Statistical, Historical and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land / With a Particular Enumeration of the Advantages Which These Colonies Offer for Emigration, and Their Superiority in Many Respects Over Those Possessed by the United States of America

by W. C. Wentworth

[*** 15 Charles II. cap. 7.]

[**** England, Ireland and Scotland, since united into one kingdom.]

I have been thus copious in extracts from the navigation laws, to prove that the great leading principles of these laws would not only be in no wise encroached upon by allowing the inhabitants of this colony to carry on the whale fisheries in their own vessels, but also that the duties which were thus clandestinely imposed on oils so procured, have been a flagrant violation of them, and that they are a single isolated exception to a general rule. Nor would the abolition of the duties in question, and the consequent encouragement of these fisheries, prove injurious to the British merchants at home, as must have been apprehended by those who were the authors of the prohibitory law by which these duties were enacted. Looking, indeed, at the mere situation of the colony, it would not be unnatural to conclude that its contiguity to the sperm whale fisheries, on the coast of New Zealand, New Caledonia, and New Guinea, would give its inhabitants such a decided advantage over the persons carrying on the same fisheries from this country, that these latter would soon be forced to abandon a ruinous competition, and that she would consequently be deprived of the very important benefits which she at present derives from it. The fears, however, which are apt to arise on this view of the subject will be immediately dissipated if it be considered, that the rope, canvas, casks, and gear of every description, necessary for the outfit of the colonial vessels for these fisheries, are furnished by this country, and can never be obtained in the colony under an advance of fifty per cent. on the prime cost; that the sperm oil in the market is unequal to the demand for it, an assertion proved as well by the existing bounties held out by the legislature for the encouragement of these fisheries, as by the enormous wages gained by the seamen employed in them; that these bounties themselves operate as a considerable prohibition to the colonists; and, lastly, that many years must elapse before the colonial fishermen can be properly organized, and rendered as expert as the English. These various disadvantages under which the inhabitants of this colony labour, are all but one of a permanent nature, and it is evident will always more than counterbalance the single local superiority which they possess, and ensure the English merchants a decided advantage in the market;--an advantage which if it will not outstrip all competition, will at least only just permit that salutary opposition which is essential to the prevention of monopoly and to the interests of the public.

It must, I should imagine, by this time be quite obvious, that the removal of the duties in question would be in complete unison with the spirit of the navigation laws, and with that liberal and enlightened policy, which this country has on all other occasions invariably observed, with respect to colonies in parallel circumstances. In establishing, therefore, a precedent, I hope that I have made out a case sufficiently strong to warrant the interference of the legislature. It may not, however, be altogether superfluous, if it be only to point out the injury which this country has sustained from her past injustice and impolicy, just to glance at the advantages that she would possess in future wars from having an extensive body of seamen at her disposal in the South Pacific Ocean. Hitherto our squadrons in India have been entirely supplied with seamen from this country, and the great mortality which takes place on that station requires this supply to be constantly kept up. It is well known, although fewer actions take place in the Indian seas than perhaps on any other of our maritime stations, that the number of deaths occasioned by the influence of the climate alone are proportionally more considerable than in any other part of the world, with the single exception, I believe, of the coast of Africa. It becomes, therefore, a question of the greatest importance, whether considered in a political or philanthropic point of view, to ascertain if this lamentable expenditure of human life might not be considerably diminished by manning our ships of war in the Indian seas with the inhabitants of New Holland. It is well known that our settlements in this vast island are situated in a climate which forms a mean between the temperature of this country and India. There is consequently every probability, that the persons born in these colonies would be able to support the extreme heats of India much better than Englishmen. Be this, however, as it may, there can be no doubt of the advantage which this country would derive from having a valuable nursery for seamen in a situation, from which her navy in the East might at no very remote period be so easily supplied on all occasions of emergency. This prospect cannot fail to prove an additional motive with the government for the abolition of duties, which, if persevered in, will for ever stifle all commercial enterprize, and debar not only the colonists themselves, but the parent country also from the various important advantages, which I should presume it is now evident that an uncontrolled ability to prosecute these fisheries would infallibly secure to one and the other.

With reference now to the commercial disabilities which have been imposed on this colony: the first impediment, the removal of which may be said to be of any material importance to its mercantile prosperity, is the clause in the East India Company's charter*, which provides, "that it shall not be lawful for any vessel, the registered measurement whereof shall be less than three hundred and fifty tons, other than such vessels as may be employed by the East India Company as packets, to clear out from any port in the united kingdom for any place within the limits of the said company's charter, or be admitted to entry at any port of the united kingdom from any place within those limits.**" When this act was passed, the pernicious bearing of this clause on the colony was most probably overlooked. It has been found prejudicial in the following respects:--First, The demand for British goods is not sufficiently extensive to absorb cargoes of such magnitude; so that when any such have arrived, they have generally been attended with a loss to the owners, who will probably soon become too wise to continue such a hazardous commerce. Those merchants, indeed, who were in the habit of shipping cargoes in smaller vessels for the colonial market, before the passing of this act, have already abandoned, in a great measure, their connexion within the colony, which is at present chiefly dependent for its supplies of British manufactures, on the captains of the vessels employed in the transportation of convicts. These supplies, therefore, have naturally become unequal and precarious: sometimes being unnecessarily superabundant and cheap, and at other times being so extremely scarce and dear as to be entirely beyond the reach of the great body of the consumers. Such great fluctuations are obviously not more repugnant to the well being and comfort of the colonists themselves than to the mercantile interests of this country.

