^^ L I B R.ARY OF THE UNIVERSITY or ILLINOIS 3ZS.ZAZ 6>95e / Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. University of Illinois Library ^n 5 19/3 .JUN4 fclAVss 5^5 f«nJN?i200l 1973 * r> 04 THE EMIGRANT'S MANUAL NEW ZEALAND CAPE OF GOOD HOPE PORT NATAL, &c. B.u./dbrvs^, ^rt^ IV' .Uca^ I9SO, SofjO. ISC ' -zz^ CONTENTS. Pagb New Zealand — General Account of the Islands, - - - - i Scenery and Climate, - - - - - 2 Influence of the Climate on Health, - - _ 4. History, --.... q Material Progress, ----- 8 The Original Inhabitants, and their Progress, - 10 Their Property and Industry, - - - - 15 Capabilities and Inducements to Settlers, - - 16 The Timber, ------ 17 Indigenous Food Productions, - - - 18 Agricultural Capacities, - - - - - 19 Question of Agriculture and Pasture, - - 20 ftlinerals, -------21 Wages and Prices, - - - - - 21 Arrangements for Disposal and Occupation of Land, - 22 Tlie various Settlements, - _ - . 24 The Northern Settlements, - - - - 24 Auckland, - - - - - - 24 New Plymouth, - - - - - -27 Soil and Agricultural Prospects, - _ - 29 Lliddle Settlements and Cook's Strait, - - - 33 "WeUington, ------ 33 VaUey of the Hutt, - - ... 33 Nelson, ------ 37 Wairau Plains, ------ 38 Land in Cultiration, Live-Stock, and Produce, - 39 Estimate for a Fifty- Acre Farm, - - - - 42 Regulations for the Disposal of "Waste Crown Lands in New Zealand, ------ 43 Account of the Otago Settlement, - - - 47 Account of the Canterbury Settlement, - - 58 , 6013 ^ IV CONTEKTS. Page Conclusion, ------ 74 Eeturn of Amount of Stock in the A'arious Settlements, 76 The African Settlemexts — General Account of the Southern Colonies suitable for Emi- gration, .---.. 77 Notice of other African Colonies to be avoided, - - 80 Account of the Cape, - - - - - 81 The Old Colony, ------ 82 The New Territories, ----- 83 The Caffres and other Native Tribes, - - - 86 Eoads, ------ 87 Productions, - - - - - - 88 , Wine, ------ 88 Sheep and Tillage, -..--- 89 Inducements to Settlers, - - - . 89 Land, and the Methods of acquiring it, - - 92 Labour, ------ 94 Colony of Natal, ------ 96 Clunate, -.-..- 99 The various Divisions of Natal and their Capabilities, - 101 Agricultural Productions, - - - - 103 Animal Productions, - - . . - 106 Prospects for Tobacco, Indigo, and Cotton, - -- 110 Other Miscellaneous Productions, - - - 114 Land and Investments, - - - - 115 Suitable Class of Emigrants, - - - - 116 Labour, ------ 118 Position of the Native Tribes as to Labour, - - 121 NEW ZEALAND. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF NEW ZEALAND. The New Zealand Islands in the South Pacific Ocean lie between the 35th and 48th degrees of south latitude. They form a narrow^ crooked, and serrated chain, extending to nearly twelve hundred miles in length. From their narrowness, notwithstanding the dis- tance from each other of the extremes, their whole area is gene- rally rated as about the same with that of Great Britain. There are two main islands, the north and the south, separated from each other by Cook's Strait — so narrow and irregular a pas- sage, that in the map it seems like the firths which break in upon the coast of Scotland or the fiords of Norway, and unless when traced fairly through, it does not appear to be naturally a sea dividing two islands from each other. The division south of Cook's Strait has generally been called Middle Island, because there is still a third island, though comparatively small, called Stewart Island, a great place of resort for the southern whalers. By letters-patent issued under act of parliament of the year 1847, the northern island was called New Ulster, and the middle island : ' New Munster. For the sake of uniformity, the name New Leinster : was subsequently given to the southernmost island, which may be 5|\-onsidered as the largest of a set of islets ofi" the coast of New Zealand.* *. These islands are the most distant of any territory of a like * The Auckland Islands may be noticed in connection with New Zealand, though they scarcely form part of the same group, lying fully 180 miles southward, in latitude SI*" south, and longitude 106° east. The group consists of one principal island, called Auckland, with smaller ones clustering round it, named Enderby, Disappoint- ment, Ewing, Ocean, &c. Their formation is volcanic, shooting up into picturesque groups of basalt, with richly - wooded glens between. The climate, though the 1 NEW ZEALAND. extent from other large portions of land on the globe. On the one side they are about 1200 miles apart from the nearest extensive territory — the island-continent of Australia: whUe on the other they are fully 100 degrees of longitude, with scarcely an intervening rock, distant from the western coast of South America. So much surrounded by wide oceans, it might at first be supposed that the climate and temperature of the islands would render them as distinct from any part of Europe as the Australian colonies in general have been found to be. But New Zealand seems to have within itself influencing causes of a totally diffe- rent character from the vast internal desert of the Australian continent. The climate has been often compared to that of Italy, to which it pretty nearly corresponds in distance from the equator, stretching rather farther north of the 40th south parallel than Italy stretches south of the same north parallel. The latitude of Wellington corresponds pretty closely with that of Naples. It is held to resemble that beautiful country in its physical aspect. To those indeed who love wild rocky mountain solitudes, with forest masses in their clefts — to whom, in short, the usual characteristics of fine mountain scenery are among the things that make life enjoyable — New Zealand will probably present more external attractions than any other emigration field. Australia has its moimtaui district in the northern part of New South Wales, but it is hot and jungly ; and while the hilly portions of South Africa are less densely thicketed, yet both are infested by dangerous wild animals, which poison the easy enjoyment of nature, however great may be the attractions they hold out to the resolute sportsman. New Zealand has been peculiar in nourishing no dangerous animal save man ; and erelong, the last remains of the aboriginal ferocity will be extracted — if tliis have not already been in fact accomplished. The scenery of the Canadas is not in any part so wild and grand in the height of mountains and the wildness of ravines, though there is nothing of course that can be compared, as one separate and peculiar scene of terrific grandeur, with the Falls of Niagara. Yet there are many mountain-torrents and fine rivers, and the geological cha- racter of the islands makes them diversify the coast with deep inlets, several of which have been foimd to be well -protected bays. The interior of the country has been but scantily explored : islands lie so far south, is described as salnbrious. It is considered that they"": form a valuable station for the southern whale-fishery: and in this view the; have been let by government to the Messrs Enderby, who have published a pam- phlet called ' The Auckland Islands : a Short Account of their Climate, Soil, and Productions ; and the Advantages of Establishing there a Settlement at Port Ross, for carrying on the Southern Whale Fisheries.'— 1849. 2 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF NEW ZEALAND. but probably, when fully kno\vn, it will not deyelop any entirely new features. It resembles, in general, the mountainous countries of Europe ; and its configuration, rising by spurs and successive elevations into central chains of high mountains, is so usual as not to leave room, as in Australia, for mysterious conjectures about the internal structure of the country. Yet the character of the geology is calculated to develop, and has already shewn many of the most striking and wonderful phenomena of the material world. The Snowy Mountains produce glaciers, though it would scarcely appear that they can be on so large a scale as those which circle round the Jungfrau of the Alps, or the Norske Fielen. But the mountain-ranges have another element of grandeiur and terror not to be found in the Alps or Norway. Not merely does the geology shew volcanic origin and disturbance, but there are volcanoes in actual operation. Hot springs and jets, such as those of Iceland, and even hot lakes, are known to exist ; and we may expect that, as the interior is explored, abundant volcanic wonders will be found, since, while it seems to have the same remarkable pecu- liarities with Iceland, they are not, as in that country, impassably shut from exploration by being embraced within the almost impe- netrable recesses of a horrible wilderness, which defies the keenest love of adventure and the sternest courage. The settlers have already had unpleasant intimation that they sit upon volcanic ground. In October 1848 there were felt in the neighbourhood of Cook's Strait repeated shocks of an earthquake. They must have done considerable damage among the temporary rickety edifices of the settlers, since the directors of the New Zealand Company, in their annual report for 1849, congratulated their constituents on the amount not exceeding £15,000. The indigenous quadrupeds of New Zealand have been so few and small, that, in an economic sense — ^that is, for the food or other use of man — ^none exist. The pig, however, has been so extensively propagated, as to have in some measure become a wUd animal which is hunted. There are many small birds, and the bones of a gigantic bu-d, the dinomis, found in the soil, shew it to have existed in times comparatively recent. Fish are abundant in the waters. The whale and seal of the south frequent the neighbour- ing seas, drawing of course farther and farther ofi" from the islands the more they are assuming a settled character. The whalers — adventurers from Britain, the United States, and the southern colonies, were indeed the first European inhabitants of the islands; and the nature of the prey they pursue, rewarding great daring and success with large pecuniary retmTis, makes their life one of peculiar wildness and adventiu-e, alternating with fits of indolence or dissipation. The vegetable capabilities of the islands will 3 NEW ZEALAND. have to be more fully considered in connection with their produc- tiveness, and with the accounts of the separate settlements. It may only here be observed, that timber abounds, though it does not in general grow high up the mountains. In the clefts between the mountains, and especially in the alluvial deposits made by the torrents, there are fine pasture-lands. Several extensive plains are of the same character ; and much alluvial soil, said to be of the finest description, is covered with an edible fern. By all accounts, the climate and atmosphere of Xew Zealand possess the invaluable quahfications of being both agreeable and invigorating — not tliat they are without occasional personal inton- veniences in the shape of abundant moisture. There appear to be none of those scorching droughts or dry winds which blight the Australian colonies. Travellers in good health, and eager m the pursuit of knowledge in a new and interesting country, are peculiarly unsusceptible, and do not by any means represent the sensitiveness of invalids seeking a place of refuge from the miseries which their condition subjects them to in the climate of Britain ; but the testimony in favour of the climate of New Zea- land is so full and concurring, as to be nearly conclusive. From the scientific notices of Mr Diefienbach, he was enabled to make the following general statements as to the climate and atmosphere of New Zeahind, and their immediate physical influence on the country and its capabilities : — *New Zealand being situated within the temperate zone, although nearer the equator than Great Britain, possesses, from its peculiar geographical position, especially from its being insular, and also from the nature of the surface, a climate so modified as to resemble that of England more nearly than that of any other country I am acquainted with. . . . The cast coast on which Wellington, Auckland, and the Bay of Islands are situated, is colder than the western, where the settlements of Nelson and New Plj-mouth have been founded, and where the air is far softer and milder. I ascertained this by actual comparisons, and in tliis respect the western coast must have great advantages over the eastern. In the interior of the islands the climate is colder and less changeable, in consequence of the presence of a snow-clad mountain group, and the greater distance from the ocean. I found at Taupo, the acacias of Van Diemen's Land, the Hicinus palma Christi^ and potatoes, afi^ected by the frost — a circum- stance which never happens near the coast. The leaves also of several trees had become yellow and deciduous; the landscape assumed an autumnal tint, although it can scarcely be said ever to have had a Mintry appearance. At Wellington, on the contrary, and along the whole coast, the natives plant their potatoes at all seasons of the year ; the forest remains ever green, and the opening of the flower - buds is merely a little retarded during winter, the presence of which is only indicated by more frequent rains and wtuds.' •i GENERAL ACCOUNT OF NEW ZEALAND. Mr Dieffeiibach joins "with other observers in making the amount of rain which falls throughout New Zealand greater than the average amount in Britam. In fact, from the vast ocean sur- rounding the islands, a mass of vapour is always concentrated over them, attracted by the mountains, and ready to be dissolved with the smallest change of temperament. The united testimony, however, of those who have experienced its effects — far more valu- able than any kind of scientific deduction — shews that this mois- ture is neither disagreeable nor unhealthy. ' This great quantity of moisture,' continues Mr Dieffenbach, ' accounts for the vege- tation being so vigorous, even in those places where a thin layer of vegetable earth covers the rocks. Sandy places, which in any other country would be quite baiTcn, are covered with herbage in New Zealand ; and the hills, which m lithological and geological formation resemble those of Devonshire, may, in the course of time, be converted uito pastures at least equalling those in the hilly parts of that country. Everywhere, also, trees and shrubs grow on the margin of the sea, and suffer no harm even from the salt spray.' However valuable swamp land may be as a means of investing capital in an effective drainage, which makes it richer than the dry hilly tracts by which it is surrounded, the absence of marsh land, and the existence of a geological formation which affords a speedily-drying surface through natural drainage, is of infinite importance to the settler whose v/hole capital is embarked m his journey and his stock, and who wants immediate produce from the soil. On this the same traveller says — * The physical configuration of New Zealand, and the geological formation of the hills, are in general such that tlie rain is rapidly carried towards the coasts in countless streams and rivulets. The lakes with which the interior of the Northern Island abound have always an outlet ; and it is only in a very few places that swamps exist, and these are owing to the clayey nature of the subsoil ; but they are not sufficiently important to influence the general state of the humidity of the air, or to become insalubrious. In the neighbour- hood of Port Nicholson the rain quickly percolates through the light upper soil, and feeds the numerous streamlets which i-apidly carry it off into the sea.' — {Travels in Xeio Zealand, i. 173-179.) Mr Jerningham Wakefield, whose testimony, however, must be taken as tliat of a zealous admirer of New Zealand, speaks in the same tone. * I landed at Klapiti,' says Mr Wakefield, ' and in a day or two after crossed over to the main, and walked to Port Nicholson. In the course of this walk I was benighted on the hills between Porirua and Pitone, having mistaken the time of the rising of the moon. As it was too dark to proceed along the tortuous path beneath i\\e thick foliage, I lay down to sleep for a few hours among the moss and 5 NEW ZEALAND. forest fern beside the path. It is worthy of remark, that although everything was so damp that I could not light a fire, and I had no blanket or any other clothes but those in which I walked to shield me from the wet, I suffered no inconvenience from cold, and rose fresh and vigorous at the first dawn of day.' — {Adventures in Xeio Zealand, i. 389.) This is a matter of the utmost importance, since it now not xm- frequently happens that people in comfortable circimistances, and with every prospect of success at home, believing that it will give their unhejdthy children a better chance of life, makg up their mind to settle within the range of some more salubrious atmo- sphere. Mr Allom, a settler at Wairarapa, says, in a letter pub- lished in Mr Earp's Hand-Book : — ' From the nature of the country and of the climate, New Zealand stock-farming diflfers from any other. One of its most valuable pecu- liarities is in consequence of the climate ; namely, your cattle are never housed either in summer or winter. They are always in the open air, or, as they would say in New Zealand, "on the run." Hence whatever may be the extent of the flocks and herds, the only farm-buildings requisite are a strong post-and-rail stockyard for the purposes of milking and occasionally mustering the stock. Tliis favourableness of climate, again, gives rise to what in my opinion is the greatest charm of the stock-former's life in New Zealand. His stock being always free to roam where they please, he must be con- tinually in the saddle, if he does his duty to them or to himself; and this constant horsemanship carries with it a life of healthy excite- ment, to which at times even fox-hunting must yield. Few who have not tried it can have any idea of the excitement that this occu- pation affords.' Such is a general view of the features which characterise this the latest adopted British settlement. That it is destined to great influence on the history of the southern world seems almost cer- tain. Its mountain-ranges, like our own, will not be inhabited or tilled ; but there appears to be sufficient alluvial soil to supply the wants and the energies of a vast population. It must not be forgotten, in connection with the prospects of New Zealand, that when the operations in progress for making a passage through the Isthmus of Darien, between the Atlantic and Pacific, are completed, New Zealand will be nearer Britain than Australia. History. — For many years New Zealand was only known as a barbarous coimtry, frequented by whaling- vessels from Australia. At length, in 1814, the Church Missionary Society marked it out as a field for its labours ; and from the agents of this association the natives first received the rudiments of civilisation. Gradually the British government awakened to its importance for colonis- 6 GENERAL ACCOUNT OP NEW ZEALAND. ing purposes; but not till France put forward some claims for its occupation was it adopted as a British possession. From this event the history of New Zealand is little else than a series of misunderstandings, blunders, and contentions, some of which terminated in bloodshed. The natives, the government officials, the missionaries, and the agents of the New Zealan(J Company, were all less or more concerned in these unhappy events, wliich it would now be better for all parties to bury in oblivion. The principal fact wliich concerns the intending emigrant is, that government in 1841 constituted, by royal charter, an asso- ciation called the New Zealand Company, to which, on certain terms, a large tract of land was assigned. This company thence- forward began to carry out emigrants, and retail lands to those who wished to be purchasers. Then- plans were conceived on a liberal and extensive scale. The colonising operations of the company clustered round Cook's Strait, where they founded the settlements of Wellington, Petre, New Plymouth, and Nelson. Several men of family and fortune were induced to join in this remarkable enterprise. Some were attracted from lucrative pro- fessions by the charms of such an adventure, and many gentle- men brought attached followers of humble rank from the districts where they possessed family influence ; on the whole, it was a very, pretty object of contemplation — a complete social system, with all its checking, controlling, and civilising influences, pass- ing to the other end of the earth to assmne mature and com- plete existence in a fresh and teeming soil. Captain Wake- field, who led the expedition, sailed in the Tory from Plymouth, on the 12th May 1839, and he met the other ships of the ex- pedition at the general rendezvous at Port Hardy, in Cook's Strait. Almost from the commencement, disputes arose between the government and the company, which had a paralysing efifect on the various settlements. At length Mr Spain was appointed to investigate and settle the differences, and he gave his final award in 1845. Neither this award nor the subsequent proceedings of Governor Fitzroy or Su- George Grey helped the association out of its difficulties ; and to put an end to the affair, the company resigned its charter and its functions into the hands of the govern- ment in April 1850. From that time the New Zealand Company ceased to exist, save in so far as part of its organization has been preserved under government direction. From this explanation it will be understood that though dealing ostensibly for land with what is called the New Zealand Company, the intending settler is really purchasuig from government. The office of the New 7 NEW ZEAL-IXD. Zealand Company, where distinct information may always be obtained respecting lands, is Xo. 9 Broad Street Buildings, London. Letters should be addressed to the secretary. New Zealand was at tirst governed as a dependency of New South Wales. It is now, by various acts of parliament, estab- lished as a separate colony, with a governor and the usual sub- ordinate functionaries. It has also been accorded certain muni- cipal privileges conformable to constitutional forms. These it is deemed inexpedient to particularise, as the political condition of the colony is not by any means on a determinate footing. Ac- cording to a charter and series of instructions communicated to the governor, the colony was divided mto provmces. Cook's Strait being the dividing-line. The Northern Island, with its dependencies, was constituted the province of New Ulster, with power to the governor to except from it by proclamation any territories near the Strait ; while the southern portion was to be the province of New Munster. TMiether the islands will ever be popularly called by these names, which reveal a great poverty of invention in the Colonial Oflice, may be doubted. The native designations will more probably come into general use. Already a considerable number of places are known only by the names given to them by the natives. Material Progress. — Notwithstanding the disastrous commence- ment of the colony, it has never ceased to advance m material prosperity. The amenity of the climate, the fertility of the soil, the latent powers of productiveness, the enterprise of its inhabi- tants, and its admu-able situation for trade, aU mark it out as the futm*e England of the southern hemisphere. In going to this fine coimtry, the emigrant has a choice of several settlements, either du-ectly under the crown, or imder the management of associations holding from the crown. In a dispatch by C4ovemor Grey, dated 9th July 1849, the following sketch was given of the state and position of the settlements in general : — ' They are composed at present of what may be termed nme prin- cipal European settlements, besides smaller dependencies of these. The largest of the settlements contains about 7000 European inhabitants, and then* total European population may be stated at about 20,000 souls. These settlements are scattered over a district of about 800 miles of latitude ; they are separated from each other by wide intervals ; and communication even by per- sons on horseback exists only between three of them The wide intervals between these European colonies are occupied by a native race of 120,000 souls, a very large proportion of whom are males capable of bearing arms.' Notwithstanding the presence of these natives, the governor GENERAL ACCOUNT OF NEW ZEALAND. gave the assurance, that 'at the present moment there is pro- bably no portion of the world in which life and property are more secure than in New Zealand.' In the annual report for 1850, he proposed to reduce the military establishment to 1180 men, and wisely suggested that those dispensed with, instead of being sent back to Europe, at great expense, with their wives and families, should be absorbed in the colony, where they would be promising settlers, with notions of discipline and allegiance, and would be a sort of self-supporting defence — a trained militia. At the same time, the governor proposed the support of a war-steamer as the best means of giving effective strength to the executive — an arrangement well adapted to a narrow island country full of creeks and capes. It would be improper to leave this department of the subject without alluding to the convict question. No fruitful and unsettled territory, especially so near our penal colonies, could keep itself free of the loose portion of the adventurers cast forth from our social system ; but New Zealand has not, like other southern colonies, been systematically made the drain of our criminal population. It is a matter of important consideration for all who propose to settle there, that the conduct of the government has guaranteed the settlement from being made a place of exile for convicts who have undergone punishment. As well as to the Australian colonies, it was proposed to send ticket-of-leave men to New Zealand, ' if the inhabitants were willing to receive them.' Though not blind to the advantages in the labour-market from such a consignment, the colonists expressed a decided disinclina- tion to receive such associates; and Governor Grey, ever clear- sighted, and earnestly interested in the welfare of the colony, seconded the disapproval, remarking : ' I think that this country would hold out to men of their characters almost irresistible temptations to retire into the interior of the country, there to live among the native population, and cohabit with their women.' Meetings were held to express the disapproval of the settlers ; and even the natives, whether spontaneously or not, spoke out, in an address to Her Majesty, in which they said: ' Oh, Lady, we shall be perplexed if the convicts be allowed to come here. They vould steal the property of the Europeans, and the natives would be accused of the theft, and we should be very much displeased. Eather let gentlemen, men of peaceful life, come here. We like such men. Let them be numerous, for our country is large.' On the 26th November 1849 Lord Grey wrote to the governor of Xew Zealand, informing him that the government concurred in his views, and would not send convicts to New Zealand. — {Pari. P(p. 1850.) 9 NEW ZEALAND. THE ABORIGINES. Independently of all questions as to humanity to themselves, the character of the natives of New Zealand is of importance, because, instead of dwindling away, and disappearing before the civilised settlers, it would appear that they and the uneducated class of colonists are hereafter to be a mixed race. This circum- stance alone stamps the New Zealander as a being superior to the Australian and the South African, and even to the North- American Indian. The pictorial illustrations of Cook's Voyages first awakened a sense among Europeans to their capacity as shipbuilders, organizers of marine forces, sailors, and ornamental carvers. At the same time Captain Cook horrified the world by declaring them to be cannibals : he left the matter in no mysterious dubiety, for the experiment by which he convinced himself of its existence is told with a disgusting minuteness which also convinces the reader. Our coimtr}Tnen were long loth to believe that people who were cannibals could be more civilisable than other aborigines living on rats and reptDes ; but it was so : nor, after all, need we wonder at it, when we see what horrible vices the natives of our own country can commit when they are sunk in barbaiism. The bushrauging convicts of Van Diemen's Land became cannibals without the least compunction. As they had sunk from the level of British civilisation to that, the most horrible of bar- barities, it appeared that there could be nothing in the practice itself to prevent a race who followed it from being as civilisable as our own countrymen. The same gentleman who so beautifuUy illustrated the natural objects of South Australia has performed the like service for New Zealand, and the intending settler there should take the opportu- nity of seeing what manner of country he is going to. That the scenery was of a rich, beautiful, and romantic character, was weU known before, and Mr Angas's scenes only accord with the expec- tations formed from descriptions. But his portraits of the natives are somewhat surprising, especially when compared with his representations of South Australian aborigines. It is visible at once that they are a fine race, with a full physical development, and a sound intellectual expression. Good-humour and firmness are united in their physiognomy. The garments, especially those of the women, are becoming and modest ; and it is, on the whole, a pleasm*e to look on these pictures after the eye and the rind have been disgusted with the Australian semi-animal. ISh Angss's 10 THE ABORIGINES. portraits in New Zealand correspond accurately with his statement — that ' the character of the New Zealanders is a strange mixture of pride, vanity, fickleness, covetousness, and generosity, passion and gentleness, mingled with many good and estimable qualities. Then* temperament is warm and ardent ; their ideas are full of imagery; and they possess much gaiety and wit. In acuteness of perception they are far beyond Europeans : they are children of nature gifted with high and superior qualities, which only require to be directed in a right channel. They have a strong sense of justice, and I have universally found them honest and hospi- table.' The specimens of decoration and architecture m Mr Angas's book shew such an advancement in these arts, as the early inha- bitants of Europe might have been supposed to exhibit in wood- work just before the date of the Norman architecture. Their carving, and its adaptation to produce a general effect m com- bination with the shape of the edifices, are not unlike Norman work such as we see in the early churches and castles of England. The carved decorations, in fact, are about as good ; and we must remember that this was the feature in our old buildings, which our ancestors invented. The arch, and the use of pillars — indeed it may be said the stonework generally — were derived from the Ro- mans. It may be questioned if, without this start, the nations of the north of Europe, at the time of the Conquest, could have produced buUdings to match with those of the New Zealanders ; with, for instance, the mansion of Eangihaiata, which goes by the name of Kai Tangata, dreadfully indicative of the ferocity which mixed with the civiHsation, since it means eat man, and was pro- bably conferred in the same spirit in which a sportsman names his shooting-lodge after some sporting peculiarities or reminis- cences. Of their matting, which is one of the best testimonies to their own indigenous progress in civilisation, Mr Wakefield men- tions four kinds. The plainest sort, called porera, is closely plaited from unscraped flax, split into narrow stripes. It has a glossy straw-like surface, and though coarse, is compact. The next, called Jwroivai, is woven with scraped flax, and ornamented with black tags or tassels : they were varied in colour by the arrangements of different coloured stripes, and were used as dresses by the women. A coarser kind, but fit, by its closeness of texture, for clothing, was called tiehe, and was formed from the refuse of the flax scraping. The finest kmd was called kaital-a, or j)arau'ai, described as a beautiful fabric, woven from fine snow-white silky muka. The black dye so used is extracted from the bark of a large forest-tree called the hinau, which appears to have the 11 NEW ZEALAND. same qualities as the gall-nut, and the natives had found out the secret of blackening the tannin by oxidised iron, the method in which our own writing-ink is compounded. From the peculiar nature of the land-claims and other sources, many distressing disputes occvuTed with the natives. Among the tragic results of these was the massacre of Wairau, as it was called, in 1843, in which some of the most valuable men of the colony were slain, including the gallant Captain Wakefield. Those who had lost relations or valued friends in this miserable affair were naturally impatient for vengeance, and irritated when, instead of immediately bringing down on the assailants the retribution of the powerful British government, a cool inquiry was instituted into the whole circumstances. The investigation shewed that the affair arose out of the fruitful source of all mischief in the new colony — misunderstandings as to dealings in land ; and it farther shewed that to treat savage chiefs, who, in a dispute in which they had plausible grounds of complaint, had used the force they pos- sessed, like inhabitants of England who had committed a murder for the sake of revenge or robbery, would neither be prudent nor just. The whole of the melancholy transaction is not likely to be forgotten in future schemes of colonisation ; more particularly as it was followed by various hostilities which did not terminate till 1847. The fatalities in the subsequent contests with the natives were, however, on the whole, not very great : they amounted in all to twenty-eight killed and fifty-three wounded. But they had the appearance of being interminable. The resources and capacity for war which they exhibited were of a very formidable kind. Over the vast districts where the European settlements were scattered there were no roads, and none but the natives could command the means of transit. They carried no baggage, their wives following them with potatoes or other simple food — and the sole encumbrance of their march was in the excellent double-barreUed rifle which each warrior possessed, and could effectively use. When they found that the British troops could destroy their fortified pahs, they abandoned them, trusting to flying warfare. At any time the latent energies of this warlike people might thus be roused against British rule, however firmly established. The question was, what remedy should be adopted? The harsh old system would have suggested extermination ; but a gentler and more effective method was adopted, leading to amalgamation. In the first place, efforts were made to adjust the land question with thorough impartiality : these have been already considered. There was next an effort made to give the natives a stake and interest in the administration of the British system of government. Those who had fought as allies of 12 THE ABORIGINES. the government were pensioned, and received distinctions. A few natives were employed as policemen : the project was at first nearly overwhelmecl in ridicule, but it turned out to be very effective; and Sir George Grey, in a dispatch of 1849, says — ' The native armed police force has furnished gallant men, who have led our skirmishing parties, and who have fallen, like good soldiers, in the discharge of their duty ; and it has furnished intelligent, sober, and steady constables, whose services, under various cir- cumstances, have been found of great utility.' In addition to such means of civilisation, the instrumentality of savings' banks, industrial training, and other aids of civilisation — found efficacious, and, unfortunately, necessary among the lowest gi-ades of our own population — have been satisfactorily resorted to. Exhibiting the first broad, coarse characteristic of a civilisable people — intense love of gain — the New Zealander, unlike the haughty indolent lied Indian, has been attracted to the white man by the sources of profit which he opens up, and many of them have turned out to be good workmen on the public works. Such have been the secondary means of civilisation which, going hand in hand with the more important functions of the Christian missionary and the schoolmaster, are tending to the firm establishment of peace in New Zealand, and a good understanding between the races. It will be seen that in the act for the government of New Zealand, mentioned elsewhere, provision is made for the native laws and customs being respected, and especially in all questions among the aborigines themselves. In the royal letter of instruc- tions sent out with the New Zealand charter in 1847, for the pur- pose of putting this act in practical effect, not the least interesting portion is the 14th chapter, applicable to this clause of the act. An abridgment of it follows : — 'The governor-in-chief shall, by proclamation, set apart particular districts of New Zealand, under the designation of " Aboriginal Dis- tricts," where the laws, customs, and usages of the aboriginal inha- bitants, so far as they are not repugnant to the general principles of humanity, are to be maintained. Witlun these districts the native chiefs, appointed by the governor, are to interpret and execute their laws, customs, and usages, wherever the aboriginal inhabitants themselves are exclusively concerned. At the same time, any per- son, not an aboriginal native, while within any such district, must respect aud observe these native laws, customs, and usages, on pain of such penalties as may be inflicted by the sentence of any court or magistrate in any other part of the province. The jurisdiction of the courts and magistrates of the entire province are to extend over the aboriginal districts, subject only to the duty of taking notice of and giving effect to the laws, customs, and usages of the aboriginal inhabitants in all such cases. In cases arising between the abori- C 13 XEW ZEAIAXD. ginal inhabitants, beyond the limits of their districts, and In what- ever relates to the relations to and the dealings of such aboriginal inhabitants with each other beyond the same limits, the courts and magistrates of the entire province, or of the district in which the cases arise, are to enforce these native laws, customs, and usages. 'The governor may contract or enlarge the limits of aboriginal dis- tricts, but no such district is ever to comprise lands which the gover- nor may, by proclamation, have declai-ed to be within the limits of settlement.' So early as the 25th March 1847, Governor Grey had to report in the following terms the commencement of a good understanding ■with the natives, which, to the advantage of both parties, made rapid progress : — * I am unwilling to lose this opportunity of stating, that affairs throughout the whole of these islands are proceeding in a most satisfactory manner. Commerce and agriculture are rapidly extend- ing the improved methods of cultivation adopted by the natives; the large quantities of wheat they now produce, and the erection of mills throughout the country — some of which are their own property — are gradually rendering them an agricultural popula- tion, whose property will be too valuable to permit them to engage in war ; and although there are still some warlike spirits who may occasion partial disturbances, I do not see any probability of any extensive outbreak again taking place. ' The revenue, as might be expected, is rapidly increasing — indeed so rapidly as to surpass my most sanguine expectations j and as the natives, under the present system of taxation, contribute largely to that revenue, every improvement in their condition will afford the means of providing more efl&cient protection for property, and for the future peace of the country. Her Majesty's subjects, both Euro- pean and native, appear to appreciate fully the advantages of their present position ; and not only evince the most gratifying contentment, but generally afford me the most cheerful and active assistance in carrying out my various measures. I need hardly add, that this assistance is most valuable to me ; and that, in the case of the native chiefs, it has recently enabled me to airange, in the most amicable and advantageous manner, the great mass of the land-claims in the southern districts, which, had they not met me in a spirit of the fullest confidence, I should have found it most difficult to adjust satisfactorily.'— (Par?. Pap. 1847.) That a complete cessation of aU tribe or party conflict among the natives should have been accomplished, is of course out of the question; since indeed their increased industry and civilisation, hy making them more conscious of the advantages of -wealth, and especially of landed property, open up new causes of dispute and contention. But short as has been the British rule there, it has been so effectually established, that wliat would have been 14 T2E ABORIGI>ES. a war between two independent tribes or nations, sinks into a personal dispute, to be settled by British authority. So lately as September 1849, Governor Grey had to write to the secretary for the colonies 'that hostilities had commenced between the tribes of the Waikato district and those residing on the west coast of this island, regarding a tract of land claimed by both parties in the neighbourhood of Wangeroa, which lies between this place and New Plymouth. I also understand that, from the number and influence of the tribes engaged in this affair, very serious disturbances might be apprehended, unless their proceed- ings were checked;' but at the same time he had to report that both parties had applied for his mediation; that, in fact, they respectively pleaded their case before him ; and that they shewed the utmost willingness to submit to the decision of the govern- ment in the matter. — {Papers relative to Affairs of New Zealand^ 1850.) Governor Grey, in a dispatch dated in IMarch 1849, gave a very hopeful account of the prospects of the natives, as he saw them in a progress up the Waikato and Waipa, as far as Otawao. ' I was both surprised and gratified,' he said, ' at the rapid advances in civilisation which the natives of that part of New Zealand have made during the last two years. Two flour-mills have already been constructed at their sole cost, and another water-miU is in course of erection. The natives of that district also grow wheat very extensively; at one place alone the estimated extent of land under wheat is 10,000 acres. They have also good orchards, with fruit-trees of the best kinds grafted and budded by themselves. They have extensive cultivations of Indian corn, potatoes, &c. ; and they have acqmred a considerable number of horses and homed stock. Altogether, I have never seen a more thriving or contented population in any part of the world.' — {Farther Papers relative to the Affairs of New Zealand, 1850.) The latest notice of the habits and position of the natives, from a private source, is of the same promising and hopeful character. It is in a letter by Mr Hursthouse of Plymouth, published in the last edition of Mr Earp's book on New Zealand. He says : — * From their skill in using the American axe, management of fire, and knowledge of "burning off," they are found most serviceable in the clearing and cultivation of bush or timber-land — in perform- ance of which work they now frequently contract with the settlers at so much per acre. In fact, owing to the rapidity with which English labourers rise into the "small fai-mer class," and become themselves employers of labour, all our farming operations would be seriously crippled but for the powerful assistance of the natives. 15 XEW ZEALAND. Our harvests are now almost entirely cut and earned by them; 'Whilst as to ploughing, my esteemed fellow-settler, J, G. Cooke, Esq^ informs me that on the glebe farm attached to the AVesleyan Mission Station, there are some native lads who, for quickness of driving and straightness of furrow, are almost a match for tlie best English ploughman in the place. These lads, it appears, are pupils at the ** Grey Institute ;" a large native industrial scliool or training college, an excellent institution, working much good among the natives, and which owes its existence chiefly to tiie useful energy and prac- tical philanthropy of the Rev. Hanson Tiirton, a gentleman whose thorough knowledge of the native language and customs is admirably applied in promoting the joint good of both i*aces. * Nor is it in the labour-field alone that we are beginning to find the natives such stanch allies. They shai-e in the sports and amusements of the settlers with equal ardour and success. Quick of eye, strong of arm, swift of foot, supple of limb, for pulling an oar, nmning a match, or accompanying an exploring party, they have no superiors. They are bold riders too, and at the first races ever held in New Plymouth, subscribed for a plate, and won it on their own horses ; whilst at the last anniversary of the settlement they took the honours at the rustic sports— catcliing the greased pig before he had well started, and throwing the best of our Cornish wTestlers in a manner patent to themselves.' CAPABILITIES— DfDUCEJIENTS TO SETTLERS. The following very condensed view of the natural productions of these islands is from an authority which ought to be of the most unquestionable kind — that of the governor of the colony in a communication to the colonial secretary-: — * Animals imported into this country thrive and increase greatly. There are no beasts of prey except dogs. Fowls of every domestic kind are becoming abundant. Bees succeed admirably. Hides are good, and heavy. Wool is excellent — the fibre being of uniform quality and thickness, owing to the equable temperature of the climate and contmuance of pasture. Timber aboimds of all qualities. Bark, fit for tanning, is plentiful. Dye-woods are numerous. All European herbage, shrubs, and trees, succeed and thrive rapidly. Clover and grass speedily conquer any fern or weeds allowed to remain on ill-cleared land. All European fruits succeed and ripen well — grapes, apples, pears, figs, melons, strawberries, peaches, &c. Flax has been undervalued, because an inferior quality has in general been used and exported. The " tihore," or silky flax, is much superior to the common kind, and will become a staple commodity.' 