UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA?
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA? 
 
 OR, 
 
 HEALTH, BUSINESS, AND PLEASURE 
 IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 Forming a Guide to the Australian Colonies for the 
 Emigrant Settler and Business Man, 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE LACON JAMES. 
 
 WITH TWO ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, STRAND, W.C. 
 
 1892.
 
 A 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 I. The City of Sydney 5 
 
 II. The Suburbs Parks and Public Buildings of 
 
 Sydney 12 
 
 III. Sydney Restaurants, Hotels, and Boarding Houses 21 
 IV. Houses in Sydney House Rent and House- 
 keeping The Butcher's Bill Furnishing 
 
 Cost of Living generally ... 29 
 
 V. Consumption of meat The Live Stock Resources 
 of the Colony The Sydney Meat Supply- 
 Its Imperfections The Frozen Meat Trade 39 
 VI. Fruit, Vegetables, and Milk in New South Wales 
 
 Their Cost Supervision of Dairies ... 50 
 VII. "The Harvest of the Seas "Salt and Fresh 
 Water Fisheries The Fish Market in 
 
 Sydney Oyster Culture 58 
 
 VIII. The Liquor Trade Are Australians Temperate ? 
 
 What they Drink The Licensing Laws ... 67 
 IX. The Railways Tramways and Roads of New 
 
 South Wales 74 
 
 X. Australian Scenery" The Bush " " Bush " 
 Townships and Cities Swagmen Sun- 
 downers On the Wallaby " 85 
 
 XI. Sheep-runs What has to be done upon them 
 
 A Woolshed in Working Order Droving... 95 
 XII. Art in New South Wales The National Gallery. 
 Native Artists and Local Exhibitions 
 Music The Theatre Literature . 106
 
 II. 
 
 XIII. Wages in Town and Country The Prospects of 
 Professional, Clerical, and Working Men, 
 and also of Women, in the Colony 113 
 
 XIV. Sport in the Colony Sporting Proclivities, and 
 Sportsmen Horse-racing and Racecourses 
 The Totalisator " Sweeps "Games and 
 
 Pastimes 123 
 
 XV. Trades Unionism in New South Wales The 
 Great Strike The Shearers' Grievance 
 Labour Troubles generally 132 
 
 XVI. By Steamship to Australia The Suez, Cape, and 
 American Routes Ports of Call, and What 
 They are Like Oriental Traders Life on 
 
 Board Ship 139 
 
 XVII. The Sailing Vessel Route The " Roaring 
 Forties," "Trades" and "Doldrums" 
 The Monsoons Bird Life at Sea Hints 
 
 upon the Voyage 154 
 
 XVIII. The Climate of New South Wales -The Coast, 
 Table Land, and Plains Heat and Rainfall. 
 Health Resorts, and Cost of Living 
 What to Wear 171 
 
 XIX. The Steerage, and How to Make it Comfortable 
 The Several Classes Compared, with 
 Special Information for Steerage Passengers 
 
 both by the Suez and Cape Routes 184 
 
 XX. Animal Life in the Colony The Marsupials: 
 Will they soon become Extinct? Birds, 
 Reptiles, and Insects 193 
 
 XXI. How to Acquire Land The Land Laws ef the 
 Colony What to Do Business Openings 
 The Small Capitalist Undeveloped Indus- 
 tries 204 
 
 XXII. Forestry in the Colony Native Woods The 
 Watlle Tree and Its Cultivation Irrigation 
 and Conservation of Water Mining 
 Broken Hill" Prospecting," " Reefing," 
 and Alluvial Working 219
 
 III. 
 
 XXIII. A Chapter for Business Men The System of 
 Import Business The Appointment and 
 Choice of Agents Rents of Offices, Ware- 
 houses and Shops Government Contracts 
 The Wharves of Sydney Wharfage and 
 Other Charges Customs and Excise Pro- 
 tection of Patents and Trade Marks ... 229 
 
 XXIV. Disease and Epidemics in New South Wales 
 Sanitary Questions Municipal Shortcom- 
 ings Sydney Hospitals ... ... ... 241 
 
 XXV. Types of Australians The Rising Generation 
 How They Talk in Australia Education 
 The Cadet Corps ... 249 
 
 XXVI. An Idle Man in Sydney Horses and Carriages, 
 and their Cost Amusements Newspapers 
 Excursions from Sydney, Near and Far 
 Tasmania New Zealand The South Seas 
 
 China and Japan ... ... 257 
 
 XXVII. New Chums Their Prospects in Australia 
 
 What Can They Do Letters of Introduction 264 
 XXVIII. Sydney Social Life Larrikins, and Larrikin 
 
 " Pushes," and other matters 269 
 
 XXIX. The Mode of Government The Legislative 
 Council and Assembly Legal and Ecclesi- 
 astical Matters The Police Force The 
 Imperial and Local Forces in the Colony ... 275 
 XXX. Concluding Remarks Centralization Life in 
 Cities Technical Education The Abori- 
 ginal "John Chinaman " Alien Com- 
 munities .... 286
 
 LIVERPOOL 
 EDWARD HOVVELL CHURCH STREET
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ALTHOUGH, day by day almost, something is being done 
 to render ocean travel, if possible, more speedy and 
 luxurious and, it may be added, less expensive; it is, 
 even yet, somewhat of a " far cry " to Australia, and less 
 is known, I am inclined to think, by English people 
 generally, about the country and its resources than is 
 excusable in these present days of progress. 
 
 It is true that I have confined the following pages, 
 mainly, to one colony, but much that I have written, upon 
 what I might term the most essential points, which, the 
 intending emigrant, whatever his position may be, should 
 first consider ; will, I think, apply to Australia generally. 
 A brief sojourn in a new country has before now induced 
 a visitor to regard himself as competent to write a book 
 upon it ; but during no small experience of foreign travel 
 I have endeavoured to learn how misleading first impres- 
 sions too frequently are ; as well as the great mistake of 
 seeing things, through the eyes, as it were, even of the 
 most experienced of cicerones. In the present instance 
 I hope that two visits to the Antipodes, and more than 
 two years varied experience of life in the city and " Bush "
 
 ^ INTRODUCTION. 
 
 alike with my object constantly before me may have 
 enabled me to do some justice to at least one great 
 division of a vast continent, viz. , New South Wales. 
 
 First of all, there must be many whose thoughts, for 
 diverse reasons, must often turn towards founding a new 
 home in a new country, finding or extending a market for 
 their productions, or seeking a suitable field for the remu- 
 nerative investment of capital. 
 
 Again, there is, I fear, an increasing number of prema- 
 ture " breakdowns " in the pace at which the race of life 
 must now be run the "pace that kills," which call 
 urgently for rest and change of scene. While, lastly, 
 there are many who, having the means to enable them to 
 fly from the vagaries of an English winter, might for once, 
 at least, exchange the Riviera for the Antipodes, to the 
 benefit of health and pocket alike. 
 
 For all the foregoing I have endeavoured to provide 
 some useful information in the following pages, and, at 
 the same time, I trust they will not be devoid of interest, 
 if not instruction, to those fortunate beings who are 
 healthy, happy, and contented "at home." 
 
 Briefly reviewing my work, I would first ask those 
 for unfortunately there are not a few that do so who 
 would tempt fortune in Australia without having been 
 brought up to any particular trade, profession, or calling, 
 to glance at a chapter headed " New Chums," No. XXVII., 
 as well as at " Wages in Town and Country," No. XIII. 
 
 The cost of eating, drinking, housekeeping, and living 
 generally, are but prosaic items ; but they are, I think, 
 very necessary to those who have to weigh carefully the 
 cost of a new venture.
 
 INTRODUCTION. & 
 
 For the consideration of the invalid and the robust 
 alike, I have submitted three chapters on ocean travel, 
 based upon a long experience thereof ; while my notes 
 under the heading of" The Climate of New South Wales," 
 No. XVIII., for the benefit of the first-named, have been 
 kindly reviewed by a medical friend of wide experience. 
 
 After a long acquaintance with Australian business, I 
 have ventured upon Chapter XXV., which may possess 
 some interest for business men ; while a resume of the 
 land laws, business openings, &c., will, I hope, be of 
 interest and use to those who contemplate emigration to 
 the Antipodes. 
 
 The chapters on " Art and Sport '' in the colony, and 
 "An Idle Man in Sydney," are more for the pleasure 
 seeker. Finally, I have, after very careful enquiry, 
 submitted chapters on the " Live Stock Resources of the 
 Colony, &c.," " Forestry Irrigation and Mining," and 
 cognate questions ; concerning which, I would remark, 
 that I hope rather to prove the means of exciting some 
 curiosity or desire upon the part of my readers, to learn 
 something of the resources of the vast continent of 
 Australia, than pose as an authority upon the several 
 subjects. 
 
 The works I have consulted have all been purely 
 statistical. My best thanks are due to Mr. Coghlan's* 
 "Wealth and Progress of New South Wales," Parlia- 
 mentary Reports, &c., and "The Year Book of New 
 South Wales," compiled from official sources : while, in 
 confirming my gossip on the Fauna of the Colony and 
 the marvellous bird-life of the Southern Ocean, I have to 
 * The Government Statistician of New South Wales.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 acknowledge the great courtesy extended to me by 
 the officials of the South Kensington Natural History 
 Museum. 
 
 Correctness has been my aim throughout. If I have 
 in any way erred, being but human, I claim that forgive- 
 ness which is proverbially divine.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE CITY OF SYDNEY. 
 
 Two furrowed, weatherworn headlands the northern 
 falling in a grim precipice of some four hundred feet 
 the southern stretching out with more gradual slope to 
 stay the long rollers of the Pacific are passed : and we 
 are soon in the far-famed Sydney harbour, perhaps after 
 months of sea and sky, fair and foul weather; or, it 
 may be, fresh from the flat, unlovely, shores of Port 
 Philip. 
 
 A succession of bays and inlets of every shape and 
 size open out on either hand, and a most varied, if not 
 unrivalled, panorama of wooded heights, now abrupt, 
 now sloping gently to the water's edge, dotted here and 
 there with tasteful mansions and terraced gardens, 
 reflected in the bright waters of the harbour, charm the 
 beholder almost to the verge of bewilderment. 
 
 But mail steamers wait not for scenery, so we are soon 
 alongside Circular Quay, perhaps in a crowded tender, or, 
 if there is room, our steamer takes up her position at the 
 quayside, where the largest ocean-going giants that have 
 as yet appeared in Australian waters find depth enough 
 and to spare. Here we make our first step ashore, where, 
 in 1788, Captain Philip landed to form the nucleus of
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 the City of Sydney ; to use his own words, " at the head 
 of a cove, near a run of fresh water, which stole silently 
 through thick wood." 
 
 The cove is here, but changed indeed. The " run of 
 fresh water and thick wood " are now no more. An 
 old-world quay, overshadowed by huge prosaic ware- 
 houses and solidly-built buildings, has taken their place ; 
 and singularly home-like all appears. Less grimy, 
 however in fact, infinitely brighter, and by no means 
 depressing is even the meanest and ugliest build ing. but 
 there is at first sight scarcely the smallest detail that 
 smacks of a foreign land. 
 
 There are, perhaps, fewer pleasanter hours than the 
 first one spends on shore after a long voyage, however 
 much we liked our ship, we are rarely sorry to leave her 
 and see fresh faces and fresh surroundings. How refresh- 
 ing is the first toilet in a comfortable room, instead of in 
 a cramped cabin ; and what a pleasure it is to sally forth 
 for our first walk ashore. 
 
 The shops we see are undeniably smart, and there is 
 no lack of fine substantial buildings, but with the excep- 
 tion of the brightness before referred to, and the fact 
 that many of the side walks are protected from sun and 
 rain by light iron verandahs, there is still little or nothing 
 of a foreign element. The streets, perhaps, are not too 
 wide, nor are the side walks too spacious, especially by 
 contrast with Melbourne. The pavement, howev er, and 
 roadwork is good, wood blocks being generally used for 
 the latter. 
 
 The traffic in the streets is much the same as in those 
 of the Mother Country, the gondola of London, the hansom
 
 SYDNEY STREETS. i 
 
 cab, is much in evidence, and so also is the buggy, the 
 vehicle of Australia. Very English-looking omnibuses 
 ply for hire, and if we turn into Elizabeth Street we will 
 see train after train of noisy, jangling steam trams 
 several carriages linked to a powerful motor which 
 make one wonder how any horse that ever "looked 
 through a bridle" can be brought to " stand tram," which 
 is a very necessary condition when purchasing horse- 
 flesh for city use for the rest, an orderly trooper may 
 dash past, smart in his Kharkee uniform, and eminently 
 workmanlike rig-out, or equally smart, a well mounted, 
 well set up trooper of the police, in his neat uniform of 
 dark blue kepi (exchanged for a black helmet with white 
 puggaree when in " full dress "), serge jacket of blue, 
 spotless "cords," and irreproachable riding boots. While 
 lastly, telegraph boys, who do all their delivery work on 
 horseback beyond a certain radius, scurry about in a 
 fashion which suggests the care of a special providence. 
 The police, we notice, are dressed in dark blue, with 
 helmets of London pattern ; during the summer the 
 latter are covered with white, and the wearers rejoice in 
 white " ducks." Now and again we see an individual in 
 semi-uniform with the badge M.T.C., he is in the service 
 of the Metropolitan Transit Company, and is charged 
 with regulating the traffic of the city. 
 
 But it is perhaps about that hour in the afternoon when 
 the youth and beauty, rank and fashion, of Sydney 
 assemble to do "the block," otherwise to promenade 
 certain portions of George, King, Pitt, and Hunter 
 Streets, and this will afford us an excellent chance of 
 seeing what manner of men and women, physically speak-
 
 8 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 ing, our Australian cousins are at least in Sydney. 
 
 We miss, no doubt, the exceedingly well-groomed 
 men we are used to see in Piccadilly, and we may 
 perhaps not consider that the clothes of the Sydney 
 "masher" are quite up to London form in point of 
 "cut." As we are some twelve hundred miles nearer 
 the Equator than we were in London, we almost expect 
 to find some material difference in the garments worn 
 by the sterner sex, but it is not so. Not a few " chimney 
 pot " hats are to be seen, and save for the light fabrics, 
 worn by the fairer sex, there is nothing much beyond 
 our own feelings to tell us that the temperature is 
 over eighty degrees in the shade. The men, perhaps, 
 seem, as a rule, to be thinner than we have been used to ; 
 while in Pitt Street we see the business men with the 
 same anxious pre-occupied look, in many cases, that is so 
 familiar to us in the streets of London city, on the Liver- 
 pool "flags," and elsewhere where "merchants most do 
 congregate. The complexion of the fairer sex show 
 somewhat of a pallor and less of freshness than we have 
 been wont to observe at home ; but we are reminded that 
 we are in a land where an earlier development of the race 
 is a rule by certain precocious young damsels, whose 
 abbreviated skirts display a somewhat startling solidity of 
 what our American cousins, with commendable modesty, 
 term "limbs." A smart-looking Chinese merchant, minus 
 his beloved pigtail, and in European garb, passes by. A 
 Bushman, with sunburnt face and the unmistakable air of 
 a man unused to the bustle of crowded streets, lounges 
 diffidently along. The bright turbans of a few swarthy 
 Lascars, from a " P and O " liner, add a bit of colour to
 
 SyDNEY HARBOUR. 
 
 9 
 
 the scene, while a sleek, dressy, dark-eyed, full-lipped 
 gentleman, with a nasal organ of a shape familiar to us, 
 betokens that some of the " chosen people " have made 
 a home, and we should guess, a very comfortable one, in 
 the colony of our choice. 
 
 But, though the proper study of mankind be man, and 
 womenkind also, I presume, we tire for the while of them 
 and of the bricks and mortar, and wish for a view of the 
 glorious surroundings of which we had a vision, all too 
 short, during our passage up the harbour. From the top 
 of the Grosvenor or Metropole Hotels, or better still from 
 the lantern of that tall slender tower which springs from 
 the General Post Office, we have Sydney and its suburbs 
 at our feet but rather let us cross Macquarie Street and 
 enter a portion of the beautiful " lungs " of Sydney the 
 Palace Gardens, and looking eastward try to describe 
 what we see before and around us. 
 
 A luxuriant carpet of greensward is beneath our feet, 
 and, in the immediate foreground carefully tended beds of 
 brightly-hued flowers add colour to the scene. In front, 
 the grounds run, verdure clad, in terraced slopes down to 
 the Botanical Gardens, one of the many joys of Sydney, 
 relieved here and there by statuary of gleaming white. 
 From where we stand, the gardens look a tangled mass of 
 greenery, of graceful palms, and all the varied forms of 
 semi-tropical and tropical forest life high over all of 
 which there rises, tall and graceful, the lordly Norfolk 
 Island Pine, 
 
 To the left, and far below us, are the wavelets of 
 Farm Cove, dancing and shimmering in the sunlight, 
 and through the tree-tops we catch glimpses of trim-built
 
 10 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 men-of-war, and a bugle call, the roll of a drum, or the 
 shrill pipe of the boatswain breaks upon the ear. Still 
 further to the left are the turrets and battlements of 
 Government House embosomed in well-grown trees. 
 
 Beyond the Cove rise the green and well-wooded sides 
 of the Domain, over which peep the waters of the harbour, 
 and beyond, from out of the northern shore thereof, runs 
 Bradley Head, shutting out from our view the bold precipice 
 of the North Head ; while straight in front, closing in the 
 picture and some half dozen miles away, the South Head 
 slopes down to the fatal "gap," where, early in the "fifties," 
 the " Dunbar " was lost, with all on board, save one. 
 
 To the right, above the tree-tops of the Outer Domain, 
 are the terraced houses of Darlinghurst, and from thence, 
 sloping northwards to the water's edge, are Potts and 
 Darling points, with their burden of many mansions. 
 
 Dot the blue waters of the harbour with the white sails 
 of tiny craft, and the majestic forms of ocean-going ships, 
 imagine the deepest hued of cerulean skies, light up the 
 whole with radiant sunshine, and we return from our first 
 experience, our first few hours stroll in Sydney, satisfied 
 that we have at length seen something to prove to us that 
 we are in a foreign and a favoured land. 
 
 At eventide, during a tour of observation through the 
 streets, we are likely to see comparatively little. Those 
 devoted to business during the day have the deserted look 
 common to the haunts of commercial men in our own 
 cities after business hours. The remainder are for the 
 most part quiet, but on Saturday and Sunday evenings 
 some portions, as well as several arcades, which are a 
 distinct and pleasant feature of Sydney, are fairly well
 
 THE ALMOND-EYED CELESTIAL. 
 
 11 
 
 thronged, and the manners and customs of a certain class 
 of young Sydney may be studied with ease as far as 
 amplitude of material is concerned. We may notice that 
 the electric lighting has, as yet, been taken up to a very 
 slight extent only in the city, though in more than one 
 township in the Colony it has been successfully installed. 
 
 The " almond-eyed Celestial," as it is usually the fashion 
 to term the Chinaman, is to be found in several quarters 
 of Sydney, where quaint characters over the shop windows 
 and doors betoken his name and calling. Hereabouts he 
 smokes his beloved opium, and, no doubt, encourages 
 certain of his virtuous Caucasian brethren to do the 
 same, while we may also find, if we are inclined thereto, an 
 establishment where the forbidden game of " fan-tan " is 
 played : and here assemble young and old, who have no 
 fashionable club or private residence whereat to gamble, to 
 back their favourite number at the afore-mentioned game. 
 
 Generally there is no great temptation thrown in 
 the way of erring mankind in Sydney streets at night- 
 time. Private bars and billiard rooms, apart from the 
 theatres and a few minor places of amuseni3nt, seem to 
 be the sole attractions. If it be the summer time, when 
 we court the open air as much as possible, the new arrival 
 will almost expect some outdoor forms of amusement, 
 music, and open-air cafes or beer gardens, but no. Of 
 this, however, we will take further notice. 
 
 But after our casual look at Sydney, what is it that we 
 miss in a city so thoroughly English in many details, so 
 far as we have seen, and we might search still further ? 
 How does it very materially differ from most cities, nay, 
 from all large cities in Great Britain ? Slums ? Yes, 
 there are none worthy of the name in Sydney.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SUBURBS, PARKS, AND PUBLIC 
 BUILDINGS OF SYDNEY. 
 
 Such fair promise as our first glimpse or two at the 
 surroundings of Sydney gave us, we shall find borne out 
 in full by a few walks, rides, or drives in the suburbs, or 
 by availing ourselves of an occasional ferry boat, to see 
 more of the beauties of the famous harbour. 
 
 It is far from my wish to weary the reader with 
 descriptions; so, briefly sketching one surburban trip 
 will, I think, be sufficient, and this shall be by what is 
 known as the New South Head Road. A splendidly 
 kept roadway it is, too, and free, thanks to the numerous 
 steep hills or " pinches," as I have heard them termed 
 in the bush, from invasion by the demon steam-tram. 
 Furthermore, it affords a charming and fashionable ride 
 or drive to those of the Sydney folks who have the means 
 and leisure in the afternoon. The distance to the South 
 Head Lighthouse from Sydney is about six miles, and 
 the road, for the most part, skirts the south side of the 
 harbour, running about due east. 
 
 Turning to the left from Macquarie Street, we leave 
 the Domain on our left, Hyde Park on our right, and 
 commence our descent into William Street, Woolloo- 
 mooloo, the which somewhat weird combination of 1's
 
 SYDNEY PARKS. 
 
 13 
 
 and redundant o's, I have heard explained as being an 
 effort upon the part of a black-fellow in byegone days to 
 pronounce the word " windmill." As a triumph of arti- 
 culation, it may be urged, without doing injustice to 
 native talent, that it is not a marked success. However, 
 theory is useless. I need only add, for the benefit of 
 these who have occasion to use the word, that the accent 
 is on the final syllable. 
 
 A steep pull brings us into Darlinghurst, and we soon 
 descend into another furrow, as it were, this time coming 
 upon Rushcutter's Bay, on the shore of which is the 
 prettily situated " Oval " Cricket Ground, the low lying 
 ground running up to a gully on our right being carfully 
 tilled by Chinese gardeners. Another ridge, the aristo- 
 cratic Darling Point, upon which a very English-looking 
 spire crowns some fine trees, and we descend more 
 gradually to the charmingly wooded shores of Double 
 Bay, where are many dwelling-houses to suit all pockets. 
 A more level stretch of beautifully kept road at length 
 opens up Rose Bay, the view of which I think will induce 
 the visitor to pause a few moments, however satiated he 
 may have been with earth's natural beauties. It is the 
 most extensive of the bays in Sydney harbour, and its 
 blue waters are fringed by a perfect semicircle of yellow 
 strand. Here we get views of the North and Middle 
 Harbours, and skirting the edge of the bay we begin to 
 ascend the bulk of the South Head ; and, passing the 
 magnificent lighthouse with all its appliances for furnish- 
 ing the revolving electric light it flashes between sunset 
 and sunrise so many miles around, we finally arrive at 
 the signal station where we have a magnificent view sea-
 
 14 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 wards, northwards, and, to the west, one ever the harbour, 
 with Sydney in the background, and the Blue Mountains 
 above all, and far away, that I will not attempt to describe. 
 
 Hence the pedestrian can go by an easy descent past 
 the " Dun bar Gap " into the pretty little harbour resort 
 known as Watson's Bay, and take the steamer to Sydney ; 
 but those that ride or drive had best " hark back, " and 
 turning to the left at Rose Bay, return by the Old South 
 Head Road, skirting the somewhat dreary sand dunes 
 of Bondi Bay. By this road one passes through the 
 elevated and pleasant suburb of Waverley, and looks down 
 across the extent of Centennial Park, towards Randwick 
 with its racecourse, the Flemington of Sydney, Botany 
 with its smoky chimneys ; and beyond, the somewhat 
 historic bay of that ilk, sadly lacking the beauties with 
 which its near neighbour, Port Jackson, as "our harbour" 
 was first termed, is so richly endowed. 
 
 On through the suburbs of Woollahra, with its many 
 handsome, substantial mansions, standing in trim well- 
 kept grounds, we come to the next suburb to the city from 
 the eastward, familiarly named Paddington, and thence 
 within the confines of the city itself. Coogee Bay lying 
 beyond, and to the eastward of Randwick, is a pretty 
 spot, it boasts an aquarium and concert hall, and on 
 Sundays is a great resort of Middle Class Sydney, when an 
 immense quantity of " all sorts and conditions " of vehicles 
 and horses may be seen, and next to attending a race 
 meeting perhaps nothing pleases young Australia better 
 than to drive a fast horse in a neat buggy, with what the 
 Americans sometimes term " his best Sunday girl " by his 
 side.
 
 SUBURBAN PICTURES. 
 
 15 
 
 Of the remaining suburbs on the south, the Sydney side 
 of the harbour, some are prosaic enough ; among them 
 are Redfern, where the Railway terminus is situated, 
 Eveleigh, McDonald Town, Camperdown, Newtown, Stan- 
 more, Marrickville, Petersham, and Lewisham. Farther 
 away, a few miles on the south coast line, are Tempe, 
 Arncliffe, Rockdale, and Kogarah, while on the Parramatta 
 line are Ashfield, Croyden, Burwood, and others, almost 
 every mile on the way to Parramatta itself fourteen miles 
 from Sydney. Westward of Sydney is the pretty and con- 
 venient suburb of Glebe, also Balmain, and Five Dock, 
 each situated on promontories running out into the 
 harbour. 
 
 The north shore, which includes St. Leonards, St. 
 Leonards East, and North Willoughby, affords beautiful 
 sites and views, and being extremely convenient to the 
 city, by the swift and frequent ferryboats available, is much 
 sought after as a place of residence by business men. A 
 service of cable tramways, similar to those in use in Mel- 
 bourne, is at the disposal of the North Shore residents, 
 and they are also being connected by railway with the 
 Northern line. 
 
 The various harbour resorts, such as Manly and 
 Watson's Bay, are well worth a visit, though each of 
 them are somewhat hot and perhaps relaxing in summer, 
 being sheltered from the cool southerly winds. Clontarf, 
 in the middle harbour, is beautifully situated, and is the 
 favoured haunt of the multitude of picknickers, as also is 
 Chowder Bay. Mossman's Bay is another pretty inlet, 
 and it has a ferry to Circular Quay. While those that 
 desire to explore further westward, should take the
 
 16 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA? 
 
 steamer to Lane Cove or Parramatta. In short water 
 excursions Sydney is well off. In rough weather, by the 
 way, the Manly boat, when crossing the opening between 
 the Head, is exposed to the full " fetch " of the Pacific, 
 and has sometimes quite a " bit of weather " to contend 
 with, otherwise the trips generally are not of a nature 
 calculated to upset the most timid " sailor." 
 
 In the matter of parks, Sydney is also blessed in 
 abundance. The Botanical and Palace Gardens, the 
 Inner and Outer Domain, Hyde Park, the Centennial 
 Park, and a host of lesser reserves are open to the public, 
 for, throughout the Colony, there is, in such matters at 
 least, solicitude exhibited on behalf of the public weal. 
 Many of the small parks and reserves have also "pitches " 
 for cricketing, which has not been eclipsed as yet by 
 football in New South Wales, but is undoubtedly the 
 national game. 
 
 The Botanical Gardens are a host in themselves, and 
 no tyrannical order to " keep off the grass " prevents the 
 visitor from wandering at will over a thick, well-kept 
 carpet of greensward. On Wednesday afternoons, the 
 band of the Permanent Artillery usually discourses sweet 
 music to a large crowd of listeners ; and, if tired of the 
 immense and beautiful variety of tropical and semi- 
 tropical vegetable life of all kinds, a small collection of, 
 for the most part, native birds may serve to interest the 
 visitor. From out of these gardens we stroll into the 
 Domain where the gum tree preponderates, though here 
 and there the Moreton Bay fig tree affords a grateful 
 shade. At Lady Macquarie's chair, the extreme north 
 point, a beautiful view of the harbour is to be had, and
 
 SYDNEY PARKS. 
 
 17 
 
 here, when a hot wind makes Sydney streets well-nigh 
 unbearable, those that can escape from them assemble, 
 and loll and lie about to court such cool airs as may be 
 forthcoming. 
 
 Further south, the paltry building which contains the 
 Art treasures of the Colony greets us, of which more anon, 
 and across the way is a hideous concoction of galvanized 
 iron, a production so fatal to the picturesque throughout 
 the Colony, which we shall find upon enquiry, does duty as 
 the outdoor department of the Sydney Hospital, combined 
 with a well-stocked technological museum. Midway 
 between these two architectural gems lies the Domain 
 cricket ground, where, during the luncheon hour, there 
 is always keen practising at the national game, and 
 excellent matches upon holidays and Saturday afternoons. 
 
 Hyde Park, with its well-laid walks, good turf, and rows 
 of shade trees, comes next. Here is a fine statue to 
 Captain Cook, and on Friday afternoons an hour or so is 
 devoted to military music. Then we pass on to Moore 
 Park, with its racecourse and splendid Association cricket 
 ground, and adjoining it is Centennial Park, once known 
 as the Lachlan swamp. A fitting monument of the cen- 
 tenary of the colony. Its years are, of course, very tender, 
 and it is only just possible to estimate what it may 
 become in course of time. It is, I believe, over six 
 hundred acres in extent, has well laid drives, is a splendid 
 place for horse exercise, and is ornamented by statuary, 
 some from the antique, others representing famous men, 
 some of which, the statues, not the men, the too fastidious 
 art critic may class as being more of an entertaining than 
 highly artis'tic nature, which, however, may be what was 
 
 B
 
 IS 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 aimed at in their production. The Zoological Gardens 
 hard by the southern end of the Centennial Park are fair 
 of their kind, but hardly equal to those in Melbourne ; of 
 the remaining parks and reserves in the city and suburbs 
 it is hardly necessary to make particular mention. 
 
 A feature in the Domain and Hyde Park especially, 
 are the homeless dogs which one sees in great numbers, 
 and to "class" a dozen of them would puzzle an expert. 
 They are in many cases covered with mange, and a piti- 
 able sight generally. They are abjectly miserable for the 
 most part, and have a sort of " throw myself-upon-the- 
 mercy-of-the-Court" look about them at the best of times. 
 Nowhere but Sydney would they be allowed to wander 
 as they do.* 
 
 I should not omit to mention the National Park of New 
 South Wales, a magnificent reserve of not less than 
 thirty-six thousand acres, 17 miles south of Sydney by 
 rail. It has a frontage to the Pacific of nine miles, is 
 composed of table land for the most part, varied by 
 deep and picturesque gullies, and, with the exception of 
 its roadways, presents the features of some of the wildest 
 parts of the Australian bush. It is well watered, and 
 special efforts have been made to stock its various creeks 
 with trout from New Zealand waters, where the " spotted 
 
 * In certain parts of Sydney also, apparently nomad goats will 
 be noticed, whose haughty and independent bearing is in strong 
 contrast to that of the homeless, ownerless dogs. Their adopted 
 dietary scale, is, like Sam Weller's knowledge of London, "extensive 
 and peculiar." I have, on one occasion, remarked an aged goat, 
 presumably of a literary turn, stripping advertisement posters off a 
 board, and eating them with infinite relish, though there was green 
 food at hand.
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 19 
 
 beauties " have flourished so well. A lengthy description 
 would fail to do justice to the Park, which should form 
 one of the first trips out of Sydney and its immediate 
 suburbs. 
 
 There is not a plethora of fine public buildings in 
 Sydney, as far as my humble ideas go. The city, as I 
 have said, preserves a homelike aspect, with little to 
 wonder at or especially admire in the way of architectural 
 beauty, such at least as one might expect to meet with in 
 a new country. 
 
 The Town Hall, the scene of civic festivities, with the 
 exception of its concert-room possessing the largest organ 
 in the world, has nothing particularly attractive about it, 
 while, hard by, is the Protestant Cathedral of St. Andrew, 
 a fine building, the effect of which is somewhat marred 
 by its nearness to the Town Hall. The Roman Catholic 
 Cathedral is in College Street, opposite Hyde Park, a fine 
 open site. The building is upon a very grand scale, but 
 very far from complete as yet. The other churches, 
 chapels, and places for public worship call, I think, for 
 no special comment. Government House is by no 
 means so prominent a figure in Sydney as it is in her 
 sister city on the oderiferous Yarra, and last, though by 
 no means least, is the University of Sydney, which stands 
 on high ground in the suburb of Newtown, a very con- 
 spicuous figure in the southern view of the city. But 
 perhaps the Sydney General Post and Telegraph Office, 
 lying between George and Pitt streets, may be said to be 
 the finest building in the city. 
 
 It has, now that the buildings which stood immediately 
 in front of it have been removed, an exceedingly fine
 
 20 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA 
 
 appearance, though the immense height of the slender 
 tower which springs from the centre, rather dwarfs the 
 building itself, while its depth is not great. On the Pitt 
 street front the visitor must not fail to notice the famous 
 Post Office carvings, which are to Sydney what the Elgin 
 Marbles or Treasures of Nineveh are to the British 
 Museum ; Venus of Milo, to the Louvre ; Thorwaldsen's 
 Works, chaste and cold as the Icelandic snows amongst 
 which their sculptor first drew breath, to quaint, quiet 
 Copenhagen ; or the Art Treasures of the Hermitage to 
 the capital of the Great White Tsar. They are simply 
 unique.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SYDNEY RESTAURANTS, HOTELS, AND 
 BOARDING HOUSES. 
 
 Eating and sleeping are somewhat necessary though 
 perhaps prosaic items in the programme of life, and, to 
 those who travel with but slender purses, the expense 
 thereof is a matter of grave importance. So I trust to be 
 excused for giving details which may be useful, if not 
 exactly artistic, with respect to such matters. 
 
 Now I think the man would, indeed, be hard to please 
 who is dissatisfied with the fare and accommodation 
 generally provided for him in Sydney, or with the price 
 he is asked to pay for it : whether he patronises the 
 leading hotel, or pays the modest sum of sixpence at such 
 restaurants as provide a substantial meal at that figure. 
 
 It may be that in our first essay of Sydney restaurants, 
 we would prefer to look in at one more of the middle- 
 class style, where we might observe how a large portion 
 of the community lunches or dines, as the case may 
 be, and study both the eaters and what they eat. Certain 
 peculiarities, at least they may seem so to the travelling 
 Briton, attach to both in America. One is curious, 
 therefore, to see whether, in this new country, new habits 
 and new ideas as to food have been formed ; whether, for 
 instance, in the summer heats, they discuss beef and 
 mutton in orthodox English style, and the production of
 
 22 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 Bass or Guinness, or favour fish, fowl, salads, fruit, and 
 such like, and drink their native wines. 
 
 It is a summer's day we will say, and the thermometer 
 indicates well over 8o e in the shade. Here is a middle- 
 class, indeed you ought to call it a superior, restaurant 
 where your dinner will cost you one shilling, 
 whereas you can dine well for ninepence, and also, as I 
 will show you later, for sixpence. The bill of fare is a 
 plenteous one, and you learn from it that you can have 
 soup, a choice of fish, joint, entree, or grill, pie or 
 puddin?, with tea, coffee, and frequently aerated waters, 
 all good of its kind, for, as I have already stated, one 
 shilling * 
 
 But on this hot day, one more provocative of thirst than 
 even the semblance of hunger, you are likely to notice no 
 lack of appetite amongst the diners. They dispose of what 
 they have before them right manfully, and go through the 
 bill of fare in workmanlike fashion, and yet you may ven- 
 ture to make a shrewd guess that the majority had a more 
 substantial breakfast than the English business man eats, 
 or can perhaps always afford to eat, say a steak, or chops 
 with a delicate accompaniment of sausages or eggs, and 
 when their business is done, the majority will likewise 
 take tram, 'bus, or rail for the Sydney people have a holy 
 horror of wearing out shoe leather by walking, to their 
 respective homes, there to recruit exhausted nature by a 
 little delicate attention in the shape of a dinner, or a 
 "thick" tea, which general method of recuperation will 
 make you understand, perhaps, when we come to deal with 
 the question of the meat supply, how so much meat is 
 * " Tipping " or feeing in restaurants is not usual in Sydney.
 
 CHEAP MEALS. 
 
 23 
 
 consumed in the Colony, as statisticians say is the case. 
 The drinking of tea with all meals, as a rule, does not find 
 favour in the eyes of the Britisher, at all events at first 
 sight, but it is an exceedingly general habit. A fair 
 number drink beer with their dinner half-a-pint of 
 " British " on draught being threepence : many also 
 would perhaps patronize their native wines, but salaries 
 in Sydney, outside of Government " billets," are not 
 princely, so all "extras" have to be watched with a 
 careful eye ; hence the drinking of tea, though many take 
 it from choice the native born especially may in some 
 cases be induced by a desire to economize. 
 
 Another matter, I think, is to be noticed with pleasure, 
 after American experience, and that is that even in the 
 hottest weather the Australians do not consider it 
 necessary to swill their internal economy with glass after 
 class of iced water, neither are they addicted to the 
 consumption of vinegary pickles in profusion, both of 
 which habits, the former I humbly consider as silly and 
 culpable as it is unnecessary, must tend largely to pro- 
 duce the dyspeptic wrecks which may be not unfrequently 
 noticed amongst our American cousins. 
 
 To finish our day, if not inclined for a heavy meal, we 
 can get an excellent cup of tea with scone or muffin for 
 as low a sum as threepence, and later on, if disposed to 
 try the oysters of New South Wales or New Zealand, a 
 small plate of the bi-valves with roll and butter will only 
 cost us sixpence, or we can experiment upon capital 
 prawns or crayfish at a small cost. 
 
 To run the gamut of eating-houses we will, having 
 risen early this bright morning, see what can be done for
 
 24 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 sixpence, as far as breakfast is concerned, at one of the 
 restaurants referred to in the opening lines of this chapter, 
 which I may term a special feature in Sydney. 
 
 The external appearance of most of such establishments 
 as bear on their windows the legend "all meals sixpence," 
 is, perhaps, not particularly inviting, but the table at 
 which we take our seat is covered with a fairly clean, if 
 coarse, cloth, and we must not be over particular. We 
 can commence our meal with good porridge and fresh 
 milk, and, having selected tea or coffee, as our tastes 
 incline, we listen, somewhat bewildered, to the verbal 
 avalanche in which the brusque waiter rehearses the 
 delicacies which await us, for printed bills of fare there 
 are not. We select say a chop and sausage, and when 
 all is finished it is impossible to deny that we have had a 
 substantial and wholesome meal; here also we can dine for 
 three courses, and have tea on the same substantial lines 
 as breakfast, on each occasion, as I have said, being only 
 required to disburse the small sum of sixpence. 
 
 One other gastronomical feat we can achieve for six- 
 pence. At noon or earlier, for there is a great "rush" 
 towards the luncheon hour, we will go to Chinnery's, in 
 Hunter Street, and there taste some Australian fish, it is 
 always of the best, and freshest, and beautifully cooked, 
 a small plate with roll and butter, neatly served, will cost 
 us only the aforementioned coin. And now, having seen 
 what those with slender purses can obtain for a small 
 sum, we can fly higher, and at the Cafe Frangais, 
 Gimnsler's, Paris House, and other restaurants, will, I 
 think, have no reason to complain of what is set before 
 us, or what we are called upon to pay.
 
 HOTELS AND COFFEE PALACES. 25 
 
 Next, as to good hotels, whatever there might at one 
 time have been, there is now no lack of them. The 
 Grosvenor may perhaps be said to take the lead, then 
 follow Petty's, the Imperial, Pfahlerts, the Exchange, 
 the Empire, the Oxford, the Royal, Roberts' Hotel, 
 and others ; all have their admirers, and with nearly all, the 
 rule is, to make a charge of so much per day to include 
 everything, the meals being generally served in table 
 d'hote style. The minimum charge for first-class hotels 
 is about ten shillings per day, though perhaps twelve may 
 be nearer the average ; this includes bedroom, attendance, 
 and three excellent and ample meals ; for a stay of any 
 duration special terms may be made. Then again there 
 are numbers of less pretentious hostelries in the city and 
 suburbs, where good accommodation is to be had at prices 
 of from two guineas weekly downwards, the lowest price 
 at which a bed of any kind is obtainable in Sydney is one 
 shilling; the sixpenny restaurants, already alluded to, in 
 nearly all cases have beds on hire at the price in question. 
 The Australia, by the way, a large and imposing hotel, in 
 Castlereagh street, was not opened when I left the 
 11 Harbour City.'' 
 
 Last and not least there are the coffee palaces, as they 
 are termed in Australia ; we should very probably call 
 them temperance hotels in England. At their head I 
 should place the Metropole Hotel ; then comes the 
 Grand Central Coffee Palace, and others. At these 
 hotels the minimum price for a single bedroom for one 
 night is half-a-crown to three shillings inclusive, no stupid 
 charge for attendance, and a bedroom may be secured at 
 a low weekly rate, if any stay is meditated. On the
 
 26 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 ground floor there are excellent restaurants where all 
 meals can be had, well and cleanly served, for about one 
 shilling each, at the Metropole rather more, and bars 
 whereat single cups of tea or coffee with light refreshments 
 may be obtained. At upstairs restaurants the boarders dine, 
 &c., and such of the public as may elect to do so. The 
 accommodation at these coffee palaces is extremely clean, 
 and one is apt to think that they might do well in this 
 country, and do some real good in the cause of temperance 
 as well. 
 
 No doubt, however, many will desire to obtain as soon 
 as they can, some permanent lodging at the least possible 
 expense, and even the married couple may shrink at first 
 from housekeeping. To such is open an endless variety 
 of boarding-houses, furnished apartments being not nearly 
 so general as they are in England. No doubt the high 
 rents asked for houses in Sydney prevent people in most 
 instances from taking a larger house than they can 
 decently squeeze their belongings into, thus they have 
 no superfluous rooms. As I have said elsewhere they 
 frequently, if they have a room to spare, have one or more 
 boarders, who live to all intents and purposes on the same 
 footing; with the members of the family. 
 
 Of boarding-houses there is an ample choice, both in the 
 heart of the city, and throughout the suburbs. There is 
 no lack of accommodation advertised in the daily papers, 
 to which anyone desirous of securing quarters at once, can 
 refer, but anyone strolling about in the most casual 
 manner in the city, cannot fail to notice the frequent card 
 denoting " Vacancies " which, of course, shows that the 
 establishment is a boarding-house, such being the case, I
 
 COST OF LIVING. 
 
 27 
 
 need not say more than briefly add that if any special 
 accommodation is required, a short advertisement will not 
 fail to elicit numerous replies. 
 
 To begin at the bottom of the scale of charges, the 
 working-man can get good, clean sleeping quarters, and 
 washing, for about five shillings weekly, at the lowest, and 
 board at the rate of nine shillings and sixpence weekly, 
 for three substantial meals daily. Very good board may 
 be obtained at one pound or one guinea weekly (I use 
 the word as meaning meals and bedroom). For 
 twenty-five shillings very superior accommodation may 
 be had, while for thirty or thirty-five shillings every- 
 thing of the best, including a well kept table, is to be 
 obtained The laundry charges in Sydney are not parti- 
 cularly dear, while the work is for the most part exceed- 
 ingly well done. Of course anyone in delicate health 
 would probably require certain surroundings, and in 
 advertising, he had better, as indeed had anyone, state 
 the style of accommodation he requires, separate room 
 for instance, or whatever is wanted, and the price he is 
 prepared to pay. 
 
 The breakfast bell at most boarding houses rings at a 
 tolerably early hour, but the late comer will mostly find 
 wherewithal to satisfy himself. Luncheon is also an 
 elastic meal, but at dinner, those who wish to enjoy it, 
 should endeavour to be punctual. As to the company 
 one meets, there are of all sorts, but in time, the gentle- 
 men who like ladies' society, and those who do not, and 
 likewise those who are " musical," as well as those who 
 are not much given to " concord of sweet sounds,' suit 
 themselves either in mixed, cheery, lively company, or in
 
 28 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA > 
 
 the greater freedom and comparative quiet of bachelor 
 quarters. Taken altogether, I think boarding house life 
 is far better for a young fellow than existence in 
 "diggings," as bachelor apartments are not unfrequently 
 termed. 
 
 There may be many, however, who do not care for 
 boarding houses, and may, owing to the nature of their 
 engagements, be unable to keep up the regular boarding 
 house meal hours. Such I would advise to look out for 
 a neat balcony room, and arrange to have breakfast 
 therein, taking the remainder of their meals at restaurants, 
 the tariffs of which, I think, I have given at sufficient 
 length. For the rent of such a room they would have to 
 pay not less than ten shillings weekly. The married 
 couple, also "without encumbrance," might follow this 
 plan, and make such terms as they think will suit them. 
 They would be able to arrange for use of kitchen, and 
 cater and cook for themselves if it is desirable for them 
 to economise.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOUSES IN SYDNEY HOUSE RENT HOUSE- 
 KEEPING THE BUTCHER'S BILL FUR- 
 NISHING COST OF LIVING GENERALLY. 
 
 It is estimated, I believe, by those exceedingly clever 
 people who make up all manner of statistics concerning 
 everything and everybody, that no inconsiderable portion 
 of the people that inhabit the earth, not only dispense 
 with any sort of dwelling whatever, but have actually never 
 imbibed, or at least evinced, the slightest desire to provide 
 themselves with anything of the kind. Such a mode of 
 life has, of course, obvious advantages ; but it tends, 
 without doubt, to render one's habits exceedingly primi- 
 tive, and it is certainly desirable, not to say much more 
 respectable, to provide oneself with a dwelling of some 
 sort. 
 
 There are few cities in either hemisphere so liberally 
 endowed with natural advantages as is Sydney, and the 
 greater number of those that view them will regret, I 
 think, that so rare a gathering of nature's favours should 
 suffer from want of taste or architectural shortcomings 
 upon the part of those who add their quota of residences 
 to the ever growing city. Of course, in considering this 
 question, reference is made more to middle and lower 
 class dwellings, in which expense is a great consideration 
 to the builders or occupiers of such property.
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 In and around Sydney, very often in most out-of-the 
 way places, we come occasionally upon one of the much 
 older houses, of what we might term the Macquarie 
 epoch, standing amongst its more modern fellows, which 
 suggests itself as an ideal dwelling for a semi-tropical 
 climate. It is conspicuous by its high-pitched shingled 
 roof, and cool, ample verandahs, shadowed by the 
 spreading branches of the Norfolk Island pine, or that 
 dark leaved, umbrageous evergreen, the Moreton Bay fig- 
 tree. The lawn is trim, the garden well kept, in which 
 the bright scarlet of the waratah, the graceful droop of 
 the banana leaf, and the tall feathery bamboo are as 
 novel as they are pleasing to the English eye. 
 
 Turn now to the production of to-day. Of course land 
 has increased in value in giant strides, but look at the 
 miserable plots which are offered in Sydney suburbs to 
 the intending builder of a modest little house as ' ; highly 
 eligible sites." Sometimes the frontage will be only 
 twenty feet or less, on which it is certainly a puzzle how to 
 erect a presentable dwelling, and one, at the same time, 
 suited to the requirements created by the climate. The 
 "commodious detached villa residence," therefore (as 
 advertised) is squeezed into a narrow strip of land, which 
 the "land boom" of a few years back has rendered so dear, 
 that the Sydney public are not expected, I suppose, to buy 
 more than one meagre plot. A miserable, narrow nondes- 
 cript building is the result, with the tiniest verandah 
 conceivable, in which the " harmless, necessary cat " can 
 scarcely sun itself. Of glaring stucco, it is tastefully 
 relieved by highly ornate railings to the said verandah, 
 brave in blue and gold, any shade tree that grew near has
 
 WEATHER-BOARD DWELLINGS 
 
 31 
 
 been ruthlessly sacrificed, and there stands the modern 
 Sydney suburban villa, a sight to make the angels weep. 
 
 Then there is the weather-board, or, as it is termed in 
 advertisements, the W. B. Cottage, which, save for the 
 fire-place and foundations, is innocent of brick and 
 mortar. It is, of necessity, hotter in summer and more chilly 
 in the winter months than a building of brick or stone ; 
 and owing to its component parts acting as excellent con- 
 ductors of sound, it is, unless detached, hardly as quiet as 
 some would desire. Still, for anyone who is fond of 
 company, and cannot afford to entertain, a weather board 
 dwelling, in a terrace of the same, has its advantages. If 
 the gentleman on the right practices on the flute, cornet, 
 or the soothing trombone, his performances can be 
 enjoyed to the full by the company-loving individual ; 
 and should the lady on the left be apt to lecture her 
 husband, who, in his turn, comes home drunk and 
 smashes the furniture, as a practical illustration of the 
 benefit of such admonition, he can enjoy such conjugal 
 amenities unseen and unnoticed. 
 
 Lastly, before coming to the question of rents, it seems 
 a pity that, in building up new suburbs, the city or 
 municipal architect should be without considerable power 
 in the matter. Liberty of the subject is all very well, but 
 it is not right that, in building on the frontage of public 
 thoroughfares, either the professional builder, or the 
 amateur, who for the nonce turns architect, should be 
 allowed to set the canons of good taste at defiance. I 
 believe that in America certain architects issue drawings, 
 working plans, and specifications, of smaller dwellings, 
 for town and country, charging a moderate fee for the
 
 32 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA 1 ? 
 
 same. Competition in this would lead, I am sure, to 
 greater taste and comfort being displayed in smaller 
 dwellings generally, and, in the case of Sydney, tend much 
 to beautify the suburbs of so happily-situated a city. 
 
 Now to secure a house terrace, semi-detached, or 
 detached There are plenty of advertisements of houses 
 to let in the daily papers, and there are numerous house 
 and property agents who will be glad to supply our wants ; 
 and, on interviewing any one of them, it is more than 
 probable that anyone coming from provincial or country 
 England especially, will be startled at the rent demanded 
 in Sydney and its suburbs. 
 
 Beginning with the least pretentious houses, say a 
 small one-storied cottage with four living rooms besides 
 the kitchen, which is not unfrequently built simply of 
 galvanized iron apart from the house the weekly rent 
 will be us. or 125., including rates and taxes; for a fair 
 terrace or semi-detached house, 305. or 2 weekly ; for 
 what might be termed a good detached house of two 
 stories, ^120 to ^175 yearly; while a ten-roomed 
 house, with grounds and stabling, would command ^300 
 a year. As to furnished houses, there are few to be had 
 under ^3 IDS. to 4 per week. 
 
 Many people would like a nice detached cottage ; for 
 these there is a great demand, and they are not to be 
 had, say with six living rooms, under 255. to 355. weekly. 
 As these prices may seem high to some people, I should, 
 perhaps, state that I write with authority upon the 
 subject, and I will mention two instances that came 
 especially before my notice, to illustrate the value of 
 property in Sydney One was a question of rent. The
 
 THE BUTCHER'S BILL. 33 
 
 house was a very commodious one in Macquarie street, 
 opposite the Sydney Hospital ; the rent asked was ^400 
 a year, with rates and taxes to about another 40. The 
 other was a question of the value of some freehold 
 property in a very aristocratic part of Sydney, with a 
 water frontage : the house, detached, of course, contained 
 ten rooms, had stabling, &c., and stood in about two and 
 a-half acres of ground ; the price asked was ;io,ooo. 
 I was confidently told that 9,000 would be taken. 
 
 The question may naturally be asked if salaries gener- 
 ally, apart from government " billets," are not high, how 
 do people manage to pay such rents ? That I cannot say, 
 but the number of houses in and around Sydney, for 
 which two and three pounds weekly are paid, must some- 
 what astonish a stranger. I have remarked elsewhere 
 that a spare room is not unfrequently utilised for accom- 
 modating a boarder or two. 
 
 The butcher's bill is a far less formidable affair than " at 
 home." The following prices were chalked on a board 
 outside a butchers shop in a main thoroughfare through 
 which I passed on one of my last strolls through Sydney 
 streets : 
 
 PER LB. 
 
 Whole or half Sheep l|d. 
 
 Forequarter ,, ijd. 
 
 Hindquarter ,, 2d. 
 
 Chops 2^d. 
 
 PER LB. 
 
 Beef 2d. to3d. 
 
 Pork ...5d. 
 
 Corned Beef from id. 
 
 Veal 3d. to4d. 
 
 Beef and Mutton Sausages, 2^d. per Ib. 
 
 Bargains may be struck on Saturday evenings. Poultry 
 is, I think, cheaper than in England. Of game there is 
 little, but wild fowl is abundant in the winter season. 
 
 Hares and rabbits are little used as articles of food, 
 c
 
 34 
 
 SHALL 1 TRY AUSTRALIA* 
 
 In the country mutton and beef run about 3d. to 4d. 
 per Ib. 
 
 That next important item, the grocer's bill, is much 
 about the same as in England, the principal items will 
 run about as follows : 
 
 Sugar 2d. to 2^d. per Ib. 
 
 (if other groceries are bought 
 therewith) 
 
 Tinned Salmon .. ,...-i \o 
 I -0 a. 
 Lobster |_ 3 ~ 
 
 Kippd. Herrings.. I 5- 
 '' ' & 
 
 Tea 1/6 and upwards per Ib. 
 
 Coffee...!/- ,, 
 
 Bread.. 3d. and 4d. per 2lb. loaf 
 Bacon., gd. and upwards per Ib. 
 Butter.. .8d. ,, ,, 
 
 Candles 6d. to jd. per Ib. 
 
 Cheese. ..8d. and upwards perlb. 
 Jams, Marmalade, &c, from 5d. 
 
 per tin. 
 
 Pickles.. 7d. per pt and upwards 
 Sauce. ..small bottle 6d. and up- 
 wards 
 Soap 4^d. per bar 
 
 Findon Haddocks^ 
 
 " Fresh Herrings, yd. per 
 tin 
 
 Eggs.-.gd. per dozen, and up- 
 wards 
 
 Salt .. fine, id. perlb. 
 
 Flour ..1 3/- and i5/-per 100 Ibs. 
 
 As to vegetables, we are, in England, frequently blamed 
 for not making use of them more extensively than we do, 
 and probably the people of New South Wales, consider- 
 ing their climate, are still more open to reproach upon 
 the subject. But here, the question of expense steps in, 
 and the housekeeper must look carefully at the large item 
 which the free use of vegetables would imply. For the 
 most part they are purchased from hawkers (generally the 
 producers), who, as a rule, are Chinamen, and I deal with 
 the subject as also with the fruits of the Colony in a 
 separate chapter. Suffice it to say that the best potatoes 
 come from the neighbourhcod of Warnambool in Victoria, 
 and from Tasmania, the price is about 6/- to 8/- the cwt. 
 Good cabbages and cauliflowers are 6d. to gd. each; onions 
 2d. per Ib. ; pumpkins and tomatoes are plentiful and
 
 ITALIAN MONOPOLY. 
 
 35 
 
 cheap ; carrots, turnips, &c., are sold in bunches at 
 6d. each and upwards. The price of other vegetables, 
 peas, asparagus, indeed all that you buy, depends upon 
 what you are able to pay, and the Chinaman's conscience, 
 which latter is somewhat of an unknown quantity. Deal- 
 ing with shops is not much of an improvement, as these 
 are mostly in the hands of Italians. 
 
