The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-08-31 00:00:00

NEwisourn WALES.

EITIIACT FROM 'THE atroar al, THE CO.MHIS-
-toIIEIL OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE
, COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
Printed by Order of the Hours of Commons.]

(Continued from our Paper of yesterday;.)
• P.-.sue of the Labour of Convict:4ls the Service If
Settlers.
Toe sectirrence that I had the honour of tub-
eni-teng Jo your Lordship. in the course of my ills-
astiors.with Governor Mantbllffle .011 the appoint-
trat.t • of Mr. 'Wrens to the magistracy, afforded
..ate ',Mane, of %Mt [Gull referettee to foimer condi-
•iion. that loss 'appeared to me to be an almost in-
ehrmuuntable obstacle to the success of Goveruor
44:-reaurrie's system of appointing this class of per-
irrole'to the megistnicy, when tried to a community
dike .that of New South Wales.
The next person, from the same class, that was so
distinguished by Governor Mace/name, was the
Rev. Mr. Fulton. Ile was transported by the sen-
sew* of a court-medial in Ireland, during the re-
.belhon, and his arrival in New South Wale, in
ilia year 1800.. was sent to Norfolk Island to of.
-ficiate as chaplain. Ile rtterned to New South
;Wales it. the year 1804, and performed the duties
-ufthaploin at Sydney and Paramatta. •
In the dNisions thee prevuiled'in the colony pre-
vious to the arrest olGovernor Wish, Mr. Fulton
'took no part; but happening 'tu form one of liis
Tanlily when the perion of the Governor was menaced
with violence, he courageously opposed himself ro
the military Party that entered the humus, and gave
au example of courage and devotion to the autho-
rity of Governor Bligh, ishrttlt, if oartakect eirher
by 'that officer 'or bis few adherent.. serfgtil hate
Nrihired him the humiliblinn of • persbniirirrent. sod
reescuerl his authority from the disgrace of open
end violent suspension.
Mr. Fulton accompanied• Closneabi $1101)
Fogland, for the purpose of giving *videos= upon
trial of Lieutentent-Celuivel Juhristorre3 and du
his rehire' to New South Wales, in the year 1/112,
was appointed migi•trate in the district of Castle-
/eagle, where he has slice resided, performing the
slaty of chapter:is in that district, and condos bog
qr•hdol fur the elementary and classical education
of. bop,' that continued to be attended by inost of
Aer aqua of the !Uglier classes of the inhabroints of
deo Colony. wad the arrival of Lawrence Halloran,
and the establishment of his school at Sydney. In
the performance of his clerical and magisterial •
duties, Mr. Fulton has been diligent and respect-
able, sod the sacred character with which he WAY
deirsta, and iu which he had been *Plowed to
Niplieur previous to his appointment to the magi.-
'racy, tegether with the nature of the offence for
APhich be was transported, abated touch of the ob-
j,etiou that was felt orethe oppotiuments of Andrew
l'hourson sod Sancti Lord. For these reason.,
although 1 consider That under other circum-
'stances Mr. Fallon wobtd not have been • valuable
•acq .isition to the bench of magistrates in New
South Wale.. yet that Ira appointment was no dis-
credit to it, and that his services in the Teatime dis-
wet in *lnch he resided, were, at the time of his
appoint nirnt, and In the absence of any other COM-
•portit person, desirable.
The nest and last person of the mine flan op-
pointed by Governor Macquarie to the magistracy,
was Mr. Redfern.

