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Saturday 8 October 1814
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Sydney.
Sitting Magistrate - S. Lord, Esq.
Assize of Broad(?) Eleven Pence Halfpenny.
The half-yearly Fair at Parramatta on Thurs- day last was thinly attended, in consequence of a supposition gaining ground that it would be, or was likely t0 be deferred to a future day. The attendance was in consequence considerably less than on any former occasion, but there was ne- vertheless a good deal of business done. The cattle exhibited for sale were generally poor, ow- ing to the long droughts, and brought low prices, and those of a middling, order found tolerable sale, as did such sheep and pigs as were in any
thing of fair condition.
When His Majesty's schooner Estramina was leaving the Settlement of Hobart Town in August last she met at the entrance of the River
Derwent, a lugger-rigged vessel of very singular
appearance. Sending to enquire what she was, found two prisoners on board, and learnt from them that she had been built by a number of bush rangers, near the South west Cape, with a design of leaving Van Diemen's Land entirely.
For this purpose they had actually sailed ; but when 60 miles at sea were obliged to put back,
from the fear of perishing, their Water, for want of secure vessels, having all leaked out. The vessel ,
was about 36 feet keel, & well modelled; their cordage was contrived of twisted bark, and their
number consisted of 4 or 5 and twenty persons, who, with the exception of the two found on board, had gone on shore to look for fresh supplies. She was taken possession of by the Master of the Estramina, and given up to His Majesty's Government at Hobart Town.
The ship Seringapatam, Capt. Bunker, will sail for England in the course of the ensuing week ; as will also the Jefferson, Captain BARNES, for the sperm whale fishery, to complete her cargo,
and proceed for England.
The Active, Mr. Dillon master, is expected to sail on a return voyage to New Zealand, in three weeks or a month, for the excellent purpose, as we understand, of setting down several Gentlemen of the Church Missionary Society, to commence the benign labour of opening the minds of the natives to those benevolent and just concep-
tions which adorn the Christian Religion, and which in a region of cannibals, will, it is much to be hoped; soon display its benefits, in putting an end to those horrible sacrifices, at the report of
which we have so often shuddered.
Accidents --The infant son of William Thomas, about 3 year old, was unfortunately killed on Thursday last by a carriage, under which the infant had unhappily precipitated it- self by a sudden and unexpected effort to cross the road, when it was utterly impossible to escape the wheels. An Inquest was the same evening summoned on the melancholy occasion, who re- turned a Verdict-Accidental Death.
The same day Mr. Hook, of Sydney, Mer- chant, and Mr. Walker, a Gentleman of Cal-
cutta, were thrown out of a gig on the Parramatta Road, and both severely hurt ; Mr. Hook re- ceiving several severe bruises and contusions on
the head and body ; and the other Gentleman, from a dreaded concussion of the brain, produced by the severity of his fall, now lying at Parra matta in a very dangerous state of illness.
John M'Loughlen, a labouring man, on Mon- day night last gave information at the Police Office of his having about seven the same evening been knocked down by four ruffians between Gross Farm and Annandale, who beat him severe ly, and robbed him of his jacket and hat, and 15s. in money. He could give no description of their persons, however, that could lead to the
detection of either of the offenders.