 To the fish of the Colony I have also devoted a special 
 chapter, but for housekeeping purposes it will be sufficient, 
 perhaps, to note that there is a deplorable absence, 
 with one or two exceptions, of good fishmonger's shops 
 in Sydney. Such sea-fish as are caught, are despatched 
 in the evening to the wholesale fish market at Woolloo- 
 mooloo, to be sold at a very early hour next morning 
 the sales actually commencing at 5 .30 a. m., and in a couple 
 of hours or so the da>'s business is over. The fish are 
 sold in small lots. Hawkers attend the sales, and are 
 soon on their respective "beats," and to make anything 
 of a living they are of course obliged to ask a good deal 
 in excess of wholesale prices. The Italians hold a 
 number ot fish and oyster bars, and are amongst the 
 principal buyers at the wholesale market. It is hard to 
 give an idea as to price. The Sydney Fresh Food and 
 Ice Company, however, who are large retailers of milk, 
 are also importers of fresh fish (frozen) from New Zealand, 
 and deliver any fish ordered the day before, with the milk, 
 at six to seven a.m.; their lowest price, I think, is 6d. per 
 Ib. The cost of milk generally in Sydney is now, I 
 believe, raised to 4d. per quart. 
 
 Tea may be called the beverage of New South Wales. 
 As a rule it is tea with every meal, and herein, no doubt,
 
 36 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 lies the great secret of saving in household expenses.* 
 Setting aside the question of whether so much tea drink- 
 ing is healthy or not, the habit of drinking it at all meals 
 in place of beer or wine must save a large amount 
 annually. British ales and stout in bottles are obtainable 
 in quantities of not less than i dozen, at y/- and 9/6 per 
 dozen pints and quarts respectively, as the lowest figures. 
 An immense quantity of ale is brewed in the Colony and 
 retailed in Sydney at threepence per pint. Colonial wines 
 are too well known in England to need description. 
 Prices range from i/- per quart upwards. Foreign wines 
 are somewhat dear owing to the duty of 5/- per gallon 
 imposed on still and io/- on sparkling wines, which 
 means, in the case of champagne, an addition of ^i per 
 dozen to the shippers' price. Spirits are from 4O/- per one 
 dozen case upwards. 
 
 Household furniture is, perhaps, the especial "bogey" 
 of the young married couple or rather of those about to 
 marry and, no doubt, is a very necessary item. No one 
 will, I think, deny that cheerful surroundings and a dis- 
 play of taste in the choice and disposition of household 
 furniture are exceeding beneficial to anyone in that state 
 of tension which mental exertion creates, or the lassitude 
 which follows bodily toil, and it is equally patent to most 
 people that lavish expenditure is not required to effect 
 this. On the contrary, a room can be neatly and very 
 cheaply furnished with a pleasing, I might term it 
 soothing effect, which the most gorgeous efforts of the 
 upholsterer might fail to convey. 
 
 * The estimated annual consumption of tea per head of the popu- 
 lation in New South Wales exceeds 8 Ibs.
 
 COST OF FURNITURE. 
 
 37 
 
 In a climate such as that of Sydney, where the verandah 
 is, at least during many months of the year, the favourite 
 spot ; where open windows are necessary, and dust is by 
 no means unknown, the least " stuffy " feeling is apt to 
 become in the summer months almost unbearable. Too 
 much carpet, too many hangings, curtains, and too much 
 over elaborate furniture are bad for health and pocket 
 alike, forming cover as they do for a noisome collection 
 of particles of all sorts known by the generic name of 
 "dust" which, during that sage and scientific process 
 dear to housewives under the name of " dusting," " tidying 
 up " and such cognate terms, are set afloat, to fall by the 
 never failing law of gravitation, so soon as the room has 
 been triumphantly " set to rights." 
 
 Of course, in Sydney, there are furniture marts, and 
 auctions of all sorts daily, the " time payment " system is 
 also in vogue, and there are local factories, from the 
 catalogue of one of which I take at hazard the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Walnut drawing-room suite, in tapestry and 
 
 plush, 9 pieces 34 O O 
 
 Dining-room suite, complete, comprising suite 
 in cedar, of nine pieces, covered in real 
 leather ; 4ft. 6in. cedar sideboard, with 
 bevelled plate glass back ; 3ft. 6in. dinner 
 waggon, and 6ft. extension dining table ... 45 o o 
 
 Pine bedroom suite, comprising warbrobe, dress- 
 ing table, washing stand, with towel rail, and 
 two chairs ... ...990 
 
 Half- tester bedstead, very strong ... ..176 
 
 Austrian suite, consisting of settee, two arm and 
 
 six small chairs ... 4 15 o
 
 38 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 All bedsteads for use in Sydney should be, at least, half- 
 tester, so that mosquito curtains may be used in the 
 summer months. 
 
 Then there are crockery ware, kitchen requisites, &c., 
 but I think I need not go further into details ; freight 
 by sailing vessel is very cheap and there is plenty of 
 competition among Sydney tradespeople, so that things 
 that are not too bulky are little dearer, if any, than in 
 England, household linen, &c., among the rest. Gas is 
 about 4/- per 1,000 cubic feet. Coal is about 20 /- per 
 ton, and wood is greatly used for fires, being obtainable 
 at fairly cheap rates. In the bush they use nothing else.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONSUMPTION OF MEAT THE LIVE STOCK 
 RESOURCES OF THE COLONY THE 
 SYDNEY MEAT SUPPLY ITS IMPERFEC- 
 TIONSTHE FROZEN MEAT TRADE. 
 
 I have stated in my introductory remarks that " I hope 
 " rather to prove the means of exciting some curiosity or 
 " desire upon the part of my readers to learn something of 
 " the resources of the vast Continent of Australia than to 
 " pose as an authority upon the subject " (of its industries), 
 and this applies most especially to the present chapter, 
 in which I will attempt to describe what may be developed 
 into a gigantic and beneficial industry. 
 
 I am compelled to deal to some extent in figures, and 
 they are taken from the Report of the Government 
 Statistician for 1890, the Report of the Minister of 
 Agriculture of the same year, and some from the " Year 
 Book of New South Wales" for 1891, which is compiled 
 from official sources ; and, as it will be understood that, 
 with the exception of Western Australia, stock is con- 
 tinually on the move between the other Colonies, it is 
 necessary to take Australia as a whole in calculating with 
 respect to the live stock generally.
 
 40 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 First, before entering into details, it might be of interest 
 to give the amount of meat consumed in different 
 countries, as estimated by Mulhall, the great statistical 
 authority : 
 
 In Australia each inhabitant uses annually - 276 Ibs. 
 
 The United States - 120 ,, 
 
 Great Britain ,, - 105 ,, 
 
 France ,, 74 > 
 
 Holland and Belgium - 69 
 
 Germany ,, - 69 ,, 
 
 Scandinavia ,, - 67 ,, 
 
 Austria 64 
 
 Spain ,, 49 ,, 
 
 Russia ,, - 48 ,, 
 
 Italy - 23 
 
 Next let us see what the estimated live stock is in Aus- 
 tralasia (that is including Tasmania and New Zealand), 
 and, for the sake of comparison, the area of each Colony 
 and its estimated population. The following are the 
 figures up to the end of 1889 : 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 Horses 430,777 
 
 Cattle 1,741,592 
 
 Sheep 50,106,768 
 
 Pigs 237,276 
 
 Estimated population 
 (including Aborigines) 1,222,200 
 Area of the Colony in 
 square miles 309,175 
 
 QUEENSLAND. 
 
 Horses 35 2 >364 
 
 Cattle 4,872,416 
 
 Sheep 14,470,095 
 
 Pigs 80,730 
 
 Estimated population... 406,658 
 Area of the Colony in 
 square miles 668,224
 
 LIVE STOCK IN THE ANTIPODES. 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Horses 170,515 
 
 Cattle 324,412 
 
 Sheep 6,386,617 
 
 Pigs 106,856 
 
 TASMANIA. 
 
 Estimated population... 324,484 
 Area of the Colony in 
 
 square miles 903,425 
 
 Horses 29,778 
 
 Cattle 150,004 
 
 Sheep 1,551,429 
 
 Pigs 58,632 
 
 VICTORIA. 
 
 Estimated population .. 151,480 
 Area of the Colony in 
 square miles 26,375 
 
 Horses 329.335 
 
 Cattle 1,394.209 
 
 Sheep 10,882,231 
 
 Pigs 249,673 
 
 Estimated population 
 
 (including Aborigines) 1,118,028 
 Area of the Colony in 
 
 square miles 87,884 
 
 WEST AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Horses 42,806 
 
 Cattle 119,571 
 
 Sheep 2,366,681 
 
 Pigs 27,079 
 
 Estimated population... 43,698 
 Area of the Colony in 
 
 square miles 975'9 2 
 
 NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 Estimated population... 620,279 
 Area of the Colony in 
 
 square miles 104,235 
 
 Horses 187,382 
 
 Cattle 815,461 
 
 Sheep 15,503,263 
 
 Pigs 369,992 
 
 And for the sake of further comparison for those who 
 
 have not such matters at their finger ends : 
 
 The estimated area of Great Britain is 121,000 square miles. 
 ,, India 1,400,000 ,, 
 
 ,, United States 3,000,000 ' ,, 
 
 Australia 3,075,000 
 
 ,, Europe 3,900,000 
 
 all of which, I trust, will not be considered out of place.
 
 42 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 Now to see how live stock has increased in New South 
 Wales in twenty years : 
 
 1869. 1889. 
 
 Horses 280,811 
 
 Cattle l795,94 
 
 Sheep 16,848,217 
 
 Pigs 175.934 
 
 Horses 43.777 
 
 Cattle 1,741.592 
 
 Sheep... 50,106,768 
 
 *Pigs 237,276 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that the great increase has 
 taken place in sheep only, possessing, as New South 
 Wales does, half the entire stock of Australasia. For 
 exports of beef, we must ask those that require them to 
 go to Queensland, which, according to official estimates, 
 should have, yearly, a surplus of 250,000 to 300,000 
 head of cattle over and above local demand. Sheep 
 therefore being the speciality of our Colony, we will 
 confine ourselves entirely to them. 
 
 The estimated stock is made up off: 
 
 Merino 48,959,341 
 
 Longwoolled Cross- 
 
 breds (Lincoln, 
 
 Leicester, &c.)... 452,574 
 Crosses of above with 
 
 Merinos 694,853 
 
 Rams 778,313 
 
 Ewes ... 23,647,106 
 
 Wethers 13,501,656 
 
 Lambs 12,179,693 
 
 And lastly, to show the occasional heavy losses caused by 
 droughts and epidemics, I give the losses estimated 
 during the past twenty years, over and above natural 
 
 * The breeding of swine, which might well deserve greater 
 attention, has not made much progress, as in 1880 the stock was 
 much greater than at the present time, being 308,205 head. 
 
 t Now, Feb. 1892, I believe the stock is estimated at no less 
 than 60,000,000.
 
 CHEAP MEA T IN THE FUTURE. 43 
 
 decrease (where they have exceeded three millions), in 
 Australia only : 
 
 In 1869 the losses from drought and epidemics were - 4,700,000 head 
 1871 5.420,ooo 
 
 1876 5,881,000 ,, 
 
 1877 ,, ,, 11,284,000 ., 
 
 1881 3,495,000 
 
 1882 3,911,000 ,, 
 
 1883 4,804,000 
 
 1884 15,425,000 
 1886 4,408,000 
 1888 ,. 7,983,000 ,, 
 
 Lastly, the official returns give to Australia, under 
 ordinary circumstances, an available surplus of 3,996,000 
 sheep in an average year, without trenching at all upon 
 local requirements ; and of this we may fairly estimate 
 that New South Wales possesses, say 2,000,000, and 
 there is, I think, little doubt but what the quantity could 
 be very materially increased, if an export trade were 
 started upon a sufficient scale. It may be found difficult, 
 therefore, to give any reason why Sydney, in time, should 
 not boast of possessing the largest meat trade of all the 
 Australian Colonies. It may be added, though the 
 matter is referred to later, that, although the occasional 
 losses are discouraging, the founding of large meat-killing 
 centres at the several railway termini, and at fixed points 
 on the railway lines, might encourage a system of water 
 conservation, which would largely minimise the effects of 
 a continued drought. 
 
 We will now see in the first place how Sydney is fed. 
 The humane treatment of beasts, attention to securing 
 the best quality of meat, and the care generally taken to
 
 44 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA? 
 
 give consumers healthy, nourishing food, are distinctly 
 marks of progress. We shall look for them, I fear, in 
 vain. 
 
 Sydney, with her 375,000 inhabitants, or thereabouts, 
 uses, weekly, about 1,500 head of cattle, and not less, so 
 it is estimated, than 15,000 sheep, which are, with few 
 exceptions, trucked from all parts of the Colony to 
 Homebush, a station eight miles from the Sydney ter- 
 minus. Here they are unloaded, yarded, lotted, sold, and 
 removed some three miles to waiting paddocks, where 
 they are kept some twenty hours, then driven to the 
 abattoirs. At this stage, being in the hands of the " car- 
 case " bntcher, they are, as soon as slaughtered, delivered 
 by means of specially constructed vans to the retail 
 butcher, the fellmongers and others buying and taking 
 delivery of the head, skin, loose fat and offal generally, 
 to receive the usual treatment of boiling down, dressing, 
 &c. All refuse not merchantable offers somewhat of a 
 difficult problem to the authorities as to how it is to be 
 satisfactorily dealt with. 
 
 Such is the ordinary programme, respecting which, lest 
 it be thought I write too strongly or in exaggerated 
 terms, I will proceed to give the exact words of the 
 Official Report, estimating, in the first place, or giving 
 rather the official estimate* that in the case of stock sent 
 frora Bourke to Sydney, beasts are on the average 7 days 
 5 hours " without any food whatever, and sometimes 
 "without water," and "from ihis it will be seen that a 
 " considerable portion of 1,500 head of cattle and 15,000 
 
 * See Report of Minister for Mines and Agriculture, Sydney, 5th 
 Mny, 1890, appendix G, page 17.
 
 ABUSE OF LIVE STOCK. 
 
 " sheep are, week after week, subjected to the terrible 
 " torture of five, six, and seven days starvation and some- 
 " times more, till the cattle are to be seen at the abattoirs 
 " with their heads hanging down, their bellies tucked 
 "up to their backs, and looking utterly miserable and 
 " wretched. 
 
 "Nor is this all, the poor animals in trucking are 
 "terrified, beaten, and bruised, and when in the truck 
 " they push and horn each other. The stopping and 
 " shunting often throw them down, and some of them 
 " are not unfrequently trampled to death. The losses of 
 " cattle on the train, and the bruses on the ribs, hips and 
 " rump (so noticeable on their bodies when killed), show 
 " conclusively the cruelty now inflicted on the animals 
 " under the live stock trade, and, with the terrible starva- 
 " tion which that system entails, cries aloud for a thorough 
 " change." 
 
 To the foregoing I have only to add, if anyone thinks 
 it needs supplementing, that much of the transport in 
 question takes place during great heat day and night, 
 which must terribly aggravate the suffering of the ill-starred 
 brutes. In addition to this both cattle and sheep are 
 naturally much more wild than we ever perhaps see them 
 in England. Was no notice taken of such a Report in 
 the New South Wales Parliament ? one feels inclined to 
 ask. I am not aware that anything more serious than a 
 passing reference was evoked, if that. 
 
 Bushmen visiting Sydney and English visitors are in- 
 clined to disparage the quality of the meat consumed 
 there. They say it lacks flavour, firmness, and satisfying 
 qualities, and, as a rule, butchers and housekeepers find
 
 46 
 
 SHALL 1 TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 that it is soon tainted. Is it to be wondered at ? Why 
 some of the meat can be barely wholesome ! 
 
 Now, apart from humanitarianism, leaving out all 
 thought of the question of cruelty inflicted upon the 
 " beasts that perish," considering the matter solely from 
 a monetary point of view, it has not even the merit of 
 being business-like. The official report says, that during 
 the longest journeys, by the worry, the knocking about, 
 the long, weary fast, and maddening thirst, a bullock will 
 lose one-eighth of its weight the best of the meat. 
 
 The question then arises, What can be done to avoid 
 this, to lessen the cruelty, to benefit owners of stock, and 
 to provide better meat ? The answer is : 
 
 i. Up country centres on the railways for killing. 
 
 2. Refrigerating cars or trucks of which more than 
 one style has been successfully experimented with. 
 
 3. Ample cold storage at the terminus. 
 And such a system would not only greatly facilitate the 
 supply of meat for local requirements, involving, as it 
 would, as little cruelty as possible, but give everyone 
 greater value for their money, and better meat might 
 mean a less consumption. Furthermore, which is of 
 great importance, it would establish the means of working 
 what might be a vast export trade on a proper basis, 
 and here, I might as well add, that people will be in- 
 clined to own that such meat as is now placed upon the 
 London market from New South Wales can hardly be 
 accepted as a fair criterion, or as a standard by which 
 New South Wales mutton should be rightly judged, and 
 if some prejudice exists against it, it is not unreasonable 
 to attribute a great portion thereof to circumstances not
 
 A BIG INDUSTRY. 
 
 47 
 
 beyond control. Let it be distinctly understood that the 
 idea of establishing up country centres is one which has 
 been strongly recommended by the officials connected 
 with the Department of Stock, in order to mitigate the 
 evils connected with and arising from the Live Stock 
 trade ; also as a means of securing station owners a better 
 return, giving the public better meat, and providing a 
 suitable basis for an export trade, and not only will it 
 develop the resources of and encourage production in 
 New South Wales, but it might be reasonably expected to 
 bring the Cattle of Queensland to the Northern, and 
 Victorian Stock to the Southern termini. 
 
 First as to the centres in question. They will have to 
 contain stock yards, and all appurtenances for slaughtering, 
 and chilling the meat upon the latest principles. The 
 carcases to be conveyed to Sydney by refrigerating cars, 
 of which more than one pattern has already been success- 
 fully tried in the Colonies. At the Sydney terminus the 
 carcases can be, in part, removed at once by the vans for 
 delivery to the retailer, or placed with the meat required 
 for export, in cold storage, until wanted for home con- 
 sumption or shipment. 
 
 Such cars could take, it is estimated, the skins, offal, 
 &c , for fellmongering and boiling down purposes, at, in- 
 cluding the carcase, a less rate than the live bullock or 
 sheep is now carried. No doubt, however, in time, such 
 establishments would be transferred to the slaughtering 
 centres. 
 
 The cars would also be adapted for taking return 
 freight, which the live stock trucks are not, as a rule, and 
 as the centres would, in addition to fellmongering and
 
 48 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA? 
 
 boiling down, very probably encourage tinning, salting, 
 and tanning industries, the Railway Commissioners would 
 be distinct gainers by the traffic the system would en- 
 courage. 
 
 It would remove many people from Sydney, thus 
 serving to somewhat decentralize the Colony ; in other 
 words , spread the inhabitants a little more, for one-third 
 of the entire population of the Colony is herded together 
 in Sydney ; such I respectfully think would be a great 
 gain. It would also permit of experiments being made 
 as to whether the plague of rabbits and hares could be 
 turned to account ; while the refrigerating cars would 
 encourage such industries as that of pig and poultry farm- 
 ing at a greater distance from the city. In the butter 
 producing districts also it would facilitate the export of 
 the summer surplus, which should find a good market in 
 England during the corresponding winter months, while 
 milk could be better conveyed to the city or butter 
 factories. 
 
 The locality for such centres should, of course, be 
 chosen with an eye to the provision of good waiting 
 paddocks, in which travelled stock would be able to 
 recover condition. The selling of stock at such centres 
 need, I think, be no obstacle, and the removal of the 
 sale yards from Homebush, and the slaughtering 
 generally, from Sydney, would, I am sure, free the 
 neighbourhood from a terrible nuisance. 
 
 As to the conveying of meat to the English market, 
 steamers come to Sydney to discharge cargo, provided 
 with the most ample requirements for carrying chilled 
 meat, but go to New Zealand to get a cargo thereof.
 
 NEW ZEALAND EXPORTS. 
 
 49 
 
 To show the part that Australia plays in the London 
 meat market, I will instance the Board of Trade returns 
 of the imports of foreign mutton for the first six months 
 in 1891. They are : 
 
 From New Zealand 485,637 cwts. 
 
 Australia 72,548 ,, 
 
 The estimated stock of sheep as already given is : 
 
 In New Zealand 151503,263 sheep. 
 
 Australia 85,769,821 
 
 Comment, I think, is unnecessary. 
 
 Taking Messrs. Nelson Brothers' report for loth July, 
 1891, I find the following : 
 
 " The market is well supplied with Queensland and Sydney sheep, 
 and this class of mutton feels severely the competition of cheap 
 supplies from New Zealand and the River Plate." 
 
 I think most people will be able to form an opinion 
 from what I have written and quoted, whether New South 
 Wales mutton has ever had a really fair trial in the 
 London market. Another thing, spasmodic and inter- 
 mittent supplies of such an article, as they are at present 
 fur the most part, must be fatal to its success, as I take it 
 that the assurance of an adequate and regular supply of 
 a thoroughly merchantable commodity, must inevitably 
 be the precursor of a steady and increasing demand for 
 the same.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 VEGETABLES AND MILK SUPPLY IN NEW 
 SOUTH WALES FRUITS, THEIR COST 
 SUPERVISION OF DAIRIES. 
 
 The semi-tropical position of Sydney, the bright blue 
 sky and powerful sun will, no doubt, raise expectations in 
 the breast ot the new arrival, who may be familiar with 
 southern Europe, of a magnificent display and supply of 
 the fruits of the earth, in which I fear he will be disap- 
 pointed. 
 
 His imagination may lead him away to some market- 
 place in Spain or Italy, or it may be in southernmost 
 France, with its brightly-coloured awnings, under which 
 he sees the life of the city in the delicious air of the new- 
 born day. Here are gathered the early-uprising house- 
 wives of all degrees. Some with well-filled purses, others 
 anxious as to how they may best spend the meagre sum 
 they have, but all chattering and bargaining with the 
 fullest measure of noise and laughter. 
 
 Here are, in their season, heaps of great melons, blood- 
 red pomegranates, figs bursting with ripeness, luscious 
 grapes, oranges with their dark-green coat fast changing 
 to the golden livery the children of the north best know. 
 But away with the picture. Our desire is not realized in
 
 THE CHINESE HAWKER. 
 
 51 
 
 sunny New South Wales. We might echo the complaint 
 of the sluggard. We have been awakened too soon. 
 The hour, we can plainly see, is an unearthly one for 
 Sydney. English manners and customs prevail. The 
 market is a very poor one. The streets present long 
 vistas of shuttered windows, and are almost deserted. 
 The housewives and people generally are evidently not 
 early risers. We must wait a couple of hours and more, 
 though it is 6 a.m., before the life of the city is warmed 
 into action. 
 
 How, then, are the daily wants supplied? Well, in 
 nine cases out often, by the peripatetic Chinaman. He 
 may be the possessor of a horse and spring cart, or in a 
 more humble way of business as a market gardener and 
 retailer. If the latter, he is provided with a stout " slat " 
 of bamboo, from both ends of which hang baskets con- 
 taining his stock-in-trade. In the morning the weight he 
 carries is something very great, but his burden lightens as 
 his sales multiply. He gets along at a great pace, how- 
 ever, his mode of progression being an indescribable 
 shuffle like that of a bear on its hind legs. He comes 
 past our verandah, lowers his baskets, " unships " his 
 bamboo : 
 
 " Wanchee cabbage ? " 
 
 " No cabbage, John. Any carrots ? " you casually 
 enquire 
 
 " Plenty ca-allot, belly fine ca-allot ? " 
 
 (The Chinaman, as some may not know, pronounces 
 v as b, he also substitutes 1 for r, thus " carrot " becomes 
 "callot," "nee" he terms "lice," "very" becomes 
 " belly," and so on. The habit is not pretty, I am willing
 
 52 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 to concede, but it is one for which I am, of course, in no 
 way responsible.) 
 
 "How much?" 
 
 " Ni-i-ne-pencee," he drawls, holding out at the same 
 time a tiny bunch, which is nothing more or less than 
 the deadliest possible insult in vegetable form, at the 
 price. 
 
 *' I'll give you sixpence." 
 
 He gazes slightly upwards. Talk of the Sphynx 
 with its marvellously contemptous look ! 
 
 "Staring straight on, with calm eternal eyes." 
 
 It is an open book to his placid features. 
 
 " Seespencee, al-li-i-te," (allright) and the especial 
 treasure of the vegetable world is yours. 
 
 Looking, however, into John's baskets, or even thecait 
 of the more pretentious huckster, we find no great variety, 
 and the prices are high. There are potatoes, cauliflowers, 
 carrots, parsnips, peas, and asparagus in their season. 
 Tomatoes are cheap enough. The banana is ever present ; 
 and when ripe, apples, peaches perhaps, and plums. 
 Grapes are cheap enough during the brief time they are 
 " in." I have known them sold as low as twopence or 
 even one penny per Ib. Oranges are sometimes very low 
 in price as well. L The loquat and passion fruit may be 
 new to the English visitor they are neither of them a 
 great acquisition. 
 
 But, as to fruits generally, let it not be understood that 
 I wish to give the productions of the tropics the place of 
 honour, this it is far from my wish to do. The novelty of 
 tropical scenery, its surroundings, and accompaniments,
 
 TROPICAL FRUITS. 53 
 
 generally create a great impression upon the traveller who 
 sees all for the first time, and he is nearly always prone 
 it seems, in fact, fashionable, to bestow endless praises 
 upon tropical fruits. 
 
 But, setting aside the fact that you must, of necessity, 
 be much more careful in the eating of fruit in the tropics 
 than in more temperate zones, take two dishes, fill one 
 with the fruits of the tropics, the other with those grown 
 in less torrid lands. In the first, place the mango, the 
 mangosteen, the custard apple, the shaddock, the banana, 
 the alligator pear, the guava, the pommelo, and others. 
 Fill the second with velvety peaches and golden apricots, 
 satin-skinned nectarines, pears, apples (red, streaked, and 
 russet), with the tribe of plums their king, the luscious 
 greengage, not being forgotten ; add a cluster of grapes, 
 some ripe cherries, strawberries, and other kindred 
 dainties and which takes the palm ? I have omitted 
 several, no doubt, having named them merely from 
 memory, but they may suffice for the illustration. 
 
 As to the shops in the city, at which fruit and vege- 
 tables are offered for sale, they are, for the most part, in 
 the hands of Italians; I might say completely, without 
 exaggeration. The usual display is of a somewhat 
 beggarly nature, and the staple article may be said to be 
 the banana. It is almost wholly an imported fruit, and 
 does not ripen except in the northern part of the Colony, 
 though it flourishes in parts of Queensland, which is 
 frequently termed, in the Colonies, Banana-land. The 
 greatest supply and best quality comes from the Fiji 
 Islands, and the steamers, which make the passage thence 
 to Sydney in about five or six days, will bring as many as
 
 54 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 20,000 bunches at a time. The usual retail price is 
 a dozen or fourteen for sixpence, though they are some- 
 times hawked about, on the arrival of a big shipment, as 
 low as four dozen for sixpence. Of fruits of the soil, 
 apples are dear ; no doubt the Italians combine to keep 
 up prices. As an instance, during the autumn of 1891 
 (Feb.-April), at eighty or ninety miles distance, I was told 
 it would not pay to send apples to Sydney, they being 
 extremely plentiful. One particular kind, which was fairly 
 abundant, I found retailed at twopence each in the city. 
 
 Magnificent oranges are grown at Parramatta, 14 miles 
 from Sydney, and also around Hornsby, a very nice 
 neighbourhood, 12 miles north of Sydney, but rather 
 further by rail at present. Whether the Colony, having 
 her own sugar plantations on the northern rivers, will ever 
 even make her own marmalade, is a question which may be 
 asked, but I fear only answered in the negative at present. 
 There is, I might also add, fresh, dried, and candied fruit 
 imported annually into the Colony, to the value of about 
 a quarter of a million sterling, which is an eloquent, and 
 fairly substantial proof that there is little desire to encour- 
 age home productions, as far as fruit is concerned. 
 
 As to the vegetable supply, the Chinaman is, to nearly 
 all intents and purposes, the market gardener 
 not only of New South Wales, but of the whole of 
 Australia, It is his life-work to a great extent, in such 
 little as I have seen of the interior of his own country, 
 and there is litile doubt that as a gardener, and likewise 
 as a hard worker, he is, perhaps, without an equal, though 
 some of the ideas he carries out in the way of fertilization 
 might be advantageously modified. In Sydney, therefore,
 
 A MEAT DIET. 55 
 
 it may be said that the people, for the most part, must 
 eat such vegetables as he finds it pays him to grow, and 
 pay such prices as he cares to accept. 
 
 On middle-class tables in the Colony, at the least, we 
 might look in vain for such plants as the several arti- 
 chokes, the egg plant, seakale and the toothsome salsify, 
 the endive also might be grown and used in a land where 
 a cool salad would be always grateful ; indeed, I believe it 
 is only of recent years that the tomato has come into 
 general use. It is easy to find fault as a rule upon most 
 subjects, but with respect to New South Wales on the 
 score of expense, meat and vegetables stand reversed as 
 regards price to what they do elsewhere. The cookery is 
 therefore wanting in originality. Meat is abundant and 
 is absolutely the cheapest form of food meat roast or 
 boiled, grilled or fried, is monotonous, but satisfying. 
 Vegetables, in comparison, are dear, and to make a 
 feature of them is apt to be characterized in most house- 
 holds as " a bother ;" so the lover of vegetables in New 
 South Wales, unless he has ample means, must wait, and 
 hope, as they say in melodrama, that "a time may come." 
 
 A few words on the milk supply may not be out of 
 place, as it is so important a matter in every community. 
 Few people require to be told how valuable good milk is 
 as an article of food, containing, as it does, every element 
 necessary for nourishing the human body at the same 
 time, it may be equally well known how highly absorbent 
 it is, thus, unfortunately, being often a fruitful means of 
 disseminating disease. 
 
 I have told the housekeeper that, in addition to there 
 being dairies in the outskirts of the city, the milk supply
 
 56 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA f 
 
 comes largely from the Illawarra district, and from the 
 nearer stations on the Southern Line ; the former sending 
 perhaps the bulk of the cities requirements by means of 
 what is termed the South Coast Line, at many stations on 
 which supplies may be seen pouring in in astonishing 
 quantities, to catch certain trains which are almost wholly 
 laden with milk. 
 
 In a few words upon the public health, I have in- 
 stanced an outbreak of typhoid, owing, as the Health 
 Officer declared, to the use of an infected well upon the 
 premises of a certain dairyman in a Sydney suburb. This 
 might imply that there was an absence of proper super- 
 vision of dairies, but there is a Dairies' Supervision Act,* 
 and I believe it is intended to supplement it with further 
 regulations upon the subject. The provisions of the act 
 apply to dairymen and milk vendors alike. 
 
 Those who have visited the Island of Malta, have 
 many of them, no doubt, been in the well-kept and 
 abundantly stocked market of Valetta, where some may 
 have noticed a small ticket on each piece of. meat 
 offered for sale, examination of which will show that it is 
 to certify that the meat has been passed by the inspecting 
 official. Such may be considered unnecessary, because, in 
 the case of meat or fish, the appearance might condemn 
 it, apart from the sense of smell which most people possess.f 
 
 * An act to establish sanitary regulations in respect of the produc- 
 tion and distribution of milk, 3Oth September, 1886. 
 
 1 1 have heard great stress laid upon what may or may not be a 
 fact, viz., the good health that Jews generally enjoy owing to the 
 careful examination of all beasts killed for their consumption, before 
 the meat is certified and sealed as ''Kosher," i.e., fit for their food.
 
 THE SUPERVISION OF DAIRIES. 
 
 57 
 
 Herein is the necessity for careful, and what is most of 
 all to the point, skilled supervision of dairies, for the glass 
 of milk, to all taste and appearances sweet and sound, 
 might contain the germs of a fatal disease. 
 
 Now the dairymen of New South Wales occasionally 
 complained of too much supervision ; at all events they 
 were not, I have reason to know, generally satisfied with 
 the existing state of the law. I can quite understand 
 supervision being irksome, without being in an equal 
 degree useful. That is to say, a policeman or ordinary 
 official, might go over dairy premises day after day, and 
 every day. It requires no extraordinary brilliancy of 
 genius to note if everything is sweet, and clean, the 
 utensils well scoured, &c., but how about infected water, 
 or incipient diseases in the stock ? Tuberculosis, for 
 instance, could they detect it in its earliest stages ? As a 
 matter of fact, it is left to the dairyman to declare the 
 presence of any contagious disease (as specified by the 
 Act), whether amongst his employes or stock, it rests 
 with him, and until he finds it out, and chooses to declare 
 it, he continues to supply unwholesome milk. I need not 
 shew how necessary most careful supervision of dairies is, 
 but it must be more of a skilled nature, I respectfully 
 think, to be thoroughly useful.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "THE HARVEST OF THE SEA "SALT AND 
 FRESH WATER FISHERIES THE FISH 
 MARKET IN SYDNEY OYSTER CULTURE 
 
 The " Harvest of the Seas " it has, I believe, been said, 
 is one that needs but the reaper, that costs nothing for 
 the sowing, and needs no fostering care while it grows 
 poetical, no doubt, but like many matters crowned with 
 the halo of poesy, neither strictly reasonable nor true. 
 The beast that preys upon the weaker members of its 
 kind, the hawk that would decimate the brood of plover 
 or partridge, cannot reason about their food supply, 
 whether it will wane or no. But man's intellect and 
 reasoning power tells him, as no doubt has often been 
 argued, that he must gather all nature's gifts "in due 
 season," and that he should, by observation and deduc- 
 tion, learn how and when they most need his fostering 
 care, and practise it. 
 
 From the tiny bird that flutters helplessly out of some 
 grass-grown bank, and simulates a broken wing or 
 weakened powers of flight to turn the passer-by from her 
 eggs orcallow brood, to the tigress with her fearful solicitude 
 for her tawny, sprawling progeny, all birds of the air and 
 beasts of the field are cared for in their early days, but
 
 THE COAST LINE. 
 
 59 
 
 alas ! for the poor little fishes, like old Mother Hubbard's 
 legendary little dog, they have none. From their 
 first appearance upon the scene, as a more or less tiny 
 insensate egg, they are left severely alone, a dainty morsel 
 in many cases to their finny brethren, as the poacher well 
 knows ; to counterbalance this, no doubt, nature has 
 given to fishes an enormous power of reproduction, but 
 man should lend his aid to the growing of the " Harvest 
 of the Seas.'' 
 
 A glance at the map of Nev South Wales will shew 
 that her coast line is about, in proportion to her boundaries, 
 as one side of a square is to the remaining three. There- 
 fore a large number of her inhabitants are debarred from 
 participating in such marine harvest as she may reap. 
 Closer investigation shows that there are comparatively 
 few important inlets or large estuaries, and soundings 
 show that the Pacific has a fair depth of water right up to 
 the foot of the many bold cliffs that line the coast. Sub- 
 marine reefs of rock run out here and there, a splendid 
 haunt for certain fish, but of shoals or banks, like the 
 famous Doggerbank or those of Newfoundland, there 
 appears to be none, though the adaptability of the coast 
 for trawling has yet to be thoroughly ascertained; in fact, 
 the art of culture, preservation, and taking of fish is in no 
 high and flourishing state in the Colony at present. 
 
 As to the inland waters, a further brief glance will 
 enable us to see that the dividing range gives to New 
 South Wales two altogether different types of rivers 
 those running eastward into the Pacific being for the 
 most part shorter, with a quicker fall, and towards 
 the south feeling least of all the effects of drought ;
 
 60 
 
 SHALL I TRY A US TR A LI A f 
 
 those flowing westward, all of them eventually joining 
 issues with the Murray, the father of Australian rivers> 
 being more sluggish in their career. Of lakes there are 
 comparatively few. 
 
 Now, as to Australian sea fishes, the English visitor 
 who first sees an assortment of them will recognize but 
 few, and if presented with an extensive bill of fare, say 
 at a fish dinner, might be puzzled what to choose. 
 " Schnapper " will have no associations for him, good or 
 bad ; "Trevally" may mystify him; "Trumpeter" sounds 
 well, but that is all ; '' Flathead " may only suggest the 
 opprobrious epithet of " fathead." Such names as salmon 
 and whiting he will know ; but the former is very, very far 
 from being the peer of the king of fishes, while, on the 
 other hand, the whiting of the Antipodes claims the very 
 highest rank amongst Australian fishes for flavour and 
 delicacy. The John Dor)-, mullet, and flounder, will 
 be familiar. The bream, as far as the name is concerned, 
 will be known, but it is not the bony, tasteless fish of our 
 inland waters, being the black or red sea bream (or 
 "brim" as it is generally termed), and an excellent fish 
 it is. The blackfish, too, is capital while the garfish are 
 surely the most delicate of the finny tribe. Then follow 
 the king and Jew fishes, gropers, parrot-fish, Sergeant 
 Bakers, yellow tails, tailors, leather jackets, and others, 
 and that brilliant bit of colour is a " nanny gai," all of the 
 deepest, brightest, vermilion relieved alone by the jet 
 blackness of two big eyes. 
 
 And how do they compare, on the whole, with the fish 
 of English waters ? Of course, all depends so much on 
 individual tastes. Some place the salmon first, others the
 
 A US TR A LI AN FISHES. 
 
 61 
 
 turbot, trout, or sole ; while, as an " all-round " fish, I am 
 inclined perhaps in company with a few other benighted 
 and degraded beings to favour the oft despised herring, 
 whether fresh from its home, 'long shore, innocent of salt, 
 or in the guise of bloater or kipper, pickled, salted, or 
 high-dried ; or with the abstracted roe, devilled on 
 toast, to spur the jaded appetite, the herring plays 
 many parts and, I venture to think, plays them well 
 and is not the " two-eyed steak," the poor man's cheap 
 but appetising dainty ? 
 
 On the whole, I do not think that the lover of fish 
 will be disappointed by any means with the flavour of 
 Australian fishes ; and one great thing, such fish as come 
 to the Sydney market are fresh, and have not been spoiled 
 by contact with or packing of ice, so you get their true 
 flavour. Take a grilse which is lying high and dry after 
 its last " flurry," bright as the brightest of new shillings, 
 with an ugly sea-louse or two fast holding to it. Let the 
 thick blood well up from the rent the gaff has made the 
 fish is the daintier for it and after detaching the " Jock 
 Scott" or "Doctor" from its jaw, have a cutlet cooked 
 as soon as you can, and compare it with the salmon of 
 commerce, which has been goodness knows how many 
 hours in ice, you will then know what I mean by fish 
 being spoiled by ice. 
 
 But I have spoken of the freshwater fishes of Great 
 Britain, and nothing as yet of those ot the Colony. 
 There are far and away less of them than their saltwater 
 brethren, the principal being the Murray cod, the Murray 
 perch, and the silver eel ; and it is worthy of remark that 
 the latter, while found in fair abundance in those rivers
 
 P ^ SHA LL I TRY A USTRA LI A ? 
 
 which empty themselves in the Pacific, is wanting, as far 
 as I can ascertain, in the westerly flowing streams, while, 
 on the other hand, the cod and perch aforesaid are found 
 only in the latter rivers, and not eastward of the dividing 
 range, though an attempt has been made to acclimatize 
 them throughout the Colony. 
 
 The Murray cod is extremely like, in appearance, the 
 codfish of northern seas, and like that toothsome fish, 
 more remarkable for bulk than beauty. I have seen 
 them up to 90 Ibs. in weight ; but a fish of 7 to 14 Ibs. is 
 best for the table, and from an edible point of view 
 worthy of high praise. The Murray perch is very like 
 our freshwater perch, which is so kind and liberal a 
 patron of the youthful angler, but runs to a much greater 
 size. These two excellent fish, of course, materially 
 compensate any inland lover of fish for the absence of 
 their saltwater brethren. The eels are well-flavoured, 
 and I have caught both sharp and broad nosed silver eels 
 in a tributary of the Nepean, of considerable size, the 
 latter up to lolbs. in weight. 
 
 Lastly, we come to the oyster, familiar to and well- 
 beloved by most of us, whether alone, or acting in 
 pleasing conjunction with codfish or juicy steak. I have 
 remarked in connection with restaurants, that it is cheap 
 in New South Wales. The question is, How long will it 
 remain so ? A large quantity of oysters I should, however, 
 remark, are taken at Stewart Island at the south end of the 
 southern island of New Zealand, and retailed in Sydney. 
 
 I trust I may be pardoned for a few lines upon what I 
 might term the " oyster at home," and the encouragement 
 afforded him in obeying the divine injunction to increase
 
 THE OYS'IER. 
 
 63 
 
 and multipy, and I premise that it is generally admitted 
 that the coast of New South Wales is exceedingly well 
 adapted to the growth and cultivation of the oyster, it 
 remains therefore for man to foster the gifts and pro- 
 visions of nature. 
 
 First, as to the propagation of the oyster. It is, I believe, 
 generally accepted, that it is effected by ova fecundated 
 as in the case of fish, and though estimates differ widely 
 as to the number of eggs each matured mollusc produces, 
 the average may be fairly put down at half-a-million, as 
 far as I can learn. 
 
 The spat, as the spawn is usually termed, on leaving 
 the parent shell, floats about, tossed and drifted hither 
 and thither by waves and currents. In the meantime, the 
 tiny oyster (it takes about three weeks to grow to the size 
 of a pin's head) is developing, by incrustation on its viscid 
 surface, the protecting shells. On finding a rough, clean 
 surface it adheres to it, and thus acquires a home for 
 future development. Failing to meet with this, the in- 
 creasing weight of the shell bears it in a few days to the 
 bottom, where, if it lights on some surface as before 
 described, its well-being is assured, roughly speaking : 
 but, if it falls on mud or sand, it perishes. The season 
 for spawning is in the hottest months of the year, and 
 that is the reason why oysters in England are said to be 
 unwholesome when there is no "r" in the month. It is 
 very probable that a close season alone saved the oyster 
 of the British Isles from absolute annihilation. For the 
 rest the oyster feeds on minute animalcule; and, having 
 no apparatus for seizing the same, its gill-plates or 
 " beard," possess an elaborate mechanism which, the shell
 
 64 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA* 
 
 being open at the time, works so as to cause a current, 
 thus attracting food which it is likewise constructed to 
 retain. Finally, I trust the foregoing will not be con- 
 sidered wearying ; I simply hope to show that oysters are 
 like most living things, none the worse for being looked 
 after in their young days. 
 
 Turning now to the consideration of how New South 
 Wales is furthering the growth and cultivation of her 
 fisheries, it must be borne in mind how exceedingly 
 cheap meat is in Sydney, of the kind that is usually 
 termed " butcher's meat," and, no doubt, it will be 
 impossible to retail 6sh upon anything like equal terms in 
 the near future at least. It is more in England that fish 
 cultivation is to be advocated on the score of economy, 
 and I fear it is also by no means in the " near future " 
 that fish culture* shall afford a cheaper and more frequent 
 meal, if only as a change, than beef or mutton, the price 
 of which to anyone fresh from a term of years in Australia 
 seems simply appalling, when a young and hungry 
 family has to be fed. 
 
 To briefly explain how the supervision of the fisheries 
 of New South Wales is conducted, I should state that it 
 is a Government matter, There are four Commissioners 
 (honorary), a secretary, who is also Chief Inspector of 
 Fisheries, a small clerical staff, and twenty-two inspectors, 
 assistant, and acting-assistant, a few boatmen, and others, 
 so that, if all are capable men, the six hundred miles or 
 so of coast should be fairly well understood as to its 
 capabilites as a fishing ground. 
 
 * By fish culture, I mean the cultivation of certain of our fresh- 
 water fishes in great part as a staple article of food.
 
 THE SYDNEY BILLINGSGATE. 
 
 65 
 
 Is this the case, however ? There are no shoals upon 
 which the fish may spawn away from the coast, as far as 
 general knowledge of the subject goes, so they must seek 
 the most secluded and least exposed inlets. What is 
 known of the habits of the fish ? 
 
 I fear very little is known even about, much less done 
 to protect the gravid fish, the spawn, and young fry. I 
 have been out " seining " with fishermen before now 
 " taking notes," and seeing what mischief is done, most of 
 all by hauling seines inshore.* 
 
 I have seen and heard great complaints made about the 
 sale of the fish in Sydney, that justice is not done to the 
 fisherman and so on. The process briefly, is, the fish are 
 caught, basketed, sent down by train in the evening, 
 arriving in Sydney early in the morning. Now occurs 
 one drawback, they have to be carted a mile or so, but I 
 believe a market at the railway terminius, is being built. 
 When they reach the market, they are passed as to size 
 and freshness, heaped into small lots on the floor of the 
 market (very low, broad benches might be substituted 
 with great advantage, at small cost), and they are sold by 
 accredited salesmen, who are allowed to charge 5% for 
 their trouble. All this is done on the fisherman's account, 
 who thus gets his catch sold, and sold carefully, for a bare 
 commission, to the general public, and yet he is not 
 happy. I suppose the fish trade is not worth . " ringing,' 
 if so, the fisherman might have more cause to complain. 
 
 The oyster fisheries at present are, I fear, in a low way ; 
 to begin with, half the leasehold rents, amounting to 
 
 * Now and again certain waters are closed, but the fishermen, 
 mostly Italian, are at work as soon as they are thrown open. 
 E
 
 66 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 ^2,000, were unpaid, according to the Report of the 
 Commissioners for 1889. Altogether, no care whatever 
 seems to be taken to really cultivate the bi-valve.* 
 
 To strip the bed as soon as possible, and as completely 
 as can be done, is apparently all that the New South 
 Wales fisherman, with the exceptions named, is 
 capable of. The cleansing of the beds, the laying down 
 of " cultch," as it is termed, for the spawn to adhere to, 
 and proper attention to the spawning seasons, are com- 
 plete exceptions to the general rule. 
 
 For the rest, efforts are being made to stock certain of 
 the suitable rivers in the Colony with trout, and also with 
 Californian salmon, and it would be interesting to see 
 these efforts successful, but 1 think it would be more 
 satisfactory to see the fisheries generally on a better foot- 
 ing than they are at present. 
 
 I have not mentioned sharks in my list of Australian 
 fishes as they are hardly a dainty though, as a nuisance 
 of a serious nature, they are much to the front, and 
 render bathing in the open sea a dangerous, if not 
 actually a hazardous, pastime. 
 
 * There are one or two honourable exceptions to this Messrs. 
 Woodward, the oyster dealers, of King Street, Sydney I ihink, 
 among the number.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE LIQUOR TRADE ARE AUSTRALIANS 
 TEMPERATE ? WHAT THEY DRINK 
 THE LICENSING LAWS. 
 
 It is only after most careful consideration that I 
 venture upon a chapter under the above heading, and at 
 the outset, T should state, that it is far from my wish to 
 take up the cudgels on behalf of either the abstainer or 
 consumer of malt, vinous, and spiritous liquors. Each 
 party has its own conclusive (?) arguments, its over- 
 whelming statistics, and though I am prepared to admit 
 the truth of the trite saying that " figures cannot He," 
 as they are not sentient Christian beings I do not, by 
 the way, see how it can be reasonably expected that they 
 should they are nevertheless occasionally coerced into 
 the support and fabrication of statements, which are the 
 reverse of correct. 
 
 It has been by no means unfashionable, at one time 
 and another, for Englishmen who have visited Australia, 
 and recorded their impressions thereupon, .to take its 
 inhabitants to task more or less severely upon the score 
 of manifold shortcomings, and the vice of intemperance 
 has, at times, been laid to their charge. 
 
 I am prepared to admit that there is a fair amount of 
 drinking done in the cities, and it is from a sojourn in
 
 68 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 them alone that I fear many travellers collect for the 
 most part their ideas and form their impressions upon the 
 country, and its inhabitants generally. But the Bushman 
 who may claim, I think, to be considered more the typical 
 Australian than the dweller in the cities which, after 
 all, are few and far between is, [ venture to assert, a 
 temperate man in the real sense of the word, that is in eat- 
 ing and drinking alike. There are many who pride them- 
 selves upon their moderate indulgence in, or entire 
 abstinence from strong liquors, who, in respect of the 
 consumption of solids, are most emphatically the reverse 
 of temperate. It must also be remembered by those who 
 would condemn such drinking as goes on in Australian 
 cities, that the summer heat in all of them is far greater, 
 more exhausting, and continued, than anything we ever 
 experience in the British Isles, and allowance should be 
 made on behalf of men who pursue the ordinary business 
 routine of an English city, in for the most part, a semi- 
 tropical climate. 
 
 According to Mr. Coghlan, whose authority, as Govern- 
 ment Statistician, I have elsewhere referred to, the follow- 
 ing is annually consumed by each unit of the population 
 of the Colony : 
 
 Tea- 81tw. 302. 
 
 Coffee 1302. 
 
 Wine -.-.. 0*72 gallons. 
 
 Beer - 12-85 > 
 
 Spirits ----- i'2O ,, 
 
 Or classing the last three items as alcohol at proof, it is 
 equal to 2 '88 gallons, of that much abused article. The 
 outlay on liquor by each unit of the population is averaged
 
 THE LIQUOR BILL. 69 
 
 at 4 8s. annually, as against 2 195. expended in the 
 same time by each unit in the British Isles; but the 
 average income per unit is greater in New South Wales, 
 so much so, that the percentage on the average income is 
 estimated as the same in both cases, viz. : a trifle over 8 
 per cent. Liquor, it must be borne in mind, is dearer in 
 New South Wales than in England. The amount of tea 
 certainly seems excessive, and it requires no arithmetical 
 genius to work out what a family of six, including, say, 
 three small children, will average in the twelve months. 
 I have elsewhere remarked that in some districts cider 
 and perry might be made and used, I think, with advan- 
 tage. 
 
 As to the law of the Colony with respect to the sale of 
 liquor, I do not know that, with the exception noticed 
 later on, it is marked by any harsh or unreasonable 
 features, or that there is much of what I think I may 
 reasonably term, fanatical opposition. 
 
 There will, for years to come at all events, be many 
 that will sell and consume drink, and I think that each 
 side is before all things entitled to reasonable protection 
 under the law the seller from silly and vexatious enact- 
 ments, the buyer from bad liquor. These I humbly 
 conceive to be the main principles on which each side, 
 the producer, dealer, and retailer, on the one, and the 
 general public on the other, deserves, not as a class, but 
 each individual one interested, by virtue of his citizenship, 
 fair and sensible legislation. 
 
 I have made use of the term fanatical opposition, and 
 most, if not all, who have taken any notice of opposition 
 offered to the liquor trade will, I think, fully understand
 
 70 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 what I mean. Many must have known men, otherwise 
 kindly, sensible, and clever, whose mental balance has 
 been completely upset when they come to touch upon 
 the drink question. Is it fair? Is it reasonable that 
 such men should legislate upon, or deal from the magis- 
 terial bench with so important a question ? Again, there 
 is much of that selfishness often too openly displayed in 
 such matters, which Macaulay so ably satirized when he 
 declared that the Puritans put down bear baiting, not 
 because of the pain it gave the bear, but on account of 
 the pleasure it affoided to the people. 
 
 The Sunday Closing Act, compelling the closing of all 
 licensed houses during the day in question, save to 
 travellers who had come nine miles from where they 
 had slept the preceding night, was in force certainly, 
 until recently, throughout the Colony. I use the expres- 
 sion " in force " advisedly, for, as a matter of fact, the 
 enactment was ''mors honoured in the breach than in the 
 observance," certainly up to the early part of 1891, and I 
 think that anyone who took trouble to notice how matters 
 stood, will bear me out when I state that it would have 
 been better for all concerned if licensed houses were 
 allowed to open during reasonable hours on Sunday. 
 Wholesale disregard of a law implies one of two things, 
 either that the measure is rotten, and therefore tacitly 
 ignored, or else that the Executive is painfully lax and 
 unobservant. 
 
 From the Maine Liquor Law to the Sunday Closing 
 Act in Australia, and northward again to the much 
 vaunted Gothenburg system, I have seen each and 
 everyone either dodged or openly defied, and I am sure
 
 BAD LIQUOR. 
 
 71 
 
 that those who have travelled much, must have remarked 
 upon the part of the aggressive northern races, and their 
 offspring throughout the world, a desire to break an 
 obnoxious liquor law, simply through what has been 
 aptly termed " pure cussedness." I have no doubt 
 prohibitionists have an imposing array of figures in their 
 favour. I write simply of what I have seen. 
 
 The next fault I have to find is an universal one. It 
 is one worn threadbare, I fear, as it concerns Great 
 Britain in like measure. It is the crying necessity for 
 prohibiting the payment of duty, final removal from bond, 
 working, or blending in bond, of any spirit under a 
 certain age. I do not wish to harass the publican, quite 
 the reverse. If a law is passed which forbids his buying 
 cheap stuff, he is no worse off than his competitors at 
 present, he must, to meet competition, buy in the cheapest 
 market. Is there need for a great change in, or burden, 
 upon customs or excise routine, in order to bring this 
 about ? I do not see that there can be. And the gain ? 
 Bad meat is injurious, bad drink is worse than poison! 
 I fear it is not so much the "cursed drink" against 
 which our teetotal brethren inveigh, as the " cursed bad 
 drink " that does most of the mischief. 
 
 As to Sydney bars generally, they are, I think, well 
 managed ; and are divided into two classes, the private, 
 and public bars. In the former the mininum price for 
 all drinks is sixpence, an exception being sometimes made 
 in favour of draught British beer, for half-a-pint of which 
 threepence is charged. ^Erated waters are included in 
 the foregoing charge, if the customer cares to dilute his 
 wine or spirits with them. In most of the bars, as in
 
 72 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 America, if spirits are ordered, the decanter or bottle is 
 handed to the customer that he may help himself. In a 
 great number also, following another custom familiar to 
 those who have travelled in America, a table is laid with 
 materials for a " snack " or luncheon, for which no charge 
 is made. 
 
 Scotch whisky and British beer are most in demand. 
 " Square gin" or " Square face," as Hollands gin is usually 
 termed, is much used ; also " Schnapps " while in hot 
 weather " shandy-gaff" and similar mixtures are in request. 
 There are also places where Colonial wines only are 
 retailed, and here a capital glass of native production of a 
 claret, hock, or Burgundy type, may be had for threepence. 
 At "bush" and country "pubs" all drinks are at least 
 sixpence. 
 
 Then comes the public bar where all drinks are three- 
 pence. Here the " long-sleever " or pint glass of Colonial 
 beer is much in demand, and so also are spirits, at three- 
 pence the " nobbier," occasionally snacks of bread, cheese, 
 and meat, are provided, and in some houses the Boniface 
 gives his customers a substantial piece of hot boiled beef 
 at about the luncheon hour, which is served out free, in 
 ample slices, and affords many a poor fellow who can get 
 his mate to "shout"* a pint, a fair meal. 
 
