The following had been considered:

Statement made by Schoales dated 21 March 1843

King v. Schoales

Trusting to a charity for a sum which was to have been preached (?) and other exertions I made use of the expressions contained in my letter of 23 February 1841. But up to the date of my departure from England I had only received Thirty pounds. Ten pounds of which I gave to Mr King in Liverpool. Ten pounds to Capt. Walker in negotiating for a larger Cabin for Mr King than the one he had originally fixed upon. Ten pounds towards the passage of Mrs King's servant girl. Mr King by this means became entitled to the gratuitous services of this servant for twelve months after landing and I consider that I have a claim upon him for the balance of eight pounds. Eighteen pounds being the sum charged for the passage of female immigrants.

I wrote to my partner apprising him of Mr King's intended arrival but hearing of two other clergyman having arrived in the Colony and that one was likely to be stationed at York I did not instruct my partner … and have a house ready and a garden started. I considered, as two clergymen had since come out, it extremely doubtful where Mr King would be stationed.

I have not the remotest recollection of ever receiving two letters from Mr King requiring an explanation respecting the £70. I remember meeting him in the street, the only conversation I remember to have taken place was respecting the payment of the balance of the girl's passage.

I have no recollection of stating that I had received his letters …

Letter from Reverend King in response to Schoales' Statement

Fremantle March 24^th 1843

Dear Sir

The statement made by Mr Schoales on 21^st before me I shall examine each sentence as it occurs and place a statement of truth and simple facts beside it.

The first "that he had only received thirty pounds before leaving England" would require more logic than the schools are yet acquainted with to tally with a paragraph to be found in one of his letters now lying in the Gov. office stating that "he & some others had collected seventy pounds".

The next that he had given me ten pounds of that money is true.

The "negotiation" which he mentions "with Capt. Walker for a larger cabin that that originally agreed upon" was simply thus - I had engaged a cabin from Mr Schoales as agent of the ship, but having been introduced to Capt. Walker in Mr William Moore's office in Liverpool he (Capt. W.) kindly agreed to change cabins with me after which I gave Mr Schoales £160 the receipt for which in full I enclose. Capt. W. never even hinted at a wish to receive any remuneration in the exchange.

The next statement "ten pounds towards passage for Mrs King's servant girl" is set aside by the fact that Mrs K. by Mr Schoales advice brought no servants, & I have a letter of Mr Schoales before me dated April 21^st in which he says "you shall have the services of one or more of the female emigrants under my charge, which will save you the passage out of a servant & you can select any of them that you prefer to wait on Mrs King in the colony on the same rules as any other settler."

I paid the girl for her services on board and was not by any means "entitled to the gratuitous services of this girl for twelve months" as he asserts. I received her , after leaving the ship, on the usual terms of this place.

This servant, after some time, was found to be with child; when I asked Mr Schoales whether he would provide a lodging for, as she could not remain with me, he paid no attention to my enquiry more than an expression of regret; accordingly I consulted the "Resident" of Fremantle" & he agreed with me as to the propriety of the course we afterwards adopted, namely to provide a lodging & to keep her from further evil. I have still about £2.15.0 of the balance of her wages in my hand.

The next clause - "that he has a claim upon Mr King for 8 pounds" seems marvellously modest, after writing to me a few days ago for twelve pounds and enclosing a bill to that amount for my acceptance, as part of her wages.

The next statement about "cropping my garden etc" may pass for as much as it is worth.

But that denying the receipt of my two letters which I wrote to him enquiring how or when I might expect the fulfilment of the promises made to me by him before we left home, is true or it is not.

If it is true, how came Mr Schoales to acknowledge the receipt of them verbally which he did in Fremantle when I happened to meet him at a public auction of sheep etc. sold by Mr Samson.

Again he mentions "a conversation in the street respecting a balance of girls passage"; now the word balance was never once used on either side; it would have been quite misapplied, nothing having as yet been given or received; but on that occasion I informed him that I had advanced to her for necessary dresses about eleven pounds & that I had still about twelve pounds in hands which would be at his disposal if he wished to undertake the responsibility of providing a lodging & keeping her from starvation or perhaps worse to which he paid no attention.

