cate abolition of these regulations, which certainly had the appearance of a reflection on the conduct and measures of that gentleman, we would suppose there had not been one fit to be continued.'
And again in a reply to a petition from some settlers, enclosed in a despatch written in 1800, Hunter uses these words:—
'The settlers should recollect that there is a wide difference in the situation of the colony from the years 1791 and 1792 to 1800. At the former period there was no commerce, and but little farming. Governor Phillip … gave every encouragement to agriculture in his power. The number of farmers was few, and the little stock that was brought into the country in 1788, after an interval of four years, enabled him to issue the increase to such people his goodness led him to consider as deserving. Whether they were does not admit of a doubt. It is notorious they (almost to a man) approved themselves undeserving of this indulgence. The Governor, therefore, wishes to contrast that time with the present. At Governor Phillip's departure in 1792 there were not above sixty settlers throughout the whole territory—Port Jackson and Norfolk Island. Of these a few received sheep; some goats; but several had neither the one nor the other. Now, there are upwards of a thousand settlers.'
A year later King wrote to the Home Office, describing the state of the colony, and he tells us how:—