 Barmaids are much in evidence in some of the private 
 bars, and, as is the rule in most countries where they are 
 employed, they come in for a fair share of uncharitable 
 abuse at the hands of the " unco guid." As a class they 
 are well paid, and, as the business needs no long appren- 
 ticeship, the ranks are often filled by girls who are com- 
 
 * The common term for " standing treat " throughout Australia.
 
 LICENSING LAWS. 
 
 73 
 
 pelled by domestic trouble and disaster, to earn their 
 own livelihood. 
 
 As regards licenses, a public house for which one is 
 required must contain certain accommodation in the way 
 of bed-rooms and stabling. I believe that now, local 
 option is a feature in the present Licensing Act in force 
 in New South Wales, and the issuing of new licenses is 
 regulated by the votes of the ratepayers, in each 
 municipality that the voting shews eleven-twentieths of 
 votes in the negative no new license is to be issued for 
 three years, but hotels having considerable accommoda- 
 tion are exempted. 
 
 For the carrying out of the Licensing Acts there are 
 different districts appointed, each presided over by a 
 licensing court. Three convictions under the Licensing 
 Act for offences against it, or the conviction of the holder 
 for felony or serious misdemeanour, cancels a license. 
 The cost of a publican's license in Sydney is ^30, except 
 under special circumstances. A brewer's or wine and 
 spirit merchant's license is ^30 in Sydney, and 20 in 
 the country. A good many public-houses are more or 
 less in the hands of brewers, as in England.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE RAILWAYS, TRAMWAYS, AND ROADS 
 OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 Leaving behind us the foreign concessions, French, 
 English, and American, which form the European portion 
 of Shanghai, and strolling by the side of the Shanghai 
 River towards Woosung, where it joins the muddy swirl- 
 ing current of the widely spreading Yang-tse, one would 
 have noticed some few years ago for aught I know they 
 may be there still a varied assortment of sleepers, rusted 
 rails, chairs, fish bolts, and such-like portions of railway 
 plant, tossed here and there in picturesque confusion, 
 where once was a railway. The explanation is, that the 
 Chinese acquired it from the " foreign devils " who built 
 it, and tore it up. John Chinaman does not believe in 
 railways for his beloved flowery land, and he may be wise 
 in his generation. 
 
 But, first, a few words as to Australia and her five 
 Colonies, their political and physical aspect. I would, 
 indeed, prefer refraining altogether from political matters, 
 but the question of Free Trade and Protection is one 
 which must be referred to in the matter of railways and 
 railway traffic. As most people are aware, the several 
 Colonies are not agreed upon an uniform policy, but
 
 ROAD v. RAIL, 
 
 75 
 
 vary from strict Protection in Victoria, to the levying of a 
 customs duty on certain goods and produce only in New 
 South Wales.* 
 
 As to its physical aspect, Australia differs widely, it 
 must be borne in mind, from Europe and America. In 
 the former, there were busy centres and capitals to be 
 joined by railways ; the latter has her eastern and western 
 sea-boards, besides inland commercial centres and indus- 
 tries to be connected in the same way; and such a railway 
 as the Canadian Pacific has furnished Great Britain with 
 a speedy route through her own dominion, in troublous 
 times, to her possessions and settlements in the east. The 
 central portion of Australia is only partially explored. She 
 has few, if any, inland centres of great importance. Her 
 principal cities are all upon the coast, and steamship 
 communication between them is not circuitous, but essen- 
 tially the reverse. 
 
 Next, let us look at the effect railways have had upon 
 some of the country they pass through. Suppose we 
 take a point, say eighty miles from Sydney, and thence 
 travel thirty or forty miles along the broad, well-kept road 
 that leads to her Victorian rival. Hard by this, the first 
 line of railway in the Colony was opened. So it may 
 best serve to shew the benefits conferred by railways upon 
 the territory they traverse. We may travel many miles 
 without seeing an inhabited house ; a solitary " swagman ' 
 plods along exchanging a " Good-day, boss far to the 
 next township ?" and his face falls as you give him the 
 distance, and so on, until the punishing sun suggests a 
 
 * The revised tariff of the Protectionist party at present in power 
 is still a subject of fierce discussion.
 
 76 
 
 SHALL I TRY A VSTRAL1A ? 
 
 halt, or, as it is universally termed in Australia, a " camp" 
 for an hour or so, by the wayside. 
 
 It is an exceedingly pretty bit just here, ridge after 
 ridge, wooded to the summit, rises around. A narrow, 
 but deep and transparent creek, threads its devious way 
 lazily through flats where the grass grows rich and green 
 in rank luxuriance. Still reaches widen out here and 
 there, and a grey heron flaps lazily away, as we take our 
 horses to the water. 
 
 Before the " iron horse " ran close by, this clearing was 
 a teamster's camping ground. Here, towards eventide, 
 was all bustle and confusion ; there were loaded drays 
 and teamsters, and campfires and all the noises of a camp, 
 with clanking of bright chains as the tired bullocks were 
 unyoked. Those crumbling bits of masonry by the road- 
 side are all that is now left of busy stores, of the saddler's, 
 and of the blacksmith's forge, of the inn, and of all where 
 there was once a market for the farmers' produce, among 
 the teams that thronged along the road, but the railway 
 has cleared all away. The township where we pass the 
 night has now a railway station, but it was better off in 
 the old days, so many will say. And finally, ask how 
 much land has been taken out of cultivation, giving em- 
 ployment or a living to one tenth of what it did since 
 the railway was in operation. 
 
 Rut has not the much vaunted " cheap and rapid 
 transit " enabled the farmers on the lines of railway to 
 find a market for their produce in Sydney ? No ; 
 they cannot compete with importations from other 
 Colonies. The intending farmer should look over the 
 Sydney wharves, and see the produce daily landed
 
 THE BRITISH INVESTOR. 
 
 77 
 
 from the Sister Colonies Victoria and New Zealand 
 especially, he may then wonder what chance there is for 
 him or his calling in New South Wales, It is unfortun- 
 ately for the Colony, perhaps, that her capital city is on 
 the coast, for her to be fed by the foreigner. Her largest 
 inland cities are mere villages compared with Sydney, so 
 the local or up-country demand for agricultural produce 
 is slight there being no Birmingham, Manchester, or 
 Leeds in the Colony, as yet. 
 
 Lastly, it will naturally be asked, if the railways have 
 driven people off the soil, who made a living by the 
 passing teams, have they developed the back country in 
 a manner sufficient to counterbalance this drawback, and, 
 at the same time, justify their creation or building ? If 
 New South Wales finds it her best policy to import her 
 breadstuffs, fruit, and such produce, and go in for a 
 pastoral industry solely, becoming, in fact, nothing more or 
 less than a gigantic sheep run, is all being done to make 
 such industry a success ? this I am bold enough to 
 question altogether in my remarks on the meat supply. 
 
 Having thus instanced from personal observations one 
 or two points of view from which to look at the railways 
 of the Colony, I will as briefly as possible describe their 
 extent and principal features, as much British money 
 has been expended upon them, in fact the British 
 investor is looked upon in the Colonies as a right noble 
 fellow, and I think it shameful that Antipodean wags 
 should make irreverent gibes upon so free-handed a lender 
 to foreign lands, going so far as to alledge, I regret to say, 
 that England once lent money to a country that never 
 existed, the heaven-born genius who organised the loan
 
 78 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 vanishing with the subscription list. There may have 
 been also a little too much railway work put in hand for 
 political purposes. If Codlin bribes his constituents with a 
 promise to spend two millions sterling in railways, 
 Codlin is undoubtedly the man, not Short. 
 
 Well, for the thirty millions or so sunk in railways, New 
 South Wales has to show (see maps) : 
 
 THE NORTHERN LINE. 
 Sydney to Tenterfield, .... 479 miles. 
 
 with branches 
 
 Hornsby to St. Leonards - - - - 10 ,, 
 
 Werri's Creek to Narrabri - 96 
 
 THE WESTERN LINE. 
 
 Sydney to Bourke, 503 miles. 
 
 with branches 
 
 Blacktown to Richmond - - - - 16 
 
 Wallerawang to Mudgee - - - - 85 ,, 
 
 Orange to Molong 24 ,, 
 
 THE SUBURBAN LINE. 
 Sydney to Parramatta .... 14. miles. 
 
 THE SOUTHERN LINE. 
 Sydney to Albury, - ... 386 miles. 
 
 with branches 
 Goulburn to Cooma - 
 Murrumburrah to Blayney ... 
 Cootamundra to Gundagai ... 
 Junee to Hay - 
 Narrandera to Jerilderie 
 
 THE ILLAWARRA OR SOUTH 
 Sydney to Kiama .... 
 
 130 
 
 112 
 
 34 
 - 167 
 65 
 
 COAST LINE. 
 70 miles. 
 
 In addition, there are two private lines, the Deniliquin and 
 Moama (45 miles), and that from Silverton to Broken
 
 BROKEN HILL TRAFFIC. 79 
 
 Hill, the famous silver mine of Australia, which is in the 
 extreme south-west corner of the Colony, the consequence 
 is that all the traffic passes through, and all supplies are 
 drawn from South Australia, an alien Colony, and South 
 Australian railways no doubt owe very much to Broken 
 Hill, where there was really an industry to develop. From 
 the foregoing it will be seen that her railways radiate from 
 Sydney, their centre, fairly well over the Colony, and 1 
 believe that Parliament has approved conditionally of a 
 considerable mileage of new lines, some of which are in 
 course of construction. The South Coast Line, I might 
 remark, has done much to bring dairy produce to Sydney, 
 and I hope an export trade in butter may be created on 
 a sound basis. Here, there was an industry to develop, 
 not to mention that the railway runs through a coal and 
 iron district. 
 
 The lines are single, but some are in process of dupli- 
 cation, for which, in some cuttings, at all events, no 
 provision was made, the consequence is, that the work 
 must be carried on under some difficulties. The gauge is 
 4 feet 8| inches, and it is a pity the several Colonies 
 could not agree upon this question, as, in going from 
 Melbourne to Brisbane via Sydney, there are three 
 breaks of gauge, viz., the Victorian, 5 feet 3 inches ; 
 New South Wales, 4 feet 8^ inches ; and Queensland, 
 3 feet 6 inches. 
 
 The Sydney terminus is at Redfern, about two miles 
 from Circular Quay, and the railway is to be extended 
 to the quay some day. The appearance and general 
 appointments of the railway station are not calculated to 
 create a great impression upon the visitor. The refresh-
 
 80 
 
 SHALL f TRY AUSTRALIA? 
 
 ment rooms on the lines are good, and the tariffs reason- 
 able. 
 
 The carriages are seated, in part, on the English plan, 
 and there are sleeping berths to be had at 12/6 each. 
 There are only two classes, first and second. The 
 ordinary fare to places near Sydney is about one penny 
 per mile; greater distances one penny three- eighths, 
 second-class. The first-class fare is about fifty per cent, 
 more. Then, there are excursion tickets at special, in 
 some cases very low rates. As to speed, there is no 
 "Flying Dutchman," "Scotchman," "Wild Irishman," 
 or "Zulu," in the Colony. The distance from Sydney 
 to Bourke, 503 miles, occupies from 21 to 22 hours, and 
 the mail from Sydney to Melbourne requires 19 hours for 
 its journey of 576 miles. For the convenience of com- 
 mercial men principally, annual tickets are issued, by 
 which the holder can travel for a year on one, two, or 
 more lines, and their branches, as often as he thinks fit, 
 for amounts up to ;ioo, which sum enables one to 
 travel over all the railways of New South Wales for one 
 year. 
 
 For the construction of the lines tenders are publicly 
 called for, certain portions of the line being separately 
 tendered for. Nearly everything has to be imported from 
 England, though there is a local factory which turns out 
 railway coaches, trucks, &c., and has made refrigerating 
 cars, which have been successfully tried. An attempt was 
 made to start a locomotive works, but it fell through, at 
 least, for a time. 
 
 The rates of carriage upon goods and produce depend 
 upon district, distance, and nature of freight carried,
 
 RAIL WA Y RA TES. 8 1 
 
 which, with the exception of wool and live stock, is divided 
 into six classes. By district, I mean the Riverina or 
 south-western portion of New South Wales, for the trade 
 of which, Victoria, with her railway to Echucha on the 
 Murray, makes a big bid ; it is necesssary, therefore, to 
 adopt differential rates in this part. 
 
 As to distance, a fixed charge is made for every 50 
 miles intermediate distances being charged in proportion, 
 thus, for every 100 miles, the rate is double that for 50, 
 for 150 about one-third more, and then about one-fourth 
 more for each 50 miles. Sheep and cattle (live) are 
 carried at rates which vary per full truck, from ^i 133. 4d. 
 for 50 miles, to ^9 6s. 3d. for sheep, and i i 33. 4d. 
 for cattle for 500 miles. For wool, scoured, is charged 
 about one-fifth more than greasy. From the furthest 
 stations to Sydney the charges are : 
 
 Scoured, Undumped. Greasy. 
 
 Hay (Riverina) ... 454 miles ^,439 349 per ton. 
 Bourke (We=t) ... 503 5 3 403,, 
 
 Tenterfield (North) 479 ,, 5 10 o 3 15 u 
 
 As to the general management of the railways, in order 
 to remove them, and all concerning them, from the 
 influence of political jobbery, a Chief Commissioner has 
 been appointed in the person of an English official, 
 who occupied a responsible position on a British railway. 
 He receives ^3,000 a year, and is aided in his duties by 
 two Commissioners, who receive each ^1,500 per annum. 
 They are in a great measure independent ; but, of course, 
 subject, in proposing new lines, &c., to the Department 
 of Public Works, which, in its turn, is subject to the 
 Legislative Assembly. Under the Commissioners are the
 
 82 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 following departments : Accountants, Traffic, Audit, 
 Stores, Locomotive Engineer, Engineer for Existing Lines, 
 Traffic, and Engineer-in-Chief, all with ample, well-paid 
 staffs. 
 
 New South Wales claims, I believe, that her only public 
 or national debt is about forty millions sterling, nearly all 
 raised in the London market, and against this, I under- 
 stand, it is urged that she possesses a sufficient asset 
 in the public works upon which the whole of the money 
 has been expended. 
 
 As to the thirty millions or so which have been sunk 
 in railways, I believe I am correct in saying that as 
 recently as 1889 and 1890, the profit made, in neither 
 case reached, certainly did not exceed, 3^ percent. ; and, 
 as Mr. Coghlan, in his official work, makes the average 
 interest payable on railway loans slightly over 4 per cent., 
 the lines throughout the Colony, taken as a whole, can 
 hardly be termed, as yet, even self-supporting. Whether 
 they indirectly increase the revenue of the Colony is a 
 matter I am not in a position to confirm or gainsay. 
 
 Now, although the wealth and total revenue of the 
 Colony may be all that could be desired, I still imagine 
 that most people interested in New South Wales loans 
 would like to see a somewhat better return from the 
 working of the railways. It may be said that the system 
 of working by commissioners has hardly had a fair trial 
 as yet, but surely there has been time to profit by th e 
 development of back country, and all the stereotyped 
 advantages given in justification of railway extension ? 
 No business concern would be justified in borrow- 
 ing money to lock it up in a department, which, after
 
 STEAM TRAMWAYS. 
 
 83 
 
 reasonable time, did not pay even the interest on the 
 loan, while there remained only a bare asset equal to the 
 debt. 
 
 A few words are due upon the steam tramway system 
 in Sydney, another government property, which, though 
 like many things, not without fault, provides a fairly cheap 
 and quick means of transit from near Circular Quay to 
 nearly all the Sydney suburbs. The motors are similar to 
 those in use in Leeds, Bradford, and other cities, where 
 they are used as a motive power for steam street trams, 
 but instead of one car, two to five are used. The cars 
 are much upon the same principle as English railway 
 carriages, being divided into compartments, but they have 
 more glass about them ; the doors do not open in or out- 
 wards, but slide lengthways. They have no regulation, 
 or if so, do not keep it, as to overcrowding the cars. They 
 possess smoking compartments. 
 
 Some are " double-deckers," i.e., having accommo- 
 dation upon the top which is roofed over, forming a 
 terribly cumbrous affair, and somewhat of an eyesore, 
 when considering the general aspect of the thorough- 
 fares they patronize. They do not stop to pick up or 
 set down except at appointed places. They travel 
 at a good speed, and are somewhat astonishing to the 
 visitor, as they present the aspect of a train running 
 through a crowded street. To suit business men they 
 frequently have in the morning and evening "express 
 trams," which do not stop between certain termini. By 
 early trams workmen travel more cheaply, and school- 
 children have special rates. The fare is regulated by 
 sections, at twopence generally for the first, and one
 
 84 
 
 SHALL f TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 penny for each following, or part of a section. As a rule, 
 there are waiting rooms where you can purchase tickets, 
 little slips at one penny each, which are also obtainable 
 at shops on the lines, if you pay in cash you have to pay 
 about double, this is to avoid peculation. Accidents are 
 not unfrequent, but at the principal crossings there are 
 flagmen posted, to warn vehicles and foot passengers. 
 
 The roads of New South Wales are of six classes, and 
 those of the first-class are well metalled, and thoroughly 
 well kept. Roadwork is tendered for by contractors, as 
 far as re-metalling or making is concerned; repairs to 
 bridgework are done by men in Government employ, 
 while a roadman is appointed to keep a certain length in 
 order. Road superintendents, under the Head Office in 
 Sydney, are dispersed throughout the Colony. The 
 amount yearly expended by the Government on the roads 
 runs from ^50 per mile for the first-class, to ^"5 per 
 mile on sixth class roads. Coaches are the general 
 means of conveyance where railways are not, but a long 
 journey during the summer heats, or after heavy rains, is 
 only to be enjoyed by a person possessed of peculiar 
 tastes and ideas as to what constitutes pleasure. The 
 name of " Cobb " is a household word in Australian 
 coach lore. 
 
 I may conclude with mentioning one item of interest 
 with regard to railways in Australia , that is, the longest 
 stretch of travelling which can be done upon them. It is 
 from Charleville, in Queensland, to William Springs, in 
 South Australia, a distance of 2,636 miles.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AUSTRALIAN SCENERY "THE BUSH" BUSH 
 TOWNSHIPS AND CITIES SWAGMEN 
 SUNDOWNERS "ON THE WALLABY." 
 
 The verdict on Australian scenery is not always of a 
 kindly nature, and I have heard all sorts, from that form 
 of condemnation which is termed " faint praise," to the 
 occasionally severe decision that there is " absolutely no 
 scenery " in Australia. 
 
 There is little doubt, I think, that it is the fashion, 
 more or less, to admire the scenery of some countries, 
 while it is equally the custom to disparage that of others. 
 A few words from some great writer may make or mar a 
 place in the eyes and minds of those that see it. A well- 
 known remark, for instance, about the smells of Cologne 
 has given that city an evil notoriety, which most people 
 who describe it, keep up in a most amusing manner 
 For my own part, I have visited Cologne at all seasons of 
 the year, and have been in quite a score of Continental 
 cities more full-flavoured ; while in Asia, Africa, and 
 tropical America, I can call to mind towns to which it is 
 even as a " bank of violets." It is the old story of 
 connecting a dog with an evil reputation, with a dis- 
 agreeable, not to say disastrous, result to the dog.
 
 86 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 Each, according to his nature, disposition and tempera- 
 ment, admires different kinds of scenery, just as his tastes 
 vary, fortunately, in other matters, and so, though it may 
 not please all, there may be many who would find much 
 to admire in Australian scenery. 
 
 It is for the most part wholly unlike much that we see 
 elsewhere. We have variety enough, and beauty sufficient, 
 in the British Isles, from the lofty peak, wild moorland, 
 and savage glen of Scottish Highlands, Wales, or western- 
 most Ireland, to the more peaceful lakesides of 
 Westmoreland, the tangled sweetness of a Warwick or 
 Devon lane, the bosky, breezy downs of Hants, or Surrey, 
 or the brave autumnal tints by Thames or Isis riverside. 
 
 Further afield, we have Norwegian fells and fiords, and 
 valleys so deep and narrow as to get but small share of 
 sunshine in the longest summer day. Canadian pine 
 forests, endless almost, the home of elk and caribou, 
 with broad, rapid waterways rushing seawards. Alpine 
 peaks and green valleys, and the climbers fascinating 
 world of eternal snows, rifted glacier, and grim gaunt 
 precipice. Even to tropical forests, where around and 
 high above you is so bewildering a growth of tree-trunk, 
 branch, and foliage, and every kind of creeper that twines 
 or hangs, themselves in turn an abiding place for lesser 
 parasites of the vegetable world, and, where in and out of all 
 this maze of nature's weaving there dart such tiny gorgeous 
 birds as would shame a diadem of richest gems all this, 
 and more, you may have seen, and yet find some wholly 
 new features in Australian pictures. 
 
 Immensity, wildness, untouched, untutored, are perhaps 
 the leading characteristics of Australian scenery. On the
 
 AUSTRALIAN. GULLIES. 87 
 
 dividing range, ridge after ridge, woodclad, seemingly an 
 illimitable forest, meets the view, without sign of human, 
 dwelling or artifice of man, and all around, under the 
 cloudless sky and all-pervading flood of midday sunshine, 
 there is the silence of the grave. Take any one of the 
 ridges that rise like waves of the sea in endless succession, 
 pick it to pieces, or produce its "counterfeit presentment " 
 in picture or photograph, it has neither beauty nor 
 grandeur the trees that clothe it are scrubby, the foliage 
 is without variety for the most part, and monotonously, 
 nay, painfully scant, and grey rock, brown herbage, or 
 sandy soil, shews here and there through it all, but how 
 endless all is apparently, what massing of different shades 
 in the interminable ridges, until the furthermost is only a 
 degree darker than the sky itself. 
 
 Now and again the sun, more especially towards its 
 hour of setting, warms up some rock face, some sheer 
 precipice, that drops into an apparently unfathomable 
 gully, and these deep Australian gullies have, I think, a 
 character which is peculiarly their own. 
 
 The granite walls that spring from that greatest, 
 perhaps, amongst the world's natural wonders, the 
 Yosemite Valley, exceed in sheer height and abruptness 
 the rock faces which hem in Australian gullies, if indeed 
 they do not, on the whole, excel in sublimity any in the 
 known world. From an angle at the summit of one of 
 these cliffs, known as Glacier Point, there projects, or did 
 some few years ago, a slab of rock, from the edge of 
 which you can look, for it completely overhangs the valley 
 beneath, through more than three thousand feet of space 
 upon the tree tops and open glades, watered by the
 
 88 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 silver threading of the Merced River, or from the summit 
 of the Half Dome, the eye can fathom with difficulty, 
 craning, as one does, carefully over the edge of the fearful 
 wall, the mile of perpendicular height which lies between 
 the climber and the dwarfed sheet of water known as 
 Mirror Lake. 
 
 But come cautiously to the edge of this rock face, 
 towards which a little creek is running, more slowly it 
 almost seems, and hesitatingly like ourselves, before it 
 takes its leap, and falls in a glittering shower hundreds of 
 feet below. We look down into the blue depths a 
 thousand feet and more below us, and stretching away 
 for miles. The bed of the gully shelves gradually 
 upwards from its centre, to meet on each side, the vertical 
 rock walls, but here, there are no open glades, no 
 occasional clearings, which would suggest the existence, if 
 nothing more, of mankind, nothing but billowy masses 
 of never ending forest, and all around is the same. 
 
 To change the scene, come to one of the outlying spurs 
 that almost overhang the Illawarra district, the dairy of 
 New South Wales, and look down upon the low-lying 
 strip of littoral. A white line of surf, here and there, 
 shows where the rollers of the blue Pacific break inshore. 
 The neatly cleared paddocks lie mapped out below, with 
 here and there a township, and farms dot the landscape, 
 each with its stock of red, roan, and brindled specks of 
 cattle beyond, is the burnished sheet of Lake Illawarra, 
 while further south, is the turquoise-hued semicircle of 
 Jervis Bay, and the estuary of the Shoalhaven river glitters 
 in the sunlight. The day is perfect, 
 
 " Bridal of earth and sky."
 
 AN ANTIPODEAN JUNGLE. 89 
 
 Carefully descending, we plunge into frequent " corries " 
 that seam the mountain sides, with vegetation as thick as 
 in a tropical forest, and where a stream comes trickling 
 down, are mosses, ferns, and the lovely tree-fern with its 
 rough trunk of darkest brown, and a crown of fronds like 
 filagree-work of daintiest, brightest green. From over our 
 heads, a cockatoo darts out with harsh scream, and in a 
 few moments of powerful flight looks like a fleck of white 
 against the blue sky, and many coloured lories, and 
 parrots, flutter about, red, green, and purple, and a bright- 
 eyed, brown-furred wallaby hops away ; and so on could 
 1 write about quiet, tree-fringed, billabongs, as back 
 waters of river reaches are called, caves and waterfalls, 
 and sun-brcwned arid plains stretching out under the 
 fierce Australian sunshine, but I have written enough 
 already, it may be, too much. 
 
 Australia generally, I fear, lacks " bits " of scenic 
 beauty, there is, for instance, no Bettws-y-Coed, as far as I 
 know on the Continent. Varied wealth and colour of 
 foliage is, as a rule, lacking. Another thing, there is 
 enough galvanized iron in New South Wales and Australia 
 generally, to madden a far less sensitive person than Mr. 
 Ruskin. Its nature is so severely uncompromising ; it is 
 eminently useful, no doubt, but it is equally unpicturesque. 
 It can never look even respectable from an artistic point of 
 view, and it has an appearance of perennial youth and 
 freshness with its bravery of spangles, so the selector's hut, 
 or framehouse, in which our ever present metallic friend 
 mostly plays a conspicuous part, though it may be a sub- 
 stantial joy to its owner, is rarely a thing of beauty. 
 
 Then " The Bush "what is " The Bush ? " many are
 
 90 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 tempted to ask well, more or less, it is what the country 
 is to the smoke-dried Londoner, the backwoods to the 
 denizen of Canadian cities, or the mofussil to the Anglo- 
 Indian dweller in Calcutta or Bombay, it is anywhere out 
 of the city or town, in Australia. 
 
 The swagman or sundowner, who sets out " on the 
 Wallaby," makes off to " the Bush," so let us follow him. 
 What does " On the Wallaby " mean ? Well, much about 
 the same thing as going " on the tramp " in England. 
 Its derivation I cannot give. 
 
 Sometimes we pass such scenes as I have attempted 
 to describe upon an earlier page, but in many cases 
 it is a dreary, monotonous tramp. We may skirt for 
 miles the paddocks* of a station, fenced with stout posts 
 and rails, or less substantial looking wire. A growth of 
 saplings may flourish here and there, but the great trees 
 have all been " ring-barked " by an unsparing hand, and 
 stand up, gaunt, grey, sapless, and withered, or lie rotting 
 on the ground, a dispiriting landscape. Now and again 
 we pass over miles of scrub and forest, perhaps on a dusty 
 road, guiltless, of course, of hedgerows. The pendent, 
 scanty leaves of the trees generally give us little shade 
 from the pitiless sun, or perchance the heavy rain. Here 
 is apparent a sad monotony of foliage. Here are miles 
 of white, bare, trunks, from which the bark hangs in 
 tangled streamers, and endless fastnesses of the everlasting 
 gum tree, enlivened occasionally by the bright steel-blue 
 bloom of the leaves of the peppermint, shewing out 
 against the gnarled and dark brown limbs of the parent 
 
 *The word paddock is used where we should say " field " in 
 England.
 
 A BUSH TOWNSHIP. 
 
 91 
 
 tree. Anon, are great plains where water is an anxious 
 matter ; hunger is bad enough, and we may know what it 
 is ; however, the tightened belt will dull the gnawing pain, 
 but thirst ! of your charity sympathise a little with such of 
 your unfortunate fellow-creatures of whom you may read 
 the few pregnant words, " they suffered much for want of 
 water." 
 
 In our travels we come, of course, to the " bush town- 
 ship," though it is sometimes, a long, long day between 
 them. As we " open it out " at the end, perhaps, of a 
 dusty stretch of road, it looks hazy, and seems to blink, 
 almost, in the quivering sunshine, like some great, sleepy 
 cat. Underneath the verandah of the " pub " are seated, 
 most likely, two or three "travellers," swagmen, like 
 ourselves, with for-the-time-discarded swags and " billies " 
 at their feet.*, 
 
 The horses, of some guests within, have their bridles 
 hooked to a convenient post, and edging towards the 
 shade, switch with their tails, at that ever present pest, 
 the black fly. 
 
 The clangour from the neighbouring forge, denotes 
 that a couple of the township's worthies are at work. A 
 few gossip here and there, about the stores ; there is not 
 much high-pressure here. A well-appointed trooper of 
 police rides past, sleek and natty, on his well-groomed 
 horse. Yonder pretentious house will be the local bank, 
 of which, there will be another opposite, for the name of 
 such branches is legion, and if the business is over for 
 
 *A swag consists of a blanket, shirt, &c., rolled up and strapped ; 
 in fact, it is "bush" for baggage, a " billy " is simply a small tin 
 can, indispensable in bush life.
 
 92 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA f 
 
 the day, the white-coated manager will perhaps be taking 
 the air, and his leisure, in the verandah. The occasional 
 rattle of wheels, or the clatter of hoofs, breaks the silence, 
 and perhaps shouts of "Gee-back, Redman! Snowy!" 
 and the swish of a long-handled, longer-lashed green-hide 
 whip, heralds a swaying, straining, sleepy-eyed team of 
 bullocks. 
 
 Crook-knee'd and dew-lapped, like Thessalian bulls, 
 
 and so goes on, day by day, the life and business of a 
 bush township. 
 
 Then, again, there is the inland city. Take Goulburn, 
 it lies high above the sea level, surrounded by not unfertile 
 plains ; a great relief if you have been much in scrub or 
 forest. It is somewhat straggling perhaps, but has fine, 
 broad streets, and well-stocked shops and stores. A 
 public garden, with well tended shade trees, abuts upon 
 the main street, which is as wide as that named Sackville, 
 the pride of Dublin city. Here is centred most of the 
 life of the city ; and it is a busy scene on Saturdays, or 
 Wednesdays, the sale day, when the capacious stockyards 
 are filled almost to overflowing. Horsemen and buggies 
 are flying about in all directions ; bullock drays, and teams 
 generally, toil more leisurely along. One of the many 
 handsome banks graces a "corner lot," which, if you 
 chance to gossip about with some old " identity," he will 
 tell you he remembers being sold for a few gallons of 
 rum. Fine churches shew that the people are not 
 unmindful of their religious duties ; and factories and 
 flour mills, though few in number, prove that industries 
 are not wholly neglected. Well-built hotels, with spacious 
 verandahs, are suggestive that the wants of the more
 
 THE SWAGMAN AND "SUNDOWNER." 93 
 
 aristocratic traveller will be duly met ; while the not 
 unfrequent "pub" indicates that his more humble brother 
 will be well cared for. But cities like this, it must be 
 remembered, are not sown broadcast over the Colony. 
 They are very much like plums in a cheap pudding, very 
 few and far between. 
 
 As to the "swagmen" and "sundowners," they are, 
 for the most part, a motley crew. Some of the former 
 have a trade, some are labourers, some prospectors.* 
 Some are nothing at all, or anything, whichever you please 
 to term it young fellows who have come out to find 
 Australia very far from what their fancy painted it. The 
 "sundowner" is more of a professional swagman. He 
 is one of those honest, truthful men, who is not afraid 
 to tell you that he hates work, and, for the matter of that, 
 those, that profess to like it; he "knows the ropes," and 
 rarely suffers from privation. If he approaches his goal 
 somewhat early in the afternoon a "station," for in- 
 stance he "camps" until sundown, resting during the 
 hours allotted to vulgar toil, and bestirring himself as the 
 hour for refreshment draws near. Hence his name. 
 
 Our "camp" sometimes may be a lonely one, miles 
 from another human being. Perhaps, in pitiless rainfall, 
 a friendly bridge may offer a shelter, unless the creek 
 comes roaring down and promptly evicts us. Otherwise 
 we lie where we can best get some shelter, wrapped in 
 our blankets, awakened, perhaps, when dozing off, by the 
 pitiable cries of the native bear, or by some startled 
 "possum," that "misses his tip," as acrobats say, and 
 
 *A prospector is one who "prospects" or "fossicks" for 
 gold, &c.
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRAL1A ? 
 
 comes down with a " swish " on some friendly branch 
 below. Perhaps the moon comes out, and casts weird 
 shadows over all, and makes the forest look ghost-like 
 and more lonesome than it did, under cover of the dark- 
 ness ; and the grey dawn, that sometimes seems so long in 
 coming, is very welcome to enable us to get on our way, 
 and stretch our cramped limbs. 
 
 Sometimes we come, toward sunset, to an old tumble- 
 down house, such as I have described as an erstwhile 
 haunt of teamsters, in days gone by. Such is often a 
 favourite "camp," and here sometimes we meet of an 
 evening a few " of all sorts," boiling their " billies." 
 Some silent, some disposed to " pitch," from the " swell," 
 querulous of his bad luck and weary tramps, to the grey- 
 headed old "fossicker," full of yarns of luck on the gold 
 fields. Failures all of them, I suppose the man of the 
 world will say. If money be the be-all and end-all, the 
 chief and most laudable aim of life, failures they must be, 
 and their lives a mistake. Some may have never tried, 
 or, having done so, fallen by the wayside discouraged. 
 Others, there may be, who have a folded page among the 
 leaves of their book of life, or one so desperately wrenched 
 away that the remaining pages hang together anyhow ; 
 while there may be some, who have stood up, like men, to 
 shoot their last shaft, so carefully, so anxiously, only to 
 see it miss the mark at last. And this is being " on the 
 Wallaby."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SHEEP RUNS WHAT HAS TO BE DONE 
 UPON THEM A WOOLSHED IN WORK- 
 ING ORDER DROVING. 
 
 We hear in England a fair amount, as regards the mere 
 mentioning of the name, about " stations " and sheep 
 runs, which naturally form a great feature in New South 
 Wales. I really do not know that so very much need be 
 written upon the subject of station life, that would be of 
 great interest. A farm devoted exclusively to the raising 
 of sheep, though the acres and the " heads " of stock be 
 numbered by tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands, has 
 nothing very romantic about it ; in fact, there is less of 
 variety and more of monotony about life and occupation 
 upon a " station" than is at all times pleasant. 
 
 A good deal depends, of course, on the district. Some 
 pastoral country will "carry a beast an acre," while on 
 some runs, four or five acres, year in, year out, are wanted 
 to feed a sheep. Some stations are large, others small. 
 In some cases the banks may have a greater or less hold 
 upon the ostensible proprietor, and expenses are cut down 
 accordingly ; while, at others, things are generally more 
 flourishing, and greater liberality, and a better style of
 
 96 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 working the establishment prevails. The homestead, of 
 course, depends much upon its own resources, shops are 
 sometimes miles upon miles away, so there are stores of 
 all kinds, the meat has to be killed for station use, the 
 horses must be shod, there are the huts for the station 
 hands, and the travellers, or swagmen, have their rendez- 
 vous as well. 
 
 The larger the station the more regularly divided is the 
 work. The boundary riders and stockmen have their 
 time exclusively devoted to their duties, that of the former 
 being, as the name implies, riding around the boundary 
 fences, patching up, temporarily, any breakdown, and 
 reporting it to the overseer at the earliest opportunity, 
 seeing if any stock has got away, &c. Then the stock- 
 men have the care and mustering of stock, their treatment 
 in disease, &c. 
 
 The station may also possess a "jackeroo" or two 
 a human being, not to be confounded with a kangaroo, in 
 the shape of a young gentleman, who has come to 
 acquire a knowledge of sheep farming in Australia. He 
 pays a premium, and lives at the best table with the 
 " boss," thus getting his Colonial experience in a less 
 rough way, but he might do better by taking a couple of 
 years at droving and station work generally, in more than 
 one district, and have a nice " cheque " at the end of the 
 time, instead of having to pay, and learn more, perhaps, 
 in the end. 
 
 Now comes the shearing, the event of the year, and as 
 a " shed " in full swing may be considered as playing an 
 important part in the production of the staple article of 
 the Colony, I will attempt to describe one.
 
 ' CUTTING IN" 
 
 97 
 
 The day before we start to " cut in " which is the 
 term for commencing to shear (when we have finished we 
 are said to have "cut out ") is a busy day. The shearers 
 are riding in, each with his swag on his saddle before 
 him, or on a led horse, in two's and three's, and the horse 
 paddock, where each has free run for two horses while he 
 is shearing, begins to make a good show of horse-flesh, 
 in quantity at all events. The " roustabouts "* are turn- 
 ing up, and so is that all important person the cook, 
 who is probably anathamatizing the individual who should 
 have the " wood pile " ready, or anything else the station 
 has to find him, swags are being unrolled, and each one 
 is fitting up his bunk as comfortably as he can. 
 
 The station hands are busy mustering for the morning, 
 and over the ridge there come horsemen and yelping 
 collies, with a "mob " of some few thousand sheep in 
 front of them. A thickly packed brown mass they look, 
 the centre being apparently motionless, with the outsiders 
 " ringing " ceaselessly round and round. 
 
 We will now take a look at the shed ; that, we select, is 
 not a very modern one, but the idea is the same. It is 
 surrounded by numerous yards and enclosures, and here 
 is the " race " for " drafting," or separating certain sheep 
 from a mob. It is ingenious, and simple enough ; a 
 narrow passage formed by wood work breast high, down 
 which only one sheep can pass at a time. Coming up to 
 meet the centre of the race is a fence, and to this, is hung 
 a gate, which swings easily on its hinges, and taking this 
 
 * The "roustabout" or "rouseabout" implies a general utility 
 man or boy in a shearing shed, the term is used frequently to denote 
 all hands besides the shearers. 
 G
 
 98 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 in your hand you make an exit to the left or the right, 
 as you wish, and thus your " drafting " is done. 
 
 Inside the commodious shed are ample pens, and 
 moving to the far side, you will notice that they get 
 smaller as you pass along. You now come to "the 
 board," an open space, some ten feet in width, running 
 down the entire length of the shed, having on the far side 
 a series of small pens to receive the shorn sheep. Pens 
 are usually balloted for, and a shearer who is taken on is 
 said to have " got his pen." At the head of the board 
 are the tables, on which the fleeces are rolled. They are 
 strongly made, some six or seven feet long, four wide, and 
 three or more in height ; they have not a solid top, but 
 are of laths, placed on edge, some half inch or so, apart. 
 
 But it is now early morning, and there is considerable 
 bustle at the hut. Some of the hands are washing, some 
 giving their shears a final touch, others are discussing 
 pannikins of hot tea, and slices of " brownie," a generic 
 name for seed, sweet, or currant cake; and as the hour 
 draws nigh, a move is made toward the shed, each shearer 
 with a couple of pair of shears,* a bottle of oil, and a 
 whetstone, the roustabouts with their hands in their 
 pockets, not a few have refilled their pannikins with tea, 
 for refreshment at their work. 
 
 Time is nearly " up," the shearers stand at their 
 appointed places, stripped to shirt and trousers, feeling the 
 edges of their shears. The " pickers up " roll up their 
 sleeves, the wool-rollers lounge at their tables. The over- 
 seer saunters towards the bell. The men look like sprinters 
 waiting for the pistol crack. The bell tinkles. Into the 
 
 * Each man finds his own.
 
 IN FULL SWING, 
 
 99 
 
 pens they rush. Out they come each with a struggling 
 sheep, which is dumped into a sitting posture, and held 
 firmly between the knees. And now, work begins in 
 earnest, the " bellies " are off in a twinkling, and taken 
 charge of by the roustabouts, to be placed in the bags 
 allotted to them. Now the " ringer " of the shed, as the 
 best man is called, has his fleece off, and as he darts into 
 the pen for a fresh victim, first having deposited the shorn 
 sheep in his pen, the " picker up " stands over the 
 filmy looking rug which lies in a heap on the floor, 
 gathers it up deftly, and bearing it to the table, flings it 
 neatly out at full length, with the cut side downwards. 
 Hardly has it settled down, when the wool-roller has 
 caught the neck, and flung it inwards ; in go the edges of 
 the fleece, and each end is rolled tightly inwards, and tied 
 in a peculiar way. It now looks like a solid and capacious 
 lady's muff, and it is classed, and binned, or perhaps 
 handed to the wool-pressers, who make it up for shipment. 
 Now the fleeces are coming off thick and fast. The 
 "pickers up" are having a lively time of it. They are 
 urged on by peremptory requests to " snap it up" or " wool 
 away." Shouts for tar are now and again heard, as some 
 unlucky sheep gets a cut from the shears and the heal- 
 ing produce of the pine is applied to the quivering flesh ; 
 while " saw " is occasionally called for, to remove a por- 
 tion of an ingrowing horn that threatens to bury itself in 
 the flesh or eye of some ill-starred brute. Then there is 
 the penning of fresh sheep, and the " speaking up " of the 
 dogs employed over it but under the shears, as the 
 Scriptures tell us, even the deepest gashes, for shears can 
 cut, evoke no sound from the sheep.
 
 100 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 At eight the bell tinkles for breakfast, but the shearers 
 mostly manage to get a sheep just before the time, so it 
 is full twenty minutes before the last roustabout is out of 
 the shed, for the board must be swept ; then there are 
 " pieces," " locks," and " clippings " to be sorted. 
 
 Breakfast is an ample meal. A profusion of mutton, 
 roast and boiled, bread and potatoes, washed down by 
 unlimited pannikins of tea. Back to work by 9 a.m. 
 Smoke, oh ! of fifteen minutes, at 10-30 a.m. Knock off 
 for dinner at 1 2 noon, more mutton, potatoes, &c., and 
 tea, back at i p.m. Smoke, oh ! at 2-30 p.m., another 
 fifteen minutes. Lunch is brought in by the cook at 4 
 p.m., and knock off for half-an-hour to enjoy it: the 
 " snack " consists of tea and " brownie," both of which 
 the famished workers consume in a fashion that would 
 astonish the most capacious school boy. At 6 p.m., 
 knock off for the day, and after a good wash, for it is 
 dirty work in a woolshed, more mutton and potatoes 
 follow, with the ever-present tea, so it will be seen there is 
 no starving done. The style of meal served, of cours e, 
 greatly depends on the cook, who above all should be a 
 good baker. The evening is spent in various ways, songs, 
 dancing, a game of euchre, and a little horse play, per- 
 haps, and early to bed is the rule. 
 
 It will, no doubt, appear that a good deal of tea is 
 consumed. The work, of course, is hard, and no alcoholic 
 drinks are allowed, so half a score of pints a day is only 
 a reasonable allowance. An ex-kerosene tin, with two 
 holes bored in the sides, and a piece of fencing wire for a 
 handle, is the usual tea-pot and tea-kettle in one 
 elegance, simplicity, and capacity combined. When the
 
 A GOOD DAY'S WORK. 101 
 
 water boils, take a double handful of tea, throw it in 
 with a couple of fistfuls of sugar, and there you are ! 
 When you think it has stood long enough, help yourself. 
 The etiquette of the shearer's hut does not forbid your 
 doing so. 
 
 As to the number of sheep a man can shear in one 
 day. In " Tom Brown at Oxford," the rustic hero, 
 Harry Winburn, can, it is said of him, "shear twenty 
 sheep in a day." Harry would not make much of a 
 cheque in Australia. I doubt if he would "get a pen," 
 though a Southdown is a different customer to a Merino. 
 I have seen a man shear just over the hundred sheep 
 a big, very rough, lot of wethers, in nine hours, catching, 
 and penning his shorn sheep; and have, of course, heard 
 of very much bigger " tallies," especially when ewes and 
 lambs are being sheared. Then, of course, they are 
 more particular at some sheds than in others about the 
 "clippings." On the whole, he is a good man who 
 will shear his average of ninety a day ; the tallies, I might 
 add, are taken at intervals during the smoke oh ! and 
 knocking off times. It must always be remembered that 
 a man who follows shearing can get work nearly all the 
 year round, hence he is in splendid practice. I refer 
 fully to the question of wages, &c., in a special chapter 
 upon the subject. 
 
 A good shearer is born, as one may say ; that is, some 
 learners " shape " better than many a man who has had 
 some practice. A great deal lies in holding the sheep so 
 that he shall not kick, which hinders the shearer and 
 tears the fleece. A good, clean " blow " should also be 
 given with the shears, so as not to " chop " with them,
 
 102 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 as this cuts into the fleece and shortens it. As to the 
 rules, I hardly know what will be in force when the 
 labour troubles are settled, whenever that may be. 
 
 Machinery, as a good many people are aware, is some- 
 times used for shearing. The instrument is somewhat after 
 the style of a horse clip, and is worked by compressed air 
 mostly, the shearer having only to hold and guide the 
 instrument. It is used on some of the largest " runs " in 
 the Colony, so its utility should be beyond question. 
 
 Finally, I wonder whether those who handle wool in 
 this country, imported froru Australia, think that more 
 care might be taken with it, with advantage to all con- 
 cerned that is, in the " skirting," "dagging," and general 
 treatment of the wool. In some cases it might be. 
 
 Droving, or " overlanding," is another great feature in 
 pastoral work, as it must give employment to a very large 
 number of men, and it means a fair " cheque." It is, in 
 the case of sheep, to which I shall principally refer, not 
 hard work, except in wet weather and floods, and a steady 
 young fellow in two or three years would be able to make 
 a bit of money, see the country, and come into contact, 
 if he laid himself out to do so, with many practical 
 men. Of wages I give full particulars under a separate 
 heading. 
 
 Cattle, especially from out-of-the-way stations in 
 Queensland, are very different to deal with to a mob 
 of sheep, as they have an awkward habit of making 
 "rushes" when scared, or nearing water after a long 
 march, they then require "steadying," which is not child's 
 play. 
 
 We will suppose that we are at a station, and receive
 
 DISPATCHING A "MOB." 
 
 103 
 
 an early call from a gentleman, who holds the requisite 
 authority for obtaining from us 10,000 wethers, which 
 he has undertaken to deliver for the purchaser, at a 
 place two hundred miles away. With him are his men, 
 mounted of course, each with his dog, and followed by 
 a light waggon or cart, which contains the "swags" of 
 the "boss" and the men, provisions and tents for the 
 journey. 
 
 All preliminaries are soon settled, the sheep are 
 mustered and yarded, or penned rather the former term 
 being applied to cattle and as the buyer has the right of 
 rejection of say five per cent., we count in 10,500, which 
 are run through the " race " before described. The exact 
 number is then counted out, and the customary receipt 
 given. The sheep are counted as they pass through an 
 aperture between hurdles or rails, those that count stand 
 near them, and as each hundredth sheep passes through, 
 call out " hundred," another then adds one to his " tally," 
 and calls out "seven hundred" or the number passed 
 through in hundreds as the case may be; all this cuts 
 into a day, even if we start early. So the mob cannot 
 leave until the morning. 
 
 All travelling stock must be reported to any station 
 over which it has to pass, not less than twelve, and not 
 more than forty-eight hours before it will be at the 
 boundaries, so that the overseer or a station hand may 
 see them over and off the premises, to detect if any of 
 his own stock have joined issues with the travelling 
 mob, as sheep are apt to get out of sight in a gully, 
 and " wing on " to stock passing through. While 
 we are counting out, therefore, the "reporter" goes
 
 104 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 over the next day's march, and duly reports to such as 
 may be concerned that 10,000 sheep with a certain brand, 
 property of Robinson Brothers, Mr. John Smith in charge, 
 intend to pass through to-morrow. A day's march for 
 sheep, weather permitting, must be at least six miles. In 
 addition to fulfilling the requirements of the law, the 
 " reporter " also selects a camping ground for the next 
 evening, and returns to make himself generally useful. 
 
 The next morning they are away, and we see them 
 across our boundary, the cook and reporter will pass us 
 on the way, for sheep move slowly, the latter taking the 
 hero of pots and pans under his wing, to the camping 
 ground he selected the day before ; there he leaves him, 
 and rides on to do the needful reporting for the next day, 
 and select the next camping ground, which, being done, 
 he rides back, gives the cook a hand with the tents, &c., 
 and perhaps cuts down a few saplings, to make a "break" 
 for the sheep, and when the drovers come in, takes their 
 horses, off-saddles, and hobbles them. 
 
 As to the drovers, a mob of 10,000 sheep will be split 
 up into several smaller mobs of 1,500 or 2,000 each for 
 greater convenience, each with, at least, one man in 
 charge. They have ^all sorts of times, easy, and the 
 reverse, especially when rains are heavy, and the creeks 
 swollen ; but a good dog is everything in driving sheep, and 
 greatly helps his master to get a job. Towards the hotter 
 part of the day, the sheep will lie down for a long "camp," 
 and certain men must watch them, while the remainder 
 rest, and explore their "tucker" bags. In the after- 
 noon they finish the march to the camp, where the 
 sheep are looked after in " watches," until a start is made,
 
 THE "BOSS" DROVER. 105 
 
 in the morning, the hour for which depends on the 
 personal habits of the " boss." 
 
 Such, briefly, is the routine of droving; and of chief 
 drovers, they may be divided into owners, men in the 
 fixed employment of large dealers at a yearly salary, and 
 others who take charge of stock at so much per head 
 delivered. For the rest, I would refer the reader to the 
 chapter on " Wages in Town and Country."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ART IN NEW SOUTH WALES THE NATIONAL 
 GALLERYNATIVE ARTISTS AND LOCAL 
 EXHIBITIONS MUSIC THE THEATRE- 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 I have referred in a previous chapter to the building 
 that contains the art treasures of New South Wales, as 
 an " architectural gem," and, as the remark applied, in 
 addition to the Art Gallery of the Colony, to a severely 
 classical structure of galvanised corrugated iron, I trust it 
 it will be understood that I aimed at being, if possible, sar- 
 castic in so describing it. The fagade, to descend to com- 
 mon place explanation, is nothing more or less than a plain 
 brick wall, relieved by two sheet iron doors of Spartan- 
 like simplicity of design, and were it not for the fact that 
 National Art Gallery is inscribed thereupon, you would 
 be pardoned for mistaking the building for the back 
 premises of a general warehousing establishment. 
 
 Art, native born, and product of the soil, especially 
 music and painting, has, no doubt, somewhat of a struggle 
 for existence in a new country, owing, as I think is patent 
 to most people, to the slavish deference paid to those 
 who rightly or wrongly judge upon native talent generally, 
 and set themselves up as art critics in the especial " set "
 
 ART PATRONS. 
 
 107 
 
 or circle of which they are so great an ornament. 
 Humbug, a " dictionary " word, I believe, so I will not 
 apologise for using it, is fairly universal, but nowhere 
 more, I presume to think, than amongst those, who set 
 themselves up as authorities upon one or all of the many 
 branches, the parent tree of which, is art. 
 
 There are also in any new country, many newly-enriched 
 among those who can afford to pay for luxuries. It may 
 be by patient toil, successful speculation, or " money 
 grubbing generally," as the unsuccessful man is wont to 
 term it, and with such, there exists some bewilderment as 
 to what they should buy, for they are, as a rule, wanting 
 in self-reliance, as far as their own tastes are concerned. 
 " Success to the mayor," said one of the crowd, at the 
 memorable Eatanswill election, " and may he never 
 forget the nail and sarspan business, as he got his money 
 by." That is the trouble; there are not a few examples to the 
 contrary, but many of those who have built up their own 
 fortunes, can rarely get away from the "nails and sarspans." 
 They seem to weigh down the would-be Pegasus who 
 aspires to fly to new and artistic surroundings, and keep 
 him down to the weary plough, and the self-same 
 narrowed furrow, in which a life of toil has been spent. 
 So native art in a new country is prone to languish. 
 
 Let us now enter the very unpretentious building we 
 have referred to somewhat disrespectfully. Inside it is 
 commodious enough, but there is certainly little to dis- 
 tract our attention from the works of art it contains. The 
 strong lights of sunny New South Wales are judiciously 
 tempered ; entrance is free, and I am glad to say that it is 
 open on Sunday afternoons.
 
 108 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 De Neuville's well-known vigorous painting of the 
 " Defence of Rorke's Drift," is the first that greets us, 
 ha nging upon the opposite side of the spacious entrance 
 hall, from whence extend, right and left, the several 
 galleries dedicated to the reception of oil and water- 
 colour paintings, and engravings, and here and there are 
 choice bits of statuary, and, it must be particularly stated, 
 that while many of the finest specimens of the English 
 and other schools have been purchased by the trustees of 
 the National Art Collection, not a few are the outcome 
 of private munificence. It is not necessary to detail or 
 attempt to give an account of the pictures, many of which 
 will be old friends to the English visitor, who will be, per- 
 haps, more tempted to examine with greater interest "a 
 'billabong' (a backwater) on the Murray." " Rounding up 
 a 'straggler,'" an incident in cattle driving. "George street, 
 Sydney, on a wet evening " (dreadfully like Manchester 
 under the same rollicking conditions), " Off the track," a 
 terribly realistic illustration of what being "bushed" 
 means. Piguenit's illustrations of Tasmania. "A pass 
 in New Zealand ; " and other local scenes by local men. 
 Finally, to give a better idea as to the value of the collec- 
 tion, I might add that it is estimated as being worth 
 about ;8o,ooo, and it is to be regretted that some of 
 Sydney's wealthiest citizens do not see fit to combine, 
 and give such valuable artistic treasures a better home. 
 
 On alternate years there is opened in Sydney, Mel- 
 bourne, and Adelaide, the Exhibition of the Royal Anglo- 
 Australian Society of Artists, each city being in turn 
 favoured therewith ; while in Sydney, the Art Society of 
 New South Wales also makes an annual display. I shall
 
 A HELP FOR NATIVE TALENT. 109 
 
 no doubt err, through ignorance, in making such a sugges- 
 tion, but I think some might not be displeased if some 
 space were reserved at Burlington House for good work from 
 the Colonies. Why should not the Royal Academicians 
 give their Colonial brethren a lift in this way ? Space on 
 their walls is precious, I know, and the army of "the 
 rejected" is not a particularly small one, but it is possible 
 that the general public would like to see on the inner 
 walls of Burlington House more pictures and fewer por- 
 traits. The "counterfeit presentment" for instance, of 
 some worthy alderman or city magnate, though he be an 
 ornament to his own circle, lacks, I think, general interest. 
 
 As to music, there are, of course, few of the old world 
 celebrities, who have not already added, or intend to add, 
 Australia to the scene of their triumphs, and I do not sup- 
 pose that many have been disappointed at the financial 
 success of their enterprise ; but I fear that the support 
 accorded to local musical societies is not of a lavish 
 nature. Matters may have assumed a different aspect 
 since I left the Colony, so I will not particularize, lest I 
 be in error, but certainly, I think, I am right in saying 
 that one society, and one meritorious orchestra, was in 
 1 890, languishing for want of funds. Perhaps the most 
 prosperous is the Sydney Liedertafel, with about 1,000 
 subscribers, of whom more than a 100 are acting members, 
 vocal and instrumental. They give a certain number of 
 concerts annually, and occasionally serenade distinguished 
 personages. 
 