In a former conversation while standing nearly opposite Mrs Leak's store in Perth, he did inform me that he had laid our correspondence before the Government.

I am sorry to trouble you with such lengthened communication & beg to remain your obliged servt.

G. King

 

Letter from John Schoales in response to that from Reverend King.

Perth March 28^th 1843

My Dear Sir

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 25^th inst. enclosing copy of Mr King's letter of the 24^th. The facts as stated by me not appearing satisfactory to Mr King, I must endeavour to strengthen my case by collateral testimony. With respect to the accounts actually rec'd therefore I must beg Major Irwin to have the goodness to write to my sister Miss Schoales with whom he is well acquainted; from her I received £30, to her I gave a receipt for that sum, and to her I confidently refer. A similar course I shall pursue with regard to the sum paid to Captain Walker; to him I shall write, to the care of Messrs Mangles & Co. and his evidence will I trust be sufficient even for Mr King.

I am at a loss to understand why Mrs King's having brought no servant by my advice should absolve her husband from paying anything for the services of the girl I let her have; had Mr King brought a servant of his own selection it is plain that he must have paid the ship owners for her passage, say £10, and a further sum as wages to the girl, say at the Colonial rate £16/- making a total of £34. Wishing to do Mr King a service I got for him the services of a girl on board together with her services for 12 months after landing for £18 and allowing four pounds for remuneration for services on board, he still saved twelve pounds. If this be not a plain explanation for "saving the passage & outfit of a servant" I am at a loss to understand figures and words. Mr King not having even offered to pay the £18 for the services of the indentured servant & not appearing likely to do so, I paid myself in part (£10) and drew on him, as I find now for more than I ought, however a balance is still in my favor of eight pounds.

Mr King says that he "was by no means entitled to the gratuitous services of this servant, but engaged her on the usual terms of the place". Does Mr King suppose that I was fool enough to let a girl whose passage I was responsible for make an engagement with anyone by which she was to profit, & I lose all? Or does he suppose that any one will believe that he was some four months in the Company of 120 indentured servants in the narrow space of the ship, & yet be ignorant that they were indentured, be ignorant of the terms under which they were shipped, namely a year's gratuitous services for their passage, that he could suppose that they were free to make an engagement with any one save with my leave?

No Sir, I am free to say plainly that I am (?) but to her service on landing in Mr King's family to discharge of her indentures & to serve from October 1841 to October 1842 for the passage. You and Major Irwin had servants from me for the same term and you are well aware that the phrase "£10 for her passage" was merely a conventual speech for "payment beforehand of a years wages for a year's service".

I perfectly recollect the coolness with which Mr King made my taking care of a girl who had been seduced in his service, conditional on his payment to me of anything - I confess I was so amused at the excessive nonchalance of this, that I made no reply beyond a commonplace observation of regret, the course however, followed by Mr King seems to be to have provided a lodging for the unfortunate & to make me ultimately pay for it.

I again assert that a most careful retrospection of my recollections & minute searching amongst my letters strengthen me in my former opinion that if any letters were written by Mr King to me in the tenor alluded to, I most unquestionably never received them. Moreover, I certainly never acknowledged the receipt of them verbally or otherwise; I well recollect the sale of sheep at Fremantle beyond mere expressions of courtesy & general observations on the business of the day I am pretty clear our conversation never went. It seems Sir, that these letters were to require an explanation exactly similar to that which I have already given. You will do me the justice to recollect that the very hour the dastardly report reached my ears, I was in communication with you & Major Irwin and demanded an enquiry. What benefit could it have been to me months ago, when evidence was fresh, to have shirked and explanation so easy & I trust so full; or why to try to postpone to this period what could have been as well done then.

No Sir, all common sense bears me out in saying had Mr King's letters ever reached me, they would have met the same prompt attention that the underhand reports received.

Mr King's motives I am at a loss to understand. I defy him to say that I have ever treated him or his family with ought but attention and civility. I do not blame him for his endeavour to take care that the property of the Church was kept (secure?) but I deeply regret the means he employed.