'Beneath the productive surface of this teeming island are mineral stores, as yet hardly known. If, from merely looking at or scratch- ing some of the projecting corners of the land, at least twenty 16 CAPABILITIES — IXDUCEMEN'TS TO SETTLERS. valuable minerals have already been discovered, in greater or less abundance, what may not be anticipated after years of research in the interior J The more valuable minerals hitherto found are coal, iron, limestone, copper, tin, manganese, nickel, lead, silver, bismuth, arsenic, cei'ium, sulphur, alum, rock-salt, marble of various qualities and colours, cobalt, ochre, fuller's earth, asphaltum, pumice, volcanic earths and lavas, kc. Of the copper, it ought to be re- marked that the per-centage of metal is usually very high, and that the ore is easily smelted. Much of the manganese contains a larger per-centage of copper. Both this and the copper can be quarried, rather than mined, in abundance. Fuller's eartii, fire-clay, and stone, lit for furnaces, which the bakers here use for their ovens, can be found anywhere in this neighbourhood. — ^Eobert Fitzroy, Governor' A great many of these tempting inducements for embarking capital may be safely said to be less seductive or promising than they were in 1847, when they were so reported. If this inventory of its productions be admitted to be accurate, the emigrant's legitimate chances in New Zealand must still be as an agriculturist or pastm-er. The agricultural land is divided into the timbered and the fern-covered. Neither travellers nor settlers in New Zealand talk of timber as a nuisance and impedi- ment, as it is in North America. It is in scattered masses, not dense, unremitting forest tracts ; and were there a better market for it, it appears to be in general timber of considerable value. It is at all events of great use in the settlements : how large an article of export it may yet be from the interior recesses of the mountains no one can anticipate. One of the most serviceable accounts of the chief timber-trees of New Zealand is that given by Mr Hursthouse in his account of New Plymouth, and we shall here quote it : — ' The rimu, called red pine, more from its foliage than from any resemblance in the wood, is frequently sixty to seventy feet high without a branch, and from twelve to sixteen feet in circumference. Its foliage is remarkably graceful, drooping like clusters of feathers, and of a beautiful green. The tree opens very sound, is entirely free from knots, and, for a hard wood, works well. It is chiefly used for house-building ; the finer parts for panelling and cabinet-Avork : these are handsome, taking a fine pohsh, and in appearance some- thing between Honduras mahogany and coarse rosewood. * The kahikatea, or white pine, is occasionally seen ninety feet high v.ithout a branch. In foliage and manner of growth it resembles the rimu, but has a lighter-coloured bark. The wood is not much unlike the Baltic white pine, but always sound, and quite free from knots : it is used for general purposes, for oars and boat- planking. ' The puriri, or iron- wood, is one of the most valuable trees in New Zealand, growing from thirty to fifty feet high, and from twelve 17 NEW ZEALAND. to twenty feet in circumference. The wood has a strong scent, is of a dark -brown colour, close grained, heavy, and of a greasy unctuous nature ; which last property is probably the cause of its being so much perforated by a large white slug, peculiar to this tree, when growing. Iron- wood is principally used for foundations, fencing-posts, mill-cogs, &c. for all of which it is admirably adapted ; as it would be for any purpose requiring gi*eat strength and dura- bility in moist situations. * The rata in its manner of growth is very singular. At first it is a creeper, clinging for support round some young tree ; for a time both flourish together in close embrace ; but as they grow, the subtle rata, appearing to sap the strength of its early supporter, winds its strong arms around, by slow degrees, crushes it to death, and eventually becomes itself the tree. The pukatea is generally favoured with these embraces, which, though slow, are sure to kill. The wood of the rata is a reddish-brown colour; very strong and tough ; well adapted to wheelwrights' work ; and from its crooked manner of growth, furnishing suitable stuff for shipbuilding. ' The kohe-kohe attains a height of about forty feet without a branch ; it has a handsome laurel-like leaf, and is the most common tree on the edges of the forest. It splits well, and is used for shingles, fencing-bars, and rails. ' The pukatea, a large tree, is a soft, easy-working wood, of light- brown colour, chiefly used for common work, and weather-boarding rough outbuildings. * The tawa and the rewa-rewa are handsome trees, particularly the latter; both, however, are of inferior quality, and not used except as split stuiF : the first, being highly resinous, makes excellent firewood. The hinau is remarkable for the whiteness of its wood, and chiefly known for its valuable dyeing properties ; the rich black dye of the native mats is obtained from its bark.' There never was perhaps a naturally fruitful country so des- titute' of indigenous productions for food as these fine islands. Fish, especially the larger kinds, have generally been abundant ; but on the land the only considerable animal has been man, and consequently he has been eaten. There is a similar destitution in the vegetable world. Except the roots of the great forests of fern, and the cabbage plants, there seems to have been no edible vegetable — there certainly was nothing that could be classed either as gi'ain or fruit ; and when some seed-vessels of a luscious aspect have been produced, as contradicting the latter deficiency, they have been found unsuitable for food. The nearest approach to edible indigenous fruit seems to be the poropo, of which IVIr Hursthouse says — ' When quite ripe, its flavour is something between that of apple-peel and a bad strawberry ; but if tasted before it is soft and meUow, the poropo is most nauseous.' Yet almost every fruit, pot-herb, and grain known in Europe, la CAPABILITIES — I^DUCEIIEXTS TO SETTLEES. seems to take naturally in New Zealand ; and there is, besides the forests, at least one native vegetable of the smaller growth which is useful and valuable — the Phormium tenax, or New Zealand flax. As it has been hitherto considered the raw material of a native mauufactm-e, the fabrics from it have been already mentioned in connection with the history and habits of the natives. The agricultural capacities of the islands need be only generally spoken of, as they have to be mentioned in connection with each settlement. There are two kinds of agricultural lands — the forest and the fern — and it seems to be undecided which is the better of the two, either for the poor settler, demanding rapid returns, or for the capitalist, who looks for the best ultimate investment. Of this topical peculiarity, the fem-land, the most practical-looking account we have seen is in IMr Hursthouse's account of New Zealand. He says: — ^ Fresh fem-land has one marked peculiarity, called " sourness," by which is meant some property hostile to the growth of crops put in directly after the breaking-up. The probable cause of this is the absence in the new soil of such promoter of vegetation as the ammoniacal gases, readily absorbed from the atmosphere when the soil is loosened and exposed ; although, if " sourness " arose entirely from this cause, it would appear strange that the bush-land also is not subject to it. If a piece of the finest fem-land be cleared and sawn at once with wheat, the yield would probably not exceed fifteen bushels per acre ; the same piece prepared nine months beforehand, might yield from thirty-five to fifty bushels, but on timber-land this would make no difi"erenc8. ' In cultivating fem-land, the first operation is to clear away the fern, which is best done in some dry month. Choosing a gentle breeze, the fern is fired ; if it bums well, all the thick and matted dead stufi^ at the bottom, with the leafy part of the live fern, will be consumed, leaving only the shrivelled " tutu," and the cane-like fern stalks, which, as softened by the fire, should be cut at once, either with a strong hook, or, still better, with a short scythe, and the " tutu " slashed down with a bill-hook. Lying a few days to wither, the stalks are loosely raked up and burned with the " tutu " branches ; and the " tutu " stumps have then to be taken up, and carted into a heap, or carried off. After these operations, which cost from los. to 20s. per acre, the land is ploughed with a strong plough, having a %vrought-iron share, and four oxen. The best depth is about ten inches, turning up a little subsoil. When broken up, the soil should lie some time to get pulverised, and to dry the fern-root. It should then be liarrov/ed and rolled, so as to allow of the easy raking up and burning of the fern- root; and to get it into superfine order, ploughing and these subsequent operations should be repeated, when the land, after lying about six months, wiU be in the finest possible condition for any crop which may afterwards be grown. 19 KEW ZEALAND. * A complete course of " double workinj^ "' such as this costs from £2, 10s. to £3 per acre ; but it should be observed that as this sum is for work performed chiefly by bullock-power, it will be materially reduced as cattle become cheaper. The price of working oxen in Kew South Wales is about £8 per pair ; in Wellington and Auckland, £20 ; whilst here it has genei*ally been about £3.5 : but as cattle are fast increasing, and as a direct trade has been commenced with Sydney, it is probable that in another year a pair of oxen will be purchased here for £20. ' The best method of cropping fern-land thus prepared is hardly yet determined. If the soil has been exposed about nine months, well mellowed, perhaps the best course would be two wheat crops, tlien manure a little for potatoes or fallow, and so round : but if it is likely to prove at all sour, the first crop siiould be potatoes, which might be followed by two grain crops, and then a fallow. Sheep have a surprising eifect on fern-land : a flock folded a single nighfc has been known to increase a crop of wheat in the particular spot nearly 100 per cent. ; and all animal manure is considered to go twice as far as iu England.' The question between agriculture and pasture as a settler's occupation is not so vride as it is in Australia. The pasturage capacities of these islands, whatever they may be, do not appear to have been tried on any large scale. Agricultural capacities can be tried on any scale ; and the cultivator's success in New Zealand seems to point it out as the safer walk, at least for a man of moderate means. It does not appear that the operations, or even the machinery for large farming, will certainly apply to the pecu- liar state of the comitry and its inhabitants. Mr Earp, who speaks as a practical man, says that when he left the colony, thrashing-machines, patent harrows, and ingenious ploughs, lay rotting on the shore ; and he recommends the agricultural settler to trust to the spade and mattock. Perhaps this may be sound advice until ingenious and sagacious men indicate the kind of agricultural machinery best suited to the organic character of the soil. Dr S. M. Martin, who had resided for some time in New Zea- land, and had been a member of the legislative council tliere, attested its superiority to Sydney, where he had also resided, for purely agricultural emigrants, on account of its abundant and invariable supply of moisture. He thought the North Island the best — he had there seen, he said, excellent wheat, and still better barley. He thought all English agricultural products would grow there, and some not known in England. Flax was indigenous, and abundant ; and he conceived that the vine, Indian corn, and hops, could be easily cultivated, but he did not think the soil and climate adapted to rice. He recommended the home system of farming 20 CAPABILITIES— INDUCEME^JTS TO SETTLERS. as the proper one for the place — a combination of pasture and agriculture. The mining mania generated m South Australia spread every- where among the southern colonies in which there were any chances of its finding materials to operate upon. These appear to be abundant in New Zealand. Near Auckland manganese has been worked and exported with great success. In the same neighbourhood there are several copper-mines, where the metal has been prepared for shipment at the several rates of £8, £6, and £4 per ton, according to quality. The minmg mania has had a characteristic influence on the natives, who, though given to industry, are still more partial to bargaming than to producing, and seem ever ready to make their own out of the desires and wants of the colonists. ' The very natives,' says an eye-witness, ' have become infected with the mania, and are nearly as expert judges of copper and manganese as the settlers, and may be seen going about with fragments of stone and bottles of nitric acid for the purpose of testing its composition. They serve to keep the settlers in a perpetual excitement by pretending to have dis- covered copper or manganese upon their lands ; and no little money is spent in fruitless expeditions to prove the fact. In some cases the eagerness of the settlers outruns then- prudence, and they are induced, by the solicitations of the natives, to purchase the land before seeing it, fearing some reckless speculator may otherwise secure the prize ; but it is needless to say that they are almost sure of losing their money, as the specimen of the ore shewn to them has in all probability been taken from the mines of the great banner, or from the island of Kawau ' [near Auckland.] — (Brown on New Zealand and its Aborigines, p. 203.) With a laudable desu-e to afford every kind of useful infor- mation to emigrants to New Zealand, as well as to all the other emigration fields, the Emigration Commissioners, in their official circular for 1850, give the prices of provisions and the wages of labour there. But in a territory so scantily supplied with European inhabitants, so apt to have its population in any district rapidly increased, and also so apt to have its market for goods affected by the unexpected arrival of a vessel, or any like cause, one can scarcely speak of a fixed scale of wages of labour, or of the price of comm.odities. It will hardly be a prac- tical guide to people proposing to emigi-ate thither, to know that in 1848 the wages of bakers were from 4s. to 6s. a day ; those of bricklayers from 6s. to 8s.; and those of carpenters from 7s. to 10s. ; while those of cabinetmakers were from 6s. to 7s. only ; and on the other hand, those of blacksmiths, generally one of the most serviceable of all trades in a colony, were from 3s. to 5s. The least NEW ZEALAND. vibration in the labour-market, caused by the influx of a few cai-penters, bricklayers, or other trades, might completely revolu- tionise this scale. In the circular there is also a list of the prices of commodities. It is pretty clear that, unless in so far as manufactures happen to bring a very different price in New Zealand from what they bring in the Australian colonies, it must be owing to conventional cir- cumstances, not likely to last — to incidental circumstances, for the moment enhancing or lowering the price. For instance, in this list, while baize shirts are quoted in Western Australia as from 5s. to 6s. each, they are in New Zealand from 10s. to 16s. Then, wliile strong boots are in Western Australia sold at 12s. to 16s. per pair, the price in New Zealand is from 8s. to 10s. It is clear that these prices, in the case of New Zealand at least, are tempo- rary and capricious. DISPOSAL OF LAND. Since the cessation of the New Zealand Company, the method of disposing of the lands of the colony may be considered in a state of transition. It has been stated that the company superseded the government in the southern colony in 1847, and that it had its own peculiar privileges in the disposal of land. On the cessation of the company in 1850, the statutory rules, to be imme- diately detailed, of course applied to the colony in general. But the government market for land is liable to be disturbed by the quantity tln-own into the market by the private allottees, who have never gone out to take their allotments, or have been forced or induced to part with them. The statements connected with the iiistory of the colony, with the aborigines, &c. will let the reader see in some measm-e the position of the land-question in New Zealand ; and it will be seen further on that the Otago and Can- terbury settlements have their own special regulations. The statute of 1847 having repealed the Australian land-sales act, in so far as it comprised New Zealand, left the crown, as having at its uncontrolled disposal the unappropriated lands, to make such rules as the government should think fit for that pur- pose. Accordingly a set of regulations on this subject, adhering in general to the system of the waste-lands act, formed part of the instructions transmitted to the colony with the charter. The general spirit and object of these regulations will be inferred from the narrative already given of the history of the New Zealand Company, and the adjustment of the land-claims ; but those who desire to see all their specialties wiU find an abridgment of them in a succeeding page. DISPOSAL OF LAND. Eegulations for depastm-e and timber licences were issued in August 1848 ; but they were withdrawn, and others substituted for them, by proclamation of the governor- in-chief on the 2d Novem- ber. By the regulations as so amended, the licence for a defined ran costs £5 ; that for depasture on common lands, 10s. 6d. The yearly assessment for the animals depastured, payable in advance, according to registered returns, is, for each head of great cattle, including homed cattle, horses, mules, &c. 8d. ; for each head of small cattle, includmg sheep, goats, and swine, Id. A person desiring to occupy a defined run, having obtained from the sur- veyor-general a certificate that the land belongs to the crown, and is unoccupied, lodges it with the commissioner of crown lands. If the run remains four months unused, it may be claimed by another party. The occupation is not to interfere with the crown's right to seU any part of the run ; and the pur- chaser of any portion is entitled, in the neighbourhood of his station, to pasturage for sixteen head of great and one hundred head of small cattle, for each eighty acres of purchase. Runs supposed to possess any peculiar value are to be let by public auction. It is provided that ' every proper facility will be afforded by the government to persons desu'ous of purchasing homesteads on their runs, but it will not undertake to survey and offer for sale any smaller block than fifty acres of land.' There are special rules applicable to those tracts of land which are within the limits of proclaimed hundreds. There the right of pasturage is to be granted exclusively to occupants under grants of land within the hundred, and to the New Zealand Fencibles, and the natives and half-castes, occupying lands by permission of the government. In applying for the licence, which is renew- able annually, and costs 10s. 6d., a return must be made of the quantity of land held. A meeting of the licensed holders in each hundred is to be held annually, for the election of wardens to regulate the appointment of pasturing for the year following. Timber. — Persons occupying waste lands for the felling of tim- ber pay a licence of £5. The district covered by a licence is marked out by the commissioner of crown lands. No fresh appli- cant for a licence is to be allowed injuriously to interfere with a forest on which any other person has expended capital and labour, and no one is to be allowed to cut or remove timber on the crown lands reserved by government for the public use. It was thought at one time by the governor that it would be expedient to have regulations for the purchase of lands from the natives exempt from the government's right of pre-emption. Pro- clamations were issued m 1844 with this object. They were, how- 23 NEW ZEALAND. ever, disallowed by the home government, and instructions were transmitted for their revocation, and for winding-up all claims created imder them. The number of claims was 148, and the acreage which they covered about 100,000.' — {Eighth Report of Emigration Commissioners.) A sale of crown lands by auction, according to proclamation, at Auckland on 1st March 18-49, is given, with its particulars, in the latest parliamentary documents concerning New Zealand. The number of lots bought appear to have been seventy-seven, and of purchasers about fifty; while the sum realised was £2034, being an average investment of about £40 each. The largest lot was only of forty-four acres, purchased at the upset price of £221, 9s. 4d. Many of the areas were so small as from eight to ten perches, bought at prices varying from £9 to £20. They appear to have been all of the character of suburban lots. THE NORTHERN SETTLEMENTS. Beyond the belt of rich alluvial land which is more du-ectly connected with the Cook's Strait settlement in the east is New Plymouth, the garden of New Zealand. The whole of the middle district of the Northern Island, except the bare tops of the highest momitains, is said to be eminently productive. There is fine agricidtural land in the great valleys ; but most of the hills are of rounded outlines, and capable of cultivation when in distant ages the plains and valleys become exhausted, while in the meantime they will make ample pasture-ranges. From New Plymouth, along the west coast beyond Auckland, the country is compa- ratively level, risuiginto do^vns and isolated hills: the district is in general lightly wooded, and pronounced suitable for aU ordinary kinds of cultivation. From Kaipara to the North Cape the island is nan'ow and mountainous, and the tracts applicable to productive purposes are in a much more limited proportion than in other parts of the island. Auckland is the capital of New Zealand, at least so far as it has been, from the commencement of its colonisation, the seat of government. But it has not been a popular emigration district, and it is often remarked that less can be discovered regarding it than about any other settlement. It contains about three thou- sand inhabitants, and displays some public buildmgs, chiefly the government offices of the colony. The neighbouring district is undulating, well watered, and in general stripped of timber. The town is the tradmg centre, so far as any place can be so where there is so small a population on a territorv as large as Great •24 THE NOETHEEN SETTLEMENTS. Britain. There are statistical trading returns for Auckland, but it is not easy to say how far they contain matter likely to influence the position of the future emigrant. This has not been a popular district. The most distinct account of its physical character which we have seen is in ' The First Annual Report of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Auckland' (1843), and is as follows: — * The coimtry in the district of Auckland is of that undulating character which marks the lower series of the secondary sandstone formations, with table-lands and corresponding valleys ; so that the sections formed by the shores of the estuaries and rivers which indent it— the AYaitemata, the Manukao, the Tamaki, and part of the gulf of Hauraki — present a succession of argillaceous sandstone cliffs of different heights, with intervening bays receding inland — the country lying between these great estuaries varying in breadth from 15 to 3, and at the portage of the Tamaki only three- fourths of a mile, affords over its surface flats of considerable extent and declivities practicable for agriculture, the bottoms being always occu- pied by a small stream — generally bare of wood, or covered with patches of small-sized trees suitable for fuel or fencing — and rising in gentle elevations to the mountain-ranges to the west and south, which are of a different geological formation, and are universally covered with forests of gigantic trees. ' In various parts of the above-described tract, hills shoot up in the form of truncated cones of various elevations, the highest about 500 feet, which are the remains of extinct volcanoes, each liaving a well-defined crater and a base of some extent, covered with loose fragments of vesicular lava and scoria, or immense masses of more compact lava " cropping out " at various points, the interstices, how- ever, permitting the growth of a variety of shrubs and trees. The whole of the above-mentioned country, with the exception of the volcanic land, is well watered by natural streams, and water can be procured at all times in abundance by means of wells. * About one-half of this district, consisting of undulating ground, is covered with fern and various shrubs, chiefly the tupaki, and possesses a soil of a rich yellow clay mixed with sand and charred vegetable matter, owing to the frequent burning of the fern, which, when broken up and exposed to the air, soon pulverizes into a fine rich loam, varying in depth from one to two feet, easily laboured ; but, from the excellency of the subsoil, it may be cultivated to any depth reqiured. The subsoil consists of a red and yellow clay, mixed with ferruginous sand. The substratum is formed of a soft blue and yellow argillaceous sandstone. * One-fourth of the district presents a more level surface, being covered with dwarf manuka, fem, and a variety of small shrubs and tufts of grass. Its soil consists of a whitish clay mixed with sand, more adhesive than the former, yet, when broken up and exposed, soon pulverizes ; the subsoil white clay and red ferrnginous sand, 25 NEW ZEALAND. substratum the same as the former. It is not so rich as the first- mentioned soil. ' The remaining fourth may be considered dijBferent from either of the former, being generally situated near the volcanic hills of a varied sui-face, the hilly portion being covered with fern and grass. The son consisting of a dry red volcanic fonnation to a great depth, the greater part covered with scoria, and where it is only on the surface, the soil is a rich red loam, very fertile ; another portion, covered with trees and shrubs, shews a rich mould of a volcanic nature to a depth of several feet, mixed with red sand and small calcined stones, resting upon a substratum of concrete. Another small portion lying along the banks of fresh-water creeks, covered with evergreens and tree-ferns, affords a rich friable clay, mixed with ferruginous sand, resting on a substratum of a soft yellow and red ferruginous sandstone. ' It is thus seen what a variety of soils are offered to the agricul- turist, each adapted to some particular production, and favourable to some peculiar mode of agriculture.' Mr Tyrone Power, a son of the actor of that name, in his 'Sketches of New Zealand,' already cited, gave the following unprepossessing account of Auckland: — 'A beggarly collection of poverty-stricken huts and wooden houses, without any of the bustle and briskness that betokens business and prosperity.' And as to its neighbourhood — ' The surrounding country is barren and uninteresting ; it consists of low roUing hills covered with fern. Mount Eden, and one or two other black, scoriae-covered hills, are in the distance ; but their sterile look does not make the landscape more inviting.' A return is contained in the parliamentary papers on New- Zealand for 1850, of the exports from Auckland in the five years from 1844 to 1848 inclusive. With a steady advance in some articles, there is a decrease in two considerable items — Kauri gum and copper ore. Of the former, the exports in 1845 were estimated at £12,847, and in 1847, £141. The copper ore of 1846 was valued at £22,180, and that of 1848 at £500. It appears, as to the former, that its value had been much exag- gerated, and that the copper ore, from the quantity of sulphur contained in it, was not a safe stowage. The other exports were grain, timber, flax, bark ; whalebone, oil, and other produce of the whale-fishery ; hides, salted butcher-meat, wool, ropes, and curio- sities. The exports of timber had increased considerably — the amount in 1844 bemg £346, and in 1848, £7604. The barley exported was in 1846 valued at £1479 ; in 1847, at £943 ; and in 1848, at £270. The wool-trade had, up to 1848, shewn but trifliag results, producing in 1846, £822 ; 1847, £627 ; and in 1848, £421. The total amounts are shewn to have been — in 1844, £3037 ; in 26 THE NORTHERN SETTLE3.IENTS. 1845, £27,239; in 1846, £40,087; in 1847, £12,670; and in 1848, £15,096. New Plymouth. — This small agi'icultural settlement, the native name of which is Taranaki, is on the west coast of the North Island, just where the coast trends eastward, after the broad head- land, called Cape Egmont, formed by the sudden tmn of the long semicircular sweep from Cook's Strait. It is in latitude 39° V south, and longitude, 174° 15' east. By sea, it is 180 miles from Wellington, 150 from Nelson, and 120 from the nearest harbour to Auckland. This was one of the earliest proposed settlements of the New Zealand Company, having been the object of an arrangement by Captain Wakefield in 1839. The land-claims connected with it were the most difficult and perplexed of aU; and conflicting views kept the poor colony far behind the pro- gress it would naturally have attained. As in the instance of Port Nicholson, there was a question between conqueror and conquered. The owners were the Ngatiawa, who were attacked by the Waikato under the powerful chief Te Whero Whero, by whom they were driven into exUe, enslaved, or put to death. The conquerors do not seem to have occupied the territory, and the New Zealand Company had to deal only with a small number of natives, whose claims were very modest. Subsequently, however, two opposite parties urged then- claims — Te "^^Tiero Whero by right of conquest, and the fugitives whom he had driven forth. Settlers had arrived in 1841, and were proceeding with the occu- pation and cultivation of then- allotments, when the question of then- title was thus provokingly opened up. Mr Commissioner Spain, as referred to, awarded the company 60,000 acres of the 70,000 which they claimed. This was disallowed by Governor Fitzroy, who, on the ground that all who had latent rights had not been made parties to the sale, restored nearly the whole land to the natives. Thus the settlement was for the time paralysed; a few only of the colonists remained, and compen- sation had to be made to others deprived of their holdings. Sir George Grey at last turned his endeavours to the restoration of New Plymouth. To force the natives to abandon what had been named as theirs by the highest authority was of course out of the question; but it was not difficult to satisfy them of the policy of disposing of their claims for a reasonable compensation. It was seen that the new arrangement was rightly sanctioned, and that there should now be no mistake about the absolute character of the purchase. T\Tien Mr Hursthouse wrote his account of New Pl^nnouth in 1849, the 60,000 acres T.ere again considered virtually available, and the colony was fioiirishing. Though projected on a small scale, it will probably XETV ZEALAND. ramify itself into other fruitful districts when the 60.000 acres have been absorbed in cultivation. To a population of 1137, Mr llursthouse gives the following account of the land in cultivation : — Wheat, 766i acres ; barley, 128 do. ; oats, 108J do. ; potatoes, 167i do. ; turnips, 79 do. ; rye, 5 do. ; maize, IJ do. ; hops, 1 do. ; grass, 267 do. ; fallow, 85 do. ; gardens, 45 do. ; native clearmgs, estimated at 450 do. ; in all, 2103J do. He gives the live-stock as follows : — Cattle, 726 ; horses, 48 ; sheep, 898 ; goats, 177. This includes a small number of each possessed by natives, who besides own a large number of pigs. This httle settlement, now containing about 2000 inhabitants, since its recovery from the convulsions of the land question, has been considered a very suitable place for men of small capital and frugal habits, or for those who, having nothing but their labour to go forth with, desire an opportunity of gradually raising their condition. Mr Hursthouse gives the following statement of the possessions of sixty-nine emigrants, chiefly agricultural labourers, whose average possessions, on their landing, he sup- poses to have been about £5 per head:— 312 J acres of wheat, barley, and oats ; 10 do. turnips ; 80f do. potatoes ; 46 do. gi-ass ; 97 head of cattle ; 143 pigs ; 27 goats ; 59 houses ; 238| acres of cultivated land ; 180 acres of wild land. Of the climate, and its effects on health and vitality, I\Ir Hursthouse tells us — * From the remarkable equality of the climate of this settlement, it is impossible to define tiie seasons with accuracy : the coldest and wettest months are June, July, and August ; the warmest and driest, January, February, and ^^larch Snow is never seen except around Blount Egmont ; ice is occasionally observed in the July mornings, but soon disappears under a brilliant sun, like that of an English September. The warmest weather is refreslied by sea- breezes, and the nights are invariably cool. Although the winter months are wet, and showers frequent through the greater part of the year, yet from the lightness of the soil, and the di^-ness and elas- ticity of the atmosphere prevailing in the fine weather, the climate is not felt to be damp. Fogs and mists are unknown ; there are no hurricanes ; and thunder-storms are neither so frequent nor severe as even in England This climate, as might be expected, is highly salubrious. The children born here are considered by then mothers to be remarkably fine ; and making all due allowance for maternal hyperbole, they certainly promise to be a large ar.d robust race. By the census of 1S47, the popidation was 1137; the births that year, and in 1S46, when t)ie census was 10S9, amounted jointly to 104— the deaths to 14, two of which were accidental ; yet in 1S47 fever and hooping-cough were introduced into the settlement fz'om Auckland. This sliews the annual ratio of births to be 1 in IS ; of THE NORTHERN SETTLEilENTS. deatlis, 1 in 159 ; whereas in England the births ai-e 1 in about 32 — the deaths 1 in 44. This comparison,' however, the writer candidly remarks, 'does not prove Taranaki to be superior in salubrity to England to the enormous extent indicated by these figures ; for some fatal diseases common to humanity have not yet been introduced into the country, and most of the emigrants to this settlement were in the prime of life.' The character of the country is a fern-land, with a vast, rich forest background, exhibiting almost every variety of tree known in these prolific islands on the slopes of the mountains. Towering over these rises the great conical snow-capped summit of Mount Egmont, 900 feet high, and by repute the highest mountain in the islands. The character of the lower scenery is described as beautifully rich and undulating. Running water is abundant. There are, besides the graceful fern, many beautiful flowering shrubs, and among others the delicate and brilliant fuschia, while the thickets abound with bright blue parroquets and singing-birds. On the productive capabilities of the soil Mr Hursthouse says — * The soil may be called a very light, friable loam, with a porous subsoU : it is di-vdded, locally, into three soi-ts, each marked by a different vegetation. The first is but a strip, extending along the coast, covered with light fern, interspersed with tufts of grass, and freely mixed, especially nearest the shore, with the black iron sand which is so plentiful here. The productive powers of this sand are rather surprising. Almost on the beach, within sixty yards of high- water mark, some early emigrants formed a few rough gardens, which produced excellent crops of vegetables ; and, strange as it may seem to an English farmer, upwards of sixteen bushels of wheat have been obtained from a quarter of an acre of nearly the same description of soil. ' The second division, adjoining this, is a tract of great exent, covered with fern six to eight feet liigh, intermixed with a small bush called ^ tutu," and a species of tall grass called " toi-toi." The surface is a vegetable decomposition of from seven to ten inches, matted together by the fern-root, with a light, yellow subsoil of many feet in depth, entirely free from stones, shells, gravel, or clay. The principal farms are on this land ; and it may here be observed that the cliief difference, as respects the cultivation of this soil and the preceding, is, that it requires more exposure before cropping. , ' The third division is the bush, or forest-land, which joins the fern, and extends along the country in a rather irregular line, two to five miles from the coast, and a considerable distance back into the interior. This soil in appearance resembles the second description of fern-land, but turns up quite mellow, and fit for cropping at once.' The natives remaining in the settlement amount to about seven himdred, living in a few well-constructed pahs, and cultivatmg some four or five hundred acres of land. They are described as a G 29 NEW ZEALAND. civil, worthy, well-meaning set of people, tolerably industrious, and in this respect useful neighbours to the settlers. Away from the small block of cultivable land there stretch various grassy plains, the natm-e and extent of which is as yet but little known. The settlement does not yet press in the direction of sheep-walks or cattle-runs, nor is it likely, while other parts of these islands and the plains of Australia hold out higher imme- diate temptations, to be sought by the lordly owners of great flocks and herds. It is as yet essentially a small agricultiu-al settlement; and from the same author from whom we have already so largely quoted, we take the following account of the actual effect of the agricultural operations heretofore conducted. Commencing wifli the statement that ' wheat is a certain crop, not subject to rust, mildew, or the attack of any insect,' he then proceeds to say — * Fem-lands apparently alike in every respect have varied in yield the same season as much as twenty bushels per acre— a difference attributable to bad preparation and premature cropping. Small cultivators have not always been able to farm properly ; and others, until lately, have not been fully convinced that fern-land pays best when thoroughly worked at firsts as in the manner before described. The most practical men are of opinion that when this is done, the general average yield of wheat in this district will be from thirty to thirty-five bushels per acre. The heaviest crop that has yet been obtained on any large piece was 448 bushels from eight acres, equal to fifty-six bushels per acre ; sixty bushels have occasionally been obtained on small pieces ; and in one instance it is said that the first crop on an acre of bush-land sown with four pecks was nearly eighty bushels of clean wheat. [The last statement is very doubtful.] * From the apparent nature of the soil, it was expected that barley would succeed even better than wheat : it has, however, been found inferior both in yield and quality ; and if the common crops were placed in the order in which they have answered best, they would stand nearly as follows : — Wheat, say 3 ; potatoes, 23 ; barley and oats, 2. As wheat, however, has been grown in the proportion of eighteen to three of barley, and eighteen to two of oats, the latter have scarcely had a fair trial. Three to four bushels per acre more of wheat would be obtained if the operations of harvesting, thrash- ing, and dressing, were better performed ; and in estimating the agricultural capabilities of this district by the present j-ield of crops, it should be remembered that if farming were conducted with that practical knowledge, skill, and attention required in England, the yield would be materially increased ; in some cases perhaps almost doubled.' The notices of the iron-sand, and the fruitfulness of the soil in which it is found, are curious, and seem to point to some new agency for stimulating the vegetative powers of organic matter. After observmg that barley and oats have been little attended 30 THE NORTHERN SETTLEMENTS. to, and are supposed to be liable to attacks by caterpillars, Mr Hursthouse continues — ' Maize grows luxuriantly on bush-land, and tlie natives raise it in warm spots; but the climate of this district, like that of Van Diemen's Land, is not sufficiently hot to ripen maize as a general crop. Cobbett's corn, however, succeeds remarkably well; under garden cultivation it has yielded nearly a bushel of shelled corn to a rod. It would be an excellent first crop on bush-land. 'Potatoes are a certain crop; not subject to disease, nor, if planted in proper time, to the attack of any insect. On bush-land they attain a great size, but are not so good in quality as those grown on fern, which are remarkably dry and mealy. The early sorts should be planted in August ; the later, for a general crop, in September or early in October. On fern-land, without manure, about six tons per acre are considered a fair crop ; but bush-land will produce from ten to fourteen. An extraordinary potato-plant once grew in a garden on the "Black Iron-sand;" in size, the haulm and top resembled some bushy shiaib rather than a potato. It was taken up in the presence of witnesses, and the tubers, carefully counted, nimibered 240, of which 170 were of fair cooking size. * Turnips have not been extensively grown. The middle of October is the best time for sowing, although a fair crop has been obtained when tilled as late as Christmas ; twenty tons per acre are considered about the average yield. Turnips, like all other roots grown here, are of excellent quality, and specimens of Swedes weighing thirty pounds are not uncommon. ' Beans, peas, cabbages, parsnips, carrots, and onions, have been grown chiefly as garden vegetables; but from the luxuriance of their growth, some of them may become rotation crops. Parsnips and carrots yield most abundantly, and nearly 300 lbs. of onions have been obtained from three-quarters of a rod of the black sandy soil near the beach. ' About three years ago, some interest was excited by an attempt to introduce the cultivation of English flax. From some experiments tried chiefly by Mr Flight, a gentleman conversant with the subject, it appeared probable that the soil and climate of the Taranaki dis- trict would be found well suited to the production of this important article ; and a sample was sent to Messrs Marshall, the Leeds flax- spinners, and to a Dorsetshire house, whose report of its quality was considered favourable. Seed was imported, but owing chiefly to the want of capital, and to the then unsettled state of the land question, none of it was sown, and the subject has not since been revived. ' About 260 acres have been laid down in grass ; chiefly white clover and rye-grass mixed, other varieties not having been generally obtainable : grass seeds are best sown in March. The white clover is very luxuriant, and by banks and road-sides, from farm to farm, is gradually spreading over the country. For pastoral purposes, however, the district adjoining the present southern boundary of the settlement, extending sixty mUes along the coast, is one of the 31 NEW ZEALAND. finest in Xew Zealand, and as capable of supplpng cheap working stock for tlie farms, and beef and wool for exportation : portions of it would form a most valuable appendage to the present agricultural settlement. The greater part of this district is better adapted for cattle than for sheep, or rather for cattle first. The roughest tract is so improved in two or three years by the depasturing of cattle, as entirely to change its character. The fern is destroyed to some extent, and is succeeded by coarse grasses. If sheep follow, the fern is gradually killed, grasses become finer, and white clover soon appears: thus in the end luxuriant pasturage is obtained, never here burnt up in droughts, but always green and succulent. * Cattle and sheep thrive, and, like all other animals which have been introduced, increase very fast ; both are subject to a kind of delirious attack, arising from overfeeding on the "tutu;" but this seldom affects them more than once or twice, and the actual loss caused by it is probably not more tliau 2.1 per cent. A strong dose of spirits — for a bullock two to three bottles — is considered the best remedy ; but quick bleeding has been found very efficacious. Sheep are never attacked by the " fly," are free from their common diseases, and fatten quickly ; half-bred Southdowns have been killed weighing nearly 30 lbs. per quarter.' It is, however, of very high importance to give, in connection with this passage, the modification of opinion formed by Mr Hursthouse on the difi*erent capabilities of the soils after tw(j years' farther knowledge. It is conveyed in a letter of 20th November 1850, addressed to Mr Earp, and published in the third edition of his Hand-Book of New Zealand. The remarks on the bush-land appear to be particularly valuable. * It appears, then, that there are even now several thousand acres of bush-land open for selection, and that, too, surrounding and within from two to six miles of the actual town. It should be borne in mind that what is called "bush-land" in New Plymouth is diffierent from much of the heavily-timbered lands in New Zealand — such, for instance, as the valley of the Hutt near "Wellington — the land for the most part being level and more open, and the wood of lighter growth. It has long been known to the New Plymouth settlers that this bush-land is wonderfully fertile, far more so in fact than fern- land. But owing to tlie greater first cost of clearing it, and to the natural preference which English labourers and cultivators have for the familiar plough and harrow over the axe and the saw, bush-land has come to be regarded as far less desirable than fern-land. At page 99 of my little work the comparative merits of the two are dis- cussed ; and I still entertain the opinion there expressed, that for a very numerous class of emigrants the cultivation of the former would be found the most profitable. ' In fact, as native labour is peculiarly adapted to the clearing and cultivation of bush-land, and as native labour has become, and is every day still further becoming, more available, I consider the 32 THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK'S STRAIT. relative merits and advantages of bush -land to be consequently greater than they were two years ago, and that the cost per acre of clearing and cultivating it is decreasing, and will decrease, in a greater ratio than the cost of clearing fern-iand. * With respect to wheat, however, wliich has hitherto been the staple crop of the settlement, although it could be produced at a remunerating rate on bush-land, I believe that it would still be pro- duced cheaper on fern. But wheat is only one of many crops which the soil and climate of New Plymouth would produce. Flour i§ only one of many exports which would find a good market ' This bush-land is admirably adapted to the production of many important articles besides wheat, far more so, in fact, than fern-land. Among them may be enumerated hops, tobacco, fruits, cider, oil, seeds, hemp, and flax ; butter, cheese, hams, and bacon ; whilst from the extraordinary fineness and luxuriance of its artificial pasturage, it may be questioned whether fine- wool sheep could not be kept upon it with advantage — for the risks, losses, and expenses attendant on the care and management of sheep would be less on what may be termed the "near-field system," than on the distant, exposed, " stock-station" plan followed in Australia. ' Emigrants, as a general rule, will take too much land ; but if a person settling in New Plymouth with, say a couple of hundred pounds, would be content to purchase and cultivate one of the twenty-five acre bush-sections, he would, I conceive, be almost certain to realise a greater profit than if he took fifty acres of fern. In short, for emigrants of hmited means, farmers' sons, and small yeomen, working-men with a little money — the pith, bone, and sinew of a settlement — these little twenty-five acre freeholds of bush-land are admirably adapted.' THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK S STRAIT. Wellington is generally considered the centre of the middle dis- tricts, as exceeding its neighbour Port Nicholson in importance. It is described as a town beautifully situated, with neat clean painted brick and timber houses, and in the vicinity of beautiful stretches of forest-land. Near it is a large district of table-land, and the fruitful valley of the Hutt. Mr Earp says — * The valley of the Hutt extends from the harbour of Port Nichol- son to the Tararua mountains, a distance of about fifty miles. The land stretching on both sides of the river is of extraordinary fertility, arising from the periodical overflowings of the river, and the rich deposit left on its retirement to its natural bed. This rise of the waters of the river was the cause of the removal of the principal town of the settlement to its present site. Not having been fore- seen, this was the cause of serious annoyance to the first settlers, as far as the location for a town was concerned. In an agricultural 33 NEW ZEALAND. point of view, this is of the highest importance to the agriculturist ; and happy is he who has been lucky enough to obtain a section witliin the reach of the waters of the river, whether for flooding or irrigation. * Of the rural districts bordering upon the town little need be said. They lie for the most part between Wellington and Poririia, those scattered around the shores of the latter harbour being the most fertile. The remainder of the sections, in the immediate vicinity of Wellington, consist of flat table-lands, through which never-failing streams run in every direction towards the coast. Many of the sections in this district occupy the valleys at the foot of hills which have not been included in the lands given out, and which are there- fore waste. Such sections are considered valuable, from the extent of sheep and cattle runs which they thus aflbrd. But it is probable that they will not continue to lie waste. Much as has been said about the hills of Wellington, there are few which, when cleared, are not cultivatable to the summits — the land there, as in the case of the table-lands alluded to, being of the finest quality, whilst the valleys, filled with the debris of the hills, are fertility itself. It would have been folly, however, to have given hill-land as sections, whilst there was plenty of flat land for the purpose * The amount of available land in immediate connection with Wellington is limited, not amounting to more than 30,000 or 40,000 acres. At the distance of forty miles north-east is the fine valley of the Wairarapa, containing about 300,000 acres of excellent land fitted for both pasturage and agriculture. At about the same dis- tance west of Wellington commences an extensive country at Waikanai, gradually widening to Wanganui, 120 miles from Welling- ton, and presenting an extent of perfectly level land, estimated at ' upwards of a million acres, the greater portion of which is excellent arable land, and nearly the whole is covered with abundant pasture. This district is now being connected with Wellington by the military road, already available the whole way for horses, and for two-thirds of the way forming a good carriage-road. ' The Wairau plains also, on the other side of Cook's Strait, though nominally connected with Nelson, are in reality an appendage of Wellington, being much more accessible from the latter port, to which the settlers of Wellington already resort for a market.' — {Hand-Book for New Zealand^ pp. 33, 34.) There is here a branch of the Union Bank of Australia, a savings' bank, mechanics' institute, a horticultural society, and other elements of a somewhat advanced state of social life. The European population of the district had exceeded 6000 in 1849, and the means of worship were more or less supplied for members of the English establishment, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Wesleyans, and Congregationalists. The attention of this settle- ment has been turned less to pasture and agriculture than to com- merce and the whale-fishery. It was one of the most popular 34 THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK'S STRAIT. settlements when the New Zealand Company was in the ascendancy. Having been readily purchased, great part of it is in the hands of absentee speculators, and thus the settlers in this district, instead of endeavouring to obtain an original allotment, will have to deal with a proprietor either at home or in the colony. Besides the agricultural operations, considerable enterprise has been developed in industrial operations in this district. Flour, saw, and flax mills have been here established, along with a canvas manufactory, rope-walks, breweries, cooperages, and brick- kilns. Mr Earp, in the third edition of his valuable little work on New Zealand, says — * The total quantity of land in cultivation in 1848 was 2178 acres- - the general occupation being the breeding of stock, for which no cultivation is necessary the natural pastures being inexhaustible. In consequence of the ready market for cattle, and the high price of labour, a comparative neglect of rendering land arable was to be expected ; but now that emigrants are rapidly flocking into the colony, as weU from New South Wales as from the mother country, the cultivation of the soil will rapidly extend ; and the more so, as animal food has been brought down to a price which will render the cultiva- tion of the land equally profitable. * The quantity of stock in Wellington in 1848 was about 50,000 head of all kinds, pigs alone amounting to 7500 ; of these, upwards of 5000 were the property of the natives, who pursue this lucrative pursuit with energy. The importation of stock since 1848 has been very extensive, numerous families from New South Wales ha\'ing emigrated to New Zealand with their stock ; the Sydney merchants also having engaged in New Zealand stock trade to a large extent. The number of horses in the town and its vicinity was, at the above period, 672, or about one horse to every ten persons ' The number of manufactories already established in the province is as follows : — six breweries, two brickyards, one candle manufac- , tory, two stocking-looms, six cooperages, one flax -mill, four rope-| walks, two sacking-looms, seven flour-mills, two of which are workec by steam ; seven ship and" boat yards, four tanneries, and nine timber saw -mills. ' The total number of vessels owned in Wellington is seventy-six, the whole of which, with the exception of two, have been built in the colony. Of these, seven are the property of natives, and are either sailed by the natives, or by Europeans acting under their orders. The total number of buUdings in Wellington and its vicinity was in 1848, 922, exclusive of native habitations. Many of these are substantial erections of stone and brick, but the majority are of wood — this being a favourite material for houses, notwithstanding the facihties which now exist for the erection of more durable fabrics.