 Resembling, as the climate of New South Wales does, 
 in many respects, that of the land of Italy, so prolific in 
 sweet songsters, one might, perhaps, expect that it would
 
 110 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 be favourable to the development of singing powers, but 
 I am not aware that such is the case. Certainly among 
 the men, if voices of a superior quality are found, they 
 seem generally of a lighter order, and I doubt very much 
 if there is anything like the proportion of bass voices to 
 be found in New South Wales that one meets, say in 
 Wales and Yorkshire. As to being musical, a widely- 
 abused term by the way, I have no doubt that Sydney 
 folks have an excellent and indisputable claim to be con- 
 sidered so, judging by the numbers of pianos in constant 
 employment ; for go where you will about Sydney suburbs, 
 it is rarely you can get out of earshot of a piano, more or 
 less in tune, played more or less out of time. Of course, 
 that Australia has contributed to the operatic stage and 
 concert platform, is well known. 
 
 The climate, during the summer months especially, is 
 suggestive of open-air musical entertainments. Walking 
 through Hyde Park, say on a hot evening, when theatres 
 and such like places of amusement are well-nigh unbear- 
 able, it is the first thing that is likely to suggest itself, 
 I think, to the visitor. Two afternoons during the week, 
 as I have mentioned, in describing the public parks, there 
 is an hour or so of music, but it is more the monotony 
 of the evenings, that need relief ; and it must be 
 remembered, that in Sydney you have not the long light 
 summer evenings as in England, for on the longest day 
 the sun says goodbye at 7-15 p.m. and darkness soon 
 comes. In this matter, I think, however, that it is not 
 the fault of Sydney folks, but larrikinism, that forbids 
 such mode of entertainment. Of this curse upon Aus- 
 tralia I have written elsewhere.
 
 ACTORS AND THEATRES. HI 
 
 I should, indeed, be too remiss were I to omit to notice 
 the actor's art, to which lofty pinnacle of fashion and 
 greatness very little local talent aspires. The companies 
 which play at Australian theatres consist, for the most 
 part, of imported talent, and " stars " of all magnitudes 
 pour into the Colonies, rarely failing in securing a 
 welcome, for I never had the pleasure of sitting in a more 
 friendly audience than one meets in a Sydney theatre. 
 
 As to theatres, the principal are the "Royal," "Her 
 Majesty's," the " Criterion ; " and the " Garrick " is the 
 latest addition, and besides these, there are minor theatres 
 and places of amusement. The prices of admission are 
 very reasonable, and with the general management, both 
 stage, and in " front of the house," as well as with the 
 accommodation provided, there is little fault to be found. 
 In Sydney, however, there is, alas ! a " poverty point," 
 where those sons of Thespis, who are " taking a well- 
 earned rest," discuss the topics of the day, and comment 
 upon the talents of their more successful brethren, in that 
 spirit of due acknowledgment, and hearty appreciation 
 thereof, which is so loveable a feature of the profession. 
 
 An excellent free library, well stocked and thoroughly 
 well appointed, with a staff, whose civility might be copied 
 with advantage by officials generally, a technological 
 museum, and a school of art, with a reading-room and 
 lending library, available by payment of a .very small 
 subscription, are leading and pleasant features of Sydney. 
 
 Finally, as to native literature, it has not made giant 
 strides. As far as I could see, a not too pretentious 
 magazine, to encourage contributions from local writers, 
 should possess interest not only in Australia, but in
 
 112 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA f 
 
 England. Australians complain that there is nothing, 
 or next to nothing, said about them and their country in 
 the English newspapers; they might find a remedy by 
 sending us a readable magazine. As to books, many 
 may be familiar with the almost ghastly realism of " His 
 Natural Life," by the late Marcus Clark, as well as with 
 the more pleasant reading given us by the gentleman who 
 writes under the name of " Rolf Boldrewood," while the 
 poems of the late Henry Kendall and Adam Lindsay 
 Gordon do not stand in need of eulogy from me.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WAGES IN TOWN AND COUNTRY THE PROS- 
 PECTS OF PROFESSIONAL, CLERICAL, AND 
 WORKING-MEN, AND ALSO OF WOMEN, IN 
 THE COLONY. 
 
 Early in 1891, a labourer, "on the Wallaby," was pass- 
 ing through a township about eighty miles from Sydney, 
 near which I happened, at the time, to be, and in response, 
 I suppose to the usual enquiry " Know of a job here- 
 abouts, Boss ? " was invited to do some work which lasted 
 three days, during which he was, of course, lodged and fed, 
 and at the end was presented with six or seven shillings, 
 which he indignantly refused, and "took the law of" his 
 " Boss," but his claim for more, like that of Oliver Twist, 
 was not entertained, his temporary employer bringing 
 overwhelming evidence to show that 1 5/- per week, with 
 board and lodging, was ample wages for the district ; for 
 my own part I should say i2/- was nearer the mark. This 
 was on the line of railway, and in, for New South Wales, 
 a thickly populated district. 
 
 Now anyone will admit that the list of wages paid for 
 labour, skilled and otherwise (by otherwise, I mean hard 
 manual labour, not pastoral) is very tempting, seeing that 
 
 the majority of the trades and callings are based upon the 
 H
 
 114 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 eight hour system. I proceed to give a few of about the 
 average of rates paid in the city and neighbourhood : 
 
 Carriage builders - ii/- per day 
 
 painters - IO/- ,, 
 Wheelwrights - - io/- ,, 
 Stonemasons - - 1 1/- 
 
 General labourers 7/- to 8/- pei 
 
 day 
 
 Wharf labourers - I/- per hour 
 (night) - 1/6 
 
 Plasterers - - - n/- ,, ' Saddlers - abt. 5O/- per week 
 Bricklayers - - - il/- ,, Shoemakers ,, 55/- ,, 
 
 Carpenters, Joiners, Tailors - ,, 55/- 
 
 and Painters- - io/- Shipsmiths ,, u/- per day 
 
 Slaters - - - - I2/- ,, ; Iron turners and 
 Shipwrights- - - I2/- ,, blacksmiths - I2/- ,, 
 
 Coal lumpers - - 1/3 per hour | Boilermakers- - n/- ,, 
 Which I have taken every care to have as correct as 
 possible; and they all, no doubt, look very well on 
 paper, but I think that any member of any one of the 
 above trades, who has been in the Colonies, will be 
 tempted to say : Yes, but how many weeks wages 
 during the year does the working-man get ? At present, 
 I think I am well within the mark in saying that, in 
 Sydney especially, for every job, there are two or more 
 men eager for the same, and capable of doing it ; I might 
 further add, badly in want of it. 
 
 To turn from the town to the country and the special 
 callings exercised there, for most of the rates already 
 quoted are laid down by the unions, and apply through, 
 out the Colony, the following are about the figures : 
 
 Per annum. 
 Married couple on stations, including food and lodging 6$ to So 
 
 Boundary riders, stockmen, &c. ,, 5 2 to 65 
 
 Shepherds, farm labourers ,, 35 to 45 
 
 Boys on stations* ,, 20 and upwards 
 
 Drovers, all found, while droving 20/- to 25/- weekly 
 
 * Often made to do a man's work.
 
 THE NAVVY IN A USTRALIA. 
 
 115 
 
 During harvesting time, labourers will get 5/- or 6/- 
 daily, board not included ; bullock drivers, and similar 
 classes of labour, about the same. Of course, with such, 
 the eight hours system is not, it is very often sixteen. 
 Labourers on the road, under Government, are paid y/- 
 per day of eight hours, and navvies, of whom there are 
 at present a great number employed in the Colony, get 
 7/6 daily, for forty-eight hours a week. 
 
 Now, a few words about navvies and railway work 
 generally in the Colony. We mostly find imported 
 labour employed upon it. It is said that young Australia 
 does not relish hard work. In this, as I may have elsewhere 
 remarked, I do not consider that he is singular, and it 
 may further be said, I think with truth, that, unless he 
 goes on a droving or " overlanding " trip, he does not care 
 about leaving his district very much, but does what he 
 can in one way and another, perhaps getting a decent 
 cheque at shearing time, taking a job at fencing or so, 
 cutting billets, or supplying fuel, a turn at any or all of 
 which, very often greatly helps the small selector who 
 may leave his wife to milk the cows, and do the dairy 
 work. This, of course, all tends to make farm and 
 " bush " work not particularly remunerative ; on the other 
 hand, it may be said, with truth, that the young bushman's 
 physique is not always equal to navvying, though just 
 before I left the Colony, more than one "ganger" upon 
 a certain line told me that a large number of young 
 fellows from the district had started to work under them. 
 
 Railway work has, of course, to be carried on, very 
 frequently, where there is no sleeping accommodation ; 
 but a capital tent is to be had for about 1, so, conse-
 
 116 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 quently, quite a canvas city soon springs up. The 
 navvy's swag contains his blankets, clothes, &c. So, 
 after the first outlay, his lodging costs him nothing. 
 Then comes the question of " tucker," and to meet this 
 all-important want, boarding-houses soon spring up, where 
 he can be very well fed at about 2/- daily; but, if he 
 elects to " batch "* himself, I have heard many declare 
 that they can live well for y/- weekly, and thus be 3o/- 
 a week or so in pocket, which, in a few months, amounts 
 to a fair sum. If he can save up and buy a horse and 
 tip-dray, he is nearly always certain of being taken on at 
 any railway work going. He will be paid about i2/- per 
 day for the horse and dray, and 7/6 for his own labour ; 
 he must provide a boy to lead the horse, feed the boy, 
 the horse, and himself; but he can save ^3 to ^3 io/- 
 weekly, and he can also make small contracts. 
 
 The trouble of it all is, very often, that the terrible 
 monotony of pick and shovel work and I do not think 
 it is possible for anyone to form an adequate idea as to 
 what it is like, unless they have had actual experience of 
 it tells, like that of a sea voyage or bush life, after a 
 period of months, and though our friend, the navvy, may 
 have religiously fought shy of the legitimate beer-shop, or 
 " shanty " not unknown in railway work, where strong 
 drink is retailed upon that principle, or want of principle, 
 termed "the sly," and only drinks "soft stuff,"* with 
 
 * A common expression for finding yourself in food, derived, 
 perhaps, from the word "batchelor." 
 
 * " Soft stuff" is a generic name for teetotal drinks ; they range 
 according to the taste of the consumer, from ginger beer to Warner's 
 Safe Cure.
 
 THE NAVVY AND HIS BEER. 
 
 117 
 
 the most pressing of his mates, he succumbs at last, only 
 too frequently, and he starts to "knock down" his 
 cheque, with startling rapidity. How it is gone he rarely 
 knows ; that it has gone, is generally all he does know. 
 
 How many months to the Melbourne Cup ? was the 
 question often put to me by a certain brawny Irish navvy, 
 and a calculation would follow as to what he would be 
 worth by that eventful week. Now this man had, in a 
 a few years of navvying, made over and over again, 
 " cheques " representing a substantial sum, by the hardest 
 of hard work, to vanish in a few days of senseless 
 debauchery. When I saw him last he was saving up for 
 a horse and dray. I sincerely hope he has bought it. 
 
 Now the stupid idea of throwing money away, is not 
 confined to navvies and shearers, it is not only the result 
 of monotonous toil, but monotonous life as well, and the 
 squatter, in the most remote of the ''back blocks," when 
 he gets on the "burst," "tangle," or "jamboree," will 
 knock his cheque down with any man I know, but he 
 doesn't " knock down " his station with it. He goes back 
 in reality, as the French say, " to his muttons," and drinks 
 nothing but tea for another twelve months, till the time 
 for the annual " burst " comes round. The poor navvy 
 " knocks down " the lot, and has to start work, when he 
 is almost ur completely unfit for it. If he would try a 
 couple of pints of beer a day, I think he would save money 
 in the long run. The shearer cannot have liquor on the 
 stations, so he is more liable to its effects. I do not 
 pretend to lay down, as a rule, that a man is physically 
 better for a certain amount of malt liquor daily, but if it 
 prevents him from going upon a senseless " spree," and
 
 118 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 wasting his money, then I think it is better for him, if he 
 took it regularly, in moderation. A good many " yarns " 
 are extant as to how bush publicans take advantage of 
 men with " cheques," but I should like to have proof of a 
 good many ; my experience of bush publicans has been a 
 favourable one upon the whole, they have many calls 
 upon them, and their business is not all profit. 
 
 As to shearer's wages, I do not know how the present 
 troubles may be settled between them and the squatter ; 
 it may be estimated that ;i per hundred sheep shorn is 
 about the standard, so a sum approaching half a million 
 sterling is paid yearly in wages to shearers alone, in New 
 South Wales. Of course, a great many Victorian shearers 
 come over their border, most of all, to the sheds in the 
 Riverina ; on the other hand, Queensland is open to New 
 South Wales men, who can, by starting in April or so, 
 work to the western sheds of New South Wales, thence 
 eastwards through the Colony, and finish up with New 
 Zealand, if they are so minded. 
 
 I have, in writing of shearing, given the " tallies " 
 usually done ; say a shearer does 500 in the week, that 
 means ^5, but if wet weather comes, there is an end to 
 shearing : a heavy shower will, of course, make a stoppage 
 necessary. Then, again, there is the time lost in moving 
 from shed to shed ; so it is impossible to estimate what 
 an average man may make, but with anything like luck, it 
 will be seen that a good shearer will make, in six or seven 
 months, a substantial sum. They mess together, and his 
 week's " tucker " bill, including cook, should not average 
 more than n/- or i2/- weekly; he smokes a good deal, 
 otherwise, excepting new shears, &c., he is at little
 
 WOMEN'S WORK. 
 
 119 
 
 expense. Roustabouts, " pickers-up," and wool-rollers, 
 get from i5/- to 3o/- per week, all found. 
 
 At droving, a fair cheque is to be made, the wages 
 being 25 /- to 3o/- weekly, with everything found : a trip 
 may last several months. 
 
 The wages of domestic servants will next require atten- 
 tion ; and, as far as the city and suburbs are concerned, 
 they are about as follows full board, but no extras, such 
 as beer, &c. : 
 
 Cooks for private houses - ^45 per annum and upwards. 
 Laundresses 40 ,, 
 
 House and parlour maids 30 ,, ,, 
 
 General servants 35 ,, 
 
 Nursemaids - - - 20 ,, 
 
 Which, as may be seen, compare very well with the 
 wages paid to men, who are not engaged in a trade or 
 severe manual labour. In fact, I think that women, as a 
 rule, do very well in the Colonies. They seem to pay 
 governesses very well indeed; but I would not advise 
 any young lady to go out, unless she has a situation of 
 some sort (the respectability and good faith of which she 
 is assured of) in view. If any such, on landing, is in doubt 
 where to go, there is a Governesses' Home in Wynyard 
 square, Sydney, where I have no doubt advice, and 
 accommodation if necessary, could be had. 
 
 As to male domestic servants, grooms, coachmen, &c., 
 their wages may be reckoned, for grooms, ^35 or ^40, 
 and coachmen, ^50, with board. Waiters in hotels and 
 restaurants are not overpaid, and I have encountered 
 good men, whom I have remembered in England, who 
 were not pleased with the change. There are a large
 
 1 20 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 number of Cingalese in Sydney who engage as waiters at 
 ;i per week or so, and keep, and are capital servants 
 while Chinese cooks are plentiful at i to 25/- weekly, 
 with full board. 
 
 There are numerous registries or labour offices, as they 
 are called, in Pitt and Castlereagh streets, Sydney, where 
 on payment of a small fee, situations in town and country 
 may be heard of. Reference to any newspaper will 
 furnish the several addresses. To any man, married or 
 single, who wants to get on a station, I would say, take a 
 few lessons in butchering, as an addition to his other 
 accomplishments, killing and cutting up sheep especially ; 
 also, if he can shoe a horse, so much the better "groom, 
 garden, kill," is a very common description of what is 
 wanted of a man for station work. 
 
 I now come to clerical employment of which there is a 
 varied field, and an elastic scale of remuneration, which, 
 perhaps, is not by any means remarkable for its magni- 
 ficence. The clerical market in Australia is completely 
 overstocked, and the upshot does not need description. 
 There are scores of applicants for a miserably paid 
 "billet," and the result of my own observation, and it 
 has been over and over again confirmed by others who 
 have had experience, is, that any commercial man receiving 
 >$ or & weekly, is to be congratulated ; even for very 
 responsible work, 4 weekly is considered very fair pay. 
 Of shop assistants there is no lack ; but in certain lines, a 
 young fellow with good recommendations, and first-class 
 provincial, or still better, London experience, might do 
 fairly well. 
 
 The many banks, with their multitudinous branches, give
 
 THE CIVIL SERVICE. 
 
 121 
 
 employment, of course, to very many men at fair salaries ; 
 but there are naturally many with local influence who are 
 desirous of placing their sons in these institutions. 
 Still, an English bank clerk, who for health or other 
 reasons, wished to make a change, might get along 
 satisfactorily with really suitable letters of introduction. 
 
 Of Government officials, there are not a few in New 
 South Wales ; they enjoy, for the most part, I may say 
 throughout, very comfortable salaries, and as a rule, I 
 think there is no alarming percentage of sufferers from 
 overwork among them. They enter the service, for the 
 most part, young, qualifying by competitive examination, 
 and interest is useful. Not a few of the best positions 
 are filled by imported talent. I have given some averages 
 of the salaries enjoyed by the Parliamentary staff.* The 
 pay of Government clerks, including surveyors of the 
 land department, road superintendents, clerks, and fore- 
 men of works, &c., will run from ;i8o 10^450, while heads 
 of departments, and more important officials, will receive 
 from 500 and ^600 up to ^1000. The payment of 
 military and police, I have dealt with in a chapter, which 
 includes a few facts with respect to legal, naval, and 
 military matters. 
 
 As to the opening that the professional man may find, 
 that, of course, depends upon a variety of circumstances, 
 not the least of which are his own capabilities. The law 
 appears to me, to be the most crowded of any, and it 
 seems to be, as far as many positions go, somewhat 
 monopolized by certain families, one name being 
 especially noticeable for its frequent occurrence. Medi- 
 * See chapter " On Government," &c.
 
 122 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA t 
 
 cine is well represented, but doctors seem to do well, and 
 should any young medico feel inclined to try his luck in 
 Australia, he can very often gain a good insight into the 
 country and city as well, by acting, if he can secure the 
 position, as medical officer to one of the many insurance 
 companies, who have agents continually travelling for 
 them throughout the Continent. The life, for a while, is 
 by no means a bad one; he rides or drives with the agent, 
 and " passes " his victims, when, like Mrs. Glasse's hare, 
 there are caught. His remuneration varies. A few good 
 letters to a director, or anyone having influence with 
 life insurance companies, would be useful. 
 
 Tutorships on stations are often obtainable, and any 
 young fellow who would like to have a year of station life 
 for health or other reasons, might try to secure one ; the 
 pay is about ^50 per annum and full board. In addition 
 to the usual routine, music is generally required, some- 
 times French.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SPORT IN THE COLONY SPORTING 
 PROCLIVITIES AND SPORTSMEN 
 HORSERACING AND RACECOURSES 
 THE TOTALISATOR "SWEEPS" 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 The intelligent foreigner, who studies our English 
 journals with the object of informing himself concerning 
 the manners and customs of the people, will not unfre- 
 quently find in the papers devoted exclusively to sport, 
 some such paragraph as the following : 
 
 Bill Scroggins, of Battersea, alias " Buster," having heard so 
 much talk of Ikey Davis, of Whitechapel, alias " The Conkey 
 One," he will run him 120 yards level, or give him 5 to make a 
 match. Man and money both ready at the " Pin and Periwinkle," 
 Little Whelk street, S.E. 
 
 And to shew that there is to be no frivolity at the 
 hostelry in question, Mr. Scroggins adds the stern injunc- 
 tion : 
 
 N.B. Business only meant. 
 
 He, the intelligent foreigner, will also see numerous 
 requests of a similar nature, worded in the same artistic 
 strain, having reference to " knurr and spell" and "cod- 
 dam," the singing of small birds in friendly rivalry, or the 
 matching of pigeons ; in fact, all and every kind of sport. 
 
 We might search the daily journals supplied to the
 
 124 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA* 
 
 community in New South Wales without meeting with 
 such varied testimony to the sporting proclivities of a 
 nation, and it is extremely improbable that we should 
 find, throughout the Colony, any individual so enthralled 
 by his devotion to sport, as was the Lancashire gentleman, 
 who received the news that his bulldog was worrying his 
 revered parent, with the gleeful assertion that it would 
 be the " makkin o' th' pup." Nevertheless, it would be 
 incorrect were I to describe the people of New South 
 Wales as other than a sporting community. 
 
 Between sportsmen and sportingmen there is, no doubt, 
 a wide difference. Many who would be much offended 
 were they not classed with the former, may not be 
 practised horsemen, and quite unfamiliar with the use of 
 rod or gun. The cricketer, the footballer, the player of 
 golf and lawn tennis, will certainly claim that their past- 
 time be considered a sport, and themselves sportsmen, 
 while the sportingman may be defined, perhaps, as stand- 
 ing more by the turf, the ring, and the running ground 
 from that somewhat "rare bird," the irreproachable 
 owner of racehorses, to the " spieler," who attends the 
 race-meeting in the general utility line, as it were, pre- 
 pared, in the touching language of the fraternity, to 
 "work the broads," or "lay a stiff 'un," as opportunity 
 may offer. 
 
 Horseracing, however, may be termed without fear of 
 contradiction, the sport of New South Wales (and Aus- 
 tralia generally), from a "bush" meeting, or a gallop 
 between a couple of " bushmen " for a few plugs of 
 tobacco, or a "note," to the A.J.C.* fixtures at Randwick 
 * Australian Jockey Club
 
 THE A USTRAL1AN RACEGOER. 125 
 
 or a match between two equine cracks, for a few hundreds; 
 and, as, I think, it may be said, that in any public convey- 
 ance you may be safe to hear every third man or boy 
 talking " racing," it may reasonably be inferred that the 
 pastime is of all-absorbing interest to a vast majority of 
 the population of the Colony. 
 
 Without being too personal, I think I may state that a 
 great many ladies and gentlemen attend our open race 
 meetings in England, whose opinion you would hardly 
 seek, say upon a delicate point of drawing-room etiquette, 
 and whose language and general behaviour might be im- 
 proved upon. In Sydney there are, as I have written 
 elsewhere, no slums, so the crowd is vastly different to 
 what the English racegoer is accustomed. All look very 
 respectable as far as clothing goes, down to the humblest 
 " spieler." In the city itself, too. about the racing clubs, 
 the "hangers on" are quite swellish, have less of that 
 taciturnity common to " horsey gents " in England. 
 Their heads do not seem to bulge out with wonderful 
 stable secrets, which they are for ever whispering most 
 carefully into each others ears. As a rule, the Sydney 
 " hanger on " is by no means ill-looking, and if he has 
 any distinctive feature, it seems to be simply a languid 
 contempt for those who work for a living. 
 
 By a process of reasoning, therefore, neither difficult 
 nor unfair, it may be assumed that there is a certain 
 amount of wagering, or as prejudiced people term it, 
 gambling, upon horseracing, which is certainly a fact, and 
 I have heard it said that Australians bet largely, and 
 generally, because they like to make money easily. Now, 
 of the desire to make money easily, I humbly regard it as
 
 126 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 being intensely human, but as to backing horses as a 
 means of making money easily, or any how, I do not 
 pretend to be an authority on the subject. 
 
 The " totalisator," or, as it is generally termed, the 
 " tote," by which far less cumbrous diminutive we will 
 henceforth term it, is similar, I believe, to what is 
 called in France, the " pari-mutuel," and its use is a 
 favourite way of backing one's fancy. 
 
 Now, the " tote " is illegal in New South Wales, like 
 Sunday drinking. In New Zealand and South Australia 
 it is legalized, and during the principal meeting at 
 Adelaide, in April, 1891, Adelaide, the " City of Churches," 
 ;i 1,000, I was informed, passed through the " tote " in 
 three days, 7^ per cent, of which goes to the " tote," and 
 2\ per cent, to charity.* 
 
 Being illegal in Sydney, and a heavy fine being the 
 penalty, we will go with someone we know, who, in his 
 turn, is known to the gentleman with whom we are to 
 negociate. We pass along one of the best known Sydney 
 streets, and here, standing off on the edge of the 
 sidewalk, is our man. A few words, an exchange of 
 money and vouchers therefor, and perhaps we are 
 introduced as an honest sportsman, and no myrmidon of 
 the police, in order to faciliate business in the future. 
 We notice that the home of the " tote " is a tobacconist's 
 shop, and here we could, no doubt, be accommodated 
 
 * According to the "Dat'Iy Telegraph" 7th January, 1892, the 
 French charities benefited by the 2 per cent, they receive on money 
 passing through the " pari-mutuel," to the tune of ^80,000, from 
 2nd June to 3ist December, 1891. This means an investment of 
 .4,000,000 in six months on racing. What about France and " le 
 sport ? "
 
 TATTERSALLS "SWEEP." 127 
 
 with the current odds, if we wanted to back anything 
 ' straight out," or get the market price for a " double 
 event," a very usual form of betting in Australia. 
 
 I have said that the penalty is heavy for running a 
 " tote ; " lately they seem to have done something in the 
 matter, but at one time it was carried on so openly, 
 that anyone, new to Sydney, would wonder how so 
 flagrant a breach of the law could, with decency, be 
 permitted. 
 
 We now come to another form of speculation in, and con- 
 cerning, horse racing,which and here again,charminglittle 
 inter-Colonial differences of opinion come in is sternly 
 put down in Victoria, but flourishes exceedingly in New 
 South Wales. I allude to the famous Tattersall's sweep, or 
 " consultation," which is annually held over the Melbourne 
 Cup. The head-quarters are in Sydney, and, I have no doubt, 
 it is patronised by many who would not care to see their 
 names in print. There are smaller and supplementary 
 " sweeps," but the " sweep " is a 50,000 affair, what a 
 a Yankee would call " a large order." Of this sum 10 per 
 cent, is deducted for agency and working expenses. The 
 tickets are ,\ each ; the first prize is ^22,500, and even 
 a non-starter gets the lucky drawer, a substantial sum. I 
 believe that the basis on which the whole business is 
 worked, has never been questioned as to fairness. The 
 big prize of 1890 was won by ten Javanese, residing at 
 Thursday Island, in the extreme north of Australia, who 
 had each " weighed in " two shillings towards a ticket. 
 This shows, better than anything in the way of description, 
 how widely spread the interest in Tattersall's sweep must 
 be. Then there are, as I have said, other smaller
 
 128 
 
 SHA LL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 " sweeps," so the amount yearly invested in Sydney in 
 them alone, must come to a fairly large sum. 
 
 As to bookmakers, there are plenty of the fraternity 
 in New South Wales. They obtain a yearly license from 
 the Australian Jockey Club, and have to prove their 
 solvency, and, I believe, give a certain guarantee (suppose 
 business houses had to start the New Year on these all 
 lines !) ; so, if anyone bets with an unlicensed bookmaker, 
 he must take the consequences. A good many New 
 Zealand " bookies " came over to Australia, as the legal- 
 izing of the "tote" somewhat spoiled their business. 
 As to the amount of gambling that goes on in Australia, 
 though it must be very general, I do not know that it is 
 reckless. There is a good deal, I am afraid, written and 
 said about betting, which those who have really followed 
 racing, say an experienced sporting writer, would not con- 
 firm, and, I think sometimes, when I read the orthodox 
 defence, " the petitioner attributed his bankruptcy to turf 
 transactions, and losses on the Stock Exchange," that it is a 
 respectable way of getting rid of money, and a safe excuse, 
 but is it always true? Such channels for losing money 
 without a voucher, are, as the Irish term it, " convaynient," 
 and being the " yaller dogs " of society, whose colour is 
 enough to hang them, they are splendid " scapegoats." 
 
 To conclude my remarks, such as they are, upon 
 racing, I have merely to add that there are four race- 
 courses available to the Sydney race-goer. The chief is 
 the Randwick Racecourse, four miles from the General 
 Post Office; the Sydney Driving Park, where trotting, 
 driving, and racing events are held weekly, is nearer by a 
 mile. Further afield are Rosehill and Warwick Park.
 
 ROWING, BOXING, AND FOOTBALL. 129 
 
 All these are enclosed, well-appointed, and provided with 
 excellent accommodation at moderate prices. Racing is 
 extremely fashionable, and much patronized by the fair 
 sex. So the report of a big day, is an amusing collabora- 
 tion between the sporting writer and "lady" reporter, 
 a mixture of furlongs and flounces, "the odds," and the 
 fashions. For the rest, one misses, with some sense of 
 relief, the fulsome adulation, at one time, at all events, 
 accorded to jockeydom in England. Antipodean jockeys 
 are good riders, but, I believe, lack the skill in finishing, 
 that their English brethren possess. 
 
 In the matter of sculling, it is almost needless to say 
 that the rival "stables" have developed scullers, and 
 brought sculling in New South Wales generally, to a pitch 
 second to none anywhere ; and the same may be said of 
 boxing, for, I think, I am within the mark in saying, that 
 at all weights, from heavy to feather, the Colony, perhaps, 
 can shew the best all-round lot that is going at the present 
 day. There is more than one gymnasium in Sydney, 
 and a promising boxer, who can " keep his head," will, I 
 think, be sure to find fair play, plenty of support, and 
 very likely his match, in the Harbour City. 
 
 There is no doubt that cricket is the national game of 
 New South Wales, just as, I think, football may really be 
 termed the national game of England just now. In 
 Victoria, also, the people are "football mad," and the 
 youths wear the colours of their favourite club, in a pro- 
 fusion which is apt to mystify the new arrival these are 
 the " barrackers," the verb "to barrack," meaning to 
 audibly encourage their own favourites, and comment 
 disparagingly upon the performances of their opponents,
 
 *W SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 a proceeding which frequently leads to an interchange 
 of compliments between the "barrackers" themselves. 
 Cricket does not evoke anything like such enthusiasm; 
 but, where you see small children, in England, "shin- 
 ning " each other over a half brick or old hat, or any 
 such extemporized football, they play cricket, somehow, 
 in New South Wales. Football is not taking, as yet, much 
 hold upon the Colony. 
 
 " Our harbour " offers a splendid opportunity, which I 
 have elswhere referred to, for yachting and boat sailing, 
 and also for rowing, though the water is sometimes terri- 
 bly " lumpy " for out-rigged craft. Swimming is naturally 
 a good deal practised, and there are spacious baths in 
 Woolloomooloo Bay, carefully palisaded round to keep 
 away the sharks, which materially interfere with one's 
 comfort in open waters, on the Australian coast generally. 
 
 As to hunting, there is a pack of hounds near 
 Sydney, while angling is confined, at present, almost 
 exclusively to sea-fishing. As regards shooting, there are 
 hares in great abundance ; and hare, wallaby, and kangaroo 
 drives are the principal form of sport. Some writers, who 
 are more used to the pen than the gun, are very fond of 
 the word butchery in connection with English sport, and I 
 often long to see such an one attempt to "butcher" a driven 
 grouse coming down wind, or a "rocketing" pheasant. 
 In kangaroo " drives," however, I think the charge may 
 be more reasonably made, as the victims have but little 
 chance of escape. Coursing is practised, but does not 
 seem to flourish. 
 
 Sea-fishing, as a sport, is carried on to a fair extent, 
 and the enthusiast, who gets a good day with the
 
 FISHING AS A SPORT. 
 
 131 
 
 schapper, should thoroughly enjoy the sport. They are 
 taken as deep as fifty fathoms on a rocky bottom, and 
 run up to 40 or 50 Ibs. in weight. Beach lining is a 
 favourite form of fishing, and in this way I have assisted 
 to land that peculiar fish, the Port Jackson shark. There 
 are two or more sea-fishing clubs in Sydney, who organize 
 periodical sea trips. Information about them may be 
 obtained at any fishing tackle shop.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TRADES UNIONISM IN NEW SOUTH WALES 
 THE GREAT STRIKE THE SHEARERS' 
 GRIEVANCE LABOUR TROUBLES. 
 
 I think that for the guidance of those who have any 
 idea of trying their luck in Australia, I should say a little 
 upon trades unionism there, though I fear that the public 
 must regard the subject generally, including that of 
 " strikes," with a sensation of weariness, if not actually of 
 disgust. 
 
 Royal Commissions have sat upon trades unionism. 
 Many flowers of oratory, of rhetoric, and boundless argu- 
 ment have been expended upon it. Much labour of pen 
 has resulted in endless leaders, magazine articles, and 
 pamphlets upon the subject, while " one who knows," and 
 "constant reader," air their ideas, and give each their 
 own particular remedy, in the open columns of the daily 
 papers. 
 
 First, a word or two upon the "great Australian strike," 
 as it was termed. It may be comparatively fresh in the 
 minds of many. It was an effort on the part of a very 
 complete organization of labour to preserve intact the 
 principles of trades unionism, rather than a question of
 
 OBEDIENCE TO THE UNION. 
 
 133 
 
 higher wages, and was a trial of strength against ship- 
 owner, squatter, and employer of labour generally. They 
 had funds, as they thought, amply sufficient. Their 
 system was complete. Their particular oracles, or mouth- 
 pieces, gave the word that the integrity of unionism was 
 threatened, and, like the Fiery Cross of old in the Scottish 
 Highlands, the unquestionable edict went forth. Is it 
 non-union wool, shorn, that is, and handled by " scabs," 
 to be brought from a distant station ? Then no union 
 man must handle it. Wool is " taboo," and so is all 
 kinds of merchandize. The shearer must lay down his 
 shears, the driver of dray and trolly must leave his horse 
 in stable or paddock, and smoke the pipe of peace in 
 idleness. The wharf labourer must drop his hold of bale 
 or case, as if it were red-hot. Is the steamer loaded, and 
 ready for sea ? Then, if she has a union crew, the officer 
 must step down from the bridge, the " A.B." has to throw 
 his kit over the side and follow it, the cook deserts the 
 galley, the steward his pantry, the fireman tosses his 
 shovel into a corner. The sequence is as formidable as 
 in the remarkable history of the famous House that Jack 
 Built, and so every branch of industry must stop until 
 such time as the shipowner, squatter and employer, or 
 " bloated capitalist " generally, choose to " kow-tow " to 
 the union, or the reverse, as was the case with the "great 
 Australian strike." 
 
 I watched the procession of strikers forming on Circular 
 Quay, Sydney, one Saturday afternoon, during the first 
 few days of the strike. I could not but help being 
 greatly struck by the superior and highly intelligent 
 appearance of the men generally. They did not look the
 
 134 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 kind of men that any glib wire-puller could cajole, and 
 were very different to the large leavening of the enlightened 
 constituencies, who, some while ago, followed that 
 Brummagem will o' the wisp, the phantasmal " three acres" 
 and allegorical " k cow." The bystanders generally, who 
 watched the scene, did not seem to express much 
 sympathy, if any, with the proceedings, and I remarked 
 upon the same to an elderly man, in whom I thought the 
 fires of youth might have given place to the wise counsels 
 of riper years " It touches their pockets, this strike does; 
 the public don't like anything as touches their pockets," 
 was the reply. 
 
 So, in time, the great Australian strike neared its 
 inglorious end. Free labour came in abundance. The 
 Union might have been too conservative, but of this anon. 
 Men who, at first, when strike pay was good, were pleased 
 to jeer at the somewhat clumsy efforts of amateur wharf 
 labourers, and exult in their occasional injuries, were in no 
 mood for joking. The members of the council, the 
 wirepullers, delegates, and platform friends of the working- 
 man, were, no doubt, all right. Such gentry have a 
 knack of taking care of themselves, but many and many 
 a poor fellow who had left, perhaps, good, constant work, 
 and fair wages, must have suffered bitterly, seeing his 
 home broken up, his savings gone, and his little ones 
 starving ; and this is no fancy picture. Such a man felt, 
 no doubt, though he remained true to Unionism, as 
 sometimes must the dying soldier, who, as the tide of 
 battle sweeps onward, strains his fast glazing eyes, and 
 nerves his numbing arm, to give a last loyal salute to 
 king or kaiser, who follows with his gorgeous staff, in its
 
 THE EIGHT HOURS' QUESTION. 
 
 135 
 
 wake. He has lost his life, but he has been true to king 
 and country. So, like war, must Trades Unionism claim 
 its victims. 
 
 It is, however, far from my intention in this little book 
 to argue on behalf either of Unionism or free labour, or 
 foolishly embark upon the troubled sea of the eight hours 
 question. Each and every one that seeks to make a 
 home in the Colony will, I think, be quite capable of 
 judging for himself upon the subject. There is a goodly 
 show of the trades and callings upon the public holiday, 
 known as Eight Hours' Day, which enjoy the eight hours' 
 system ; on the other hand, there are not a few that do 
 not. 
 
 I cannot help thinking that the great strike was initiated 
 at a bad time for the cause of Trades Unionism, as coast- 
 ing steamers were just then being run on a very low scale 
 of rates for freight and passage. The strike thus brought 
 owners together, and, in forming a steamship union, the 
 occasion enabled them to bring about a satisfactory 
 re-adjustment, which was, no doubt, very welcome. In the 
 long run it is, therefore, a question whether steamship 
 owners did really lose much by the delays at first caused 
 by the strike, Again, the entrance fees asked for 
 admission into some unions were, prior to the strike, in 
 some cases far too high, if not actually prohibitive. For 
 the privilege of working as a wharf labourer in Sydney, 
 the sum of ^5 or ^5 5/- had to be paid, and a non- 
 union man might starve before he got work on the 
 wharves. Such a sum was preposterous, and, as a natural 
 consequence, there was any amount of free labour forth- 
 coming, when the union men went out on strike. Now,
 
 136 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 however, this is changed, as far as entrance fees are con- 
 cerned. 
 
 English people get very little Australian news in their 
 papers, which may account for the small interest they, as 
 a rule, take in the country, and the slight knowledge they 
 generally possess about it. So, perhaps, the disturbances 
 caused by the shearers, during 1891, may not be widely 
 known, or the motive understood. Briefly, the union 
 men formed camps outside the runs in Queensland, 
 where the shearing first begins, and endeavoured to win 
 over to the union ranks, dissuade, or, deter all free 
 labourers from working in the woolsheds. The question 
 at issue, and the cause of all this trouble, was the 
 " freedom of contract " to which the squatters, who had 
 an experience during the great strike, expressed their 
 determination to adhere, the somewhat ambiguous 
 phrase, meaning, that they would not regard unionism, 
 but do as they pleased, and employ non-union men, 
 if they chose. The question was not one of hours, nor 
 wages. 
 
 The serious nature of the situation may not, at first, be 
 apparent, especially when one does not understand how 
 scattered population is, in the " back blocks." and how 
 isolated, many stations are but imagine 200 or more 
 mounted, and, perhaps, armed men, camping before a run. 
 Lawlessness, perhaps incendiarism, might go on, certainly 
 for a while, altogether unchecked, for the police are so 
 scattered that some time must elapse before they can 
 muster in sufficient force to be useful. Then there is 
 loss of market to the squatter, and worse still almost, if 
 the shearing is much beyond the appointed time, the
 
 THE WORKING-MAN. 137 
 
 grass seeds and burrs have developed, which do an in- 
 credible amount of harm to the fleeces. 
 
 Still, there is much to be said for the men. Put your- 
 self in the place of a union man for a while. Your union 
 has done much in the way of keeping up wages, and 
 shortening hours of labour, thus giving more chance for 
 the greater number to earn a fair wage. How would you 
 like to see a man come in, and enjoy all these benefits, 
 when he not only has done nothing towards procuring 
 them, but may openly affect to despise the principle ? 
 How would you like to shear next to a " scab " (as a free 
 shearer is delicately termed, so as not to hurt his feelings), 
 or work " mates " with a " blackleg ? " 
 
 The man who spends his hours of labour in monoton- 
 ous toil deserves more consideration, I think, than he 
 gets, as a rule, at least, in certain quarters. It is said that 
 he has no anxiety, no responsibility ; but surely the well- 
 being of his health and limbs his capital is, I think, of 
 paramount anxiety to him ? He is as liable to illness, and 
 far more so to accident, which may seriously incapacitate 
 him, for the rest of his life, than the clerk, city, or profes- 
 sional man. 
 
 The city gentleman very often airs his opinions, as to 
 the easy time the working-man enjoys, as he complains 
 of his own arduous duties at the office. Let him take a 
 day's holiday, and set-to to dig and pick , a good sized 
 piece of hard ground. Let his "missus" take up her 
 position at the window, see that he turns to at eight 
 o'clock promptly, and, though the duty may be, as it no 
 doubt is, a wholly new and painful departure from wifely 
 obedience, as enjoined by the marriage vow, let her
 
 138 
 
 S/fALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 " boss " him severely, be " down upon " him if he takes 
 " a spell," and see that no subsidized olive branch, or 
 "slavey" brings him surreptitious "sherries" or malt 
 liquors. He will be glad to knock off for dinner, and 
 more so, when his eight hours are done he may then 
 think more of manual labour. 
 
 Lastly, I am inclined to think that the emigrant to New 
 South Wales may find a good deal of free labour there 
 just now, for the most part brought about by ill-judged 
 measures, and bad generalship, which must have greatly 
 weakened the cause of trades unionism, for the while, at 
 all events, throughout Australia. Anyhow, he will not 
 find it a prohibitive or expensive matter joining issue with 
 the cause, if he is minded to do so ; whichever he elects to 
 do, I wish him success in his venture.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 BY STEAMSHIP TO AUSTRALIA THE SUEZ, 
 CAPE, AND AMERICAN ROUTES PORTS 
 OF CALL, AND WHAT THEY ARE LIKE- 
 ORIENTAL TRADERS LIFE ON BOARD 
 SHIP. 
 
 It was with "the old Great Britain," as she was 
 familiarly termed by her many admirers with that bluff, 
 breezy, Shetlander, John Gray, as her skipper that my 
 association with Australian steamships first commenced. 
 As good and staunch a ship as ever battled with a gale, 
 worsted at last by the elements she fought, for nearly fifty 
 years, she is now, I believe, as a coaling hulk in the 
 Falkland Islands, still serving out munitions of war against 
 her old time foes, the wind and weather. 
 
 Then, as the sun was setting upon the Second Empire 
 of France in a blood-red sky, came the Suez Canal, making 
 the route to Australia more easy and less expensive. 
 Soon afterwards there came upon the scene the White 
 Star Line of Atlantic steamers; the "Oceanic," "Baltic," 
 and others, small, compared with the " greyhounds " of 
 the present day, but capital sea boats, and comfortable 
 withal as any. With them the old order changed, and
 
 140 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 gave place to the new, as far as ocean steamers were con- 
 cerned so the traveller by sea should always be grateful 
 to them. They inaugurated 'midship saloons, and smoking 
 rooms, meals were served at civilized hours to suit the 
 passengers, not the "watches" to them we owe much 
 that has been done to solve, at sea at least, the trouble- 
 some problem as to whether "life is worth living." So, 
 on the heels of this sweeping reform, came the splendid 
 vessels which now compete for the Australian passenger 
 trade, as near perfection, one would think, as can be well 
 achieved. 
 
 I have written so fully about steamship routes* that 
 comparatively little has to be said, but in writing for the 
 benefit of intending steerage passengers, I did not refer to 
 the British India Line, or the Messageries Maritimes. 
 The steamers of the former terminate their voyage at Bris- 
 bane, going "north about," viz. through Torres Straits. 
 The passage is, as a rule, smooth, but somewhat hot 
 throughout. After leaving Colombo, the steamer calls at 
 Batavia, in Java, passing through the Arafura Sea, to 
 North Queensland ports, ending her voyage, as I have 
 said, at Brisbane, whence Sydney can be reached by rail, 
 or by steamer, the latter taking about two days. 
 
 The Messageries Maritimes steamers afford a very 
 excellent route to the indifferent sailor. The overland 
 journey from London to Marseilles is delightfully easy, 
 and passengers by the Company's Australian steamers 
 have reduced fares conceded them. The accommodation, 
 living, &c., on these boats, is of the highest order, and 
 
 * The question of routes and the relative accommodation offered, is 
 discussed in Chapter XIX, headed "In the Steerage."
 
 PORTS OF CALL. 141 
 
 the fares include table wines, They call at Port Said, 
 Aden, Mahe, in the Seychelles, where they connect with 
 steamers, to Mauritius and Reunion ; the time spent at sea 
 between Marseilles and Adelaide will be not more than 
 twenty-eight days. The calling ports of the Peninsular 
 and Oriental are, Gibraltar, Malta, Brindisi, Port Said, 
 Aden, and Colombo ; of the " Orient," Naples, Port Said, 
 Aden, and Colombo the latter port, at one time, they 
 called occasionally only, but now, I believe, they do so 
 regularly. The German-Lloyd stop at Genoa, Port Said, 
 Aden, and Colombo. I suppose in all cases, I ought to 
 add Suez as a port of call. 
 
 The " P and O " steamers make but a brief stay at 
 Gibraltar, and a drive out to the "lines," is all that can 
 be comfortably done, or to Europa point, whichever may 
 be preferred. From the lines, you have a splendid view 
 of the grandly precipitous north front of the Rock, which 
 alone is well worth a long drive. At Malta, there is 
 usually a longer stay, and on first acquaintance, the 
 visitor is sure to be pleased with it. Brindisi has nothing 
 worthy of particular notice. Genoa, where the North 
 German-Lloyd steamers call, is extremely convenient for 
 "over-landers," who wish to miss "the Bay," and the 
 first nine days of the sea voyage. It is an exceedingly 
 interesting city, and its cemetery is well worth a visit; 
 from the sea it presents a splendid appearance. Naples, 
 I am sure, does not need any comment. 
 
 Continuing their voyage, both the Orient and German- 
 Lloyd steamers pass through the Straits of Messina, and, 
 if daylight and fine weather are enjoyed, the sight is a 
 magnificent one.
 
 142 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 Of Port Said, a great coaling and calling port, which 
 came into existence with the Canal, the less said the better. 
 When Mr. Snawley brought his two little stepsons to 
 that worthy pedagogue, Mr. Wackford Squeers, it may be 
 remembered, he was anxious about their morals. " You've 
 come to the right shop for morals," was the reply of the 
 master of Dotheboy's Hall. Even its warmest admirers 
 cannot, I fear, say the same of Port Said. 
 
 Aden is barrenness personified. On the jagged peaks 
 that rise, around, and about it, there is nothing green, and 
 the atmospheric surroundings of the place are highly sug- 
 gestive of a baker's oven in active service. The houses, we 
 see from the ship, constitute Steamer Point; the town itself 
 lies about five miles inland, and is well worth a visit ; the 
 magnificent tanks are often spoken of. 
 
 Colombo is by far the most interesting place of call on 
 the voyage. I envy anyone who sees it for the first time 
 during the proper season, i.e., the N.E. monsoon, and 
 whose first experience it is, of tropical scenery, vegetation, 
 and life generally. A fair stay is generally made. Here, 
 a break in the voyage could be made with great enjoy- 
 ment in the cool season, of course, and excursions made 
 to Kandy, Nourilya, &c. Hotel accommodation is dearer 
 than in Indian hotels; I think, upon the whole, io/- to 
 1 2/- a day seems to be about the charge. The Grand 
 Oriental, I believe, asks a higher rate. Outside the town 
 there is a quiet, nice hotel, the Galle Face, and still 
 further, the Mount Lavinia. The magnificent break- 
 water has changed Colombo from a roadstead into a 
 splendid harbour, and "killed" Point de Galle. Ap- 
 proaching the land the out-rigged canoes will interest
 
 SOUVENIRS OF THE VOYAGE. 
 
 143 
 
 and amuse the visitor, and, before the steamer is moored, 
 there will be a crowd of urchins, whose wardrobe does 
 not worry them much, diving and swimming around, as 
 merry, and as amphibious, as the Aden boys, of whom I 
 beg to make honourable mention. Then there crowd on 
 board, washermen, or dhobe-wallahs, tailors, and pedlars. 
 Huge coal-laden barges are pushed alongside by a crew of 
 sinewy, glistening, coal-lumpers, upon whose skin the 
 " black diamonds " sparkle as they hoist up bag after 
 bag in the vertical rays of sunshine. But I must not 
 indulge in rhapsodies over a place which, I am sure, will 
 fairly bewilder the new arrival. 
 
 At all these places, there are special commodities for 
 sale. At Malta, Genoa, and Naples, lace, filigree work of 
 gold and silver, and at the two latter places, coral, as they 
 are the headquarters of the Mediterranean coral fishery. 
 At either of these places, or Port Said, any small stores 
 required, can be readily purchased, as well as any toilet 
 requisites or small articles of clothing, that may have been 
 forgotten in starting. At Aden, ostrich feathers are to be 
 had, and some fine leopard skins, as well as shells, rough 
 coral, &c. Colombo is a great place for dealing in fruits, 
 rings, jewels, walking sticks, and toy elephants, of all 
 sorts and sizes, while moonstones and sapphires are the 
 principle articles of what Mrs. Malaprop terms " bigotry," 
 and need care in buying. Here, you will find a money- 
 changer on board very likely, and it will pay. you to get a 
 little Indian money, otherwise they may, on shore, take 
 your florins, as rupees, or try to reckon them so. The 
 rupee, though nominally worth two shillings, is really 
 worth about eighteen pence, so, for a sovereign, you should
 
 144 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 get about thirteen rupees and eight annas twenty-four of 
 the latter go to a rupee. 
 
 It will amuse, I am sure, and indeed interest, those who 
 watch these eastern traders, to see how they enter into 
 the selling of their goods, with their whole soul. If con- 
 centration of one's powers is needful to success, surely 
 they possess, and exercise it. Go into a shop at Colombo, 
 and look at the salesman, and his victim, how he eyes 
 him, for one relaxing muscle to denote, that he is giving 
 in. His lustrous-eyed olive branches are wrapped up, in 
 the transaction with what self-contained pleasure, they 
 note the bargain. Their eyes dilate with all-absorbing 
 interest, as they watch each glittering piece, pass into the 
 dusky paternal hand. Selling and buying is in the blood, 
 and bone, of these eastern races, and, as salesmen, they 
 leave us westerners, far behind. Their offspring imbibe 
 the science of dealing, with their mother's milk. 
 
 As to the Cape route, what I have elsewhere written 
 about it, there is little necessity for repeating ; it is only 
 necessary to add that a poor sailor (I do not mean an 
 impecunious mariner, but a lady or gentleman, liable to 
 sea-sickness), might enjoy, it somewhat, less than the 
 smoother weather, generally met with, in the Mediterranean 
 and Indian Ocean. And the changes are also severe, if 
 the southern hemisphere is traversed in the winter months, 
 May-August. I believe that some companies insist upon 
 their commanders taking a route, not south of the 44th or 
 45th parallel of south latitude, but, of course, circum- 
 stances might arise, which would justify the captain of a 
 steamer in shaping a more southerly course. I have run 
 south of Kerguelen land in the winter time, thus
 
 THE CANARIES AND THE CAPE. 145 
 
 exchanging the sweltering heat of the tropics for frost 
 and sleet, within a very short period. This, however, was 
 under exceptional circumstances. In October-February, 
 the weather will be fairly mild, but troubled seas, between 
 the Cape and Australia, are met with at all seasons. 
 
 As to the ports of call on the Cape route, the first 
 stoppage is usually at one of the Canary Islands, five or six 
 days from Plymouth, Las Palmas, or Santa Cruz, being 
 usually chosen. The latter is on the Island of Teneriffe, 
 the views of which, as one approaches it, are magnificent, 
 that of the well-known Peak especially, and it is from 
 even a great distance, the weather of course permitting, 
 that its great height and vast bulk are best appreciated. 
 Santa Cruz is the port for Orotava, a health resort of 
 notoriety, which is situated about 15 miles away, on the 
 opposite or western shore of the Island. There is a very 
 well-appointed hotel, close to the pier of Santa Cruz, and 
 though the shops are not of overpowering splendour, 
 anything in the way of necessaries for the voyage, that 
 may have been forgotten, can be purchased. Spanish is 
 the language spoken, and those familiar with it, may 
 notice that the Islanders " clip " the pure Castilian a good 
 deal. Good fruits may be had here. 
 
 From the Canaries, some of the liners steam to 
 Adelaide without a break, a long, monotonous, trip. 
 Both the New Zealand lines call, and make a brief stay, at 
 Cape Town. Here, the visitor who makes his first ac- 
 quaintance with Table Bay, will be struck with the unique 
 appearance of the Lion and Table Mountains and the Devil's 
 Peak, Cape Town lying on the slopes which run down to 
 the bay, from the foot of the precipices of Table Moun- 
 K
 
 146 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 tain. A trip to Wynberg by rail should be managed, 
 if possible, while Cape Town itself may be rather apt to 
 disappoint, if too great expectations have been formed 
 about it. It is about thirteen or fourteen days steaming 
 from Santa Cruz to Cape Town, and this is, as a rule, the 
 pleasantest part of the trip. From Santa Cruz a course is 
 shaped towards Cape Verde, sometimes sighting the 
 African coast. Hereabouts, the heat, for a few days, makes 
 itself somewhat severely felt, and provision for the same, 
 in the shape of a little of the lightest possible clothing, 
 should be made, though much less is required on this, as 
 compared with the Suez route. Leaving the African 
 coast, the S.E. trades are soon encountered, and temper 
 the tropical heat. Neither Ascension, nor St. Helena, are 
 touched at by the Antipodean steamers. 
 
 Leaving Cape Town, we enter upon a somewhat long 
 stretch of steaming towards Hobart, the final port of call 
 for Australian passengers. The sea birds, of which I have 
 fully written in describing the sailing vessel route, keep 
 us company in numbers, and we may see, very probably, 
 barring sea and sky, little else but them for shipping is 
 widely scattered hereabouts during the eighteen days or 
 so of voyaging that lies before us. In fine weather some 
 skippers, with kindly intent, pass close to the Crozets in 
 search of shipwrecked crews, otherwise the Tasmanian 
 " land fall " is eagerly looked for. A bright little city is 
 Hobart, very homelike after all the long voyage, save for 
 the frequent verandahs that line the streets. It is 
 beautifully situated, and if you voyage up the Derwent 
 in the day time, you will be charmed with the surrounding 
 scenery, over which Mount Wellington rises grandly
 
 THE FIRST SIGHT OF A USTRALIA. 147 
 
 not unlike our lately visited friend, Table Mountain 
 more than four thousand feet above the streets of Hobart. 
 Here, if you arrive during the summer, it is more than 
 probable that you may be tempted to remain a while, but 
 as it is a great resort for Australians during the hot 
 months of the year, when Melbourne and Sydney Streets 
 are far from enjoyable, lodgings are well filled and prices 
 rise accordingly. Here, you take leave of your ocean 
 steamer, and are provided with passes to your destination. 
 First and second-class passengers can go overland to 
 Launceston, thence across Bass's Straits to Melbourne or 
 Sydney, or by direct steamer. 
 
