In the infancy of a colony, the certain maintenance of the settlers
should be well established; and it is also right to know with what
facility and at what cost, an adequate supply of necessaries,
comforts, and even luxuries may be obtained. Adjacent, and favorably
situated to Cockburn Sound, are the Mauritius, Cape of Good Hope,
Timer, Java, Sumatra, and the East Indian Presidencies.
_Rice_, from Java, can be obtained in five weeks, at or under 1_d_.
per pound.
The bantam fowls and China pigs at equally moderate prices.
_Sugar_,[6] from the Mauritius, Java, or Calcutta, at 3_d_. per pound.
[6] Cunningham, in his account of New South Wales, recommends the
cultivation of sugar, but he acknowledges the latitude of 28 deg.
scarcely sufficiently warm for the purpose, and enters into an
argument of economy, whether convicts or slaves would be the
cheapest mode of supplying labour; but this system would
alter the whole character of this proposed settlement in the
neighbourhood of Cockburn Sound, the great feature of which is
healthiness of the climate, and a fertility of the soil,
capable of producing useful exportable commodities, more than
sufficient to pay for tropical productions of luxury, raised
at an increased expense of life and slavery; and a very little
insight into foreign trade will show with what ease this may
be accomplished.
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