* The chief exports are flax, wool, and the produce of the whale - 35 NEW ZEALAXD. fishery. The amount of wool appears to have pretty rapidly increased. In agriculture, however, the settlement had shewn its backwardness by the importation of a considerable quantity of grain. Eastward of Wellington lies the long valley of "Wairarapa, unknown to the original settlers, but calculated to supply the demands of an extensive emigration. It contains about half a million acres of plain and down, whUe the sides of the mountain - ranges which bound it are said to be capable of supplying valuable pasture-ranges when these liave been exhausted. The New Zea- land Company's agent, in a report to the directors, stated — * Of the level country there appears to be about 80,000 acres of woodland, finely timbered with Totara, Matahi, Miro, Kahaikatea, Manuka, &c. the soil of which is particularly good ; about 200,000 acres consist of open land covered with grass, fern, anise, flax, and toi-toi; tlie level land is intersected by several swamps, but they could mostly be easily drained. The soil of the open land in the lower part of the valley is in general clayey and gravelly, but some of the phiins are of a very good soil. The undulating land consists chiefly of grass or fern land. At the southern end of the valley are two lakes, covering an area of about 50,000 acres, but they are so shallow as to be comparativel}' useless : there is no entrance seaward, in consequence of a complete bar of sand, and being surrounded by low swampy land * The district may be divided into three parts, each possessing its distinct and peculiar characters : the lowest part, or that nearest the sea, and the western side of the lakes, is mostly swampy, and is covered during the winter months with water; the eastern side, on which the stations are formed, consists chiefly of grass-land ; the lower ground near the river consists of the woodland previously described. Beyond these, in what may be termed the valley of the Upper Wairarapa (by far the larger division of the district), there are magnificent grassy plains, the soil of which is of the richest description, intersected by belts of wood, and watered by numerous streams. This district is easily connected with the plains of Ahuriri, which, at a moderate estimate, comprise an area of 500 square miles of level grass-land, from which there is an easy communication with the Manawatu district.' ;Mr Tifen, the surveyor of the company, reported that the district was abundantly watered ; and at the same time that there were on it unavailable swamps, rocky spots, and large patches of timber. Of the grassy plains he said — * Some of these contain upwards of 10,000 acres of perfectly level land, where good grasses are growing as luxuriantly, and nearly as close in the sward, as in English meadows. Their present drawback is the absence of natural drainage ; for on crossing three of these plains, I found the substratum to be of conglomerate so perfectly impervious, that I feel satisfied they wUl prove unfit for anything 36 THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK'S STRAIT. else but grass, or other plants requiring but a few inches' depth of mould for their support. At Huangarua, and again at Waingowa, this is particularly apparent. At the extreme edge of those plains caves have been formed, the roofs being of conglomerate, which pro- jects five or six feet, the earth having crumbled away.' Nelson. — As Wellington in the north, so Nelson on the south side of Cook's Strait, is the centre or capital of an agglomeration of small settlements. It is at the head of the great inlet called Blind Bay; and the districts connected with it ramify towards Massacre Bay on the west, and Cloudy Bay on the east, where the great Wairau plain and river meet the sea. The following account of the lands belonging to the settlement is taken from Mr Earp's work. The first paragraph relates to Massacre Bay : — *The district is a very pretty one; the greater portion heavily timbered, and the land extremely good. Coal and lime exist in it, both accessible at the surface on the bank of a small river (the Mo- tupipi), in which they can at once be put on board vessels of fifteen or twenty tons' burden. Of the two sections known to a certainty to contain these minerals, one, on which they have been already worked, became the private property of the company at the selection of rural lands ; the other belongs to Major Baker of Wellington. The gross amount of level land in this bay is estimated at 45,000 acres, of which at least 25,000 are fit for agriculture. The greater part of it has been surveyed for rural sections, and a considerable number were selected there, generally with medium orders of choice. 'Blind Bay contains about 60,000 acres of land sufiiciently level for agriculture ; but not above one-half of this is of a quality adapted for that purpose. It is generally free from timber, but covered with fern ; and in the swampy parts, forming a margin half a mile deep on the south and east, near the sea, with flax. The latter description of land was considered, at the period of the original selection of suburban sections, as nearly worthless ; much of it was selected for the very latest orders ; and some considerable portions, though only a few miles from the town, were left out of the suburban surveys alto- gether. It has now, however, proved to be the best land in the dis- trict, is easily drained and cleared, and bears very heavy crops. The fern-land is also good when the fern grows strong and high ; though, when the vegetation is stunted, it of course indicates a poor soil. But on some fern-land, cultivated on a large scale, from thirty to thirty-five bushels of wheat per acre have been grown without manure, proving that it only requires proper culture to make it good land ' A purely fern district at first afi*ords little or no pasturage for cattle or sheep ; scarcely even goats will live upon it. In Blind Bay, however, there has always been some grass ; and as the stock have increased, the grass increased also in a wonderful degree, so that it is now capable of maintaining a very considerable quantity. It has been owing in great degree to the semi-pastoral nature of the district, 37 NEW ZEALAND. and consequent increase of stock, that the settlement has been able to stand its ground among the difficulties with which it has been surrounded * Cloudy Bay, with the Wairau Plain and Valley, forms, however, the most extensive and most valuable portion of the settlement. The whole of that district is somewhat of the shape of a skate-fish — a broad level plain, eight or ten miles wide, at the head of Cloudy Bay, running inland for eighteen miles, when it suddenly converges to a width of two or three miles, equally level with the plain below, and extending from forty to fifty mUes further inland. Though it appears level, or may, in a general description, be so spoken of, there is a very considerable but gradual fall from the head of the valley to the sea, probably not less than 2000 feet in fifty miles ; but it is not perceptible to the traveller. The land for four or five mUes from the sea is covered with flax and other strong vegetation, and is generally swampy, but of excellent quality, and capable, apparently, like that in Blind Bay, of easy drainage ; for the next eight or ten miles it is dry, covered with long grass, and generaUy of good quality ; beyond th^ it continues grassy, the land getting lighter the further you ad- vance up the country, till the last sixteen or eighteen nules, which are very poor and stony, only fit for grazing purposes. At the very ex- tremity there are a few miles of forest. Several portions of the district (chiefly in the valley) are very stony, which were omitted from the surveys, and have no value except for pasture. The whole district, however, contains a great abundance of excellent agricultural land ; but its principal value at present is to be found in the fertile pasture with which it is clothed from end to end, including the whole of the hills which bound it on the eastern side, which present some of the finest sheep-runs in the world, and extend all the way to the east coast by Cape Campbell, and so southward to the Kaikora Mountains.' The averages of agricultural produce per acre are stated at — wheat, 24 bushels; barley, 25 do.; oats, 21 do.; potatoes, 6 tons; turnips, 24 tons. Some mismanagement appears to have occurred in the organization of this settlement, since it remained sta- tionary down to 1848, notwithstanding an excess of births over deaths, which would have made it increase had not, as we shall see, some of the original settlers re-emigrated. There are here places of worship for members of the Church of England, the Wesleyan Methodists, the Free Church of Scotland, Roman Catholics, and German Lutherans. It has been stated that the settlement was from the beginning overstocked with labour. Yet it seems to have been beneficial to the labourers themselves, since many of them are now landowners. The trade of the colony, though smaU, seems to have a healthy tendency. From 1843 to 1846, the imports fell from £28,867 to £3082, while the exports rose from £629 to £9819. In 1849 the exports exceeded those of previous years by £900. The following particulars as to the industrial 38 THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK S STRAIT. statistics of this district are extracted from a recent report by Mr Bell, agent of the New Zealand Company: — * The immigration that recommenced to this settlement upon the completion of the arrangement between Her Majesty's government and the company in 1847, and the births since that time, have added more than 500 souls to the European population of Nelson since the date of the last returns in my predecessor's report of July 1848 ; the total number of Europeans and natives at the end of 1848 being 4780. Had the re-emigration of 1000 people not taken place in the years pre\'ious to 1847, there would have been at this time a European population of 4500, or a total population, counting natives, of nearly 6000 souls. There are about 200 more European males than females, and about 200 more native males than females; shewing a total excess of rather more than 400 males in the settlement; but this disproportion is much greater in the adidts than in the children imder fourteen years of age. A new feature in the returns subse- quent to 1847, is the addition of the natives of "Wairau, "Waitohi, and other parts of Queen Charlotte's Sound, which places have been an- nexed to Nelson by the government purchases of the last three years. * The distribution of the population is interesting as respects the proportion engaged in agricultural occupations compared with that employed in the town. The number living within the town boundary at the end of 1849 was 1297, and 2075 in the suburban and rural districts — giving 778 more people in the country than in the town. In 1844 the proportions were — 1460 in the town, and 1555 in the country; and at Port Nicholson in 1848 there were 2649 persons in Wellington and its suburbs, and only 2039 in the rural districts. * Land in Cultivation. — There has been a steady increase in actual cultivation from 1847 to 1849 — 276 acres more being cidtivated by Europeans in 1848 than in 1847; 84 acres more in 1849 than in 1848 ; altogether, 360 acres more in 1849 than in 1847; while the total number of acres fenced last year was 5203, and cleared 4167. Still, I believe that the extent of cultivated land is underrated for 1849, and that the returns of the present year will shew a considerable increase * The price of wheat and potatoes, and indeed of all agricultural produce, will probably be much higher this year than at any time in the last three years, in consequence of the demand for California ; and though at the end of 1849 the prices of produce were lower than those set down in this estimate, it will be remembered that the grain crop of 1849, harvested quite at the year's end, will only be sold in 1850, so that its value is set down at the present rates, and not at those of the former year. But I am disposed to think that the price of flour and potatoes will go so much higher in the course of this year, that a considerable addition might justly be made to the total sum of £28,000, at which I have estimated the crop of 1849 * The practice of squatting has been very much diminished in the last two or three years, especially since the remodelling of the settle- ment by the scheme of July 1847 : there are now only about sixty of KEW ZEALAND. them, cultivating about 200 acres, -whereas in 1846 there were 210. The ordinance lately passed for enabling the magistrates to impose a fine on squatters has had a good effect, and there are some men who only occupy their land without leases, because the proprietors have not given power to an agent to grant any, and who will gladly become regular tenants when sufficient authority is received ^ Live- Stock. — There has been an astonishing increase in the live- stock belonging to this settlement since 1843. The total stock of all kinds, which in that year only amounted to 3000 head, was in 1849 upwards of 72,000 head. The number of horses have increased 600 per cent., the horned cattle 650 per cent., the goats upwards of 500 per cent^ and the sheep nearly 5000 per cent. ; the value of the stock was nearly £80,000, upon a moderate estimate, at the end of last year ; in 1843 the value did not exceed £7000 : so that the money value of it has midtiplied nearly twelve times in the six years ' Adding, therefore, the agricultural to the pastoral returns, the result is, that the actual produce or income of cultivation and live- stock for 1849 was £50,588 ; and for the eight years of the settle- ment's existence, the large sum of £252,930 ; being an average of £31,616 per annum, even reckoning the two first years, when increase was necessarily very small both of agriculture and of stock. * The list of shipping belonging to this port shews some falling off from the year 1848, and still more from pre\'ious years ; which is to be accounted for by the loss of eight vessels wrecked in various places in the last few years. A great part of the loss was owing to the shipment of entirely inexperienced persons as masters on board ; but the severe lessons that have been given of sucli folly will certainly prevent its recurrence for the future. Six vessels, not yet in the registered list for 1849, are built or building at the various yards; and this will bring up the number again in 1850. * Buildings, kc. — The return of increase in building during tlie year is satisfactory, shewing one new building in less than every eight families, taking each family at the usual average of four persons. There are only two brick houses less than in 1848, which is the best proof of the earthquakes of that year not having done much damage ; the clay and mud houses have somewhat diminished, and the in- crease is altogether in the better sort of wooden houses which form the staple building in new colonies * Manufactures, Mines, &c. — The account of manufactures forms perhaps the least satisfactory return under th^s section of the statis- tics of Xelson ; for though no retrograde steps have been taken, no advance has been made. The only decrease of importance is in the number of saw-mills ; and this has happened, unfortunately, at a time when the demand for timber is larger than it has been for years, and is likely to increase very greatly yet. There are, however, efforts making to erect one or two more mills in the course of the present year, and if the demand should continue steady, means will be found for the necessary buildings at the proper time. And although the same amount of improvement is not seen under this as under other 40 THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK'S STRAIT. heads, the manufacture of goods to the amount of £16,000 is, after all, no inconsiderable circumstance for one year.' The settlement will look forward to a material extension of its operations on the Wairau Plains. The reason why it has not as yet taken advantage of this valuable tract, is said to be the deficiency of local capital arising from this — that of the original aUotees of the land, only thirty have settled. Wairau is the spot wliich acquired so unfortunate a celebrity by the massacre of 1843 ; but it is understood that none of the few natives who reside there were connected with the series of outrages by which the colony was so severely shaken. Their leaders, Rauparaha and Ranghieta, belonged to the north. Since these unhappy events, the natives have given remarkable instances of their acuteness as traders and men of business generally. Coal and lime are among the natural productions of the district. There are lime and brick kilns, and several workshops and manu- factories ; as, for instance, saw-mills, flour-miUs, flax-mills, ship- yards, rope-walks, &c. On the subject of small farming, both in this and the other New Zealand settlements, the following estimate by Mr Ward, published in the ' New Zealand Journal,' will be found practically instructive : — * I will now give you a short outline of the expenses that must necessarily be incurred in order to commence with a farm of fifty acres at Nelson ; it may vary a little in the other settlements : I only mention Nelson, because I know nothing of the other settlements personally. The fifty acres of land at Nelson would cost you, to buy it — if near town, or within five or six miles of it, and being good flax land — £150 per section of fifty acres; if inferior land, within that distance, £50 to £100 ; if at a greater distance, less in proportion, espe- cially bad land, which at a distance from town is unsaleable : no person would have it as a gift to cultivate it : quality and situation are the two main things to be attended to in selecting land in New Zealand : but without buying the land, it can be rented at a low rent, with a purchasing clause inserted in the lease, so that the tenant can buy it at any time within seven years at a given price if he chooses. This is very convenient, and many sections are let at Nelson in this way. The rent of land varies according to quality and situation — some sections are let at 2s. 6d. per acre per annum, some at 5s., and some 6s., for the first seven years ; but it is a general rule for the tenant to have it rent free for the first year, and sometimes for two years : this is regulated by the apparent difiiculties and expense that the land off"ers to get it in a state of cultivation. I subjoin my estimate of the first year's expense, so that you may form some idea what you can do in the colony : you must recollect the first year is the most difiicult and expensive — during that, you will have all to buy, and nothing to sell ; but after the first year the scale will be turned ; you will have plenty to sell, and little to buy. J. Ward.' 41 NEW ZEALAND. Estimate of the riecessary expenses to commence a farm at Nelson, New Zealand — fifty acres, at 5s. per acre per annum, for seven years, first year's rent free : — Wooden house, large enough for five or six people, - £15 (A good substantial brick house of this size, £30.) Four working bullocks, £40; plough, £6 ; harrows and roller, £5 ; cart, £12; gear and small tools, £7, - - - 70 (Two horses will cost £50, and the harness £6 more ; bvdlocks are the best until the land is in a state of cultivation.) Fencing a ten-acre field, - - - - - 10 00 (It would be cheapest to fence the whole in at once, £25.) Seed for tliree acres wheat, 2^ bushels to the acre, at 5s. a bushel, say seven bushels, - - - - - 1150 Seed for four [two ?] acres barley, three bushels to the acre, at 48, 1 4 Seed for half acre potatoes, - - - - -0 15 Garden seeds and plants, - - - - - 050 One cow, a good one, £12 ; a few pigs and fowls, £5, - - 17 Housekeeping expenses for three of you for twelve months, - - . _ . £50 (After the first six months, you could have your own vegetables, eggs, and fowls, if you go the right way to work.) Furnishing the house, and incidental expenses, 20 70 £185 19 (Suppose it takes £200, as I have allowed nothing for acci- dents or breakages : you may have a buUock die, or break the plough or cart.) At the end of the year your account would stand thus : — Value at the end of first year. Crops, three acres wheat, thirty bushels per acre, allowing the straw to pay expenses, at 5s. per bushel, - - £22 10 Crops, two acres barley, forty bushels per acre, straw will more than pay expenses, at 4s. per bushel, - - - 16 Crops, half acre potatoes, four tons, at £2 per ton, - - 8 Cow and calf, £15 ; pigs and poultry, £10 ; sold butter and milk, £6 ; two pigs, £1 ; twenty fowls at 9d. — 15s, - 32 15 Bullocks, cart, plough, &c.; allow 5 per cent, for wear and tear, 66 10 House and goods, - - - - - -3000 Improvements, ten acres land fenced, £10 ; and six acres got in a good state of cultivation, £24, - --, - - 34 Improvements on four acres land, cleared, ploughed, once harrowed and rolled, at £2, - - - - -800 Improvements by putting up cow-shed, pig-sty, fowl-house, and tool-house, £6. Loss for materials — boards, £1, 128. ; nails, 61bs. at7d.— 3s. 6d.=£l, 15s. 6d, - - - 4 4 6 £221 19 6 *I have supposed you to effect these improvements yourself. Although this may not appear to be a very glowing account, yet in reaUty it is a very favourable one ; and better than it will prove to be, except you are industrious, and everything is looked after as well as it should be, and the land must be good. I see there has been 42 THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK'S STRAIT. £96, OS. 6d. earned within the year — namely, by produce and increase of stock, £17, los.; nett produce of crops, £42, 16s.; improvements, £40. But you must bear in mind that you have much better pros- pects for the second year : you would be able to get twenty acres under crop the second year ; the five and a half acres would take but very little cultivating for the second crop; you would have four times as much produce for sale ; and your expenses would not be one-fourth as much as the first year. At the end of the second year your accounts would stand thus : — Value. Proceeds of crops, sold and unsold — namely, ten acres wheat, at £7 per acre ; eight acres of barley, at £8 per acre ; two acres of potatoes, at £12 per acre, - _ - - £158 Cows and pigs, increase since last year, £12 ; produce sold, £12 ; value last year, £25, - - - - - 49 Bullocks, cart, &c. same as last year, having laid out £10 in repairs, - - - - - - - 66 10 House and goods, £30 ; improvements on the land, £40 ; con- tinued same as first year, £40, - - - 11100 £384 10 Less for expenses — namely, materials, and building a bam, £15 ; housekeeping, £20 ; rent, £12, 10s. ; sundries, £10 — less ex- penses for the year, - - - - - -57 10 Total value at the end of second year, - - £327 * I have estimated these expenses from actual experience at Nelson, and I have only to say that the prices would be difi^erent in a new settlement — the bullocks, cart, plough, and seed would be dearer; then, in return, yom- butter, eggs, and milk would sell for double as much, and you would get a better price for yom- wheat and potatoes. If you could buy two or three cows at the commencement, it would increase your income considerably : the young cows would soon make you increase the size of your dairy, and the young steers would soon be fit to assist the old ones, or you could increase the size of your farm when you had sufiicient young stock to work it; this would cost you but very little, as you would have only to buy another plough and two yokes and bows. J. Ward.' The following are the regulations respecting the acquisition of waste crown lands in New Zealand abeady referred to, which have been issued in connection with an order in council : — '1. Charts of the islands to be prepared with all practicable expe- dition and accuracy; and especially charts of all those parts over whicli either the aboriginal natives or the settlers have established valid titles, whether of property or of occupancy. ' 2. In every district shall be kept a registry of the lands, distin- guishing, with reference to such charts, the settled lands from the unsettled. ' 3. At the capital to^vn of each province shall also be kept a 43 NEW ZEALAND. general registry of the settled and of the unsettled lands, with refer- ence to such charts. * 4. It shall be the duty of every person (other than the aboriginal inhabitants) to transmit to the registrar of lands for the district a statement of the extent, locaUty, and bounds thereof, and of the title under which he claims to be provisionally registered, * 5. The protector of the aborigines shall, in like manner, trans- mit to the registrar of the district a statement of the extent (as nearly as it can be ascertained) and of the locality of all the lands situate within the same, to which any such natives, either as tribes or as individuals, claim either a proprietary or a possessory title, to be provisionally registered. ' 6. All lands not so claimed or provisionally registered by the time limited, are to be considered as vested in the crown. * 7. Within a time to be for that pui-pose appointed after such provisional registration, a land court shall be holden, for investigating and deciding on the accuracy and validity of such registrations, com- petent to decide both as between the claimant and the crown, and as between different claimants asserting opposite and incompatible titles. It shall not, however, be competent to any such land court to decide upon or to investigate any titles to land which at any pre- vious time may have been adjudged to any person, by the sentence of any competent court, or which may at any previous time have been granted or assigned by the crown, or by any governor-in-chief, governor, or lieutenant-governor. * 8. The land registries of the districts being revised and corrected by the adjudications of the land courts, an appeal shall lie from any such adjudication to the supreme court. The registries of the several districts, when revised and corrected, to be final and conclusive evidence of the title to any lands comprised in such registries, and as final and conclusive evidence of the crown's right to all lands not comprised therein. ' 9. No claim shall be admitted in the land courts on behalf of the aborigines to any lands, unless it shall be established, to the satis- faction of the court, that either by some act of the executive govern- ment of New Zealand, or by the adjudication of some competent court, the right of such aboriginal inhabitants to such lands has been acknowledged and ascertained, or that the claimants or their pro- genitors, or those from whom they derived title, have actually had the occupation of the lands so claimed, and have been accustomed to use and enjoy them, either as places of abode, or for tillage, or for the growth of crops, or for the depasturing of cattle, or otherwise for the convenience and sustentation of life, by means of labour expended thereupon. * 10. For insuring the observance of these rules respecting the preparation of the charts and the keeping of the registries, and for determining the methods to be followed in drawing up and trans- mitting claims, and in the proWsional registration of them, and for ascertaining and regulating the constitution and proceedings of the 44 THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS, OR COOK'S STRAIT. land courts, and the mode of proceeding upon appeals to the supreme courts, and otherwise for carrying into full effect these instructions, the governor-in-chief shall, by proclamations, establish all such rules as by the act of paiiiament charter and these instructions may be competent to him ; and so far as it may not be competent to such gcvemor-in-chief to establish such rules, it shall be liis duty to propose to the legislatures of the provinces the enactment of all such laws as may be necessary for that purpose, that so the extent and limits of the lands of the crown, available for future settlement, and the extent and limits of the lands of the aboriginal inhabitants, and the extent and limits of the lands of the settlei*s, may severally be distmctly ascertained. '11. No conveyance of the lands of the natives in any shape, or for any period, to be valid unless sanctioned by the crown. This is not to apply to the case of natives who have acquired land by tenure, after tlie manner of British subjects. — y.B. This part of the regulations is so purely technical, that it seems to have been introduced by the drauglitsmen, afraid lest some case had been left unpro\ided for. ' 12. All the lands so ascertained, as aforesaid, to constitute the demesne of the crown, are held for the benefit of the subjects of the crown at large, and especially of settlers. ' 13. The demesne lands shall, by proclamations to be issued by the respective governors of the provinces, be divided into counties, hun- dreds, townships, and parishes, each exactly defined with reference to the charts. '14. Xo crown lands in New Zealand to be alienated, either in per- petuity or for any definite time, either by way of grant, lease, licence of occupation, or otherwise, gratuitously, nor except under the regu- lations. '15. No crown lands to be alienated, unless included within the terms of some proclamation issued by the governor or lieutenant- governor of the province, declaring for three calendar months at the least next before alienation, that the lands are thenceforward to be within the limits of settlement. ' 16. No such lands to be so alienated imless previously surveyed, and distinguished by a mark in the chart of the county, himdbred, townsliip, and parish. * 17. The governor, with the executive council, to mark out and dis- tinguish all such parts of the demesne of the crown as may appear best adapted for the site of future towns, and especially seaport towns — or as the lines of internal communication, whether by roads, canals, railways, or otherwise — or as places fit to be reserved as quays, landing-places, or otherwise, for the general convenience of trade and navigation — or as places of military or naval defence — or as the sites of churches, court-houses, markets, hospitals, prisons, or other pubhc edifices — or as cemeteries, or as places fit to be reserved for the embellishment or health of towns, or for the recreation of the inhabi- tants ; or otherwise for any purposes of public utility, convenience, or enjoyment, in which either the whole population of the pro^dnce, or D 45 NEW ZEALAND. any large number of the inhabitants, may have a common interest ; all these to be known as reserved lands. * 18. All reserved lands, with the exception of those reserved as the future sites of towns, may be conveyed to any corporation gratuitously, for the public uses for which they were so reserved. * 19. The lands reserved as the sites of towns shall be divided into two classes — * town allotments,' and * suburban allotments :' the town allotments being such as will probably become the future site of buildings, the suburban allotments being such as will probably acquire a greatly-enhanced value from the close vicinity to such buildings. * 20. All the demesne lands of the crown brought by proclamation within the limits of settlement are to be alienated as follows, being divided into three classes ; of which the first class sliall consist of town allotments ; the second class of suburban ; and the third of rural. *21. In reference to each town, and the suburbs, the governor shall, by proclamation, determine the number and extent of the allotments ; care being taken that they be made in reference to some convenient plan previously fixed for the erection of the town, and that no town allotments be greater in extent than will probably be required for a single edifice, with such adjacent land as may probably be necessary for the use and enjoyment of the future occupants. * 22. No rural allotment within the demesne shall exceed in extent one square mile ; but it shall be competent to the governor to divide any such allotment for the purpose of such alienation into allotments of one-half or of one-quarter of a square mile. * 23. Rural allotments shall, by proclamation, be divided into such as are supposed and such as are not supposed to contain valuable minerals. * 24. No part of the demesne of the crown shall be alienated, either in perpetuity or otherwise, either absolutely or conditionally, until after it has first been put up to sale at a public auction, on three calendar months' notice. * 25. At every such public auction the lands are to be put up in lots at a minimum upset price. * 26. No rural allotment shall for the present be put up at any minimum price less than twenty shillings per acre. * 27. The respective minimum upset prices of rural lands supposed to contain minerals, of suburban lands, and of town lands, shall always be the same in respect of each separate allotment of the same extent comprised in any one of those several classes respectively. Such upset price shall always exceed the before-mentioned upset price of twenty shillings an acre, the amount of such excess being from time to time determined by such proclamations as aforesaid, in respect of the allotments contained in each of the said several classes of land. * 28. It shall be competent to any person, within three calendar months after the auction, to become the purchaser of lands put up, and not sold at the upset price. 46 THE OTAGO SETTLEMENT. *29. Immediate payment in cash an indispensable condition of every sale. * 30. It shall be competent to the governor to demise, for any term of years (not exceeding twenty-one), any rural allotments supposed to contain minerals, reserving a royalty of not less than fifteen per cent, on the produce, and to introduce all covenants necessary for the faithful discharge of all the terms and conditions of the lease. *31. A separate account to be kept by the treasurer of each province of the gross proceeds of the land-sales, rents, and royalties, and of all the costs, charges, and expenses of crown lands, after deducting which, the net balance shall be held for defraying the cost of intro- ducing into the respective provinces emigrants from the United Kingdom, or for defraying the costs of such other public services as shall from time to time be prescribed by instructions to be issued under the act. * 32. These rules not to affect the promulgation of instructions respecting the occupation of lands by lease or licence for any term of years, or for any shorter time, to be regulated by further in- structions. ' 33. But this exception is not to extend to the temporary occupa- tion of lands, for the purpose of depasturing sheep or cattle under any lease or licence. This branch is to be regulated by further in- structions, and in the meantime by orders by the govemor-in-chief.* An amendment of these instructions was issued under the sign- manual on 7th February 1850, authorising the remission, to a specified extent, of the minimum upset price of 20s. per acre in the case of officers of the army and navy settling under the government regulations, and to sanction the gratuitous alienation of land to military pensioners and natives. THE OTAGO SETTLEMENT. Before the separation from the Established Church of Scotland of a large body of its members, constituting the Free Church, a design had been formed of constructing a class or ecclesiastical colony, the ruling principle of which should be an attachment to the Presbyterian form of worship and church government. It does not appear to have ever been designed that the settlers and labourers should consist exclusively of members of one church, but that the promoters should be a Presbyterian body, who should take especial care to provide for the means of their own worship, and for the education of the rising generation in their own senti- ments. It seems to have been contemplated from the first, that part of the funds raised from the disposal of land should to a consi- derable extent be devoted to these purposes. Thus the members of 47 NEW ZEALAND. the persuasion of the promoters, though not arrogating an exclusive right of colonisation, would have a privilege over others in their ■worship and education, being supported out of the general funds. The persons who had nourished this idea being chiefly connected with the large body who had left the establishment, it came into practical eflfect as a project of the lay members of the Free Church. The site of the colony was suggested in 1845, and the Otago Association was soon afterwards formed. A bargain with the New Zealand Company was completed in the summer of 1847, and before the end of that year, the first party of colonists were despatched to the settlement in two ships. The district apportioned to this Scotch colony is situated in the Middle Island of New Zealand, near its southern extremity, south latitude 45^ 40' to 46^ 20'. It comprises a large block of fine land, and has been called Otago : such being the name given to it by the natives. The capital of Otago is called Dunedin : that being the Celtic name for Edinburgh, and therefore appro- priate. The settlement has a coast-line of from fifty to sixty miles in length, lying between Otago Harbour and a headland caUed the Nuggitts. It extends an average distance inland of seven miles to the foot of a low mountain-range. According to all accounts, the lands of the Otago settlement are fertile, well watered, and eminently suitable for purposes of husbandry, while beyond the boundary there is extensive and available pasturage. The basin called Otago Harbour, on which Dunedin is situated, is a fine land-locked sheet of water, fourteen miles in length, and so deep that vessels may sail up and deliver their cargoes at the quay. The nature of the country wiU be gathered firom the following extracts from different authori- ties : — * Beyond the first ridge of down, which forms the southern horizon from the liarboiir, lies an undulating country, covered with grass. This is more or less good, according to position and aspect, and has been much deteriorated in places by extensive and repeated burnings, wliich impoverish the land. The worst of it) however, affords abun- dant food for sheep. * The anise plant, so valuable as pasture for sheep and cattle, abounds over all the land we traversed. It is this plant that renders the plain of the "NVaimea, near Nelson, so propitious to the fattening of stock. I have never tasted such weU-flavoured meat as that fattened on the natural pastures near Nelson. The plant is also fovmd in abundance near Port Cooper, and in the Wairarapa Yalley, near Port Nicholson. I have not seen it farther north, or in any district where fern abounds. Its chief property seems to be a warming tonic. As such, I believe some preparation of its seed is given in racing stables in England as a condition-ball. It arrives at its full growth during 48 THE OTAGO SETTLEMENT. the summer ; but in many places during our journey I found it at this season of the year eighteen inches in length, and scarcely a square foot of ground without a root of it. In the uplands we found snow in some places knee-deep, and the gi'ound frozen to the depth of an inch; but on our return these indications of a severe climate had disappeared before some days as wai'm as those of summer. The vicmity of snowy eminences is higlily estimated by flock-owners, particularly where the downs are round-topped, and in long slopes ; so that the gradual tricklings from the melting snows go to nourish the roots of the grasses. After traversing these downs for five miles from Otago, we overlooked the plain of the Taieri, which contains about 40,000 acres of land, and is intersected by the river of the same name, navigable for large boats twelve miles from the sea, which it reaches at about twenty-five miles from Otago. About two-thirds of the plain are now available. The remainder is subject to inun- dations, but may be reclaimed and rendered more valuable than the higher parts.'— (Coptom Wahejield^ pp. 9, 10.) * The tide having ebbed, we descended to the base of the cliffs,^ and walked along a natural pavement formed by the horizontal strata. We were not long in perceiving indications of coal in black streaks in the sandstone, and thin beds of richly bituminous shale ; and we picked up several rounded pieces of pure coal cast up by the waves. But on turning a projected point, we found ourselves in face of a black wall or cliff, which upon examination turned out to be pure coal. In thickness, what we saw of it could not be less than 18 feet, while, as the pavement on which we stood was coal as well, extending out to meet the waves, it was impossible to say how much deeper it went. Mr Tuckett was of opinion that in quality it was very superior to the ordinary New Zealand coal ; but in this opinion I could not agree with him, as it appeared to me to have the same conchoidal fracture and resinous lustre as the Massacre Bay coal, a& well as that which I have seen from other districts in this country. What was rather remarkable, was its nearness to the surface. Above it lay a bed of about twenty feet of a conglomerate of small quartz pebbles, on the top of which the soil commenced. We were not able to estimate the horizontal extent of the bed. What we saw ranged onh- for a few hundred yards, disappearing in some small gullies, which at that point intersect the cliffs.' — {Munro^ p. 119.) ' As we proceeded about the time of low- water along shore, I was gi-atified to observe very abundant large pieces of drift-coal of good quality, still no bed was visible in the face of the cliff. Farther on, the beach became again rocky, and quantities of coal were lodged between the rocks, and scon appeared in view a hlach cliff. I felt certain it must be a vast formation of coal, although Mr , at Waikauwaike, had declared that there was no otlier coal discovered along the coast but the insignificant appearance which I had examined at Matakaea. Approaching this cliff, I fourid it to be a mass of coal for about 100 yards' length, in thickness from 12 to 20 feet, as seen in the face of the cliffy above tlie sand, and to what depth it exists 49 NEW ZEALAND. beneath the sand I could not ascertain : I should suppose, from appearance of coal, adjacent to the depth of low-water. * The beach is not accessible on account of the heavy swell and great surf. The coal must therefore be worked inland, and the bed will be no doubt discovered near the bank of the Clutha (or Matou) River, which, in a direct line inland, is probably not more than four or five miles distant.' — {Tuclcett, pp. 41, 42.) In the following extract from a letter by the New Zealand Com- pany's sm^eyor, reference is made to the capital of the settle- ment : — * The site of the Upper Town (Dunedin) proves to be extremely convenient in every respect : a great part of the suburban sections may be laid out immediately around it ; there is an easy access from it to the rural districts, the walk to the Taieri at the present time not occupying more than two hours ; and when the banks in the upper harbour are marked by a few stakes, vessels of 100 tons' burthen might, in two tides, be towed up with boats a-head to within a very short distance of it. Along the water- frontage there is a long flat, dry at low tide, which might be easUy reclaimed ; and on the opposite side of the bay, about half a mile across, there are 2\ fathoms' water. Eighty suburban sections adjoining the town at Koputai have been laid out and staked, and there are about a hundred more ready to be staked on the line between the two towns. In marking both town and suburban allotments, I have adopted the system of using square-sawn stakes, with the numbers branded on them, so that a surveyor will not be required to go over the ground hereafter to shew the proprietors the boimdaries of their properties. * I have lately been examining the flat, which you perhaps remem- ber, lying between the township and the sand-hills on the ocean shore, with the view of laying it out into suburban allotments. This land is covered mostly with high grass ; and though in some parts there is surface-water to be found, yet it is not at all swampy, the drainage being only impeded by the exuberance of the vegeta- tion, and which will, I believe, be entirely obviated by the lines which will be cut for the survey. The area I estimate at 2000 acres, or 200 allotments ; the survey can be made very quickly, and will be commenced as soon as possible. * On the west side of the town, separated from it by some grassy hills, lies the Kaikarai Valley, which will yield about 300 suburban sections. It is open land, with a rich alluvial soil, well adapted for agricultural purposes. Mr Charleton is now cutting lines for sections in wooded land on the side of the harbour opposite (east of) the town.' From the ' Otago Journal 'for November 1849 the following passage, giving the experience of the first settlers, is taken. Its author is not mentioned ; and it must be remarked that the yield of wheat stated in it is of a very extraordinary kind : — 50 THE OTAGO SETTLEMENT. * Letters have just arrived from this settlement of dates down to the 25th of April last. They annoimce the safe arrival of the Mary with immigrants. The settlers had then had twelve months' expe- rience of the country ; and their opinion of its climate, soil, capabi- lities, and resom-ces, fully bear out all that has been said in regard to them. The summer had been splendid ; and the second winter, on which they had then entered, so far as it was gone, had been charac- terised by weather remarkably fine and calm. We have been favoured with the following extract of a diary of the weather from 9th October 1848 to 17th April 1849 :— Months. rago of Mean emperature of ch Month, jm observa- ns takou be- eon and 7 the morning. m It '■ss r |P§*-55.3 ^ 2 ^ a October, from 9th to 31st, 49-7 16 5 2 November, ... 1st ... 30th, 54-3 13 12 5 December, ... 1st ... 31st, 54-3 18 9 4 January, ... 1st ..: 31st, 53-5 17 6 8 February, ... 1st ... 28th, 56-0 14 11 3 March, ... 1st... 31st, 50-5 19 8 4 AprU, ... 1st ... 17th, 45-8 10 6 1 ' From sixty to sixty-five bushels of wheat per acre, with oats, barley, and potatoes in proportion, were the yields of the soil. The lands being generally open, fencing and plougliing up with oxen was all that was required, whilst the luxuriance of the gardens and nursery-gi'ounds exceeded expectation. Hawthorn seeds, for instance, gave a full braird within six weeks after sowing. Shepherds, ploughmen, and country labourers, were in proportion to the demand. Amongst the last were a few weavers from Scotland, who, in bad times at home, had been accustomed to work with the spade, and had proved the most useful and intelligent at similar work in the colony. One of them, with a large family to support, has built himself the most perfect and commodious cottage in the settlement, which is referred to as a model. The landowners were busily occupied in bunding houses, erecting stockyards, forming sheep-stations, and introducing stock. Many ships laden with sheep, cattle, horses, &c. had arrived from Australia. A channel into the harbour, of twenty- one feet at low-water, being five more than were supposed to exist, had been discovered. Dunedin, the capital, consisted of 130 houses, and the revenue for the quarter was nearly £5000.' It is to be regretted that the series of papers from which the above quotation is made is more devoted to rhetorical commenda- tions, and to general views on the duty and wisdom of emigration, than to that kind of specific information, either about the original nature of the soil and its produce, or about the progress of the colonists, which would be really valuable to intending emigrants. 