 Coming from England by the Canal route, we usually 
 make our first Australian land slightly northwards of Cape 
 Leuwin, a neighbourhood which bears a somewhat bad 
 name for " weather." A few hours after rounding " the 
 Leuwin " we enter, by a somewhat intricate passage, the 
 fine landlocked harbour of King George's sound, on which 
 is situated Albany, the second town in point of size, in 
 Western Australia, of which I would say, please do not 
 expect too much, and you will not be disappointed with it. 
 Steaming out of the sound, we head for the Gulf of St. 
 Vincent, one thousand miles away across the Great 
 Australian Bight, where, also, bad weather is not un- 
 frequently encountered. About three days bring us in 
 sight of Kangaroo Island, leaving which on the right, we 
 come to an anchor within a mile or so of Largs pier the 
 shore being tame and flat for some miles inland, beyond 
 which, blue and misty in the heat, rise the Mount Lofty 
 ranges. Our mails and passengers are landed at Largs 
 pier, whence they are conveyed by rail to Adelaide, nine
 
 148 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA t 
 
 miles away, thence the Melbourne, Sydney, and other 
 portions of mails, together with such passengers as elect 
 to finish their journey by rail, are despatched to their 
 destinations. Railway tickets, at reduced rates, are issued 
 to passengers who have a certificate from the purser to 
 the effect that they are ocean passengers. 
 
 As soon as all transfers are made, we leave again for a 
 36 or 40 hours run to Melbourne, passing between 
 Kangaroo Island and the mainland, through what is 
 termed the Backstairs passage. We keep the sandy 
 dunes of the South Australian coast in sight during a 
 good part of the trip, and at last enter Port Philip, 
 between the Heads, and through the ever-troubled waters 
 of " the rip." Queen's Cliff, with its fortifications, is on 
 the left, and Sorrento, a sea-side resort of the Melbourne 
 folks, on the right. We have now sixty miles before we 
 reach Hobson's Bay, which is the extreme northern 
 portion of Port Philip, and leaving Portarlington and 
 Geelong far away on the left, at length tie up along- 
 side Williamstown pier, half-an-hour by rail from Spencer 
 street station, Melbourne city (third class fare sixpence). 
 Here, if we care to finish our journey by rail, a voucher that 
 we are bona-fide passengers, secures us a ticket to Sydney 
 for 2 145., first ; 2 os. 6d., second-class ; sleeping 
 berth, about 1 25. extra. If we, on the other hand, choose 
 to remain by the ship, we shall be boarded during our 
 stay. At length, after a couple of days or so, we cast off for 
 the last length of our trip, and once more through ' ' the 
 rip," round Wilson's promontory, and past Gabo, forty to 
 forty-eight hours in all, brings us to Circular Quay, and 
 the end of our voyage.
 
 SIGHT-SEEING ON THE VOYAGE. H9 
 
 As to sight-seeing at the various ports of call, what I 
 have to say, applies mostly to those who have to limit 
 their outlay. The best way at Naples, Genoa, and 
 Colombo is to take a guide, go in a party of about four, 
 and share expenses. In Colombo, do as much sight- 
 seeing as you can in the early morning, avoiding the 
 afternoon sun. In all cases, do not be in a hurry for the 
 shore, and do not overdo your shore-going costume, as 
 you feel heat and exercise very much after lolling about 
 on a steamer. At all ports between England and Mel- 
 bourne, the going ashore is effected by boats. At Albany 
 and Adelaide, by steam launches, for which one shilling 
 each way is charged, unless it is your final landing place, 
 or port of embarkation. At some of the other places, the 
 charge is more moderate, but always have an arrange- 
 ment before starting. At Gibraltar, if the weather 
 looks threatening, take a ticket on board, and go by the 
 boats carrying the " P and O " flag, for Spanish boatmen 
 know how to charge, if there is a " capful " of wind on the 
 bay. 
 
 My list as to routes would be incomplete were I to 
 omit the American, vid San Francisco, which, if the 
 journey has to be commenced say, in May, June, or 
 July, has its advantages. The railway trip across the 
 Continent can be broken at places of interest, and, if you 
 elect to go through, I believe it is now done in four days 
 and-a-half. From San Francisco, the average run to 
 Auckland, New Zealand, is about twenty days, calling at 
 Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, and Tutuila, in the Samoan 
 group. From Auckland to Sydney about four to four 
 and-a-half days are required. The heat is comparatively
 
 150 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 temperate in the tropics of the Pacific Ocean, and fairly 
 fine weather is experienced, as a rule. The steamers, 
 though comfortable, are hardly up to the standard of 
 "P and O," Orient, or Messageries liners. Through 
 rates are quoted from Liverpool to Sydney at between 
 60 and ;yo ; but a trip -via America is apt to become 
 expensive. I wish I was able to chronicle a direct service 
 to Australia from Vancouver, in connection with the 
 magnificent Canadian Pacific Railway. 
 
 Now, as to the class by which we shall travel, I have 
 written in what some might think very high praise of the 
 second saloon accommodation provided on the " Jubilee" 
 boats* of the " P and O " Company. Such is simply 
 the outcome of my experience, and I am in no way 
 recompensed for expressing it. I wish to point out, 
 indeed, to praise, second-class accommodation on Aus- 
 tralian steamers generally, for the benefit of those who 
 might like to visit the Colonies for the purpose of health, 
 business, or pleasure, but are deterred by first-class fares, 
 and have misgivings as to the accommodation afforded 
 by the second. 
 
 There are, of course, many unfortunate people who 
 have " a position to keep up, don't you know ; " but I 
 .think that any person who is merely afflicted with an 
 imperfectly developed, or rudimentary position, so to 
 speak, would be very comfortable in the second-class, 
 and if money is any object to him, as far as economizing 
 it goes, the difference between the second and first- 
 classes will enable him to see the sights of the voyage 
 
 * The Britannia, Arcadia, Oceana, and Victoria are the Jubilee 
 steamers.
 
 WHAT TO WEAR AT SEA. 
 
 151 
 
 very comfortably, buy a few curios, defray a good-sized 
 wine and cigar bill, with perhaps a pound or so to spare, 
 say, in a dinner to " the position " to compensate it for 
 any indignities it has suffered in the second saloon. It is 
 unnecessary for me to point out, I think, that a six or 
 seven weeks' voyage can hardly be made without certain 
 pecuniary extras being incurred, which materially increase 
 the prime cost of the passage. 
 
 One somewhat important matter, when you are deciding 
 upon a cabin, especially if it is an outer one, is to take 
 one on the port or left hand side, you thus miss the 
 afternoon sun, which greatly heats the starboard cabins ; 
 this applies to the voyage towards Australia. 
 
 As to dress, so long as it is neat, the dinner costume in 
 the " second " permits of considerable latitude, flannels 
 and white drills, clean, of course, are not " taboo," and 
 are cool and loose for dining in. In the chief saloon, 
 some affect evening dress, ladies especially ; there is some 
 sense in " low " dresses, in the Indian Ocean, and it adds 
 a gay and festive appearance to the important ceremony 
 of dinner. Washing is very often done by the quarter- 
 masters, and at Colombo you can always have this 
 important item attended to, well and cheaply. A fancy 
 dress ball or two, as well as impromptu dances, are part 
 of the voyage nowadays, and if you have a suitable dress, 
 it is well to include it in your baggage. Concerts, 
 smoking and otherwise, are of frequent occurrence, and 
 many steamers carry a good band. 
 
 If I can ever afford to start in business as a philan- 
 thropist, I should certainly try and establish a sort of 
 school on board ships making a long voyage. I am in
 
 152 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 earnest. I do not intend to perpetrate what the late 
 Artemus Ward was wont to term a " goak." I am fond of 
 children, but on board ship they are, too frequently, an 
 annoyance to people generally, and a source of constant 
 anxiety to their parents. I have heard mothers complain 
 that a long voyage completely upsets their children, and 
 gets them " out of hand," for months afterwards. They 
 seem also to be always eating, and destroy all recognized 
 theories as to the capacity of the human stomach. If 
 they were taken in hand, say for a reading class, during 
 a couple of hours, twice a day, I think it would be a great 
 thing for all concerned. I imagine that there are, by each 
 steamer, passengers who would be glad to undertake 
 such a duty, for a consideration. Children also, by 
 annoying people generally, are a prolific source of trouble 
 between the parents, and those less interested in the 
 youngsters. 
 
 Of the pastime of card-playing, and of visits to the 
 steamer's bar, I need say nothing, let each do as he is 
 disposed, or what was the use of Magna Charta ? I have 
 only to remark, that anyone who is sent on a voyage, 
 without supervision, to recover from the effects of 
 inordinate conviviality, is translated, metaphorically of 
 course, from the frying-pan into the hottest of fires. The 
 captain, or doctor, may " stop the grog" of any transgressor, 
 but it is one thing to issue the official edift, and an 
 entirely different matter to carry it out effectually; for 
 such a one, a passenger steamer is the worst possible 
 place. 
 
 Before leaving the ship, our table and bedroom 
 stewards, and, in a less degree, the bathman, will expect a
 
 THE STEWARD'S FEE. 153 
 
 " tip." Some people give stewards ten times the trouble 
 that others do, and never compensate them. I am 
 afraid that ships' stewards, generally, must see a good deal 
 of the mean side of mankind. " Tips " depend much on 
 what you can afford to give, and, if you must give trouble, 
 I think you should make it up to the steward ; I cannot 
 lay down any rule upon the subject. I can only say, as 
 another much-abused public servant cabby says 
 sometimes " Leave it to you, sir."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE SAILING VESSEL ROUTE THE "ROARING 
 FORTIES," "TRADES," AND "DOLDRUMS" 
 THE MONSOONS BIRD LIFE AT SEA- 
 HINTS UPON THE VOYAGE. 
 
 Sailing ships to Australia are apt to suggest to those 
 whose memory serves them, not so far back after 
 all, but say to the earlier "sixties," names of the old-time 
 " flyers "the " Redjacket," the " Marco Polo," the 
 broad-beamed "Donald M'Kay," and the famous 
 "Lightning," with her sharp, yacht-like "forefoot." 
 Where be they now, those once famous caravels ? Well, 
 they have had their day, and now, for the most part, the 
 waterway through the land of the Pharoahs, bears the 
 giants of " P and O," Orient, Messageries, and German- 
 Lloyd, and many another liner, " ocean tramp," and 
 " canal- wallah," to Australian sea-ports. 
 
 Yet, I think, that no one can be said to know what 
 infinite pleasure fair winds and fine weather at sea can 
 afford, unless they have at some time made a longish 
 trip in a sailing vessel, and though adverse winds and 
 foul weather are a source of much unpleasantness, still a 
 well-found sailing ship makes, as experts say, " better 
 weather," than do the heavily-engined, fast-driven steamers 
 of the present day.
 
 " THE TRADES." 
 
 155 
 
 What can be more delightful than a day "in the 
 trades," with the wind well on the quarter, and all plain 
 sail drawing. The broad expanse of well-scrubbed deck 
 more or less inclined to leeward, as the ship acknowledges 
 the ten-knot breeze behind her is free from " clinkers," 
 coal dust, and "blacks" innumerable, which, to 
 the detriment of our choice flannels, or spruce white 
 drill, befoul the steamer's decks. There is no clanking 
 machinery, no heavily revolving shaft, or " racing " screw 
 to disturb the over-sensitive. No heat from the furnaces, 
 and we miss, right thankfully, that indescribable " whiff " 
 from the engine-room. The hot sun is tempered by 
 the healthful breeze, and what a lazy, careless, appetizing 
 life it is, and how reviving to the sick and wearied. 
 Shoals of flying fish, like great dragon flies of silver and 
 ultramarine, rise from either side of us, with swift alba- 
 core and dolphin in quick pursuit. And at night, 
 to walk forward and look up at the bellying "white 
 wings " ever so high above us, looking ghostly in the 
 moonlight, which softens the outline of taper spar, and 
 filmy tracery of rigging. The sound of a concertina, or, 
 perhaps, of a jovial chorus, comes from the fo'k's'le. The 
 sidelights reflect red and green rays upon the white foam. 
 The look-out is at his post. We glance aft along the 
 sweep of trim deck, where sheets and halyards are neatly 
 coiled and " flemished " down, to where the light glows 
 warmly through red-curtained cabin windows, suggestive 
 of brightness and creature comforts within. 
 
 But, as with most things that are bright and pleasant, 
 there is the reverse of this picture. We are now in a vast 
 wilderness and waste of waters, " running down our east-
 
 156 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ! 
 
 ing " in the Southern Ocean, hove to, perhaps, in an 
 adverse gale, rolling and plunging heavily, and shipping 
 water over our already dripping and sloppy decks ; every- 
 thing is wet and miserable. The "landlubbers" are, as 
 the old song says, " lying down below," the best place in 
 such weather ; some are trying to read, some may be 
 sea-sick, all are holding on to something. The " Mark 
 Tapley " of the crowd is trying to infuse some little 
 jollity into the proceedings, but it is miserable work being 
 at sea in bad weather. 
 
 Or, perhaps, we are running before the <: brave west 
 winds," which, for some time, have been blowing a strong 
 gale behind us. A few may venture on deck, but, stand- 
 ing by something to hold on, if need be. The officer of 
 the watch, and the skipper, have anxious eyes upon the 
 wheel, lest the ship broach-to. What hills and valleys of 
 water there seem to be ! Can anyone describe them ? 
 With great foaming, curly, crests, that tower high above 
 you, as they race along, threatening to poop your labour- 
 ing ship, and sweep all before them : when, suddenly, you 
 fly heavenwards, and, with a mighty swish, they rush by 
 you, and away. And, at times, there rises like some 
 watery Matterhorn, a cross sea, that comes inboard in 
 tons of green water, and your maindeck is a raging surf, 
 with capstan heads and harness casks, shewing, like rocks 
 in a troubled sea. And, if you must shorten sail in all 
 this tumult, you feel, perhaps, for those poor fellows, 
 lying out upon the yard, which threatens every minute 
 to jerk them into Eternity, from their hold upon the 
 slippery footrope ; and, as fast as they gather up fold after 
 fold of the tough, wet canvas, the wind tears it from their
 
 "TRADES," "DOLDRUMS," AND MONSOONS. 157 
 
 numbed and stiffened fingers, and, as you watch them, 
 very likely, a stave or two of those jovial sea songs, 
 descriptive of a "Home on the Rolling Deep," or "A 
 Sailor's Life for Me," may occur to you, as being a 
 trifle misleading, occasionally. 
 
 But, having thus endeavoured to give two slight sketches 
 of life in a sailing ship, and before I go into further details, 
 I will take the liberty of explaining, as briefly as possible, 
 the meaning of "trade winds," "doldrums," and "mon- 
 soons," which must necessarily figure when describing a 
 voyage to the Antipodes, and, as it is as well to have some 
 idea as to their meaning, I trust I shall be excused in 
 doing so. 
 
 The oceans through which we pass on our voyage to 
 Australia by way of the Cape of Good Hope, are the 
 North and South Atlantic and the Southern Indian Ocean; 
 in the two former, we encounter the trade winds and 
 " doldrums ; " it is in the Northern Indian Ocean, when 
 using the Suez Canal route, that we have to consider the 
 monsoons. 
 
 In the ninety degrees of latitude over which the North 
 Atlantic stretches, that is, from the equator to the North 
 Pole, there are four zones, or belts, each possessing 
 distinct attributes in the shape of weather, viz. : 
 
 1. The zone of calms, which extends for 6 to 8* 
 or so northward of the equator, say about 500 English 
 miles or more, distinguished by dead calms, light, vari- 
 able " airs," heavy showers, and thunderstorms, generally 
 called the "doldrums." 
 
 2. The zone of "the trades," extending from the 
 "doldrums" up to 35 or 38 north latitude, where the
 
 158 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA 
 
 winds blow steadily, with greater or less force, from 
 the north-east, throughout the year. 
 
 3. The zone of " the variables," or unsettled weather, 
 extending over the " forties," or degrees of latitude from 
 40 to 50, and occasionally further north, hence they 
 are generally termed the "roaring forties." 
 
 4. The zone of steady winds from the pole, which blow 
 southwards, but by the motion and shape of the earth, 
 have a more or less westerly bias imparted to them. 
 
 The south Atlantic has exactly the same zones or belts, 
 but owing to the peculiarities of the land and water, her 
 " trades," which are from the south-east, extend to, and 
 sometimes blow over, the equatorial line, and as the 
 more extensive ice-fields of the Antarctic polar regions 
 cause a more powerful current of southerly winds, which, 
 for the reason above given, become south-westerly and 
 westerly, the variable zone, for the same reason, is nearer 
 the equator, somewhat, than in the North Atlantic. 
 
 As to the causes of the above, a few words may not be 
 out of place. Winds are caused, as most people know, 
 by inequalities in temperature. The heated air at the 
 equator rises and flows in currents north and south. The 
 scene of this uprising is the region already described as 
 the "doldrums," and with the air goes a quantity of 
 vapour in response to the vertical rays of tropical sun- 
 shine, which comes down frequently in sheets of rain, 
 and being the battle-ground also of hot and cold currents 
 of air, it is likewise the region of thunderstorms, of which 
 we know little, in point of severity and frequency, in 
 more temperate climes. Towards this uprising there 
 rushes, from north and south, a continuous colder cur-
 
 NORTH-EAST AND NORTH-WEST MONSOONS. 159 
 
 rent; these currents form the "trades." Then, when 
 the upper warm current from the equator has reached 
 the " forties," it has cooled down, and it is about on a 
 par, as regards temperature, with the current which comes 
 from the poles. Hence the " forties " becomes the scene 
 of frequent combats for supremacy, which have given them 
 the name of " roaring," and thus is produced that absence 
 of uniformity in point of weather, which is not unknown 
 in Great Britain, for, though the British Isles lie north- 
 ward of the " forties," it is through them, the said 
 " forties," that we Britishers are blessed with that meteo- 
 rological kaleidoscope known as the English climate. 
 
 Next, and lastly, as to monsoons. The word is Arabic 
 for season, and it therefore explains that the north-east and 
 south-west monsoons are really seasons during which the 
 wind blows from the quarter indicated. The Northern 
 Indian Ocean, though traversed by the equator, has no 
 " doldrums " and no " trades." It lies between two con- 
 tinents, Asia and Africa. The former, lying to the north- 
 east, has its hot season during the English summer, or 
 rather those months which, in deference to accepted 
 definitions, are termed the summer months. So the 
 attraction, or uprising, caused by the summer heats in 
 India, demands that a current shall rush in to fill the 
 vacuum abhorred by nature ; thus, from May to October, 
 is the south-west monsoon in the Indian Ocean, during 
 which time the wind blows from the south-west, and, 
 generally speaking, it is not a favourable season for ocean 
 travel, in what surgeons would term, the parts affected. 
 During the " burst " of the monsoon, or change of season, 
 especially from north-east to south-west, the weather is
 
 160 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 anything but agreeable, rough sea, terrific thunderstorms, 
 and literally " torrents " of rain, are the leading features 
 thereof. During the winter of the northern hemisphere, 
 the direction of the current is reversed ; from October to 
 April, Africa is the goal of the cooler current, and the 
 north-east monsoon, or season of the north-east wind, is 
 the best season for travel in the Indian Ocean, and, of 
 course in India, Burmah, Ceylon, &c. The " burst " of 
 the monsoon in May, indicates the commencement of 
 the "rains," or Indian rainy season. The tropics, it may 
 be worth explaining, are derived from a Greek word, signi- 
 fying a turning, and stand for the turning points of the sun. 
 They extend 23^, or 1,410 geographical miles, on each 
 side of the Equator. 
 
 We must now make a start upon our voyage ; and the 
 first thing to consider is the best time for leaving, and 
 this, I think, is August or September, not too late in the 
 latter month, so as to leave the dreaded equinoctials 
 behind us. We may count it about ninety days on an 
 average from London or Liverpool to Sydney, and this 
 will bring us there in November or December, but, as I 
 have pointed out in writing on the climate of New South 
 Wales, we can pass our time very pleasantly in the 
 cooler air of the mountains, until the summer heat is 
 modified. By choosing the time I have given, we traverse 
 the huge tract of the Southern Ocean during the early 
 summer, which is a great desideratum, and a feature in 
 the sailing ship route, which I beg to impress upon those 
 who intend making the voyage, most especially if they are 
 not robust. 
 
 Then follows another important matter, viz. : The
 
 THE COST OF A PASSAGE. 
 
 161 
 
 choice of a ship, and in this we must consider our 
 passengers, and their object in making the trip, whether 
 from motives of benefitting their health, or with the idea 
 of economizing. Let us hope that in the former case 
 our invalids have not left it too late, that they have still 
 a share of strength, and as soon as they have got over the 
 first few days, and acquired those useful members, un- 
 acknowledged by comparative anatomy, known as "sea 
 legs," that they will be able to get about and enjoy the 
 voyage to the full. 
 
 Those who, unfortunately, are not in the best of health, 
 will be safer, and, no doubt, more easy in their own 
 minds, on board a regular passenger ship, where they 
 can have medical attention, if necessary, fresh food, and 
 frequently fresh milk ; in short, be better off than if they 
 went by " outsiders," even at a less fare, who only take 
 passengers, to use a favourite phrase in shipping circles, 
 when sufficient inducement offers. Messrs. J. Green & 
 Co., 13, Fenchurch avenue, E.C., and one or two other 
 firms load the regular passenger ships, which sail from 
 London only. On ordinary trading vessels, a passage 
 may be secured at a reduced rate, by introduction to the 
 captain, owner, or loading broker and such is entirely a 
 matter for arrangement payment, at the rate of ^8 per 
 month, would be about a " fair thing " for the ordinary 
 sea-going fare ; you must trust to luck for freedom from 
 illness or accident. 
 
 As to clothes, you want a fair supply of all sorts, eschew 
 
 linen shirts, giving preference to flannel, and have both 
 
 thick and the lightest underwear in your " Wanted on the 
 
 Voyage " portmanteaux. Blue serge, for state occasions, 
 
 L
 
 162 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 and tweeds, will serve best, not forgetting a warm, rough 
 overcoat (an old one will do very well), and a good 
 mackintosh. " Flannels " are best for the tropics, and a 
 few white drill coats, buttoned to the throat,* so as to 
 enable the wearer to conceal the absence of shirt front 
 and collar, will be found almost indispensable. Of 
 head-gear, you should have a good supply, as a good deal 
 " blows overboard." Something that will " stick on " 
 should be taken, and a light broad brimmed hat, or pith 
 " topee," for the tropics. As to boots, canvas shoes are 
 best for fine weather, and a pair of goloshes are very use- 
 ful in wet and rough weather, as they give a good hold 
 on slippery decks. Do not take what are known as sea- 
 boots. Hold-alls of stout linen or fine canvas, with 
 pockets for brushes, razors, &c,, will be found very useful 
 for your cabin, as well as a bag for soiled linen. As to 
 books, you know your own taste best; light reading is most 
 relished at sea, and cheap editions should be taken, as 
 there are frequent borrowings and exchanges. Shake- 
 speare is a delightful companion for a long voyage. For 
 the rest, a pair of dumbells will do you good, if used, and 
 they frequently encourage your fellow-passengers to take 
 a little healthful exercise. Washing you can get done by 
 one of the crew, as a rule, unless you like to try your 
 hand at it. 
 
 Try to benefit by the voyage to the fullest extent, for 
 you can do much to supplement the sea-air. Let your 
 motto be " on deck," and practice it whenever you possibly 
 can. The difference between those who have done this, 
 and those who have been " mewed up " in cabin or 
 * Made like a military " patrol " jacket.
 
 BECALMED IN THE " DOLDR UMS." 
 
 163 
 
 smoking room, is more marked, at the end of a voyage, 
 than many would credit. 
 
 Let us make a start at last. The invalid, or, indeed, the 
 sound man, is a gainer by joining his ship at Plymouth, 
 if she calls there. The ship's company have settled down 
 in their places, and the fuss, and bother incidental to a 
 first start, is avoided, not to mention the chance of bad 
 weather. Let us hope for fine weather, down channel, 
 and across the " Bay." Off Lisbon, we may get an east- 
 erly "slant," the forerunner of the trades, and, by the 
 time we pass Madeira, which we may "sight," we are fairly 
 in them. This is the pick of the voyage, and every day 
 should add new life to the sick man. 
 
 But one morning we wake to find the ship almost 
 motionless ; we soon become used to the movements of 
 our ocean home, and get so much in touch with her, that 
 she seems a sentient thing, and it is no mere poetic fancy 
 that inspired the well known line : 
 
 " She walks the waters like a thing of life." 
 
 We go on deck. We are becalmed in the " dol- 
 drums," rolling lazily, with sails flapping, blocks and 
 running gear swinging about, and creaking monotonously. 
 There are not a few sail in sight, some, like ourselves, 
 just out of the northern trades, others beating up, 
 somehow, in the hopes of getting them. One is enjoying 
 a "catspaw" of wind, which fills her sails for a few 
 moments, while another is blurred, almost hidden, by a 
 squall of rain, which falls in buckets-full on her decks, 
 The sea is like oil, the pitch bubbles in the seams, and 
 the sky seems to glow like a vault of brass. What a
 
 164 
 
 SHALL I TRY A US7RALIA ? 
 
 place for an armed cruiser, you think ; what prizes she 
 could pick up in a few hours. 
 
 But a homeward bound ship has her flags up to signal 
 us, and the officer dives below for the code book ; flags 
 are " routed " out. They represent the consonants of the 
 alphabet, and endless combinations of three or four letters, 
 duly given in the book, signify names of ships, port of 
 registry, and dozens of useful sentences, and their answers. 
 
 " What ship is that ? " ask two flags, B and D. 
 
 "The 'Swiftsure,' of London, 1,500 tons; London to 
 Sydney ; 26 days out," we reply. 
 
 " Where did you lose the trades? " comes next, perhaps. 
 
 "In 10* north latitude," is the answer. 
 
 " Where did you lose the trades ? " we may ask, after 
 hoisting our name, destination, &c. 
 
 "In i north latitude," and so on; or, perhaps, a 
 " Pacific steam " or " Lamport and Holt " steamer 
 comes in sight, for we are in the track of south American 
 steamers. We shape our course towards her, and hoist- 
 ing our official number, beg to be reported. Up goes the 
 answering flag, and the request is duly " logged," to be 
 reported in the proper quarter, with the comment 
 " Wished to be reported." 
 
 But how is the temperature all this time ? It is an 
 mportant matter to our invalids. Of course, it has been 
 more than warm for some days ; but the breeze and the 
 quick travelling make it less noticeable. Now it is some- 
 what of an annoyance; but I have been becalmed for 
 days in the doldrums, and never saw the heat exceed 88" 
 Fahrenheit in the cabin, without any awning, whereas, on 
 a steamer going to the Cape of Good Hope, I have seen
 
 A LONELY HABITATION. 
 
 165 
 
 it as high in the coolest deck-house, for the steamers hug 
 the African coast ; whereas, here, you are out in the open. 
 Still, it is apt to be trying, and those whose lungs are 
 weakly, will do best, perhaps, to avoid hot soups, &c., 
 for a cold meat diet, and take ice in their beef-tea if it is 
 procurable. Iced drinks, except as medicine, are alto- 
 gether a mistake in such weather, and strict moderation 
 in food, as well as liquor, will be found most comfortable. 
 We soon pick up the South East trades, and the 
 weather cools rapidly. Do not expect to see anything of 
 Ascension, or St. Helena, such a course would be dead 
 " in the eye " of the wind ; being square rigged, though 
 sailing " close-hauled " upon it, we cannot steer much, if 
 any, within eight " points " of it. We have in our general 
 course stretched towards Pernambuco, on the South 
 American Coast, crossing "the line," in 25 or 28 west 
 longitude, so as to make the most of the north-east 
 trades. We now shape a course to pass the desolate 
 islet of Trinidad, and the Martin Vaz rocks (Trinidad 
 must not be confounded with the West Indian Island of 
 the same name), and probably bring up in sight of 
 Tristran d' Acunha, a lonely island, with some 100 of 
 Her Majesty's subjects dwelling thereupon, lying in about 
 38 south latitude, and 1 2 west longitude. It is an awkward 
 island to approach, unless the weather is promising, but 
 stores of beef, poultry, and vegetables can be obtained, 
 the islanders having a whale-boat, supplied them by the 
 English Government for boarding ships, and it is a 
 charity to look them up. Hence we start to " run down " 
 the tremendous stretch of " easting " which lies between 
 us and Sydney Heads, no less than 160 of longitude.
 
 166 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA f 
 
 The weather is now cool, but I thiuk it will be found 
 bracing beyond comparison. I might remark that we 
 have had the best of the voyage, and if a good sailing 
 ship calling at Cape Town, or going to Cape Colony, can 
 be secured, I think it would be the p]easantest and 
 most healthful voyage obtainable, the duration would be 
 fifty or sixty days. 
 
 And now, anyone who notices bird-life, of which one 
 sees little or nothing in the tropical mid-ocean, will 
 begin to find plenty worthy of his notice. Petrels of all 
 sorts, Mother Gary's chickens, Cape pigeons, the sooty, and 
 black-eye-browed albatross, or mollymauk,* on some days 
 myriads of them, but one, more especially, will rivet his 
 attention. It glides quietly, yet swiftly along, sometimes 
 hidden in the trough of the seas, now, topping the crest 
 thereof a great bird, with surely the mightiest wings 
 one ever saw. It rarely flaps them, but heeling over, as 
 it were, now to the right, and anon to the left, rises 
 without apparent effort on its lengthy pinions, and sweeps 
 in graceful circles, like some deft skater, upwards and 
 downwards, around, about, and above us. We are 
 "spinning" through the water, but with all its circling 
 motion, and easy flight, we cannot leave it astern. How 
 untiring it is, and what a pace to maintain. There is no 
 mistaking it, it is the famous albatross, and surely, if the 
 eagle be the king of birds ashore, it is the monarch of 
 those that people the waters, t 
 
 * Both these birds, though six or seven feet across the wings, are 
 much smaller than the wandering albatross, which is twelve to fifteen 
 feet from tip to tip of its pinions. 
 
 t The wandering albatross (Diomeda Exulans).
 
 CATCHING AN ALBATROSS. 
 
 167 
 
 Now, fond as I am of anything in the way of sport, 
 especially with rod or gun, I must say that I think it is 
 cruel, beyond contempt, to shoot at birds from ship- 
 board. No end is served. The victims are neither 
 vermin, for the destruction of which there is some excuse, 
 nor can they be recovered, so that their plumage may 
 be used and as often as not, they are merely winged, 
 and left to perish miserably. But if you really want 
 an albatross, I will tell you how to catch one, presum- 
 ing that you wish to preserve the skin, and I would 
 forewarn you that the birds fairly reek with the strongest 
 fat and oil, so be prepared to deal with them accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 Take say 150 yards of very stout, strong line, of the 
 thickest used for sea fishing (and arm yourself with a 
 duplicate) and plenty of strong hooks, four inches or so 
 in the shank, and one to one-and-a-half across the bend. 
 Splice them firmly to short lengths, and add them to your 
 line, three or four, each 18 inches apart, like a strong 
 paternoster, with a piece of cork to float them, and bait 
 with some pieces of salt pork. Then go aft, make one 
 end of your line secure, and coil it carefully, so that it 
 may run out without a tangle. Having baited your 
 hooks stand clear of the line, and having something, a 
 rail for instance, to "brace" yourself against, drop the 
 bait overboard. The Cape pigeons are the first to espy 
 it usually, they attract the sooty albatross, who in turn 
 gives way to the bold, handsome mollymauk, which, as I 
 have said, is about seven feet across the wings with a 
 magnificent eagle-like head. The albatross now swoops 
 down, and all stand clear, and keep respectfully distant,
 
 168 
 
 SHALL I TRY A US TR A LI A f 
 
 the mollymauk seeming half inclined to dispute prece- 
 dence with the " big 'un." The quarry is painfully slow 
 in his movements, he does not fold his wings at once, but 
 holds them uplifted in a graceful curve, and seems to 
 overshadow with them the little group of his subjects. 
 He " bites " at last, and being hooked, spreads his wings, 
 and " backs all," setting his great webbed feet in front of 
 him like an obstinate " drunk " being carted to the lock- 
 up ; so you have a long pull before he is under the 
 counter of your ship. With a spread of thirteen or four- 
 teen feet of wing, you will be somewhat astonished at his 
 dimensions. Make a slip-knot of stout cord, pass it over 
 your line, let it fall over the bird's head, then heave away, 
 and when inboard, 'ware fingers, securing his beak, with 
 what sailors term a " mousing," in other words, tie some 
 string around it, and then, if you must kill the ill-fated 
 bird, despatch him quickly. 
 
 Of legitimate fishing, there is hardly any to be got in 
 the open sea. Bonitos may be caught at the bows with 
 your albatross tackle, and are sometimes speared. Sharks 
 are sometimes taken with a proper shark hook, you may 
 not see one, however, the whole voyage, until you get 
 under the Australian coast. You might see a rorqual, 
 the largest of known whales, which run to a tremendous 
 size in the southern ocean. 
 
 Cape pigeons, with their black and white plumage, are 
 exceedingly pretty, and are most easily caught by light 
 lines, with hooks of small size. They are really of the 
 petrel tribe,* but, barring their webbed feet, are very like 
 the tame pigeon in appearance. 
 
 * The pintado or painted petrel.
 
 THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. 
 
 169 
 
 Well, eastward ho ! from Tristran d' Acunha is our 
 course, each skipper has his own parallel, his favourite 
 route, mostly in the " forties," for the days of the 
 "great circle" route to Australia are for the most part 
 over, and sailing vessels, as a rule, do not run south of 
 Kerguelen Land. Of the uninhabited islands besides 
 Kerguelen Land the Crozets and Prince Edward Islands 
 you will not often see anything. It is as well to 
 keep clear of them. The hoarse croak of the penguin 
 on a calm night may be all that reminds you of their 
 vicinity, save, perhaps, long tresses of sea-weed. The 
 islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam are north of the 
 route. 
 
 Although we hope to be favoured with fairly good 
 weather, still, in so terribly long a stretch of " the forties," 
 we must expect a little of the ups and downs of sea life ; 
 but at the time of year, say October and November, I 
 think that the least robust even, will find, though the 
 weather may be cool, that it is not unpleasantly so, and 
 very bracing, seldom much below 45 Fahrenheit as au 
 extreme. Few sails are seen on this vast ocean. I 
 have twice traversed six thousand miles of it without 
 sighting one, and was once seven weeks without seeing a 
 single sail. In time we near the land, and decide upon 
 going " south about," that is, south of Tasmania, instead 
 of through Bass's Straits, and our skipper has decided to 
 "make a fall" at Gabo Island, off Cape Howe, just 
 where the boundary lies between Victoria and New South 
 Wales. All eyes are watching the dimly seen shore, 
 which soon resolves itself into a low-lying island, light- 
 house, and signal station, with a background of thickly-
 
 170 SHALL I TRY AUS TRALIA f 
 
 wooded, wild-looking, mountainous country. Our "num- 
 ber " flutters from the peak, and the news is flashed to 
 Sydney that we are " off Gabo." Excitement now reigns 
 on board. Everyone is packing up, and more or less 
 pre-occupied with what he or she is to do on shore. 
 The tug comes alongside, perhaps, in the morning. The 
 hawser is passed on board. Sydney Heads at last, and 
 our voyage is ended.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES THE 
 COAST, THE TABLELAND, AND PLAINS- 
 HEAT AND RAINFALL HEALTH RESORTS 
 AND COST OF LIVING WHAT TO WEAR. 
 
 The climate of New South Wales is necessarily a 
 question of more or less vital importance to all who 
 intend to visit the Colony, and, while I attempt, in this 
 chapter, a description thereof, I give, as much as possible, 
 such details as may prove of service to the very many 
 who are ordered, in addition to ocean travel, a complete 
 change of life for the time being, thus involving residence, 
 for a greater or less period, in a foreign country. 
 
 As I have remarked in my preface, I fear that cases 
 of impending and premature breakdown of mental and 
 physical powers alike, are yearly becoming of more 
 frequent occurrence, which, in addition to pulmonary 
 troubles, either hereditary, or brought about by the harm- 
 ful nature of certain employments, or other causes, call 
 for immediate treatment, in nearly all cases involving 
 complete change, and the temporary abandonment of all 
 business occupations.
 
 172 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 Many circumstances, no doubt, combine to bring 
 about disregard of the physician's timely warning. The 
 enfeebled mind is prone to greatly magnify the difficul- 
 ties which the absence from business involves, and the 
 weakened bodily powers shrink from the idea of foreign 
 travel. The question of expense is very frequently of 
 paramount importance, and little more than a general 
 knowledge of more distant lands may be possessed by 
 the sufferer. He hesitates, therefore, to bow to the 
 inevitable, and seeks in vain to put off the evil day until 
 it is forced upon him; and those who have travelled 
 much to southern seas must have seen many instances 
 of what I write, cases in which it does not require 
 the trained eye of the medical man to prompt the fatal 
 but too common verdict "This should have been long 
 ago ; it is too late now." And what, some months ago, 
 was a man, weakened in good sooth, but strong enough 
 to get about, and with health renewed by the voyage, able 
 to enjoy and benefit by the change, even soon fitted, 
 perhaps, for light employment if need be, is now a help- 
 less invalid, compelled to lie, for the most part, in the 
 vitiated air of a close cabin, so wretched that he even 
 loses that marvellous hope which buoys up the doomed 
 consumptive, so strongly, that medical science has distin- 
 guished it by a special name, and fit only for careful 
 nursing, if he reaches his distination alive. This is, 
 perhaps, a gloomy, but it is no imaginary picture, and it 
 is my humble and sincere hope that I may contribute my 
 mite of information to a useful end. 
 
 Of the several routes to Australia, I deal in other 
 chapters, and I have only to add, or rather emphasize,
 
 THREE CLIMA TES IN ONE LAND. 1 73 
 
 as far as I can, what I am certain must often have been 
 advised, viz. : That a speedy renewal, in great measure, of 
 health and strength, should not be regarded, as it not 
 unfrequently is, as a complete cure ; it is too often, in fact, 
 the case, that " home sickness," or other causes, prompts 
 a too early and wholly inadvisable return. 
 
 Now, first, when we speak of the climate of New 
 South Wales, we are slightly in error ; we should rather 
 say climates, for the Colony possesses three distinct 
 districts or regions, in each of which the atmospheric 
 conditions are widely different. They are as follows : 
 
 (a.) THE LITTORAL, or low-lying land between the sea 
 and the dividing range. 
 
 (b.) THE DIVIDING RANGE, which runs from north to 
 south of the Colony, and is a table land, in some parts 
 thickly wooded or covered with scrub, and broken up by 
 wild deep gullies. Opposite Sydney, and commencing 
 about 40 miles to the westward of the city, it has a breadth 
 of some 200 miles, 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea. 
 
 (f.) THE PLAINS, which lie to the westward of the 
 dividing range, at an elevation of say 100 to 300 feet 
 above the sea level. 
 
 The characteristics of the foregoing regions, as regards 
 climate, may be briefly described as : 
 
 1. That of the littoral Hot in the summer, humid, liable 
 to occasional sudden changes, and considerable rainfall. 
 
 2. That of the table land Hot during the day time 
 in the summer months, but cool in the evening and early 
 mornings; sudden changes of temperature occur in a 
 very short space of time, and at certain points there is a 
 heavy rainfall.
 
 174 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA f 
 
 3. That of the plains Very hot in the summer, but 
 very dry, and the rainfall is less than in the littoral or 
 tableland districts. 
 
 As the number of rainy days is a matter of some im- 
 portance to those who may have a choice of residence, 
 I have taken the following cities and townships in the 
 southern half of the Colony (South, that is of the thirty- 
 second parallel of latitude, as I think it includes the 
 "pick" of localities suitable for enjoyable residence), 
 viz. : four in each region, at points covering the entire 
 extent of each, and the following details are taken from 
 the official reports of the meteorological department. I 
 should premise that rainy days are understood to mean 
 those on which any rain falls ; it by no means follows that 
 they signify many hours of that dull, dispiriting, drizzle, 
 so frequent in England : 
 
 THE LITTORAL. 
 Newcastle to Eden, about 300 miles, N.N.E. to S.S.W. 
 
 Number of Mean 
 
 rainy days, annual 
 
 City or Height above July i, 1889, *Mean number rainfall 
 
 Township. sea. to June 30, 1890 of rainy days in inches. 
 
 Newcastle - - 176 - 113 - 4698 
 
 Sydney - - 215 157 - 49-23 
 
 Kiama - - 181 - 141 - 47'86 
 
 Eden - - - 164 - 118 - 35'or 
 THE TABLE LAND. 
 
 Mount Victoria to Cooma, about 200 miles, N.N.E. to S.S.W. 
 
 Mount Victoria - 3422 - 155 - 95 - 35-36 
 
 Moss Vale- - 2205 - 181 - 115 - 39-22 
 
 tGoulburn - 2071 - 104 - 84 - 26-13 
 
 Cooma - - 2659 - 96 - 89 - 19-04 
 
 * The mean number of rainy days is from observations taken over 
 an average of 17 years to each station. 
 
 f For II months only in 1889-90.
 
 AN ANTIPODEAN SIROCCO. 175 
 
 THE PLAINS. 
 Junee to Wentworth, about 300 miles, due west. 
 
 Junee - - 985 - 71 - 51 21*96 
 
 Hay- - - 305 - 68 70 - 25-11 
 
 Balranald - - 51 - 36-12-44 
 
 t Wentworth - 62 75 - "'99 
 
 The foregoing will shew that, in some places, the 
 rainfall was exceedingly heavy during 1889-90, that is, 
 much above the average : in Sydney especially, if I 
 remember rightly, for the first eight months of 1889, it 
 was not less than seventy inches. 
 
 I have said that the littoral and tableland are liable 
 to sudden changes of temperature, I will describe them. 
 They are, of course, the results of the not unfrequent sharp 
 conflicts between the hot summer blasts from the interior, 
 and the winds that sweep up, cold and refreshing, from 
 the Antarctic Ocean. 
 
 It is a November or December morning, and a hot 
 wind is blowing. A breeze is generally cooling, but this 
 is the reverse. It is like catching a whiff from a furnace, 
 and you avoid it as much as possible. The thermometer 
 even now, at ten o'clock, is high enough ; in three or four 
 hours it will be, perhaps, 96 or 100 in the shade. A 
 dust storm may also come to vary the dreadful monotony. 
 But towards three or four of the afternoon, as you pass 
 the verandah of the General Post Office, you notice a 
 crowd around the board, which gives the weather reports, 
 with the so frequently desired " raining " written in 
 red ink. You see that it is raining down the South 
 Coast. A southerly "buster" is rapidly travelling up. 
 It will rain in Sydney, very shortly, and the thermometer
 
 176 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 will drop in three or four hours, perhaps some 30, still 
 65 or 70 is not too cold. 
 
 On the dividing range there are like changes. And I 
 have in, the same hour, experienced great heat, and been 
 wetted through, by a perfect imitation of a chill and 
 dense Scotch mist. Still, this can be fairly well foreseen, 
 and those who have to guard against the consequences, 
 should take the advice of the weather-wise, and make 
 provision accordingly. 
 
 Next comes the important point of temperature, and I 
 might first draw the attention of those who have not 
 travelled beyond the limit of temperate climes to the 
 vast difference between a dry and moist heat. Thus 95 
 in the shade (Fahrenheit as throughout this chapter), in 
 the plains of New South Wales, would be quite bearable ; 
 in fact, if you had not too hard work to do, not unpleasant. 
 You could, and thousands of people do, work and ride 
 about all day in it with perfect impunity, by observing 
 temperance in food and drink, and, if practicable, avoid- 
 ing being over fatigued. In the more humid, and pro- 
 portionately less exhilarating atmosphere of Sydney, or the 
 Illawarra district, it would be trying : while in Singapore or 
 Calcutta, it would be little better than bearable. It must 
 always be remembered that persons new to a hot climate 
 suffer somewhat from the richness of their blood, but 
 their greater strength enables them to bear what the thin- 
 blooded, but more languid resident, is apt to feel more 
 severely, hence, new arrivals generally bear their first 
 Sydney summer better than those more acclimatized. 
 
 As to the recorded degrees of temperature, they are 
 given each day in the daily journals, from a very large
 
 HIGH TEMPERA TURES. 177 
 
 number of stations, but in some cases, I think, the shade 
 temperature is open to question. In Sydney, according 
 to the official returns taken at the observatory, 146 feet 
 above the sea level, the following will shew the mean 
 and extremes of shade temperature, from October, 1889 , 
 to September, 1890 : 
 
 TEMPERATURE IN SHADE. 
 
 Extremes. 
 
 Month. Mean. Maximum. Minimum. 
 
 October, 1889 - - 63-4 88 'o 48-8 
 
 November ,, - - 67*2 82*3 56 '2 
 
 December ,, - - 72*2 99-5 61-3 
 
 January, 1890 - - 7 1 '6 86 'o 61-5 
 
 February ,, - - 7 1' 2 84-8 63-4 
 
 March - 69-5 77 "6 57-6 
 
 April - - 637 75 '6 49 8 
 
 May ,, - - 59-0 68'i 49.4 
 
 June - - S7'2 692 4J- 4 
 
 July - - Si-i 63-5 35-9 
 
 August ,, - - 54'2 75.6 42-6 
 
 September ,, - - 59*6 74-6 43 6 
 
 The average, or mean shade temperature in Sydney for 32 
 years is 63 
 
 In the plains, or " back blocks," a shade temperature of 
 1 00 is very common, and a good many degrees over the 
 " century " are frequently recorded, but in many cases 
 they are, as I have said, open to question, that is, as 
 representing a bond-fide shade temperature. Generally, 
 when high temperatures are introduced as a topic of con- 
 versation in Australia, they are like snakes, bears, and 
 tigers in the respective countries where such laudable 
 institutions flourish, apt to develop any latent ability 
 for fiction a man may possess. The palm for heat and 
 
 M
 
 178 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 " mugginess " combined, as far as Australia is concerned, 
 is usually awarded to Rockhampton, in Queensland, which 
 is poetically described as the abode of " sin, sweat, and 
 sorrow." 
 
 Sydney, during the summer months, as will be seen 
 from the figures given, is decidedly hot and somewhat 
 trying ; but eight months of the year March to October 
 inclusive are delightful, and the peculiarly exhilarating 
 air, and bright, beautiful mornings, really make life worth 
 living there, and seeing that the Colony possesses so wide 
 a range of climate, surely the seeker after health can 
 always find somewhere well-suited to him ? 
 
 No doubt Sydney will be the first sojourning place, 
 temporarily, at all events, of the new arrival in search of 
 recuperation, who, I trust, will have received material 
 benefit from the voyage, and not be led to mortgage his 
 newly-acquired stock of health by trusting too much 
 thereto, or imagine that he has worked a speedy and 
 certain cure, as before mentioned, and meditate an 
 immediate return. His wisest plan, and, no doubt, the 
 one he will follow, will be to take counsel with a local 
 medical man, to ascertain what] progress and improve- 
 ment has taken place. 
 
 As he very probably will have left England at a time 
 which enabled him to escape the cold of the latter part 
 ol the autumn and early winter, he will reach Sydney 
 about the hottest time of the year, and may naturally 
 feel somewhat disgusted with the climate. At such a 
 season it is very improbable that he will be ordered either 
 to the coast or the plains. The mountains will be cool 
 at night and bracing, therefore let him lose as little time
 
 THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 179 
 
 as possible in leaving Sydney, unless, of course, he is 
 advised to remain there. 
 
 Seventy miles or so on the Western Line will take him 
 to the most fashionable resorts of Springwood, 1,216 feet ;* 
 Lawson, 2,399 feet; Katoomba, 3,349 feet; Blackheath, 
 3,494 feet, or Wentworth, 2,856 feet; amongst fine 
 scenery, and with plenty of amusements in the way of 
 excursions, riding or driving, lawn tennis, picnics, &c. 
 There is plenty of good accommodation in boarding- 
 houses at from 3o/- to 2 2/- weekly, and excellent 
 hotels, in which, for the most part, a daily charge of 7/- 
 or 8/- is made, and special terms can be made for a 
 lengthy stay. Or, if the visitor is disposed to try the 
 Southern Line, he can make for Bowral or Moss Vale, 
 80 and 86 miles from Sydney, and 2,000 feet above the 
 sea. Thence he can visit such peaceful little townships 
 as Berrima, which has a smack of the Old World about 
 it, Sutton Forrest and Robertson, the latter situated in 
 a very beautiful country, not far from the edge of the 
 dividing range, which falls abruptly into ,the beautiful 
 Illawarra district, f This neighbourhood, though by no 
 means unfashionable, as the present summer residence of 
 the Governor overlooks Sutton Forrest, is quieter than 
 the summer resorts on the Western Line, and much 
 better for the man who wishes to practice economy. The 
 standard tariff at the "bush" inns is i/- for a bed, i/- 
 for each meal, all drinks being 6d. each. In more pre- 
 tentious hotels, they charge 8/- per day, but nearly always 
 have a second table at the i/- tariff. Travelling on horse- 
 
 * Above sea level. 
 
 t See Chapter on "Australian Scenery."
 
 180 
 
 SHALL 1 TRY AUSTRALIA* 
 
 back means a serious item, the charge being 1/6 for a 
 feed of corn, and i/- or 1/6 for stabling per night. It 
 would doubtless be better to obtain board in a private 
 house, of which there are frequent advertisements in the 
 local papers, and I should imagine that it could be had 
 at, say 25/- or less. Still, it would not be expensive 
 work to look about, leaving Sydney as soon as possible 
 for some such centre as indicated, and suit one's taste 
 and pocket. There will be plenty of riding to be had, 
 shooting of a kind, while fishing is almost at a discount. 
 The bush people are very kindly, and are always very 
 glad of a " pitch," as a talk is called, with a stranger, and 
 elsewhere I have taken the opportunity of bearing very 
 cheerful testimony to kindnesses I have experienced in 
 the Australian bush. The life may be a bit monotonous 
 at first ; but some occupation will soon suggest itself, and 
 a temperate, open-air life will be fraught with best results 
 to health and pocket. As a rule, there is generally a 
 " leetle " too much of billiards, and late hours, even at 
 health resorts, to make hotel life desirable for the invalid. 
 Finally, a few quiet months can be thus spent enjoyably, 
 and at very small expense compared with what a similar 
 stay would cost in the South of France, Canary Islands, 
 or Algeria, or, indeed, any Continental health resorts, 
 with which I am acquainted ; and, at the same time, 
 amongst one's own race. One small matter more ; I 
 would advise no one to be " bluffed " from going into the 
 bush, by Sydney stay-at-homes. 
 
 Should Sydney be reached in July and August, the 
 westerly winds may feel somewhat too fresh and cool. If 
 the coast be recommended, Manly Beach, 6 miles from
 
 THE COAST AND THE PLAINS. 181 
 
 Sydney, is very mild, and so is Watson's Bay, a pretty 
 little spot. Gosford, 50 miles north from Sydney, and 
 two hours by rail, on one of the backwaters of Broken 
 Bay, is beautifully situated, and boating can be enjoyed ; 
 while southwards, at Clifton, Bulli, Wollongong, and 
 down to Shoalhaven, there is beautiful scenery, and some 
 sea fishing might be had as an amusement ; all are easy 
 of access by the South Coast Line. 
 
 Lastly, if the plains are recommended, the Riverina 
 district would, perhaps, be best, and it would be as well to 
 make at once for Hay, an important township 494 miles 
 from Sydney, and the centre of the district. It would be 
 very pleasant to get on a " station " for a while, and this 
 might be done by advertisement or personal application. 
 An introduction to an influential bank, or wool shipping 
 firm, would be useful. 
 
 Wishing the wanderer all possible good luck, where- 
 ever he may feel inclined to settle for the time being, I 
 would remind those that travel from Sydney, north, south, 
 or west, that, leaving in the evening, they pass the night 
 2,000 feet, and upwards, above the sea, and if a sleeping 
 berth is not obtainable, plenty of wraps should be taken, 
 or a severe, and, perhaps, dangerous chill, might be the 
 consequence. Another thing that the invalid must always 
 remember is, that even townships are sometimes, if 
 unimportant, miles from a doctor, and in considering 
 a place of residence, it is as well to bear this in mind. 
 
 I have included clothing in this chapter, because it is 
 a matter that depends so much upon climate, though 
 some might say fashion swayed it more ; but it is a 
 great question, when anyone is desirous of providing for
 
 182 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 residence for a while, at least, in a new and distant 
 country. Briefly, having taken some trouble to get a good 
 idea upon the subject, I think that clothes made in Sydney 
 are about 15 or 20 per cent, dearer all round, than in 
 England, and, perhaps, on the whole, not quite so well 
 cut. Good ready-made clothing is as cheap as in London, 
 or any of the large provincial cities in Great Britain ; so 
 also are shirts, underwear, hosiery, &c., as well as boots 
 and shoes. As to the texture of garments, if the visitor 
 intends remaining in Sydney, something very light, and 
 not calculated to show the dust, is necessary for the 
 summer months, while such a material as blue serge, or 
 medium tweeds, is suitable for the cooler weather. Black 
 or dark clothing is worn by business men, but not to the 
 extent that is fashionable in London altogether, a 
 fair amount of latitude is allowed in matters of dress. 
 During the winter months in Sydney, those who are not 
 robust will do well to be provided with a light, but well- 
 lined " covert," or other form of overcoat, for use 
 about sundown especially. For the bush, or, indeed, out 
 of Sydney, no elaborate toilet is needful, though neatness 
 need never be lost sight of. For the mountains, fairly 
 warm clothing is always useful homespuns and woollen 
 shirts, and the Norfolk jacket is a very good pattern, as 
 it allows of a waistcoat being dispensed with. Good riding 
 trousers, in preference to breeches, may be taken with 
 advantage, leggings (New South Wales cavalry pattern), 
 being generally worn in preference to riding boots. 
 Cricketing shirts of well-shrunk flannel are indispensable, 
 and so is a good mackintosh with cape. If one has a 
 saddle, he may take it with him, as also a twelve bore
 
 LADIES' DRESS. 
 
 183 
 
 breech-loading double, and a light rifle. As to clothing 
 
 for the voyage, I have referred to it elsewhere. 
 
 With respect to assortment, cost, &c., of the, to me, 
 
 Eleusinian mysteries of dress stuffs, mantles, bonnets, 
 
 &c. 
 
