On the 21st the _Kitty_ returned from Norfolk Island, having on board
Captain Paterson and his company of the new corps, together with a number
of free people and convicts; amounting in all to one hundred and
seventy-two persons; Governor King having been desired to get rid of any
such characters as might be dangerous or troublesome to him.
Mr. King wrote very favourably of the state of the settlements, under his
command. The crops of wheat and maize had produced so abundantly, as to
insure him a sufficiency of that article for the next twelve months. The
inhabitants were healthy; and such had been the effects of some wholesome
regulations, and the attention of the magistrates to enforce them, that
for the last three months not any offence deserving of punishment had
been committed, nor a cob of corn purloined either of private or public
property.
At the departure of the _Kitty_, he was busied in erecting some necessary
buildings, as barracks, a granary, storehouses, etc. and had completed a
very excellent house for his own use. Lime-stone having been found in
great abundance on Norfolk Island, enabled him to build with some extent
and security than had hitherto been done even in New South Wales.
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