Your Lordship being in possession of the whole
,coerrspoirdesice that took place between Governor
gb.crurarrie and mysrlf, upon the subject of tine
uppominvent, I will not •sigoiri trouble 'on with a
srpetition.of the arguments that I then onsuccem-
bully addressed 'to Governor Macquarrie, principally
with a view of inducing him to suspend the ap..
isoisitment until I bud au opportunity of taking your
Lordship's plestu're 'resiaciing it; a., however, that
irleature has now been signified. and Mr. Redferei's
name has been left Out of the new commission that
Governor Macquarie was directed to issne, on the
Wctlrsaion of his present Majesty to the throne, I
think it right to state how far the observations and
'objections that I snide to this appointment at the
;curly period of my commission, have been jut-
tified by the result.
11n the coarse of my inquiry. I learnt from Mr.
Redfern himself that he had been sentenced to
death by a meal court martial. for being implicated
In the nlutiny at the Nore in the year 1997, and
*that the nature of his offence 'consisted iu hiring
verbally advised the leaders of the mutiny " to be
snore united watingst theinselves.*_ Mr. Redfern
was at that time about 19 years of age. sod had
served for a few months as surgeon's first mate on
Word his Majesty's ship the Standard.
In considenetims of his youth, his life was spored,
and his sentence was commuted to transportation
for life.
On his arrival in New South Wales Mr. Redfern
wt./lent to Norfolk Island, where he acted as assist•
est to the turireou au the civil estisblisliuirtn,
end was appointed in 1802 by Lteeienent-Caa
Ione! Fortune. to art as surgeon there. In that
year he also received from Governor King an atom.
ate pardon; and. him name appeals iu the Sydney
/Goodie of the 19th June, 1803, amongst those up
on whom that act of grace had been conferred. In
the year 1804, Mr. Redfern was relieved by Mr.
.Weutotath, hut continurd to aviiiot him and Mr.
Conollin until the mouth of May, 1808, when he
accepted the totue t ion of assistant-ourgeon at Sydney,
sander • local comrnnedoo. conferred upon him ivy
.I..teut.-Cliloisel I:owe:ins, winch, noon the strong re-
'coniriendation melt: by that oficrr to GuVerliar
71Lequarr r, on his arrival, was bUll)1111ittli so the
consideratioit of his Majesty's arid
sanctioned by his Royal lightness the Prince
and announced to she public in the Sydney
'Gazette of the let February 181 g. S:uce that period
11Ir. 11.dferit has continued to act us assistonr•suc-
geois to the general hosoisel at Sydney, t.. king a
very active part in its duties, and deriving at the
same time considerable emolument hum his private
"trochee, which lepp.ars to have been more 'Men-
ette and successful than that of any other medical
vractitioner iu the colony. The oat are end extent of
these emoluments., slid the source from which they
B,eceedsd, had been mentioned to me before I had
e.ord of Governor Micquarrie's in.eurion of ap-
Isolating Mr. Redfern to the. magistracy ; and as my
emotion was at that moment occupied by the inves-
tigation of another and atom eittensitro subject, I
hod sot then an opportawity of incenuipiag the

''truth of the stittioent. In alluding to it. theta-
fore, I limited the observation I made to Governor
Macquurrie to a caution, against the immediate
appointment of Mr. Redfern, and used it as an
additional IrtS•6ll for suspeocling it. The circum-
stances atteudiug this c.se are detailed in the
evidence of steers! witiies.e. who had acted in
subordinate situations in the hospital during the
prriod of Mr. -Redfern's service; and it apprirs
from their evidence, that he had for some time kept
a dispensary to the huase provided for him by Go-
vcrtimetift, 'fear the hospital at Sydney. where he
was in the habit of m+king up and iliapensing medi-
cine fur hi. private practice in the town, as well as
for those of the civil officers whom he attended, and
who have a!ways been considered entitled to receive
both nterlit!or and attendance gratuitously. A prac-
tice had prevailed in the medical establishment in
New Booth Wales, from the earliest period, of dim-
periling medicine from them, not only to convicts
rod to persons on the civil establishment, but to
those who had crowd to be in any manner connected
with them. Free persons of the higher classes were
thus admitted to have their wants supplied from
'sources that were destined by his Majesty's Go-
vernment for the use of only one clips; and the
hospital stores have, according to Mr. Redferu's
‘ohsernition, been 'ccnverted into general colonial
dispensaries., to which, through the means of some
of the medical officers, the inhabitants have had a
constant but not gratuitous access, not only af-
forded at the expense of Government, but to the
prejudice of that class, for whose special benefit
these establishments were formed and maintained.

