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48
Sydney, C.B. 22 May , 1848.
Sir,
Not being aware that any funds will be placed at my disposal for the benefit of the Indians in this Island, I am uncertain how to reply to their request for seed for the present season. These people , with their customary improvidence, have not made application until now that it is actually time, if not past the time, to commence the operations of sowing and planting : and altho' I was convinced of the prevailing scarcity being so extreme that it was most unlikely that the Indians had a supply of seed, or could obtain it, yet I did not consider myself justified in representing the urgency of their want, merely upon my own [?impression] but waited until they should themselves come forward to make it known.

Notwithstanding , however, that a supply of seed would not be now of so much advantage as it would have been if provided earlier, yet it may still greatly help to
avert
Hon.ble Joseph Howe,
&c &c &c