Your Excellency and the public generally, are aware that a Mr. William Anley had a large portion of land located to him in the immediate neighbourhood of a rapidly improving township: this gift, for I can call it nothing else, took place in June 1830. What claims this gentleman had for an estate of two thousand five hundred and sixty acres in Van Diemen's Land, I know not, but no doubt his claims were then sufficient to procure him his location order. Perhaps your Excellency is not aware that Mr. Anley is a lawyer, with a pretty good business, either in Calcutta, or its immediate neighbourhood-but no matter what or who Mr. Anley is, excepting that he is not a settler in Van Diemen's Land. According to all the regulations respecting land in this Colony, "Settlers," are those only whom it is intended should become possessed of landed property-and very properly so. But I am told, that Mr. Anley obtained this location of two thousand five hundred and sixty acres, with the express understanding, that he was forthwith about to leave India, and become a "Settler" in this Colony. Four years have elapsed, and now that gentleman has forwarded to Mr. Commissary Carr, a power of attorney to act as his agent. Mr. Anley has never been in the island, and his empowering an agent to act for him has not the appearance of his being in a great hurry to live on his landed property in Van Diemen's Land. Mr. Anley's agent, knowing what little right his principal ought to have to the land in question, is using every endeavour to obtain a grant, so that Mr. Anley may rest secure in Calcutta-may enjoy the handsome income of the Indian lawyer, and be at the same time an absentee landholder in this Colony. Did the Land Board, who approved of Mr. Anley's claim for the location, or your Excellency, who sanctioned the same, ever contemplate that you were granting the lend to an absentee, who never intended to reside upon it? The Government regulation of January 31, 1832, clause 14, says, "In all instances in which the land shall have been originally obtained by means of deception of any kind, it will be resumed without any distinction of cases or persons." Has there been any deception practised, or was Mr. Anley's land granted to him as an absentee on this occasion? Has there been any distinction of persons?

Let me draw your attention to almost a similar case of Captain Wight's. About the year 1828, that gentleman applied personally, in the usual manner, for a grant of land. He proved to the Land Board, that he had sufficient property in the island, to entitle him to a large grant; your Excellency was pleased to sanction the order, and 2,000 acres were granted him. He had a free overseer, (who was, while in that capacity, and during the absence of Captain Wight, speared by the natives), part of the land Captain Wight enclosed, with a substantial fence; he expended considerable sums of money on the property, and in purchasing stock, yet within two or three years afterwards, the same land was granted to Mr. Henry Nicholls, who almost immediately old it. It cannot be possible that the land could have been resumed without your Excellency's sanction: and if the landed property of a man who has done so much good to the Colony as Captain Wight, could be resumed, how much more advisable would it be to resume the land of an absentee lawyer, who has never been in Van Diemen's Land, and who, to this moment, has not one inch of his large grant in cultivation-who has not a single hut or dwelling on his property-who has not one head of cattle or a single sheep depasturing thereon-but who, simply draws some sixty or eighty pounds per annum rental, from a poor man who acts in the double capacity of Mr. Anley's overseer, and Mr. Anley's tenant-but Captain Wight's is not a solitary case. late Mr. Hammond's might be instanced, as also Captain Kerr's, and several

others.

The

I have said, that a grant has been applied for, and for why? The reason must be most apparent; when the grant is once given, the land may be legally transferred, and Mr. Anley, or his agent, if he so wishes it, may dispose of his grantwithout ever having seen it, without ever having improved it—perhaps for the sum of some eight hundred and odd pounds, which he would extract from the pockets of the Colonists.

I am, in my own mind, fully convinced, that your Excellency has not been made acquainted with the real facts of the case, that private influence has had its

178 To the Honorable E. Stanley, Secretary for the Colonies.

way to your Excellency's ears, and in order to shew the links of the chain, let me further draw your attention to the correspondence with the Government Offices, which has taken place relative to Mr. Anley's claim to the land in question. The land of this gentleman hems in thirteen or fourteen smaller grants, located to individuals, all of whom, I believe, have expended considerable sums upon their properties-at all events, they are all residents in the vicinity, cr upon the spot. It was the wish of several of these individuals, that as no improvements were being made on Mr. Anley's grant, and no probability of that gentleman's arrival in the Colony, after four years anxiously waiting for him, that application should be made to have the same put up for sale, by which the Government would be benefited as well as the purchasers, who would thus be enabled to get rid of so large an "absentee" monopolist in such a quarter. I was requested to make the application-and unfortunately so, for the interests of the applicants--the following letter was forwarded to the Surveyor General, requesting that the land might be put up in small portions, so that every one of the hemmed-in settlers might have a fair chance of purchasing land adjoining his own.