51 NEW ZEALAND. There are some letters from settlers, but these, too, are of a some- what vague character, and in general only shew that the writer has reason to be contented with his own lot. One of the most business-like of these letters, from a Scottish gardener, dated 16th April 1849, contains the following passage : — ' Bush-land can be cleared for about £6 — that is, the bush burnt off; of course the stumps are left to rot out. The breeding of cattle will pay best here, I believe, for some time ; you may purchase them from £7 to £15, turn them out to the hills, and let them run summer and winter. Some people milk them, but others allow their calves to suck. They never cost a farthing for food, so that you would pay almost as much for a calf as a cow, and no one would kiU a calf on any account. A squatter told me lately that he had sold a young bullock for £15, which never had cost him a halfpenny. The first thing that people do, or should do, is to provide themselves with some sort of house. Some are merely covered with grass; others built with clay ; others weather-boarded ; others, among which is my own, are made with trees, say 9 inches diameter, fixed upright in the ground, and then plastered over with clay; a brick chimney; and for slates we have sliingles, or a sort of lath 1 foot long, 4 inches broad, | inch thick ; and in these said houses, rude though they may appear, we are quite as comfortable as you are in Xo. 10 Duncan Street. As regards the climate, it is very temperate ; we had the thermometer as low as 27 degrees several times last winter, and I have seen ice as thick as a penny; but it uniformly disappeared by nine a.m. We had a good deal of wet weather in May and June, which in fact constitutes our winter weather. The air is pure and bracing, of Avhich we have ample evidence in the appearance of the settlers, notwithstanding all the exposures to which they have been subjected; and I think those who were once most bitter in their declamations are now to be heard the warmest in their praises of their adopted country. As for myself, I would not return to Scotland to live permanently : true, we have rough labour, but we can afford a day for recreation too ; and where can there be finer sport than a pig-hunt ?* The following passage is from the letter of a settler whose class is no farther stated than as it may be indicated by his tone. He is evidently possessed of a less contented spirit than the majority of those whose communications are adduced as testimo- nials of the perfection of new emigration fields : — * I have now had eight months' experience of the colony, and from what I have seen myself and gleaned from others, I have little doubt but that it will yet be a very valuable country ; but at pre- sent there are many drawbacks : first, we have few men of means amongst us who can afford to do much in the way of hiring labour ; still, it is wonderful how few are for any time out of work, and those who are are generally of the unsteady class. It is a great bane to 32 THE OTAGO SETTLEMENT. this and the other colonies the great number of runaway sailors- that ai'c to be found generally spending every shilling in the tap- room, and practising every vice. They leave their ships in the prospect of getting the high colonial rate of wages, but it is seldom of much use to them. I am happy to see that the labouring-men are making a beginning in cultivating their gardens : this is a beginning, and were they to join heartily, and lay their little stores together, they might soon be able to have their own ground. ' I have mentioned these things, that people may know the true condition of matters — as the fact is, that people coming here in general have not the least idea of what sort of country they are coming to, and have puffed themselves up with the most extrava- gant notions and ideas, till I believe the garden of Eden itself would scarcely have satisfied some of them ; but in general, after they get a little settled, the steady portion find work, and get more into the way of the country, and more reconciled with their own condition. Another drawback at present is, that we are dependent upon other colonies for supplying us with provisions until we can raise our own. This is a most fearful drain upon our capital, which thus flies off at once, and we have nothing at present to draw it back again. Were facilities given to the labouring-men to cultivate the ground^ tliis would soon be at an end, and I hope such a thing is not far distant. * The want of roads is a serious evil, as the roads we have at pre- sent are merely formed out of the soil, and are more like canals of liquid mud and clay in winter than anything else ; in fact, you can- not set a foot upon them at that season, but must make the best of your way along the edges or through the adjoining flax and fern ; but in summer they are as good as they are bad in winter. The weather in this country is very changeable, and in the winter months very disagreeable — there being so much rain, which, with bad roads and bad houses, gives things a very dreary appearance ; but there are many more working days than at home in winter, and the inter- vening days are often very mild and pleasant. I may mention that we had several severe falls of snow and sharp frosts, but such as you would merely laugh at in the north of Scotland. People coming here should provide themselves with the strongest and most du- rable clothing, especially laced boots, both for men and women, as dress -shoes and cloth-boots would be of little avail here. The summer months are \ery warm and pleasant, but the heat has not that oppressive feeling that is often felt in very warm days at home. For tliis reason a lighter clothing is necessary, and light canvas or duck trousers are the best, with a blue woollen shirt or duck overall; but the boots and shoes must always be strong. One thing is evident, that although the climate is very changeable, there can be no doubt but it is healthy ; and I am told, and believe it to be a fact, that the climate is far better in many parts of the block than at Dunedin ; and I know by experience, that where I stop it is much milder. The reason is, that there is no high ground 53 KEW ZEALAN'D. "between it and the ocean towards tlie south, and to the east and north-east there is the harbour, and a large valley, so that it is exposed to a drought when the wind blows in any of these direc- tions ; and the south-west wind is the coldest wind here, answering to your north-east at home.' The progress which the association have had to report in the last number of their journal, published in November 1850, was not in accordance with their anticipations, and, apparently ad- mitting this to be the case, they refer to ' a combination of adverse circumstances which have retarded their progress.' The quantity of land disposed of in Otago was stated to amount to 18,000 acres ; and the number of persons who had embarked thither from the United Kingdom in New Zealand ships, exclusive of those other- wise conveyed, amounted to 1400. By the agreement with the New- Zealand Company, five years were allowed, from 23d November 1847, for the association selling 2000 properties covering 125,000 acres. By the New Zealand Company abandoning their privileges, and allowing their rights to revert to the crown in July 1850, the proceedings of the association were subjected to a temporary disturbance. The association immediately applied to the govern- ment for assistance in carrying out their original arrangements. While taking into consideration the propriety of giving the asso- ciation a royal charter, an arrangement was made for paying over all moneys for purchases to the Emigration Commissioners, to be held for the government, who thus marked their intention to carry out the principles on which the bargain with the New Zealand Company was contracted. Arrangements were made, and from time to time amended, for the disposal of lands in the settlement. The last series were issued on 1st August 1849. They are in many respects inter- woven with the interests and privileges of the extinct New Zea- land Company. They will thus have to be altered in their details ; but as it is presumed that in essentials they embody the pecuniary and other conditions on which lands are to be held, an abridgment of those parts which most materially affect the immediate interest of the proposing settler is here subjoined : — * The settlement to comprise 144,600 acres of land, divided into 2400 properties, and each property to consist of sixty acres and a quarter, divided into three allotments — namely, a town allotment of a quarter of an acre, in a spot selected as the site of a town ; a subur- ban allotment of ten acres, in the vicinity of a town site ; and a rural allotment of fifty acres, be the measurements more or less. 'But each class of land to be sold separately, if so desired by the purchaser ; and in case of such separate sale, the rural allotment to be reduced, if so desired, to twenty-five acres. 54 THE OTAGO SETTLEMENT. *The 2400 properties, or 144,600 acres, to be appropriated as fol- lows: namely — 2000 properties, or 120,500 acres for sale to private individuals. 100 properties, or 6025 acres, for the estate to be purchased by the local municipal government. 100 properties, or 6025 acres, for the estate to be purchased by the trustees for religious and educational uses ; and 200 properties, or 12,050 acres, for the estate to be purchased by the New Zealand Company. 'The price of the land for sale in the United Kingdom to be fixed for the present at 40s. an acre, or £120, 10s. a property, if the property be purchased entire, as defined above. But if purchased separately, the price of each class of land to be — Town land, £12, 10s. per allotment of a quarter acre ; suburban land, £30 per allotment of ten acres ; and rural land, £50 per allotment of twenty-five acres. 'The said prices to be charged on the estates of the municipal government of the trustees for religious and educational uses, and of the New Zealand Company, in the same manner as on the 2000 properties intended for sale to private individuals ; and the purchase- money, amounting (at the rate of 40s. an acre) to £289,200, to be appropriated as foUows — ^namely, emigration and supply of labour (three-eighths, 7s. 6d. in £1, or 37i per cent.), £108,450; civil uses, to be administered by the company — namely, surveys and other expenses of founding and maintaining the settlement, roads, bridges, and other improvements, including steam, if hereafter deemed expe- dient, and if the requisite funds be found available (two-eighths, 5s. in £1, or 25 per cent.), £72,300; religious and educational uses, to be administered by trustees (one-eighth, 2s. 6d. in £1, or 12 ^ per cent.), £36,150 ; the New Zealand Company, on account of its capital and risk (two-eighths, 5s. in £1, or 25 per cent.), £72,300. ' It is to be observed that from the sum of £36,150, to be assigned to the trustees of religious and educational uses, will be defrayed £12,050, the price of the 100 properties, or 6025 acres to be pur- chased as the estate of that trust. * In like manner, out of the sum of £72,300, to be assigned to the New Zealand Company, will be defrayed £2^100, the price of the 200 properties, or 12,050 acres to be purchased by the company as its estate. *The purchase of the surface to include coal and all other minerals, but the company to have power to exclude lands containing, in con- siderable quantities, coal or other minerals, to be disposed of, by lease or otherwise, in such way as may be agreed on ; with a view to pre- vent the coal-field from becoming a monopoly in the hands of private individuals, injurious to the public interests, and to insure to the community a due supply of fuel at the cheapest possible rate, and to enable lands containing other minerals to be disposed of in such way as may be considered most expedient. * Reservations to be made, so far as may be practicable, of the sites of villages and towns, with suburban allotments adjacent, in the 55 NEW ZExVLAND. parishes and hundreds, to be laid out in accordance with the govern- ment regulations. * In laying out the chief town, Dunediu, due provision to be made for public purposes ; as fortifications, public buildings, sites for places of public worship and instruction, batlis, wharfs, quays, cemeteries, squares, a park, and other places for health and recreation. * Five years from the 23d of November 1S47 — the date of the em- barkation of the first party — to be allowed to the association for effecting the sale of the 2000 properties, or 120,500 acres to private individuals. ' In the event of the whole 2000 properties being sold to private individuals within the period, the association to have further the refusal, on such terms as shall then be agreed upon, of the entire remainder of the block of 400,000 acres, or such portion of the same as the company shall not have returned to the crown. * Each allotment to be assigned to the person first making appli- cation for it at the appointed place in the settlement. * Purchasers to be allowed to select out of the whole of the lands of each class which may be surveyed, laid out, and open to selection at the time in the settlement. ' The municipality, and the trustees for religious and educational uses, to be entitled to select their respective estates in the proportion of one property or allotment each for every twenty properties or allotments sold to private individuals ; and the New Zealand Com- pany in the proportion of two properties or allotments for every twenty so sold. *The association (including the purchasers and colonists whom they have brought forward or approved) having prepared a deed of trust and relative institutes, dated 6th November 1S47, as a consti- tution for church and schools, the same to be held as part of the terms of purchase ; to trustees appointed thereunder, the funds for religious and educational uses to be handed over, as collected, on the completion of each party ; the provisions of such deed of trust and relative institutes to be duly observed in all respects ; and in this and all other matters, the association to have respect to the full exoneration of the company from responsibility at the earliest pos- sible period. * Purchasers desirous of recommending labourers to the associa- tion for free or assisted passages, to give to the association written notice of the desire to make such recommendation, with full particu- lars of the labourers recommended, six weeks before the sailing of the vessel in which the labourers, if approved, are proposed to be sent. 'Two-thirds of the amount of the emigration fund (or £30 on each entire property purchased) to be applied to the provision of a supply of labour in accordance Avitli the government regulations; and the remainder (or £15 on each entire property), subject to the concur- rence of the company, to the passages from the United Kingdom of persons who, under those regulations, are not strictly eligible — such as the parents of grown-up children; children under seven years of o6 THE OTAGO SETTLEMENT. age, in excess of the authorised number ; and, to a limited extent, purchasers as detailed below. ' Chief cabin passengers, being purchasers, to be entitled, at any time within twelve months from the date of their respective pur- chases, to receive one-third of the emigration fund accruing thereon (or £15 on each entire property) as an allowance towards defraying the expense, actually and reasonably incurred, for the passages to the settlement of the said purchasers and their families, at the rates laid down by the JSTew Zealand Company. * Fore-cabin and steerage passengers, being purchasers with regard to whom the Otago Association may be satisfied that they intend to be hirers of labour in the colony, to be allowed, at any time within twelve months from the date of their respective purchases, the same sum as chief-cabin passengers ; if to the satisfaction of the associa- tion not intending to be hirers of labour, but to be, in fact, labourers themselves, the whole emigration fund accruing on their purchases (or £45 on each entire property) ; provided in every case that the sum specified be actually and reasonably expended, as stated above. * Passages to be reserved for purchasers, and for labourers recom- mended by them and approved by the association, in the ships chartered by the company, provided that application for such pas- sages be made six weeks before the sailing of the ship in which the parties desire to proceed. * Licences. — Licences for the pasturage of land in the Otago settle- ment, while such land continues unappropriated, and not required for any purpose other than pasturage, to be granted for periods not exceeding one year, nor less than six months. ' The persons qualified to hold such licences to be the owners of not less than twenty acres of suburban, or twenty -five acres of rural land in the settlement, under titles originally derived from the com- pany ; or, with the consent of such owners, their immediate lessees or tenants to the like extent ; in the latter case, however, the owner not to be qualified to hold a pasturage-licence in respect of the same land as his tenant. ^Apportionment of Pasturage. — No licence to be granted within the boundaries of the settlement for any defined pasturage-run ; but the extent or amount of pasturage to be enjoyed by each licensee, and the mode of using the same, whether in commonage, in runs, or otherwise, to be decided by wardens elected annually under the fol- lo'v\'ing arrangements : namely — * A public advertisement to be issued by the company's principal agent, or other authorised oJQScer, in the month of October in each year, calling a general meeting of the persons qualified to hold licences in the settlement, to be held on a specified day in the ensu- ing month, where three wardens are to be elected by a majority for the year ensuing. Persons to be entitled to votes in the following proportions: namely — NEW ZEALAND. Suburban Land. Rural Land. Votes. For 20 acres and under 40, or 25 acres and under 50 — One. ... 40 80, ... 50 100— Two. ... 80 120, ... 100 150— Three. ... 120 160, ... 150 200— Four. ... 160 200, ... 200 250— Five. ... 200 acres and upwards, or 250 acres and upwards — Six. 'Applications to be delivered on or before the 15th days of the months of November and May respectively; and the licences to take effect respectively on the 1st of January and the 1st of July then next ensuing. * The pasturage to be apportioned, the mode of using it to be decided, and the parties interested to be apprised accordingly, by the wardens, in the months of December and June for the half-years ensuing. *New purchasers of land, bieing duly qualified, and making the requisite application, to be admitted to a proportionate privilege of pasturage at each half-yearly apportionment. * On the issue of each licence, a fee to be paid of 10s. 6d. * No licence to confer any right to the soU, or power of breaking up the same, or of subletting the pasturage apart from the land in respect of which the licence is issued, without consent of the other authorised officer. ' No allowance to be made to the holder of any licence for .any improvements which he may think proper to eflfect. * Disputes among licensees to be determined in such manner as the wardens may decide. Such decision to be conclusive against all parties interested.' Such are the principal arrangements respecting the disposal and use of lands. Exact information as to making purchases, transit, &c. may be obtained in this country by application to the secretaiy of the Otago Association, 27 Hanover Street, Edin- burgh. At this office the 'Otago Journal,' a "small and useful periodical, is issued as occasion requires. Conducted with considerable spirit and discretion, Otago settle- ment can hardly fail to do credit to its promoters, though, from the expense at which lands are disposed of, it must suffer in com- parison with other districts. THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. While Otago is professedly a Scotch settlement, with a regulated endowment for religious and educational purposes according to Presbyterian doctrines and forms, Canterbury, its neighbour, is a settlement having precisely similar class objects in view, ia rela- tion to the Church of England. 58 THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. Canterbury settlement is conducted under the auspices of a society, having its head-quarters in London, and consists of a large block of land, which, as in the case of Otago, was acquired from the New Zealand Company. The spot selected for the operations of the company was the neighbourhood of Banks's Peninsula, on the east coast of the Middle Island. The 44th degree of southern latitude passes nearly through the centre of the district. The peniQsula itself is a wild rocky mass; but the pioneers of the settlement satisfied themselves that the land stretching inward was, from its possession of pasture and alluvial soil — of wood and water — a satisfactory site for their intended settlement. It may be mentioned that the open space proposed to be occupied by them, stretching to the interior mountain - chain, comprises a district somewhat less than Yorkshire in England. The operations of the society cannot be said to have assumed a practical form till 1850, when various vessels with emigrants were despatched. The aim of the society was to transfer a settled and civilised community, with its various attributes — religious and educational establishments, employers or capitalists, tradesmen, labourers, &c. ; and to carry out this object, funds were to be contributed from the price paid in acquiring lands. Thus while the purchaser has to pay £3 per acre, it was not to be considered that this was to be the price of the land. That was to cost but 10s. ; but £1 was to go to a religious fund for the support of an ecclesiastical hierarchy and a system of education ; another pound was proposed to be expended in emigration — that is, according to the lately prevalent theory, in bringing out-labour to balance the capital. The remaining 10s. of the £3 per acre was to be applicable to miscellaneous purposes, such as surveys, roads, bridges, &c. When the whole territory expected to be absorbed by the system was actually purchased, a million of acres would be disposed of; and of the proceeds half a million would go as the price of land, a miUion for religious and educational purposes, a farther million for the emigration fund, and half a million for miscellaneous pm-poses. As regards the selection of emigrants and settling on lands, the association, at an early stage of their progress, announced the fol- lowing priuciples : — ^Selection of Colonists. — So far as practicable, measures will be taken to send individuals of every class and profession, in those proportions in which they ought to exist in a prosperous colonial community. The association retain, and will carefully exercise, a power of selection among all those who may apply for permission to emigrate to their settlement, either as purchasers, or as immigrants requiring assistance. They will do so with the view of insuring, as far as possible, that none but persons of good character, as well as 59 NEW ZEALAND. members of the Churcli of England, shall form part of the popula- tion, at least in its first stage ; so that the settlement may begin its existence in a healthy moral atmosphere. * Mode of Selecting Land. — The peculiarity of the method of the selection of land adopted in this settlement, consists in allowing every purchaser of an order for rural land to select the quantity mentioned in his land-order, in whatever part of the surveyed terri- tory he may please, assisted by an accurate chart, which will be made as rapidly as circumstances will permit, representing the natural features, the quality of the soil, and the main lines of road. Certain rules as to position and figure, embodied in the tenns of purchase, and framed with a view to prevent individuals from mono- polising more than a certain proportion of road or river frontage, must be observed in each selection. But it is not the intention of the association to divide the whole or any portion of the territory to be colonised (except the sites of the capital and other towns) into sections of uniform size and figure, which has been the system generally pursued in other settlements. Every selection will be effected by the owner of the land-order communicating to the chief surveyor a description of the spot on which he wishes his section to be marked out. If this selection shall not violate the regulations as to position and figure, and if the area included shall be equal to the amount of land stated in the land- order, the section will be immediately marked on the chart, and a surveyor will be sent as soon as possible to mark it on the ground.' Doubts bemg entertained as to whether it was necessary that purchasers of lands in the Canterbury settlement should be mem- bers of the Church of England, we applied for information on the subject, and are now authorised to state that it is not essential that purchasers should be so. They may belong to other religious bodies ; but will of course have to give a third of their purchase - money to the support of the avowed institutions of the settlement. Labourers and others sent free from this country to the colony must, we presume, be members of the Church of England ; but as natives will be employed, and a general community be self- introduced, the promoters of the scheme may lay their account with seeing the rise of dissenting bodies within the boundaries of the settlement. The nature of the arrangements between the association and the New Zealand Company may here be explained. It was agreed that, unless before 30th April 1850, the amount paid to the company for land taken by members of the Canterbury Association should amount to £100,000, the territory shoidd revert to the company, and the pm*chase-money be repaid to the asso- ciates who had advanced it. On the 1st of January 1850 a royal charter of incorporation, which had passed about a month earlier, was communicated to the association. The contingency which was t)0 THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. to prevent the reversion of the lands to the New Zealand Company- was, however, far from probable. A very small amount of the promised £100,000 had been raised, and the association ob- tained a postponement of the day to the 30th of June. The prospect of the requisites bemg fulfilled, however, was as faint as ever. An entirely new arrangement was necessary ; and it was carried out by the zealous friends of the project at, it would appear, some personal sacrifice. The term was prolonged to the 31st of December; and instead of realising £100,000, the new condition was, that sales must have been made to the extent of £50,000 by that day, and should be continued annually for ten years at the same rate, otherwise the powers of the association were to cease. The crisis in the New Zealand Company occurred in the meantime. On the 5th of July the New Zealand Company announced the termination of their functions both as a colonising and a commercial body, and thenceforth it fell to the association to deal immediately with government. A bill was then brought in for regulating the functions of the Canterbury Association by statute, and was passed on 14th August 1850 — (13 and 14 Vict, c. 70.) It followed the arrangement previously adopted when the New Zealand Company was a party, requiring, as a condition of the continuance of the association's functions, the expenditure of £50,000 a year on land purchases. The conditions on which land was appointed to be sold were, in general, those which will be found in the tenns subsequently issued by the association, which will be seen further on. It was made a condition that a sixth of all receipts on land, whether from sale or depasturage, should be paid to the government. It will thus be observed that the scheme of the association has not been so widely appreciated as its pro- moters were led to anticipate, and hence probably the disposition to sell lands to any one without reference to religious profession. The character of the lands within the Canterbury settlement will be gathered from the following extracts. Captain Thomas, agent and chief surveyor of the association, thus reports under the date of May 1849 :— ' The block of land on the east coast of the Middle Island, from which the million of acres for the site of the Canterbury Settlement is to be selected, contains over two milhons of acres, extending coastwise to the north and south-west, and bounded inland by a range of hills whose distance from the coast varies from forty to fifty miles. This country is perfectly level, watered by numerous rivers and streams, and covered with grass. Like aU extensive dis- tricts, portions of it are found of inferior quality — a very small part is swampy, indeed so trifling, that a dray may be driven over almost ever\' part of it : the surface in some parts is stony, but on examina- tion we found it confined to the surface alone, the soil consisting of E 61 NEW ZEALAND. a light loam, resting on gravel and a substratum of blue clay ; much of it weU adapted for agricultural purposes, and capable of yielding excellent crops of all kinds of grain, potatoes, and European fruits and vegetables. The whole of this extensive and almost uninha- bited tract of plain coimtry affords excellent natiiral pasturage, and is particularly well adapted for the depasturing of cattle and horses. The produce of a very extensive country, extending along the sea- coast for 200 or 300 miles, will have Port Cooper as its market and harbour. Banks's Peninsula contains no less than four good har- bours — namely, Akaroa, Pigeon Bay, Port Levy, and Port Cooper. The country is hilly, and well wooded ; and the three former harbours are separated from the plain country, excepting by forming long and expensive hill roads : thus Port Cooper alone is of any value wiUi reference to the plains adjoining. The harbour of Port Cooper, situated in the north-west angle of Banks's Peninsula, though open to the eastward, affords good and safe anchorage. Large sliips anchor about four miles up, whilst brigs and large schooners lie off the port town of Lyttelton. It has no bar, is easy of access and egress, and has been frequented by whalers of all nations for the last twenty years, and no accident is on record ; and with a light- house on Godley Head (which I should most strongly recommend), might be entered with safety in the darkest night. The districts Lincoln, Stratford, Mandeville, Ashley, Oxford, and Buccleuch, are for the most part grassy, or partially covered with flax, and can be brought into cultivation at a very moderate expense ; and I recom- mend these districts to be first occupied, not oiAy on account of the quality of the land, but the first three with regard to the relative position of the harbour, as also of their possessing in many instances the advantages of water-commun ication for the transport of their produce, and supplying them with timber and firewood from Banks's Peninsula ; and the last two with reference to the large extent of forest-land adjoining. "We were agreeably surprised to find that mosquitoes, which are common in many parts of New Zealand dur- ing the summer season, were seldom found on the plain ; and we attributed their absence to the very small extent of swampy land.' In 1850, the association issued authoritatively to the public the following matured statements as to the theatre of their operations : — *The site of the settlement is a territory on the east coast of the Middle Island of New Zealand, containing about 2,500,000 acres in one block, consisting mainly of three grassy plains or prairies, named Sumner, Whately, and WUberforce, and intersected by several rivers, with their numerous tributaries, running to the sea from an Alpine chain of snow-capped motmtains. All along the spurs and foot of this range, the forest, of which the plains seem to have been stripped by fire, extends in primeval grandeur. Near the middle of the coast-line, Banks's Peninsula, wliich comprises about 250,000 acres of mountain-land, the greater part of it being still covered by the forest, contains two lake-like harbours, with several 62 THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. smaller ones. The capital of the settlement is Lyttelton, in Victoria Harbour (formerly Port Cooper.) The latitude of this place is 43^ So' south, which, as respects temperature, corresponds with about 47° in the northern hemisphere, being that of the most pleasant spots in the south of France. The climate exactly resembles that of Tasmania, being chiefly remarkable for warmth without sultriness, freshness without cold, and a clear brightness without aridity. Both the grape, for which England is too cold, and the gooseberry, for which the south of Italy is too hot, come to high perfection. In consequence of the scale of the natm-al features of the country, the scenery is very beautiful, and in some places magnificent. The fertility of the soil has been abimdantly proved by the experience of successful squatters. The prairie character of the main part of the territory, together with the dryness of the atmosphere and the mildness of the winter, indicates that the most suitable occu- pation for capitalists wUl be pastoral husbandry — the breeding of cattle, horses, and sheep ; but the absence of timber, the absence of drought, and the natural richness which produces grass in abun- dance without man's labour, explain why the arable lands of the squatters have yielded large returns, and shew that the plough and the flail will be plied successfully by those who may prefer tilling the earth to the management of live-stock. Drought is unknown. As respects flowers, kitchen vegetables, and all the English fruits, with the addition of melons and gi'apes, the gardens of the French settlers at Akaroa, and of the squatters on Sumner Plata, are described as teeming with produce of the finest quality and most beautiful appearance. Sea-fish is abundant, various, and of excellent quality. The only wild quadruped is swine ; they are numerous, are very good to eat, and afford plenty of hard sport. The plains abound with quail, and a variety of wild-fowl. There are no snakes, wild dogs, or other indigenous vermin.' Perhaps the most valuable, and certainly the most trustworthy document which the association have published, is an answer to a series of queries, given by the Messrs Deans, who had been for about six years previous to 1849 settlers and farmers about fifteen miles inland within the district proposed to be embraced by the new province of Canterbury. These explanations, and indeed, of course, any other documents issued by this association, as well as its rival, already noticed, will be readily afforded by the pro- moters to all applicants who are at all likely to put them to use. Had it been otherwise, this document would have been con- sidered of sufficient importance to be here repeated. The survey- ing officer of the ship Acheron, writing in May 1849, said : * You know, of course, that the general feature of the country is a succession of abrupt and lofty hills, with corresponding deep and secluded valleys, either thicldy wooded, or clothed with a thick fern and long gi-ass, offering all kinds of obstacles both for pastoral and 63 NEW ZEALAND. agricultural purposes ; indeed it is ofteu heartbreaking to see the land that people have settled down on, and the struggle and priva- tion that must be endured before it can be turned to account. But here we have a plain extending from north to south 100 latitude miles, with an average width of at least thirty miles, intersected by numerous rivers ; not the water holes of Australia, but rather rushuig torrents, which have managed to excavate beds for themselves some 200 or 300 and 400 feet in a perpendicular drop, on the western side of the plains : these rivers will, I anticipate, on a detailed examina- tion of their entrances being made, offer but few obstacles to boat iia\'igation for some half-dozen miles from the sea-board, whicli will render their passage at all times secure : this great plain may be called almost a dead level for as far as the eye can trace from any point. From the sea-shore to the Backbone ridge, not a rise of twenty feet meets the view ; but judging from tlie excavated bed of the rivers and other circumstances, I think there will be found a gradual rise of the land from the coast to the base of the mountain-range, where I judge it may be some 500 feet above the level of the sea,' The documents published by the association are not all abso- lutely eulogistic. Even their enthusiastic agent, Mr Godley, so late as the 31st August 1850, gives the following qualified remarks on what passed under his eye : — * After inspecting the works at the port and in the immediate neighbourhood, I rode with Mr Thomas over the hill to Mr Dean's farm on the plain. The tract which we were obliged to follow is exceedingly steep — so much so, as to be only just practicable for horses, and no heavy baggage could be transported by it. I caimofc better describe my impression of the country beyond the hill, than by saying that it precisely corresponded to the idea which I had formed of it from the map which was sent home last year. It may be said that to the eye there are but two features — a range of mountains, apparently thirty or forty miles distant ; and a vast grassy plain (the colour of which, as seen from a distance, is not fjreen, but rather that of hay) stretching from the sea towards them as far as the eye can reach, without any inequality, and almost without any variety of surface; for streams, though numerous, are not large, and they are sunk between very steep banks, and the patches of wood are unfor- tunately both rare and small. The grass on the plain is intermixed with fern and flax. To an eye unaccustomed to new countries it does not appear luxuriant ; but I am informed on the most undoubted authority, that the district in question is equal, if not superior, in this respect to any part of New Zealand, and that the improvement of the grass, after its being grazed over for some time, will be almost incalculable. In Mr Dean's garden I saw excellent crops of fmit and vegetables, and he gives a very good account of his own crops.' The Canterbury Association have from the first kept candidly and prominently forward their main objects. They have not con- cealed, but have rather profusely announced, that these objects 64 THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. must be paid for by their colonists. It •will therefore always be a question for the intending emigrant to satisfy himself on, whether these are objects for which he will feel inclined, or feeL himself justified, to pay. Of the £3 an acre, it has already been said that £1 is to go for church and education, £1 for emigration, and 10s. for miscellaneous services; 10s. being considered the actual price of the land. At the commencement of their operations, the association offered the following calculation — a calculation which, it may be remarked, was not by any means justified subsequently, especially in the most important, indeed the fundamental element — the quantity of land disposed of: — * Assuming, by way of hypothesis, that out of the territory of one million acres to be allotted to this settlement, two hundi-ed thousand will be sold in the first year or two, and the remainder appropriated to pasturage, the association will have at its disposal two funds, each a little exceeding £200,000 : one appropriated to immigration pur- poses, the other to ecclesiastical and educational establishments and endowments. The former funds, under the system of partial con- tributions to passages, instead of defraying the whole cost of them, which the association intends to adopt, will probably enable the association to forward 15,000 persons to the settlement. The association, considering the large surface over which the popula- tion will be distributed, calculates that twenty clergymen, and as many schoolmasters, will not be more than are requisite to establish and maintain that high religious and educational character which the association hopes, with the ©ivine blessing, that this settlement will possess. Assuming that the churches, parsonage-houses, and schools, will be constructed of wood, upon foundations of stone, can-ied to a height of three or four feet above the ground, the following will be an approximate estimate of then* cost : — 20 Churches, at £1000 each, - - - £20,000 20 Parsonage-houses and Glebes, at £500 each, - 10,000 20 Schools, at £100 each, - - - 2,000 A College and Chapel, ... - 6,000 Residences for a Bishop, the Principal of the College, and an Archdeacon, ... 3,000 Total, - - £41,000 'Deducting this sura from the original fund of £200,000, £159,000 will remain. The interest derived from this sum will probably have to defray the following stipends : — To a Bishop, ..... £1,000 To an Archdeacon, - - - - . 600 20 Clergymen, £200 each, - - - 4,000 20 Schoolmasters, £70 each, - - - 1,400 Total per annum, - £7,000' 65 NEW ZEALAND. Among the earliest of the scanty funds obtained by the land- sales, £10,000 were sunk as an endowment for the bishop. In May 1850, a project for the establishment of a coUege was announced, of which a full statement will be found in the documents readily communicated by the association to those who have an interest in them. Some money appears to have been expended on a bell weighmg thirteen hundredweight, an organ, and carved work for church decoration. As regards preparatory means for public instruction, the following passages occur in a letter from the secretary of the association to Mr Godley its agent : — 'With respect to the erection of schools, the committee leave you to consult with the bishop designate. You will together consider the question of making the best provision for this object, having ro^ gard to disposable means. On the subject of the college, the bishop designate has made all necessary arrangements for beginning the work. Some of the clergy who sailed by the last ships, together with masters and teachers in various departments (several of whom wUl accompany the bishop designate), will form an ample staflf for commencing an educational system of a high order, embracing all the departments of literature and science, and including instruction in the arts most useful in the colony. The committee have provided an ample supply of books (selected by the bishop designate), both as the foundation of a college library, and for instruction in the college and schools. The bishop designate will hand you a list of these books, and of other articles designed for the use of the college and schools. The whole of this department will be under his direction, except so far as concerns matters of expenditure, upon which he wiU consult you, and obtain your sanction, previous to any outlay being incurred. You will, however, assist him in his objects to the utmost extent which prudence and the present limited amount of disposable funds will permit.' * As regards the college buildings, you will together consult as to the best temporary provision to be made. It would, in the opinion of the committee*' be inexpedient (even were there ample funds at command) to undertake at once buUdings of a costly and permanent kind. It must, for a little time at all events, be matter of uncertainty as to the best locahty to select for a site, and a hasty decision on such a point may involve consequences extremely injurious. Besides this, to commence a great work of this kind, involving the employment of a large quantity of labom*, in the first infancy of the settlement, would be, as the committee think, an unwise measvu-e in point of economy in every way ; both as rendering the work itself tmnecessarily ex- pensive, from the excessive price of labour, and at the same time enhancing the price of labour in the colony, by taking up a large portion of the available supply. In all works of a public natiure which you may consider necessary — whether churches, colleges, or schools — the committee wish you to bear this in mind, considering, as they do, that every addition at the present moment to the demand 66 THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. for labour beyond what strict necessity requires, must operate inju- riously to the colonists, whose first wants ought to be supplied before anytliing not strictly necessary is undertaken. Subject to these remarks, and governed, as you will be, by the amount of funds at your disposal, the committee desire that you will, in concert with the bishop designate, provide temporary buildings sufficient for carrying on the work of education. The committee cannot doubt that all parties concerned in this work will, for a time, cheerfully submit to slight inconveniences, having regard to the necessity of circumstances, and looking forward to a speedy completion of the edifice and buildings of the college upon a suitable scale.' A practical difficulty arose at the very outset about the estab- lishment of the bishop — ^whence he was called in this document * the bishop designate.' There was already a bishop of New Zea- land. He had been appointed at a time when the probability of a small settlement in the colony demanding a bishop for them- selves was not anticipated, and when it was believed that one such dignitary would be sufficient for a population not likely, for some years to come, to exceed that of a secondary county in England. It was impossible, however, according to the episcopal system, to appoint an independent bishop to a territory already under epis- copal jurisdiction. Before the territory could be episcopally parti- tioned, the existing bishop of New Zealand would require to resign his office, and the episcopal function would thus be suspended until a new arrangement was made. The actual colonisation did not commence until the autumn of 1850, when it was thus announced in a statement of the pro- gress of the institution down to November 1850 : — ' The first expedition of colonists, 800 in number, sailed from Plymouth on the 7th September, in the ships Randolph^ Sir George Seymour^ Cressy, and Charlotte Jane^ which have been succeeded by the GaMe Eden and Isabella Hercus, each of them carrying about 200 passengers; so that the whole number of colonists who have sailed is just 1200. Of these 307 were cabin passengers ; a much larger proportion, it is believed, of that class than ever occurred before in the same number of emigrant ships proceeding at the same time to the same colony, and one, therefore, which shews that the desire of the association to render their settlement attractive to the richer order of colonists has thus far been fully realised. Other vessels are now preparing for sea, and will be continually succeeded by ships of the same class, and despatched in the same manner.' The association could only announce, however, the sale of 14,000 acres, with a right of pasturage over 70,000 acres. The committee of the association, in writing to Mr Godley on the 7th September previous, had said : * You will doubtless have been disappointed at the non-fulfilment 67 NEW ZEALAND. of the expectations at first entertained as to the extent of land-sales, and the consequent amount of funds available for the service of the colony. Such expectations appear to have been founded in too sanguine a confidence in the immediate efi'ect which v/ould be pro- duced in the public mind by the first promulgation of the plan of the colony. It has, in fact, been a work of time to impress upon the public its real merits. However, to a great extent this efiect has been accomplished, partly through the medium of public meetings, and the strenuous exertions of individuals, and partly through the agency of the " Canterbury Papers," of which the circulation is rapidly increasing. The progress, however, has been gradual. The com- mittee hope and believe tliat this very circumstance is in itself an omen of more sure and certain success eventually. But in a finan- cial point of view, the amount of land-sales (small, as compared with- previous anticipations) is attended with inconvenience. In parti- cular, it does not enable the committee at once to place at your com- mand the full amount which you estimate as required to complete all the works in progress in the colony. At the same time, with the means that they will place at your disposal, and upon which I shall address you by a separate communication, they are confident that you will be able to efi'ect all which may be considered essential to the general wellbeing of the colony. * I send you a statement, shewing the account and particulars of land-sales, with the names and descriptions of purcliasers. In the aggregate, including the sales both for the first and second opening of applications, there have been sold about 151 allotments, containing 13,150 acres of rural land ; 264 allotments of town-land, extending to 132 acres; 151 allotments of pasturage, with pre-emptive right of purchase, containing 65,750 acres. The aggregate of purchase- moneys will be (when the full purchase-money upon the second lot of sales shall be paid) £39,300. I need not stop to calculate for you the