If he considered himself wronged, I was always at hand to account for my conduct; holding an office under Government, I was answerable to any tribunal my Superiors thought proper. A public enquiry was at his call, he could have sent to me thru' a mutual friend, when there could be no mistake, but none of these resources met Mr King's idea of justice. After weeks, it is possible months, of privately circulated slander, it appears at last that the only enquiry made is at my request. Mr King may reconcile it as he likes with his stand of open … thus to treat one who has never intentionally injured him but you must permit me to say that his conduct at least savours very little of that Charity which is long-suffering, kind & hoping all things.

For your own very kind conduct in this affair herein allow me to return my grateful thanks, and in conclusion I may refer to Mr (?) whom many months ago I gave the identical explanation under the verandah of the Gvt. Offices which I have since given to you. So true is my assertion that I have always been accessible to any requisition for explanation & that I have never shrunk from the enquiry.

I remain, My Dear Sir, your deeply obliged and grateful

J. Schoales

21 April 1843

Reverend Sir

We have attentively gone into the several letters you have place in our hands as well as the Statements made by yourself and Mr Schoales both orally and in writing and we have arrived at the following conclusion.

That Mr Schoales should have refrained from representing to you that he had collected about Seventy Pounds unless he had that Money in hand or was fully convinced that the parties who had promised to subscribe that amount where persons in whom he might place implicit confidence for the payment whenever that Money might be wanting, as such a statement was otherwise likely to mislead you and to render you liable to much inconvenience on your landing in the Colony. At the same time, we can easily imagine that, a person of sanguine disposition and anxious for the attainment of a particular assertion founded on his own eager hopes and expectations without any intention of deceiving the party to whom he addressed himself.

That the payment for the exchange of Cabin as stated by Mr Schoales may have been made to Captain Walker without your knowledge, as though Mr Schoales did not appear to you to have moved in the arrangement, it may have been through his interference and recommendation as Charterer of the Vessel and your Agent that Captain Walker was induced to accede to the exchange. This, however, is a question which can only be finally decided by communication immediately with Captain Walker himself.

That the payment for the Servant Girl of the sum of Eighteen Pounds of which Ten Pounds has been received by Mr Schoales was for her passage to this Country and her gratuitous services to you for twelve months after her arrival in it, but work performed by her during the voyage was to be considered extra. All the servants for other private persons in this Country were brought our by Mr Schoales on these terms and Eight Pounds of the Passage Money is still therefore due by you to him.

That with regard to Mr Schoales statement that he would write to his partner to have a house ready for you Mr Schoales explanation does not appear to us unreasonable. Having heard of the arrival of another Clergyman in the Colony, he was very doubtful where you would be stationed and it would have been hazardous for him to have given any instructions for your reception.

That with respect to Mr Schoales assertion that he never received the two letters mentioned by you and your declaration that in a conversation he acknowledged their receipt it is impossible for us to form an opinion, the two statements being at variance with each other and there being no third person to apply to on the subject.

We are permitted by the Governor to state that having submitted this letter to him, he concurs with us in the opinions herein expressed.

Sir

I have the pleasure to enclose herewith for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the receipt of Captain Walker of the Barque Ganges in the sum of ten pounds being the consideration for his giving up his large stern cabin in that barque to the Revd. Geo. King & family.

You will recollect that in the inquiry demanded by me in the truth of the Charges preferred against me by the Revd. Geo. King, the only item left to an uncertainty was this sum of ten pounds. The account of the monies therefore received by me is as follows.

Money recd. from Miss Schoales in Dublin she expended in the making Mr King comfortable & aiding him in his emigration - £30.

Expended:

Cash to Mr King £10

Part Payment of passage of his servant £10

Paid Captain Walker £10

[Total] £30

[Captain Walker's receipt was enclosed and stated "I acknowledge to have received from Mr John Schoales in Liverpool, previous to the sailing of the barque 'Ganges' in June 1841, the sum of Ten Pounds (£10), being a consideration for giving up my large stern cabin in that barque to the Revd. G. King and family." The receipt was signed by Captain Walker and witnessed by Jno. W. F. Blundell.

Governor Hutt made a notation at the bottom of the letter - "Very satisfactory - communicate this to Revd. Mr King"