For admission of the poorer classes of free people
'to the colonial hospitals, an order from the Gover-
nor was and is still considered to be requisite; but
the same restriction does not appear to have UCCOUI•
puttied the issue of medicine, when application was
'bide Toe it at•the hospital, and when the couditinu
of the party accused to justify the application, By
-means of this custom, the assisiaot surgeons have, in
the course of their p•actice is, the Colony, adminis-
tered considerable quantifier of medicine from the
colonial dispensaries, or rather from their own dis-
pensaries, supplied from the Government stores; sad
Mr. Redfern having had the largest share of private
practice its the Colony, and having never imported
medicine on hie own account, it is to be inferred that
he partook more largely of the medical stores of
Government than any other person. A general in-
quiry into the circumstances urn, character of Mr.
Redfern, that had been suggested by Governor
Macquarrie's appointment of hien to the magistra-
cy, and the sight of a remarkably well-cleared and
wcll•cultivatrd estate, that had attracted my notice
in passing through the district of Airds, and which
I was informed was his property, had certainly ex-
cited in my mind some suspicions of the possible
abuse, that might have been made by him of this
practice in the medical department, and this sur-
prise was increased, when I found that Mr. Wert-
worth, the principal surgeon, had always abstained
from the practice himself, o► if he sent any orders
fur medicine, always returned en equivalent. En-
tries, it appears, were then made of the quantity of
medicine taken, but this precaution was not adopt-
ed when it was conveyed iu large quantities to the
dispensary of Mr. Redfern. Whether the supplies
of medicine thus made by him to flit free inhabi-
tants of the Colony not entitled to receive it wet,
gratuitous, or whether they constituted a distinct
source of profit to him, though blended with the
charges that he made for medical attendance, are
points upon which I have not yet been able to come
to a very satisfactory conclusion. It is stated by
Mr. [teary Cowper, who was Mr. R-dferu's appren-
lice, that althoogh entries of the charges foe medi-
cine were made in ►Mr. Redfcrit's books, yet that io
the account that he rendered to his patients, he
charged them with attendance and medicine, and
sometimes with medical attendance only.

Wishing to have further evidence upou this point,
I sent fora person who had acted in the capacity
of desk in the dispensary of the general hospital at
SycLey, and had afterwards been employed by Mr.
Redfern to keep his private accounts. Upon his
first trmunination, on the 16th of December, 1319,
mud when he was yet in the conditiou of • convict,
he had declared before me that the prices of the
medicine were charged by Mr. Redfern to his
patients, and that they were eliteied in the ledger.
Subsequently to this, and after he had received au
emancipation from Governor Macquarie, for which
he had been recommended by Mr. Wentworth
and Mr. Redfern, be found sufficient reason to
slier this declaration, and he corrected his state-
merit, by saying that neither the quantities nor the
prices of the medicine were ever charged either in the
accounts or the books. As I placed no confidence
in this man's declarations, and afterwards discovered
the reason for the change that had token place in
them, I addressed myself to Mr. Redfern, and re-
quired him to produce the prorate accounts of the
medicine that he had supplied to individuals, haying
previously informed him of the chargils that re-
sulted from the information then before me. To
Vats requintioe I received a direct refusal; and as I
considered that I had no stallions), to compel the
production of these banks, the question of the pro-
fit Thus made by Mr. Redfern in the approptiatiiin
of the medical stores of Government for several
years was left and still rests upon the testiinooy of
Mr. Henry Cowper, who had fiequently men the
books, and whose testimony is confirmed rather
than cootradicted by that of r prevaricating convict,
corrupted by the emancipation that I.e had received,
-end who had himself male the 'nines in them ;
and finally, it rests upon die refusal a Mr. Red-
fern to -produce his books, aid lies utter to 'rutin
the medicines time disposed of, if his Ni.jesty's Go..
vernment should be of opinion
. that he had no right
to convert to Ills own profit by sale, end without
account, the supplies of medicine that were ve-
ctor!), destined for the use of the convict*.
As to the nature of this appropriation, and whe-
ther under the pretence of malting a mere votive.
meat *apply to the wrote of Ins patrols, Mr. Red-
fern chose his own house rather (lain the dispensary
of the hospital, I do not think it siectosary now to
observe, further than to stare, that islthough the
medicine was taken from the hospital storm without
soy note or Mentorationin 'of the goanttiies, yet I
new believe there to have been uo studied coaceol..
meat in the mode or act of taking it; auto that this
profitable disposal of the property of "Government
hod confirmed to be made for several years by Me.
Redress, with the hessrledie s Mr. Wriswerth,