May 3, 1834.

"SIR,-Two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of Land, in the immediate neighbourhood of New Norfolk, having been located to a Mr. Wm. Anley, on the 5th June, 1830, and that individual having never yet been in the Colony, (and, consequently, not residing thereon,) I have to request you will, as early as possible, cause to be put up, the whole of the same, for sale by public auction in areas, according to His Majesty's instructions, of six hundred and forty acres each. I have the honor to be, Sir, your humble servant,

H. MELVILLE."

Survey Office, 5th May, 1834.

"SIR,-I have this moment received a letter from you, dated the 3rd inst., requesting me to cause the whole of Mr. Anley's grant of Land to be put up for sale by public auction as early as possible.

"In reply to your communication I have to state, that I have no intention of putting up Mr. Anley's property for sale by public auction.-I have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

"MR. HENRY MELVILLE."

G. FRANKLAND, Surveyor General."

Finding that my application was not listened to by the Surveyor General, I immediately sought the attention of your Excellency, through the medium of the Colonial Secretary-I wrote to him, therefore as follows:

"May 9, 1834.

SIR,-Having addressed an official letter to the Surveyor General, requesting that he would be pleased, in accordance with the rules adopted in other cases of non-residence, to cancel Mr. Anley's grant at New Norfolk, and put the same up for sale, that gentleman not having ever yet been in the Colony, although the Land was located to him four years since-and the Surveyor General having replied to me on the instant, that he had no intention of disposing of the Land, I beg leave now to address you on the subject, and have to request you will be good enough to lay this letter before the Lieutenant Governor, in order that His Excellency may be pleased to come to some determination on the subject.—I have the honor to be, Sir, your humble servant,

"To the Honorable JOHN BURNETT."

H. MELVILLE."

To this application, I cannot but express my surprise, under all the circumstances previously detailed of resumption of land, to receive the following answer :"Colonial Secretary's Office, May 31, 1834. "SI,With reference to my letter, No. 11,092, of the 29th inst., I am now

directed by the Lieutenant Governor to inform you, in reply to your letter of the 9th of the month, relative to Mr. Anley's grant, that as the Government does not intend to resume this location, your application to have it put up for sale, cannot be complied with.-I remain, Sir, your very obedient servant,

"MR. HENRY MELVILLE."

J. BURNETT."

Fully convinced that your Excellency has not been made acquainted with the real facts of the case, I now address you through the only channel which is left me, and which I do verily believe, can become the fair medium of communication to your Excellency. If the numerous instances of resumption of land which have taken place, in order to bestow them gratuitously upon other locatees, have received your Excellency's approbation, why should there be a refusal to resume for the purpose of sale (not gratuitous gift) the land of an absentee, who has not fulfilled any one of the Government regulations? In the name of the adjoining landholders to the absentee's (Mr. Anley) grant, I do pray that justice may be done, and that I may not be compelled, in their name, to seek redress from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, who will otherwise be called upon to decide this question. If Mr. Anley's land is not to be resumed, then, indeed, ought compensation to be made to every individual who has had land taken from him for non-compliance with the Government regulations-resumption of land ought to be as the Government order of January, 1832, expresses it, "without distinction of cases or persons."

Having thus publicly drawn your Excellency's attention to this important sub'ject, I have no doubt a further enquiry will be instituted, when the real merits of the case will induce the decisions on all similar occasions, to be of a similar description; and what is law for Messrs. Wright, Kerr, Hammond, and others, will also be law for the absentee Mr. Anley. Having to apologize for thus requesting you to break through your avowed practice of never reading any of the Colonial newspapers, I have the honor to be, your Excellency's very humble servant, H. MELVILLE..

Hobart Town, June 3, 1834.

Having thus occupied so large a portion of your time, I shall now conclude by observing, that I intend offering, in a series of letters, various topics for your perusal respecting the Colony, and the manner in which the Local Government perform the duty intrusted by His Majesty's Government.—I have the honor to be, &c.,

EDITOR OF THE HOBART TOWN MAGAZINE. [In future, each number of this work will contain a letter to the Secretary of the Colonies-copies will be sent by private hands to the Hon. E. Stanley, and when a sufficient number have been published to form a pamphlet, they will be re-printed in the Colony, and forwarded to England for publication.]

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS.

I come to the scenes of my earliest youth

To the green sunny spot where my infancy flew,
While my heart was yet warm'd by the sunshine of truth,
And my pains and my sorrows were fleeting and few.

