuniary nature; and, indeed, absolutely necessary to the
comfort and prosperity of the colony. In case of a war in these
seas, or in any part of India, this settlement would prove a very
desirable _depot_, and place of rendezvous. Soldiers and
seamen would at all times be healthy, without great fatigue, free
from scorbutic complaints so prevalent after a long voyage, and
would not suffer from a change of climate, which too frequently
brings on dysentery, or other fatal diseases; these circumstances
would naturally render them more fit to enter a field of battle,
and better qualified, in every respect, to endure the wearisome
fatigues and dangers of war.

Several ships which have touched at the settlement under the
pressure of necessity, have been denied the requisitions which
they have made for bread and other provisions; and, although the
local circumstances of the colony rendered that denial absolutely
necessary, yet, had the settler been guaranteed by any means
against loss, or could he have received any sufficient security
for his grain, every ship which had been in need, as well as
every one touching there in future, would have been, and might
be, amply provided for. The influx of American vessels, and ships
from the East Indies, has recently suffered a very considerable
diminution; the former, at one period, nearly supplied the colony
with articles of almost every description, at very reasonable
prices, but, from some cause or other, vessels from the United
States seldom now arrive at the