the principal surgeon, and without receiving from
him either prohibition or remark.
The surprise that I felt upon 'first becoming
acquainted with a practice that opened such a door
to fraud, and that had been found to he so very
prejudicial to the lower order of p.itients in the
colonial hospital, by diminishing to them the sup-
plies of the most useful medicines, was somewhat
increased by the silence of Mr. Redfern snider the
first intimation that I perisonolly Made to him on
the subject. accompanied as it was with some
rematks that were *intended to convey to him the
strong sense that I felt of the impropriety, not
to say criminality, of the practice. The terms in
which these remarks were conveyed were made
'use of by Mr. Redfern as a pretext for not
agaiu personally appearing before me ; and as
I fell no wish to renew an inquiry into
facts that appeared to be admitted, I allowed
him to mike his defence in writing to the churgea
that had resulted from them. These charges in•
volved another point of professional duty, which he
successfully answered ; an/ two or three of personal
conduct, for which Mr. Redfern considered him-
ielf responsible to the parties alone, and declined to
afford sue any explanation: the first of these points was
Ili" of unjustifiable severity in the punishment of his
apprentice, Mr. Henry Cowper, and in the treat-
ment of one of his convict servants ; and the next
was that of sending a very insulting letter to Mr.
B4W1111"o the principal surgeon, who hail succeeded
to that office on the retirement of Mr. Wentworth,
contrary to the expectations of Mr. Redfern, and to
the recommendation of Governor Macquarrie. I
wee aware that these points bore reference only to
the private and personal! character of Mr. Redfern ;
but as I conceived that Governor Macquierrie, by
raising him to the magistracy as well us by intro-
ducing him to his society, had provoked and deal-
t-nip-II inquiry into there as well as other points of
Mr. Redfern's character, and that the whole con-
duct of one whose later years were supposed to have
atoned for the acknowledged enormity of his Winer
crime, might justly become a subject of my inquiry,
I deemed it my dirty to enter upon it, more espe-
cially es the point in question, if established, seemed
to me to affect materially the wisdom of the ap-
pointment and selection of Mr. Redfern for the
magisterial office in New South Wales; for it hr..
grayed an irritabiliy, or rather a violence of temper,
both towards his inferiors and eoperiors, which, if
displayed in that copority, might be productive of
serious injury to the district in which he was about
to serve. It is admitted by-Mr. Redfern, that he
chastised his apprentice; and it is admitted by the
latter that he deserved chastisement; hut the seve-
rity and mode in which it was inflicted, both upon
the apprentice and the convict servant, exceeded
the bounds which the law has prescribed in the one
case, and was a positive violation of an ender long
ago jostled in New South Wales, by which a master
is prohibited from striking his convict servant.
The letter to Mr. Bowman was written at a period
when the feelings of Mr. Redfern were smarting
'under the disappointment, in not succeeding Mr.
Wentworth in the office of principal surgeon of the
colony ; and he slippers to have taken an opportu-
tunity of indulging them, on having heard of Mr.
Boserrum's visit to the colonial hospital, end 9f his
ennkitek *lnquiries concerning the patients there, be-
fore hie atersointment to the office had been notified
in the Sydney Gazette, or that the change of officers
bail actually taken place.
It appears that one of the convicts that had been
under Mr. Bowman's care in the Aden Carry, con-
vict ship, from Englend to New South Wales, bad
been sent on his arrival to the general hospital at
Sydney. Desi r of knowing how lie was. Mr.
Bowman had repaired to the hospital, but declined
to enter it till he had seen Mr. Wentworth, although
he conceived that under the general admission that
is given to all surgeons of the navy to visit the great
medical estahlislimeots in England, the pairmirointi
of Mr. Wentworth was not indispensable to enable
him to view the colonial hospital at Sydney. As
Mr. WelllWAlth was absent, end did not arrive at
she hospital VI 'lr. Baseman had left it. he informed
Mr. Cowper, who then acted as assistant-rurgetin,
that if Mr. Bowman should call again at the
hospital on the hiltooring day. and that if tie
wished to see it, he (Mr. Wentworth) would action-
pony him. It happened fist Mr. Bowman called
its Mr. Wentworth. absence. sod es he found on in-
quiry, that Mr. Redfern was confined to his house
by illness, he, without waiting for Mr. Wentworth,
accompanied Mr. Cosiper through the wards of the
hospital. • In the coarse of this visit lie saw. mind
made some inquiry of his patieut respecting his
treatment; mud then retired.

