HISTORICAL RECORDS OF AUSTRALIA. SERIES 1. GOVERNORS' DESPATCHES TO AND FROM ENGLAND. VOLUME XIX. JULY, 1837-JANUARY, 1839. Published by: THE LIBRARY COMMITTEE OF THE COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENT. 1923. INTRODUCTION. SIR GEORGE GIPPS. SIR GEORGE GIPPS, kt., a major in the royal engineers, was the ninth captain-general and governor-in-chief of the territory of New South Wales. He administered the government for eight years and four and a half months, his term of office being extended beyond the term of six years established by regulation of the colonial office as the duration of office of a governor. In the history of the colony of New South Wales, there are three outstanding periods of transition. The first period was marked by the inauguration of a partially representative legislature on the 1st of August, 1843; the second by the establishment of responsible government in 1856; and the third by the alteration of the status of the colony from that of a self-governing colony to that of a state in the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The first period, with all its associated difficulties and necessary adjustments, was entirely within the term of the administration of Sir George Gipps; and it was due largely to his energy and ability that the change was effected without excessive friction. The dissatisfaction with the nominee council established under the statute, 9 Geo. IV, c. lxxxiii, had been freely expressed during the administration of Sir Richard Bourke, and was continued during the administration of Sir George Gipps until, in the year 1842, the constitution act, 5 and 6 Vict., c. lxxvi, was passed by the British parliament. By this act, a legislature of one house consisting of thirty-six members was constituted. Twelve of these members were to be nominees of the crown, and twenty-four to be elected by the people. Of the nominee members, it was provided that not more than six could hold any office of emolument under the crown within the colony; and, of the elective members, that six should represent the district of Port Phillip and eighteen the rest of the colony. The qualification for elective members was the possession of an unencumbered freehold estate of the value of £2,000, or of an annual value of £100; and for electors of an unencumbered freehold estate of the value of £200, or of a dwelling-house of the annual value of £20. Annexed to the constitution act, there were three schedules. The first schedule provided for the annual payment of £33,000 for the salaries of the governor, the judges and the superintendent at Port Phillip, and the administration of justice; the second for the annual payment of £18,600 for the salaries of the colonial secretary, the colonial treasurer, the auditorgeneral and the clerk of the executive council with their departments, and for pensions; and the third for the annual payment of £30,000 for public worship. The constitution of the council, the limited franchise, and the annual withdrawal of £81,600 from the ordinary revenue of the colony under the three schedules were the principal reasons for the dissatisfaction of many colonists with the constitution act. Although these provisions were entirely without his personal province, they were probably the principal underlying reasons which created the constant friction between Sir George Gipps and the council during the later years of his administration.* The abolition of the assignment of convicts to settlers in 1841 and the cessation of transportation in 1840 were probably of equal importance in the progress of the colony with the establishment. of a representative legislature. By the assignment of convicts, the colonists had derived the principal supply of labour; by its abolition, they had to depend entirely on free labour. By the cessation of transportation, the annual influx of criminals from the United Kingdom ceased, and the colony achieved the full status of a free colony. During the administration of Sir George Gipps, other important events occurred. The district of Port Phillip made wonderful progress, and the problem of the formation of this district into a separate colony first came into practical politics. In the year 1840, the present dominion of New Zealand was formally annexed as a dependency of New South Wales. The annexation imposed additional labours on the executive government and the council, as Sir George Gipps forecasted in his opening address to the council in May, 1840. This forecast was soon realised, when the claims* of W. C. Wentworth and others to a land monopoly in New Zealand were brought forward. But the jurisdiction of Sir George Gipps *See introduction in later volume. |