49 Colonel’s nephew is called “ a loose fish and of Mr. Gellibrand he writes : “ Between him and Governor Arthur they received at last a good round sum from the treasury of New South Wales, for the few pounds they actually expended in this attempt to rob the people of the fine lands and rich gold fields of Victoria.” It so happened that neither of those two received a penny. Those who had the compensa tion had expended more than the amount allowed. We need hardly notice the charge of robbing fine lands and gold fields. The 600,000 acres claimed were far enough from our gold fields, and far inferior in amount to the free grant to a company of English non-resident capitalists, who have one million of acres in the finest part of New South Wales, and whose advent was hailed as a boon by the colonists. And we have yet to learn ^ whether greater progress would not have been made under that Port Phillip association of old colonists during the early years than under a government 16,000 miles away. Of Mr. Batman Mr. Fawkner thus speaks : “ He was one of Colonel Arthur’s toadies, and had got from him a large grant or two of land prior to this.” And for every acre of land so obtained did he not give an acre’s worth of service, and hazard his life too, while so engaged ? He then tells a story about Batman returning to the vessel, produ cing his deeds with a number of very strange marks thereon, and seated upon a cask, receiving the drunken homage of the men as King John. He is said to have been but two days on shore, and to have “ only looked at Port Phillip,” when we know he was nine days there. As to his asserted incapacity to walk 20 miles, we need only refer to the following extracts from his diary ; “ 30th. Walked about 20 miles. 31st. We could not have walked less than 30 miles to day. June 3. I followed up the river 26 miles. 4th. Walked about 30 miles to day, &c.” Mr. Fawkner ridicules the idea of the two Sydney blacks reading over the deed to the wild men. Though Batman’s report may be am biguous, for, be it remembered, it was drawn up by a lawyer, yet the sense can be tolerably made out. The sentence complained of is : “ The Deed when thus filled up was most carefully read over and ex plained to them by the two interpreters.” The insertion of commas at deed, up, and over, will remove the obscurity. It is not intended to convey that the blacks read the deed, any more than that they filled it up. Those Sydney natives were not so ignorant as supposed. They