Upon information being given to Mr. Redfern
of this visit. he addressed • letter to Mi. Bowman,
which, considering the relative situation of the
parties, he did not think himself called upon to no-
tice, but in which, after assuming that the hospital
was in his charge, and was to he considered to re-
main so until the change of office.. took place, Mr.
Redfern charges Mr. Bowman with having had re-
course to insidious' ind unbecoming means, for the
purpose of obtaining the appointment to the office
of principal surgeon, which Mr. Redfern, through
the recommendation of GOV..fllol' MACqUalrfie, hid
so anxiously expected to obtain.
Allowing for the irritation of feeling that a sense
of these galling circumstances may have produced,
I cannot admit that Mr. Redfern had any right to
mown, the exclusive control of the general hospi-
tal, when Mr. Wentworth was on the spot, er to dic-
tate to a profession:l man, 'limn what tenni, he was
to be admitted to it. The temper and character of
Mr. Redfern are atroogly illustrated in this, as well
as another letter that he addressed to Mr. Bateman,
en hts sticcerding to the charge r f the general hos-
pital, surd rhey have received still further illustra-
ricni "from the several letters that he addressed to
myself upon 'the nature of my inquities into his
conduct, and the umiuccessfol result of my inter-
ference in Ivy appointment to the magistracy.
The result of these issquiries has confirmed me
in the belief that I 'then and have since enter-
tained, that although Mr. Retlferu''s profetsional
till was acknowledged, and that, sided by great
sasiduityund good natural talent., lie had over-
come the want of early study end experience, yet
'that the irritability of his temper constituted a well.
founded objection tobis appoiutmeut to the
tracy. My objectioes, however. were oot collord
Ito this defect stone.

011646 e Natlanai.)

PRICE OF LEATHER.
Botts, 50 to 56 lbs earli 18.1 to 21,11 per lb.
Ditto, 56 to 661bs. each ... • —.l to
Dressing Hides
Fine Coat It Hides . . l9O to 200
Crop Hides 35 to 40 lbs for cuttiing 19.1 to fluit
Ditto 45 to 50lbs 20.1 to 210
Cal( Nkins 30 to 401bs 29,1 to 26J
Ditto 5U to 7014 s ...Mil to 34.1
Ditto 70 to Millis 26.1 to 58,1
Small Seals (Givenlatill). 184 111 20J
Large (Imo
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