proportions in which these amounts will be applicable to the respective funds.' This was not a cheering practical result of operations, com- menced on the supposition that three millions would be put at the command of the association, and which still continued to announce its yiew^s and objects on the following large scale : — *In order to render the state of society in the colony similar to that which exists at home (except, of course, as regards the evil of competition amongst the members of every class, in which respect the colony cannot too much differ from the mother country), it has been deemed sufficient to guard against the occurrence of four com- mon drawbacks to colonial life. The first is the appropriation of more waste land than can be occupied, and the consequent dispersion of the settlers over a wide space of ground, whereby the productive powers of industry are weakened, and social intercourse is impeded : the second is that want in colonies which most renders them unsuit- able abodes for emigrants of the higher classes — namely, the want 68 TRE CANTERBURY SETTLEilENT. of labourers for hire and domestic servants : the third is the want of a systematic, organized preparation of the wilderness for occupa- tion by settlers: and the /owr^A— a circumstance very repulsive to heads of families, and especially to thoughtful mothers — is the want of religious provisions, and of the means of school and college train- ing similar to those which exist in England. In the Canterbury Settlement, moderation in the appropriation of land will be enforced by the prime cost of all land, which is the fixed uniform price of £3 per acre. It is believed that one effect of this price will be to occa- sion such a proportion between the number of inhabitants and the quantity of appropriated land, as to secure the occupation and use of all the land when it becomes private property. If so, no part of the waste will be treated as the hay was by the dog in the manger ; and the colonists will not be mischievously scattered. But in order that the price of freehold land may not operate as a restriction on tlie use of those extensive natural pastures from which the wealth of the settlement must, for a long while, be mainly derived, it has been provided that every buyer of land, amongst the purchasers of the first 100,000 acres, shall be entitled to occupy pastoral runs, for an almost nominal rent, at the rate of five acres of pasture for one of freehold. One-sixth of the purchase-money, or 10s. per acre, is paid to the government for public purposes. Another sixth, which, when the whole plan shall be carried out, will amount to £1,250,000, is to be expended in surveying, road-making, and the general admi- nistration of the plan. A third, or £l per acre, being £2,500,000 in the whole, is to be an emigration fund, devoted to the purpose of paying for the passage of the land-buyers with their families, their servants, and other persons of the labouring-class. And the remain- ing third is exclusively appropriated to religious and educational objects — such as churches and common schools, a parochial clergy, a bishopric, a school of the highest class, and a college fit to supply- New Zealand, and the other colonies of England in the South Pacific, with a local Cambridge or Oxford.' The conditions on which the association offered land for sale and pasture-licences were altered from time to time, according to circumstances. After the passing of the statute, it was necessary to revise them, and they were then finally consolidated and issued on the 27tli September 1850, as follows : — ' 1. With the exception of such land as has already been or may hereafter be selected by the agent of the association for the site of the capital town, and of harbour and port towns, and of such land as may be reserved by the association for works of public utility uuder the present or any other terms of purchase, all the lands shall be open for purchase as rural land. The association has resolved not to exercise the right of selecting the sites of towns beyond the site of the capital ; and in case Port Lyttelton should not be selected as the capital, then of one port town. • 2. Any quantity of land may be purchased as a rural allotment 69 NEW ZEALAND. not being less than fifty acres. Any person desirous of purchasing land in distinct allotments, may do so by separate forms of applica- tion, each allotment not to be less than fifty acres. The extent of a town allotment shall be one-half acre ; and in the port town, if any, one-quarter of an acre. * 3. The rural land shall be sold at £3 per acre, including the sums contributed for special purposes. * Town allotments may be sold in the colony in the following manner : — An allotment of half an acre in the capital at £24, and an allotment of a quarter of an acre in the port town, if any, at £12 ; but no such allotments shall be sold upon the foregoing terms without being first put up for sale by auction, at upset prices of those amounts respectively. * 4. All land for the time being remaining unsold shall be open, xmder licence, for pasturage purposes, at the rate of 20s. per annum for every himdred acres. And until 100,000 acres, being the quantity of land originally appropriated to the first body of colonists, shall be sold, every purchaser of rural land, and no other person, will be entitled to a transferable licence for pasturage, renewable by such purchaser from year to year, in the proportion of five acres of pasturage to one acre of land purchased. * 5. Holders of pasturage-licences imder the last condition will be entitled to a pre-emptive right of purchase of the lands comprised in such licences, subject to the conditions herein contained, applicable to the purchase of rural land ; except that, instead of applications for purchase being made to the secretary of the association, and the purchase-money being paid to the bankers of the association, such applications may be made to the principal agent of the association at the land office in the colony, and payment of the purchase-money may be made to him. * 6. Lands held under pasturage-licences may not be purchased by any persons other than the licensees until after one month's notice, in writing, given by an intending purchaser at the land office in the colony, stating the intention to purchase, and specifying the lands proposed to be purchased ; the intending purchaser being required at the time of such notice to deposit his full purchase-money at the land office. Pasturage-lic^ces will confer no right to the soil. * 7. Subject to the foregoing conditions, all lands included in such pasturage-licences will be open for purchaise in like manner as other unappropriated lands. * 8. Applications for the purchase of rural land must be made according to a printed form, which may be obtained at the office of the association, 9 Adelphi Terrace. Before any application can be received, one-half of the purchase-money must be paid to the bankers of the association, Messrs Cocks, Biddulph, & Co. Charing- Cross, and their receipt produced- Land-orders will not be issued until the purchase-money shall be paid in full. * 9. The selection of land in the colony will be made according to the order in which land-orders shall be presented at the land office 70 THE CAXTEEBUKY SETTLEMENT. of the association in the colony. But if it should ever so happen that two or more persons should apply at the same time for the same allotment, the preference of selection between them shall be deter- mined by lot. ' 10. Every allotment of rural land must be selected of a rectangular form, so far as circumstances and the natural features of the country will admit. * 11. Every allotment fronting upon a river, road, lake, lagoon, or coast, must be of a depth from the front of at least half a mile. ' 12. Every allotment not fronting upon a river, road, lake, lagoon, or coast, must be not less than 300 yards in width, and not less than half a mile distant from a river, road, lake, lagoon, or coast. * 13. Each section under a pasturage-licence must be in one block, and of a rectangular form, as far as possible. * 14. The intended application of purchase-money is as follows : — one-sixth part is to be paid for the land ; one-sixth part for miscella- neous expenses, including surveys, roads, &c. ; one-third part for reli- gious and educational purposes ; and one-third part for emigration. Subject to the regulations of the association with respect to the selection of the emigrants, every purchaser will be entitled to re- conunend emigrants, proportioned in number to the amount of his contribution to the emigration fund ; but not more than ten shillings per acre will be allowed towards the passage of the purchaser and his fiamily. * 15. The association reserves to itself the right of selecting, and ap- propriating, and obtaining a conveyance to itself for public use only, of all such lands as may be required for streets, squares, roads, sites of churches, churchyards, schools, parsonage-house, wharfs, landing- places, jetties, or other objects of public utility and convenience. * 16. The association reserves to itself the right of making such modifications in these terms as experience may prove hereafter to be expedient or desirable for the general benefit of the settlement, and as may be consistent with the conditions xmder which the land has been reserved to the association. * No rural land will be sold in the colony until aft^r due notice to that eflfect Subject to the engagements which the association has made by previous terms of purchase, town land may be sold in the colony at any time after the date of these terms of purchase. And the foregoing conditions shall (so far as they properly can) apply to such town lands, except tha<^ instead of applications for purchase being made to the secretary of the association, they may be made to the principal agent of the association at the land office in the colony ; and instead of the purchase-money being paid to the bankers of the association, the same must be paid to such agent.' Of the actual progress of affairs in the settlement, Captain Thomas, the agent of the company, wrote to his constituents on 27th January 1850, saying: — 71 KEW ZEALAND. 'Nothing I have ever seen out of England comes up to our sur- veys ; and all the surveyors employed on it, whether on the staff or by contract, are delighted with it. The trigonometrical survey is completely successful, and the filling in of the intermediate features by the system of contract is also most satisfactory. We have com- pleted 230,000 acres, and in a couple of months more shall have 200,000 more trigged ; and before the Avinter, we shall complete the districts of Lincoln, Christchurch, and Mandeville ; so that I shall fulfil my promise of having at least 300,000 acres ready the first twelve months. The next year I hope, our facilities of movement are so increased, that we may complete it all. The cost of the tri- gonometrical survey, without the topographical, is, up to the present^, about three farthings per acre. I shall, when further advanced, send you a great deal of information on the formation of these settlements, by giving all the expenditure, and classifying it under the various heads of surveys, towns, roads, and public buildings. * The experiment of bringing down natives from one part of the island to work in another, is also successful, and was the only one I could adopt, in the absence of police and protection, to form the roads. As yet we have not made much progress, for it is a very arduous undertaking to get a road from here to Sumner — distance four miles. AVe are, however, getting through the worst of it; and should we have funds, I hope to have the whole line to Christ- church (10^ miles) open in the course of a twelvemonth. * As I wrote you, I contracted for Hobart Town timber, as the only- way of obtaining a sufficient supply in a limited time, and at a rea- sonable price. A fortnight since it arrived, and is all now stacked in the timber-yard, or in the hands of the carpenters, who are putting up the emigration barracks. Sixteen carpenters also arrived from Hobart Town, and they are a very passable lot, and as yet work well. Altogether, this plan has completely succeeded, by keeping down prices, and compelling the vagabonds that pack to all new settlements, to work and accept reasonable terms. The vessels that brought the Hobart Town carpenters and timber have now been at anchor here three weeks. The captains speak well of the place The improvements I have made in this place will make it a very pretty town, and it will have an excellent road to Christchurch. I am quite satisfied we have made no mistake in fixing the sites of these towns.' It appeared, however, from the subsequent dispatches of Mr Godley, that Captain Thomas, to do even the limited services he accomplished, had overdra-wTi the association's account ; and on 31st August it was necessary to say — * For the present, accordingly, all our operations are at a stand- still, and must remain so until fresh remittances shall arrive from England. This is very mortifying, as not only is there necessarily a considerable amount of loss accruing on such a suspension of exten- sive works, and a risk of considerable damage to the works them- 72 THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. selves, but Mr Thomas and myself are in the disagreeable position of remaining idle for want of means to do any work. I shall remain here, and endeavour to employ my time as usefully as I can in acquir- ing general information ; and he will remain at Lyttelton, after wind- inw up his operations, until he shall receive from me instructions to resume them. The work actually done consists of the buildings which I have enumerated, of a road partially made, but wliich (in- cluding a bridge and sea-wall, which are necessary to complete the connection between the port and chief town) will require at least £7000 to finish ; of the trigonometrical survey of about 600,000 acres, the topography of about half of which will be completed (as 3Ir Thomas informs me) within the period at which he will be com- pelled to stop ; and finally, of the materials for emigration houses at the chief town, w^hich will hardly, I fear, be erected within that period. I consider, however, that, with the exception of the road, nothing will then be left unfinished which is absolutely necessary for the reception of settlei-s.' Of tlie general appearance of progress in the settlement, he gave the following sketch : — * The harbour is very fine, both in a picturesque and a utilitarian point of view. The captain and all the nautical men on board were delighted with it. It consists in a regularly-shaped inlet, about seven miles long from the entrance to the end, and varying from a mile to a mile and a half in width. It is open to one wmd (east-north-east), but everybody agrees that it never blows hard from that quarter, and also that the swell is lost before it reaches the harbour. There is a good anchorage outside in seven fathoms, and from thence it gi'a- dually shoals to three fathoms, about five miles up. There are two small bays, in which, if it should be found necessary, shelter for ships may be found from the only wind to which the rest of the harbour is exposed. No pilot is required, as there is literally nothing to avoid except the hills on each side ; and there is width enough to beat in or out in fine weather. Half-way up the harbour we passed a whale-boat, which informed us that we might go up and anchor opposite " the town." At that time we had seen no sign of civili- sation, except the line of a road in process of formation along the face and over the top of the hill on the northern shore, and no human habitation except some Maori huts close to the beach ; but we held on, and presently another whale-boat, with Captain Thomas, the chief surveyor of the association, on board, shot from behind a bluff on the northern shore, and boarded us. Immediately afterwards we let go our anchor, though " the town" was not yet visible, and my w ife and I went off with Thomas. On rounding the bluff aforesaid again, I was perfectly astounded with what I saw. One might have supposed that the country had been colonised for years, so settled and busy was the look of its port. In the first place, there is what the Yankees would call a " splendid " jetty ; from thence a wide, beaten-looking road leads up the hill, and turns off through a deep 73 NEW ZEALAND. cutting to the eastward. On each side of the road there are houses scattered to the number of about twenty-five, including two "hotels'* and a custom-house (in the shape of a small weather-boarded hut cer- tainly, but still a custom-house.) In a square, railed ofiF close to the jetty, are four excellent houses, intended for emigrants' barracks, with a cook-house in the centre. Next to this square comes a small house, which Thomas now inhabits himself, and which he destined for an agent's oflfice. Behind this, divided from it by a plot of ground intended for a garden, stands a stately edifice, which was introduced in due form to us as " our house." It is weather-boarded, has six very good-sized rooms, and a veranda ; in short, after seeing it, we could not help laughing at our own anticipations of a shed on the bare beach, with a fire at the door.' Further particulars respecting the settlement, terms of purchase of lands, transit, &c. may be obtained on application to the secretary of the Canterbury Association, No. 9 Adelphi Terrace, London. CONCLUSION. The facts oflfered in the preceding pages will have shewn that New Zealand differs materially, in climate and general physical features, from any part of Australia. The prevalence of moun- tains and hilly lands renders the climate showery, and consequently it bears a resemblance to that of England, though of a finer quality. While, in the pastoral districts of Australia, the popu- lation must be necessarily of a dispersed character, that of New Zealand will generally attain a density similar to that of Europe. Other peculiarities of New Zealand are equally significant. It consists of a group of islands, abounding in bays and harbours suitable for foreign commerce, and affording means of ready inter- communication by steamboats. The coasts also yield vast quan- tities of the finest fish, valuable for home use, and for exportation in a salted state. Then, the moderate climate admits of not only fish, but beef being salted, without risk of loss. The lands, when cultivated, yield prolific crops of wheat and other kinds of grain suitable for exportation. From the trees, potashes may be made to any imaginable extent. From the Phormium Tenax, or New Zealand Flax, cordage of the strongest and most durable kind may be manufactured. Of fruits of excellent quality, there will be, as cultivation advances, the greatest profusion. The amount of mineral wealth it would be presumptuous to estimate. It would be difficult to say what New Zealand wants in the natural attributes of a great country. And a great country it will be — the greater from its proximity to the vast regions of 74 CONCLUSION. Australia, still in the infancy of their prosperity. Tliat which New Zealand requires is the settlement of industrious and intelli- gent Europeans. From what has been previously said, it is seen that everjrwhere the field is open. At Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth or Taranaki, Dunedin, Lyttleton, and other centres of British civilisation, lands may be acquired, and employment will be found by those who are able and willing to work. It is true that fortunes are not to be made by sheep and wool, as in Australia ; but sufficient scope is offered to capitalists, and also for carrying on a system of rural husbandry on a mode- rate scale, with room for extending to greater things. Unite to this the usual exemption from rates and taxes, freedom from the oppressive conventionalities of an old country, and the solacements of a delightful climate, and it may be said with justice that few parts of the earth's surface present such allurements to the emi- grant as New Zealand. Note. — Since the above was written, the following extract from a letter from Mr Godley to Mr Adderley, M.P., dated Wellington, New Zealand, August 13, 1850, has been put into our hands: — ' This colony, as a field for the investment of capital, is, I firmly believe, unrivjilled in the world. Sheep and cattle-keeping here will pay — does pay, in fact, according to the most moderate computation — 30 -pev cent, on the average, and has often paid 100 per cent, and more. And this vnH last, and even increase, until the vast available districts of the Middle Island are filled up. ... Is it not most wonderful that there should, in these circumstances, be hardly any capital flowing into the country ? A man beginning with £5000 is quite a Jones Lloyd here ; and I know a man who began with about 200 sheep, and 15 or 20 horses, seven years ago, and who has now sheep and other stock worth at least £10,000, besides having 150 acres under the plough, and large farm-buildings, a brig of his own, &c. Everything, no doubt, depends on personal, or at least trust- worthy management ; but what each family in England ought to do is this — to send out one of its own members, if qualified, and make him superintend the investment of the family capital. It might, with ease and certainty, be doubled in four or five years at present rates. I am sure of this, and you know I am not given to rash or headlong speculation. I could prove it to you by numerous instances.' NEW ZEALAND. i 1 • * it 1 si l\ 8 S5 "- 1 Jl -o in r 1 « r»-». a « « 1* ij. M 1 1 1 5ii a.- s g «■ 1 •So «^ ^ %-n S: i 1 : :S : : 1 1 ill i i 5 1 ill S :• s s « li 1 1 |ss a i 1 1 ... ! til ii ^ 1 i 5 = I i 1. 1 111 111 iU pi o. 6 2 5il ^ c 2 S o*^ "S Sao !«« III III! llii THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. GENERAL ACCOUNT. South Africa. — The British possessions in South Africa now reach from the southern extremity of the Cape Colony, 34=* 51' south latitude, to the northern extremity of Natal, at 27'' 40' south latitude on the east side of the coast, and to the most northerly bend of the Orange River (29'' 41' south latitude) in the interior towards the western coast. Their estimated area is about 130,000 square miles — considerably larger than that of the United King- dom. The enlargements which have lately taken place in the boundaries of these possessions, accompanied not only by con- siderable immigration of British emigrants, but by changes in the native population, render the number of inhabitants doubtful. Including, however, natives and Europeans, the whole may be estimated at about 300,000. These possessions are of uTegular structure, the Cape Colony forming a pretty compact area at the very extremity of the great continent, but the new district of Natal stretching northward in a long narrow strip along the east coast. There are thus great varieties in the character of the country. It contains deserts ; mountain-ranges, some within the line of perpetual snow ; a long indented sea-line, with many harbours and stormy headlands. Though thus various, the whole territory differs greatly in one marked respect from the other British possessions in the southern hemisphere : it is fuU of animal life in beast, bird, and reptile. Living beings pass over its surface like animated floods, saturating the taste of the most exorbitant sportsmen. But with the wild animal kingdom of Southern Africa, the public has had sufficient opportunities in late years of being acquainted ; and it is a feature of which the intending emigrant is not likely to be ignorant. The general character of everjiihing, animal or vegetable, earthly or atmospheric, in these as well as other parts of the huge African continent, is extreme and contrasted. Either the earth is stone F 77 NEW ZEALAND. and dust, or rankly prolific in vegetation : there is parching dry- ness or deadly swamp ; the animals are of the most gentle or the most ferocious character; the vegetation produces luscious fruit or deadly poison. Naturally, a place with such characteris- tics is one of risks and alternations in fortune. Whatever the settler pursues, especially far inland, he must prepare himself to meet great and often overwhelming risks. The flock-master cannot repose with his peaceful sheep around him in the firm reliance that each succeeding day will only witness the gradual increase of his wealth. The enemies he has to contend with are numerous, and they come not in detail, but with great destructive sweeps. The sheep are liable to inflammatory epidemics, which run \ through the flock like electricity. At times they eat poisonons herbs, as if a diseased appetite had overtaken them. Even a storm of hail or of thunder will kill several hundred sheep at once. Mr Nicholson says he once lost 400 by lightning ' in a moment;' and he mentions a neighbour who had been deprived of 1500 in one season by drought. In the far interior the farmer may have to encounter Ipsses from the ravages of the fiercest kinds of wild beasts ; but these shy animals keep at a distance from the approach of man, and the settler must have made choice of the far wilderness for his home before he is disturbed by them. ' Cornelius told me that he had killed upwards of a hundred lions on his property during his occupation of it, but that of late he had not seen many in the neighbourhood,' is a casual statement by Mr Nicholson from the conversation of a Dutch farmer. Animals individually less ter- rible, become, however, collectively, fer more formidable. In the similarly remote districts, herds of spring-boks and other kinds of delicate and beautiful antelopes cross vast territories like living inundations, gleaning every green blade from the surface they pass over, and leaving perhaps a small per-centage of their number the victims of the settler's rifle. The still smaller locust is a more for- midable scourge. The vast clouds of these insects, when scorched by fires, are taken up in basketsfull, and eaten ; and if the burn- ing has not been excessive, they are said to resemble shrimps. But this is a poor recompense for the mischief accomplished. * The farmers,' says !Mr Nicholson, ' on any indication of such a visitation, by making large smoky fires, and by other means, sometimes partially succeed in protecting their fields from total destruction ; but although they may escape the effects of any immediate consequences on the first attack, they are liable to the more destructive ravages of the young generation produced from the eggs deposited by the first flight, and whose black multi- tudes, wingless as they are for a length of time, cannot be 78 GENERAL ACCOUNT. driven off, but must be suffered to hop about, ravaging every- thing, till their wings grow, and a gale of wind tempts them to a flight.' But the peculiar capabilities and drawbacks of the several districts will have to be more fully considered with relation to each settlement, the whole of the southern settlements being considered as, for emigration purposes, divided into two— the Cape and Natal. The whole of British South Africa has a character for salubrity, and is in this respect very different from the rest of the continent. The general opinion indeed is, that the salubrious cordon, as it is termed, of the continent passes where the British settlements end, and the Portuguese colony of Delgoa Bay begins. The central government of the South African provinces is at the Cape, Natal being imder a lieutenant-governor, assisted by a board of officers. There is a lieutenant-governor also for the newly- annexed territory to the Cape Colony, who resides at Graham's- town. The whole settlement is under a govemor-in-chief at the Cape; who, until lately, was assisted by an executive and a legis- lative council. The former consisted of the government secretary, the auditor-general, the treasurer, the accountant-general, and the collector of the customs. The legislative council was composed of these official persons, and five non- official members, chosen by the governor from the colonists. After much discussion, a representative constitution was ex- tended to these colonies. In the summer of 1850, letters-patent were transmitted to the governor, empowering him to appoint ' a parliament to be holden by our governor and commander-in- chief, and to consist of our governor and commander-in-chief, a legislative council, and a House of Assembly.' In the governor's Ordinance he was to prescribe the elective system, the duration of representation, &c. The Ordinance was to prescribe the manner in which drafts of proposed laws are to be presented by the governor, and dealt with by the assembly; and the Ordinance itself is subject to the approval of the crown, and to any alteration that may be made by the Queen in council. The Cape having been originally a Dutch settlement, and all the districts stm containing a considerable number of the descend- ants of the original colonists, the Dutch law has been predominant. In any late changes which have been made, the rule has been to keep as near as possible to the principles and practice of the law of England ; and some exceptions to the rigidity of the Dutch law of succession have been applied to emigrants from England. The Dutch law was founded on the principles of the old Koman or Civil law, and has adopted in a great measure its rules of succession. These involve a partition of property on the death of 79 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. •one of the parents of a family; which has been found extremely inconvenient, especially in its effect in subdividing land. In other respects, too, English settlers, missing trial by jury in civil questions, and other peculiarities to which they are accus- tomed at home, complain that they have left the protection of free laws behind them. Had they, however, possessed, as it appears they are henceforward to have, a more popular legislature, the Dutch laws would have been found not more tyrannical than the English, and far less cumbersome. They closely re- semble the laws of a part of the British empire, as free as the remainder — Scotland ; and it is usual for young men going to prac- tise at the bar in the Cape to pass as advocates in Edinburgh. The several portions of the South African Settlements are not easily accessible to each other, from their great distance, the mountain masses which separate them, and the dangerous coast- line. In connection with the Cape Colony, something will be said on late improvements in internal communication. Natal is 1000 miles distant from Cape Town. There is as yet no steamer, and in the passage vessels which ply monthly the fare seems high — £10 for cabin, and £5 for steerage, as intimated in the Emigration Commissioners' information. There is a weekly steamer from Cape Town to Algoa Bay, the fare about £5 or £6. It may thus be material to an emigrant to understand beforehand whether he is to be conveyed to the department of the settlement where he means to remain. The Emigration Commissioners recommend that, * to save unnecessary expense, emigrants having an intention of settling in the Western Province should take their passages for Table Bay ; whilst those intending to settle in the Eastern Province should take their passages direct to Algoa Bay ; and those for the district of Natal should take their passages direct there.' Miscellaneous Cohnies. — The other principal colonies in Africa are Sierra Leone, its dependencies on the Gambia, and Cape Coast Castle in Guinea, all within 15 degrees of the equator. Of these the Gambia, or Bathurst, is the least unhealthy, being the farthest north. These colonies appear, in our official documents bearing on emigration, in the position of places of export, not of import. They are depots for released negroes, a certain number of whom proceed to our sugar-growing colonies to fill up the vacuum in their labour market. Living is cheap enough in Sierra Leone, if that were all that the emigrant had to desire. We are told, from official authority, that ' a man who has a penny can buy provision enough to support nature; for twopence he can provide himself with a quantity and description of food quite equal to the desures of most of the inhabitants.' The fate of a working-man of 80 THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. this country in one of these colonies would probably be, that if he were able to commence with such labour as he is accustomed to at home, he would at first be astonished at its value, and at the extent to which his wages would go in the purchase of necessaries and luxuries ; and would very soon be checked by fever and death, if he did not at once court their advent by dissipation. Laziness is of course the leading feature of these colonies— none work but those who are under a partial necessity to do so; a necessity approaching to a modified slavery, since it consists in the en- forcement of contracts of which the liberated Africans, becoming parties to them, scarcely know the meaning. Of the inhabitants of Sierra Leoue, we are told that the greater part, called Creoles and Akoos, 'live principally by petty traffic, attending market, and keeping little stalls, in which they sit all day, to sell goods or provisions to the amount of a few pence, or at most a few shillings. These are quite satisfied if they gain 4d. or 6d. by the end of the day, which sum is sufficient for all their wants.* But the colonies are, nevertheless, tolerably rich fields of mercantile adventure to those who can make rapid use of opportunities, and have made up their minds to subject themselves for a certain period to the poison of the climate. The Mauritius, an island thirty-six miles long in the Indian Ocean, Tvould deserve much attention were this a work devoted to colo- nial trade instead of to emigration. It is a spot of rich produce and valuable exports, but already so thickly peopled, that in an area of 700 square miles it has upwards of 160,000 inhabitants. The staple production is sugar, for the cultivation of which many hill Coolies have been imported since the abolition of slavery. The exports amount annually to about a million and a half. It is a very expensive country ; but those whom commercial adventure induces to inhabit it, find it on the whole healthy. It is farther from the ILue than the West African colonies, being beyond the 20tli degree, and is within the sphere of the hurricanes of the Indian Ocean which clear the air. Another African depen- dency lias stUl to be mentioned — St Helena ; but though important in history, its limited extent and want of fertility make it of no moment to our present purpose. THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. The origmal colony of the Cape of Good Hope is still always spoken of in geographical works almost in the words of Barrow, v/ho first systematically described it as a series of terraces one rising behind the other, and each fronted by a range of rocky 81 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. mountains parallel to the sea -coast, througli vrhlcb. passage is found by gorges, glens, or clefts, called cloofs. The general range of the elevations is from 1000 to 4000 feet, but there are moun- tains in the colony above 7000 feet high, and with their tops •within the line of perpetual congelation. Close to the capital is the remarkable flat -topped hill called Table Mountain, rising abruptly upwards of 3500 feet. In the western, which is the older part of the colony, there are great deserts called Karoos ; and large districts are quite unfit for culture. Many writers have recorded the sinking of the heart with which they saw the dreary dark-stone masses which fronted them, when approaching the land of promised verdure and abundance. But if less promising at first, the comparatively scanty vegetable covering of the Cape soil is of infinitely more value than the rank, deadly, tangled, luxuriant herbage of the more tropical regions of Africa. The rivers, with the exception of the great boundary-line — ^the Orange — are not large, and dryness is the characteristic of the district. Sportsmen complain that they lose the advantage of a turf footing in making their stealthy advances on their prey, and that there are few uncultivated places in the Cape Colony where they have not to scramble over loose shingle, which give forth a metallic clatter. The original Cape Colony is of great political and geographical importance, and is nearly as well known as many districts of Britain ; perhaps it is better known than many important places in our own island, since it has been so long the restingplace in the tedious voyage to the British Eastern empire. But these very circumstances, with its regular government, its wealthy popu- lation, its large revenue and oflficial expenditure, and its consider- able towns, render it all the less important to the emigrant, since they make it more like the country he desires to leave. The old colony is divided into two provinces — ^the western and the eastern. The former contains these divisions : Cape, Stellen- bosch, Zuellendam, Worcester, Clanwilliam, George, and Beau- fort. The other contains Albany, Uitenhage, Somerset, Cradock, Graf Reinet, and Colesberg. The additions made to the colony in 1848 by proclamation wiU have to be mentioned farther on. In temperature and other physical characteristics the two divisions differ considerably from each other. The winter in the western provinces is described as wet and disagreeable, while that of the east is said to be dry, bracing, and pleasant, though cold. The Emigration Commissioners, in answer to the question, * How are farms supplied with water ? say, By fountains and ri^-ers, and by natural and artificial dams and reservoirs, which may be much extended. Near Cape Town periodical rains may be relied on. 82 THE CAPE OP GOOD HOPE. In the interior they are more nncertam.' And when asked, ' What are the best watered and most fertile districts ? say, Those bor- dering on the south-eastern coast.' The Cape had been possessed and colonised by the Dutch for a century and a half, when, on their alliance with France in the great European war, it was taken from them by Britain in 1795. At the peace of Amiens, it was stipulated to be restored; but when the war broke out again, its convenience as a stage on the way to India, and its value in many other respects, had become so obvious, that it was again taken possession of in 1806. It was ceded permanently as a British possession at the peace of 1815. The nominal boundaries of the colony, though far within the actual boundary at the present day, had not been nearly filled up. At the time of the distresses in Britain arising from the sudden cessation of employment by the peace, and the losses occasioned by the war, emigration was prominently brought forward as a means of national relief. Fifty thousand pounds were voted by parlia- ment to accomplish this object, and the Cape Colony was chosen as the place of destination for the exiles. It was believed, not without reason, that as the object of the government was to get rid of people who were, or were likely to become discontented, they preferred for their destination a colony governed somewhat arbi- trarily, to the American settlements, more liberally governed in themselves, and close to countries still more free. The number to be exported was 4000 ; but such was the fever for emigration at the time, that there were 90,000 applicants. The disappointment of the upwards of twenty rejected for each one accepted was ex- treme ; but the felicity of the fortunate few was not entirely unmi- tigated. Instead of a land of spontaneous abundance, they found that they had gone to one where they were under an absolute necessity of working, though their work was in the end produc- tive of satisfactory results. Landed at Algoa Bay, they may be said to have founded a separate colony at Albany, which is, from being so peopled, the most thoroughly English part of the old Cape Colony. The infant settlement had to encounter at first severe calamities; but it ultimately righted, and became prosperous. Its capita], Graham's-town, is the second town of the old colony, containing a population of upwards of 6000. It has its own enterprise and attractions, and especially to British emigrants, in the origin of its inhabitants. The Dutch language, their ideas, associations, and habits generally, pervade the other districts of the old colony; though many of the Boers have removed to a distance, from their irreconcilable objections to the British system of govern- ment — especially to the denial of their right to slaves. It is to be regretted that their cause of enmity is of so selfish a character, 83 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. since, in general, they are an honest-minded, kind, and hospitable people. The capital. Cape Town, with nearly 30,000 inhabitants, is still in a great measure a Dutch town ; but it is full of British gentry, with their official and commercial importance, and contains a mixture of classes and races not very conducive to order or morality. The Caffre war of 1846 and 1847 — ^which has so unfortunately been renewed — was of too much moment in the financial affahs of this country to be easily forgotten. This is not the place for inquiring whether it might have been avoided by more prudence and judgment, or might have been more economically conducted. It is of importance, however, to notice its effects on the extension of the colony. It was thought necessary, at the conclusion of the war, to enlarge, the boundary as it had been fixed in 1805. It had been then marked out without a survey or knowledge of the ground — was, in fact, an outline on paper, not an actual boun- dary — and it was not so adjusted to the character of the country as to afford a protection against the Caffre inroads. The new boundary, as proclauned by the governor, is thus described by him in a dispatch of the 26th October 1849 :— * The present line of boundary, as fixed by the proclamation of the 7th December 1847, is traced from the mouth of the Kciskamma Eiver to its confluence with the Chumie ; thence to the northeramost source of that river; thence alonjj the Katherg- range to Gaika's Kop; thence to the source of the Klip Plaatz River; and along it to its jimction with the Zwart Kei; along the Zwart Kei to its junction with the Klaas Smit's River; along the Klaas Smit's River to its source J and across the Storm Berg to the source of the Kraai River, and along the Orange River to the sea. Out of the country thus added to the colony (about 30,000,000 acres in extent) were formed the two new divisions of Victoria and Albert, besides a considerable teiTitory between the old colonial boundary and the Orange River, which will be annexed to the divisions of ClanwilHam, Beaufort, and Colesberg, to which it is contiguous.' The division of Victoria comprehending the country between the old and the new eastern boundaiy, was estimated to contain 1,000,000 acres, and to have in 1849 a population of 7642, chiefly aborigines. * Not having been previously occupied,' says the governor's dispatch, ' by a European population, its resources have been as yet undeveloped ; ' and it was rather annexed with a view to a boundary-line than for its capabilities as a settlement. The occupation of a ten-itory inhabited by aborigines who have been accustomed to a life of virtual slavery, if not of specific ownership, is ever embarrassing to our free administration of the law. The difficulty wiU be afterwards seen in connection with 84 THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. Natal. ly Victoria an effort is made to solve the difficulty by the establishment of native locations. On these the governor, in his dispatch, says — * The rules for the management of these locations" are few and simple, but have hitherto been found effectual. No Fingo, Kafir, or other native can reside in the colony unless in service, except at one of these locations. All natives found at a distance from the location without a pass, stating the object of the travelling, &c. are fined ; and this regulation has had the effect of checking the practice of squatting on land belonging to the crown or to private indivi- duals. All natives receiving permission to occupy land at the loca- tions pay a quit-rent of £1 per annum to the crov/n. This payment is readily made, as the natives feel that it confers upon them a more secure title than they could obtain from mere occupation. These quit-rents will, in a short time, suffice to meet all the expenses of the locations, the pay of the native headmen and white superintendents, and the provision which has been made for education and the en- couragement of agriculture. Small rewards being offered for such services, the located natives have already been very useful in detect- ing the petty border depredations which are occasionally committed, and I think the advantage of thus establishing within the colony a large body of natives attached to the British rule cannot be ques- tioned. A number of traders,' continues the document, 'have also . settled in the division of Victoria, whose operations cannot fail t& promote the gradual but certain progress of civihsation.' Of the other new division, Albert, the governor in his dispatch gives this account : — * The division of Albert is that portion of territory included be- tween the Orange River on the north, the Storm Berg Range on the south, the Kraai River on the east, and the Storm Berg Spruit on the- west. The country thus -added to the colony became, on its annexa- tion (9th January 1848), the property of the crown ; but as the number of Dutch farmers already settled there was considerable, an equitable division of property and adjustment of claims became desirable, and a land commission for the furtherance of this object was appointed on the 25fch October 1848. The commission, of which the first assistant surveyor-general was appointed president, was em- powered to recommend grants of farms not exceeding 3000 morgen (6000 acres) each, to persons satisfactorily proved to have been in actual occupation previous to the annexation, such farms to be held in perpetual quit-rent, the amount of which has not yet been deter- mined. The claims have, upon investigation, been found so nume- rous, that I fear very little land will remain over for government sale. I should say that not more than £1000 can be anticipated from the sale of farms. The country produces a variety of fruit and vege- tables, but does not appear to hold forth any very great opening for general agricultural purposes. It is, however, a fine grazing country, 85 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. and produces a superior breed of cattle. The absence of springs, which is its chief drawback, is in some measure obviated by the formation of dams and tanks for collecting the rain-water, wluch is abundant, and by means of which the irrigation of the country and th0 watering of the cattle are almost exclusively conducted. There is a sufficiency of material for the construction of these dams, and the numerous gullies afford great natural facilities for their formation.' It was stated that the breed of Marino sheep was improving in this division, and that the farmers were wealthy. The area was estimated at 900,000 acres, and the population in 1849 at 5126. The colony of the Cape, with two new divisions, and additions northward to the old divisions, was thus bounded by the great Orange River on the north and north-east, correspondmg, when it turned to the north, with the old eastern boundary, coming down to the mouth of the Great Fish River. Beyond the boundaries of the colony, strictly speaking, it was found expedient to exercise a sovereignty over neighbouring ter- ritories — ^a plan which is as yet in an experimental state, being an imitation of our Indian policy. Thus, to the north-east of the Great Fish River was established the sovereignty of British CaflBraria. The governor in his dispatch says — 'Although there is but a remote possibility of the renewal of hos- tilities on the eastern frontier, it has been thought advisable, as a precautionary measure, and for the benefit of the Caflfres themselves, to retain in military occupation the tract of country comprised within the Kei, Zwart Kei, Klip Plaats, and Keiskamma Rivers, now known as British Caffraria.' The governor proceeds to give a view of the effects of the arrangement, which, like his idea of the remoteness of the possi- bility of a renewal of the war, is unfortunately not quite con- sistent with subsequent experience. He says — ' From the reports received from Colonel Mackinnon, the com- mandant and chief commissioner, it appears that all classes of the inhabitants have benefited by the new arrangement. The reasonable exercise of the chiefs' authority has been supported, and their sub- jects protected from oppression, whilst the frontier colonists are en- abled to follow their pursuits in security, and the depredations from which they formerly suffered are constantly decreasing in number.' The effect of this protective system has been to increase both agriculture and trade among the natives to a marked extent. The governor stated that on 1st January 1849 the revenue derived from the sale of licences amounted to £2500, affording a consider- able fund for public works. The other protected district, called the Orange River Sove- reignty, occupies the tract north from tliat river to the Yaal, "86 TH^ CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. and eastward to the Drakenberg. It was adopted partly for the organization of the natives, and partly for that of the emigrant Boors or Boers (the Dutch for husbandmen), who were there hving without law or social ordinances, in a position where they were likely to degenerate into a state of savageness, miserable to them- selves and dangerous to their neighbours. The governor, in the dispatch already cited, says — * The lands within the sovereignty are divided into two classes — those which belong to any native chief or people, and those which, not being so appropriatejj, are held on quit-rent from Her Majesty by the emigrant Boers. In the native lands the chiefe exercise juris- diction, ci-^il and criminal, over their subjects, and in the lands not belonging to the natives the Eoman Dutch law has been declared to be in force. A council has been established to legislate for the sovereignty (saving the due authority of the native chiefs.) This coimcU, consisting of the British resident, the four magistrates, and eight unofficial members elected by the people, held its first sitting, and has been found to work satisfactorily. The most important duties of the council will, in the first instance, consist in raising a revenue from the new territory, the expenses of -wliich are now defrayed by loans advanced by the colonial treasury, and in taking measures to improve the internal communications of the country with whose government they are intrusted. For this purpose the revenue derived from the sale of licences, &c. wiQ be at their dis- posal. I may here mention that I have already been enabled to establish a postal communication through the sovereignty between the colony and the rising settlement of Natal. Provision has been made, as far as was practicable, for the establishment of churches and schools within the territoi-y.' The policy pursued towards the natives was, it wiU thus be seen, the same as that which has been hitherto so successful in New Zealand. The natives have been encouraged, protected, and taken into employment, a considerable number of them being organized as soldiers, and caUed the Caffi-e Police. But none of these tribes, the most powerful and nttmerous of which are the Caffires, appear to possess those trading and civilisable qualities which characterise the New Zeaknders. At the same time, while the aborigmes of New Zealand are but a limited number, the British possessions in Africa are liable to be inundated by the tribes scattered over a vast continent. Already another formid- able war with the Cafires has broken out, and the so -termed police force has acted with gross treachery. The intending emi- grant, ere he proposes to settle in this colony, wiU require to see a prospect of restored tranquillity and security. Roads. — The construction of a road across the Cradock moun- tain^ uniting the interior districts with the coast flats, has ever been 87 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. felt to be a great object ; roads, indeed, would be peculiarly valu- able in a colony where the vegetation is scattered in rich patches, and wild mountain-passes intervene. It was, in fact, mainly for the accomplishment of this object that the introduction of convicts, so fiercely resisted by the settlers, was attempted. At a great expense a road was completed in 1848, over what has now got the name of Montague Pass ; and in the report of the Commissioners of Road» among the parliamentary papers for 1850, it is said ' some estimate of its value can be formed from the fact, that, by the opening of Montague Pass, the farmers are now enabled to perform m two or three hours, with an ordinary draught, that which it formerly took them eighteen hours, and sometimes as much as three days and nights to effect with a double draught.' In their report for the ensuing year, the same commissioners say — ' During the past year, farm produce has been pom-ing into the to\vn to an extent never known before ; the poor man has been enabled thereby to procure cheaper bread (for it is a fact that poverty is to be found here), while at the same time the grower has been well remunerated. The farmer is saved the labour and expense of dragging his half- filled wagon over a toilsome road ; the timber felled in our beau- tiful forests is easily and expeditiously conveyed to the interior ; and not the least benefit of all, is the establishment of the present agricultural society, which could not have been formed earlier with any chance of success.' Productions. — The chief interest which the proposing emigrant has in the productive capacity of the Cape Colony, must relate to the lately-assumed districts, and the unappropriated soil generally. The natural capabilities in general of the unsettled part of the South African pro-s-inces may be referred to the district of Natal, where the whole country is, with little exception, on trial for its capabilities as a new settlement : there are of course some diffe- rences between its productive sources and those of the stiU unoccu- pied part of the old colony, but there is a generic similarity of the one to the other. One of the most noted productions of the colony is its wine — a liquid which, with the exception of the small quantity called Con- stantia, has been, by the differential duties in its favour, the terror of all convivial gentlemen attending uncertain dinner-tables. It is an old fixed, fostered, and at the same time precarious trade, requir- ing considerable capital and a traditional experience — and certainly one with which the emigrant has nothing to do. The Emigration Commissioners have thought it necessary to enforce this, saying : ' The growing and manufacture of wine at the Cape are almost entirely in the hands of the old colonists, and there appears no encouragement for the introduction of persons skilled in this 88 THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. branch of industry.' From the same authority the following short analysis of the productions of the colony in general is given : — ' Tillage preponderates in the Cape, Stellenbosch, Paarl, and Malmesbury districts, and is extensively carried on in those of "Worcester, Clanwilliam, Caledon, Swellendam, George, Uitenhage, and Albany, and to some extent in every other division. Grazing preponderates in the districts of Somerset, Cradock, Albert, Coles- berg, Graaff Reinet, and Beaufort, and is extensively carried on in the other districts. Tillage principally near the coast, and grazing in the more inland parts. Wine growing in Cape, Stellenbosch, and Paarl di\'isions.' The old breed of sheep of the colony is celebrated for the size and fatness of the tail, and in old books of travels, the animal is represented with a little cart attached to it, to convey this hea\-y and valuable appendage. The Dutch farmers still make extensive use of it in cookery, and as a lubricator in various shapes, and have had a sort of superstitious attachment to it which has been much in the way of the introduction of improved breeds by the English settlers. The wool trade has thus become a staple and important one ; but the chief question for the proposing emi- grant is less its present state than its probability of increase — its expansive powers. It seems to be a general opinion among those practically acquainted with the Cape Colony, tliat the available means of its old boundaries at all events have l3een pretty fully ' utilised,' as it is termed ; and that there is little room for new capital to operate there. The fruitful tracts being barred off from each other by mountains and deserts, want the expansibility of the great Aus- tralian and American alluvial deposits. And as to improvability, there is a great fundamental want — that of a sufficiently ample supply of water — standing in the way. In many cases it is said that the moisture is just barely sufficient for the extent of vegeta- tion, and will carry no more. Thus the outlay of entei-prise in such circumstances would be much thrown away. This does not super- sede the exportation of labourers, who may be said indeed to be in demand. But they are wanted in a great measure to take on them the performance of the duties which slaves would have to do, if there were any; and both their remuneration and position are such, that it is probably only in periods of commercial revulsion that they will emigi-ate to these old settled districts in considerable numbers. But this subject is noticed farther on. Inducements to Settlers. — If the settler is not desirous of crossing the mountains, and taking his chances in the interior with all its hardship and adventure, nor of pitching his tent in the new district of Natal, but Welshes to become a farmer in the old settled districts 89 THE A1T.ICAX SETTLEiIE^*TS. of the Cape, the district of George as a centre, with those of Swel- lendam and Uitenhage to the right and left, stretching nearly as far as Algoa Bay, seem to promise him the best investment. These districts, especially G-eorge, though bordering the desert of Groote Karroo, and separated by savage momitain-ranges from the other settled provinces, appear to contain a population advanced in civilisation, who have taken advantage of their improvable capacities. Here, if the settler have not the same indefinite chances which he may acquire on crossing the desert, he at least can more satisfac- torily calculate his outlay, and proportion it to an expected return. The district contains many good houses, with the elegancies added to the comforts of life. The tourist or visitor who has come from the mountainous or the desert districts, feels the pleasant salubrity of the atmosphere feeding itself from the neighbouring ocean. Abundance of rich fruit grows here, the surplus over the local consumption being dried in the sun. Much valuable timber is felled in the forest of Knysna, which, far from being haunted by the horrors of the usual African jungle, is described as fuU of beautiful and peaceful woodland scenes. Not that these are to be enjoyed with the same careless security as the cultivated woods of Britain. The elephant still lingers in his old &vourite haunt, and besides the buffalo and the boar, the wood is haunted by the more formidable leopard and panther. Still more unpleasant enemies to woodland musing are the cobra capella and the deadly puff adder. At the same time, there are in this forest to be found the most beautiful specimens of the various kinds of boks or antelopes, and the extinction of some of them has been so much deprecated, that actual preventive measureshave been taken for their protection. Much agricultural produce is here raised ; and the country is cele- brated for homed cattle, horses, and mules. Land is dearer than in other parts of the colony, but at the same time jVIr Nicholson says — ' On the whole, the products of a farm here are as profit- able as in other parts of the colony ; and in most seasons com enough can be raised, and a sufficiency of good wine and brandy made, not only for home consumption, but for advantageous ex- change with the inhabitants of th« more exclusively pastoral dis- tricts for the live-stock that may be required.' Stni, even in these districts both the cereal crops and the animals are liable to the fatalities of the African soil and climate. The neighbouring district of SteUenbosch is celebrated for its wine farmers. They are a sort of moderate aristocracy, and their pro- fession one which, as already said, the new settler, if he be wise, will not meddle with, as it requires great experience and tradition- ary knowledge — seems to have attractions at least for those whose connections have pursued it for generations. But though the 90 THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. wine farmers live well, their trade, protected as it is, is said to be far irora an enriching one. This cluster of fruitful districts boasts of several good towns and villages, where both the Dutch and British society is said to be of a superior order — as Georgetown, Swellendam, Beaufort, Stellenbosch, &c. There is a class for whom the Cape offers more opportunities than most of our settlements — a class whose avocations, unless conducted with peculiar discretion, are always precarious, but who at the same time are generally well informed and sagacious far beyond all other classes of emigrants : these are mercantile men. The medium for the disposal of the produce of an extensive old settled district is of itself a considerable source of enterprise. But the sagacious trader at the Cape or Graham's-town may command a wider area of enterprise, in the produce of the interior, brought to him through the meagre but multitudinous ducts of native exer- tion and commerce. The trader, however, who is prepared to risk his health, wiU of course find far greater opportunity for this species of adventure in those deadly colonies, which never can be recommended as emigration fields, nearer the line. But in retail trading there is a considerable deal of business transacted at the Cape. Notwithstanding the two overland routes, the great majority of the East India Company's civil and military officers, in their journey to and from their Oriental service, still * touch at the Cape,' where they spend money, and keep gaiety and activity alive. The pecuniary arrangements of the service make this an inducement. It is at the same time a place of resort for Oriental invalids — a, purpose for which, however, it is probable that New Zealand will supersede it, when that southern colony becomes civilised enough to be endurable to the idle. These are likely to form for some time a class who will find the Cape a very suit- able place of settlement. Sport is extensive to repletion, and there is a sort of gentlemanly system of living, which will not only suit the retired idler, but the man who wishes to settle him- self on a moderate estate in a warm and not unhealthy climate, amid fine scenery, and a profuse abundance of the higher animals of the brute creation. The pleasures and social enjoyments of Cape Town must of course form a considerable portion of the inducement which may influence such settlers — a circumstance which makes the colony all the less likely to be an eligible place for the hard-working, resolute, and adventurous emigrant. In speaking of trade with the ulterior natives, and the produc- tions they incidentally send down to the south, as in some respects an opening for the trading classes, we might be considered as overlooking a subject often spoken of, if we failed to mention how this has been suggested as a source of great speculation for adven- 91 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. turous and wealthy men establishing from this quarter new com- munications with the interior. Few writers can speak of the prospects of the south without partly theorismg, and partly speaking from information they have received, of the probability that, far beyond the boundaries of the Gareep, there are great inland communities more civilised than those nearer the Cape, who may be the sources of a wealthy trade in ivorj-, feathers, skins, gum, and other luxuries of commerce. Mr Nicholson says : '■ Immense quantities of ivory, ostrich feathers, skins, gum, and perhaps other articles, might be obtained from them if once a trade was opened ; and intercourse having been thus established, and depots formed at Lillakou, they would probably meet the colonial traders there at stated periods, and thus commence an association which might soon open up to our knowledge some of the unexplored countries of this vast continent.' — (P. 218.) Such prospects may be well entertahied, and may be some day or other realised ; but they are among the last things that settlers should anticipate as one of the inducements for selecting this as a place of resort. In fact, such vague expectations generally make a place a bad one for the industrial colonist, as they are apt to give him reckless adventurers as companions and competitors — a class of men whom, if he had his choice, he would send to some colony different from that in which he thinks proper to take up his own abode. Land. — This being an old colony, a great part of its temtory is taken out of the class of waste or unappropriated lands to which the ordinary emigrant looks, and has become the subject of ordinary sale, as in this country. A dispatch by the governor of the colony to the colonial office in 1849 gives the following statement : — ' The quantity of land granted in the colony up to 31st December 1848, was 43,276,504 acres — a little more than half the estimated area of the colony before the late extension of its boundai'ies ; of the remainder ungranted, a small portion is occupied by a few farmers, still held on loan tenure, and appropriated for missionary stations, outspan or baiting -places for travellers, town commons, the Hottentot settlement of Kat River, and lands formerly surveyed, but to which the titles are not yet issued. About two-fifths of the whole colony are supposed to consist of mountain-ranges and arid plains, almost entirely unfit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.* It will thus be seen that though there may be, numerically, a large number of acres to be disposed of, there is not in reality much range of selection to a new purchaser or occupant of crown lands. A great temporary impulse was given to the pm-chase of 02 THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. fresh lands in 1847 and 1848, the operation of which is thus stated in the dispatch above cited: — 1847. Western Province, - - Eastern Province, - - 1818. Western Province, - - Eastern Province, - - § i 3 p. A. R. F. By Purchase, 63,336 154 ) Granted, } 504,216 By Purchase, 30,885 194 76 ) Granted, > 12,006 89 j £ s. d. By Purchase, 9,187 3 7 ) Granted, > 2,241 8 9 j By Purchase, 7,806 18 5 Granted, > 5,984 7 6 j 1 2 ^ fe ^ -i -i ' g rt II >^< S£. •: S a ^ & & s "to £ s. d. 11,428 12 4 13,791 5 11 ij II II 3 3 fc« P 3 H- qj^l 1?^ ii' o 5" "* ^ ■O^n S! si i§ S5' l^r= — <= co^ §J&^ £^ ^o* a to 00 coib &! ? «,g «g^ Ill iSS §6.5- H = gs {§£2? =^1 > i3 Is 11^ jl ? a o to >— s: o w CO CO % "% § I? -? to bt m 9U ^ t=S ^ oS o c ^ 1 ' >■ gs crSJ^ § 3 050 -»«.«' 11 J^^^ '^ Si ?- 93 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. In answer to questions offered for their consideration, the Emi- gration Commissioners have afforded the following useful items of instruction applicable to the Cape : — *Any extent of laad applied for maybe purchased from govern- ment. The smallness of the quantity is not objected to, provided there be no disproportionate advantages insepai-ably connected with it, the grant of which would materially injure adjacent property of the crown. * The minimum upset price for town and country lands throughout the colony is 2s. per acre ; but a higher rate is fixed by government at their discretion, when, from the situation, soil, or other circmn- stances, such higher rate is reasonable. ^ - * The lands surveyed for sale can be ascertained, and the plans seen, in the office of the surveyor-general in Cape Town; but plans are only forwarded to Graham's-town when lands in the eastern district are advertised for sale there. Excepting in Victoria, the crown lands are generally smaU pieces left open between private properties, and are not calculated for separate farms for immigrants. It would be pre- ferable to purchase partially-improved lands in the first instance, if settlers intend to reside in the older districts of the colony. There are, however, forest lots in George, ready for sale, wliich are chiefly valuable for the timber on them. * It is recommended not to enter into final arrangements for the purchase or hire of land, houses, or stock in the colony before leaving England, It is further recommended that the party should be a short time in the colony before he makes the purchases referred to.' Of the previously occupied lands, large portions must have come into the market a few years ago, from the emigration of the discon- tented Boers beyond the limits of the colony. But as matters are now arranged, this source of great bargains in the purchase of land must have ceased. Labour. — It is a very nice question how far this colony is suitable for working-men of this country desirous of raising their position. In the towns mechanics are employed generally at good wages, but the amount is sadly at the mercy of all influxes that may take place, and the demand does not seem likely to increase with enlarged exportation. On this very important subject ]Mr Nicholson, writing in 1848, says — ' With regard to the humbler classes of emigi'ants for this colony, I should say that one thousand would be the greatest number who could obtain employment suited to the capacities and habits of decent labouring-people.' The duty of a shepherd in some parts of this colony is a peculiar and somewhat oppressive one. Mr Nicholson observes, that ' the great extent of wild rocky country to be travelled imceasingly for twelve hours a day, without regular meals or rest, in order to give the flock an opportunity of 94 THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. getting enough to eat without annihilating particular tracts o£ pasture, would be extremely distressing to Europeans during at least nine months of the year, on account of the great heat and glare from the bare rocky ground which they would be exposed to in a country where the shade of a tree cannot be hoped for, or a drop of water often procured.' It is scarcely a fact which can be stated as a permanently promising one — at least one that should be acted on — that some men of the labouring-class have made fortunes at the Cape. It has been the result more of the convulsive accidents incidental to a slave state, especially in its transition, than of natural causes. Mr Christopher teUs us — ' The experience I have had at the Cape is this — that those who have had money, have lost it ; and those who had none at starting, have gathered it.'* It is but fau*, at the same time, to give the light in which Mr Barrington, an extensive landowner of George in the west, viewed this cu'cumstance in his evidence before the committee of 1847-48. ' I know,' he said, ' two shepherds in the division of Swellendam, who are now large landed proprietors and owners of sheep. All honest, industrious, sober men, without exception, thrive. I have seen them as honest labourers getting rich : I have seen them with good substantial houses, with large tracts of land well stocked, and I have seen others having thousands of pounds.' But how this can be done on nine shillings a week requires explanation, which Mr Barrington's further evidence hardly supplies. He made the same kind of complaints about want of labour which have so often come from the Australian colonies, and pointing to the same kind of supply — ' labour at a remunerating price.' ' I give my bailiff,' said Mr Barrington, ' a good house and food, and £30 a year: that is very high wages.' It would not be consi- dered so to a bailiff in this country, where such a person, from the comparatively trained condition of the persons under him, is a much less important servant. The notions of wages to a shepherd or ordinary agricultural labourer seem humble enough. ' Wages vary enormously. In wine districts they are as low •'s 4s. 6d. a month, with food; and in digging time and vintage, and other times, a good deal of wine, and most wretched housing. Thf shepherd I used to employ was an apprentice that I took out with me from this country. I paid his passage out.' "Wten ques- tioned further on the terms made with the apprentic i, he said — ' I was to take him out, to feed him and clothe him, Sir\ house him of course, and I was to give him £1 a year wages, and I was to give him a premium of £20 at the end of seven years. He was a boy of twelve years of age.' He states thatlBritish shepherds are very * Natal and Cape of Good Hope, a Grazing, Agricultural, and Cotton-growiog Country, &c. By J. S. Christopher of Natal. 1850^ 8vo, p. 2. 95 THE AFRICAN SETTLEilEKTS. rare; nor is this perhaps to be regretted, when the amount wliieh the sheep-fanner can afford to pay for his services is considered. Mr Barrington is asked if it be true that a labourer, immediately on his arrival at the Cape, wlU be sure to obtain 3s. 6d. a day as wages. His answer shews that this depends on circumstances, and is not to be relied on as a general rule. He then mentions a circumstance alluded to by most writers in the Cape — that the Fingoe Caffres of Port Elizabeth obtain 4s. 6d. a day for landing goods, but their service is quite exceptional ; they require to work up to the middle in water. The rate of wages which Mr Barrington said he could employ emigrants at on his own land was 9s. a week, with a house, and without rations, which he would be ready to supply at a fixed price. The labourer's condition must, in such a case, depend to some extent on the table of prices, but it^^annot be very high. On this subject the Emigration Commissioners have, in the docu- ment above cited, embodied the following notifications, the terms of which agree but too weU with the evidence of Mr Barrington: — * In Cape Town and its vicinity common labourers are paid 2s. sterling per day, without food or lodging, or Is. 6d. sterling per day with food. The usual wages to European common labourers through- out the colony, employed by the year, is from £12 to £18 per annum, or from £1 to £1, 10s. per month (the latter is the almost invariable mode of pa}Tnent), with food and lodging; and in general they are allowed a plot of ground to cultivate. In harvest and sheep-shearing time higher wages are paid, varying according to the parts of the colony, from 2s. to 3s. 6d. per day, with food and wine. * The principal point to impress upon a labourer about to emigrate, is the absolute necessity of strictly sober habits, as the means of intoxication are obtained in tlie colony with great facilitj' and cheap- ness ; and the ruinous effects of drunkenness on the constitution are most serious, and follow much quicker than in England or colder coimtries. It should also be impressed upon the labourer that his character and conduct during the voyage may have a considerable influence on his future success. If good, it induces employers to hire him at once, and on more advantageous terms than could be obtained otherwise ; but if bad, it creates a great prejudice against him, and unwillingness to employ him. The possession of good -written cha- racters and testimonials will be found of much service in the colonv.' NATAL. This, the last acquL-^d dependency of the British Empii-e for general emigration purpo.ses, is a portion of the south-east coast of Africa, as it trends eastward after passing Algoa Bay. Its geographical extremes ate from 27^ 40' to 30^ 40' south latitude, 96 i , NATAL. and from 29° to SV 10' east longitude, covering an area of about 18,000 square miles. With the Indian Ocean on its seaboard, it is separated inland from the new acquisitions of the Cape by the Dra- kenberg or Dragon Mountains. The history of the acquisition of this colony is m some respects a melancholy one. The Dutch farmers of the colony, the Boers, as they are called, shewed an unmitigable restlessness under the British rule. The Dutch are naturally independent and high- spirited, and possess many qualities in common with the British — a chcumstance which does not make them the most docile of subjects. Probably it would be difficult to get British settlers converted into submissive subjects of a foreign government ac- quiring any of our colonies in war. Almost since the conquest of the Cape, they had been gradually moving over the boundaries into open districts; and in 1843 it was ascertauied that they entered into a treaty with Dingaarn, king of the Zoolus, for the absolute possession of a district of territory more extensive even than the present colony of Natal, which forms a part of it. Here it was their intention to form themselves into an mdependent republic. It was contrary to the policy of the British colonial system to permit the formation of the state close on the boun- daries of a colony. Though of Dutch origin, these Boers were considered as British subjects ; and it was held that they did not dispense with their allegiance by settling beyond the bounds of the colony, unless they went over to some established govern- ment, and that the extension of the space covered by the colonists could only be considered an enlargement of the colony. Accord- ingly, Lq 1843, the district occupied by the emigrants was declared to be a British possession and a dependency of the Cape. The Dutch resisted this annexation, but were obliged to yield to a military force. It may seem hard that these lovers of indepen- dence should have been thus hunted to then- place of refuge, and prohibited from peaceably establishing themselves on a territory which they acquired by treaty, and which interfered with no actual used dependency of the British cro'^sm. But the rigour of our colonial system to individuals embraces a spu-it of high justice to the world at large. The emancipation of their slaves was one of the main objects of complaint with the Dutch ; and there is no doubt that if they had been left to their own will, they would have subjected the natives to bondage, if they did not even pro- cure slaves from a distance. In further accordance with our colonial system, the individual lands occupied by the Boers could not be considered theh own, but were the property of the crown, to be disposed of as the British authorities might du'ect. The equitable clauns of the 97 THE AFKICAK SETTLEMENTS. settlers to a sufficiency of land would of course be considered ; but the government, treating them as other British settlers have been treated in New Zealand or elsewhere, would not in- vest them in reality with the large districts whicli they would nominally assign to each other. Disgusted with their position, many of them disposed of their interest in the land, and again swarmed off to new settlements. They have thus voluntarily subjected themselves to the greatest hj«*dships and privations, taking up their abode in distant solitudes, far from the borders of civilisation ; and in many instances supporting themselves by their rifles, and merging into a state of semi-savageness. The governor, in a survey of the province, met a band of thesa refu- gees crossmg the Drakenberg, and held out inducements to them to return. A commission was authorised to adjust the land-claims on a principle of liberality to the Dutch, which has met the marked disapproval of the colonial office, as a wasteful distribution of the public property. It was observed that it would not only narrow the emigration field at the command of British settlers, but would shew them the example of the Dutch acquiring gratuitously large tracts of such land as they were required to pay for ; while it was impossible, by any sufficient regulation, to make the Boers actually reside upon and use the lands assigned to them, or prevent them from carrying on land-jobbing operations, which would injure the government land market. Lord Grey, in a dispatch of the 24th December 1849, said — * I must remark that, with every desire to use all reasonable con- ciliation towards the Boers, the government should not forget that there were also other ends in view, in forming a new colony at Natal, but for which it would liardly have been considered justifiable to incur the expense and responsibility of that undertaking. This dis- trict appeared to afford a very desirable field for British enterprise, and especially to give some promise that it might admit of being converted into a source for the supply of cotton, which may, at the present time, be justly regarded as an object of national importance. Another consideration which had much weight with Her Majesty's government in determining to take possession of this territory was, that from its position and circumstances, an opportunity would be afforded, by the establishment of British authority in Natal, of making an attempt, imder conditions more favourable than had ever existed before, to bring a large African population mider the improving in- fluence of a civilised government. Both of these great objects, it must be observed, instead of being promoted, must be seriously threatened by the abandonment, to a small number of emigrant Dutch farmers, of vast tracts of land acquired as free grants. This must discourage British settlers, who are required to pay the govern- ment a moderate price for their land, in pursuance of the poUcy NATAL. which experience has shewn to be more conducive than any other to the prosperity of new settlements. The same fact is also confessed to have interfered with the satisfactory location of the natives, who have flocked already into Natal to seek for British protection, and have shewn themselves so capable of becoming useful servants to European masters, and of acquiring habits and tastes calculated to lead to their civilisation.' And in a subsequent dispatch of 29th March 1860, his lordship felt it necessary to say — *■ I am sorry, although not surprised, to perceive it mentioned in Iflr Hoodie's letter, No. 94, of the 6th of November 1849, that all the select situations near the inhabited parts of the district are already registered or claimed by grantees. The same fact is also incidentally alluded to in a letter from the surveyor-general, dated the 13th of November 1849, which accompanied your dispatch of the 13th of December 1849. You must be aware that it is impossible for Her Majesty's government to receive without the utmost concern and anxiety indications of this kind, that the whole of the imme- diately eligible situations in a promising settlement, so recently added to Her l^Iajesty's dominions, have been already thrown into the hands of a few persons destitute of the means of turning their acqui- sitions to any advantage.' Emigration to this colony did not seriously commence till the year 1849. It has not thus furnished any practical experience of its capabilities as an emigration field ; but, as we shall presently see, its promises are large, and well supported. The number of persons who have already settled there is not known, since, besides those who have gone directly from this country, many of the Cape colonists have moved northward. Climate. — The statements as to the salubrity of the climate, made by persons who have had experience of colonies, and have felt an inducement to write about them, are always to be taken cautiously. The writers on Natal follow the usual course of making the climate unexceptionable. It is warm, they admit; but the heat has never been found productive either of lassitude or disease. It is about as near to the line as our new acquisitions in Upper India on the one side of it, and the northern districts of New South Wales on the other. Thus it is in a higher latitude than any emigration colony of which there has been experience ; for the northern districts of New South Wales — that is, the district round Moreton Bay — has not been the subject of a much fuller ex- perience than Natal itself; and the Swan Eiver settlement, of which, at the same time, we have so little experience, is not quite so tro- pical — its northern extremity commencing at the latitude of the southern border of Natal. The long-established character for healthi- THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. ness of the Cape could not legitimately aflford a presumption in favour of a district nearly a thousand mUes distant from it, the inter- val containing territories notoriously insalubrious. But if we may believe all that is said of Natal in this respect, it is more healthy even than the Cape. The absence of any really distinct accoimt of the characteristics of the country, from the utter want of surveys, renders it difficult to find out the reason for a salubrity not war- ranted by the latitude of the country, nor accounted for by its topographical character. But in the latter it may be presumed that the real cause will be found when it is fully investigated. It may be presumed, though unfortunately it cannot be distinctly ascertained, from the few topographical descriptions we have of this settlement, that its undulating hills rise gradually, and without great contrasts of steep hill and narrow valley, lift the surface of the soil to a considerable height above the level of the sea, where a temperate atmosphere prevails. Thus a missionary who had been some years in the country, speaking to Mr Christopher of the climate at Pietermaritzburg, which is about fifty miles from the coast, says — 'Frost is common in winter, and ice is occa- sionally seen upon the water in the morning, and upon the mountains in sight from Pietermaritzburg ; thirty or forty miles further inland, snow may sometimes be seen.' The recommenda- tions of the Emigi-ation Commissioners as to clothing convey the same view. They say — ' Owing to the great variations in tempe- rature, woollen and cotton wearing apparel should be brought out ; but in the cases where hotli kinds cannot be afibrded, woollen should be preferred. Cotton (and not linen) shirts, sheets, &c. should be used ; warm clothes are required for the winter in the higher parts of the district. On the whole, light woollen apparel is best adapted for the country.' There are, at the same time, apparently very scanty marsh or jungle districts in this country ; probably owing to the same cause — its gradual slope from the in- terior to the sea. There are other reasons, too, in the atmospheric and aerostatic character of this quarter of the globe, which are supposed to be conducive to health. Of these we have no satis- factory account, as none of the phenomena or natural characteristics of the country are conveyed through scientific reports : we must depend for all on the statements of casual settlers and travellers, generally distinct and sagacious in their accounts, but deficient in scientific precision. A writer, frequently quoted by us on Natal, gives his reasons for believing the climate salubrious thus ; — ' The climate of Natal, though generally warm, is highly salubrious, and throughout a greater portion of the year is really delicious ; the sky being brilliantly clear, the temperature mild, and refreshing rains frequent. Being within the range of the trade-winds, the climate is 100 NATAL. uniform, not fluctuating and uncertain, like the more southern and western parts of the continent. From observation, the extreme range of the thermometer in the shade during 1844 was found to be 41 degrees — namely, from 47^ in July, to 88" in January. The rainy season begins in the first week in September, and ends in March; comprising the summer months of the year. During this interval thunder storms are almost of daily occurrence.' — (Christo- phe7-'s JSfataly p. 23.) On the climate we have the following information in the little book published by Mr Methley, a settler, who concludes with a reference to a medical authority : — * The climate of Natal, though generally warm, is never so oppres- sive as the sultry weather so frequently occurring in the course of an English summer. There is not that stagnation in the atmosphere, so productive of lassitude and weariness ; neither have the inhabitants that yellow sickly appearance so peculiar to hot climates. Being within the range of the trade- winds, it is not subject to those fluc- tuations and uncertainties of the more southern and western parts of the continent. The greater part of the rain falls in the summer months, commencing in October, and continuing until March ; during which interval thunder showers are of frequent occm-rence, and are sometimes, in some measure, deleterious to the crops of grain. During the winter there is little or no rain, the air bracing and agree- able, with a bright sun and unclouded sky; the thermometer seldom varying many degrees, ranging as high as 60° during the winter, and in summer to 85°. From the testimony of all travellers and actual residents, there is a universal concurrence of opinion in attestation of the great salubrity and comfort enjoyed by the colony of Natal ; and there can be no hesitation in characterising it as the healthiest region under the dominion of great Britain : it is especially adapted to persons of consumptive tendencies, or who have any pulmonary affections. A medical practitioner from the colony thus writes : — " Though Natal presents, in many parts, the physical cha- racter of a country likely to produce fever, dysentery, and other diseases of a tropical country, I can say, from extended experience, that it enjoys a singular immunity from disease of every kind. During four years' residence, I witnessed but two cases of fever, both occun-ing after extreme exhaustion and protracted dissipation. Occasional cases of dysentery and disease of the heart are to be met with; but these can, in most instances, be attributed to extreme indulgence in spirituous drinks." ' Divisions and their Capahilities. — In a government report made in 1847, on the topography and capabiKties of the several portions of the territory, it w^as partitioned into six divisions. The first is D'Urban, bounded on the south-west by the Um.komanzi River, and reaching to the Noodsberg on the north. The report says — ' This division is well adapted to sustain a dense population ; it 101 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. includes the Bay of Natal, and the township of D'Urban, the port of the district. Cotton lias been planted in the vicinity of the bay, and yields superior and abundant produce. Sugar-cane and indigo plants tlirive there, as well as elsewhere in the district, and the coflee-tree has lately been introduced, and grows well ; but what success will attend its cultivation will require time to shew. The soil is rich, and favourable to the growth of barley, oats, &;c. as well as beans, and most descriptions of vegetables. (Beans form a valuable article of export to the Mauritius.) It is, throughout, well supplied with water, being in its present state unfit for pasture-ground. It appears to us desirable that the land should be laid out in small lots, in order to encourage the settler as much as possible to cultivate it. At present, only the small Zulu cattle can be kept there, and those not with advantage. ' With the exception of Mangrove, scarcely any timber adapted for building purposes is found in this division: in a few localities valuable wagon-wood is obtained.' The second division is Pietermaritzburg, marching with the north-west boundary of D'Urban, and with the upper part of the Umkomanzi for its south-west boundary. This division is named from the capital, or rather the intended site of the capital of the colony which is contained in it. At the time when the report was written, the district did not provide food for the troops and civil officers there assembled ; but of its prospective fruitfulness it is said — * It is a good grazing and a superior agricultural division j it is abimdantly watered, and capable of irrigation to almost any extent. Vegetation is very rapid in this as in all the other districts, and con- sequently the grass grows rank and strong, so as generally only to admit of the larger description of stock, such as cattle and horses, being depastured upon it with advantage in summer. Valuable timber, adapted for building purposes and furniture, grows in several parts of this division.' The third division is Umvoti, touching the ocean at the south- east, and marching with the eastern portion of the northern boun- dary of Pietermaritzburg and the northern boundary of D'Urban. The report says — * This division comprises some of the finest land in this part of South Africa, either for grazing or agricultural purposes ; the capa- bilities of the south-eastern portion of it are similar to those of D'Urban ; but cattle thrive better, and the upper portion of it is con- sidered much mpre favourable to the grazier than the division of Pietermaritzburg ; it is abundantly supplied with water, and some good timber is found on it. The laying out and making a shorter road to the mouth of the Tukela from the township, is a matter of importance, seeing it is the high-road from the capital of the district to the Zulu country.' 102 NATAL. The next division, Impafane, runs along the north-western boun- dary of Umvoti, with the Kahlamba Mountains or Drackenberg on the west. The report says — 'This tract of country contains land which has been the most tliickly populated portion of the country by the Boers before they quitted the district and crossed the Kahlamba, and has always been regarded by them as healthier for cattle than either of the three former divisions. Sheep have also thrived well in some parts of it ; and although not generally so well watered, and therefore perhaps not so capable of maintaining over its whole surface so dense a population as the other three divisions, yet it is equally able to do so in locaUties, and at the village of "Weenen, and along the banks of the Mooi Eiver, and particularly Bushman's River. Wheat and oats have been grown largely, and with success. The soil at the village of "Weenen is especially fertile, excellent garden land, the vine, fruit-trees, vegetables, &c. thri^ing well ; but the place being situ- ated in a basin, and the approach to it on all sides being by miserable roads that will require considerable outlay and work to make good, and being situated oiF the main road, have retarded the prosperity of the village, and will be likely to do so. Small quantities of coal, of inferior quality, have been found along the banks of the Bush- man's River, near the surface. Some building timber is obtained at the base of the Kahlamba Mountains.* The next division, Upper Tukela, has the northern boundary of Impafane on the south, and the Kahlamba Mountains on the west. It is stated that cattle thrive well in this division, and that the general capabilities, the nature of the soil, &c. are the same as those of Impafane. The sixth division, Umzinyati, called Bufl&.lo River, is bounded by the Umnambiti River and the mountains. * This division has been esteemed as particularly favourable for sheep and cattle ; it has also been largely cultivated by the Boers. Anthracitic coal is found near the "Washbank's and Sunday's Rivers; and in abundance, and of excellent quality, in the ravines between the Biggar's Berg and the Umzinyati Eiver. Excellent timber may be obtained in this division.' Productions. — ^The descriptions generally given of this tract of country, from the best authority, are very captivating to the agri- culturist, from their assurance of great capabilities, were he but certain of the best method of applying them. There are few moun- tains or barren districts from the sea-shore inwards, until we reach the dividing-ridge of the Drackenberg; yet the country is not level; and few who have been in it mention swamps. The ground is gene- tally slightly imdulating, and covered with rich grass, springing from a deep alluvial soil. There are few rivers of any considerable size — no navigable river indeed ; but yet the territory is abun- dantly watered by secondary streams, generally a few miles only 103 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. in length. There is a belt of mangrove scrub near the shore, but otherwise the forest land is not of large extent. The government, in their intimation to settlers, state that there is a prospect of wood being found abundant enough for ship- building. The trees, which are various, have not yet been botanically clas- sified ; but it has been noticed that acacias are the most abundant, and the palm and tree-fern are pretty numerous. Among the scanty notices that we have of their larger vegetable productions, the following has been cited from a Dutch newspaper published at the Cape : — ' The Omtawoomoo (or Umzincooloo) River, whose course is seventy miles long, and whose estuary is in lat. 30° 55', and long. 30" 7', is a great physical line of demarcation, and forms a perfect boundary between the N.E. and S.W. part of the colony, distinguished by the comparative severity of its temperature and climate, the cold being intense, and the rains very frequent, as well as by the difference in its vegetable productions, the wild date and banana, which are com- mon beyond this division, entirely ceasing to exist westward of this stream. All tlie seaward portion of this tract is covered by dense woods, and possesses the most magnificent forest scenery. Its trees have been generally represented as very difterent from any of the colonial kinds, and ono especially has received the homage of most of the travellers, but unfortunately not yet of any botanist. It is chiefly found in the extensive woods near the Omzinvoboo and its river, is described as being seventy feet in height, perfectly straight, when it at once spreads into a canopy of foliage, quite flat, and im- per\-ious both to light and rain, the top of a single tree in the dense mass of other kinds appearing from the neighbouring heights hke a fine grass-plot, and when several are together, hke fine lawns. One specimen has been particularly noticed by Messrs Cowie and Green, as shadowing a circumference of twenty yards in diameter ; the leaves were eleven inches long, and one and a half broad, and deeply serrated.*— {Christopher's Natal.) From the accounts of the fruitfulness of the soil and chmate, it might seem that all the productions not only of the warmer climates of the northern hemisphere — such as Turkey, which is in a corresponding latitude — but also those of the temperate regions, may be successfully cultivated. In the information issued to settlers by the Emigration Commissioners, it is stated, that * All the European vegetables may be grown in Natal. Good seed potatoes are much wanted. All garden seeds should be brought out ; beans do well, and are a useful vegetable here ; apple and pear trees grow well, but few have been grafted ; whether these fruits will attain perfection there is no experience to prove. Pine-apples, Avater-melons, bananas, and yams, thrive well ; plantains have been introduced.' 104 NATAL. Many fmits and valuable vegetable productions appear to be indigenous. Mr Isaacs, who appears to have been an early- settler in the country, before it was even extensively occupied by the Boers, gives the following account of its fructifying capacities, and of the simple manner in which the natives took advantage of them : — *The people bestow but little pains in preparing the land for culti- vation. The boys cut and clear the bushes, never extract the roots nor turn up the surface. The wood or bush is burnt, and the ashes strewed over the land. This is all the preparatory labour for sowing. Afterwards the women commence their labour by scattering the com on the surface without order or precision. This completed, the ground is turned over in the seed, but much is uncovered. After germination, a month after sowing, women and girls clear it. Two months after sowing it begins to ripen, and at the end of the third month it is hard, and fit for garnering. Thus, with an industrious people, three crops of corn each year might be easily raised. They plant both the Guinea and the Indian corn. We introduced at Natal a regular system of husbandry ; and our natives had become so accus- tomed to it, that we had but little difficulty, latterly, of preserving our crops in regular succession. The natives have several sorts of beans or pulse, all differing from the European bean ; they grow productively, and are an agreeable vegetable. They also cultivate a seed called the " Loopoco " — it is not dissimilar to rape in size and colour. Of this the natives make their beer, which is produced by fermentation. It contains very powerful fermentative properties, and when dra-mi off from the vessels in which it is prepared, it is a red, or light-brown colour ; an excellent beverage, both potent and stimulating. ' They raise four sorts of potatoes, red, white, pink, and brown, all of them sweet, and not of the European description, but a very good vegetable for culinary purposes. Pumpkins and melons grow spon- taneously, and are also cultivated to great perfection, while they have an excellent vegetable both in appearance and flower like spinach ; it grows also spontaneously. They have a great variety of wild fruits, particularly the aumuntingoola, about the size of a plum, rich in flavour, and with seed, instead of a stone, in the body of it. This makes a most excellent and a highly-flavoured preserve. The sugar-cane is wild, and I suppose an indigenous plant. They do not cultivate it, though the soil seems adapted for its growth, as it runs to a prodigious height, and the cane is of large dimensions. They have two sorts : one grows larger than the other; the former the natives call " Moaba," the latter " Simpla." The plantain is also another native vegetable, which, with the " edoc " and yam, are substitutes for bread, although they have a bread made from Indian corn, pulverised and made into a sort of thin cake, which they bake by putting it into hot ashes. Every sort of European seed for hor- ticultural purposes Vrhich we had brought from the Cape grew 105 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. exceedingly well, and produced luxuriantlr, particularly the smaller sorts of vegetables. Salads we raised prodigiously fine, and rapidly. Cabbage lettuce grow in great perfection, as did the beans, and kidney-beans, and a variety of other seeds, particularly spinach. * The fact is, the climate of Natal is congenial to vegetable life, as is proved by the rapid germination of the seed after it is sown. The seasons are also exceed^gly encouraging to the growth of all vege- table productions ; the dew, during the intervals of the periodical rains, being extremely fertilising and nutritive. There are at times checks to vegetation in Natal, as in all other parts of Eastern Africa, but they are far from being conunon visitations. The principal is the locust. They now and then spread their destructive influence, and their devastation is great; but only one or two instances occurred during my five years' residence of their appearance amongst us. Those I have already detailed, and even then I was somewhat surprised, from the prodigious flight of them, that they did not do more damage.' — {Christopher on NaUdy p. 22.) Like all the fruitful parts of Africa, Natal is prolific in animal as well as in vegetable life ; but the absence of vast dense thickets seems to prevent the wilder children of the desert from remaining there in the presence of so considerable an influx of strangers. It is said that some ladies of Pietermaritzburg, taking a walk one day to the cemetery, were somewhat startled to find a few elephants walking about meditatively among its few tombs. Mr Isaacs, whose authority has been referred to in the vegetable productions, says — * The country of the Zoolas, eastward of Natal, is much infested with wild beasts, and those of every species of the African continent. At Natal, however, and for a large space around it, they have been greatly disturbed, and have gone further inland, fearing the effects of our firearms and the force of people collected and settled within a small circumference. In my various peregrinations, I have met with elephants, buffaloes, tiger-cats, leopards, panthers, hyenas, wild boars, wolves, jackals, iron hogs or crested porcupines, monkeys, ant-eaters, civet-cats. The foregoing animals, at a time, were very numerous in the vicinity of Natal, but from the causes stated, are greatly decreas- ing. Various species of the antelope are common. Otters are com- mon in the rivers, which the natives hunt and catch in traps. To the eastward of Natal there are also to be found the rhinoceros, lion, camelopard, zebra, baboon, vivera, kangaroos, gnoos, and hares ; also the hippopotamus and alligator, and other amphibious animals. Of domestic animals, they have homed cattle, being the great object of their various contests ; namely, the beeve, the cow, and the bull. They have also sheep and goats, and the domestic dog. Hogs are only to be found among the Europeans, who have imported a few for breeding. Their cattle arc not large, but exceedingly good meat ; and the sheep are of the Cape species, with broad tails, and with fine hair instead of wool. The goats, like the sheep, are used for 106 NATAL. animal food, and are very fine eating. Of the feathered race there is a great variety. The wild sort are easily obtained, and often killed by the natives with a sort of small club, which they throw with great precision. The Nimiidian crane, the crowned crane, black eagle, vul- ture, heron, flamingo, wild turkey, wild goose, wild duck, partridge, grouse, galina or guinea-fowl, owl, and dove of various descriptions, are common, besides birds of varied plumage, but none with any note. The domestic fowls are the same as in the British settlements of the Cape.' In the notification from the Emigration Board, questions on the animal productions are stated and answ&red as foUows : — ' What is the probable value of oxen and cows, sheep, pigs, horses, poultry, &c. at Natal, and what class of animals is most suitable for the colony? What description of wild animals, wild fowl, and fish, abound ; are there now dogs obtainable in the colony suitable for sheep-farming, hunting, &c. ? — Good trained working oxen, £3 each ; fat cattle, £3, 5s.; Zuloo cattle, £1, 10s. to £2, 10s.; cows (common), £2, 10s. to £3, 10s. ; sheep (Cape), 10s. ; pigs, 10s. ; horses, £10 to £20 ; fowls, 4s. per dozen ; ducks, Is. 6d. to 2s. each ; geese and tur- keys, 9s. to 12s. each. Most of the above animals are abimdant. Good fish may be taken in great quantities on the sea-coast, the few caught in the rivers in the interior are of a worthless kind. Use- less dogs aboimd in the district ; good ones for hunting and shooting are rare and valuable. Wild fowl are not generally nmnerous, but they may occasionally be obtained.' With all the salubrity and productiveness with which this country is endowed, there is stiU a painful uncertainty about the character it is to assume with reference to the ordinary staple produce of our other settlements — a dubiety, in short, as to the productions which may be profitably raised in the district, and consequently as to the kind of emigrants who should seek it. Undoubtedly it wiU not be safe for any man who takes his notions of a colonist's pursuits and chances from the flock and stock- masters of Australia, or the wheat- growers of Canada, to make choice of Natal, and proceed thither to follow the systems there established. That he will have a great source of wealth at his command, no one can doubt ; but he cannot be sure of extracting it, unless he possess knowledge and abilities sufficient for taking advantage of new openings and capabilities. We may depend on it, that there wiU be a sad sacrificing in this colony of those who proceed to it with old notions, and no better guide than the jog- trot routine of established systems, before the system for Natal is established, and it becomes a fit place for such as them. WTiether it is to be at all a sheep-farming district is still an open question. The herbage is described as very rank, and it is supposed to contain many poison plants. The fat-tailed sheep of 107 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. the Cape may be safely placed on it, but it will scarcely be worth the settlers while in a new and thinly-peopled colony to raise a kind so valueless for its wool. It is stated that a superior breed of goats have been introduced in the stock-farming of the dis- trict ; and pigs, which seem to live everywhere that food exists, flourish. Cattle and horses have been more extensively tried than sheep, being almost necessary for the operations of the colony. The Dutch wagon requires a whole train of oxen, and the plough re- quires a strong drag through the heavy land. The settlers have not yet had time to test the suitableness of the colony for horses and cattle as a produce ; but the general opinion of those who have had experience, appears to be more decidedly in favour of their thrivmg than in the case of sheep. IVIr Methley, who de- scribes himself as a general commission-agent in the colony, says — * Horses are to be had at prices varying from £10 to £20 ; they are generally of excellent quality, and have well-developed points. Thorough - bred horses have been extensively imported into the colony, and have much improved the breeds. They are hardy, easily supported, and equally serviceable for harness or saddle. There are no heavy draught-horses, such as are seen in drays in towns, or are in use on the farms in England; neither are they so much in request, as, for general purposes, oxen are found to answer better. There are two or three varieties of oxen. The cattle obtained from the Zoola country are the most hardy ; they are small in size, and are best adapted for land near the coast ; they can be purchased un- broken from 25s. to 30s. The " Africanda" is the largest species, and have immense horns; nevertheless they make excellent draught- oxen : they may be had from £2, 10s. to £3. What is called the "Fatherland" is decidedly the best; the cows give more milk, and the flesh makes better beef, than either of the others. By English graziers they are much preferred, and generally bear a higher value in the market.'— (T/t€ JVcm; Colony of Port Natal, p. 93.) It is doubtful as yet whether any rankness or other deleterious qualities in the vegetation are general, or merely local, with charac- teristics which may teach the settler to select the pasture which is exempt from them. It is also uncertain how far burning may be depended upon for sweetening the herbage, and whether it may not be greatly improved by systematic depasturage. ' The more the grass is kept down by the herds,' says a writer in a local newspaper called the ' Natal Witness,' ' the sweeter and more wholesome it is supposed to become.' Besides any innate defects in the herbage, there are local noxious agencies to which agri- cultural animals are liable. The most formidable of these causes of annoyance is from the prolific insect -world of Africa. A pestilent insect family called ' bush ticks ' feed on the blood like bugs, and, 108 NATAL. like them, poison it into irritable sores, which have brought many a poor animal to a death of torture. Mr Christopher tells us — 'When the colony was founded, horses at D'Urban frequently, even commonly, died in three months ; now ticks, even there, are becoming scarce, and horees improve there. It will be the same farther up the coast ; but nowhere are they so bad as they used to be at D'Urban. Before you arrive in Maritzburg, they commonly drop off, as they will not live seven miles inland. The natives pick thera off their cattle, and We can do the same. It is admitted that horses do not die if stalled ; and so it will be found with the calves. The natives build houses for thera, and consequently lose but very few. Few persons have sheds ; and if abroad, young cattle ^Wll eat the f^rass before the dew has passed off. It is to be observed also that the Zoola cattle are not subject to these complaints, not even the ticks, like the large Africander cattle, brought beyond the Draakberg mountains. The change is too great for them, and after such a long drive they are naturally feverish. The Zoola cattle are smaller, but equally strong with the Africander cattle. As draught-cattle, they never die on the road, lilce the Africanders. In short, the climate suits thera. The Zoola cattle are not naturally small, but are so from the natives being desirous to get milk, and putting them to the bull at two years old. Close to this Umvoti mission establishment I saw hundreds of cattle in good condition, belonging to the blacks.' The next question after that of the colony's suitableness for grazing, is its capacity to grow wheat for the British market. This question is still as undecided as the other. There is always, however, a presumption against a coimtry so near the line pro- ducmg a good, hard, heavy grain. Here, however, it is liable to a peculiar disease called the roust, or rust, which covers the stalk with a coat of dark corroding fungus. On the cereal capacities of the soil, ^Ir Christopher quotes the opinion of an American missionary who had lived for some time in Natal : — * As to the fertility of the soil of this country, it certainly sur- passes by far that portion of my country (United States of America) called Xew England, in this respect. HaWng never seen the country upon the waters of the l^lississippi Eiver, I am unable of course to compare it with that. Vrheat will grow on any part of the colony, but is invariably destroyed by the rust on all the coast country;* it, however, does well in the interior part of the colony; but Indian com, oats, barley, beans, peas, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, beets, carrots, parsnips, cabbages, turnips, pumpkins, melons, and indeed all that kind of eatable vegetables which I suppose are grown in the gai-dens of the United Kingdom, flourish here weU ; in addi- * Other persons contend that the Victoria and Egyptian wheat will answer well, even on the coast. The Devonshire golden-baU wheat api)ears to be well suited to the soil and climate of the eastern province, and will probably suit even the coast- line of Natal. The solid stalk, it is supposed, resists the rust better tiian the hollow- straw ; it is better for thatching.— J/r ChrisiopJur. H 109 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. tion to which, many of the tropical plants and fruits will do well — such as bananas and pine-apples. Many of the fruits of temperate and torrid zones grow well here — such as peaches, oranges, lemons, pomegranates, mulberries, &c. Apples do not do well. The same may be said of grapes.* Sugar-cane does well. Grass is every- where so abund^t, that cattle and other domestic animals live upon it summer and winter. A great part of the coimtry may be sub- divided into small farms, each having pasture and tillage ground, wood, water, &;c. Some parts have all these facilities. I have spoken thus far as to the capabilities of the soil ; but in order to convey the whole truth, I must say that several obstacles lie in the way of the husbandman, which often prevent the abundant harvest which he would otherwise realise. The country is overnm with a variety of insects, which often injure our crops. Locusts sometimes come upon us in such numbers as utterly to destroy our entire crops.' t Three of the great staple productions of the very warm regions are known to grow well in Natal — tobacco, indigo, and cotton. It is believed that the sugar-cane could be well cultivated, but indigo and cotton are indigenous. How far these tropical productions, especially the latter, is to become a staple production of this colony, is a matter of serious importance in the prospects of its settlers. The industrial capacity of Britain demands the raw material of its principal manufacture wherever it can be got. There is a desire to introduce small capitalists — ^they might p^- haps be better described as men of the working-classes, and those immediately above them, who possess some saved money — into the colony ; and it is thought that they can usefully conduct cotton farming. It may be so, but the production of cotton has hitherto in general been on large estates, where slave labour, or something closely resembling it, has been employed. And if this produce should suit the means and habits of the small capitalist, it does not foUow that it will suit the working-man. It has hitherto been the characteristic of cotton plantations, that they can be brought to perfection by the inferior kind of work which slaves can impart. It will be seen from the document quoted below, that much of the work connected with the cotton harvest can be carried on by children. Much interest was created in the Man- chester Chamber of Commerce by the production of some samples of Natal cotton, which were found to be long-fibred, adhesive, and very white. There were other and inferior kinds produced at the * In my >isit I saw vines at Pietermaritzbuig promising large grapes, and lai^ bunches.— 3/r ChristopJur. t For five years the colony had not hecn visited with locusts to the extent it hiid been this year, 1848, and yet I was told las was the fact) that vegetation bore no mark of this visit. Others^ again, told me they were not nearly so numerous as iu the eastern province.— Jtfr Christopher. 110 NATAL. same time ; and the quality seemed to depend, as in other places, on the seed. By the practical men before whom they were placed, one of the inferior samples was priced at from 9d. to lOd. per pound. Another kind was estimated at Is. per pound. Mr Bergtheil, a German settler in Natal, who had assisted in bring- ing the matter before the Chamber of Conunerce, published the following estimate of the cost and produce of a moderate cotton farm, in the ' Manchester Guardian : ' — * Suppose a Family of Five Persons to go out with a Capital of - £400 They will have to spend — For Passage, £20 a head, - - . . £100 ... 200 Acres of Land, at 6s., - ... 60 ... Eight Oxen, at £3 per piece, - . . 24 ... Temporary House, and necessary Working Implements, 30 Together, - 214 Wliieh would still leave for their living, and payment of Wages and other Expenses, the sum of - - - - £186 Suppose they cultivate in the first year fifty acres of land, which would produce (as proved already at Port Natal) per acre 600 pounds of clean cotton, the value of which is 6d. per pound at Port Natal ; but taking it only at 400 pounds of clean cotton per acre, and at 3d. per pound, in order to be on the safe side, the fifty acres would produce 20,000 pounds at 3d. per pound, - . _ _ . £2.50 The Second Year, 100 acres might be cultivated, and would produce, .____.. 500 The Third Year, 150 do., . . - . . 750 The Fourth Year, 200 do., ..... 1,000 The Fifth Year, 200 do., ..... 1,000 The gross Production of Five Years would be, - £3,500 From this amount the following expenses are to be deducted : — The First Year— Wages for Ten Caflftres, at £3, lOs. per annum^ - - - - - Ginning and other little Expenses, The Second Year — Wages for Twenty Caffres, Ginning and other little Expenses, The Thkd Year— Wages for Thbrty Caffires, Ginning and Expenses, _ _ _ The Fourth Year — Wages for Forty Caffires, Ginning and Expenses, ... The Fifth Year — same as Fourth Year, Which leaves a net Profit for the five years of - - £2,590 Besides a Plantation of 200 acres (and not, as stated in the ' Guardian,' of ten acres) their own and free property. London, 6th March 1848. T. Bergtheil.' The following extract from the ' Cape Town Advertiser ' was at 111 £35 30 £Q5 £70 60 1.30 £105 90 195 £140 120 260 260 910 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. the same time brought under attention. It related to a farm of twenty-nine acres three miles from D'Urban : — ' Tlie twenty-nine acres have this year yielded 8925 pounds of clean or ginned cotton, being at the rate of 307 pounds per acre, and that which I have shipped to England during the last three years has netted, on the average, 5d. per pound. The expenses from 1st August 1847 to 31st July 1848 were :— CafFre Wages, Rugs for Caffres, 50^ Muids Maize, do.. Meat for do.. Bagging, - Twelve Spades, &c.. £37 16 3 14 10 19 3 6 7 6 4 2 .. j^^'^ in 7 £6 8 2 10 3 o IP q £64 14 10 which brings the cost of production, exclusively of first outlay for cost of land, ploughing, &c., to Id. 13-I6ths. At 4^d.per i>ound on the spot, the value of 8925 pounds would be £167, 8s.' On the capabilities of the colony for this very valuable produc- tion, Mr Christopher says — ' Groictli and Preparation of Cotton. — Nine kinds of cotton have been grown in Natal, proving thereby the adaptation of the soil for the growth of this order of plants. The coast-line is the most suited for its cultivation, the sea-air, or the deposit of saline dew on the plant, favouring its growtli as much as the sandy nature of the soil. At Natal, cotton consequently should be planted facing the sea, hav- ing an eastern and south-eastern aspect. The north-west winds are supposed to be trying to the plant. It is certainly the most parch- ing wind. Every kind of cotton may be produced ; and those who are inclined to take some extra pains, will probably find the Sea Island cotton will answer best : and those who are inclined to cultivate that which is the most liardy, and requires the least trouble in clean- ing, will grow the most common cotton now in the colony probably produced from Egyptian seed. The additional difficulty of cleaning Sea Island cotton is the principal reason for supposing that it will not answer so well as the most common cotton. The machines lately invented, however, may obviate much of the difficulty found in clean- ing this the most valuable cottons ; and every effort should be made to bring it to market, the price being double. ' Cotton maybe sown in Natal from August to October; and although cotton has been grown at Maritzburg, fifty miles from the coast, the best cotton lands will certainly be found within fifteen miles from the sea. Cotton lands require ploughing ; and if crops, and continuous good crops, are required, subsoil ploughing should be resorted to. If good seed can be had from Liverpool, there will be no harm in emi- grants bringing different kinds; but the colony will now supply any quantity of the common quality. In order to keep the ground clear of weed, and for facility of gathering, as well as economy of ground, the seed should be planted in rows at least five feet asunder (six feet 112 NATAL. probably better), and in holes three feet apart. They should be dibbled in (and if the ground is subsoil ploughed) twelve inches deep, half-a-dozen seeds in each hole. If all come up, thin them out, leaving'a couple of the strongest. If fibres adhere to the seed, and the colour of both be a little green, it is very doubtful if the seed ■will germinate : the seed should come out clean. In America, the cotton-plant is an annual ; in Natal, it is a perennial. I have seen them nine years old. Cleaning the ground should not be omitted. If ■weeds take up the nourishment between the rows, the plants will not thrive so well. The ground between should, in short, be turned over every year. It has been suggested that mealies might be planted between the cotton ; but at anyrate it should, I think, be only for the first year. In such cases both are liable to be neglected, or the gathering of one may interfere with the other. Mealies are also temptations to cattle, which would do the cotton also no good. Prun- ing has been proved advantageous, producing more pods. The strength of the Xatal cotton harvest is from January to the end of March. It is then that a farmer would wish for a large family to send his children into the plantation. The more the merrier. But if he has none, he can still employ the coloured women and children of the country. These go through the grounds gathering the cotton from every open husk, leaving those unopen for another gathering. X'"nless gathered perfectly matured, there is difficulty in separating the cotton from the seed ; and moisture then being in the seed and fibre, the cotton is liable to become mouldy, and consequently weak in fibre. AVhen gathered, it is placed in open sheds, and soon becomes perfectly dry. It is then fit for cleaning — the long staple cotton being separated from the seed by a roller gin ; the short stapled on the old system by the saw gin. Those among the emigrants who intend going largely into this article, should make themselves acquainted Avith the last improvements in the construc- tion of machinery for this purpose ; and perhaps they could not do better than apply to the secretary of the Commercial Association, Manchester, on the subject. In making this reference to him, I trust that gentleman will excuse my doing so, the object being a public one, and no person likely to be able to advise so correctly. * A gin or cotton-cleaning machine has lately been invented, which costs about £3 : and I hope, shortly after arrival in the colony, most of these emigrants will keep one of their own.* At the same meeting of the Chamber of Commerce where the cotton was produced, it is stated that ' the president also produced a specimen of indigo which was said to be worth from 3s. 4d. to 3s. 6d, per pound ;' but we have only very slender means of know- ing anything of the capabilities of the district for producing this precious but very precarious commodity. The only decided ex- periment appears to have been made by Mr Wilson, who laid out fourteen acres with the plant in 1849. Tobacco is another vegetable of the warmer latitudes which 113 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. Natal is expected to furnish. IMr Christopher says — ' I have not only seen good tobacco grown from Havana seeds at Natal, but good cigars made from it.' But this production, like indigo, is as yet matter only of speculative expectation. In the same position we mayplace raw silk, which has also been spoken of as a com- modity which we may expect some day, according to the anticipa- tions of some of the settlers, to see imported from Natal. We shall conclude this general and necessarily vague account of the expected produce of Natal with a list, given by Mr Chris- topher, of miscellaneous commodities which he expects to see the colony producing. Some of them are of great importance, but the prospect of their realisation must be admitted to be very vague : — * Aloes. — This plant is indigenous to Natal, and may be made a valuable article of export. Its manufacture is so well understood, that the simple process adopted in the colony requires no improve- ment or instruction. * Colombo Hoot— This may be made an article of export to some amount. The root is dug up, cut in slices, and dried on cords in the sun. It is a drug useful in dysentery, cholera-raorbus, and many other diseases. * Castor-Oil. — A valuable plant, indigenous to superfluity. And if fanners and others would use thb oil in the colony, and export their superfluous fat, or convert it into soap, colonial wealth to a certain extent would be obtained, rendering us independent and imindebted for imports from Europe. ^GuMf Acacia Arabia. — This drug may be very extensively col- lected, and of a very superior quality. * Coffee. — The Mocha cofi^ee grows on the African coast, and the berry has been successfully tried at Natal. Every cottager should grow his own, and export several hundredweight to England. Natal appears to be well suited for it, not being subject to frost. * Tea — will probably do well, Natal being exactly the same latitude south as the China tea district is north. The plant grown by the natives for tea, and another used by the Dutch, are aromatic, agreeable, and refreshing. Unless people are fastidious, importations of tea are unnecessary. * Olive-Oil. — Much of Natal resembles the country about Seville, in Spain. The wild olive grows now, and no doubt the true olive will thrive ; but it will requu'e six to ten years probably before it will carry fruit. * Coa^— is in abundance in localities. Copper supposed to be so. ' Woods — equal to the Cape, fit for furniture, building, kc. 'Bees' Wax and Honey — are found extensively. * Sheep's Wool — ^may be grown in the mountainous parts, and also collected in the interior. Before the Dutch left, Natal exported 4200 pounds. ' Talloit'—shoxild. be an article of export, even after making their own soap and candles. 114 NATAL. * Ivory. — Some in the country, and great quantities will be collected from the Dutch and the Zoolus. ^ Hides. — Great quantities. Natal should make its own leather. * Baric. — Mimosa is an excellent tan.' Land and Investments. — The general rule for the disposal of the vacant or ' crcwTi ' lands of Natal is, that they are to be sold by auction at an upset price of 4s. per acre. This price only applies, however, to the rural districts, and the general scale of prices is thus practically set forth in the information furnished by the Emigi-ation Commissioners : — ' The upset price in the seaport town of D'Urban is £100 per acre, each lot being in extent about one-third of an acre. In the town of Pietermaritzburg, the seat of government, and in other towns, price £50 per acre. Suburban allotments £1 per acre. Country lands are offered at an upset price of 4s. per acre. These upset prices are sometimes raised under peculiar circumstances. * Government lands rarely fetch more than the upset price, owing to the great extent of private property in the market.' In answer to questions about the necessity and cost of clearing land, these answers are given : — * There is so much available open land, that clearing has not yet been necessary. * 'There are no data on which to ground any calculations as to expense of clearing. Bushy lands cost most in clearing.' In answer to further questions as to the delay that may take place before the settler is put in possession of his lot — a very serious matter to the emigrant! — and as to the possibility of any questions arising on the validity of the titles, the following infor- mation is given by the commissioners : — ' On application for crown lands that have not been offered for sale, the survey takes place as soon as possible. There is, however, always a quantity of land that has been offered for sale, available for imme- diate purchase. * Where the crown lands selected have been offered at public sale, they may be obtained on payment of the upset price and surveying expenses. Where the land selected has not yet been put up for sale, it will be necessary to advertise it for three montlis previously to its being put up for auction at the upset price. Possession may be obtained immediately after the purchase. With reference to private lands, it may be stated that purchases can be made previously to survey. * Information as to the validity of titles may be easily obtained at the government offices. A fee of 2s. 6d. is charged in the Transfer Office, where all mortgages are registered, for every search. All arrears, if any, must be paid before transfer of these properties, or any portion of them, will be allowed. Mortgages are not often met with ; but where thev have been effected, the purchaser must, as a 115 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. matter of course, arrange with the seller as to the mode of paying them off, either on transfer, or allowing them to remain at the current rate of 6 per cent, per annum. ' The crown reserves to itself the right of making roads over all lands, without compensation to proprietors, except on those parts on which buildings may actually stand at the time, and also the right of fixing outspans (halting-places where draught-oxen and hoi-ses may graze) on the line of road.' As to land specially suitable for cotton culture, if it really become successful it would appear that there may be a run on it, wliich will considerably raise its selling above the upset govern- ment price. Mr Bootham, the secretary of the Chamber of Com- merce, writing to the editor of the ' Manchester Courier ' on the cultivation of cotton at Natal (21st December 1848), says — * I have said that parties must not expect to get cotton land at the government minimum price of 4s. per acre, unless, indeed, they will be at the trouble and expense of clearing away dense bush. All clear open ground, that has been hitherto oflered for sale by go- vernment (I allude, of course, to cotton ground), has been bought at prices ranging as high as 10s. 6d. per acre, and they have now none such for sale within thirty miles of the port ; but some in farms of from 500 to 700 acres, at this distance, will be submitted to public com- petition in the course of a few months; and as there are no speculators here just now, these farms, in the event of their not being sold by auction, will be for private sale, thus affording an opportunity for any emigrants thr.t may arrive subsequent to the date of the pubhc sale to commence operations, without being compelled to purchase from private parties at exorbitant rates; but as government have not more than from 75,000 to 100,000 acres of cotton ground to dispose of, and as the best lands are in possession of private parties, it can- not be long ere there is any good cotton land procurable at all under 15s. or 20s. per acre. We have ourselves sold about 2700 acres at 5s. per acre, bushy land, to as high as 40s. for clear ground, in the neighbourhood of the port.' But there is an announcement in the Government Emigration Report for 1850, which must bear somewhat on tlie scarcity of cotton-growing land in the market, and its selling price. It is there stated that 25,000 acres had been granted by the local government, on very advantageous terms, to a company of cotton producers; but that they had not been successful, and it was necessary to resume the land. A strong desire has been expressed, in various quarters, to make Natal a settlement for people of some, but moderate, means. It is felt that it is not a very suitable one for labom-ers — at least for a large number of that class rising in position and becommg land- owners ; and therefore that if large capitalists should fix on it as a country for investment in cotton, tobacco, and other tropical 116 NATAL. products, it will merge into a territory of two classes — an indo- lent, rich, colonial aristocracy, on the one hand ; and on the other, a low, labouring class, only a little above slavery. It is stated in the government information to emigrants, that ' the most valuable emigrant for Natal is the practical farmer, possessing a small capital — say of £500 to £1000 — and of industrious and steady habits. "With these qualifications success is ultimately certain.' In the letter on cotton lands above quoted, Mr Bootham cites the authority of IMr Chiapini — a gentleman whose family have been long intimately connected with Southern Africa, to this effect : — ' The description of men most wanted are neither great capitalists nor paupers, but such as can command from £75 to £1000 — say men •with less than £500 as tenants, and men with greater means as proprietors and occupants. In the latter case, it would of course Le advisable that they be accompanied by one or two farm-servants. Nor should I recommend any one to bring Avith him anything more than ploughs and a haiTOw, unless it be a cotton gin and press ; but these it would be time enough to write for after the party had been some Httle time in the colony.' There are some peculiarities about farming establishments in South Africa, founded on the long, inveterate usages of the Dutch, which would be apt to trench on a small capitalist's means. Such, for instance, are the wagon, with its team of twelve or foiui:een oxen. The vehicle alone, when new, costs about £70. Mr Metliley tells us, that 'An African wagon differs materially in construction from an English one : it requires more labour in the making, and the many different woods employed are better adapted for the purpose than any that could be procured in this country. The roads, in some parts of the colony, are not unfrequently very rough, and would be altogether impassable by any English -built vehicle; but the Dutchman, whose home consists m his wagon, continually migrating from one place to another, has made it his only study; and any one practically acquainted with its gieat durability and conve- nience will be compelled to acknowledge the difficulty of improving upon it. It is drawn by a span of twelve or fourteen oxen, which are attached by yokes fastened on the neck to a long chain or treck- trow, which is made fast to the dissel-boom or pole of the wagon, to which the hind oxen are yoked, and depended upon for guidance. Each ox has its name, to which it attends, being kept in perpetual fear of the whip, the stock of wliich is ten or twelve feet long, and in the hands of an expert di-iver is an instrument capable of inflicting very severe punishment, often cutting through the skin, and marking the animal for life. The oxen have reins or thongs of undressed skin tied roimd their horns, and a native is requked to lead the front pair.' The Dutch are more inveterate followers of old customs than 117 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. even the English peasantry ; and in this cumbrous machine there can be little doubt that there is a vast waste of substance and motive power. At the same time there are doubtless obstacles in transit to be overcome, for which the neat English van would be very unfit. It has been suggested that the rough Scottish cart might suit very weU as an African vehicle. It was invented for the same purpose as the enormous Dutch wagon— passing over rough ground. As to other objects of expenditure, the following advice is offered by the Emigration Commissioners :— ' Emigrants with capital should be careful how they invest their money in goods for sale in the country, as the market is liable to great fluctuations, and merchandise which at one time will meet with a ready sale, yielding great profit, will at another time not realise the cost in England. It is also advisable that no land should be purchased previously to seeing it, or at least obtaining a descrip- tion from competent and disinterested persons.' An arrangement has been made, by which depositors of money in this coimtry for land in Natal may obtain a remission for each labouring or mechanical emigrant conveyed by them to the colony, and invested in small holdings. The deposits must be in sums not less than £1000, and the remission is £10 for each emigrant But the particulars of this arrangement belong more aptly to the department of Labour. Labour. — The prospects which this colony may hold out to the British labourer — an object of great anxiety to all who have con- sidered its peculiarities — ^have already been to a certain extent con- sidered. The practical men desirous to bring over many labourers, alluding to the comparatively comfortable position of the natives, who scarcely know what it is to labour, say — ' T\Tiat can prevent the same blessings from being enjoyed even in a greater degree by such of our suffering fellow-countrymen as may emigrate to Natal, and who would not shun labour if they had but the means of working for their daily bread?' But the serious question comes to be — How far there is to be permanent labour in this settlement above the character of that performed by the semi-savage natives ? The extent of native labour available wiU be noticed farther on ; but in the meantime we give, from the Eeport of the Emigration Commissione];s for 1849, the following very important notice relat- ing to its effect on British labour : — * In the selection of emigrants for the Natal district, it has been decided that as there are already in that country large bodies of natives whose labour can, it is supposed, be obtained on much cheaper terms than the labour of Europeans, and as therefore the persons principally wanted are rather those who should direct the labour of the natives than those who should labour themselves, the rules re- 118 NATAL. lating to the eligibility of emigrants for free passages to Australia should be so far extended as to include, besides agricultural labourers, the following classes — namely, mechanics, skilled labourers, and small farmers, accustomed to some manual labour, and intending to work for their subsistence. But it has been decided that in all other respects the regulations concerning emigration and the sale of land should be continued, and that no persons should be authorised to propose emigrants for free passages except by virtue of money de- posited previously to our credit at the Bank of England.' This last allusion refers to an arrangement by which a depositor of £1000 in Britain for land in Natal is allowed a drawback for every emigrant of a certain class sent out by him, and invested with an allotment of land, increasable at the emigrant's option, if he can afford to make a small advance. The notification issued on this subject by the board is the following: — ' Colonial Office, Apj-il 16, 1849. 'Memorandum. — The general regulations on the sale of colonial lands pro\'ide, that if a person pays in this country for the purchase of such lands, he becomes entitled to nominate a definite number of emigrants : and that if they be found eligible, according to certain established rules on the subject, the commissioners of emigration shall provide them with a free passage to the colony, in respect of which the money has been deposited for the purchase of land. These deposits are required to be made in sums of not less than £100 each. The purpose of the present memorandum is to explain the terms on which a settler, who is willing to pay in advance for lands at Natal, but is desirous to send out his own emigrants, in- stead of leaving them to be sent out by the commissioners, can be allowed to eff^ect his object. The terms will be as follows : — '1. The money must be deposited to the credit of the commissioners at the Bank of England in sums not less than £1000 each. * 2. For each such deposit a certificate will be issued by the com- missioners, which will be considered to represent the same amount of money in any purchase of government land at Natal. ' 3. The land must be purchased in conformity with all such rules, and after being exposed to sale at such upset price as may be in force in the colony at the time when it shall be actually bought. ' 4. The depositor is to undertake the conveyance to Natal of agri- cultural labourers, mechanics, skilled labourers, or small farmers accustomed to some manual labour, and intending to work for their subsistence. ' 5. He is to engage to furnish them with a steerage passage, and to grant them, after arrival, twenty acres of land in fee for each adult, and five acres for each child, with a right of choice out of at least double that quantity, in consideration of a payment by the emi- grants of not more than £10 for each adult, computed according to the Passengers' Act. *6. If any persons who belong to the foregoing classes, and for whom, 119 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. therefore, a drawback can be claimed of the govemmeut in the man- ner to be presently stated, should proceed as intermediate passen- gers, there must be sufficient evidence that they had enjoyed an option of proceeding in the steerage for the maximum charge above- mentioned, and that they had preferred paying the difference of price for the superior kind of accommodation. • 7. The lists of the emigrants are to be submitted to the Emigra- tion Commissioners for revision and approval, and the emigrants them- selves to be inspected by an officer of tliat boai-d previous to sailing. * 8. Whenever a vessel is engaged for conveying emigrants to Natal wnder this arrangement, the fact must be reported to the Board of Emigration, in order that the requisite survey of her may be made by the emigration officer at the port from which she is to sail. If sent from a port at which no such officer is stationed, the expense of sending one to make the survey must devolve on the depositor who is despatching the emigrants ; but there are emigration officers at all the principal ports of the kingdom. '9. For each approved emigrant (two children between one and fourteen years being counted as one emigrant) who may be intro- duced into the colony, there will be returned to the depositor out of the amount paid by him to the credit of the Emigi*ation Commis- sioners the sum of £10, on receipt from the colony of a certificate that such emigrant had been safely landed, and appeared to have been properly treated on the voyage ; and further, had been duly put in possession of the promised quantity of land.' The following specific regulations for carrying the scheme into execution were subsequently issued on 22d January 1850 : — ' 1. The emigrants must consist principally of the following classes : farmers of small capital, accustomed to manual labour ; agricultural labourers ; shepherds ; herdsmen ; blacksmiths ; wheelwrights ; masons ; carpenters ; female domestic and farm servants. *2. The emigrants must be in good health, and under forty- five years of age ; but for every cliild above eighteen years of age an excess of one year will be allowed in the age of the parents. Single men and women, under eighteen years of age, are not eligible (ex- cept in special cases), unless they are emigrating under the care of their parents, or, with their parents' consent, under the care of some near married relative. '3. Families containing more than four children under fourteen years of age are not eligible. * 4. Persons in the habitual receipt of parish relief cannot be ap- proved. * 5. Xo allowance will be paid on an approved married emigi-ant who proceeds to the colony without his wife and all his children under eighteen, until his wife and children have joined him in the colony, which fact must be authenticated by the local government. ' 6. No emigrant will be approved, unless satisfactory certificates of good character, and of efficiency in his or her professed trade or calling, can, when required, be produced. 