CHAPTER III,

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 29, 14 November 1905, Page 4

CHAPTER 111,

Continued.

H. — Governor Darling.

Governor Darling entered upon his duties on 19th December, 1825, and continued m office until October, 1831. It has been truly said of him that he was " a man of forms and precedents, of the true red-tape school — neat, exact, punctual, industrious, spiteful, arbitrary, commonplace." The manner m whicli he endeavoured to reduce into order the confusion he found m the public departments furnished proof of his neatness and exactness. His punctuality and industry were displayed m the fact that he personally considered every case and perused every letter which reached headquarters. His venom and arbitrariness founds exercise m treating the convicts with great severity, and m efforts to crush the newly-born press which dared to raise its voice against gubernatorial cruelty. One act of tyranny committed by him was alone sufficient to render h : m infamous, and it stands out m the history of the colony as a sort of lind mark of the termination of the Algerine system of government, showing how gross an outrage on law, justice, and constitutional right could be perpetrated by an Englishman reigning over Englishmen.

budds and Thompson, two soldiers of the 57th Regiment doing duty m the colony, thinking the lot of convicts preferable to .their own, by reason of the indulgence granted and the opportunities for amassing wealth offered to that class, committed a felony, by stealing a piece of cloth m Ceorge-street, Sydney, for the express purpose of getting themselves convicted, believing that after a short sentence they would emerge into a condition that would enable them to enjoy the privileges and opportunities enjoyed by the many favoured emancipists. Arrest, trial, conviction, and sentence followed, as they desired, the sentence being to one of the auxiliary penal settlements for seven years. In the course of the trial, however, the motive leading to the commission of the crime was fully revealed, as was also tl_9 fact that there was widespread discontent among the military on account of the inferior position they were compelled to occupy. Fearing that the discipline of the troops would be seriously endangered if a check were not put upon these low-bted aspirations, Sir Ralph Darling, himself a military man, determined to take the men out of the custody of the civil power, and teach them and their fellow-soldiers a lesson they would never forget. He issued a general order, m pursuance of which the two men were taken from the custody of the gaoler and brought to the Barrack - square m Sydney, where, m presence of the military, it was announced that their sentence had been changed to seven years' hard labour on the roads, and that on the expiration of their sentence they were to be returned to their regiment. But this was not all 'Ihe Governor invented a special form of " ironing " to suit the regimentals. The two men were stripped of their uniform and clothed m the convict dress ; iron collars with long projecting spikes were then riveted round their necks, and fetters and chains riveted on their legs. 1 hey were then drummed out of the regiment and marched back to gaol while the band played "The Rogue's March." Sudds was ill at ihe time, and shortly after the sentence had been passed died m the prison with the irons still upon him. Darling's rule of^ the convicts throughout was most rigorous. His rod was iron, and it was alwayj waving. The times of the " firm flecters," of irresponsible -loggers and short allowances of coarse food were revived. A penal settlement was formed at Moreton Bay, and thc story was fully credited that the prisoners were so badly treated that they committed murders m order to be sent for trial to Sydney. At the same time the country magistrates were. empowered to award any number of lashes for insolence, idleness, or other indefinite offences, and considering the school m which m,any of those magistrates had been educated, it may easily be conceived that brutality little short of that which did poor Sudds to death was practised with a liberal hand. Gpvernor Darling was unfortunate m falling foul of the Press, which was fast making its voice heard m the colony m the direction of freedom andimpartial dealing. The Gazette was the Government organ, and every sound of. its voice had ro be heard through the jingling of Government coin. Its flattery of everything smacking of Darling was sickening m its fulsomeness, and helped to make the untrammelled portion of the fourth estate more vigorous and outspoken that* it Would otherwise have leen, It was