[* 53 Geo. 3. c. 155.]

[** The colony of New South Wales is within these limits.]

Secondly, The tendency of this act is not less injurious to the colonists with regard to the few articles of export which they are enabled to produce or collect for the British market. These indeed are only three in number, wool, hides, and seal skins, and are at present very inconsiderable in quantity; but the two former articles must necessarily increase every year, and will at length become of great extent and importance. The probable amount of the colonial exports has been already rated at about £28,000, out of which I consider that not more than £15,000 worth is conveyed to this country. The remainder consists of sandal wood, beche la mer, etc. exported principally to China. It may therefore be perceived that the whole of the annual exports of this colony would not suffice for half the freight of a single vessel of the size regulated by the act in question. It happens, in consequence, that the different articles of export which the colonists collect, frequently accumulate in their stores for a year and a half, before it becomes worth the while of the captain of any of the vessels which frequent the colony, to give them ship-room; and even then they do it as a matter of favour, not forgetting, however, to extort an exorbitant return for their kindness and condescension. The owners, indeed, of these vessels are so well aware of the inability of the colony to furnish them with cargoes on freight, that they generally manage before their departure, to contract for freights from some of the ports in India; a precaution which increases still more perceptibly the difficulty which the colonists experience in sending their produce to market. It must, therefore, be evident that they suffer a two-fold injury from this act, both as it prevents a regular supply of the colonial markets with British manufactures, and as it impedes the conveyance of their exports to this country. It is to be hoped, then, that this unnecessary and oppressive provision of the act will be revised, and that vessels of any burden will be suffered to trade between this country and the colony, until its increased growth and maturity shall have rendered the revision of obsolete efficacy.

The last disability of serious detriment to the colonists, is that their vessels cannot navigate the seas within the limits of the East India Company's charter. I say cannot; because, although since the late renewal of their charter vessels built in this colony are, I should apprehend, entitled to all the privileges of other British built vessels, so long as they are navigated according to law, it has not yet attained sufficient strength to be enabled to build vessels of the burden of three hundred and fifty tons; and if it even possessed this ability, such vessels could only convey the produce of the countries in the Eastern seas, to which the free trade has lately been opened, to certain ports in the united kingdom. The colonists, therefore, are virtually precluded from trading in their own vessels within these limits; a restriction highly injurious to them, and of no benefit whatever to the company. Till within these few years the vessels built at the Cape of Good Hope were subject to a similar restraint; but its useless and oppressive tendency became so glaring, and the restraint itself so obnoxious to the people who were suffering under it, that it was at length removed by an Order in Council, dated 24th September, 1814, which was made by virtue of an act passed so long back as the 49th* year of the reign of his present Majesty. By the 57th Geo. 3. c. 95. this settlement was expressly included, for all the purposes of the act, within the limits of the East India Company's charter. The same reasons that sufficed for granting this privilege in the one instance, are at least equally conclusive in the other; and it is to be hoped, that the legislature will soon release the colony of New South Wales also from so grievous and unnecessary a restraint. Indeed no new act for this purpose is necessary; for the 57th Geo. 3. c. 1. after reciting, "whereas it is expedient under the present circumstances, that the trade and commerce to and from all islands, colonies, or places, and the territories and dependencies thereof to his Majesty belonging, or in his possession in Africa or Asia, to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, excepting only the possessions of the East India Company, should be regulated for a certain time in such manner as shall seem proper to his Majesty in Council, notwithstanding the special provisions of any act or acts of parliament, that may be construed to affect the same," enacts, "that it shall be lawful for his Majesty in Council, by any order to be issued from time to time, to give such directions, and make such regulations touching the trade and commerce to and from the said islands, colonies, or places, and the territories and dependencies thereof, as to his Majesty in Council shall appear most expedient and salutary; any thing contained in any act of parliament now in force relating to his Majesty's colonies and plantations, or any other law or custom to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding." It may, therefore, be perceived that the disability in question might be removed by a simple Order in Council. Whenever his Majesty's government shall have freed the colonists from this useless and cruel prohibition, the following branches of commerce would then be opened to them: First, they would be enabled to transport in their own vessels their coals, timber, spars, flour, meat, etc. to the Cape of Good Hope, the Isle of France, Calcutta, and many other places in the Indian seas, in all of which markets more or less extensive exist for these and various other productions which the colony might furnish; Secondly, they would be enabled to carry directly to Canton the sandal wood, beche la mer, dried seal skins, and in fact all the numerous productions which the surrounding seas and islands afford for the China market, and return freighted with cargoes of tea, silks, nankeens, etc. all of which commodities are in great demand in the colony, and are at present altogether furnished by East India or American merchants, to the great detriment and dissatisfaction of the colonial. And, lastly, they would be enabled in a short time, from the great increase of capital which these important privileges would of themselves occasion, as well as attract from other countries to open the fur trade with the north-west coast of America, and dispose of the cargoes procured in China; a trade which has hitherto been** exclusively carried on by the Americans and Russians, although the colonists possess a local superiority for the prosecution of this valuable branch of commerce, which would ensure them at least a successful competition with the subjects of those two nations.

[* Cap. 17.]