AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

The expenditure of New South Wales, for 1825, was 234,153/. Of this sum, 36,779/. was defrayed by revenue raised within the Colony ; 16,617/. by a Parliamentary grant ; and 180,757/. by Commissariat Bills upon the Treasury, and the sale of stores,-a fraudulent, at least a deceptive mode of payment, for whilst the real cost of the Colony to Great ]Britain was nearly 200,000/. it would appear by the Estimates to be only about 16,000/. The payment of Civil Service by the Com- missariat adds to the impropriety ; for an inquirer, however well ac- quainted with official mystification, would a priori suppose that the Commissariat would only take charge of Military disbursements : and from what fund these bills were discharged, is a mystery to us, unless they were put into the Army Extraordinaries. How far this Colony may still be a source of expense to Great Britain, we are unable to say.

The following tables exhibit the different heads of the Colonial ex- penditure, the total cost of the "Establishment," and a sample of the salaries. The principal portion of the fees in New South Wales are carried to the public account : the remainder are so trifling as not to require an independent exhibition ; and they are mostly for some kind of service done. It may be taken as a general rule, that abuses are much riferin the old Colonies than in the new.

Civil Establishment Miscellaneous Civil Services Military Disbursements Arrears Total of New South Wales

A'71,019 108,274 52,599 2,261 £234,153 Total Expense of the "Establishment" in Salaries

£53,468

TABLE OF SALARIES.

4,200 Governor-in-Chief

Colonial Treasurer

1,000 Colonial Secretary and Registrar of Records (A. M-Leay) £2,000

Compensation for loss of Pension for past services in Transport Office 750

2,750 Naval Officer

2,585 Chief Justice (Francis Forbes)

2,000 Assistant Judge

1,500 Assistant Judge (James Dowling)

1,500 Attorney-General (A. M. Baxter)

1.400 Sheriff and Provost Marshal

1,000 Archdeacon (Venerable J. Broughton)

2,000 Surveyor-General

1,000

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

Civil Establishment

52,839 Military Disbursements

1,269 Total of Van Diemen's Land

£54,108 Paid by Great Britain £3,366

Paid by Colony 50,742

£54,108

Total Expense of the Establishment- ssisries 31,395

Pensions

2,285

£33,680

TABLE OF SALARIES.

£ 2,500 Lieutenant-Governor (Colonel Arthur)

Colonial Treasurer

800 Colonial Secretary

1,200 Sheriff

800 Chief Justice

1,500 Attorney-General

900 Naval Officer ..

800

WESTERN AUSTRALIA. (Sii:AN RIVER.) The propriety of this expenditure is ;t7.itogether contingent upon the management of the settlement. This`will be shown by the results. If in a few years the Colony is not cin'.37 able to discharge the expense of its own civil establishment, but .to maintain the military force which is or is supposed to be necessary for its protection, we may conclude that the Colony is well conducted. If within the same period the settlement shall be found :able to repay from the sale of its lands the sums which have been 'expended in establishing it, we may conclude that the reports of the job in which it is said to have had its origin, have been exaggerated, or that the natural advantages of the settlement have neutralized the sinister influences in which it originated. It must not, however, be forgotten, that whilst a project in which a cousin of Sir ROBERT PEEL took an active part, is encouraged by Government pa- tronage, and supported by the public money, a plan* under private auspices, which asked no advance from the national purse, which wanted no annual expenditure to support it, and which demanded nothing from Government but that its founders should enjoy the com- mon rights of citizenship, has been forbidden by the Tory Under

Secretary of the Colonial Office. In addition to the 6,7371., the details of which are exhibited in the following table, the sum of 6,717/. is also paid in the present year for arrears of expenses incurred upon the Colony.

(Paid by Great Britain.) Governor £800 Colonial Secretary and Acting Treasurer 400 Three Clerks to ditto ; two at 751., and one at 50/. 200 Messenger 25 Surveyor-General 400 Draughtsman at 1501, and Clerk at 50/ 200 Two Assistant Surveyors at 2001. each 400 Storekeeper at 2001., and Clerk at 501. 250 Civil Engineer 100 Harbour-Master 100 Ten Artificers; one at 6s. 3d.,nine at 5s. 6d. per working-day 871 Surgeon • 273 Chaplain 250 Advocate-General 200 Officer commanding the troops, 10s. per day 132

Staff-Officer • • • • 9s, 9d, per day 36

£4.737

Building, Stores, Contingencies, and Incidental Charges, Sic.- 2,000

Total of Swan River £6,737