tioned the game to run. The old creature tottered on, panting hard, the blood running freely down his body. Mr. X. tried another snap shot, again successfully. The old man staggered—then recovering himself, turned and flung his nulla with such unexpected force that it went singing past the ears of his pursuer. This angered Mr. X., who had not till to that time lost his good humor, and he spurred his horse after the old creature, who was wildly staggering on, and fired his third shot. This brought the game down, and as the two men sat on their horses watching the final convulsions of the old blackfellow lying on the ground before them, Mr. X remarked to his companion, "Isn't it wonderful what strength they have? fancy that old —— running on with two bullets through his loins!"—Queenslander, May 22, 1880.
III.
It has been objected that the incidents narrated in this column constitute a Newgate Calendar. This is true to a certain extent. The crimes recorded equal in atrocity those described in the publication mentioned. But the Newgate Calendar is a list of crimes which have been punished, and against which the strong hand of the law is always directed. This column contains a record of crimes which are not punished, and which the administrators of the law in the colony tacitly sanction. It is one thing to publish such incidents for the mere purpose of satisfying a morbid curiosity, and another when the publication is intended to arouse the public conscience in order to put a stop to the continual perpetration of the foulest outrages. The truth of the statements we have made and are making is also questioned. We were prepared for the denial. At the present time we are only able to say that every incident narrated has been accepted on good authority, and is, we believe, as true as any other statement of fact appearing in this journal.
With regard to the story of Toby, which our correspondent "Never Never" declares false from internal evidence, we are authorised by our informant to say that if the law officers of the Crown are willing to take action in the matter he is prepared to supply them with the name of the man who shot Toby, of his companion who saw him do it, and the place and date of the occurrence. If the public really believe that the incidents narrated here are mere fictions or exaggerations, and that there is consequently no necessity for reforming our system of dealing with the blacks, the question can easily be settled. A Royal Commission, armed with power to grant indemnity to witnesses, similar to the one appointed to investigate the Trades Union outrages at Sheffield, and authorised to travel from place to place to collect evidence, would speedily convince the most sceptical that this record is but a faint indication of the shameful truth. If such a commission is appointed we shall be happy to furnish its members with data to commence their investigations. Until then we shall continue to withhold names of persons and places. No ordinary commission can possibly elicit the truth, because eye-witnesses are not likely to give evidence of occurrences which would certainly endanger their necks and those of their acquaintances, more especially as the crimes which they would describe have been treated as venial offences, or condoned by every Government that has held power in the colony.
English people may hear, unmoved, of cruelties perpetrated on men, but revolt at the idea of foul outrage committed on women. It was this feature of the Bulgarian atrocities—those imitations of our native police system attempted by the Turks, which aroused so much indignation in England—that caused the greatest exasperation in civilised Europe. Our readers may suppose that in the massacres perpetrated by the native police—which we employ them to perpetrate—women and children are unmolested. If so, they are greatly mistaken. It is true that the lives of women and children are often, perhaps generally, spared; but even this is a rule with a great many exceptions. A few incidents that have occurred within the last three or four years will show how the matter stands.
In the neighborhood of a northern town where the blacks are "bad" a small body of troopers, under the direction of a white officer, were sent to punish them. They returned, bringing down the main street a naked black girl captured by them. Her appearance attracted quite a crowd, and a local storekeeper offered her captors a pound for their prize. The bargain was concluded, and the captured girl handed over. Her purchaser took her home to his wife to be trained up as a servant. But in the evening the troopers came for her, and, carrying her to some ridges behind the main street, kept her through the night for the gratification of their passions. In the morning they turned her loose in the vicinity of her purchaser's house.
A squatter in the North-west was out on his run with his stockman, and be heard in the distance shots. He had heard that the native police were out and at the
