- Wheat, and Potatoes, trading for Flax, Pork, Hogs Lard, Whalebone, Oil, and every thing the Country abounds in; a Variety of Products which are very valuable and useful.
Does it appear to you that the Soil is adapted for the Cultivation of Wheat?
- Yes; for the finest Wheat in the World. New South Wales is not a Wheat Country; but I have seen very large plump Grain from New Zealand. New Zealand is not subject to Droughts.
Does Wheat in New South Wales bear generally a high Price?
- A very high Price. I furnished myself Part of a Contract for the Government, 20,000 Bushels, in 1836, at the Time that Starvation stared us in the Face. I undertook the Contract. I imported it from Calcutta. The Country has never been able to produce sufficient Wheat to supply the Inhabitants, and it never will. It is a very fine Country, but it is quite a pastoral one. I have always compared New Zealand, and still do so, to be just as Great Britain is to the rest of Europe, –the great Country of that Part of the World. On account of its Climate and Soil it must become an Agricultural Country. New South Wales will contain a large Population; but it will be much dispersed.
Had you any Opportunities of forming any Opinion as to the Extent of Population as compared with the Extent of Country?
- That has varied very much. I have heard many say it was 1,000,000; I have heard others say 500,000; but I think it is impossible to state the Fact.
Did it appear to be thickly or thinly peopled, according to the Extent of Surface?
- Very thickly; I have seen as many as 2,000 or 3,000 Natives together in particular Parts.
Do you mean that generally, with reference to the whole Surface of the Country throughout, it is thickly peopled?
- No; I have seen Numbers collected for particular Purposes.
The Length of the Island is 800 or 900 Miles; taking the whole Surface, is the Population large with reference to the whole Extent of Country?
- The Population is very large, for I have known them say, “Give us Two or Three Days, and we will get – such a Number, say some Thousands, together.” The Population of the Northern Island is certainly very great; the
Southern is much more thinly populated; quite a different Race of Men; they are much blacker; they are a very inferior Race of Men altogether. I had an Idea of colonizing Cloudy Bay myself.
Where is that?
- That is on the Southern Island.
What deterred you from that?
- The Circumstance of Captain Stewart having gone down to assist those Natives deterred me; I was afraid to go among them after that. I expected that they would take every Ship connected with New South Wales and Great
Britain. It was natural to expect they would be revenged on the Whites after what had occurred.
Do you think it is expedient that the Northern Island should be taken Possession of in the Name of the British Government, or not?
- I always thought that the Northern Island should be taken Possession of in the Name of the British Government; but, at the same Time, I do think it is a very gigantic Undertaking, and I think that a great many Difficulties must be encountered; but, with a humane and wise Government, such as we have, I think it might be accomplished; because I think the Natives are fully aware of our Power, and that they would be very willing, by the Purchase of their Territory, to give it up, provided they retained a Rank and Position in the Island, and were left sufficient Land for such Purposes as they might require.
Should you propose, in that Case, that any European should have the Power of purchasing Land from the Natives?
- I should think that a very good Plan, but at the same Time I think it ought to be done in a Manner cognizable only by a Government. I think the Natives
