Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser (Tas. : 1821 - 1825), Saturday 10 May 1823, page 2


HOBART-TOWN. ——◆——

Sitting Magistrate—G. F. Read, Esq.

SHIP NEWS.—On Sunday

last arrived from the Cape of Good Hope, the brig Thalia, Capt. Shout, with

wine, & horses.—Passengers, J. B. Bride-kirk, and Mrs. Bridger and family.

Arrived on Wednesday the ship Andro-meda, Captain Muddle, from Scotland and Falmouth, with merchandise and passengers. —She left England the 10th of December,

and touched at Rio.

Arrived this morning the ship Regalia, Captain Collins, with 280 tons of elephant oil from Macquarie Island, from whence she brings a gang of men belonging to Sydney.

Sailed on Sunday last for Port Jackson, the brig Pallas, Capt. Hamilton.—Passen-gers, Captain Dick and Ensign Birch, of the Bengal Native Infantry, Mr. D. Nichols,

and Mr. R. Nichols.

Remain in the harbour and river, His Majesty's colonial brig Prince Leopold ; the ships Thalia, Andromeda, Lusitania, Brixton, and Regalia ; and the brigs De-veron, Thalia, and Urania.

By the Thalia from the Cape we learn, that the Most Noble the Marquis of Hast-ings, late Governor General of India, with the Marchioness, were at the Cape, on their passage to England.—The ship Castle Forbes, which left this port some time ago for England, had safely arrived at Table Bay ; and His Majesty's surveying brig Bathurst, Capt. P. P. King, R. N. which lately sailed from Port Jackson for England, had put into King George's Sound to repair, in consequence of having lost her fore-top-

mast at sea.

The whaling season has commenced with-in these last few days. Two fish, one of the largest kind, have been caught in the river, within view of the town. They were both killed by two very expert har-pooners, who have been almost every sea-son uncommonly successful in their hazard-ous, though profitable undertaking.

The brig Thalia, which has been sold to an inhabitant named Hazard, is preparing for the whaling season.

The Deveron is still taking in wool for England, and will positively sail with a full cargo of that article in the course of a few days.

The Brixton, with between 3 and 4000 bushels of wheat, will sail to-morrow for Port Jackson ; for which place the Urania is also taking in wheat.

Beside the vessels already noticed in our Paper, as coming out to these Colonies, we find the ships Francis and Sisters advertised in the London Papers.

A Correspondent remarks, that he has heard numerous respectable persons regret the want in this Colony of an individual who would make an arrangement with some person in England, to supply the inhabitants of the Island with the most useful periodi-cal and modern publications from the Mo-ther Country ; which, it is said, might be done regularly by every English arrival for 25 per cent, upon the London prime cost, covering freight, & every incidental charge to Van Diemen's Land.—Should this hint be improved, we shall feel pleasure in affording all the assistance in our power, gratuitously, to forward so desirable an un-dertaking, which, if commenced, would doubtless meet with numerous Subscribers and Literary Commissions.

List of Passengers per the Andromeda : —Mr. Benjamin Horne and family, Mr. L. M. Gillas, Mr. John Leake and family,

Mr. James Ranken, Dr. A. J. Ross, Mr. W. Holdship, Mr. W. Holdship, jun. Miss Holdship, Mr. Charles Bell, Mr. Henry Briggs, Mr. Alexander McCrae, Mr. Christopher McCrae, Mr. Patrick Broadfoot, Mr. H. N. Murray, Mr. John Scott, Mr. W. C. Burns, Mr. George Falconer, Mr. George Eagle and family, Mr. and Mrs. Gardner, Mr. H. Robertson and family, Mr. Laurance Whittal, Mr.

John Martin, Mr. Robert Forster, the Rev. Mr. Laing, Presbyterian Minister for Syd-ney, and others for New South Wales, the whole passengers being in number 67.

Births.—On Monday last, Mrs. Geo. Hull, of a daughter.—Yesterday week, Mrs. Gregory, of a son.

By the full Bench of Magistrates, which assembled at the Court House, Hobart Town, on the 19th ultimo (the Deputy Judge Advocate, Chairman), the following persons were licensed to brew beer, ale & porter from grain the produce of Van Die-men's Land, only, viz. ; —

Mr. George Gatehouse, at New Town, Mr. James Whyte, Hobart Town, Messrs. Petchey & Wood, ditto, Mr. Thomas Presnell, ditto ; and

Mr. David Cormack was licensed to keep a common inn, at Kangaroo Point, the sign of the Fleece.