the case of Sudds and Thompson that brought affairs to a climax, and when the Gazette commenced a defence of the Governor's action m that case the two other papers, the Australian and the Monitor, launched out into condemnation of the severest kind. 'Ihe extreme on either side was reached, and the Governor j was kept m a state of feverish annoyance, which sought relief m the passing of certain Acts affecting the Press, which were designated by the opposition editors "The Gagging Acts." But this only setved to give point to the personalities of the newspapers not m receipt of Government pay, and the cross-firing led to actions for libel, resulting m fine and imprisonment for the whole of the scribblers. But, although the opposition pap rs carried their charges against the Governor to extremes, they had justice on their side, and the agitation the}' kept up eventually led to Darling's recall. After his return to England a half-hearted attempt was made to have the chaiges preferred against him, m the Sudds-Thompson case, investigated, but he attempt ended •ngsmoke, and Darling was knighted a > : .a > the Kind's favour.

The population at the close o( Darling's administration was 51,155 ; the export of wool 1,403,2341b5 ; of oil, £95,969 m value ; the total exports were £324,168 ; and the imports £49,152. The ordinary revenue of the year was £103,228. Of the expenditure there are no reliable records.

I. — Governor Bourke,

Major-General Sir Richard Bourke, perhaps the most able and popular of the early Governors of the colon} 7 , succeeded Darling, and his administration lasted from December, 1831, to November, 1837. His rule was marked, by vigour and firmness, zeal, liberality, and humanity. He entered office under most favourable circumstances, and it is not at all wonderful, therefore, that progress ran freely. He found the system of granting land to free immigrants working badlj', the rule being to limit those grants to friends among the officials m Sydne}' ; and he therefore changed the arrangement, put a stop to free grants, and ordered that all lands m the settled districts should be offered at auction, fixing the upset price at 5s per acre. This proved a most prolific source of revenue, and the money thus raised was used to assist free immigration fiom Europe. The scramble for land m the unsettled districts of the colony had led to quarrels between the scramblers concerning boundaries, they having no legal tenure to their holdings, and the term "squatter" being first applied to them. The Governor regulated this matter by requiring the " squatters " to make formal application for the land they required and to pay a small rent, undertaking to define the boundaries, and granting m return peaceable possession until the land was needed for settlement. The regulations issued by Bourke caused an important and fundamental change m the whole colonial system m regard to the disposal of waste land, and m 1836 the returns from land sales amounted to no less a sum than -.132,396. The tide of immigration set m with steady force, and to some of the men and women who came to the colony during the rule of Bourke, and the years presently succeeding, the colony owes a great deal, for they did more to build up the industrial power since attained and at present enjoyed than any Governor's Order or Legislative enactment couid have done. 'Ihe bad amongst 'them — and there were some very bad --found congenial fellows with whom to drink and curse and die ; while the good ones and there were many good — found a soil quite ready for the profitable exercise of their energy, thrift, and virtue. The six years of Governor Bourke's reign were pregnant with measures and events of the utmost importance m shaping the destinies of the growing and expanding colony. In addition to the regulations concerning land, laws were passed m the interests of education ' and religion. Ihe Church and School Corporation (which had developed into a gross job) was abol- : ished, and religious equality was established ; Government patronage was removed from the press ; the constitution of the Courts of Justice was improved ; steps were adopted which, m 1840, finally abolished - transportation to the colony; rules ior regulating the number of" convict servants each settler should have, and the number of lashes which should be inflicted upon a convict by a single magistrate, were framed and promulgated ; the colony of Victoria was discovered, and m 1836 a regular Government was established ; further explorat ; ons were carried r out, and the settlement of the land began to be conducted on a system more advantageous to the people. jj It was reasonable and light, therefore, that when His Excellency determined to leave the colony the people should endeavour to show their appreciation of his sterling good qualities m seme pronounced form. In testimony of their feeling thsy raised some £-1000, and had cast, (

from a model by an eminent artist m London, the bronze statue which still stands on an elevated and commanding situation at the entrance of the Government Domain m Sydney, overlooking the harbour of Port Jackson.

Bourke died m 1855. (To be continued)