The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-10-20 00:00:00

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

There have been so many contradictory accounts of Van
Diemen's Land lately published, that the following extracts
from a letter, written by a ;cost reipectable settler to his
friend in London, and dated March 29, may not prove
without value:—

I tun again in the slated house, with all my packages opened
for axle, not being able to prevail upon any of our great merchants
to purthase any of my wares. at which I am not surprised, (or
the colony is so overstocked with goods of every description. and
money is so extremely scarce. that it is a very tl:fficult matter to
make sales on any terms except on credit, and then the chances am
much against the payment being made a: any future period. Vet
there an a few articles which would sell at a good profit, bad as the
tittles are here. Almost every article of immediate consumption,
such as cheese, butter, porter. pork, and hams, finds a ready
mazket, as these articles must be obtained for the supply of the
journey. and hardware is quite a drug; so are saddlery, paints, oils,
stationary, iron, ke. Slops, well assorted, are saleable, but scarcely
awe other article, with the exception of a few small articles for
ladies' wear, such as caps, bonnets, silk dresses, Oct. Tea and
sugar we are abundantly supplied with, from India direct. and just
now we bare incur harbour the Amboyne, loaded with tea, sugars,
silks. nankeens, ribbands, stigsrcandy. &c.
Our exchange is now 16 per cent. on Treasury Dills, but
prime bills have been negociated at 74 per cent. There is a sad
change in the colony since I left it in 11121 ; but here lam for the
rest of try existence.
" Our passage from the Cape was very boisterous, and on the II th
of January our old ship (the Aguilar) caught tire in the store-mom
immediately below the dining-room, during a gale of wind, with a
very heavy sea running, which threatened destruction to all on
board, as there wail no chance of escaping in the boats. To en-
deavour to paint the scene is beyond my feeble powers. Imagine
to yourself upwards of eighty souls assembled chiefly on deck,
some screaming, some praying, others endeavouring to procure
buckets or utensils to carry water in order to quench the devourbig
element, the Captain running up and down, wringing his hands.
and scarcely knowing what lie did. Three several times he gave
orders to have the boats cut away, from a fear of the men attempt.
mg to escape from the flames. and thereby depriving us of their
assistance; but the order was mot obeyed. Finding I could be of
no use for want of something to get water in, and knowing there
wen seven cask, of gnopowsier In the place where the Are brake'
out. I very quietly planed John and Sarah in the round-house, that
we might by the tint explosion go together; but the Almighty Dis-
poser of Events mw it was good to spare our lives, by prompting
the third mate to call for blankets, which. very fortunately, were
immediately thrown to him, and with those, and a plentiful 'supply
of wrtor, the fire was put out. The accident arose from the lanthom
being thrown over, and the candle falling near a cask of gin, which
was leaky.
The Hibernia will sail from this place in June, to take home
Govemor Sorrell and family."