 With other articles of ladies fair, 
 
 To keep them beautiful, or leave them neat, 
 
 I regret I have to plead ignorance and inexperience, but, 
 I think, none need be apprehensive of any but the 
 slightest difference, if any, between the choice and prices 
 in Sydney, and even the leading English shops. Riding, 
 in the city, is not a favourite pastime with ladies if it is 
 to be pursued, a tailor-made habit might be ordered " at 
 home ; " of course, in the " bush," riding is frequently a 
 necessity, if not altogether so, with both sexes.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE STEERAGE; HOW TO MAKE IT COM- 
 FORTABLE THE SEVERAL CLASSES 
 COMPARED SPECIAL INFORMATION 
 FOR STEERAGE PASSENGERS BY SUEZ 
 AND CAPE ROUTES. 
 
 Cheap excursions, and the facilities offered now-a-days 
 to dwellers inland, for seeing the wonders of our great 
 sea-ports, have rendered very many, more or less familiar 
 with the internal economy, and equipment generally, of 
 ocean-going steamers, than was the case some twenty 
 years ago. Nevertheless, looking over a vessel in dock, 
 or lying snugly at anchor, gives one a very different idea 
 to the picture she presents, say in tolerably bad weather 
 at sea, and more or less crowded with passengers. So at 
 the risk of being accused of making too much of the sea 
 voyage, I devote a chapter from personal experience 
 thereof, to the passage in the third class or steerage : 
 describing what it is like, and what is wanted to make it 
 as comfortable as circumstances will permit, the more so 
 as those that travel by it, as a rule, have most need of 
 advice. It must be borne in mind, that compared with 
 Atlantic trips now-a-days, the steamer voyage to Australia,
 
 THE STEERAGE. 
 
 185 
 
 is a matter of weeks, instead of the few days required to 
 reach the land of the Bird of Freedom ; hence the choice 
 of the class by which to travel is well-worth serious con- 
 sideration. 
 
 In bad weather there is, indeed, little comfort in the 
 steerage, that is, when the deck is not available; but 
 when fine, the deck will be pleasant, and most certainly, 
 even if you do have all sorts and conditions in the steer- 
 age, you can not only be much amused, but also learn 
 much in so mixed a company. Here, again, I advise all 
 to keep on deck as much as possible, and, if it is not 
 contrary to regulations, to eat their meals, or a portion 
 thereof, there also. Fine weather means everything to 
 the steerage passenger, and if it continues, it is a jolly, 
 gipsy, sort of life ; while for a young fellow who is going to 
 make his way in Australia, it is a good, useful, beginning. 
 But in the case of gently nurtured women, and young 
 girls especially, it must be remembered, and, at the same 
 time, regretted, that they cannot shut their ears to 
 much occasional "language," and they are compelled, 
 at times, to hear much that is deplorable, especially if 
 anything like a " ruction " takes place below. 
 
 Now, what I have principally to say about the steerage, 
 compared with the other classes, is, that the comfort and 
 accommodation provided is not proportionate to that 
 afforded in the first and second saloons. Travelling by rail 
 in England such companies as the London and North- 
 Western or Great Western Kailways, offer three classes, 
 the cost of the first is about double that of the third ; the 
 second is a half-way house, as it were, in point of expense. 
 The accommodation throughout, on long-distance trains
 
 186 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 especially, is perhaps without fault. A third-class 
 carriage is by no means immeasurably below the first 
 class as regards comfort and general appointments, the 
 reverse, in fact. 
 
 But take the steamship fares to Australia. The second 
 saloon is about half the cost of a first class passage, the 
 steerage is from one-half to one-third less than the second 
 saloon, the cost of the passage is, therefore, proportionate, 
 but the accommodation is not. The difference between 
 the third, and the first and second-classes, is very great. 
 I do not complain about it, or suggest a change, but I 
 want it to be understood that such is the case. 
 
 Between the first and second-class saloons, the differ- 
 ence is only in small matters and minor details com- 
 paratively. Every reasonable comfort, not to say luxury, 
 is afforded. I take, as an example, the accommodation 
 offered to second-class passengers by the Peninsular and 
 Oriental Company on what are termed their Jubilee boats, 
 and contend that the most fastidious person cannot, with 
 any show of reason, find fault with the sleeping quarters, 
 food, service, and appointments generally, placed at their 
 service. I certainly think it is quite as good as some of 
 their chief saloon accommodation not very many years 
 ago.* At the same time, it is only common fairness to state 
 that we, no doubt, owe this high standard of excellence, 
 to such competition, as the Orient Line has principally 
 been the cause of bringing about; while their steamers 
 are more uniform in their magnificence, and in the 
 equally high-class accommodation they afford, than are 
 
 * I am in no way subsidized by the " P & O," or any other 
 company.
 
 THE TIME FOR A START. 
 
 187 
 
 those, which their powerful rival employs in the Australian 
 trade. 
 
 The second class passenger has : 
 
 1. The best cabin accommodation in point of furniture, 
 bedding, washing utensils, and good bath-rooms. 
 
 2. A luxuriously furnished, well-lighted, comfortable 
 saloon. Should the weather be wet and uncomfortable, it 
 is hardly any drawback. 
 
 3. A smoking-room for those who wish to use it, and 
 in some cases, a special sitting-room for ladies. 
 
 4. Excellent and abundant meals, well served, and 
 sometimes, punkahs (a great luxury), for hot weather. 
 
 Does the steerage passenger get half of the above for 
 his money ? No. Therefore if you can afford the 
 difference between third and second class, you will 
 receive ample value for your money. 
 
 Now, as to the season for leaving England by steamer, 
 whether by the Cape or Suez Canal, try to leave between 
 September and March, but, if you must leave during the 
 early summer, the Suez Canal route, if you think you can 
 stand the heat well, may suit you best ; going from the 
 Cape to Australia, in May, June and July, is cold, 
 miserable work, the nights being very long, as it is then 
 mid-winter in the Southern hemisphere. You enter the Red 
 Sea fifteen or sixteen days after leaving England, and, if 
 possible, but, especially, if you are of what is termed "full 
 habit" of body, avoid getting there during the months of 
 August and September. A good deal of unnecessary fuss is 
 made sometimes about Red Sea heat, but it is always worth 
 consideration, and a little abstinence in food and drink, for 
 a few days prior to entering it, that is, at the hottest season
 
 188 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA f 
 
 of the year, will do you no harm. The passage of the Red 
 Sea occupies about four days, and your hot weather by the 
 Suez route will last you until you arrive within three or 
 four days of first sighting Australia, in all, including 
 stoppages, about three weeks of much hotter, and more 
 trying weather, than you have ever been used to, if born 
 and bred in the British Isles. If afraid of, or liable to sea- 
 sickness, the Suez route is the better, if the heat is not an 
 objection. But, anyone wishing to avoid the heat, and 
 not fearing sea-sickness, would be better suited by the 
 Cape route. These remarks, as well as the season I 
 have indicated for leaving, apply principally in the case 
 of anyone that is delicate, and it would be well to obtain 
 medical advice, as to whether protracted heat should be 
 avoided or not. 
 
 As to steamers via Suez, there is no need for me to 
 give an elaborate list of them and their fares, as they are 
 so constantly advertised. The Peninsular and Oriental 
 take first and second-class passengers only. Then comes 
 the Orient Line, taking all classes. The Norddeutscher 
 Lloyd, or North German-Lloyd, I have also had the ex- 
 perience of, and can speak very highly of them ; the food 
 is exceedingly good, the third-class, generally, is very 
 well looked after, and the fares are low. There is also 
 the Deutsches Australisches Line, while there are other 
 steamers. Few will care, I think, to go steerage by sailing 
 vessels ; I certainly do not recommend them, if they have 
 option of steamer. 
 
 For the Cape route, there are available the steamers of 
 the New Zealand Shipping Co. and the Shaw, Savill, 
 and Albion Line, transhipping passengers at Hobart,
 
 CLOTHES FOR THE VOYAGE. 
 
 Tasmania ; the Milburn Line, and the Aberdeen White 
 Star Line, the Gulf Line, and, occasionally, others. 
 
 When enquiring about passage money, &c., be always 
 sure to ask if the amount includes bedding and mess 
 utensils, as, if it does not, you should add about i for 
 cost of same. It means, also, that you have to wash up 
 your breakfast or dinner service after each meal, which 
 is not a positive luxury. 
 
 As to clothes for the voyage, remember, if you go by 
 the Suez route, that, after the first few days, even if you 
 leave England in the winter, you will not require any 
 really warm clothing until you come within a few days of 
 Australia ; so both sexes urgently require a stock of very 
 light clothing, which, bear in mind, will always be useful 
 to you in Australia, so it is not as if you had to go to 
 any expense for the voyage only. I do not ask you to be 
 slovenly, quite the reverse, but people can always be neat ? 
 without display, or great expense. Blue serge is very 
 useful, so is dungaree, and of whatever light material 
 coats or dresses are made, for children especially, it 
 should be coloured. Steamers' decks soon soil and spoil 
 good clothes, so take none of your best for use on the 
 voyage. These remarks apply to the Suez route. If going 
 by way of the Cape, you will require more warm, and less 
 light clothing, though, while passing though the tropics, a 
 small stock of the latter will be most useful. 
 
 If you like to take a little medicine with you, aperient 
 and cooling mixtures are the best, and most wanted. 
 "Prickly heat" is a very common ailment during the 
 hot weather, especially with young children, sometimes 
 causing very unsightly eruptions. It disappears with the
 
 190 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA 
 
 hot weather. "Toilet vinegar" is said to be a useful 
 antidote. I am no authority on the subject of babies, 
 but I might respectfully suggest that, as a rule, they 
 might do with lighter costumes, being often wrapped up 
 in several layers of clothing, which with the thermometer 
 at ninety, cannot be agreeable to their feelings. 
 
 A basket-hamper, with a small stock of enamelled iron 
 pannikins and plates, a few knives, forks, and spoons, a 
 small stock of tea, sugar, condensed milk, and a few tins 
 of potted meats, is very useful, as a " snack " can thus 
 be often enjoyed by a person who cannot face the regular 
 meals. For a supply of hot water, it will be necessary to 
 make friends with the steerage cook or his mates. They 
 are, indeed, great men, but like many other great men 
 warriors, statesmen, and the like a ship's cook is not 
 always adamant as regards the witchery and allurements 
 of Beauty, neither is he, as a rule, averse to alcoholic 
 beverages in moderation. Furthermore, like all men not 
 wholly bad, he rarely turns a deaf ear to the pleadings of 
 a little child ; so, if you have neither, beauty, wealth, nor 
 children, charter a youngster for a return trip to the 
 galley. 
 
 Now, as to your boxes to contain your worldly goods. 
 The ship's agents will tell you how many cubic feet you 
 are allowed, and it is well to see that you have no excess, 
 the charge for which is sometimes high, and it comes 
 heavily upon anyone who may be under the impression 
 that his boxes are all right. If you do not know how cubic 
 feet are reckoned, I would explain, that a box 3 feet long, 
 2 feet broad, 2 feet deep, contains 12 cubic feet. Some- 
 times 15 feet are allowed; this could be made up as
 
 GRUMBLERS ON BOARD SHIP. 
 
 191 
 
 follows : i box 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, i foot 8 inches 
 deep equals 10 cubic feet; and i box 2 feet 6 inches 
 long, i foot 6 inches wide, i foot 4 inches deep equals 
 5 cubic feet. Small packages you can have at hand. 
 Your bigger box marked, "wanted on the voyage" 
 will, perhaps, have to go into the baggage-room, where 
 you can have access to it on a certain day each week. 
 All baggage marked "not wanted on the voyage" is 
 placed in the hold ; and it is well, if the expense is not 
 too great, to have boxes tin-lined inside, the lid of tin 
 being soldered down when packed. When measuring, 
 be careful to go outside of all cording, laths, or similar 
 projections. 
 
 There is, not unfrequently, a good deal of grumbling 
 on board ship about all manner of things, and especially 
 the food, however good it may be. Generally, it would 
 seem, that a certain personage bears out to the full, on 
 shipboard, the anxiety accorded to him by Dr. Watts, to 
 find employment for idle hands. If you think there is, 
 in anything brought up amongst the passengers, a suffi- 
 cient ground for complaint, join in by all means, and aid 
 in seeing it coherently reported in the proper quarter ; if 
 not, " sit upon " the grumblers all you can, as unreason- 
 able growling tends to make everything and everybody 
 uncomfortable, and officials, who are, in all probability, 
 doing their best, get disheartened, and you are worse off 
 than ever. 
 
 The doctor is not unfrequently the subject of complaints 
 amongst the third-class passengers, sometimes there is cause 
 for it. The otherwise aspiring soul of the young "medico," 
 on his first voyage, is not by any means " above buttons,"
 
 192 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 on the contrary, his "brass-bound suit " is usually much to 
 his liking, and he naturally prefers to air it, in harmless 
 flirtation on the first saloon deck, being but human, to 
 wasting its sweetness on the desert air of the steerage. 
 Here, of course, if you have cause for complaint, make it 
 to the captain. On the other hand, many people having 
 a real live doctor at call, and nothing to pay, are always 
 discovering endless ailments, and worry accordingly. 
 The most civil and attentive ship's doctor I ever met 
 with, was on a North German-Lloyd steamer. 
 
 If your cooks and stewards have done all they can to 
 make you comfortable, a round-robin, taking the form of 
 a small coin each, may find plenty of supporters, though 
 the collection thereof, amongst all classes, is a thankless 
 task, especially if you have many people on board, who 
 are possessed of those strictly Christian principles, which 
 do not encourage generosity, or recognition of services 
 rendered. 
 
 I describe the places called at, and other matters in 
 another chapter.* I have only to suggest to those that 
 travel by sea, that they might, with advantage, pack up in 
 their " not wanted " boxes, any such trifles as narrow- 
 mindedness, " strong views " upon certain subjects, and 
 uncharitableness generally; indeed, if they are accidentally 
 left behind, or lost altogether, it will be none the worse 
 for them. 
 
 Any sum of money taken on board should at once be 
 placed in charge of the purser. Do not take Bank of 
 England notes to Australia, because you will be charged 
 2% per cent, when cashing them. 
 
 * By steamship to Australia.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE COLONY THE MAR- 
 SUPIALS WILL THEY SOON BECOME 
 EXTINCT? BIRDS, REPTILES AND 
 
 INSECTS. 
 
 It is but a gossiping chapter I have to offer on the 
 above. I give no Latin names, and have copied nothing 
 out of technical works, to which I must refer my reader 
 who wishes for the fullest information on Australian 
 fauna. What I have to say about them might incite him 
 to do so, and, at the same time, create a laudable desire 
 to protect the marsupials of Australia from threatened 
 extinction. The North American bison, or buffalo, as he 
 is usually termed, once so plentiful, is now almost a thing of 
 the past, and not a few noble animals on the American 
 Continent, such as the elk and wapiti, are sharing a like 
 fate. The outcry in all these cases comes too late, the 
 mischief has been done. 
 
 The kangaroo proper comes at the head of the marsupial* 
 family, and its skin is now a valuable article of commerce, 
 the consequence is, that shooting them as a business is very 
 common in districts where it can be made to pay in any 
 way. The grey is the most common kangaroo ; then there 
 are the blue and red varieties, the latter being found 
 mostly, I believe, in the Riverina district. In height, a 
 big " old man " will measure six or seven feet, that is, 
 
 * Marsupial, I need hardly explain, signifies having a bag or 
 pouch for carrying the young. 
 
 N
 
 194 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 when sitting in tripod fashion on hind legs and tail When 
 grazing, they support the forepart of the body on their short 
 forelegs, and arching their great powerful tail, propel them- 
 selves along very materially by its aid ; the great, seemingly 
 disproportionate, hind legs being hardly used. When, how 
 ever, it is necessary to move in earnest, the hind legs only 
 are used, and the speed at which even a kangaroo rat can 
 move on two legs (an animal not much bigger than a hare) 
 must be seen to be believed. The central of the three 
 fore claws on each hind foot is much larger than the 
 other two, and is a most formidable weapon ; it will easily 
 disembowel a kangaroo dog,* or a rash and incautious 
 sportsman, and great care should be taken in approaching 
 an " old man " when at bay, or " bailed up,"t as the 
 common expression is. 
 
 Then come the lesser of the kangaroo tribe, the 
 wallaroos, paddy melons, wallabies, brush, swamp, and 
 rock, kangaroo rats, &c., many of which have good 
 marketable skins, though the price received for them is 
 not very remunerative. All have a price set upon their 
 ill-fated heads, of which I give details. 
 
 I do not deny that much has to be said upon the harm 
 that marsupials do towards thinning pasture. Food is 
 rarely too plentiful upon a sheep run, and it is a serious 
 matter to have large " mobs " of kangaroos in one's 
 neighbourhood. As to their decrease, it is estimated that 
 
 * A kangaroo dog, as far I can make out, should have a good 
 deal of the Scotch deerhound about it, though the greyhound is 
 frequently termed a kangaroo dog. 
 
 t " Bail up " is a common phrase for stopping a person for any 
 purpose. It would seem to be derived from fastening up a cow for 
 milking.
 
 THE NATIVE BEAR AND PLATYPUS. 
 
 195 
 
 in 1 88 1 there were more than six millions of kangaroos 
 proper in the Colony, and, as at the end of 1889, their 
 estimated number was not much over one million, five- 
 sixths have been destroyed in eight years. Their habits, 
 and size, render them more easy of destruction than the 
 wallaby, who is estimated to flourish as much as ever, as 
 his tribe total nearly as much as they did ten years ago ; 
 then, again, the value of the kangaroo skin is an incentive 
 to their being hunted more keenly. 
 
 The wombat is a burrowing animal, and a price is 
 also set upon his head. The native bear, or koala, is, I 
 think, in appearance, the " low comedian " of Australian 
 fauna. He is about two feet long, and with beady black 
 little eyes, and a peculiar black leathery nose, which is in 
 strong contrast to his grey fur ; he is a very comical little 
 fellow, his movements are painfully slow, and are charac- 
 terized by an equally painfully evident anxiety as to his 
 personal safety. I have mentioned his habit of giving 
 utterance to distressing screams, of which he will give 
 you a sample if you attempt to cut down the tree in 
 which he is taking refuge. The opossum, I need hardly 
 describe, has many enemies, owing to his valuable skin, 
 and stands greatly in need of protection. 
 
 Then comes, I suppose, as odd a creature as is to be 
 found, the platypus, as he is called " for short," known 
 to science as the platypus ornitholynchus. Most people 
 have seen a mole if they will imagine one rather more 
 than a foot long, of proportionate size, clothe him with 
 short, rich, brown fur, substitute webbed feet for the 
 powerful excavators of the mole, and provide him with a 
 ducks bill, coloured a neat black, they will have a perfect
 
 196 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 picture of the platypus. The echidna is also an odd- 
 looking creature, like a rudimentary porcupine with a 
 bill it is the ant-eater of Australia. The " flying fox," a 
 huge bat, eighteen inches or more across the wings from 
 tip to tip, is very plentiful in the Colony; forming large 
 "camps," and being nocturnal in their habits, they are very 
 destructive in orchards, choosing the finest and ripest fruit. 
 
 Native dogs, cats, hares, and rabbits are, I need hardly 
 say, imports, at one time or another ; the native dog or 
 dingo, creates terrible havoc amongst a mob of sheep. 
 He is a little less than the average collie, and the perfect 
 dingo is of a reddish, foxy, colour. The native cat grows 
 to a large size, and a visit of one to the fowl-house is a 
 melancholy business. I need not describe a hare, I 
 think, though the Australian hare is, perhaps, on the 
 whole, smaller, and less "gamey" in flavour than his 
 English relative. As to a rabbit, most English people 
 have seen one, a good many Australians probably wish 
 they never had. 
 
 The irrepressible rabbit, as is well known, almost 
 amounts to a curse in certain parts of New South Wales. 
 They have legislated for, and concerning him, but being 
 lost to all sense of decency, neither the Legislative 
 Council or Assembly have any terrorizing effect upon his 
 hardened nature. He has been flooded out, shot, 
 trapped, poisoned, fenced out and around, at enormous 
 expense, but in spite of all that is dene, he " comes up 
 smiling " like some undaunted feather weight, and, 
 regardless of his uncomfortable surroundings, continues to 
 obey the Divine injunction to increase and multiply, in a 
 manner which has long passed into a proverb. They
 
 A CENSUS OF WILD ANIMALS. 
 
 197 
 
 may effect the extermination of the rabbit, but I humbly 
 think that it is very improbable that any uniform scheme 
 will ever succeed, different districts will require different 
 treatment. Some people may be tempted to ask, very 
 pertinently, if nothing can be done on a profitable 
 basis, with an animal whose skin is valuable, and flesh 
 also excellent as an article of food. The chances are 
 that in most countries something would have been done. 
 I believe that an effort is being made to place some of 
 the hares upon the English market. 
 
 Before finishing with quadrupeds, I might add, that it 
 is estimated that there are over four thousand wild horses 
 or " brumbies " in the Colony, which are, I need hardly 
 say, exceedingly difficult to capture, and are shot, if 
 possible, as they entice domesticated horses to follow them. 
 The proscribed animals, and the prices given for their 
 scalps, which vary according to the district, are : Kan- 
 garoos, id. to i/-; wallaroos, 6d. ; wallabies, id. to i/-; 
 paddy melons, 2d. to i/-; kangaroo rats, 2d. to 6d. ; 
 wombats, 2/6; hares, 2d. to i/-; eagle hawks, 2/6 up- 
 wards ; native dogs, io/- to 8o/- ; wild pigs, i/- ; opossums, 
 id. to 2d. Certain men are appointed in all districts to ex- 
 amine scalps, and the funds are paid out of an assessment 
 fund, which is also subsidized by Government. In 1889, 
 over ^50, ooo was thus expended, and, I might add, that the 
 estimates given at the end of 1889 for the Colony were : 
 
 Kangaroos 1,036,717 
 
 Wallabies 3,064,961 
 
 Native dogs 25,333 
 
 Hares 2,744,810 
 
 Wild pigs 3,354 
 
 for which the Department of Agriculture is responsible.
 
 198 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 As to birds, the emu may, I think, be said to rank 
 first among the birds of New South Wales, and I trust 
 it will be long before it is extinct. Its dark-green eggs, 
 which admit of being beautifully carved, are familiar 
 objects in Australian shops. The eagle hawk is a magni- 
 ficent bird, but very destructive to lambs, and it is, there- 
 fore, destroyed as far as possible. Of other notable 
 birds, there is the great crane or "native companion," 
 the lyre-bird, with its beautiful tail, the black swan at the 
 head of a numerous family of wild fowl, and the "laugh- 
 ing jackass," often referred to in descriptions of the bush. 
 Its proper name is the great kingfisher; it is of sober 
 plumage, and distinguished by its hideous, mocking, laugh, 
 which can be heard at a considerable distance. It would 
 make the fortune of a pantomime " demon " if he could 
 successfully imitate it. When a few of these birds get 
 together at sunset, as they frequently do, to laugh, I 
 suppose, over the events of the day, the noise made is 
 something incredible. Then follow, the bronze-wing 
 pigeon, leatherhead, more-pork bird, gill bird (excellent 
 eating), bustard, scrub or brush turkey, and scores more, 
 down to certain brilliant little fellows like the smallest of 
 our English tits. All sorts of the parrot tribe also, which 
 are fond of fruits, the cockatoos being especially destruc- 
 tive to maize, and by a system of out-posts, defy the shot 
 gun. The laughing jackass, I might add, is an inveterate 
 enemy of snakes, and, as such, is protected all the year 
 round. Cormorants or shags are very plentiful, and a price 
 is set on their heads. Many birds and their eggs, such as 
 wild fowl, certain sea birds, bustard, brush turkey, lyre bird, 
 &c., are protected from ist September to 2 8th February.
 
 POISONOUS SNAKES. 
 
 199 
 
 The common quail is frequently met with, but its 
 Californian relative, though introduced, does not seem to 
 flourish. The pheasant has also been tried. I have been 
 unable to find out whether the partridge has also had a 
 fair trial. I should imagine they would do well, and failing 
 the English partridge, the red-legged variety might be 
 tried. All imported game birds are strictly protected 
 during their breeding season. 
 
 Magpies and crows are common features in an 
 Australian landscape. The former, though pied like the 
 English bird, is in size and shape like our jackdaw. It 
 has, in its wild state, a quaint and pleasing whistle, and 
 can be readily taught to whistle a tune in captivity, in 
 which it develops all the wicked ways and inborn devilry 
 which seem to be the especial birthright of the magpie. 
 
 Of fish I have dealt elsewhere, so we will go on to the 
 reptiles, of which there is a large and varied assortment, 
 and among the principal snakes are the black, death 
 adder, brown, tiger, diamond, and carpet snakes. The 
 first three are all very poisonous. Of lizards there 
 is also a large family, from the iguana downwards ; the 
 alligator abounds in Northern Queensland, but not in 
 New South Wales. 
 
 A good many people have an objection to snakes, 
 amounting, here and there, to what is termed a rooted 
 antipathy; personally, I cannot say that they are very 
 companionable, and one has to be careful, especially in the 
 hottest weather, when they are most active and venomous 
 alike. In common with many thousands, I have slept 
 " out " in all sorts of places, in snake infested countries 
 without injury, but then it is always well to examine
 
 200 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 blankets, boots, &c., before using them. I think that, as 
 a rule, reptiles, and such things as centipedes, scorpions, 
 &c., do not wander about at night, still, if they happen 
 to be out late, they are not particular where they sleep. 
 " Fossicking " for snakes is a pastime I do not recommend. 
 After being " prodded," they have a knack of turning up, 
 in the vilest of tempers, where least expected. I have 
 had more than one narrow escape at this pastime. 
 
 The death adder has a somewhat suggestive title, but I 
 have heard experts place the black snake first as regards 
 fatality of bite, and, when annoyed, it is terribly vicious; in 
 fact, any poisonous snake fully roused, and striking out 
 time after time, is an exceedingly interesting sight. In- 
 structions how to act in case of snake bite, are printed, 
 and circulated generally, throughout Australia, and they 
 are worth remembering, for a man struck by a poisonous 
 snake out in the bush is in a bad plight. I believe that 
 bites have been successfully treated, of late, by hypo- 
 dermic injection of nitrate of strychnine : whether this has 
 been tried in the case of the hitherto deadly and antidote- 
 defying Indian cobra, I do not know. 
 
 The iguana* is occasionally a formidable looking reptile, 
 measuring sometimes five feet or more in length, in shape 
 like an alligator. It is non-poisonous. It is at home in 
 the water, can shuffle along at a fairly quick rate on land, 
 and can climb a tree : so it is not devoid of useful accom- 
 plishments. It will eat young birds, small fish, and in 
 
 * Although generally termed the iguana, the great lizard of Aus- 
 tralia and the Cape differs from the iguana proper, of Central and 
 South America, and its proper name is, I believe, the monitor. In 
 the bush it is called a " gohanna."
 
 CENTIPEDES, AND THE CAMP FIRE. 
 
 201 
 
 rabbit-infested districts is, I believe, protected, as it enters 
 the burrows and makes a meal of the youthful rodent. 
 Its skin is handsomely marked, it is dainty eating, and 
 the fat is reckoned a great cure for stiff joints, &c. 
 Sometimes, if you come upon them suddenly, they will 
 " bail you up," hissing vigorously, and distending them- 
 selves in a somewhat startling manner. 
 
 Of frogs, in localities suited to batrachian requirements, 
 there is no lack, and a light sleeper would be much 
 troubled by their musical efforts. Some of the green 
 variety are of great beauty. 
 
 Then follow the insect tribes, of which I hardly think I 
 can be expected to do more than mention a few of the 
 most evident, as, perhaps, the entymology of Australia is 
 not very widely known, even to the most learned and 
 scientific. 
 
 I think the centipede is entitled to pride of place in 
 point of size. I believe they are found as long as twelve 
 inches ;* the largest I have ever seen measured was eight. 
 The style of insect is well-known, as we have it in a very 
 much milder form in this country. It varies in colour, 
 and its bite is much dreaded. It is very plentiful in 
 dead wood, and it is well to keep an eye upon a camp 
 fire in the evening, as the heat drives such gentry out of 
 the wood, and they are not averse to quartering them- 
 selves on the bystanders. I have seen a very lethargic 
 and silent gentleman suddenly endowed with an appalling 
 fluency of language and abnormal activity, simply through 
 
 * I, of course, refer to Australian centipedes. I have seen 
 specimens of the Brazilian centipede well in excess, I think, of 
 twelve inches in length.
 
 202 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA * 
 
 getting a large centipede up, what is termed " the leg " 
 of his trousers. Scorpions are to be found, and are very 
 vicious ; with their tales curved over their backs, armed 
 with a huge sting ready for instant action, they look 
 what they are, venom personified. 
 
 Tree and ground spiders, or tarantulas (which, in New 
 South Wales, are termed, very often, triantelopes), are very 
 abundant; and there is a black spider, with red spots, 
 which has a terrible reputation. I have noticed, on the 
 river side, a very peculiar specimen of the spider tribe, in 
 a small grey spider, which progressed as easily on the 
 surface of still water as on the ground. 
 
 Locusts and cicadas are very plentiful, the latter, 
 especially in the early summer, making a deafening noise. 
 Some of them are very large, handsome insects, of bright 
 green ; the larva, a fat whitish grub, is dug out of trees, 
 which an expert can soon detect, by certain traces, as 
 containing them. Sometimes as many as thirty, or more, 
 can be got out of a small tree. They have powerful nippers 
 by which they eat their way along, completely honey- 
 combing the tree trunk. They make a splendid bait for 
 fish, and are a dainty morsel to the black fellow. Of 
 handsome butterflies and beetles theie is no lack. There 
 is a hornet, but the wasp seems to be lacking. The bee 
 is somewhat smaller than the English specimen. 
 
 The Colony is rich in ants, and if the due considera- 
 tion of the ways of these indefatigable insects really confers 
 a moral benefit upon gentlemen of inactive habits of life, 
 and inculcates wisdom, there is, undoubtedly, ample 
 material for observation. First of all, in point of strength 
 and size, are the soldier and bull dog ants red and black
 
 PUGNACIOUS ANTS. 
 
 203 
 
 in colour respectively, and three-quarters of an inch 
 long. They are, I think, the most courageous of created 
 beings. If you come upon one, and threaten him with 
 your stick, he opens his nippers, and defies you, in the 
 clearest formic language possible, to " come on." They 
 are very tenacious of life, and seem, like the Scotchman's 
 dog, as if they " couldna get eneuch o' fechtin'," Their 
 sting is a thing to be remembered. I have never found 
 a nest of any size, but on any disturbance near their 
 quarters, they rush out like dogs upon a tramp. Clay 
 hillocks, and huge beds, are the works of other varieties ; 
 then there is a much smaller ant, and to have a number 
 crawling over you is like being burned by red hot embers. 
 Again there are the white ants, which eat through most 
 things, from telegraph poles to Government records, but 
 sheet iron is, fortunately, not as yet included in their 
 dietary scale. It is on account of this pest that galvanized 
 iron telegraph poles are used in Australia. 
 
 Black flies in the bush are a terrible pest ; sand flies, in 
 their haunts, and mosquitoes, are also troublesome. There 
 is a " special brand " of the latter, called " Scotch Greys," 
 which are very bad after rain ; they make a humming 
 noise, are larger than the ordinary mosquito, and would 
 madden a rhinoceros. Still, notwithstanding such trifling 
 drawbacks, sunny New South Wales is a glorious country.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 HOW TO ACQUIRE LAND THE LAND 
 LAWS OF THE COLONY WHAT TO 
 DO BUSINESS OPENINGS THE 
 SMALL CAPITALIST UNDEVELOPED 
 INDUSTRIES. 
 
 The intending emigrant will, no doubt be, before all, 
 generally desirous of knowing how he can be placed in 
 the way of obtaining land in the Colony, and this I will 
 give as briefly as possible, of course, recommending him 
 to get further local information in the proper quarters, 
 should he wish to become a land owner in New South 
 Wales. 
 
 First of all, the Colony is divided into three divisions, 
 a maximum area being fixed in each for purchase or lease 
 by one person, in view of the conditions under which 
 settlement may best prosper in each division. 
 
 These comprise : 
 
 1. THE EASTERN DIVISION, which is a belt including 
 the littoral, extending from north to south of the entire 
 Colony, and in breadth from 150 to 200 miles inland 
 from the coast. 
 
 2. THE CENTRAL DIVISION is next, of course, to the 
 eastern, and is a belt running north and south, or, more
 
 LEASING AND BUYING CROWN LANDS. 205 
 
 strictly speaking, S.S.W. and N.N.E., about 200 miles or 
 more in width. 
 
 3. The WESTERN DIVISION includes the rest of the 
 Colony. 
 
 In the above, CROWN LANDS open for selection, with 
 certain exceptions, of which more hereafter, may be taken 
 up on terms of conditional purchase, residential or non- 
 residential, and conditional lease in the first two divisions, 
 and upon certain terms of leasehold, known as homestead 
 leases, in the western division. 
 
 The area any one person can take up is as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 (a.) In the EASTERN DIVISION, a minimum of 40 acres, 
 and not more than 640, may be taken up on conditional 
 residential purchase, 320 being the maximum for non- 
 residential purchase, and, in addition to the first-named 
 maximum, adjoining land, if available, may be taken up 
 on what is termed conditional lease (see later) to the 
 extent of a further 640 acres. 
 
 (.) In the CENTRAL DIVISION the minimum is also 40 
 acres, but the maximum that can be conditionally pur- 
 chased and leased on residential terms is 2,560 acres. 
 In this, as in the eastern division, the maximum for non- 
 residential purchase is 320 acres. 
 
 (c.) Only specially proclaimed land in the WESTERN 
 DIVISION is open for conditional purchase,, the general 
 system being one of leasehold, or what is termed home- 
 stead leases. The minimum is 2,560 acres, the maximum 
 10,240 acres. A homestead lease may be chosen from 
 vacant land, or land held under annual or occupation 
 lease, with certain exceptions.
 
 206 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA f 
 
 The CONDITIONS under which the land is allotted for 
 conditional purchase are : 
 
 1. In the eastern and central divisions. Bono-fide 
 residence for the first five years ; fencing of a substantial 
 nature, of a description to be specified by the Land 
 Board, to be erected within two years, or a sufficient 
 reason given to the Board if this is not done. 
 
 2. Non-residential purchasers must fence within one 
 year of the acquirement of the land, and must effect 
 improvements upon it within five years to the value of ^i 
 per acre, exclusive of the fencing. 
 
 3. In the western division, the conditions for homestead 
 leases are, residence during six months continuously each 
 year for a period of five years, and fencing. 
 
 The method of APPLICATION and COST OF TAKING UP 
 LAND, are as follows : 
 
 Mark a corner of the land, and consult with the land 
 agent at the Land Office for the district in which your 
 proposed selection is situated, to see if it is open for 
 selection, and classed as ordinary lands. This is an 
 important point, as well as application in the right district, 
 Then lodge a formal application with the Land's agent, 
 paying 2/- per acre deposit, which application is, as soon 
 as possible, dealt with in open court, due notice having 
 been given to the selector and objectors, if any. 
 
 If all is in order, a certificate of confirmation is given, 
 and the land surveyed at the expense of the selector, at a 
 cost about from 4 for forty acres, to ;i8 for 2,560 
 acres. Three months after date of this confirmation, 
 residence must commence, and it is imperative to observe 
 this, and also the due payments of all instalments.
 
 THE COST OF LAND. 
 
 207 
 
 All persons of, and above the age of 16 years, may 
 apply for land on conditional residential purchase, but no 
 one under 21 years on non-residential terms. Simul- 
 taneous applications are dealt with by ballot, preference 
 being given to prior applications. No one who has made 
 an original residential purchase, can make another, unless 
 he holds a Land Board certificate stating that he has either 
 fulfilled the conditions of his purchase, or that, making 
 it in his own interests, he was compelled to vacate the 
 land. No one who has made a non-residential purchase 
 can make any other, residential or the reverse, except to 
 complete the area allowed him. Every conditional 
 purchase must be made solely in the interest of the 
 applicant. 
 
 For ordinary lands* in the eastern and central divisions, 
 the standing price, under ordinary residential conditional 
 purchase terms as described, is i per acre, 2/- of which, 
 as 1 have stated, must be paid as deposit on application, 
 the balance of i8/- is payable in instalments of i/- 
 annually, the first to be paid at the end of, or three months 
 after, the third year from the date of application for the 
 land, and so on yearly, with interest added at 4 per cent. 
 When the Land Board has certified that the conditions 
 of purchase have been fulfilled, viz., of residence of five 
 years, fencing, and payment of all due instalments, the 
 whole of the balance due may be paid up forthwith.! For 
 
 * Lands specially exempt from conditional purchase, are lands 
 reserved for town and suburban land, for village sites, for any 
 public use, land within population areas, or occupied under the 
 provisions of the Mining Act. 
 
 t Of course, at a great saving of interest.
 
 208 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 ordinary land, under non-residential terms, the cost is 
 double, viz., 4/- per acre deposit, and 2J- annual instal- 
 ments. Formal declarations of fulfillment of conditions 
 have to be made at stated periods. 
 
 Next to purchasing, comes, of course, leasing, and 
 CONDITIONAL LEASES, as already stated, are granted in 
 the eastern and central divisions to the residential pur- 
 chaser. These leases have a term of 15 years from date 
 of application, at a rent to be determined by the Land 
 Board or Land Court, to which appeal, in such matters, can 
 be made. Rent is payable yearly in advance, and, pend- 
 ing determination, an annual rent of 2d. per acre is pay- 
 able on application. The condition of fencing, or other 
 improvements in lieu thereof, attaching to purchase, 
 of land apply equally to conditional leasing. The lessee 
 may, at any time, convert it wholly, or in part, into an 
 additional conditional purchase. 
 
 For HOMESTEAD LEASES, in the western division only, 
 application must be made to the Crown land's agent for 
 the district, personally, and a deposit of a id. per acre paid. 
 If improvements on land taken up as homestead leases are 
 not Crown property, the would-be lessee and the owner 
 are given three months in which to come to terms over 
 them. If they fail to do this, the Land Board appraises the 
 value, and determines mode of payment. If they are 
 Crown property, the Land Board, in every instance, 
 determines the value. A homestead lease has a term 
 of 21 years from the date of application, this being 
 divided into three periods of seven years each, the rent 
 during each period being determined by appraisement by 
 the Land Board. If the land has been satisfactorily
 
 THE LAND LAWS. 209 
 
 improved by the lessee, a further seven years may be 
 granted. 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS, in lieu of fencing, on conditional 
 residential purchases, are to be on the scale of 6/- per 
 acre on an area of 1,280 acres, or ,384 on over 1,280 to 
 2,650 acres, during three years, and within five years io/- 
 per acre up to 1,280 acres, and ^640 over 1,280 to 2,560 
 acres. If the conditional purchase in non-residential, in five 
 years, improvement to the value of 3o/- per acre, must be 
 effected. Improvements (amongst which partial fencing is 
 included) in the case of conditional purchases, are under- 
 stood to mean anything placed upon the land of a per- 
 manent and substantial nature, necessary for the beneficial 
 occupation of the soil.* 
 
 Having now summarized from the Crown Lands Act 
 the basis upon which ordinary Crown land may be 
 bought or leased, I will give exceptions of tenure, and 
 cases in which certain land is specially dealt with. 
 
 SPECIAL AREAS are understood to apply to tracts of 
 land upon which a higher value than i per acre has 
 been placed by the Land Boards, and the price varies 
 of such lands the maximum which may be purchased is 
 320 acres in the eastern, and 640 in the central and 
 western divisions, the minimum in each case being 40 
 acres. 
 
 SPECIAL LEASES are for land wanted for such purposes 
 as erecting works, machinery, special treatment, or cul- 
 
 * A decent frame house would cost, I think, '60 to 80, but 
 locality makes alf the difference. A good bush carpenter can do 
 wonders, and a man is not judged in the bush by his house or 
 clothes. 
 O
 
 210 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 tivation, &c. Applications for such have to be made to 
 the Land Board. No lease must comprise more than 320 
 acres, or be granted for a term exceeding fifteen years 
 terms are named when the lease is approved of. 
 
 SCRUB LEASES are given upon special terms, when 
 land is infested with scrub, or noxious vegetable growth, 
 and it may be declared scrub land whether vacant or 
 under lease. The conditions of scrub leases mainly are, 
 that each holder shall clear, and keep clear, so much of 
 the land within a certain time. 
 
 RESIDENTIAL LEASES ON GOLD OR MINERAL FIELDS, 
 so proclaimed by Government, are granted with the con- 
 currence of the mines Department officials ; they do not 
 confer upon the holder any right to gold or minerals con- 
 tained in the land. He can only work for such, like others, 
 if possessed of authority to do so, which is obtainable 
 from the Department of Mines. 
 
 LEASES OF INFERIOR LANDS. In either of the three 
 divisions, inferior or isolated land may be leased upon 
 special terms, by application to the Under Secretary for 
 Lands. 
 
 ANNUAL LEASES. Crown Lands, which may not be 
 already occupied under the Lands Act, may be let on 
 annual lease on application, or by tender, as may be, in 
 blocks not exceeding 1,920 acres. There is no limit to 
 the land which one person may thus lease. The system 
 gives whatever no security of tenure, such land being 
 open to be taken up on conditional purchase, leasehold, 
 &c., at any time. 
 
 ARTESIAN WELL LEASES offer encouragement to the 
 owner of an annual or occupation lease in the western
 
 THE LAND LAWS. 
 
 211 
 
 division, to bore or search for water, the discovery of 
 which, in a satisfactory quantity, entitles him to a lease 
 carrying security of tenure, for such period as may be 
 approved of by the Governor, and at the same rent as that 
 charged for the existing lease. 
 
 PASTORAL LEASES AND OCCUPATION LICENSES apply 
 to a large section of land in the western and central 
 divisions. 
 
 Much Crown land, previous to the passing of the Land 
 Act, of 1884, was let to squatters on Pastoral Leases, as 
 they then were, which gave them no security of tenure. 
 The consequence was, there was always considerable 
 friction between them and free selectors, giving rise to a 
 good deal of " dummy " selecting, and a host of attempts 
 generally, to dodge the then existing land laws, upon the 
 part of the squatter and the selector alike. 
 
 The Act of 1884, however, divided the runs into two 
 halves the Leasehold Area and the Resumed Area the 
 former to be held on certain terms for ten and fifteen 
 years ; the latter to be open for selection as before the 
 tenure of the first to be known as a Pastoral Lease, that 
 of the second as an Occupation License. 
 
 In 1889 a further enactment was made law for the 
 benefit of the holder of a Pastoral Lease which leases 
 had now elapsed in the eastern division as it conferred 
 upon him, in the central division, the right, upon applica- 
 tion, of a renewal of his ten years lease for a further five 
 years, if sufficient improvements had been effected to 
 justify such a concession, with a separate appraisement for 
 rent every five years. While in the western division a 
 lease of 21 years was legalised, capable of renewal for
 
 212 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA 
 
 a further seven years, if, as in the central division, 
 sufficient improvement had been wrought on the land. 
 An appraisement for fixing the rent being made every 
 seven years by the Land Board, with right of appeal, 
 as in all such cases, to the Land Court. 
 
 Such being the laws with respect to tenure of land, 
 the following items may be of interest : 
 
 VOLUNTEER CERTIFICATES are occasionally referred to. 
 The explanation is that under the Volunteer Force Regu- 
 lation Act of 1867, which has since been repealed, cer- 
 tificates were issued to men who had been efficient for a 
 certain period, entitling them to a free grant of 50 acres 
 of land. These certificates are still good as regards any 
 land open for conditional purchase. 
 
 TRANSFERS In the case of conditional purchases, no 
 transfers can be made until the full term of residence 
 has expired (except in case of death, insolvency, &c.), but 
 additional conditional purchases may be transferred, pro- 
 viding that the original purchase is transferred with them, 
 the term of the latter having expired. A small registra- 
 tion fee is charged by the land's agent, and if the transfer 
 represents an absolute sale, stamp duty is charged. 
 
 SALES BY AUCTION OF CROWN LANDS Crown lands 
 are put up to sale at auction on two systems. The 
 ordinary, by which payment must be completed within 
 three months, and the deferred, by which payment by 
 instalments, with interest added, is spread over a term 
 not exceeding five years. Town lands cannot be sold in 
 blocks of more than half-an-acre, suburban lands in 
 more than 20 acre blocks, nor country land in blocks 
 exceeding 640 acres ; at the same time, not more than
 
 THE LAND LAWS. 
 
 213 
 
 200,000 acres may be thus sold in one and the same 
 year. 
 
 As to the SYSTEM of WORKING the Crown Land Act, 
 that of 1884 repealed all previously existing Acts, and 
 divided the Colony into the three divisions already 
 specified, and there are further subdivisions of land 
 districts, and land-board districts. Of the former there 
 were at the end of 1889, 91, and in each there is a 
 Crown Lands Agent, to whom applications for selections, 
 payment of instalments, &c., are made. He forwards all 
 needful matter to the Land Board, and these Boards 
 really conduct most of the administering of the land 
 laws. There are 14 of them, each having control over a 
 certain number of the before-named districts. An appeal 
 against any decision of the Land Board lies with the 
 Crown Lands Court. The headquarters of the Lands 
 Department, with the general staff, is, of course, in 
 Sydney. 
 
 Such, upon the whole, is all that refers to Crown lands, 
 which may interest or inform the reader. I have carefully 
 compiled the foregoing from the Crown Lands Act, and, 
 though slight errors may have crept in, I think there is 
 sufficient to afford a general idea how to set about 
 acquiring land, as well as shewing the law with regard to 
 Crown land generally, throughout the Colony. Of 
 course, there are large private holdings in New South 
 Wales, to which such Acts as I have quoted do not apply, 
 many of them originating with grants of land, such as the 
 notorious " Macarthur" grants, which were made in that 
 liberal style which usually characterizes the action of 
 those who give away what does not belong to them.
 
 214 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 Of the area of the Colony under crop there is about 
 one two-hundredth part only, or less, probably, than one 
 million out of one hundred and ninety odd million acres 
 comprised in the extent of New South Wales. So much 
 for agriculture. No doubt the would-be selector will 
 ponder over the above for a while. 
 
 I hardly suppose that any one intending to emigrate to 
 New South Wales, imagines that there is beautiful land 
 awaiting mere selection, without any trouble at all in 
 finding it. Such is not the case. He will also, at first, I 
 trust, form a definite idea as to what branch of pastoral, 
 agricultural, or general business he thinks of taking up, 
 assuring himself as to his fitness for the same, and his 
 means and ability generally, to give his choice a fair trial. 
 
 First of all, if he thinks of sheep farming, it will be 
 necessary for him to spend sometime as "jackeroo," 
 or, better still, as I have elsewhere suggested, gain 
 experience as a station hand, and at droving, &c., as well. 
 This he should nay, must do, I think, before he can gain 
 even an adequate idea, if he is fresh from England, upon 
 the subject of the capital required to make a fair start, 
 and make up his mind as to whether the life is suited to 
 him or not. Many more may think of raising or feeding 
 stock upon a smaller scale, farming, market gardening, 
 dairy-work, fruit-growing, pig and poultry raising, &c., in 
 any of which one may do well. But I cannot, of course, 
 pretend to tell a man how he is to make a fortune, or 
 even if he will be certain of a good living in any one 
 branch. If I can only put him in the right way of think- 
 ing about, and looking at, making a venture in the 
 Colonies, I shall do all I hope to effect.
 
 THE LAND " BOOM." 
 
 215 
 
 Australia is, I fear, just at present, feeling severely the 
 effect of the land boom of a few years back, and matters 
 may not be re-adjusted for, perhaps, a year or so. The land, 
 I should explain, over which so much speculation took 
 place, was principally city and suburban land, which 
 rose to absurd prices, and as so many people are centred 
 in the cities of Australia, the usual reaction of such 
 " booms " is much more severely felt than would be the 
 case if the bush was more thickly populated. 
 
 I will assume, however, that besides those who intend 
 to take up land and employ their capital in agricultural 
 or pastoral pursuits, there may be many who, having some 
 small capital, would like to know if there is nothing in 
 Sydney and its suburbs that they could acquire in the 
 way of a small business, which would render them a fair 
 return. To this I say, certainly, there are often numerous 
 little businesses to be picked up cheap. I have known 
 people with less than a ;ioo at their command do 
 exceedingly well. 
 
 In Sydney there are several agents for the sale of 
 businesses generally, who advertise liberally in the daily 
 papers. I would certainly recommend anyone who 
 is desirous of investing, to see what they have for 
 sale. They often have bargains to dispose of, and 
 generally, I thinkj the fairest possible treatment is ex- 
 perienced at their hands. People, of course, who embark 
 in an enterprise new to them must not be surprised if they 
 are not very successful ; but those who have any business 
 at their finger ends can do well upon the whole, or, at 
 least, make a living, with only a small capital. If the 
 applicant promises well, business agents will frequently
 
 216 
 
 SHALL I TRY A US TR A LI A f 
 
 advance money towards the purchasing and acquirement 
 of a business ; so, altogether, from some experience, I 
 think the small capitalist is likely to get along fairly well 
 if possessed of a knowledge of, and capacity for any business. 
 Thus also, the wife, if a couple without much encum- 
 brance, have a little money to invest, can contribute 
 to the increasing of the common stock, by taking up 
 some light business. 
 
 I can do little more than briefly enumerate the general 
 industries of the Colony. Wool, mutton, tallow, &c., 
 are the staple articles, certainly far ana away above all 
 others, and of these I have written, I trust, sufficiently to 
 give a general idea of them, and to stimulate full enquiry, 
 under the heading of "lave Stock Resources of the 
 Colony." 
 
 I must leave the intending emigrant to fight all for 
 himself the mighty question of Free Trade versus Protec- 
 tion, in deliberating whether it will pay him to try farming 
 in the Colony, or the cultivation of fruit, &c., not only 
 with a view to supplying local demand, but, perhaps, 
 with a hope of finding a foreign market Sugar, too, is a 
 commodity which will, no doubt, play a leading part in 
 his deliberations, especially if he will look at some 
 reliable figures on the amount that Great Britain draws 
 annually from the beet fields of the Continent of Europe, 
 leaving the cane fields of Greater Britain to take that 
 luck which is generally described by the prefix of " pot." 
 
 There are cane fields on the northern rivers of the 
 Colony, but whether the duty of five shillings per cwt. on 
 raw sugar imported into the Colony gives them full scope 
 and encouragement, I cannot say.
 
 TOBACCO AND WINES. 217 
 
 Tobacco has been cultivated in New South Wales 
 for twenty years, a large quantity being manufactured 
 in Sydney. The Colony stands rather high as regards 
 the consumption of tobacco, k being estimated that each 
 inhabitant annually uses more than 50 ounces. Lately, 
 however, I believe that tobacco has been cultivated to an 
 extent sufficient to meet local requirements, while there 
 is not at present any outlet for it in the shape of a foreign 
 market. 
 
 The Excise levy a duty of 1/3 per Ib. on Colonial 
 manufactured and cut tobaccos, and 2/6 per Ib. on cigars 
 and cigarettes turned out of Colonial factories. The 
 import duties on tobacco are 3/- per Ib. on manufactured, 
 and i/- per Ib. on unmanufactured. Cigars and cigarettes 
 pay 6/- per Ib. 
 
 Wine growing is one of the New South Wales industries 
 of which I cannot treat in a discursive manner ; but I 
 think that all that may be done in Australian wines, will, 
 for the most part, have to be done in a foreign market. 
 Careful attention may make the trade a very valuable 
 one, and if the wines were better known by the wine con- 
 suming public, they would be better appreciated. The 
 middle and lower classes of Great Britain do not incline 
 to cheap claret (in some cases not without reason), and I 
 think that middle-class Australia, of British stock, that is, 
 is still less likely to do so. As time goes on, more 
 especially, tea, I think, will gain ground, rather than lose 
 it, and he would be a bold man who would suggest 
 depriving the Australian of his great stand-by, a cup of 
 tea. 1 have remarked that cider or perry might be made 
 in many districts, and its use as a beverage might be as
 
 218 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 cheap, and perhaps better than so much tea. Colonial 
 beer is largely brewed, it must be remembered, mostly 
 from imported malt. The excise duty is 3d. per gallon. 
 
 I have drawn attention to the Illawarra district as being 
 the dairy of New South Wales, but I do not think a 
 fortune is readily made at the business, as dairy farms 
 are fairly plentiful on other than the South Coast line. 
 While travelling through the Illawarra district, small 
 farmers have grumbled to me about the very poor price 
 they get all-round for their butter from the much-abused 
 middleman. Our winter months are their opportunity, as 
 I am sure their summer surplus would find a market at that 
 season of the year in England, and it would be a boon to 
 a class that must work hard for a living. A good many 
 butter factories are established in the suitable districts, their 
 production, owing to its more even quality, fetching ahigher 
 price than farm produce. 
 
 The production of silk, or sericulture, as it is tech- 
 nically termed, has been brought before the Government 
 notice. The industry is one in which Italians would be 
 necessary to work it, and, I believe, it is being tried at a 
 settlement called New Italy in the Richmond River 
 district. Whether it is politic to encourage an industry for 
 the sole benefit of Italians, or any other alien community, 
 it is not for me to say.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 FORESTRY IN THE COLONY NATIVE WOODS 
 THE WATTLE-TREE AND ITS CULTIVA- 
 TIONIRRIGATION AND CONSERVATION 
 OF WATER MINING BROKEN HILL 
 "PROSPECTING," "REEFING," AND 
 ALLUVIAL WORK OTHER MINERAL 
 RESOURCES OF THE COLONY. 
 
 Reckless deforestation is, too frequently, a crying evil 
 in a new country. The effect it may have upon the face 
 of the earth and the properties of the soil are rarely con- 
 sidered ; while, apart from the waste and destruction of, 
 perhaps, useful timber, little or no heed is taken about the 
 replenishing of the denuded forests ; the destruction of 
 the magnificent Kauri pine in New Zealand is one 
 melancholy instance of this. 
 
 I have sketched the mournful aspect of the extensive 
 paddocks, with their ghostly crew of withered trunks of 
 ring-barked trees, if, here and there, a few had been spared, 
 a clump, for instance, to crown some rising knoll, putting 
 aside the mere question of appearances, it might have 
 afforded some sort of shelter for stock, and done some- 
 thing, perhaps, to mitigate the scorching blasts of the hot 
 winds.
 
 220 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA f 
 
 The planting, too, of certain districts, might work a 
 great and beneficial change, such, for example, as has 
 been wrought in the Landes district, in the south-west of 
 France ; but the subject is so vast, and requires so much 
 technical knowledge, that I hesitate almost to refer to it, 
 lest it be thought that I took upon myself a task to which 
 I am wholly unequal, and for which I am alike unqualified. 
 
 The exports of timber to Australia from Scandinavia, 
 and later, from British Columbia, have been of vast extent. 
 The enormous quantity of weatherboard houses and 
 buildings generally, offered a large market for this class of 
 timber, and even if Australian woods were as well suited 
 as those of the northern lands in question, those who ask 
 why rely upon imports so much ? must remember the 
 difficulty and expense of inland transit, handling generally, 
 sawing, &c., compared with the facilities offered for send- 
 ing logs down Norwegian torrents, or rafting them on 
 broad Canadian rivers. 
 