And memory painted the fair things of old

The hearth where my fondest affections were set;
And it seemed as tho' faces, now pallid and cold,
Were still at the casement and greeting me yet.

Methought, in that moment's delirium, I felt
The hand of a father-a mother's warm kiss ;
While sisters press'd on from the home where we dwelt,
To welcome my steps to that circle of bliss.
Again the fond look of affection was there,

The song and the laughter went merrily round;---
Such song and such laughter as seraphs may hear,
Nor blush as to heaven they carry the sound.
The dream was ecstatic! it seemed as though time
Had turned to revisit the joys of the past;
Oh! why did I wake from that vision sublime,
Why revel in thoughts too ethereal to last.

For soon, very soon, did I rouse from the snare,
That memory had spun from the pleasures of yore,
I came to my home-but a stranger was there-
The hall of my forefathers knew me no more.
The many I lov'd, when in life's early morn,
Were changed, or had fled to th' abode of the just;
And I, even I, was so weary and lorn,

I wished that with theirs I could mingle my dust.
But thou, like the sun from its drearisome tomb,
Arose on my solitude faithful and true;

And if tears would still fall for my desolate home,
I felt that I yet could be happy with you.

THE CONFESSIONS OF EDWARD WILLIAMS.

(Concluded from No. 15.)

Do you recollect, Sir, about two months ago, the occurrence of a most violent and terrific storm of thunder and lightning and wind? Now it occurs to me, you must remember it well; as a subscription was raised to repair the losses, which the poor had sustained, and you, in common with your reverend brethren, was an active agent in its collection and distribution. On that awful evening, my misery had driven me almost to despair; and the heavy gathering gloom, which preceded the storm, harmonized well with my dark and desperate thoughts. Mary was dying. Mary was dying. A constitution, never very strong, had sunk, at last, under an accumulation of human suffering and wretchedness, to which few persons, it is hoped, are destined to be exposed. Indeed, she never recovered the loss of poor little Edward; and, although she never alluded to that horrid catastrophe, nor even, indeed, to the dear child himself-except in her fitful and

troubled slumber-still I could see, that she dwelt with mournful interest on every incident connected with his memory.

All this time, Sir, we were enduring the most abject and bitter poverty. Even the miserable lodging in the Close in Mardol was reluctantly abandoned for a still more wretched and secluded hovel in the suburbs beyond Frankwell. My casual and unfrequent contributions to some of the second-rate magazines for I was not now capable of any great mental exertion,-with, now and then, a few little paintings by Mary, were the only means we had to procure subsistence as for myself-I have gone for whole days without any other food, than a roll of bread and a draught of water. Winter, too, was approaching, and, that my poor wife might not suffer from the cold I have stolen out into the woods in the twilight, and brought home enough sticks and wood for our evening and morning fires. That there were persons in existence, who would have gladly relieved me, I now well know but I was too proud to solicit their succour, for I feared, they might triumph in my misery, if it was disclosed to them. I could not dig-to beg I was ashamed;" and, so, I suffered on in silence, with a hundred torturing demons gnawing at my heart.

If there was anything, which could possibly add to my misery, it was the meek and uncomplaining endurance of my beloved Mary. Although I had, by my own folly and wickedness, brought all this accumulation of evil upon our heads, still no word of reproach,no murmur of regret, ever passed her lips: on the contrary, she would endeavour, when a slight cessation of pain rendered her comparatively cheerful, to encourage me with hope, and to lead us to contemplate brighter and happier prospects. Still she knew she was dying; and I could observe every succeeding day, a brighter hectic on her cheek, and an increased emaciation of her still beautiful form. O God,-Sir! You, who have never witnessed, day after day, the gradual, but too certain, decay of a beloved object;—you, who have never risen from a restless pillow, and, instead of feeling your heart filled with gladness and with gratitude, have experienced the sickening pang of despair, and, instead of looking forward to the coming day with joy, have shuddered at its approach, and cursed the cruel fate which has compelled you to endure its miseries-you, Sir-who have never felt this, can form no conception of the dark, desperate, and bewildering thoughts, which shook my soul to its very centre. And who was the author of all this wretchedness? My gay cousin! who, while his victim was writhing under the fangs of despair, was rioting unchecked amidst the most ample luxuriousness!

To return, however, to the storm.—I had been sitting watchfully by my wife's wretched pallet, while she was reposing, more calmly, I thought, than she had done for many days. The gathering gloom, as I have already said, harmonized well with my own gloomier feelings, for I was penniless, desponding, desolate-and the first clap of thunder, preceded by its heralding flash, roused me into energy: