The governor having, by the arrival of the _Speedy_ in April last received a letter from the secretary of state, he gave directions for preparing his Majesty's ship _Buffalo_ for sea; which was accordingly begun; and various accounts were ordered to be made out preparatory to their being forwarded to England. Information having been laid before the governor by the officers who were appointed a committee for superintending the erection of the public gaol at Sydney, that several persons had resisted the payment of the necessary assessments which had been ordered to defray the expenses of the building; it was ordered, that those assessments should be immediately paid into the hands of the persons directed to collect them, or, in case of a further refusal to a measure which had been entered upon at a general meeting of the landholders, etc., in the colony, such steps as should be adjudged necessary would be instantly pursued. Such being the conduct of these people, even in a measure where their own personal interests were so essentially concerned, can it be wondered at, that so much profligacy prevailed in every part of the settlement? July.] The prisoners who were left for execution at the end of the last month suffered death, two of them at Sydney on the 3rd and the third at Parramatta on the 5th of this month. If examples of this kind could strike terror into the minds of the spectators, they certainly had not lately been without these salutary though dreadful lessons. A general muster was taken, during the month, of the inhabitants of the several districts, attended by Lieutenant-Governor King, and other officers of the settlement; and the _Buffalo_ dropped down the harbour, that she might with more ease prepare for her voyage; as it was impossible, without having recourse to punishment, to keep the people to their duty on board while lying in the midst of temptation in Sydney Cove. Several gentlemen being now preparing to return to England, having obtained the governor's permission for that purpose; much live stock was sold, and a considerable addition was made to that belonging to the crown by the purchase of some of the large horned cattle. The _Martha_, having been allowed to go to Hunter river for coals in the beginning of the month, on her return, having anchored in some very bad weather in the north part of the harbour, Little Manly Bay, was by the parting of her cable driven on a reef of rocks, where her bottom was beat out. With the assistance of the officers and crew of the _Buffalo_, she was got off, and, being floated with casks, was brought up to Sydney, where her damages were found not to be irreparable. By the master's account it appeared, that he had not been in the river, but in a salt water inlet, about five leagues to the southward of the river, having a small island at its entrance. He was conducted by some natives to a spot at a small distance from the mouth, where he found abundance of coal.