 The principal hardwoods found in Australia are the 
 blackbutt, iron bark, turpentine, messmate, woolly-butt, 
 blue, spotted, and gray gums, white box, peppermint or 
 red wood, stringy bark, and others, and to fully appreciate 
 the hard nature of some of the afore-mentioned, the 
 amateur should try his powers as an axeman upon them, 
 and by some experience in handling them, gain practical 
 knowledge of the immense weight of a few, at least, in 
 comparison with their bulk. The soft woods contain 
 amongst them the red cedar, silky, swamp, and forest 
 oak, &c. Many of the above, in addition to being used 
 in rough work, are beginning to be found of value for 
 ornamental and cabinet-work purposes.
 
 THE WATTLE TREE. 
 
 221 
 
 There are numerous regulations now in force with 
 respect to timber and State forests generally, and what is 
 far more to the point, the New South Wales Government 
 has secured the services of a gentleman who did most 
 excellent work in forestry matters in South Australia. 
 He has not long been placed in the position of Director 
 General of the Forests of the Colony, and judging from 
 the style in which he has commenced his work, I think it 
 argues well for this special department meeting with the 
 care and attention it deserves. 
 
 The cultivation of certain of what are termed the 
 wattle-trees,* may be briefly instanced to show what a 
 comparatively valuable industry lies in a quarter from 
 which little might be expected by the casual observer. 
 
 Certain varieties of the wattle-tree supply a bark which 
 is greatly used by tanners, and is known, " in the trade," 
 by the name of mimosa bark, of which it is important to 
 remark that the demand is, as far as I can learn, in excess 
 of the present supply. In South Australia, attention is 
 being paid to the proper cultivation of the suitable 
 varieties, and also, to some extent, it is practised in Victoria, 
 which latter Colony instituted a Royal Commission upon 
 the subject, upon which much that is useful might be 
 written, but, as I have said, I merely wish to briefly draw 
 attention to the industry. Several able lectures were 
 delivered in Sydney upon the subject of wattle cultiva- 
 tion, and, as is not unusual under such circumstances, 
 there was a little impetus given to the matter, and it 
 threatened, not exacly to be overdone, but to be taken up 
 with lack of judgment. 
 
 * Properly speaking, they are acacias.
 
 222 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA? 
 
 The bark can be stripped from trees in State forests 
 and timber reserves, by payment of an annual sum for a 
 license or permit, and a royalty. As to whether there is 
 any provision made for the planting of fresh trees, I am 
 not aware. Only trees of a certain girth are allowed to 
 be stripped. Proper cultivation of the wattle will, no 
 doubt, pay exceedingly well, if the locality chosen be suit- 
 able for providing fairly cheap transport to the market, or 
 port of shipment. If it ever happens that meat-killing 
 centres are established on New South Wales railways, 
 here is the bark for tanning, and it is not unreasonable to 
 predict a very considerable local demand, in addition to 
 foreign markets being always open. A peculiarity about the 
 seeds of the wattle is the extreme hardness of their outer 
 shell, so much so, that seeds may remain a considerable 
 time in the earth without germinating. Bush fires, through 
 heating the seed, greatly aid the sprouting, and in artificial 
 sowing it is necessary either to heat the seed by burning 
 brush, or else to soak it in hot water. The trees will live 
 in the poorest soil, and with an annual rainfall as low as 
 1 6 or 20 inches. They do not attain any great size, and 
 are five years, about, before they are fit for stripping. 
 
 If talk, in overflowing abundance, was alone required 
 to ensure the success of anything, irrigafion in New South 
 Wales would have been raised to the highest possible 
 pitch of perfection ; talk, however, though good in its way } 
 unfortunately is not sufficient, and though so much has 
 been said, the outcome from a practical point of view is 
 very disappointing. 
 
 The winter of 1889 was a disastrous one to a portion of 
 the Darling district, and Bourke, an important township
 
 FLOODS ON THE DARLING. 
 
 223 
 
 on the river, at the terminus of the Western Line, 503 
 miles from Sydney, was a great sufferer. The Darling 
 rose to a height of 40 feet above its summer level, the 
 district around Bourke, was flooded for a breadth of 40 
 miles, and the "record" flood of 1862 was, I believe, sur- 
 passed. 
 
 A very superficial look at the map of Australia will 
 show what a gigantic watershed the Darling possesses, and 
 how numerous and widely reaching, the feeders are that 
 add great volumes of water, in time of flood, before Bourke 
 is reached, from which point it flows another 400 miles 
 before, at Wentworth, it joins issues with the Murray. 
 
 Such rains as fall in Queensland and in the north of 
 New South Wales, soon change the rivers from their 
 summer aspect of a chain of water holes, to a resistless 
 torrent, and how wide the area is, and how far-reaching 
 the tributaries are, may be realized when it is said that 
 the people of Bourke knew of the coming of their enemy, 
 many days before it was upon them. 
 
 From 1862 to 1889, is nearing a generation in point of 
 time. Surely the reader feels inclined to say, some 
 provision must have been made in all that time to best 
 meet so probable a contingency. No. The "giant 
 strides which the Colony has made," to quote a favourite 
 phrase, had contributed little or nothing to the conserva- 
 tion of liquid treasures, to the means of converting an 
 enemy into a most useful friend. Bourke was much in 
 the same defenceless state probably as it ever was. Its 
 inhabitants set to work to dam the approaching flood 
 to obstruct it, that is with an amount of energy not 
 unusually displayed by people of all nationalities, whose
 
 224 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 property, if not actually their lives, is in imminent peril. 
 All was in vain, and Bourke, suffered as it probably will 
 in the next, and the next great flood. 
 
 The well-known "Irrigation Colonies," which owe 
 their origin to the Chaffey Brothers, being outside the 
 Colony, have no place in this history ; but, I believe, it 
 is intended to start an "Irrigation Colony" in New 
 South Wales on a similar basis ; by the time these lines 
 are in print it may have been done. Then, again, there 
 are, no doubt, immense subterranean stores of water, 
 which may have lost some of its valuable properties, but 
 that is a matter for scientific research. Irrigation leases* 
 have been instituted with a view to encouraging boring 
 for such hidden treasures. But, after all, it is easy to 
 find fault ; the thoughtful traveller must look below the 
 surface if he can. All things are not, by any means, 
 what they seem. Magnificent estates may mean mort- 
 gage; the finest property, financial trouble. It is the 
 custom in stereotyped descriptions of warehouses, fac- 
 tories, and centres of industries generally, to rhapsodize 
 concerning colossal wealth, and profit, " beyond the 
 dreams of avarice." How often is it the reverse ? The 
 poetic fervour which leads a writer to describe in glorious 
 paraphrase the ships of Great Britain, sailing over every 
 sea, might suffer considerably by his having a few shares 
 in some of them. 
 
 What has all this to do with irrigation ? Well, it simply 
 
 means that we must consider, and a very important 
 
 matter it is, too, in what position the squatters are in New 
 
 South Wales generally. Can they afford to spend money 
 
 * See chapter on " How to Acquire Land," &c.
 
 THE TREASURES OF BROKEN HILL. 225 
 
 on irrigation, or support important movements for 
 advancing their industries generally ? It is a question 
 that is art extremely difficult one to answer, and yet as 
 impossible to gainsay the reply. The ledgers of the many 
 banks are the best authorities, but they are not open to 
 public inspection. It certainly would be interesting to 
 know what proportion of owners of " runs " in New 
 South Wales are wholly free from the control of bank- 
 ing or similar institutions, and possess the means, and 
 readiness, to improve their business and their proper- 
 ties. Is it unjust to attribute an apparent lack of 
 progress to some such cause? Have the banks too 
 great a hold upon property for the general good of the 
 Colony ? 
 
 Mining is another matter upon which much might be 
 written, as in the case of the two other subjects upon 
 which I am so bold as to hazard a few remarks in the 
 present chapter. It has, however, far different features. 
 The " gold fever " is an ailment beyond the power of the 
 physician. The seeking for hidden treasures is often a 
 life long dream. 
 
 Perhaps, in all the mining annals of the Colony there 
 is no greater instance of good fortune than that which 
 attended the observant and persevering men who brought 
 to light the hidden treasures of Broken Hill, a name 
 familiar enough to most people now-a-days, as the richest 
 mine, perhaps, in the world. 
 
 Nine years ago the rocky outcrop of the Barrier ranges 
 
 was a feature of an out-of-the-way sheep run, termed by 
 
 the blackfellows Wilyu-Wilyu-Yong, scarcely noticed on 
 
 the map of the Colony. Now there has sprung up upon 
 
 p
 
 226 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 the somewhat desolate spot, a city of 20,000 inhabitants. 
 No canvas mining town or collection of nondescript 
 shanties, but a handsome well-built city. 
 
 It was during '83 that Charles Rasp, a boundary rider 
 on the Mount Gipps "run," pocketed some specimens of 
 the rugged outcrop, and took them to the manager of the 
 station, Mr George M'Culloch, and the matter ended in 
 leases being secured for seven blocks along the line of 
 lode. The interest in these was amalgamated into a 
 company or syndicate, under the name of the Broken 
 Hill Mining Company, comprising, besides Messrs. 
 M'Culloch and Rasp, five others. 
 
 The luck was not all one way at first, and as two 
 members sold out, it was necessary to reform the 
 syndicate into one of fourteen shares, which, since 1885, 
 has been famous as the successful Broken Hill Proprietary 
 Company, and it is satisfactory, I think, to note that some 
 at least, notably Messrs. M'Culloch and Rasp, held on 
 from the first, when success by no means seemed certain. 
 When mining ventures have resulted in such gigantic out- 
 turns in so comparatively short a time, it is not to be 
 wondered at that many stories are current as to the early 
 vicissitudes of the mine. 
 
 A glance at the map will shew that the mine is situated 
 in the extreme south-west corner of the Colony, and is 
 most easy of access from Adelaide by rail and steam 
 tramway ; from a commercial point of view, it must 
 have proved an immense benefit to South Australia, 
 rather, perhaps, than to the Colony to which it rightly 
 belongs. 
 
 As to the possibility of similar finds, I can quote from
 
 A CHANCE FOR THE SPECULATOR. 
 
 227 
 
 Mr. Coghlan's* work, the following: "Old workings, 
 which had been abandoned years ago, under a prevailing 
 idea that they were valuable only on the surface, and 
 which had scarcely, in any instance, been tested to a 
 greater depth than 200 feet, have been re-opened with 
 very encouraging results." The foregoing applies to gold, 
 but with regard to silver, he writes : " Sufficient time has 
 hardly elapsed since the important discoveries of silver 
 deposits were made, to enable all the principal mines to 
 be properly developed." 
 
 The " fossicker " or " prospector " may be called the 
 pioneer of mining. A pick, shovel, and tin dish con- 
 stitutes, besides his "swag," his chief machinery. He is 
 always on the move, and on the occasion of a " rush," he 
 or his mate will be off to try their luck. 
 
 Roughly speaking, there are two styles of seeking gold, 
 the alluvial, which may be defined as washing the deposits 
 forming the sides and bed of a creek or gully, into which 
 the gold may have been borne from the decomposed or 
 disrupted outcrop of igneous rock ; and " reefing," which, 
 as the name implies, is the quarrying, shafting, and work- 
 ing generally, of quartz veins or reefs, the produce being 
 dealt with by the stamping machine. 
 
 Alluvial gold, for reasons which it would be out ot 
 place to give here, is generally found in a pure, or nearly 
 pure, state. In quartz veins such is not the case, hence, 
 in addition to the stamping or crushing, it requires treat- 
 ment by amalgamation with, and the subsequent sublima- 
 tion of quicksilver. In "reefing," therefore, which 
 requires capital, the great idea is to find " payable gold," 
 
 * The "Wealth and Progress of New South Wales," already 
 referred to.
 
 228 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 and get a good price for your mine. The alluvial digger 
 can work, and may make a haul, with his pick, shovel 
 and cradle, as his sole outfit.* 
 
 A locality, even private land, may be proclaimed a 
 gold or mineral field in the Government Gazette, upon 
 which being done, mining licenses are issued to " seek, 
 work, or win " gold and minerals thereupon. The Minister 
 for Mines and Agriculture is at the head of the Depart- 
 ment of Mines, which includes a staff of local surveyors, 
 wardens, warden's clerks, mining registrars, and bailiffs. 
 
 " Fossicking," or " prospecting," is not, upon the whole, 
 a very profitable pursuit, and is by no means devoid of 
 hardship getting back " stone broke " from a disappoint- 
 ing field, through a rough country, is not always pleasant, 
 but generally the life has it charms, and most old 
 " fossickers," like gamblers, are certain of things turning 
 up " trumps " at last. 
 
 The coal trade in New South Wales is so extensive, 
 that I can do no more than very briefly refer to it. The 
 railway journey to Newcastle is only 4 hours, while the 
 South Coast mines at Bulli, Wollongong, &c., are also 
 convenient for a visit from Sydney. A colliery has not so 
 very long been started at Helensburgh, on the South Coast 
 Line, not 20 miles from Sydney, and a visit thereto 
 would show the stranger what an impromptu "bush" town- 
 ship is like. Iron has been found in immediate proximity 
 to the South Coast mines. Exports of kerosene shale 
 are, I believe, rapidly on the increase. Copper is found 
 in certain parts of the western division of the Colony. 
 Tin and lead ore is also plentiful. In short, there is no 
 lack of mineral treasures in the Colony. 
 
 * Diamond drills, and boring machines, the same being govern- 
 ment property, can be hired by the public on certain conditions.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A CHAPTER FOR BUSINESS MEN THE 
 SYSTEM OF IMPORT BUSINESS THE 
 APPOINTMENT AND CHOICE OF AGENTS 
 
 RENTS OF OFFICES, WAREHOUSES, 
 AND SHOPS GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS 
 
 THE WHARVES OF SYDNEY WHAR- 
 FAGE CHARGES CUSTOMS AND EXCISE 
 PROTECTION OF PATENTS AND TRADE 
 MARKS. 
 
 Australia offers a very considerable market for English 
 goods, the imports for the year ending 1889 amounted to 
 ,68,000,000 sterling, for the whole of Australia, of which, 
 the sum of ^22, 500,000 is credited to New South Wales 
 alone. It is, at the same time, our most distant market, 
 and thus, though cheaper fares and quicker passages 
 offer inducements to the merchant, manufacturer, or his 
 traveller, to become personally acquainted with the 
 country, and see for themselves how business is done, 
 and, perhaps, how it might be more advantageously 
 conducted, those who desire to open up,, or extend a 
 business in Australia, have, mostly, to take their chance, 
 with the agents they appoint. A personal visit might 
 have saved many men not only severe losses, but the 
 satisfaction of seeing a business progress, which they 
 have given up in disgust.
 
 230 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 Briefly, the import business is conducted on two bases, 
 indent and consignment, the former referring to goods 
 which are actually ordered on certain conditions, as 
 the word indent implies. Consignments, the word 
 itself explains, they are shipments sent out by the manu- 
 facturer or merchant (sometimes a joint venture on the 
 part of both) on speculation, for sale to best advantage ; 
 the manufacturer, if the parcel is shipped on his sole 
 account and risk, frequently receiving an advance upon 
 the goods to the extent of one-half, or two-thirds their 
 value. Upon the sale of a consignment, all charges for 
 freight, shipping, customs, wharfage, cartage and storage, 
 and the merchant's selling commission, are deducted 
 from the gross proceeds, and the nett results are not 
 always altogether satisfactory. A modification of indent- 
 ing has been introduced by the convenience offered by 
 the cable service, and, in certain goods and produce 
 which fluctuate greatly, " c.i.f. offers " are cabled, the term 
 signifying that the prices sent, include the cost, freight, 
 and insurance of the merchandize offered ; these are liable 
 to acceptance within a stated time. 
 
 But I will suppose that a manufacturer, or his agent, is 
 about to visit the Colony, or Australia generally, and what 
 I have to say applies to the several Colonies alike. I think 
 I have given him all information he will require in deciding 
 as to his mode of residence, and probable expenses in 
 the Colony. As to travelling out of Sydney, in only very 
 exceptional cases, if, indeed, in any, will he need to do so. 
 Sydney is exclusively the centre of the import business ; 
 from Sydney it is that the travellers of the importing 
 houses supply the inland stores with their requirements ;
 
 THE BUSH HA WKER. 
 
 231 
 
 except, perhaps, the Riverina district, some of the trade 
 done there being competed for by Victoria. To go into 
 detail, a fair amount of retailing in the bush is also done 
 by hawkers, who, in some cases, have well-appointed 
 waggons. I have met them of many nationalities, 
 English, French, German, Jewish, Maltese, Javanese, and 
 Hindoos, among the number. 
 
 Furthermore, it is presumed that our new acquaintance 
 does not intend to settle in the country, as an agent, but 
 simply wishes to found a business, or extend one for him- 
 self or his employer. His first care, therefore, will be 
 to grasp the system, or general idea, pursued in the 
 selling and distribution of imported goods, so that he 
 may find what middleman, or class of middleman, is 
 necessary, or whether he can be dispensed with or not, 
 before the retailer gets his goods. He will find the 
 following styles of business houses : 
 
 (a.) The merchant or general importer of all kinds of 
 goods, who has his sale rooms for samples, also his 
 travellers, perhaps more in the town than country, who, 
 if he finds difficulty in dealing with a consignment, may 
 employ : 
 
 (.) The broker, with whom he will divide his selling 
 commission. 
 
 (c.) The importing houses, " soft goods " men, whole- 
 sale grocers, &c., who do the principal trade with retailers 
 in town and country. 
 
 Through the hands of one, at least, of the above, if not 
 occasionally through those of all three, does the bulk of 
 imported goods pass before they come to : 
 
 (d.) The retailer, or shop and store-keeper.
 
 232 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 And, no doubt, our friend will give a good look round, 
 and judge for himself as to what each has to say. I might 
 most respectfully add that, at the outset, until he sees his 
 way definitely to make any business proposition, he will 
 do well to keep details of prices as much as possible to 
 himself. 
 
 Should he consider it advisable to appoint any one of 
 the A., B., or C. class as his agent it is most probable his 
 choice will rest with the first or third he will, no doubt, 
 have an eye to the commodious nature of the sale-room, 
 and the attentions paid to customers by the salesmen, and 
 others of the office staff with whom they come in contact. 
 The style of travellers employed is another important 
 matter, also if they are well received, and are genial in 
 their manner, for it must be remembered by him that it 
 is such men, and not the principals, who will really make 
 his business "go," or the reverse. Fnally, let him notice 
 how those that call at the office on business are attended 
 to. A badly-attended office counter is not only an 
 annoyance, but it frequently argues want of management 
 generally. 
 
 Finally, in appointing an agent, he must remember 
 that if he selects a general importer or broker, large or 
 small, a more extensive field is open to him for business, 
 for the reason that, supposing his " line " to be any 
 article used by grocers, a general importer can sell to all 
 wholesale grocers ; whereas, if he selects a firm of whole- 
 sale grocers as his agent, his sales, for the most part, will 
 be limited to their connection, though that might be 
 fairly extensive, and a certain and regular sale might 
 from the first, be commanded.
 
 HOW TO CHOOSE AN AGENT. 
 
 233 
 
 As to endeavouring to dispense with a middleman, of 
 course, our friend is at liberty to try it, and sell to retailers ; 
 and, here, what I said about keeping back details of 
 prices comes in, for retailers are often glad to have such 
 information, as it enables them to cut down their whole- 
 sale men ; but, in the end, if our friend has to fall back 
 upon the middleman after all, it is somewhat awkward for 
 the retail trade to know his best terms. 
 
 Anyone starting in business as an agent for any 
 English export house, will find it necessary to appoint a 
 minimum amount, that is, to decide to sell not less than 
 a certain quantity of his goods, so as to prevent retailers 
 from dealing largely with him, otherwise he will get into 
 trouble with " the trade," who will look upon him as an 
 opponent, and not buy from him. 
 
 The foregoing fewremarks, I trust, will not be unwelcome 
 to anyone who may feel undecided how to go about 
 matters when first landing in Australia. The next care 
 will be his letters and cablegrams ; if he can arrange an 
 address before leaving England to which they may be 
 sent, so much the better. If he must send them to the 
 General Post Office to be called for, let him cause his 
 English address to be placed in parenthesis under his 
 name,* or his letters may miscarry. If he has to cable 
 to England, let him register a " cypher " address at the 
 Telegraph Department of the Post Office forthwith. 
 
 The question of rents of offices, warehouses, &c., is one 
 upon which it is difficult to give exact information, so 
 much depends upon the locality. Pitt street, near the 
 General Post Office, is considered fairly central for offices, 
 
 * Thus, Mr. John Smith, (of 999, Gracechurch Street, London).
 
 234 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 and here I have known ^3 weekly paid for a ground 
 floor single office. If position is not of importance, there 
 is plenty of office accommodation to be had fairly cheap. 
 Nearer Circular Quay is affected by shipowners, ship- 
 brokers, wool-shippers, &c., being near to the Custom 
 House, which is on the quay, and the Exchange, an un- 
 pretentious building;, situated a short distance up Pitt 
 street, which may be called the chief commercial street 
 in Sydney, as far as the General Post Office, beyond 
 which it is occupied by shops. George and King street 
 contain the greatest variety of shops. Bridge street, a 
 cross street near Circular Quay, is the home of many of the 
 inter-colonial steamship companies. York, Clarence, and 
 Kent street are more favoured by Manchester warehouse- 
 men, hardware, and wholesale people generally. Srfssex 
 street, down by the wharves, is great in dealers in 
 produce, &c. Shops in the best streets are fairly dear, 
 500 and ^750 a year, and upwards, for an ordinary 
 size of shop, while in the less frequented city streets and 
 suburbs, a house and shop may be had for 4 to $ 
 weekly. Warehouses will run from ^4 upwards for 
 weekly rental. 
 
 The requirements of the Public Works Department for 
 railway plant, bridge work, &c., of course necessitate large 
 orders to the English and other markets, as, with the 
 exception of building certain carriages for passenger and 
 goods traffic, New South Wales is almost entirely depen- 
 dent upon external supplies, and upon the present system 
 of obtaining these, 1 would make a few comments. 
 
 The Victorian Government does not employ their 
 Agent-General in the matter of obtaining the require-
 
 GOVERNMENT TENDERS. 
 
 235 
 
 ments of their railways, or any consulting engineer, with 
 his accompaniment of commissions. They call for 
 tenders in the open market, and invite influential local 
 firms to forward plans and specifications to their London 
 houses, and for all these Government tenders there is 
 exceedingly keen competition. They, the London houses, 
 canvas the manufacturers, and send in their tenders at 
 the lowest prices obtainable, with the usual marked 
 cheque as security, in case they are successful, for the 
 due completion of the contract, and not only do they 
 tender for the cost of the material, but also for delivery 
 thereof. The competition, which, as 1 have said, is 
 keen, provides that everything is done at the lowest 
 possible rate, so the Railway Commissioners have nothing 
 to do but take delivery of and pass the plant. The 
 risk of rejection in the Colony is, I grant, a somewhat 
 harsh condition, but if the Victorians can get plenty of 
 manufacturers to accept the conditions, I suppose they 
 are right in making them. Of course, any manufacturer 
 can tender direct ; but, as there is the shipping, freight, 
 and agency wanted in Melbourne, he finds it best to 
 leave this in the hands of the merchant, who adds a 
 small commission for his trouble. 
 
 A mistake is made frequently, I respectfully think, in 
 calling for many tenders, that sufficient time is not given 
 for their return, z>., to enable those that tender to insti- 
 tute due enquiry in foreign markets. Thus, if tenders are 
 called for the making or duplication of a portion of a line, 
 the brickwork, tunnelling, cutting, &c. ; can be worked out 
 on the spot; but if bridgework is included, and, more 
 especially, if the specification is not an ordinary one, the
 
 236 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA*. 
 
 price must be estimated with a considerable margin, if 
 there is not plenty of time afforded to get prices in the 
 English or Continental market. This would be not only 
 fair and reasonable as far as contractors, merchants, and 
 manufacturers generally are concerned, but also to the 
 interests of the railways, and those who find the money 
 for them. 
 
 Furthermore, it may be said, I think, with perfect 
 truth, that all manufacturers have a better chance in open 
 competition. No man can go through a long business or 
 professional career without having imbibed certain pre- 
 judices, and experienced certain disagreements, which 
 may result in the "taboo" of firms, who should be 
 entitled to bid for a share in the business of the Colony. 
 
 I should deeply regret if any remarks were, by any 
 chance, misconstrued into references of a personal nature. 
 Nothing of the sort is intended, I deal with the system 
 generally ; I deal with it because I think it needs especial 
 reference, and I cite the Victorian system, because I think 
 it is, in the most complete manner, the fairest " all 
 round," it gives all manufacturers a chance, and to the 
 Public Works Department, it means buying the best in 
 the cheapest market, which I take to be a sound business 
 policy. 
 
 An effort was made to establish a locomotive works in 
 New South Wales, but it fell through, for the time being at 
 all events ; the labour troubles may have had something 
 to do with its collapse, as such were alleged to be the bar 
 to the development of the wealth of iron, which, with coal 
 close at hand, is one of the richest natural endowments 
 of the much favoured Illawarra district.
 
 HARBOURS OF THE COLONY. 
 
 237 
 
 All tenders are opened by a Tender Board, of which, 
 the Secretary for Public Works is president, the Under 
 Secretary for the same is vice-president, and the remain- 
 ing members are the Engineer-in-Chief for Harbours and 
 Rivers, the Commissioner and Engineer-in-Chief for 
 Roads and Bridges, the Engineer-in-Chief for Railways, 
 the Director of Military Works, the Government Archi- 
 tect, while the Chief Clerk of the Public Works Depart- 
 ment is secretary. Three members form a quorum, and 
 the board-room is open to the public while tenders are 
 being opened and declared. 
 
 The office of the Agent-General has more than once 
 been discussed in the Legislative Assembly during the 
 past two years, and questions have been raised as to 
 whether it would not be advisable to shorten the term of 
 office. Upon this I do not wish to offer any comment. 
 
 Of the wharves in and around Sydney, there are 
 public, or Government, and private sufferance wharves. 
 Of the former there are three, the fine frontage of Circular 
 Quay stands first, then there is the Cowper wharf in 
 Woolloomooloo Bay, and Darling Harbour further west 
 than Circular Quay, and situated on a southerly-running 
 arm of the Harbour. The first-named has ample draft of 
 water for all ocean-going mail steames. The " P & O," 
 Orient, Messageries Maritimes, and Norddeutscher-Lloyd 
 have their loading berths here, being moored alongside 
 their respective lock-up sheds. There are also numerous 
 jetties running out from the quay, whence the harbour 
 steamers leave for the most part, and there is a ferry for 
 the conveyance of horses and vehicles to the north shore. 
 In the height of the wool season also, many of the large
 
 238 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 sailing vessels load at Circular Quay. Cowper wharf is 
 the loading berth for the San Francisco steamers, and the 
 principal place for discharging timber, and immense 
 quantities of blue metal from Kiama, on the south coast. 
 The private sufferance wharves extend from the Circular 
 Quay westwards, around Dawes Point, to Darling 
 Harbour, and afford fairly good accommodation, but the 
 jetties are, in most cases, without sheds to protect cargo, 
 as it is brought out of the ship, from sun or rain, and, I 
 think, there is room for improvement in this way. 
 
 Wharfage rates are charged on all goods landed on any 
 wharves. On much rough, heavy, stuff, the charge is 1/8 
 per ton weight, or measurement. In some cases package 
 rates are charged from zd. to 6d. each. Cartage is 
 effected for the most part by " trollies," as they are called, 
 similar to what are known as " lorries " in England. The 
 draught horses are much lighter than those seen at 
 British seaports, notably Liverpool. 
 
 The Government graving docks are at Cockatoo Island, 
 2\ miles west of Circular Quay, and comprise the Fitzroy 
 and Sutherland Docks. The latter is as large as, if not 
 larger than, any single graving dock yet constructed, and 
 can accommodate probably the largest vessel afloat. 
 
 As to tariffs, although the policy of the Colony for the 
 present is Free Trade, a good many imports are liable to 
 duty, including : Bacon, beer, biscuits, butter, candied 
 fruits, candles, cement, cheese, chicory, cocoa, coffee and 
 tea, galvanized iron, preserves of all kinds, sugar, rice, 
 sago, tapioco, wines, spirits, tobacco, &c.* There are 
 
 * Since the above was written, the Parkes' Ministry has been 
 defeated, but the new tariff is not to hand in time for insertion in 
 this edition.
 
 HARBOURS OF THE COLONY. 239 
 
 bonded and free warehouses with fixed rates for rental, 
 receiving and delivery. 
 
 The number of ships which entered at the Sydney 
 Custom House in 1889, with cargo and ballast, was 
 3,254, representing 2,632,081 tons. Inward and out- 
 ward pilotage is compulsory, the charge being 4d. per 
 ton. There are good tug-boats, and towage rates are 
 not dear. 
 
 As to the other ports in New South Wales, the coast 
 is deficient in good harbours. Newcastle comes next to, 
 though a long way after Sydney, and is the chief loading 
 port for many vessels that bring general cargoes to Aus- 
 tralian ports, and are chartered to take coal to San 
 Francisco, Chili, or Peru. Wollongong, 50 miles south 
 of Sydney, the principal town in the Illawarra district 
 has a nice little artificial harbour,* but in bad weather 
 the entrance is difficult. Bulli, famous for its coal mines, 
 seven miles north of Wollongong or so, has jetties for 
 loading coal, but they are entirely unprotected, and, if 
 bad weather comes on from any easterly point, it is 
 necessary to cast off and stand out to sea. 
 
 Patents and trade marks, and their due protection, are 
 a matter of great concern to the generality of manufac- 
 turers. It is a great pity that there is no Intercolonial 
 Patents and Trade Marks Act, but there is not. The 
 Patents Law Amendment Act was the last effort made to 
 protect the creations of the inventor in New South Wales, 
 and became law in 1887. Letters patent for any inven- 
 
 * Vessels of 16 feet draft can be accommodated in Wollongong 
 Harbour, and, I believe, they expect soon to take all up to 18 feet 
 draft.
 
 240 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 tion cost 5 ; the office is in Chancery square, Sydney. 
 Trade marks are protected in New South Wales by the 
 Trade Marks Act of 1865, and their forgery rendered a 
 misdemeanor. Shippers of anything bearing a trade 
 mark should always sec that it is registered. The 
 Government fee for each registration is 3 guineas. In 
 1879, there was also introduced a " Copyright Act," to 
 secure copyright of printed matter, designs, &c., produced 
 in the Colony. 
 
 Business hours generally are much the same as in 
 England, perhaps a trifle earlier, and not so late. The 
 luncheon hour, from i to 2 p.m., is strictly observed, so 
 are the public holidays, which are not a few. The cost 
 of clerical labour I have discussed in the Chapter on 
 " Wages in Town and Country."
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 DISEASE AND EPIDEMICS IN NEW SOUTH 
 WALES SANITARY QUESTIONS- 
 MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS SYDNEY 
 HOSPITALS. 
 
 In seeking a new country for the purposes of health 
 most especially, it is essential that the traveller should 
 know whether, in the new world in which he is to make 
 his home, he runs any undue risk of contracting certain 
 ailments and diseases, from which, unfortunately, even 
 the fairest lands are not exempt, but upon this subject I 
 have but little wherewith to intimidate the traveller. 
 
 Generally, I think, the bush is very healthy. The 
 population is scattered, and an epidemic has, therefore, 
 little chance of spreading. The people lead temperate, 
 outdoor lives. The plain fare does not tempt one to 
 practise gluttony; while, on the other hand, a healthy 
 appetite supplants sauces and made dishes. Like the 
 Spaniard, they rather eat to live, than live to eat. Early 
 hours are the rule, and accident is more to be feared than 
 disease. Sufferers from rheumatism might not be well 
 suited in some parts of the mountains, but, though liable 
 to it myself, it did not trouble me during many months 
 Q
 
 242 
 
 SHALL 1 TRY A USTRAL1A ? 
 
 on the mountains, and more exposure than most visitors 
 would, perhaps, care to undergo. One pest of the bush 
 and plains is " Sandy Blight," or inflammation of the eyes 
 it is, I believe, called : ' sandy " owing to the pain being 
 exactly similar to that which grains of sand upon the eye- 
 ball would cause. It is also known as " bung-eye," 
 because, as an Irishman would say, when you open your 
 eyes in the morning, the lids are tightly closed, and 
 require no small amount of fomentation to get them 
 open. By taking it in time it may be easily checked, and 
 I advise no one to neglect it for even a day. A good 
 lotion is sold at nearly all bush stores. " Queensland 
 Sores " or " Barcoo rot " are, I believe, generally attri- 
 buted to excessive thinness and poverty of the blood, 
 caused by the great heat and an absence of vegetable diet, 
 with salt meat as the principal item on the bill-of-fare. 
 One's hands and arms thus are easily " barked," and the 
 sore is very slow at healing. The " yolk " or grease of 
 wool is also a very bad thing to get into a cut, and visitors 
 should be careful of handling freshly-shorn wool. 
 
 In Sydney, however, sanitary matters are, perhaps, not 
 altogether in a satisfactory state. There is, I think, great 
 room, and still greater need, for reform. A good deal of 
 money has been spent on sewerage, and a fine sewer has 
 been constructed, with an outfall into the ocean a few 
 hundred yards north of Bondi Bay ; but the most perfect 
 system of sewerage does not mean everything. A 
 sufficient staff of thoroughly competent health officials 
 should be appointed, whose recommendations should 
 receive immediate attention, indeed, as far as possible, 
 they should have considerable discretionary power vested
 
 THE TYPHOID SCOURGE. 243 
 
 in them, and not be subjected to wearisome debate at the 
 hands of that gilt-edged bumbledom, of which choice 
 material, municipal councils are, not unfrequently, largely 
 composed. 
 
 Diptheria and typhoid, both much to be dreaded, the 
 latter cutting off so many, as it does, in the flower of 
 youth, play frequent and terrible havoc in Sydney and its 
 suburbs, and I will proceed to give some instances of 
 what I wish to convey when I say that health officers 
 should have the utmost possible power vested in them, 
 and not be tied down, and their efforts frustated by 
 municipal bumbledom. 
 
 Early in 1890, a sharp outbreak of typhoid fever 
 occurred in a portion of the suburbs of Waverley and 
 Randwick, perhaps the healthiest of any localities in and 
 around Sydney. The milk supply was suspected, and a 
 house to house visitation was made by the medical 
 officers' instructions, to ascertain from what source sup- 
 plies were drawn, and the affected or infected houses 
 were found to have been supplied by a dairy in 
 Randwick. 
 
 On the premises of the dairy in question, there was a well 
 which was condemned, a considerable time before the above 
 outbreak, by the medical officer, as being unfit for use. 
 The Municipal Council of Randwick were asked to order 
 it to be closed, or rather, so august and important body 
 was, I suppose, "respectfully recommended," but, which- 
 ever was done, no notice was taken of the matter. All 
 this formed the subject of a special report to the Legis- 
 lative Assembly by the Medical Officer of Health, in 
 which he commented strongly upon the amount of sick-
 
 244 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA? 
 
 ness and suffering caused by this omission, oversight, 
 neglect, or whatever it may be termed, and one would 
 think it would have roused people to action. I was, 
 however, residing in Waverley at the time, and do not 
 remember any notice being taken of it, or that the 
 strong language in which the report was worded evoked 
 any special comment from the single-minded gentlemen 
 composing the Legislative Assembly. 
 
 The same report also disclosed another charming 
 specimen of official disregard for the public health. This 
 was in Waverley, a suburb adjoining that of Randwick, 
 that hotbed of municipal genius. 
 
 A portion of the highest ground in Waverley, the 
 loftiest, in fact, for some miles round, is reserved as a 
 public park, and at each entrance there is the usual string 
 of bye-laws which makes the passer-by half afraid of 
 venturing into the sacred precincts of such enclosures. 
 There, presuming, I suppose, that bye-laws were applic- 
 able only to the common herd, the local council allowed 
 the savoury contents of the scavengers' night carts to be 
 buried, the soakage from which, owing to the nature and 
 formation of the land, made its way into the founda- 
 tions of houses, built in the immediate neighbourhood, 
 and much sickness was traced to this shocking disregard 
 of the laws of hygiene. All the foregoing is a modified 
 outline of the Report of the Medical Officer for Health, 
 presented to the Legislative Assembly. 
 
 Another instance of disregard of the representations of 
 qualified men.* An old hotel situated in George street, 
 
 * Having lost certain notes, I am unable to state whether the 
 hotel had really been condemned.
 
 MUNICIPAL COUNCILS, 245 
 
 north, suddenly collapsed like a house of cards, two lives 
 were lost; by the merest chance it happened that more 
 were not sacrificed, as a large company of time- 
 expired blue-jackets had slept in the house a night or so 
 before the accident. Then certain people in authority 
 woke up, and remembered that certain buildings had 
 been condemned by the city architect, and they were 
 railed round forthwith. I suppose it was necessary that 
 they should receive ocular proof that such places might 
 tumble down before they even put a barrier in front of 
 a condemned building. 
 
 What, therefore, I have to say, in view of the fore- 
 going, is, if a thoroughly qualified man points out the 
 necessity for a thing of vital importance being done, the 
 neglect of which may involve risk to life and limb, who 
 are the members of a municipal body that they should 
 say him nay ? or, if they do not do so in so many words, 
 ignore or question his recommendation. If a doctor of 
 medicine declares certain water to be dangerously in- 
 fected, are they to say he is wrong ? If a city architect 
 declares certain buildings to be unsafe, must they wait 
 until one comes about the ears of the passer-by before 
 they take action in the matter, or credit the expert's 
 verdict upon them ? 
 
 " But," blusters forth Mr. Alderman or Mr. Councillor 
 Bumple, "this is all nonsense, I must consider my 
 ratepayers' interests." Certainly, sir; but if you haggle 
 over strangling disease in its infancy, do you consider 
 your ratepayers' interests? not to mention the expense, 
 suffering, probably severe bereavement you may spare 
 them. Your negligence makes a far greater hole in
 
 246 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA * 
 
 public funds ; and what about the hospitals, which will 
 be filled to overflowing? The fact is, gentlemen, it is 
 too often your own vested interests, as you call them, 
 that you really consider, and not those of your ratepayers 
 You, many of you, own property, and do not like to see it 
 condemned, or improvements demanded, or sanitary 
 measures enforced with regard to it ; it may be only your 
 neighbour's, but next time it may be yours. It all costs 
 money, all means outlay without proportionate return to 
 the owner of the property. You are an owner of property, 
 and if you make money out of a rookery, why, you argue, 
 should you not continue to do so? Then, the medical 
 officer, surveyor, or sanitary inspector is somewhat chary 
 of speaking his mind ; you are, many of you, possessed of 
 considerable influence, you can make it " hot " for an 
 over -zealous official, and, sometimes, I fear you do. 
 What is wanted, gentlemen, is someone whose position 
 and qualifications are such that he shall not be afraid of 
 speaking straightforwardly to you, and with authority. A 
 medical officer of health, I most respectfully think, should 
 be placed in authority, with assistants if need be, and be in 
 no way dependent upon, or allowed to devote any time to, 
 private practice, and he should have considerable dis- 
 cretionary power. Good men, well paid, are urgently 
 required for such work. 
 
 Passing along Macquarie street north, by the building 
 where spirited patriots discuss the affairs of the Colony, 
 we encounter a low wall, surmounted with iron railings, 
 t'o which is added a chaste fence of galvanized corrugated 
 iron. Natural curiosity incites us to step into the road- 
 way. Piles of masonry meet our view over the comely
 
 SYDNEY HOSPITALS. 247 
 
 barrier. Pillars with ornate capitols. What are these 
 architectural treasures so zealously guarded from the 
 public eye ? One feels almost as the traveller does, who, 
 blundering through the fastnesses of a central American 
 forest, suddenly comes upon the handicraft of a vanished 
 people, a bye-gone race. Did some Antipodean Aztecs 
 reign in semi-barbaric splendour before the primitive 
 blackfellow came ? Oh, no ! That is the Sydney 
 Hospital, or will be, when finished. It has for long 
 remained incompleted, why, need not be told here. The 
 completion has, I believe, been decided upon; when 
 finished it will very likely be deemed obsolete in point of 
 design. In the meantime, the " accidents " and " general " 
 wards, for the most part, are in a two-storied, weather- 
 board building, very cold in the winter months, and as 
 one glances down the long rows of beds, each with its 
 more or less helpless occupant, the contingency, or 
 possibility of fire, is not pleasant to contemplate. 
 
 What with the weatherboard and more substantial 
 buildings, the Sydney Hospital has 236 beds, while there 
 are 65 beds at an outlying branch, solely devoted to 
 diseases of the eye. There is, amongst others, a ward for 
 diseases peculiar to women, which is constantly full, and 
 ailments of this nature seem very prevalent in the Colony. 
 Its situation near to the wharves and harbours constitutes 
 it the "casualty" hospital, and it is a matter of regret to see 
 that no provision is made for the better conveyance of 
 those who have the misfortune to be injured in the 
 streets, &c, such as is now in vogue at some of the 
 English general hospitals, viz., the ambulance waggon. 
 The hansom cab is the usual means of very rough and
 
 248 SHALL I TRY A USTRAL1A f 
 
 ready transport, much gratuitous suffering being caused 
 thereby, as well as longer detention in hospital. 
 
 The other principal hospitals are the Prince Alfred, in 
 the University Domain, with 450 beds, and provisions for 
 isolating certain infectious diseases. There are four private 
 wards within its walls. 
 
 The St. Vincent Hospital is in Darlinghurst, and is 
 under the care of the Sisters of Charity. It is a general 
 hospital, and contains 175 beds. The Coast, or Little 
 Bay Hospital, at the north entrance to Botany Bay, 1 1 miles 
 from Sydney, is for infectious diseases, and has 270 bed?. 
 
 There is a branch of the St. John Ambulance in 
 Sydney which, however, is, as it appeared to me, hardly 
 as well supported as it might be. Useful knowledge, such 
 as the Association teaches, would be especially valuable 
 in the bush, where accidents are liable to occur very 
 many miles from any medical aid. 
 
 The principal cemeteries in the neighbourhood of the 
 city, are at Rookwood, 10 miles distant, on the local line, 
 and at Waverley, the latter beautifully situated on the 
 coast, and sloping gently towards the Pacific. It is well 
 worth a visit.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 TYPES OF AUSTRALIANS THE RISING 
 GENERATION HOW THEY TALK IN 
 AUSTRALIA EDUCATION THE CADET 
 CORPS. 
 
 Those born of British stock have, for the most part, a 
 wandering and venturesome nature, and it is well, there- 
 fore, that they are hardy plants, apt to thrive exceedingly 
 in widely differing lands, generally bearing transplanting 
 well. Even the cautious, wary Scotchman has been 
 known to wander south of Tweedside, leaving the artistic, 
 but not peculiarly remunerative surroundings of his 
 native land, to make himself exceedingly comfortable 
 amongst Sassenach surroundings, as well as in foreign 
 lands. The visitor, therefore, to what is known as Greater 
 Britain, is pardonably curious, if he is anxious to see 
 whether Colonial born men and women have changed, in 
 attributes of mind and body, from the British born, to-day 
 resident in the Mother Country. There has been ample 
 time for New South Wales to produce, if she is to do so, 
 a distinct type of the Australian born man and woman* 
 But we have, I think, to bestow more than a casual glance 
 at a gathering in Sydney, or the bush, before we notice 
 any substantial difference. 
 
 As there are different climates in the Colony, so are
 
 250 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 there varying types of the native born. The Sydney 
 people show, frequently, signs of town life, both sexes 
 " age " somewhat early, and are, perhaps, not such long 
 livers as might be expected. The colder air of the 
 mountains produces rosy cheeks enough, not to say 
 florid complexions; still, with the men, those that are, 
 what we might term " stout," are usually obese to an 
 extent which plainly shows that obesity is a disease with 
 them, the majority being, as a rule, wiry, rather than 
 powerful in their build. Then come the hot, dry plains, 
 where the inhabitants are naturally spare, and when much 
 exposed to the weather by outdoor life 
 
 Shadowed by the sun's dark livery, 
 
 the title "cornstalk" is, in many cases, applicable to the 
 young Australian, for he is frequently, in New South 
 Wales, above the average height, and possessed of greater 
 slenderness, and less "shoulder" than one would like to 
 see; in fact, at the inter-Colonial athletic meetings, the 
 prizes mostly fall to the more hardy Victorians and New 
 Zealanders. On the other hand, I have seen not a few 
 men, young and old, born in the Colony, who would be 
 easily mistaken for typical Englishmen. 
 
 I have said that they age much faster, do not seem to 
 wear quite as well as the average of people "at home," 
 but on this point I would not like to give a very decided 
 opinion, as in the cases in which I have especially noticed 
 *a comparative collapse at an early age, it may have been 
 due to much hardship, of which, at times, there is quite 
 enough in a bush life. Taking him on the whole, I think 
 the bushman as I have before remarked, is a temperate 
 man, his diet is spare people must not judge colonial men
 
 THE CUP THAT CHEERS. 
 
 251 
 
 and women by what they see of Sydney and, generally, I do 
 not think he is given to excessive drinking, by any means; 
 perhaps, if less tea were drunk, more wine in the vine- 
 producing districts, and a modicum of good cider where 
 the apple is abundant, it might be better for the native.* 
 Still, he is very enduring, a little flour, tea and sugar, and 
 the ubiquitous, ever useful " billy " will carry him a long 
 distance, and tea is so portable, and cheap a means of 
 making a stimulating "brew," that I think it will be a 
 long time before it finds a substitute ; at the same time, I 
 know of my own experience what it is as a useful and 
 portable stimulant. 
 
 In manner, the young Australian is frequently accused 
 of not being over polite, and he has been blamed for 
 want of respect and reverence for older people, a com- 
 plaint which I believe is not confined, at the present day, 
 to Australia. He is accused frequently of " blowing," 01 
 bragging ; in this I do not know, from my own experience 
 that he stands alone. I have often seen Young England 
 set him a very bad example. An argument, for instance, 
 will often spring up about the country, the Britisher 
 grumbling about everything. The natural retort under 
 the circumstances is, "If it is such a beastly country, why 
 the that is to say, why did you come here ?" In this way 
 I have found not only young men, but much older men, 
 who ought to know better, behave most rudely. Such 
 bring undeserved contempt upon their countrymen, and 
 are, generally, among the first to level abuse at what they 
 
 * The word native is generally used to describe a colonial born 
 person. Blackfellows or aboriginals are the titles given to what are 
 usually termed "the natives."
 
 252 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 term the absence of manners amongst Australians 
 generally. As to my own experience, I have found an 
 abundance cf genuine good fellowship and kindly feeling 
 in the bush, which I should be ungrateful in ever for- 
 getting. 
 
 Certainly about school boys, of what are termed 
 "tender" years, there seems to be a good deal of 
 "cheek" the word is slangy, but is exactly expresses 
 what I mean, and generally, I think, it intelligible, which 
 really is, perhaps, the main object of language. This 
 fault also may be general. Those whose experience of 
 large schools dates back some while, may be accused by 
 those who choose to quote the Latin of the fag-end of 
 an hexameter line, of being a class praising accomplished 
 time. It may be that in past days a boy was better 
 taught to realize that there were other people in the world 
 to be considered besides himself, a fact which the 
 Australian youth is sometimes apt to forget. However, 
 they develop early, and very juvenile Romeos may be 
 seen paying courtship in somewhat lofty and condescend- 
 ing fashion, both on the crowded "block" and at the 
 more sequestered garden gate, to Juliets so youthful, that 
 the sympathising onlooker almost fears that love's young 
 dream may be rudely dispelled by that short, sharp, 
 and decisive form of punishment, not unknown in the 
 nursery. So the candour and ingenuous freshness of boy- 
 hood especially, is rapidly becoming very rare, but it is, 
 I think, highly probable that the Cadet movement, which 
 is now in force in all public schools in the Colony, may 
 do great good in teaching young Australia how to spell 
 the two words, " discipline " and " obedience."
 
 AUSTRALIAN SLANG. 253 
 
 As to the English spoken in Australia, I believe it has 
 already been remarked how correct, as a rule, it is, and I 
 think it is free from any distinguishing accent or provin- 
 cialism to a marvellous extent, while the tone of voice is 
 pleasing and well modulated. In Sydney, however, more 
 particularly the young girls, especially of the lower classes, 
 are apt to affect a Cockney twang in pronouncing the 
 letter a as if it were i, or rather at diphthong. Thus, the 
 refrain to a well-known song will be pronounced as 
 
 follows : 
 
 Is this a dream? 
 Then wiking would be pine ; 
 
 Oh ! do not wike me, 
 Let me dream agine. 
 
 Another transgression is to term the plural " you " 
 " yous, " as " yous are busy. " Of phrases more or 
 less peculiar to Australia, as well as single words, are 
 "push" for crowd; to "shake" instead of to steal; a 
 " bit of a lad " expresses a wild young person of either 
 sex; a "radical" is a thorough blackguard, of course I 
 mean in Australia, where the political term is unknown ; 
 to "turn dog" on anyone is to betray him, and this 
 atrocious libel upon the best friend of man, and, perhaps, 
 the most faithful of created beings, is caused, no doubt, 
 by the awful parodies on doghood one sees in the public 
 parks ; to " shepherd " needs no explanation, but it is 
 generally used to express taking care of any person or 
 thing ; to " run " is to play upon anyone's credulity ; 
 to "nark" signifies to annoy; within "cooee" is what 
 sailors term within hail, though it has a wider range, as a 
 blackfellow's " cooee " can be heard at a long distance ; 
 "a dead bird" expresses anything useless or defunct;
 
 254 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA f 
 
 to "give it best" is to confess one's self beaten, while 
 the victim to a gang of sharpers owns that he has been 
 " taken down ; " to get in " a scot " is a very usual term 
 for displaying temper ; a " scotty " person is not one 
 who hails from the land of cakes, but a quick-tempered 
 individual;* a " blackfellow's game" is a left-handed 
 tribute to the intellectual qualities of the original owners 
 of the soil, and signifies a foolish act or pursuit ; to " go 
 bung " signifies commercial failure ; " tucker " is the 
 universal name for food ; and a person is very generally 
 referred to as a " cove ; " the term " cockatoo " farmer, 
 or " cockie," as he is frequently called, may sometimes 
 puzzle the new chum. The expression is, I believe, derived 
 from the out-of-the-way places in which some of them live, 
 just as the cockatoo nests in remote and unfrequented 
 localities. 
 
 Next as to the use of undesirable epithets and express- 
 .ons occasionally described as " cuss words." The average 
 Australian, whatever his position may be, is capable of 
 improvement, not that one meets with the cold-blooded 
 profanity, which is so commonly used in certain parts of 
 America ; but many expressions of a more than question- 
 able nature are somewhat generally used, and boys, and 
 even young children, have very often a stock of bad 
 language in active service, by far too plentiful, which, I 
 suppose, did not originate with them. 
 
 Of Larrikinism I have written elsewhere, it is a very 
 deplorable feature in Australian life. There is an utter 
 absence of all that is manly in most of the actions of 
 
 *I have elsewhere mentioned the expression "to barrack" as 
 meaning rowdy partisanship.
 
 LARRIKINISM. 255 
 
 larrikin " pushes." They simply combine to set the law 
 at defiance, and, in the present state of the Executive, 
 they succeed. I have stated that people are fond of 
 theorizing about its cause. Home influence, or rather 
 the want of it, is blamed ; and, no doubt, that has some- 
 thing to do with it. The fine weather permits of the 
 children being much in the streets, where they pick up, 
 in the way of language and ideas generally, a good deal 
 that is hurtful to them. As time goes on they get work, 
 at, perhaps, go,od wages ; they leave what, possibly, was 
 never much of a home to them, in the real sense of the 
 word. They learned early to regard restraint as irksome, 
 and they become very soon their own masters, except at 
 their daily work. They live together, and having between 
 them, for they make common cause in many ways, plenty 
 of pocket money, they want for little to aid them in 
 "turning up " wherever there is harmless amusement, for 
 them to convert into riot and disorder. It will be a 
 memorable day for Australia when any decided and 
 vigorous step is taken to break up its larrikin "pushes." 
 
 With regard to schools for public and private education 
 there is no lack, and in the bush, everything possible is 
 done to see that the education of children, even in the 
 most widely scattered districts, is not neglected. A good 
 education is a goodly heritage if a father can give his 
 son nothing more wherewith to fight the battle of life it 
 is a great thing. There are in the Colony 2,300 public 
 schools about, and between three and four hundred 
 private schools, headed by the Sydney University, with 
 which is affiliated three colleges and a grammar school. 
 The University, in addition to endowment funds, enjoys a
 
 256 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA f 
 
 magnificent bequest, from a gentleman named Challis, 
 of ^200,000, which endowed, amongst others, many pro- 
 fessorial chairs, the salary attaching to which is handsome 
 enough to command the best talent available. The 
 cadets, to which I have already referred as being enrolled 
 at the public schools, number about 6,000, are armed with 
 a suitable rifle and bayonet, wear a neat uniform, and 
 have an annual encampment. 
 
 A step, most decidedly, I venture to think, in the right 
 direction, is the establishment of an agricultural college, 
 termed the Hawkesbury Agricultural College and Experi- 
 mental Farm, near Richmond, 38 miles from Sydney, 
 where it is intended to give a practical education to 
 young men, in all matters connected with every branch 
 and detail of agriculture, and it may be that some pro- 
 tection may be afforded to home-grown produce to make 
 it worth the while of many young men to qualify for a 
 calling, useful to themselves, and beneficial to the Colony. 
 
 Young Australia is not much of a traveller. He has 
 none of American restlessness in him, or of the common 
 desire of the Britisher to see foreign lands. If he believes 
 that travel is a great education to a fairly observant man, 
 he does not practice it. The annual outing, common to 
 the Englishman, is not so much in vogue in Sydney; a 
 few days at Easter or Christmas is all. In the bush, were 
 it not for " overlanding " or droving trips, I think the 
 young fellows would not move about much. In a 
 chapter headed "An Idle Man in Sydney," I have 
 endeavoured to show that there are plenty of splendid 
 excursions from the Harbour City ; but if Young 
 Australia has the means of enjoying a holiday, I fear his 
 ideal of one is "Cup week" in Melbourne.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 AN IDLE MAN IN SYDNEY HORSES AND 
 CARRIAGES, AND THEIR COST AMUSE- 
 MENTS -- NEWSPAPERS EXCURSIONS 
 FROM SYDNEY, NEAR AND FAR TAS- 
 MANIANEW ZEALAND THE SOUTH 
 SEAS CHINA AND JAPAN. 
 
