days nearly i*80O were Hubscribed, and when Baudin, the French navigator, was in Sydney he ^en*?roiisly gave 4*50 to the Institution. There were nearly 1000 eliildren in the colony — a large proportion illegitimate, " Finer or more netclec^t-eil uljililreii were not to Ik.' met with in any piirt of the world.**' The sight of so many girk between the ages of eight and twelve verging on that hiiiik of rnin and proatilutioii, which several had fallen into, induced me to wet about rescuing the elder j^irla from thesnareN laid for them, and which the Imrrid example and treatment of many of their parents hurried them into." [Kent's hfjose waa therefore con- ditioiially pnrchased.] *' A coniinittee, consiBting of the chaplain, three other oflicer8, Mrs. King (the Governor's wife), Mrs. Paterson (Colors el Patersou's wife), accepted the ottice of managing this inatitntion, Forty- Tiine girls from seven to fourteen yearn old were received into the charge of as eligible people for that purpose as eould He selected in the colony. They ai^ victuaned by the C'rowii^ bnt every other expens^e attendant on this institntion has been defrayed by contribntionst tines, duties on ship- ping, •fee., with no other expense to the public except the house. A new building was commenced in 1801. King contributed funds for the orphans. Forfeituren and fines for the beneiit of the Orphan Finid gleam con- stantly thron^h King's Orders. In Oct. 180*2, when, ohHtructed by Colonel Pateraon, he dispensed with his inilitaiy body-guard and improvised a guard of emancipated convicts mider Lieut, Bellasis, it was ordered that any persons convicted of polluting the stream^^ (running where Pitt-street now is) should forfeit 4*5 to the Orphan Fund for each offence, and that their houses should
- be taken down/'
The Rev. Mr. Marsden was entitled, as treasurer, to 5 per cent., but he " presented the amount to the institution on resigning the treastirership when he went to England.*' In spite of all these provisions, King wrote (Aug. 1804) that but for the most rigid economy and perseverance on the part of the committee the mstitntion must have languished. To provide for its future he had endowed it W'ith a grant of 1*2,000 acres of land at Cabramafcta. The grant, with a farm of nearly 600 acres at Petersham, near ■' King to Bnke of Portland, aist Dec. 1801.
- Kiug'a predeeeaaora had laboured to protect the Tank Stream* During
bis reign (Oct. 181)3) the Sifdneif Gazette said that the tank was enclosetl, the rnbbiab removed from the ^idea, **an^ the ory-stal current flowa into the basin with its native purity.'* The Gasette was under government control.
