[Tasmania.] Long Autograph Letter Signed from Hamilton S. Dove ('Hamilton') in Tasmania to 'Kate' [Miss M. K. Dove of Wandsworth, London, England], discussing a variety of topics, including the 'roasting weather'. With two newspaper cuttings.

4pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In stamped and postmarked envelope addressed to 'Miss M. K. Dove | 3 Brodrick Road | Wandsworth Common | London S.W.17'. Topics include the 'roasting weather' ('many of the paddocks are covered in cornstacks, but people with lawns are sighing, as the grass is brown & parched'), with the whole of the last page (dated 4 July) discussing it; his friends the Luttrell family ('You remember my telling you about Ed. Luttrell's brother, a retired farmer who lives at Sheffield near Mt. Roland'); Rev. Jennings-Smith, 'who came from England to N.S. Wales about 1840, with a wife & 10 children'; 'Mr. Conch', who has 'got abouut 50 persons to migrate here since he came out himselft, so he is a better agent than the official ones; 'two tons of black currants' going to waste. He explains that one of the cuttings relates 'the Koalas (the paper spelt it wrongly)', and the other to a 'lady-lecturer [...] a cousin of Sir Wm. Watson the poet; she is lecturing in the town on psychology'. In 1892 the English journal 'Nature' described Dove as 'A FRIEND (Mr. Hamilton S. Dove) who has resided for several years in Tasmania', and the last page of the letter reflects this interest in meteorology, beginning: '4th July. No sign of a change yete, although the Govt. Meteorologist promised us a cool change with showers on 2nd. inst.' The letter concludes: 'Oh! for an icy breeze off the Antarctic so that one could breathe again!' One of the cuttings (dated by Dove to January 1930) is headed 'Migration Agent', and concerns 'Mr. J. Couch, an Englishman resident for three years in Tasmania who has interested himself in promoting migration'; and the other (attributed by Dove to the 'Advocate', Tasmania) is headed 'A Curious Friendship', and begins: '"H.S.D." [i.e. Dove himself] writes: A strange instance of two very different animals chumming together has been reported from England.'