 Of those that betake- themselves to Sydney for a 
 greater or less term of residence from motives of benefit- 
 ing their health, for change, or other reasons which 
 concern themselves alone, there may be many who feel 
 loathe to leave the fleshpots of the city for the solitudes 
 of the bush, and would therefore like to know what 
 manner of amusements there are. Of these, some I have 
 briefly touched upon, racing especially, in writing of sport 
 in New South Wales, others, such as they are, which 
 may be accounted diversions in any sense of the word, I 
 will endeavour to chronicle. 
 
 Before, however, I proceed to do so, I wonder if 
 Sydney and its neighbourhood will ever become in any 
 way popular with Anglo-Indians as a temporary or per- 
 manent place of residence. I am not, for obvious 
 reasons, going to institute a comparison between Sydney 
 R
 
 258 SHALL I TRY A USTRAL1A ? 
 
 and London, as cities, but in point of climate, the former 
 is likely to suit them exceedingly, and, I think, anyone 
 who has no special ties in England might do worse than 
 seek retirement in New South Wales. At all events, they 
 might, with advantage, try a holiday in Australia, for 
 which the "P & O" Company did provide, no doubt 
 they do now, a specially low return passage between 
 India and Australia. 
 
 Owing to my experience of India being but slight, I 
 might, as is common with people who speak or write 
 from first impressions, be incorrect, but I think that there 
 was, some years ago at all events, a good deal of foolish 
 prejudice againt Australia and its people, arising princi- 
 pally from the extremely high opinion that many Anglo- 
 Indian officials entertained respecting themselves, their 
 abilities, position, and importance generally : some modi- 
 fication of which would argue the possession of greater 
 good sense and taste alike. 
 
 First, I will assume that the visitor to Sydney may have 
 a few letters of introduction, and in time he will have 
 no occasion to complain of dulness, especially if he 
 have any introduction from naval friends. He may also 
 be able to gain an introduction to one or more of the 
 Sydney clubs The Athenaeum, Australian, Reform, 
 New South Wales, Union, or Warrigal the style of 
 which, generally, may somewhat surprise the English 
 visitor. 
 
 At the outset, our friend will, no doubt, think of getting 
 a horse, and even if no horseman " at home," he will 
 probably not be long in Sydney before he will yearn after 
 making his appearance in the afternoons on the South
 
 THE PRICE OF HORSEFLESH. 259 
 
 Head road or in the Centennial Park, and study to 
 make himself an accomplished cavalier. As to keeping 
 a horse in Sydney, livery stable charges are high, and a 
 man can board for what a horse will cost weekly "at 
 livery." The best way for anyone with limited means 
 would be to advertise for board where there were horses 
 kept, or where he could get stabling, and if he is not 
 above looking after his horse himself, it will cost him 
 about io/- weekly for feed. Horses, on the whole, in 
 Sydney are not turned out in " Rotten Row " style ; in 
 the bush they seldom trouble about grooming them at 
 all. 
 
 And what is a fair hack to be bought for ? Well, most 
 people who have had the least to do with horses 
 know that it is an awkward question to answer ; but, with 
 luck, I should say from ,20 to ^25. There are daily 
 auctions at the several marts, where bargains are to be 
 had, good and bad, and sometimes really good, useful 
 horses may be picked up "dirt cheap." I have seen a 
 useful horse bought for five and six pounds ; and, in the 
 bush, have joined in a raffle for an equine wonder which 
 was valued at 2, and changed hands immediately after- 
 wards at an advance of z/-. Many people, however, 
 have, I dare say, found that bargains in horseflesh are 
 like a good many other things in this world, viz., they do 
 not invariably fulfil the bright promise of their early 
 youth. 
 
 The buggy is the vehicle of Australia, and is a most 
 useful one. There are any number of them for sale, and 
 if no great amount of money is to be expended, they are 
 to be had at prices to suit all pockets. English dog-carls
 
 260 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRAL1A ? 
 
 are to be had in Sydney, as also colonial made. I have 
 seen a good locally-made dogcart, and useful horse, 
 knocked down for 26. 
 
 I do not especially recommend anyone to get saddles 
 made when going out to Australia, say for use on a 
 station. For bush work a large saddle with big knee 
 pads is used, and they are fitted so as to buckle on a 
 swag. For the town they are modified considerably as 
 regards the pads and build of the saddle. The curb is 
 a good deal used in Sydney, but the snaffle is the usual 
 l 'bit" of the bush. 
 
 I have already touched on cricket, rowing, football, &c. 
 In the former, there will be an ample field for the visitor, 
 who is an expert, while the Association or Rugby Union 
 man will, I fear, find not so much employment. Yacht- 
 ing is a very favourite amusement, "our harbour" being 
 especially adapted for it : the two leading clubs are The 
 Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and the Prince Alfred 
 Yacht Club. Sailing clubs are numerous, but the rowdy- 
 ism of some of the crews, on Sundays especially, might be 
 mitigated with great advantage. The coast line of the 
 Colony is not favourable for deep sea yachting. But 
 such localities as the Hawkesbury or Broken Bay are 
 exceedingly beautiful, and suitable for a boating trip. As 
 also is Middle Harbor, for those who do not care to go 
 outside " the heads." 
 
 The idle man will, above all things, want his news- 
 papers, and of these I think he will have little cause to 
 complain. There is, first, the Sydney Morning Herald, 
 very well written, if a trifle grandmotherly in style. The 
 Telegraph, also, is a very good newspaper, though, at
 
 SYDNEY NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 261 
 
 times, disposed to be mildly hysterical, while Protec- 
 tionist matters are championed by the coruscations of the 
 Star, which makes its appearance in conformity with the 
 custom observed by the planetary system generally, as an 
 evening paper. Two other evening journals, the Echo, 
 and the Evening News, not always very powerfully 
 written, are amongst the daily productions. The leisure 
 of the early Sunday morning may be enlivened by one of 
 two newspapers, The Sunday Times, or an opposition 
 journal, which bears the not entirely original title of 
 Truth. The sporting interests of the community are 
 catered for by the Referee, which can be " appealed to " 
 every Wednesday morning, the descriptions of the boxing 
 contests being " done " in gorgeous paraphrase, and with 
 a wealth of more than oriental metaphor. For heavier 
 and more general reading and illustrations there are 
 issued weekly, The Sydney Illustrated News, The Town 
 and Country Journal, and the Sydney Mail. For carica- 
 ture and vigorous work, if occasionally a trifle robust, the , 
 Bulletin is about as good as any of its kind anywhere. 
 
 If, during the Sydney summer months, the mountains 
 pall upon the visitor, he must not think of the sea-side, 
 for it will be muggy somewhat, and not exactly as bracing 
 as could be wished, and there are no Scarboroughs or 
 Brightons to enliven it. He should think of Tasmania, 
 which is only about two days steam from Sydney, 
 and is very well-worth exploring, Hobart being a charming 
 little place; or, going further afield, he can make the 
 New Zealand tour in a month or six weeks, visiting 
 Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, and 
 the inland wonders, lakes, passes, and snowy peaks, to
 
 262 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 his heart's content, while during December and January 
 he can join a charming and not expensive trip from 
 Dunedin, of some twelve days, to the wonderful Sounds 
 of the West Coast, which equal in grandeur the most 
 sublime of the Norwegian fiords, and returning, he can 
 look in at Hobart for a stay, or continue his journey 
 across Tasmania. Once a month, an opposition steamer, 
 " The Jubilee," runs from Sydney to New Zealand, a very 
 comfortable boat, which reduces the usual fares of the 
 Union Steamship Company about her date of departure. 
 The fares vary, so I might mislead if I gave prices. As 
 to the Union Steamship boats, they deserve the highest 
 praise for comfort, and appointments generally, while they 
 take care that their passengers shall live like " fighting 
 cocks." I might add, by the way, that I am personally 
 unacquainted with the exact mode of life affected by fight- 
 ing cocks, but it has long been a favourite synonym for 
 the best of everything, and that is what I wish to express. 
 Auckland, at the north end of the North Island of New 
 Zealand, is about two degrees south of Sydney, and from 
 four-and-a-half to five days steam to the eastward of it. 
 Wellington, the capital, is on Cook's Straits, at the extreme 
 south-end of the North Island, about 300 miles south of 
 Auckland. Christchurch, with its harbour, Port Lyttle- 
 ton, is half-way down on the east coast of the South 
 Island. Dunedin, is about 400 miles south of Wellington, 
 while the Bluff, for Invercargill, is the southernmost point 
 of the Island, opposite Stewart Island, famous for its 
 oysters, thence the Union Company's steamers leave for 
 Melbourne direct, or calling in at Hobart for a few hours. 
 I trust to be pardoned for these trifling details, but I was
 
 A HOLIDAY IN THE SOUTH SEAS. 
 
 263 
 
 once asked whether New Zealand was not a favourite 
 Saturday to Monday resort of the Australians ! 
 
 The excellence of the coasting service of Australian 
 steamers is well worthy of comment. From Sydney there 
 are frequent steamers to Melbourne and Adelaide, and 
 northwards to Brisbane, and the coast towns up to the 
 Gulf of Carpentaria. Such steamers as the "Aramac," 
 and " Arawata," belonging to the Australian United 
 Steamship Company, are as fine and well-fitted, as any 
 ocean-going steamer need be. 
 
 Then in the winter time a splendid month or six weeks 
 can be spent amongst the Islands of the South Seas, to us 
 here in England, even in these days of so much travel, 
 not very much known. New Caledonia is only three-and 
 a-half days distant, by the large steamers of the Messa- 
 geries Maritimes Company. The Feejee group is five or 
 six days. Then the New Hebrides the Samoan group, 
 and others can be visited, and at no great expense. A 
 visit in the autumn should be avoided, that is, of course, 
 in the antipodean autumn. 
 
 Finally, in three weeks from Sydney, we can travel to 
 Hong Kong, by one of two well-appointed lines of 
 steamers, thence to see such as we can of the wonders of 
 the Flowery Land, or in four or five more days set foot in 
 Japan, of which, perhaps, of all the lands in which I have 
 travelled, I look back to with the greatest pleasure. So, 
 if Sydney has not old world cities and countries close at 
 hand, the sojourner "within her gates" will not lack 
 many wonders and charming scenes to recompense him 
 for occasional wanderings.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 NEW CHUMS THEIR PROSPECTS IN AUS- 
 TRALIA WHAT CAN THEY DO ? 
 LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION. 
 
 There are not a few young men who annually leave 
 England, their friends, and such influence that they may, 
 through them, possess, and set sail for the Antipodes, 
 trusting, Micawber-like, that something will turn up, a 
 large proportion seeming to have some vague idea that 
 things generally have a happier and more frequent 
 " knack " of " turning up " in the region in question than 
 elsewhere, and, not unfrequently, they appear to enter- 
 tain an equally hazy notion that there may be more 
 scope for them, they know not exactly how, or in what 
 direction, in so vast a country. 
 
 I do not wish to decry the spirit of adventure far 
 from it or insinuate that pluck and perseverance are 
 not in fulness of time, as virtue is said to be, duly 
 rewarded; but I do not want to see such laudable 
 qualities wasted, and their possessors doomed to the 
 hard lines that frequently await those who venture to 
 Australia in search of fortune. 
 
 * Letters of introduction, generally, form a material 
 part of the outfit of the new chum, and I have, as, no 
 doubt, have many others, very frequently heard it said of 
 
 * These remarks are not inspired by any feeling arising from 
 personal disappointment.
 
 LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION. 
 
 265 
 
 a young fellow on the eve of setting out to a foreign 
 land : " He has such splendid letters of introduction." 
 Again, I have no wish to discourage in any way that 
 somewhat rare commodity, disinterested good nature ; 
 but those who have travelled to a fair extent must all 
 have had some experiences of letters of introduction 
 which have been given in good faith, with equally well- 
 intentioned statements as to their probable value which 
 is generally far from realised. To those that travel 
 exclusively for pleasure, the matter is not one of such 
 great moment; letters of introduction serve to identify 
 them, and can be used, as they should be given, with 
 discretion ; it rests with the bearers of such to do honour 
 and credit to their friends, the givers of the letters, as 
 well as those to whom they are addressed. 
 
 It is with those letters that commend the bearer to the 
 care of men in Australasia that I wish principally to deal. 
 They are given very often with comfortable promises, 
 with words which, though uttered in good faith, are too 
 seldom realized. " This is a letter to my friend Brown ; 
 he is a good fellow, and an influential man, and will do 
 something for .you." A few such letters and such 
 promises a very few have, I fear, sent many a man to 
 experience disappointment and bitter reverses. 
 
 Take " my friend Brown ; " he is, no doubt, all that 
 has been said of him ; but, to freely translate the well- 
 known line of the Latin poet, " Times change, and 
 change us likewise." He has gathered about him fresh 
 cares, incurred new responsibilities during his residence 
 abroad. The problem " What am I to do with my 
 lads ? " is not confined to England ; it may be an
 
 266 
 
 SHALL I TRY A US TR A LI A ? 
 
 anxious one for him to solve. When he receives a 
 letter, asking him to find employment for a new arrival, 
 what could he say ? What, in good truth, should he, if 
 he spoke the truth, say ? Something like " My good sir, 
 I know scores of men in Sydney, Melbourne, &c., who 
 want something to do badly." He promises to do his 
 best. But I cannot refrain from saying that I fear that 
 people in Australia, occasionally, do not much care to be 
 the recipient of such letters, and no one can blame them. 
 Young fellows have too often foolishly ventured to the 
 Colonies, and I will not say forced themselves upon 
 people, but in the too frequent extreme necessity which 
 follows their ill-judged step as sunshine follows rain 
 have been thrown upon the bounty of those to whom 
 they may have been introduced. Let those that venture 
 take all the letters they can get, but I beg of them to 
 implicitly rely on none. 
 
 Now, concerning the chance of those who have some 
 recognised trade, calling, or profession as a stand-by. 
 I have written as fully as I can, in other chapters, but 
 there are many who go to Australia who, unfortunately 
 for themselves, have been brought up to no special 
 calling, or, having been placed to the same, neglected 
 their opportunity. These, most especially, I ask what 
 do they imagine they will do ? 
 
 Have they any idea that they will try clerical or office 
 work? Well, for every situation of the kind open in 
 Sydney, and, indeed, other Australasian cities, at a wage 
 of at most two pounds weekly, there are scores of appli- 
 cants, the greater portion of them men trained to business, 
 and possessed of local knowledge. Just as many to the
 
 THE SEAMY SIDE. 
 
 267 
 
 full, if not more than would run after a similar situation 
 in England. What chance has the new arrival ? 
 
 Very well, they elect to try "the bush " they have no 
 choice ! Seriously, what can they do there ? Perhaps 
 some are, worse luck, town bred. Can they groom, 
 harness, ride, and drive a horse? Yoke up and drive a 
 team of bullocks ? Kill, skin, and cut up in reasonable 
 time a sheep, or steer, or work ten hours daily as roust- 
 about in a woolshed ? Have they any knowledge of 
 handling stock? Can they split rails, cut billets, 
 rough it, and do the innumerable odd things that happen 
 in the course of a bush life ? Well, hardly, they are not 
 exactly possessed of all the foregoing accomplishments, 
 (which there may not be very much in after all), but could 
 soon pick them up which I have no doubt they would 
 but in the meantime the Australian bush lad is bred to all 
 this from his childhood. So it is a precarious matter 
 getting manual work in the bush. Then at present there 
 are the railway lines with pick and shovel, hammer and 
 drill work. Can they not do better at home ? 
 
 Many may be possessed of a sum of money which they 
 hope to turn to better account in a new country than in 
 the old. To this I have also made special reference else- 
 where. But do they expect to find people less sophistic- 
 ated in the colonies? Such is not the case. Throw a 
 stone into yonder pool, and watch the ever-widening rings 
 that ripple outwards from the plash. There are just as 
 many "rings" in the business world of Australia, and 
 " wheels within wheels " as multitudinous as in the most 
 complex piece of mechanism ever constructed. If, there- 
 fore, their aim be to invest money in business, a little of 
 a watching and a waiting game will not be played in vain.
 
 268 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 One class of man remains, the ne'er-do well, and why 
 Australia should have been selected as the place of ship- 
 ment of such I do not know. It is a great injustice to 
 the country, and brings the name of Englishmen into dis- 
 credit, and if such considerations do not weigh with the 
 relatives of any erring black sheep, better anything, for his 
 own sake, than such a step. 
 
 Much has been written and said about Australian 
 hospitality, and some of those whom I have heard speak 
 of it, seem to expect that if they were to visit any of the 
 colonies absolutely unknown, and without introductions, 
 they would be received with open arms. Such an idea is 
 absurd, a man must know, it is due to his family that he 
 should know something about the stranger he admits to his 
 family circle. Hospitality in the past, has also, I fear, been 
 abused, but even now, the visitor, in the bush especially, 
 will, I think, have nothing to complain about his treat- 
 ment, and those who can least afford to give, will often 
 give most freely. 
 
 Go to a cheap restaurant in Sydney to see how 
 "seamy" a side there is of Colonial life. Look at the wearied, 
 drawn faces of not a few poor fellows coming in to spend 
 their last sixpence on a good meal. They have walked 
 the streets all night, or struggled for uneasy snatches of 
 sleep in the public parks. Go into such places in thp 
 darkness of night, or the grey of earliest dawn, and see 
 among those who lie and lurk there, hopeless and home- 
 less, many, who with brightest hopes for the future, came 
 out to find only hard times and bitter disappointments in 
 the Antipodean Eldorado. This is no fancy picture by 
 any means. I wish to discourage no one but I want 
 to depict things as they really are.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SYDNEY SOCIAL LIFE LARRIKINS AND 
 LARRIKIN " PUSHES " AND OTHER 
 MATTERS. 
 
 The eminent author of " Oceana " has placed it on 
 record that he failed to see in Antipodean society, any 
 special features distinguishing it from that which he had 
 experienced in England. What Mr. Froude expected to 
 find he does not, by any hint, whatsoever, allow his 
 readers to conjecture, but I should have imagined that an 
 experienced traveller would have been prepared to find 
 things much the same as at home. That which that 
 bibulous old warrior, Captain Costigan, was wont to term 
 the " hoighth of poloit societee," has little variety about 
 it. If I were asked, however, to name any distinguishing 
 feature in the amusements of Sydney society generally, I 
 think I should at once say picnics, and an amplitude of 
 public holidays favours this social organisation. Fine 
 weather is not the least important item necessary for the 
 success of a picnic, and it may be generally relied upon in 
 Sydney. Then if the destination be Chowder, Clontarf, or 
 some more sequestered bay or inlet, there is the pleasant 
 sail upon " Our harbour," which is a host in itself, whether 
 it is the occasion of the annual outing of the " Baby 
 Brotherhood of the Blue Ribbon," with band playing and 
 banners flaunting or a complimentary picnic tendered to 
 a prominent rowing man, or pugilist, or any other great 
 and distinguished person.
 
 270 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 It is, perhaps, in the lower walks of life that we should 
 rather look for the unconventional, the picturesque in 
 attire, ideas, and conversation, and I think I may select 
 the " larrikin " as deserving our especial notice. 
 
 The expression is, no doubt, familiar to English ears, 
 and, as many people are doubtless aware, it originated, 
 at least so the common story goes, with a Melbourne 
 policeman not long departed, by the way, for " that 
 undiscovered country " where the general impression is, 
 I believe, that policemen cease from troubling, and 
 " moving on." He, like many other eminent men, was 
 of Hibernian origin, and among a few trifling mannerisms 
 that clung to him to whom do they not ? was the 
 habit, not uncommon amongst his countrymen, of 
 modulating the harshness of the Saxon tongue by the 
 occasional insertion of a vowel between two consonants. 
 
 " What are these lads charged with, officer 1 " 
 
 " They was lar-r-i-kin', your washup." 
 
 And so, as Columbus found a new world, did Police- 
 constable Allen, for that, I believe, was his name, create 
 a new word for the use and benefit of his fellow- 
 countrymen. 
 
 The real larrikin is, for the most part, a hard-working 
 youth, and he, and his comrades form themselves into 
 "pushes," a common term in New South Wales, and 
 equivalent to our slang expressions of a " crew " or a 
 "crowd." These pushes are named according to the 
 locality their members inhabit and affect. There is, for 
 instance, the Woolloomooloo "push." The younger 
 generation living in the rocky neighbourhood of the 
 Argyle cut, near Circular Quay, constitute the "Rocks
 
 THE LARRIKIN. 
 
 271 
 
 push," and in Balrnain, as the gentlemen that compose 
 it are for the most part professionally engaged in the 
 slaughter-houses, their faction is named with a grace and 
 elegance of diction, which is, I think, beyond praise the 
 " liver push." 
 
 I have said that the larrikin is, as a rule, hardworking. 
 He wants money, and when he goes forth in search of 
 pleasure, he is not unfrequently particular about his dress, 
 or " clobber " as he prefers to term his wardrobe. Here 
 comes a larrikin dandy, younger, perhaps, than the rest 
 of his " push." Physically, he is not a marvel of strength, 
 or symmetry. His complexion is colourless, and, save 
 for freckles, characterless ; and, as yet, there is no promise 
 of a moustache to tone down a spacious, shapeless, mouth. 
 His manner and bearing generally, would indicate that he 
 has seen all that is worth seeing, done all worth doing. 
 Life, it would appear, he is beginning to find hardly 
 worth living. His attire is new. A soft felt wideawake 
 crowns his seat of intellect ; his collar and scarf are of the 
 latest fashion. His waistcoat is adorned by a silver chain, 
 extending from pocket to pocket, bearing many " tokens " 
 and ornaments depending therefrom. His coat, of neat 
 black cloth, (he is not partial to colours), is distinguished 
 by general brevity as regards cut, and as you gain a back 
 view of the wearer you think it might have been made 
 longer with advantage. Probably he is desirous that you 
 should notice that what he would term the " seat of his 
 pants" is not marred by any unseemly patch. The 
 sleeves, too, are short, and terminate in a good deal of 
 wrist, and large, loosely dangling hands. His "pants" 
 note them with envious eye are tightly fitting above, in
 
 272 
 
 SHALL I TRY A US TR A LI A ? 
 
 sailor fashion, increasing in width as they descend, till 
 they almost hide his precious boots from view. They 
 have tiny, but high heels of the French pattern, and are 
 eyelet holed down to the toes. His gait is deliberate, and 
 savours somewhat of that of the stage-policeman. 
 
 And has this gorgeous creature no mate 1 Does he 
 waste his sartorial sweetness 'on the desert air ? No ; 
 there is the " larrikiness " or " larrikine," as, I believe, 
 it is intended to term her. She has much the same 
 walk, is dowdy, and needs no description. She is, above 
 all, outspoken, and her phraseology is vivid in the 
 extreme ; at fourteen she is as unsexed as if she had 
 spent a century in vice. 
 
 Larrikinism is a foul blot ; it is a standing disgrace to 
 Australia. The most vigorous denunciation that the 
 ablest writer ever penned falls short of doing justice to 
 the subject. San Francisco has its hoodlums, Liverpool 
 its "high rip " gang or had it its roughs and "corner 
 men," but in both cities the disturbing, law-defying 
 element is local. In Sydney, such is not the case. No 
 public place is free from the hideous pest. Open air 
 amusements, such as music, must give way to larrikinism. 
 In the parks, on the harbour, the yells, the filth and 
 blasphemy of the larrikin are the salient features of a 
 public holiday. School children, and those who safe- 
 guard them to a picnic or outing, never know but what a 
 day of intended pleasure will end in the aim and object 
 of larrikinism a riot. One would have thought that 
 such unspeakable outrages as those known as the 
 Woolloomooloo and Mount Rennie affairs would have 
 stirred up any community to action, but no. The police
 
 DEFALCA TIONS. 273 
 
 are confessedly helpless, and, beyond complacently 
 theorizing as to the cause of larrikinism, the Sydney folks 
 have not attempted to cope with it. 
 
 Is the foregoing overdone ? I have desired to be 
 moderate. The subject may be a safe one upon which to 
 launch abuse ; with that I have nothing to do. I have 
 had a very fair personal experience of individual larrikins, 
 representative young men in their way, and not as a 
 journalist seeking sensational " copy," by which I mean 
 that I was honoured with confidences which were not 
 overcoloured in view of beer or notoriety. This gave me 
 a good insight into what larrikinism really is. 
 
 Of other social matters there is not much that I can 
 say. I do not know that Sydney is better or worse than 
 other cities. That which we term the " Social evil " does 
 not much offend the eye, and is but little in evidence 
 Waterloo-place and certain other leading London 
 thoroughfares by night or even in daytime would be a 
 revelation to a Sydney native, though no doubt in Sydney 
 there may be much room for improvement. 
 
 I have, in the course of some remarks upon sport in 
 New South Wales spoken of gambling as being fairly 
 prevalent in the colony, and, indeed, in Australasia 
 generally, to what extent I could not say, for the reason 
 that I have no pretence whatever to a sufficient knowledge 
 of the subject to allow of my offering an opinion upon it. 
 But there is, undoubtedly, or was, amongst such blots as 
 mar the pages of social life in the colony, one that is most 
 evident even to those who may care to scan them in the 
 most casual manner, and that is not unfrequent defalcations 
 amongst trusted officials in public and private positions. 
 s
 
 274 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 More than once I have remarked upon the multiplicity 
 of banks, and of the abundance of clerical employment 
 which they provide; they have lately furnished some 
 grievous cases in which their employees have been 
 defaulters to a very serious amount, and in an important 
 government department more than one unpleasant reve- 
 lation has been made. This lamentable state of things 
 would argue either that a very different system of super- 
 vision is necessary, or, which is the more probable, 
 perhaps, of the two, that the means offered to men in 
 such responsible positions, for wholesale speculation, are 
 of a varied and most extensive nature, in which they are 
 accorded support, if not encouragement, at the hands of 
 men of self-styled respectability and standing. It is sad 
 enough when peculation is committed to a small extent 
 in the case of a too-frequently ill-paid clerk, when money 
 is taken to stay some pressing want, some great and 
 present necessity ; in such the cause and effect are 
 evident ; but when a man who need feel, as far as the 
 world can judge, no such pressure, one is apt to think 
 that the lost thousands might tell strange tales. Verily, 
 if there were no receivers, there would be no thieves.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE MODE OF GOVERNMENT THE LEGIS- 
 LATIVE COUNCIL AND ASSEMBLY LEGAL 
 AND ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS -THE 
 POLICE FORCE THE IMPERIAL AND 
 LOCAL FORCES IN THE COLONY. 
 
 No doubt some interest will be taken with regard to 
 the mode of government pursued in the colony, so a few 
 particulars concerning the system thereof and kindred 
 matters, will, I trust, not be out of place. 
 
 First of all comes the governor of the colony who is 
 appointed by Her Majesty the Queen at a salary of 
 j,ooo a year with a residence at Government House, 
 Sydney, and a summer resort at Sutton Forest, situated 
 on the tableland, some 90 miles from Sydney. He is 
 also Commander-in-chief of the naval and military 
 forces in the pay of the colony, by virtue of his office, as 
 well as the Governor of Norfolk Island, which he has to 
 visit once during his tenure of office, which is for five 
 years. In the absence of a Governor, the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, a permanent official, takes his place. 
 
 Next comes the Executive Council under the presidency 
 of the governor, with the government representative in 
 the Legislative Council as the Vice-president, the Premier
 
 276 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 and ministers forming the body thereof. Then there is 
 the ministry for the time being, the Premier, who is also 
 at time of writing, Colonial Secretary and Registrar of 
 Records, receiving an annual honorarium of ^"2,000, The 
 Attorney-general with a like sum, while the Colonial 
 Treasurer, with ministers for lands, Public Instruction, 
 Mines and Agriculture, Post-office, Justice, and Public 
 works are rewarded by ,1,500 annually. 
 
 The Parliament is composed of the Legislative Council, 
 and the Legislative Assembly, the former having about 70 
 members. They are elected for life, bankruptcy or 
 criminal offence alone annulling the appointment. No 
 salary attaches to the position, which is much coveted. 
 The members are entitled to the prefix of Honourable 
 within the Colony, and the letters M. L. C. affixed to their 
 name signify members of the Legislative Council. The 
 Legislative Assembly is composed of 137 members, who 
 are each paid ^300 annually for their valuable and dis- 
 interested services, and, in addition, they have a free pass, 
 in the form of a gold token bearing the Royal Arms, over 
 all the government tramways and railways throughout the 
 Colony. The affix of M.L.A. signifies that a gentleman 
 is a member of the Legislative Assembly. The qualifi- 
 cations for such a position, are, that they be 21 years of 
 age, natural born, or naturalized subjects of Her Majesty 
 the Queen, not holding any office, other than political, 
 under the Crown, or a Crown pension. Elections are 
 determined by ballot. Each Parliament is limited to 
 three years, the present commenced in February, 1889. 
 
 There are 74 electorates in the Colony, the number of 
 free and independent electors being about 280,000.
 
 LA W MAKING AND LA W MAKERS. 277 
 
 The qualifications are simply over 21 years of age, and 
 natural born, or naturalised subjects of the Queen. 
 Each electorate under 3,000 returns one member ; 3,000 
 to 5,000, two members ; 5,000 to 8,000, three members ; 
 over 8,000, four members. 
 
 The machinery necessary for keeping legislation going 
 and attending to its wants, provides some very snug 
 "billets." The staff attached to the Legislative Council 
 consists of eight persons who enjoy an average salary of 
 about ^440 a year, that of the Legislative Assembly, 
 from the Speaker, with ; 1,500 a year, consists of 
 14 gentlemen who average the very comfortable salary 
 of about ^550 annually, while the joint staff of librarians, 
 draftsmen, reporting staff, &c., of 18, average fully 
 ^475 a year. Then there are the house-keepers, 
 messengers, and servants, generally, and taking into 
 account salaries of ministers and members, the ministry 
 and Parliament cost the Colony quite ,70,000 sterling 
 a year. 
 
 As to the merits of the Legislative Assembly, for they 
 are supposed to do the brunt of the work, there is 
 certainly no justification for extravagant praise. Its 
 great feature is " talk," not unmixed, occasionally, with 
 personalities. Very many of its members seem to come 
 each with their own axe to grind, and terribly blunt and 
 useless some of them are which they aim at knocking 
 into shape upon the very expensive grindstone the Colony 
 pays so much to support. Few seem prepared to give 
 another the credit of possessing any sound ideas, and as 
 to any concerted action for the furthering of public 
 business, it is frequently wanting.
 
 278 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 Next there come the many governmental departments, 
 headed by that of the Colonial Secretary, each with a 
 large and well-paid staff, and here I might mention 
 that the revenue, generally, is derived from customs, 
 excise, stamps, sales and rental of Crown lands, railways, 
 post and telegraph departments, water and sewerage 
 rates. 
 
 As regards ecclesiastical matters, State aid to churches 
 was abolished in 1863, but it was continued in favour of 
 those then in receipt of it, which number not very many 
 ministers of the Church of England, Roman Catholic, 
 and other denominations. The greater part nearly one- 
 half of the population are Church of England, perhaps 
 rather more than one-fourth belong to the Roman Catholic. 
 
 Sydney is the seat of the Bishop of Sydney, who is 
 Metropolitan of New South Wales, and Primate of 
 Australia and Tasmania, while, in addition to the diocese 
 of Sydney, there are five others in the Colony, viz., 
 Bathurst, Goulburn, Newcastle, Grafton and Armidale,and 
 Riverina, with about 880 churches and 720 schools or 
 dwellings where public worship is conducted. The city 
 is also head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of 
 Sydney, and seat of the Archbishop, while the Colony 
 contains six dioceses, viz., Armidale, Bathurst, Goulburn, 
 Grafton, Maitland, and Wilcannia, with about 360 
 churches, and 500 other places of public worship ; in 
 addition, there are many convents, excellent schools, and 
 charitable institutions, all supported by voluntary contri- 
 butions, for, to the best of my belief, the State gives no 
 aid to Roman Catholic schools. Of other principal 
 religious bodies, the Presbyterian Church of New South
 
 THE POLICE. 
 
 279 
 
 Wales has, I believe, 280 churches, the Wesleyan 
 Methodists many hundreds of meeting houses. An old- 
 established and powerful organisation known as the 
 Church Society contributes very materially to the support 
 of the Church of England in the Colony. 
 
 For the administration of Law and Justice, there is 
 the Supreme Court, with a Chief Justice and six Puisne 
 Judges, including Courts of Lunacy, Divorce, &c., 
 District Courts, Coroners' Courts, and Petty Sessions. 
 Then comes the police force, which, including detective, 
 mounted and foot branches, numbers about 1,600 men 
 of all ranks throughout the Colony. The Inspector- 
 General, as the chief is called, has ;i,ooo a year and 
 allowances. Then come superintendents, inspectors, 
 and sub-inspectors, at salaries varying from $oo to 
 ^250 a year. The other payments are : 
 
 First class detectives u/- per diem 
 
 Second class ,, IO/- ,, 
 
 Third class ,, 9/- ,, 
 
 Mounted and foot police 
 
 First class sergeants 10/6 ,, 
 
 Second class ,, 9/3 ,, 
 
 Senior constables 8/- ,, 
 
 First class ,, 7/6 ,, 
 
 Ordinary ,, 7/- ,, 
 
 Probationary constables 6/- , . 
 
 with fuel, light, water, and quarters when available. 
 Sydney and suburbs has about 550 police, the traffic, as 
 I have elsewhere mentioned, being conducted by the 
 Metropolitan Transit Commissioners' officials. About 
 two-thirds of the police are mounted. 
 
 As the above might seem tempting to men in the
 
 280 
 
 SHALL I TRY A USTRALIA ? 
 
 English force, I should add that I believe there are 
 very many applicants for positions in the New South 
 Wales police, though men belonging to Sydney are, I 
 believe, debarred from joining the Metropolitan force. 
 As to physical qualifications, the Sydney force is not a 
 particularly stalwart body. The standard would be about 
 five feet eight or nine inches, and chest measurement, I 
 should say, low. For the mounted branch, a man must 
 be before all, a really good horseman, pass a strict medical 
 examination, and, upon joining, not weigh more than n 
 stone. The head-quarters of the Police are at 109, Philip- 
 street, Sydney. 
 
 The Fire Brigade is composed of a Superintendent, from 
 the London Brigade, I believe, and a permanent staff of 
 about 40 men. There are 18 to 20 volunteer fire 
 brigades in the city and suburbs, who act as an aid to, 
 and under the orders of the regular staff. 
 
 Coming to the question of the defences of the Colonies, 
 it is pretty generally known, I think, that Sydney is the 
 head-quarters and Naval depot for Imperial warships on 
 the Australian station. The twin-screw belted cruiser, 
 " Orlando," is the present flagship, and the remainder of 
 the squadron is composed of screw cruisers, gunboats, and 
 the screw yacht, " Dart " for survey purposes. One way 
 and another they spend a good deal of time in Sydney 
 Harbour, but when the summer heats commence, the 
 "Orlando" retires to cooler latitudes, protecting Mel- 
 bourne during the troublous times of "Cup week," and 
 thence to Hobart, and New Zealand. Then there are 
 cruises to " the islands," and surveying work. Altogether, 
 I should imagine that the Australian station is by no
 
 THE DEFENCES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 281 
 
 means disliked in "the service;" under the Imperial 
 Defences Act, of 1888, five cruisers and two torpedo 
 boats are in part completed, for the reinforcement of the 
 Australian station. 
 
 A training-ship in Sydney, even on a small scale, might 
 be very useful. There was a reformatory ship called the 
 "Vernon," now replaced by the well-known passenger 
 ship, " Sobraon " which has bid adieu to active service. 
 
 For local naval defence work, there are about 200 naval 
 artillery volunteers, who are purely volunteers, a small 
 amount annually voted them for working expenses, being 
 all the cost to which they put the colony. Then comes 
 the Naval Brigade, many of them old men-of-warsmen, 
 about 350 strong, one company of which is in Newcastle. 
 They have certain yearly drills, for which the officers are 
 paid at a rate per diem. The petty officers and men from 
 ^18 to ;i2 per annum. The wooden steam corvette 
 "Wolverene," given by the Imperial Government to that 
 of New South Wales, affords the Naval Brigade oppor- 
 tunities for their drills, and cruises, as well as the Naval 
 Artillery Volunteers. She has only sufficient of a crew to 
 keep her in working order, and in case of her services 
 being required she would be manned by the Naval 
 Brigade. The colony possesses also two torpedo boats. 
 
 It is more than twenty years since the Imperial troops 
 left New South Wales, and their recal gave rise to the 
 present permanent force which was at first artillery and 
 infantry, and then changed wholly into artillery, in which 
 form, under the name of the Permanent Artillery it has 
 since remained. It is entrusted with the defences of the 
 coast, and the general military duties of the colony. Its
 
 282 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 members are for the most part housed in the very 
 comfortable barracks in Paddington, a suburb of Sydney. 
 The principal fortifications are at Middle and South 
 Head, the former having splendid command of the 
 entrance to the harbour. 
 
 This permanent force is composed of one field battery, 
 and two garrison batteries, in all about 500 men, a very 
 fine body too, but of late, for some reason or another 
 they seem to have some difficulty in getting recruits, and, 
 in fact, the standard was reduced to five feet six inches. 
 Officers and men are well paid. The former receive, from 
 Major and brevet Lieutenant-colonel who gets ^450, to 
 Lieutenants, ^238, each with allowances, quarters, 
 rations, &c., and 52 per annum, for groom. A 
 gunner's pay is 2/3 per day, rations of bread, meat, and 
 groceries, free kit, uniform, quarters, &c. Special rates 
 of working pay, and rewards for good conduct, but no 
 pension. Recruits must be from 18 to 40 years of age, 
 and are enlisted for five years. They may re-engage for 
 a further two or five years. A detachment of mounted 
 infantry, and submarine miners complete the permanent 
 forces of the colony. The uniform of the artillery is 
 similar to that of the Imperial arm of the service, with 
 the exception that a white helmet with the badge of a 
 cross and stars, is worn. Officers wear gold lace. For 
 fatigue dress, a jacket of blue serge, and broad-brimmed, 
 grey felt hat, looped up on the left side, is worn. Drivers 
 and mounted men wear " cord " breeches and tanned leg- 
 gings. The mounted infantry wear karkhee uniform, brown 
 leather bandolier and belts, "cords," tanned leggings, 
 and grey wideawake. Engineers wear the Imperial scarlet.
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 283 
 
 Volunteering has experienced many reverses of fortune 
 in New South Wales. The first effort made to raise a 
 volunteer corps was, I believe, in 1851, and some years 
 later a yeomanry troop was established, which, on its 
 first parade in the Government House grounds, was 
 ingloriously routed by a pet bull of the Governor's (I am 
 fairly elastic as regards pets, but I think I should draw 
 the line at a bull). It never survived the little affair, and, 
 as the " Buffalo Brigade," was jeered out of existence. 
 Now, volunteering has settled down by force of circum- 
 stances and Acts of Parliament combined, into a some- 
 what anomalous body which is officially termed the 
 Partially-paid forces, and consists of engineers, submarine 
 miners, artillery, mounted infantry, and infantry, with 
 reserves of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, which are all 
 well-paid for the time they devote to their duties. A 
 number of reserve rifle companies are being formed, 
 which are made a small allowance. 
 
 The training to become efficient, in addition to nine 
 , continuous days in camp, and three whole detached days' 
 drill annually, is : 
 
 For Engineers 12 half-days and 10 night drills. 
 
 ,, Submarine Miners 22 
 
 ,, Artillery 16 ,, and shot practice. 
 
 Infantry 13 ,, and course of musketry. 
 
 A whole day is a parade of 6 hours ; half-a : day 2 hours ; 
 and a night parade i hour. Commissioned and non- 
 commissioned officers attend certain classes. 
 
 Payment for the above is made as follows : io/- for 
 whole days, 5/- for half-days, 2/- for night parade, i5/- for 
 course of musketry, io/- if a first-class shot, 5/- if second
 
 284 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 class, a bonus of 2 if efficient, and 2 for uniform. 
 The officers are paid from ;ioo a year as commanding 
 officer, with forage for one horse, to 2$ for a second 
 lieutenant. 
 
 The rules for the reserves are 12 daylight attendances, 
 20 night parades, shot practice for the artillery, and 
 musketry for others. The uniform of the artillery is 
 dark blue, of the infantry scarlet, mounted infantry and 
 cavalry, Karkhee, grey wideawake, &c. The age at 
 which recruits may join is from 1 8 to 40 years of age, the 
 maximum for the reserves being 50, and they have to 
 pass a more than cursory medical examination. The 
 annual training and encampment is held at Easter time, 
 near Sydney, for cavalry and infantry, while engineers and 
 artillery take possession of the fortifications at Middle 
 Head and elsewhere. 
 
 As regards appearances, the New South Wales P.P. 
 forces compare very favourably, I think, with the average 
 of British volunteer batallions. They seem, for the most 
 part, to contain older and steadier men, and, no doubt, 
 the medical examination keeps out many of the rather 
 " weedy " lads that find their way into the ranks of our 
 volunteers. The mounted men are particularly service- 
 able, but on foot are hardly so smart in their bearing as 
 could be wished. No doubt, being so much on horse- 
 back has a good deal to do with this. The entire force, 
 exclusive of naval volunteers and naval brigade, is rather 
 over 5,000 men. Major-General Richardson, C.B., late 
 1 2th Foot is in command. 
 
 Upon the whole, I don't think that at least some 
 portion of Young Australia looks with a favourable eye
 
 A DISLIKE FOR "SOLDIERING" 285 
 
 on " soldiering." I have often, when a young fellow in 
 the bush has been a trifle glum about his prospects, tried 
 to do a little amateur recruiting, but the reply very often 
 was " Oh, I couldn't do all that saluting business," &c. 
 In short, his idea of the whole duty of a soldier would 
 sometimes rather be that of the " comic " soldier or 
 sailor of Adelphi dramas, who " cheeks " his superior 
 officers in a manner more pleasing to " the gods " than 
 true to life in" the barrack yard or on the main deck. 
 Still the young fellows in Sydney " rolled up " nobly for 
 special constables during the labour troubles, and 
 organized a splendid mounted patrol, but they do not 
 seem to be able to raise a good brace of troops of 
 cavalry, which, I think, they should be well able to do, 
 seeing that nearly every young fellow, who can possibly 
 afford it has his own horse.
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS CENTRALIZATION 
 LIFE IN CITIES TECHNICAL 
 EDUCATION THE ABORIGINALS "JOHN 
 CHINAMAN" ALIEN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Reviewing the foregoing chapters which I have appor- 
 tioned each to a subject more or less materially essential 
 to that upon which I have, generally, presumed to write, 
 I find naturally one or two small matters upon which I am 
 tempted to make a few concluding remarks. 
 
 I have written, some may think, somewhat vigorously, 
 upon the idea of young men going out to Australia when 
 they are unfitted for colonial life, and trained only, if 
 indeed they have received any training at all, to clerical 
 work, which there is no need for me to state, is a drug in 
 any market, but I feel sure that anyone who ' nows the 
 colonies, even superficially, will confirm my statement 
 that it is hardly possible to write too strongly upon such 
 a subject. 
 
 It is an old, well-worn story no doubt, but the tendency 
 to centralize the crowding together in large cities, which 
 is as observable in Australia as in England, throws yearly 
 a greater number of town-bred youths upon the market, 
 who have never been in a position to acquire a taste for 
 rural life, or likely to take kindly to it even if they were
 
 THE CROWDED CITY. 
 
 287 
 
 possessed of any aptitude for it. All this undue central- 
 ization, no one needs to be told, provides an overwhelming 
 number of applicants for even the most paltry clerical 
 situation, and threatens to overcrowd every profession, 
 and to add to this, the work bench and the useful trade 
 is frequently looked down upon, and sacrificed for the 
 questionable position afforded by the office-stool. A life 
 of worry and anxiety thus becomes the lot of many and 
 many a poor fellow who, though his position may be a 
 fair one. and he devotes all his energy to the due perform- 
 ance of his duties, can never feel that it is assured : as he 
 must know, none better, that many would be glad of his 
 " billet " at a less figure, and if his health suddenly, or 
 prematurely fails him, which, under the circumstances, is 
 not by any means improbable, there are not many firms 
 nowadays like the dear old Cheeryble Brothers, not a few 
 commercial magnates preferring to see their names in 
 print for three-figure donations to fashionable charities, to 
 exercising a little of that greatest of cardinal virtues, which 
 is said to begin at home, though daily events go far 
 to prove that its source is "unfavourable to local develop- 
 ment. The question then arises is there sufficient oppor- 
 tunity for technical education, by which stuff suitable for 
 colonization may be turned out ? What chance is afforded 
 the many for gaining useful experience of a rural life? 
 The Hawkesbury College to which I have already alluded 
 may be the beginning of a most useful, and extensive 
 institution, as it stands to reason that knowledge is best 
 acquired in the country in which it is to be turned to 
 account. The idea of placing young fellows on English 
 farms to qualify them for colonists is, as an idea, perhaps
 
 288 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 good, but I have had experience of some instances in 
 which it would appear that such mysteries as top-dressing, 
 sub-soil, drainage, &c., were best learned in the billiard- 
 room of the nearest market town, and agriculture generally, 
 by assiduous riding to hounds, or driving about the 
 country in a well-appointed dog-cart. 
 
 I fancy some people may expect to hear a little about 
 what are usually termed the " natives," the original 
 possessors of the country. As I have explained the 
 term, " natives " apply to Australian-born white men the 
 gentlemen who were in possession when Captain Cook 
 made his appearance being termed officially, aborigines, 
 and colloquially, "black-fellows." I regret I cannot say 
 much about them, for the simple, and I trust, sufficient 
 reason that, personally, I know very little of them, but 
 such knowledge as I do possess, I will detail. 
 
 I have foregathered with men of many nationalities, 
 including specimens of what poetic fancy has described 
 as the noble savage ; but the Australian black fellow 
 does not occupy any conspicuous niche in my mind's 
 temple of ethnological reminiscences. He possesses 
 many traits in common with those who are supposed to 
 have benefited by civilisation. He is not overclean ; is 
 given to the use of tobacco and the consumption of 
 liquors, malt and spirituous, the latter for choice, when 
 he can get them, it being illegal to sell liquor to a black- 
 fellow. He is averse to working, and prefers to get along 
 without recourse to honest toil if he possibly can. He is 
 also, I fear, rather treacherous, and would not wholly 
 object to stab a man in the back, just as his Christian 
 brethren will sometimes slander a fellow-creature in like
 
 THE BLACKFELLOW. 
 
 289 
 
 manner. Like many others, civilized and savage, he may 
 have good in Aim, but he does not allow it sufficient 
 scope, or permit it to shed its light upon his domestic 
 circle, and associations generally, as much as could be 
 wished. 
 
 In appearance he is frequently of middle stature, 
 strongly built sometimes, and black as ebony. His head 
 is adorned by a shock of straight tangled hair, which 
 hangs over a low forehead, and jet black eyes glitter 
 through the thick fringe in no friendly or assuring 
 fashion. A full beard and moustache frequently hides 
 the rest of his face. As to the partner of his joys and 
 sorrows or "gin," as she is generally termed I am not 
 an adept at describing female beauty, and will only say 
 that the personal attractions of the average Australian gin 
 may, with great reason, be termed an acquired taste. A 
 benevolent Government allows the black-fellow blankets 
 and tobacco ; he has the privilege, like the law-makers of 
 his colony, of riding free by rail or tramway. There is 
 an Aborigines' Protection Board, and also an association 
 which is endeavouring to establish certain missions for 
 the benefit of the New South Wales Aboriginals. 
 
 Speaking of the Chinese, I shall not presume to enter 
 upon what may be termed the Chinese Question, save by 
 remarking that a poll tax of ^100 is claimed from each 
 immigrant from the Flowery Land. Captains of ships 
 manned by a Chinese crew, or having Chinamen on 
 board serving in any capacity, are under very strict 
 regulations while in port, and subjected to a heavy fine 
 if any one of the Mongols make their escape, while no 
 vessel is allowed to carry more than a certain proportion
 
 290 
 
 SHALL I TRY AUSTRALIA ? 
 
 of Chinese passengers, in accordance with her tonnage. 
 There is a large number of Chinamen in New South 
 Wales, from market gardeners, cabinet makers, " fos- 
 sickers," &c., to merchants. One of the last-named, Mr. 
 Quong Tart, is very well and most favourably known in 
 Sydney, and as among his many gifts is numbered the 
 ability to sing a Scotch song, it will, I think, be owned 
 that he is no ordinary gentleman. As to the forming of 
 distinct colonies of alien Europeans, I must leave the 
 encouragement of such to wiser heads than mine. No 
 doubt, those interested in the welfare of Australia will 
 remember that, if ever she casts off from " the old ship," 
 the presence of foreign elements in her midst may prove 
 a rock ahead, as the recent question raised by the 
 " Mafia " troubles in New Orleans may teach her. 
 
 And now, without any impassioned peroration, I 
 conclude a lengthy, though pleasant task, in the earnest 
 hope that what I have written may not fail in being a 
 source of some interest, perhaps use, to those who may 
 chance to think over " trying Australia." 
 
 FINIS.
 
 THE 
 
 Pioneer Life Assurance Company, 
 
 CAPITAL 100,000. 
 
 (FULLY SUBSCRIBED.) 
 
 Life Assurance at LITTLE MORE THAN HALF THE 
 RATES Charged by existing British Companies. 
 
 EXAMPLE OF COST OF ASSURANCE, 
 Age 40. Amount 1,000. 
 
 Average Annual Cost under existing British Systems - 32 5 10 
 Annual Cost under PIONEER System (after first year) 18 3 4 
 Saving to PIONEER Policy-Holders - - - 14 2 6 
 
 Directors : 
 
 J. HENRY IREDALE, Esq., Chairman (Liverpool). 
 
 W. H. BROWN, Esq., Vice-Chairman (Bolton). 
 
 T. BAVNE, Esq. (Burnley). J. D. MURRAY, Esq. (Wigan). 
 
 GEO. BOHN, Esq., C.E. (Hull). T. W. OAKSHOT, Esq., J. H. (Liverpool) 
 
 A. K. CANNINGTON, Esq. (Liverpool) THOMAS RITCHIE, Esq. (Belfast). 
 R. INGBR DEXTER, Esq. (Nottingham). GEO. SENIOR, Esq. (Sheffield). 
 A. H. JEFFERIS, Esq. (Manchester). P. SPKAKMAN, Esq., C.C. (Runcorn) 
 
 W. H. WOODS, Esq. (Preston). 
 
 General /Manager an5 Secretary : E. L. LEWES. 
 
 Besfstant Secretary : J. CARLISLE M'CLEBRY, F.S.S. 
 
 /Manager, Agency Department :W. T. OVERSBY, ) n, Dale Street, 
 
 District /IDanagcr for Liverpool : JAMES LOWRY, ) LIVERPOOL. 
 
 Before applying elsewhere, Gentlemen capable of Influencing 
 Business should write to the Head Office for Terms. To really 
 Competent Men the PIONEER Company offers advantages 
 otherwise unobtainable. 
 
 Head Office : 11, Dale Street, LIVERPOOL.
 
 THE 
 
 pcnter pfe JUBurance ffiompmtg, 
 
 LIMITED. 
 
 That existing methods of Life Assurance are a very 
 expensive luxury may be readily gathered from the facts 
 which will be found in the prospectus of the Company. 
 Under the existing systems, a person aged 30, who " lives 
 out his expectancy," will have paid (at existing rates, and 
 including 4 % Compound Interest) nearly 2,000 for a life 
 policy of 1,000. True, he may have received back a 
 portion of the sum in " bonuses ; " but the very fact that 
 "bonuses" are possible, proves at once that the assured 
 has been charged an excessive premium, and that when he 
 receives a " bonus " he is simply receiving back a portion 
 of his premium, which portion, in the first instance, he 
 ought never to have been called upon to pay. Under the 
 Pioneer system of Life Assurance this anomaly is impossi- 
 ible. The Pioneer system, as explained in the prospectus, 
 is a system of Life Assurance pure and simple. It is not 
 encumbered with Bonuses, Endowments, or any of the 
 elements which have converted existing British companies 
 into Banking concerns. It does not tell a man of 30, that, 
 if "he lives out his expectancy," and pays his premium 
 regularly, it will charge him 2,000 for 1,000, plus a 
 possible bonus ; but it says to him that, if he is willing to 
 devote about about 6/- per week to the payment on a Life 
 Policy, those dependent on him will, on his death, receive 
 the sum of 1,000. 
 
 The North British Economist says : " There is room found in the 
 prospectus for a table showing the reserve fund, premiums and interest 
 received, and claims by death and endowments of most of the leading offices ; 
 and the perfectly fair question is asked Why these companies, with reserve 
 funds exceeding, in aggregate, no less than eighty millions sterling, should go on 
 demanding prices that fill out this income from premium and interest to nearly 
 twice the sum paid in claims. As the imposing array of cyphers, which covers 
 from east to west the costly show cards we see everywhere, grows and grows in 
 importance as the integer in front of them from time to time increases, one 
 often seems constrained to ask Where is it all to end? The rainy day against 
 which the millions are saved comes not only the showery, occasionally, so far. 
 Will it ever be otherwise ? " 
 
 Write for Prospectus to the 
 
 1beat> fKce: 
 
 11, DALE STREET, LIVERPOOL.
 
 SILVER MEDAL, INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1886. 
 
 OLD ESTABLISHED 
 
 BASNETT STREET, CHURCH STREET, 
 
 RODS, TACKLE, NETS, &c., Made to Order. 
 
 OUR OWN MAKE SPLIT CANE RODS, 
 
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 Agents for Best RACKETS, TENNIS, LA CROSSE, 
 POLO, CRICKET, ROUNDERS, FOOTBALLS. 
 
 Makers of Flies for Norway, Sweden, Canada. 
 
 ALL VARIETIES OF TWEED, DEE, SPEY, 
 
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 TROUT FLIES in endless variety. 
 
 GREENHEART, CASTLE, CONNEL RODS, &c. 
 
 REPAIRS DONE WITH CARE & DESPATCH, 
 
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 Trout & Trammel Net, & Sea Tackle of every description. 
 
 ESTIMATES FOR YACHT'S OUTFIT. 
 
 HENRY WHITTY, Proprietor. 
 
 Telegraphic Address " FISHING, LIVERPOOL" 
 
 ILLUSTRATED CATALOCUES GRATIS.
 
 Awarded Gold Medal L'pool Intern'l Exhibition, 1886. 
 
 ENGLISH MANUFACTURED 
 
 RICHMOND CAVENDISH CO., Id., 
 
 SPECIAL BRANDS :- 
 
 "PIONEER" GOLDEN FLAKE CUT. 
 
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 BRIGHT & BLACK PLUG CAVENDISH. 
 
 IN ALL USUAL SIZES. 
 
 PRICE LISTS ON APPLICATION. 
 
 Established over a Quarter of a Century.
 
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