2-269 (Text)

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To D. Coates Esq. Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, London.
Sydney, NSW, 2 September, 1843
Dear Sir,
I beg to state for the information of the Committee of the Church Missionary Society that in the beginning of the present year the colonial government discontinued my salary for performing the duties of chaplain at Moreton Bay, the settlement having then ceased to be penal. At the same time intelligence arrived here from the Committee of the Church Missionary Society in London, that the Mission at Wellington Valley was to be abandoned, which circumstances left me and my family without support, and, as I have not since been able to procure a livelihood, my circumstances have become much embarrassed.
The Committee in London know that my salary was small, and the time I was solely under government, I received less than I had done from the Society, and the Committee of Correspondence here can bear testimony that I have always acted with the strictest integrity in reference to the Society &c. Thus, I was unprovided and unprepared to sustain such a shock in my circumstances.
I beg therefore of the Committee to take my case into their kind consideration, and to grant me a small gratuity or annuity, as may be thought proper.
I am
Dear Sir
Your most obedient servant
J.C.S. Handt.