The treasury was again robbed in 1832. It was observed the office papers were deranged: constables were stationed to watch, and a sentinel was placed at the door. The sudden examination of the chest by the governor discovered a more serious transaction. It appeared, capital had been borrowed from the chest without authority, to the amount of some thousands; the money was, however, restored. No public care could reclaim these funds from their tendency to escape, and they were not deemed sure until out of the custody of the government. The secretary of state directed the public cash to be deposited with the banks. The treasurer was not authorised to retain more than L10,000 of paper, and the Van Diemen's Land and Derwent establishments each received charge of L10,000 cash. During six years, the revenue had risen from L30,000 to L60,000: notwithstanding a very liberal official expenditure, the surplus funds (1831) amounted to nearly L40,000. The interior communication was facilitated both by the business of the police and the cheap labor in the hands of the crown. The post of Sorell's time was a private speculation, conveyed on foot, afterwards on horseback. On the 19th June, 1832, a "cheap and expeditious conveyance, to and from Launceston," was announced. The owner, Mr. J. E. Cox, drove tandem, at the rate of forty miles a-day: only one passenger was accommodated, at a fare of L5. The practicability of the journey was then the subject of considerable betting.[160] In 1827, and during two following seasons, New South Wales suffered a serious drought, which increased in severity. Rivers were exhausted, and their beds left dry. Not only the want of rain was felt, but a withering blight, travelling in a defined current over the cultivated districts, cut off their harvests. In two years the cultivation of wheat in Van Diemen's Land increased from twenty to thirty thousand acres, and the average price of wheat at Hobart Town was 8s. per bushel. This stimulated further production, and tended to avert from Van Diemen's Land the distress, which over speculation and scarcity produced in New South Wales. This dearth was followed by two plentiful harvests (1831), and a depression of price. The farmers of New South Wales entreated General Darling to establish a corn law, to check importation. In declining the project, he attributed the successful competition of this country to the superiority of its wheat and facility of transit; and hinted that the elder colony was indebted to foreign supplies for its subsistence. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 157: _Observations on the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land._ By John Henderson. Calcutta, 1832. p. 5.] [Footnote 158: _Journal of a Voyage to Van Diemen's Land_, p. 108.] [Footnote 159: _Gazette_, March, 1828.]