Strict as the measures are that have been ne
cessarily adopted for preventing the desertion of prisoners from their places and occupations, yet from the List of fugitives weekly published, their number appears by no means inconsiderable This is the more to be wondered at, when it is recollected that the Regulations of the Colony render it highly penal in any cultivator or other person whatever to harbour, employ, or at all encourage or maintain persons of that descrip- tion ; or even to give employment to any labourer, whether free or bond, without first examining his certificate. By a Regulation of July 24, 1813, it is declared, that any person convicted before a Magistrate, of harbouring, &c. any ab sconded prisoner, shall-be fined 10l. sterling, and be further prosecuted according to law. Also, that no person shall employ any servant, without seeing and examining his or her certificate of freedom, or ticket of leave. The person hiring such servant is further directed to take them be fore the District Magistrate within 48 hours, to have their names enrolled. Any persons of sus- picious appearance offering themselves as ser- vants, or idly strolling about the country, are directed to be apprehended by all settlers and others, and taken before a Magistrate to give an account of themselves. Were the foregoing Or- ders (which will be found more at length in page 3 14(?) of the present year's almanack, under the head "Servants"), on every occasion strictly acted under, it would be morally impossible for any man to support an absence from his lawful employment for any length of time. On the contrary, they would be immediately secured on their offering their services as labourers, and in- stead of being encouraged to widen the breach which their disobedience had already occasioned by deserting their occupations, they would be thus deterred from falling into the error al
together, as none are so ignorant as not to know, that in the woods they cannot exist at all, and that their only dependance must be in the sup-
port they may receive from the more remote cultivators, in exchange for their own labour. These reflections- call to mind a curious case of ingenuity which occured at some distance of
time since: -Thomas White having received his certificate of freedom, and being in no personal want of it as he was in a fixed employment, obli gingly lent it to a friend of his, one Thomas Black, for the purpose of enabling him to take French leave of his duty to the Public, and by simply changing his name from Black to White enjoying all the privileges to which the certificate would have entitled the real Mr. Black. In strolling through the country he offered himself accidentally to a Mr. Green who had formerly known both Black and White, and was readily induced to believe that the person who now of fered himself was identically Black instead of White. -After he had employed him sometime, however, a muster took place in the district, and Mr. Brown, a. district constable, detected the imposture ; the result of which was that the real
Mr. Black was ordered to labour for a certain period for his collusion; Mr. White was returned to his former condition; and Mr. Green paid a pecuniary fine for his indiscretion in being so readi- ly persuaded that White was Black, when he had a previous knowledge to the contrary. That si- milar impositions have repeatedly been practised is far from improbable; and where the person covering his application for a service by assuming a false name, happened to be unknown to the employer, or any one about him, the fraud would of course pass undetected until some accident should discover it :-but under the Regulation above quoted, it would scarce be possible, for such a fraud to pass at all, as the
master is directed to take the servant to the Ma- gistrate of the District within 48 hours after the hiring, to have his name enrolled; and the ser- vant, before he leaves the employ of that master, is required by a subsequent provision in the same General Order, to give notice to and obtain the consent of the Magistrate for that purpose. It must be held in grateful recollection, that those Orders were constructed with the express view of guarding the settler, his family, and his pro perty, from the maraudings of the utterly aban doned outcast, who perverting the ends of cle mency, would not demean himself, during a well- intended season of probation which mght have restored him to the rights he had unhappily forfeited, otherwise than as a ruffian and an enemy to Mankind. It is a common duty, therefore, to contribute every aid in our power for the enforce ment of those salutary Regulations-for our very safety depends upon their minute observance; and he that most conforms himself to the Laws
by which Society is regulated, is assuredly the best entitled to their protection.
The Torpedo.-A fisherman bavin?ยป few day* since taken a fish of this unaccountable class, threw it carelessly on the stern sheets of his boat, and accidentally cast his jacket over it. A man employed in grass-cutting on the opposite shore,
who had lost the point where he had landed with the companions of his diurnal toils, hailed, and begged a passage in to Sydney, which was readily ac-
ceded to by the honest fisherman, who took him in accordingly. He sat upon a thwart until about mid channel; and then, whether from accident or de-
sign we must leave to the fisherman's own con cience, he requested his passenger to get further aft, which brought him precisely in contact with the jacket. Down he sat, and was instantly precipitated forwards. He concluded this to be the motion of the boat, and attempted again to seat himself; but the jacket still rebelled at the indignity, and forwards again he flew. The repetition of a shock so strongly repulsive instantaneously hud dled his conceptions into one common centre, of which terror was the focus, and the affrighted passenger ran through a string of ejaculations with a volubity that would done credit to a Sancho. The faculty of swimming would then have been the greatest blessing that Providence could have bestowed on him -but alas! he had it not-and the certainty of drowning was not altogether a desirable antidote to the fascinating powers of necromancy- which, doubt could not exist, be was encircled by. In the countenance of the poor fisherman he too late discovered all the indications of deadly sin and iniquity that are fancifully pourtrayed in the uncomely visage of an Apollyon; & yet between resspect and awe, he obeyed an invitation to seat himself once more. He bowed, and thanked the sage- for his atten- tions ; then cautiously receded, and would again have sat upon the jacket; but still vain the effort to contend against those hidden causes which the human judgment neither can explore nor counteract! To escape an imaginary evil we sometimes precipitate ourselves into dangers real and substantial ; and thus it was in this most rueful instance-for the fear of drowning being by a third repulsion altogether subdued, the poor man mustered every effort to throw himself out of the boat, and then, actuated by an opposite though no very singular impulse--he managed to
get in again.