And, at a meeting of the Bench on Saturday last, at which (in the absence of the Deputy Judge Advocate) the Rev. Robert Knopwood presided,—

James Hampton, convict, pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing a sheep, and also 10 bushels of wheat, the property of his master, Mr. Alexander Patterson, of the Coal River ; he was sentenced to receive 100 lashes, and to be transported to Mac-quarie Harbour for three years.

Thomas Reece, convict, found guilty of receiving the above wheat, knowing it to be stolen, was sentenced to receive 50 lashes, to be returned to the Government works, and recommended to be placed in the Penitentiary.

George Clements and William Cooley, convicts, were sentenced to be returned to the Government works, the former, to re-ceive 100 lashes, and the latter 50 lashes, being found guilty of stealing 500 bricks, the property of Mr. John Petchey,

Philip Smith, convict, was charged with assaulting and beating Elizabeth Ca-ble, and being found guilty was sentenced to be confined in His Majesty's Gaol for

one week.

Daniel Long was licensed to keep a com-mon inn, the sign of the Brockleycombe Inn, at New-town Bridge.

Yesterday, Mr. Evan Henry Thomas received a license from the Bench of Magis-trates, to keep a common inn, and to retail spirits, wines, and beer, at the sign of the Albion, in Elizabeth-street, Hobart Town.

In our Gazette last week we briefly no-ticed a mode of building, which has been recently introduced in this Colony. We are now enabled to state, that another build-ing, of the same construction, is also in rapid progress on the farm of James Gor-don, Esq. a Magistrate at Pitt Water ; and that the house is so far built as even to succeed beyond the proprietor's expectations : its dimensions are 43 feet in front, by 17 feet wide, outside ; or, in the clear, 40 feet 4 inches, by 14 feet 16 inches.

The following method of building in pisé or rammed earth (in which manner Mr. Gordon's house is constructed), as practised in the Southern parts of France, may be useful to newly arrived Settlers, and our agricultural Readers, who may have occasion to build houses of so cheap and durable a description :—

A foundation for the building, of ma-sonry rising 18 inches, or 2 feet from the ground, must first be erected. Upon this, a mould, 9 feet long & 2 feet and half deep is to be placed, into which earth is to be thrown about 2 or 3 inches deep at a time, which is to be beaten until no impression of the rammer remains ; this to be continued until the mould filled, which may be im-mediately removed, and replaced at the end of the piece of rammed earth, which will be found sufficiently firm to bear any pressure. The mould is to be again filled with earth, which is to be compressed as before, and so on, until the whole wall is gone round. The mould may then be placed upon the rammed piece, and the work continued till the wall is built of the

height desired. Any kind of earth, except mere clay or gravel, will do. In very dry weather, only it will be necessary to sprinkle the earth in the mould with wa-ter. For the convenience of placing and replacing the mould, it should be made in the following manner :—Three or four joists (3 or 4 inches square) are to be laid across the wall, with mortices at each of their ends, which are to over-hang the walls ; into these are inserted tenons, of as many upright pieces of timber, on each side of the wall ; within these uprights are to be placed the two sides of the mould, made of inch plank (the battens connecting the planks must be placed on the outside of

the mould). Two or three sticks, as long as the wall is intended to be wide (say 18 inches), are to be placed within the top of the mould, in order to keep it of the proper width. As about 4 inches of the mould

will be placed down the wall, the wall itself will keep the mould of the proper width at the bottom ; and, cords being fastened round the tops of the upright pieces of timber, from one side to the other, will keep the mould perfectly firm.

The wall will be found so hard, that it will be necessary to use an axe to cut the grooves which are to admit the joists of the mould, on the top of each course.

The rammer should be made of hard wood, nearly of the shape of a bullock's heart, though not quite so pointed at the bottom, which part must be flattened, in order to enable the rammer to press equally

close at the sides of the mould.

At the extremity of the walls, it will be necessary to have a board placed at one of

the ends of the mould.

Buildings of this nature may either be white washed, rough cast, or stuccoed, and can be made to look as well as if of stone ; and are known to have stood, without re-quiring any other repair than colouring, for a century.

As no other tools than the mould, ram-mer, a basket to carry the earth up, a spade, an axe, and a plumb line, are necessary ; and as common labourers can execute the work (care only being required to carry it up straight), it will readily appear to be a very cheap mode of building ; it is also a very expeditious one, as two men could build a room, 20 feet square and 10 feet high, in a week.