120 NATAL. * 7. Applications for approval must be made in the form issued by the commissioners. * 8. Eacli person above fourteen must fill up a separate form. ' 9. Should it be found that any of the signatures attached to the form are not genuine, or that any other deception is attempted, the application will be at once rejected. * 10. One hundred statute adults will be approved for every deposit of £1000; and no more certificates can be signed and issued by the commissioners than in that proportion.' AVith regard to the wages of British labourers or artisans, the Emigration Commissioners have not deemed their several amounts sufficiently established to enable them to make a distinct announce- ment of them. On the remuneration of productive artisans they say — ' Each tradesman makes his own articles, asks his owti price, and obtains it, yielding about 10s. per diem wages.' This would be a glorious state of matters for meclianics were it likely to be permanent. There are, however, large sums, in the form rather of profits than wages, passing from hand to hand in all infant colonies. Labourers, and these of a very inefficient kind, liave obtained high wages in Xatal, but they have been favoured by lucky accident. We do not yet know how far the colony is to be permanently a good source of employment for the better kinds of skilled labour ; but the arrangement for the accommodation of working emigrants in small locations would seem, at least at first sight, a good one. It shews a considerate spirit on the part of the Emigration Board, and a desire to make the colony as useful as it can be made to that valuable class of men — the productive workers of Britain, whether in mechanical or agricultural operations ; and if the par- ticular scheme which has been developed should turn out inap- plicable to the circumstances of the colony, the painstaking good intention which has characterised it will naturally lead to amended effi3rts to accomplish the same end. But there is another matter of importance to all classes of people in this colony which has to be viewed along with its pro- spects of employment to emigrant workers — and that is, the posi- tion of the native tribes and their relation to the colonists. A variety of native tribes exist in this large territoiy, but they are scanty in number ; and there are only three who are of much importance to the settler — the Hottentots, the Caffi-es, and the Zoolus, or Zoolu Caffires, as tliey are occasionally termed. The Hottentots are the best workmen. They are said to be excellent wagoners, and have almost a monopoly of this occupation. Their wages are far higher than those of their neighbour tribes. The Zoolu Caffi-es are a comparatively gentle and honest race — very dififerent from the tribes which carried on the war with the Cape Colony. Their 121 THE AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. services, such as they are, may be had for little — 5s. a month in wages, along with their support, which, as they live upon Indian com and coarse refuse of other food, amounts to about a like sum. Very few attempts have been made in any of our emigra- tion colonies to get the natives to work either as self-supporters or as servants. Port Natal is thus an exception — probably on account of that notion of being made to work for the white man which has associated itself with the African races. Their wages mark their superiority to the aborigines of the other southern colonies, and at the same time shew the utmost extent of their availability; for it appears impossible by any inducement to make them worth more. The colonists complain bitterly about the idle servants or workmen. A correspondent of Sydney's ' Emigrant's Journal ' says — ' It is the cotton planter that this state of matters most seriously affects, for his loss is very great when his cotton is dead ripe, and he unable to pick it. I know a fanner at this moment so situated; he has about 170 acres of Sea-Island cotton, most of it commencing to burst the pod, and yet he cannot get a single labourer for love or money, although there are thousands around him. He (Mr Davidson), I am sorry to say, is only one out of a number similarly situated. I have no doubt that he will lose this season between £700 and £1000, and he has no means of remedying it. Let him offer any wages he likes, the natives will not work — they prefer ease and idleness.' — [Emi- grant'' s Journal, New Series, i. 164.) Practical men of course propose to make short work of such difficulties, and compel the idle to labour. Other nations might do so; but slavery, even in this modLied form, is not a thing to be even proposed and discussed for a British colony. Others pro- pose to tax the Africans, or drive them from the colony. Their position is peculiar, and one that would in some respects justify restraint. They do not belong to the district, the original natives of which appear to have been cleared off before the Dutch occu- pation ; but they are fugitives seeking refuge from the neighbour- ing tyrants, and especially from the bloodthirsty Chaka. The protection from slavery, and the scattered benefits which the presence of a civilised industrious community strews, however slightly, in the path of the savage, are great temptations to them to migrate to Natal; and there seems to be a fear that their numbers may become formidable. They have already increased, in fact, from about 20,000 to about 150,000. Thus the colony is in some measure the converse of others where the coloured races are gradually disappearing. It is probable that, with a careful consideration of their position, the due mean between slavery, or an approach to it, and a licence which these savages cannot under- 1-22 NATAL. Stand as anything different from an admission of their supremacy, may be discovered. Unfortmiately they are not, like the New Zealand natives, still aroimd their legitimate chiefs, who might be left some authority over them ; nor are they, like the inhabitants of these islands, limited and isolated — they are connected with an almost inexhaustible source of supply. Nor can it well be forgotten, as accounting for the difficulty which they may have in accommodating themselves to free institutions, that they desert from the territory of some tyrant under whom there was nothing, not even their children and their lives, which they could call their own. In the meantime, a measure had been adopted which seemed to promise better than its fulfilment — the selection of a certain number of them, who are paid and trained as a military police. Whatever may be the result of such measures, the existence of so large a source of supply will have the effect of providing a substitute for at least the humbler departments of British labour. That the natives should become mechanics or skilled workers seems, however, out of the question. With regard to the counterpart of the labourer's wages, the prices of the necessaries of life ; in a colony so thinly peopled, and likely to have its European inhabitants doubled or tripled in a short time, it would be almost useless to speak of the prices of com- modities. They are afforded to some extent in the government information to emigrants, but in such a manner as to shew that they must be very capricious and varying. This is seen in a great degree by the difference in prices between the two chief stations — D'Urban and Pietermaritzburg. For instance, in the former salt beef is- quoted at 3d. per pound, and m the latter at 2d. ; while fresh beef is rated in the former at 2d., and in the latter at 4d. Fresh and salt pork are the same in both — 6d. per pound ; and so are fowls. Is. per pair ; and potatoes, 2s. per bushel. Salt is said to be 3s. a bushel in D'Urban, and 9d. in the other station — a discre- pancy so great that it looks like a mistake. The price of tea varies from 2s. 6d. to 5s. per pound. In D'Urban men's shoes and women's shoes are rated at the same price — 5s. ; while in Pietermaritzburg there is such a difference, that the former range from 6s. to 9s., and the latter from 3s. to 6s. 123 EMIGRATION IX ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION I^fDIVIDUALS k^D COMMUNITIES. BY JOHN HILL BURTON, AVTHOE OF 'POLITICAL AXD SOCIAL ECONOMY. ^ EMIGRATION IN ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION. EMIGRATION SCHEMES. Among those many projects and principles for remedying all that is socially wrong, with which the ear of the public is ever filled, there is none so confidently asserted, and none so seldom denied or disputed, as an extensive systematic removal of our population to new lands and fresh sources of enterprise. The advocate of emigration finds it sufficient to describe without reasoning. Here is our crowded empire, with its jails, and hospitals, and poor-houses. Take its fruitful territories from Kent to the Grampians, and add to these whatever of the surface of Ireland is not absolute stone and peat-moss ; there is no other area on the face of the earth where the population is so dense. Competition, we are told, is worked to its highest power; every source of decent livelihood is seized on by hungry rivals ; ragged wretches swarm on our streets ; pollution spreads around, not from viciousness, but the sheer necessity of living. Our towns are full of tramper lodging-places, in each of which we shall find some hundreds of idle wretches filthy and diseased, who might in other circumstances keep sheep, or plough, or reap, adding to the abundance of the world, and living happy, healthy, virtuous lives. Such is generally the picture on the one hand ; and then on the other is described the vast region of unploughed and almost untrodden soil at the command of our people, on which they might spread themselves forth like liberated prisoners. In Australia, not to speak of the mysteries of the interior, where we may or may not on some future day find patches of luxurious productive land about the size of Spain or Italy — the Emigration Commissioners state that, attached solely to the provinces of New South Wales and Victoria, there are three hundred millions of acres in the hands of the crown for 1 EMIGRATION. disposal, tlie amount alienated being about six millions of acres. In the new colony of South Australia there are twenty millions of acres — a surface greatly more than double tliat of Great Britain and Ireland. Van Diemen's Land is looked on as comparatively occupied colonial soil, being about half the size of Ireland, and having a population of 70,000. Turning westward round the huge'^ bulk of the island-continent, we come to Western Australia, the Swan River Settlement of calamitous renown, spreading over an area which is laid down as eight times the size of the British isles, and with a population of about 6000 people. Passing eastward across the Paciiic, we come to the last great object of BritisK' colonial enterprise — New Zealand — a compact group of islands lik^ our own, and covering nearly the same area. It is here that the friends of emigration exhaust their eloquence on the sweetness and salubrity of the climate, the beauty of the scenery, and the rich fertility of the productive powers, anticipating, not without reason, that here will rise that southern empire of British origin to which must fall the future government of the Oriental nations. Agaiii' passing from the field of these late discoveries to one of the known old quarters of the globe, a cordon is drawn through Africa, near the twenty-fifth degree of southern latitude, and separating from the deserts and deadly swamps left to the rest of the world that sea- washed angle within the range of healthy existence, reser\'ed as an emigration field for Britain, and containing a further area of territory larger than that of the British islands. It is un- necessary to speak of trifling spots like the Falkland Isles in a general surs-ey like the present ; but passing at once to om- North American territories, we have there, at the nominal disposal at least of Britain, a territory larger than that where the United States have near thirty millions of people, and will shortly have sixty millions ; and lastly, there is at the disposal of those who choose or are compelled to seek a new home, this great republican empire itself, ever welcoming over our citizens as a useful addition to its population. » Such is the general sketch, seeming to need no argument, which the advocate of emigration sends forth. But there are shades to add to the picture before it becomes a true representation. For two hundred years the efibrts of this country to people foreign wildernesses have been a repetition of sad disasters — of sanguine hopes blighted, of the worthiest efibrts defied and baffled by un- controllable difficulties. Emigration has been an ocean on which ignorant men have heedlessly trusted themselves without a pilot — a market in which gross and cruel impostors have found their most ready victims — a field of economical inquiry from which cautious, conscientious investigation has been driven forth by reckless EmGRATION. experimenters on the fate and fortune of their fellow- beings. Endowed with a vastly beneficent operation, yet capable of the most malign perversion, it thus becomes, as involving the happiness or misery of multitudes, one of the most solemn subjects on which the practical economist can embark. It wiU be necessary in the following inquuy, made by one who has gone to his task in a purely critical spirit, and without any prepossession m favour of any theory of emigration, to notice many conditions in which, tln:ough rashness or misdirected zeal, it has been a dire calamity, instead of the blessing it is capable of being made. But before entering on this, which may be considered as the discouraging side of the picture, it may be well, since we have glanced at the material area open for British emigration, to take a view of the economic prospects before oiu* people, from a conscientious and cautious adjustment of its operation to the laws of political economy and the social condition of the nation. That the vast sources of productiveness to which we have just sweepingly alluded must be occupied and applied by the great race who, in foUowmg the original law of our nature that man must live by the sweat of his brow, promise to govern the world — is as clear and necessary a result of all economic laws as any future event can be. With free trade our coimtry has the markets of the world at its command, but the extent to which they can supply us depends on their productiveness, and their productiveness depends on what political economy cannot control — the industry and energy of the races by whom the various territories of the globe are inhabited — the extent to which the ambition of participating in our wealth and luxury will induce them to imitate our industrious energy. But the Neapolitan Lazaroni lie basking in the sun ; the Hindoo throws on his paddy- tield the industry which his ancestor bestowed on it a thousand years ago, and no more ; the Chinaman is content to turn his little wheel, and irrigate the paddock that satisfies all the wants of his frugal household ; the Red Indian despises work as he does the white man's dog ; and the Zoolu of our African settle- ments, though oflered a fair per-centage of the fortune which a little exertion from him will draw out of the cotton plantation, will work till he has earned a red handkerchief, but not an atom farther. There is just one boundary to the influence of free trade — the boundary of contented poverty, satisfied with what it has, and uninduced by all that the world of commerce can offer, to exchange idleness and amusement for productive exertion. The enterprising English subduing the soil, and adapting it to their objects, are sometimes looked upon, and openly spoken of, as 3 EMIGRATION. people having the mixed elements of the madman and the fool : the madman prompting them to a restless energy in the cultiva- tion of the earth, the building of houses, and the fabrication of clothing — the fool prompting them to make a boast and exultation of this diseased propensity instead of concealing it. The people who so view our conduct cannot reciprocate in the race we run. We obtain from them the surplus produce of the old traditional pursuits which they have followed for uncounted centuries. Per- haps they sometimes restrict their indulgence in their own produc- tions, to be able to buy in exchange something of ours. But they do not go on indefinitely producing to meet in exchange with our indefinite production. Where slaves are kept, it is true, this will be done, and can be done. It is not that slave labour is nearly so valuable as free labour ; but in those conditions where there are great natural elements of production — land cheap, or to be had for the mere occupation, with a richly-nutritious climate — it often happens that free people will not give the labour that enables these capa- bilities to be used. There the slave-master, who desires to possess in superfluity the riches of this industrial hive, can send us the raw cotton, the sugar, the tobacco, of his own favoured region through the compulsory labours of those who would not have so tasked their energies to supply their own wants. Thus it is an unhappy fact, that a large part of the labour for which we must exchange commodities under free trade is slave labour. If it were capable of indefinite increase, it might be a question whether this country ought not, while setting out upon its own great business of free labour, to make some vast effort to extirpate a crime so hideous ; but it is not a system that spreads like commerce. It is limited in every direction : in the field of slave production — in the means of getting the servile being to the spot where he may be used — in the danger of allowing a race of slaves to increase to too great an extent — but most of all, in the discredit and guilt attached to all dealing in slavery — modified when it applies to the planter who is merely retaining the inheri- tance of bondmen collected by his ancestors in a darker age, but fierce and righteously intolerant when it encounters the man- stealer employing the science and power of advanced civilisation to lay deadly snares for those simple children of the desert, whose sad ignorance and feebleness should commend them to the beneficence histead of the malignity of civilisation. Lastly, slave labour is limited by the extent of the earth's surface in which it is available. It is applicable only to the gathering of the almost spontaneous produce of rich tropical climates. It is at best a humble order of work, and is only worth applying where the prolific nature of the earth makes even the meagrest labours of man 4 EMIGKATION. valuable. It can never be applied with success to skilled arduous production ; such as those lands less favoured by the sun, but more blessed in the higher gifts of energy and intelligence, must develop. In this country it might be adapted to handloom weaving, or to those humbler routine duties in the mill which are performed by children; but slave labour could never productively be employed in the Sheffield cutleries or the Birmingham brazieries. Thus is limited the field of slave production to be exchanged by the influence of free trade with our industrial harvest. We must seek, then, a nobler competitor in the mutual contest of produc- tiveness — ^and where shall we so well find it as in the judicious dispersal of the energetic British people over the earth ? Already of our sixty millions of exports upwards of a third are conveyed to people of our own race either in the United States or the British dependencies, and thus we measure the capacity of the swarms already thrown off to minister to our wants, since the exports to the several states indicate the amount of produce they have parted with to procure them. It is clear, then, that it is our interest to spread our own race abroad on the vacant produc- tive spaces of the earth's surface. Here is the practical answer to the firightening diagrams of the economists who shew that produc- tiveness decreases with the ratio of the increase of population. An area fifty times the extent of Britain lies open to British industry and enterprise ! This vast arena should be treated as a legitimate field of enterprise, into which the laws of political economy will carry our people, not merely as a refuge for destitution or a desperate remedy for social disease. That emigration may be applied, and with success, to the cure or removal of social diseases, will have to be afterwards shewn. But its great economic mission is of a nobler order. In the natural growth of a people using all the advantages which a bountiful Providence places within their view, it is no more a matter of calamitous necessity that there should be emigrants than that there should be farmers. The colonist should no more be viewed as a man fleeing to take refuge firom the miseries of a home pursuit, than the cultivation of the ground should be considered a refuge from shop-keeping, or shoe- making from carpentry. The rise of our rapid system of locomotion confuses and prac- tically refutes old theories of political economy. Canada is as near to London as Edinburgh was eighty years ago, and Australia will be as near as' Caithness was. Tliis rapid external communi- cation, responding to the internal locomotion, will produce effects of which as yet we know little. From old habit the progress of steam improvement was associated with increased city areas, denser crowds, and murkier streets ; but it has, in reality, had the 5 EMIGRATION. contrary effect of spreading mankind over a wide surface. Our dense citief?, which horrify the sanitarian, were the creatures of a state of locomotive power as different from our own as the litera- ture of manuscripts was from that of printing. In the days of the packhorse and the bridle-road, the land around a city was so valuable, that rocks, such as Arthur Seat, near Edmburgh, were cultivated in terraces laid with artificial soil, while ten miles off the country was a grim wilderness of marsh and peat. In the days of the turnpike and the wagon, the supplies of the cities have come from a distance : Yorkshire contributed with Kent and Surrey to feed London, and the land around cities ceased to be so exclusively valuable. In the days of railways and steam- boats, we are to find our fanns still farther off — in Australia, Southern Africa, or Canada. AVhen we see our urban popula- tion relieved from the necessity of occupying mere spots in the land called cities, and the dispersal of our agricultural producers in distant and vastly productive fields, it is reasonable to cal- culate that popiUation will disperse while it increases; and that oiu* people, able to mthdraw more of the land immediately around them from being necessarily employed hi the production of food and raiment, may enjoy more of the green eartli and the blessed light of heaven. The pastoral sentimentalist Avho lias watched the progress of our chemical and mechanical resources, has dreamed his dream of endless furnaces and cinder-heaps — • of groups of tall cliimneys — of a murky atmosphere — of narrow, poisonous alleys, and an indefinite increase of a squalid popula- tion ; but science possesses resources to meet and overcome its attendant evils. The increase of two kinds of productive power answermg to each other — the mechanical ingenuity working through machinery at home, the expansion of the field of agricultural pro- duce and the supply of food, over the vast area of our emigration fields — will have the same effect as if a warmer sun shone on a more fertile earth, producing greater abundance of all things ibr man; outstripping, in the increase of the means of support the increase of his numbers ; and rendering no longer necessary thafi sordid elaboration of the earth's surface at home which has locked the mechanic in the narrow city street, and has driven the home- producer of food to economise and utilitarianise every spot on whicli a blade will grow. It is no incoherent dream or hollow fancy, but a rational anticipation of the future from the past, that with a greatly increased population in this country, holding com- mercial intercourse with an indefinitely increasing area peopled by our kindred in all available parts of the earth, we may be, m all physical and moral elements, above our present position ; we may be less densely crowded into cities ; we may be freer of all 6 EMIGKATION. the moral and physical impurities which cling around us ; we may breathe fresher air; we may live more with nature; we may devote fewer of our hours to weary drudgery, demanding a less deadly reaction in dissipation and vice ; and the contemplation of a better order of things, found in searcliing for and obeying the great economical laws of the world, may teach us to see more of God in life, and to become better men, both for this world and the next. This may seem an extravagant enough anticipation of the results of emigration ; but, in truth, it is not contemplated as the result of any system of operation — of any theory of emigration. AVe calculate on two agents tending towards the production of such results. The one is the vast portion of the earth's surface still unappropriated and unused — the other is the fine race who constitute the majority of the people of this country, with their great energies and their honest purpose. These are destined to be the available instruments by which the land will give forth its bounty, while the rule by which they are to be guided is to be found in those eternal laws of political economy — laws as eternal and beneficent as those of the mechanical powers and animal life; laws not easily found often misconstrued — taxing men's intellects to the utmost, and far more liable than the laws of other sciences to the false direction of prejudice — yet existing in nature beyond doubt. After much of the past empiricism and mischievous tampering, with some that perhaps may be to come, we may look to this department of political economy — that which guides emigration — being cleared from the darkness which makes the future and the distant an indistinct haphazard to be unscrupulously gambled in, and from the false light which leads the bewildered wanderer into deadly drowning swamps. It is the object of the author of the following pages to give such assistance as he is capable of giving to the accomplishment of this end, by endea- vouring to explain from past experience the elements that have made emigration that beneficent furtherer of human wellbeing which it ought to be, and to point out those mistakes which have too often made it calamitous instead of beneficent. THE DANGERS OF AN ILL-DIRECTED E:iriGRATION. That the ambition so natural to our countrymen of advancing over the earth and subduing it to productive purposes has been attended with many hardships and calamities, has been matter of too bitter experience. To be fully reminded of the sacrifices that have been made in this cause, we need not go back to the days when a nation's hopes were blighted at Darien, and her best and 7 EMIGRATION. bravest sons, engaged in a magnificent project, renewed at the present day for uniting the commerce of the Pacific with that of the Atlantic, left their ruined forts and their graves as the sole memorial of their efforts. We need not recall ' the ruined wall And roofless homes' of fair Wyoming, or the countless bloody conflicts with the wielders of the tomahawk and the takers of scalps. The young men of the present generation are unfortu- nately old enough to remember the fate of those who, in the plenitude of hope and enterprise, flocked to the Swan River Settle- ment — a fate described in these words by the legislative council of the colony: — 'The ghastly spectacle of the town -site of Cla- rence — its sole edifices crowded, humid, and neglected tombs — its only inhabitants corpses, the victims of disease, starvation, and despair — the sea-beach strewed with wrecks, the hills and borders of the rivers studded with deserted and half-finished buildings — bear witness to these consequences, and speak of brave men, delicate females, and helpless children, perishing in hundreds on a desert coast from want of food, of shelter, and even of water, and surrounded by hordes of angry armed savages.' From a quantity of official letters Avritten in our North Ameri- can colonies, under the infliction of the emigration or rather flight of 1847, which swept our nearest colonies like a pestilence, let the following passage suffice as a specimen : — 'Out of the 4000 or 5000 emigrants that have left this since Sunday, at least 2000 will fall fiick somewhere before three weeks are over. They ought to have accommodation for 2000 sick at least in Montreal and Quebec, as all the Cork and Liverpool passengers are half-dead from starvation and want before embarking ; and the least bowel complaint, which is sure to come with change of food, finishes them without a struggle. I never saw people so indifferent to life ; they would continue in the same berth with a dead person until the seamen or captain dragged out the corpse with boat- hooks. Good God ! what evils will befall the cities wherever they alight ! Hot weather will increase the evil.'* What practical lesson, then, it may be asked, are we to learn from such disasters ? Certainly not that emigration is to be sup- pressed, or even discouraged. The former would not be practi- cable were it wise ; the latter would be the rejection of a great boon, because it is, like all other earthly blessings, accompanied by risks which the skill and intrepidity of man are tasked in meeting. The lesson we have to learn is, how cautiously and considerately emigration should be practised, whether by communities or indi^ viduals ; and the best way to accomplish this is to dispel, if it be * Letter from D. Douglas, communicated by Lord Elgin to the Secretary' for the Colonies. Com. Papers, 1847, 8 EMIGEATION. possible, the fklse, sanguine, visionary notions by which those who have been the victims, instead of the heroes of emigration, have been afflicted. One of the most common opinions, or perhaps it should be called sentiments, is, that if the removal to a new country be a difficult thing to accomplish, yet, when once accomplished, it leads at once to prosperity and riches. It is treated not as a selection made, after full thought and investigation, of a course in life, but as an escape from the misfortune of living at home — an escape which must be a change for the better, whithersoever blind chance lead the fugitive. Too often, as we have already seen, it has only led him into deeper miseries, for which he has to reproach his own rash ignorance. The proposing emigrant, as a foundation for coming to a right conclusion, must start from the proper purposes of emigration. If he believes that it is a process for suddenly making the poor man rich — if he believe that the mere change of place is to operate a change of fortune — if he believe that the struggle, the toU, and the disappointed hope, are the fixed characteristics of one hemi- sphere, and success, wealth, and happiness those of another — if he believe that in his flight he may safely abandon care, and toil, and energy, yet become comfortable and independent — he looks on the whole question from a false light — ^he has grievously mistaken the economic efi*ect of emigration. He must remember that the new country does not pour forth spontaneously the elements of success ; it is merely, after all, afidd of exertion. Its existence does not make the world a farthing richer ; it only gives mankind a wider field for the acquisition of riches by energ}', intelligence, industry, and self-denial. To have a wide choice among fields of enterprise and exertion is a great advantage to those who can make use of them, because it enlarges the chances of each finding what suits his capacities best ; but it must not be confounded with that increased wealth of which it is only a productive means. Now we shaU find, if we examine it more closely, that a clear view of this distinction lies at the root of all effective emigration. He who thinks that the mere going is in itself all-sufficient to success, goes without reflection, and often finds that he has made a miserable blunder. He who, on the other hand, knows that he is only lea\Tng one field of exertion for another, looks into and calculates the nature of that other before he commits himself to it. If it were more common with intending emigrants to remem- ber this, more would be thus done to make emigration a benefit than all the schemes of philosophers, and all the controlling and directing operations of statesmen can ever accomplish. There would then be many who now emigrate who would stay at home, just because they found, on reflection, that after all the home field 9 EMIGRATION. of exertion was the one best adapted to them. There are many •who go to the wrong place now who would go to the right place then, because they know that they must not take their journey at liazard, but must see the elements on which they are to work out success before they start. And finally, there are many who stay at home now who would then emigrate, because the benefits of the new field of exertion would be more distinctly brought before them by the success of those who have considerately and carefully entered on it. The benefit of emigration fields is the same as the benefit of all other sources of enterprise — they give opportunities for the men who are adapted to them, and know how to use their opportunitie&, to make success for themselves in life. Fortune*; have been made by emigrants who would not have made fortunes had they stayed at home ; and, on the other hand, fortunes have been made at home by people who would not have succeeded as emigrants, and who have perliaps succeeded at home all the better because the neighbours who might have been their rivals liave e'migrated and prospered. In individual instances, many have made fortunes by lucky accident ; but in ajl parts of the world — in Australia, New Zealand, and America, as well as here — the great staple elements of prosperity are industry, energy, and prudence, guided by knowledge. Though there is no act connected with his temporal interests for which every man should more fully and cautiously feel and know his way than the selection of a new sphere of existence for himself and his race, yet there is none where people act; with more recklessness. "\Miere the knowledge should be of the amplest, most minute, most carefully weighed kind, people take their cliance, and will be swayed for or against by light and limited liints. The caprices by wliich the ignorant are actuated in their destination of themselves are incalculably preposterous, and throw on those who guide them a heavy responsibility. But there has hitherto been something in the mysterious chances attending the prospect of a new world which has made even the educated and the well-trained adopt this resource with strange recklessness. There is not a scrap of obtainable knowledge about the selected field which a man ought not to study before he casts his lot and that of his descendants into it. The scrutinising zeal with which a purchaser examines an estate, or a lender sees to an investment, should be far excelled, since the stake is generally greater, and the means of knowledge are more imperfect. Books, the very best, should not be absolutely relied on for final guidance. They should be amply studied beforehand, and made the means by which the intending emigrant casts about, and compares one field 10 EMIGEATIOX. 'irith another ; but ere he pack up his trunks and actually step on shipboard, he should have friendly personal advice about the land of his adoption, and its suitability to his own position. In so far as books are relied on, it may seem paradoxical, but it will be found true, that those written by men from the spot are less safely to be depended on than the compilations, in which their informa- tion is sifted and compared with that of others, by persons who have no interest in emigration or the success of theories, and whose object it is simply to prepare works of reference and of infonnation. Not only do those who live long in a distant, thinly- peopled country acquire one-sided notions regarding its relation to the rest of the world, but it is only on some very rare occasion indeed that any man who has had a personal connection with an emigration district writes about it without having some object to accomplish, and therefore some particular views to support and propagate- The laudatory is the prevailing tone of these works : the earth is fruitful, the scenery beautiful, the climate both pleasant and wholesome ; all succeed in the place with the excep- tion of one class, who are almost universally excepted from the general prosperity — the medical profession, who, in the general health and happiness, find no victims to work on. The ingenuity with which elements that cannot be other than an evil in a country are described as somethmg not much beneath a blessing may occa- sionally prompt a smile. The obdurate timber, which twenty years of costly exertion will not eradicate from the grain fields, is an indication of the richness, depth, and productiveness of the soil : it makes excellent firewood, its ashes are valuable manure, it is an ornament to the scenery while it stands. It is said of 3 celebrated popular auctioneer, that one of his commendations of an estate sold by him in New Brunswick was, that it contained a quantity of fine old timber. Deadly swamps shew that there i^ no drought ; shifting sandhills are a pleasant variety in the land- scape ; stony wildernesses are dry and ^healthy. In short, it too frequently happens that the description obtained of a new emi- gration field, even from those who ought to know it best, is little more to be depended on than that of the dealer who vaunts his bargains and sacrifices. :''.;;:->; ; . ?= It is very uncommon to find ji lio^i^-vlffitteA aBotlt 'ixry emigra- tion district for the purpose of pointing out its defects. There is scarcely one decided instance of such a thing in late English lite- rature. The nearest approach perhaps to it is Mr Howit's Port Philip. Tlie disappointed emigrant generally writes his letter to a newspaper, or his pamphlet, and has done — ndirecting his thoughts and energies to some subject more agreeable than the place where his fortunes have been ruined and his prolific expectations blighted. 11 EMIGRATION. Almost all the works we possess on places of settlement, by per- sons practically acquainted with them, are written for the purpose of supporting them in public opinion, and enhancing their merits in the eyes of the intending emigrant. Looking with the impartial eye of one who neither desires to favour any emigration field beyond others, nor is subject to the anxieties of the actual emigrant searching for the best destination, we can see how large — how formidably large — are the elements of deception in the means of information which the emigrant has usually at hand. If he doubt in the least the accuracy of the account given by a resident deeply interested in the prosperity of the colony, or rather in the increase of the number who will settle in it, and bring money thither to spend, he turns to the disinterested supporters of the ecclesiastical settlements. He would be justified perhaps in laying more reliance on the authori- tative documents issued by the bodies promoting th^se under- takings than on many other sources of information ; for the authors of them, though sanguine, are generally men who have some consideration of the gravity of recommendations, the adoption of which fixes the fate of families for generations. But perhaps the emigrant distrusts these authorities, and would like to know what the press says. He will in general find nothing there, unless in the organs kept for the furtherance of the eccle- siastical party who have started the enterprise. He then consults a periodical work representing the sentiments of his own religious community. He expects that a theological journal wiU be per- fectly impartial on a question of emigration or colonisation; but if he knew better, he would be aware that the journal will speak favourably of any project, whether it be for colonisation or currency, which is certified by the seal of its ecclesiastical denomi- nation. These bodies are not the only ones likely to mislead on such matters : political parties would seduce miserable emigrants still farther astray, without having the least compunction for their calamities, if they happened to serve an immediate purpose. It happens, however, very fortunately, that while there have been colonisation projects upon ecclesiastical principles, there have been none in late times distinctly associated with political parties. The fallacious character of some artificial colonisation projects will form a separate subject of inquiry farther on. The universal cause of social mistakes — of blunders made by men in taking up their position in life, is ignorance. It is abundantly operative on the demand and supply of labour, even within the bounds of our own island. At one end of it are often found men in beggary and starvation, who, if they but knew their own interest, would be gladly welcomed in the shape of well-paid workmen at the 12 EMIGRATION. Other. Wlieii there is such ignorance of the home-labour market, what must there often be of the colonial, many thousands of miles across the sea ; and then, again, many hundreds of miles inland, across deserts and mountains rarely tracked ? In old times our legis- latures endeavoured to put all that is wrong in such matters right by absolute interference and direction. The working man's destiny was laid out for him, and sanctioned by confiscations and punishment. In later times there has been a disposition to replace this clumsy, costly, harsh method by the gentler and more eflFec- tive one of affording official information and counsel. To aid the emigrant, to afford him counsel and superintend his shipment, there has now been established for some years an Emigra- tion Board, the operations of which have been gradually extending themselves. A pervading principle of that establishment is — that all blunders made by the citizen in leaving the country under fallacious hopes or erroneous conclusions are evils to the com- munity, which it were well to protect it from, even at some cost. The government emigration officers scattered throughout the country, and of whom more will have to be said in another place, are in this view a general machinery for communicating practical information and advice to all who contemplate throwing a fresh stake for fortune in a new arena. Some years ago, tracts containing the most minute culinary and drapery information for the emigrant — the best kind of clothing — the most economical way of pur- chasing it — the means of packing it — the inconveniences of the voyage, and the best methods of obviating them — were all of infinite value. But besides that documents of this kind are now issued in considerable numbers by the commissioners, the several agencies are a perpetual living channel of information and advice, flexible according to change of circumstance, and not liable, like the information contained in documents, to deceive from being superseded. It is the first interest and duty of all who are likely to be practically interested in emigration to make ample inquiry in this quarter, and the establishment should ever be reminded, by frequent use, of the services it owes to the public. But notwithstanding the existence of such an instructional orga- nisation, indicative as it is of a great improvement in the functions of the government, ignorance and fallacious hopes are still the characteristic defects of the emigrant, and are likely long to call on the most anxious services of the leaders of public opinion for their instruction and guidance. Through that gross ignorance which has made so large a portion of our people valueless and burdensome at home, it is next to impossible to convey to them any practical sense of an emigration field as a new arena of exer- tion. In the cottages throughout the most destitute parts of 13 EMIGRATION. Ireland one may meet, stuck on the walls as decorations, the announcements of the Emigration Board, or of the various associa- tions devoted to the same object; but it is sadly clear that the in- mates know little more of their practical meaning than if they were the Chinese announcements on a tea-chest. The bad influence of these evils on emigration has been but generally noticed in the preceding remarks. In those which follow, having a more specific reference to persons and places, their effects will be more practically brought out. FIT AND UNFIT EBnORATION FIELDS. The term ' emigration fields ' has aptly been applied, in the valuable little work of Mr Mathew, to those districts which form suitable places of pennanent settlement to the emigrating people of this countr}^ All our dependencies are not suitable emigration fields, and all emigration fields suitable for our people are not dependencies of the British empire. By emigration is to 1)6 understood not temporary exile for the purpose of accomplish- ing some immediate object — occupying an official position, for instance, or making a fortune by merchandise. It presumes a permanent home and settlement — the adoption of a new country for the exile and his descendants. Hence it is not sufficient tliat the soil should be prolific, and the intercourse with the commercial world satisfactory. The emigrant thinks of his descendants more than of himself, and must see that they are to live in a place where they will keep up the physical and moral energies of his race, and not degenerate into something, worse than the Oriental tribes that cover our Indian empire. The very motives that will induce a parent to avoid a permanent settlement in an insalubrious district will induce him, for the benefit of those he is to leave behind, to waste a portion of his energies and his chance of life for the acquisition of ' an independence.' It may be gained either by filling some office where the avowed sacrifice of health pur- chases the remuneration which great influence or distinguished talent alone could procure at home. The effort may be made in another shape — by embarking in commerce or mining; and even in a country where the people themselves are poor through listlessness and imprudence, by successfully devotmg the British energies which the adventurer may possess, to reap from the natural capabilities of the country that speedy harvest of riches which its feeble inhabitants are incapable of gathering. Even the minor evils thus borne in Central America, in our middle African settlements, and in the Eastern Islands, are a vast record of hu- 14 EMIGRATION. inan endurance sustained by motives apparently tlie most selfish, but in reality often the most self-devoted to the interests of others. It would be of no service here to enumerate the horrors of the malaria swamp and the desert — the eternal torture of insects — the craving after liquors and fruits which it is death to appease — the nest of scorpions or the cold cobra de capella hidden in the couch where the weary stranger seeks rest from the tortures of the day — his unhappy sleep, in which he fears to gasp for breath lest some coiled-up green centipede may drop into his mouth. All dangers and tortures from the most terrible to the most ludi- crous are so endured ; but they are all apart from the subject of emigration, since the very motives which generally induce the temporary fortune-seeker to endure and risk so much will pre- vent him from seeking to establish his race in a place so fraught with future evils. This consideration at once limits and points out the kinds of district that are naturally devoted to emigration. Men will occasionally go for a final settlement in life, whether as mechanics or merchants, to Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Ceylon, Central America, or the West Indies ; but they go as willing victims — they are not a portion of that system of the migration of oiu- race over lands suited to their future inheri- tance with increase, which it is the object of the present essay to consider as a department of the practical application of political economy. And yet it may be expected that something should be said of the opportunities offered to the different grades of our population by those dependencies which are not strictly emigration districts, and especially by our great Eastern empire. If men in certain positions be induced to risk their health for fortune raised through commerce or official services, it would be a miserable mistake for the mechanic or the mere worker, whether with head or hand, to folIoAV their example. Trade is almost the only kind of adventure likely to realise the rapid fortune which may enable the adven- turer to return with a fragment of his life and constitution. The worker in these unhealthy districts h doomed to remain a worker. He may get high wages, but he spends them. Unless by some strange good fortune lie acquires a little capital which he can embark, he will obtam nothing to balance his loss of health. It is not a fate for him to select even when matters at home seem most desperate. So should be viewed our colonies in Central Africa, our sugar, coftee, and cotton-growing dependencies ; the tropical empu'es and republics of America, including nearly all that part of the United States where slavery prevails, with Borneo, China, and the Dutch colony of Java. They are all places where fortunes are made, but they are not emigi-ation fields — thev are B 15 ' EMIGRATION. not districts over which the population of Britain can spread naturally, preserving the moral and physical constitution of their forefathers, and leaving it with a wider and freer lield of exercise as the inheritance of their descendants. To the capitalist semi-emigrant, however, there is a new and important question now arising. The class of persons we allude to are those who, like the West India planter, lay out an estate in some tropical region, trusting to the skilful application of money for large results, and not expecting to labour, but, on the con- trary, taking all precautions for the protection of their consti- tutions, and probably spending many years in their native land, where they rear and educate their children. Independently of the raw produce consumed in necessaries and luxuries in tliis country — sugar, coffee, tobacco, and the like — the supply of cotton for our manufactures is now attracting much attention ; and besides British India, attempts are made to open up fields for its culti- vation in the northern districts of Australia and the South African colonies. Our market is chiefly supplied to us by the productive energy of our brethren in the southern United States; and it becomes a serious question how far it will be morally and eco- nomically advantageous to this country to see a further distri- bution over the world of a portion of our people devoted to the production of cotton. On the one hand it may be said, that the concentrated industry of our country, working with the rapid and potent ministers set in motion by its inventive genius, demands material. The prolific mechanical power of the nation is ravenous for its proper nutriment. The world, filled, as all but a fraction of it is, with savages, or the indolent races whose creed is, that it is better to rest than to walk, better to sleep than to wake, and better to die than to sleep, cannot supply the raw material for our craving manufactories ; and statists are looking to the quarters where British emigrants can produce cotton and indigo. What may be the result of great cotton farms in English hands is a very serious question. There are many pressing and powerful reasons for believing that the places where British capitalists settle as cotton- growers cannot be suitable emigration fields for British workmen. There is nothing accomplishable by the usual routine of slave labour which is not beneath the range of the proper skilled British workman's capacities and duties. It is a mark of cotton, that it has been next to entirely a slave-raised produce. It can never be so in any territory under the British sceptre, or where British influence can affect the state of society or counteract the mercenary appetites of men. But the history of the production marks the scale of industrial energy which it demands, and decides that, unless some totally new abbreviating operations be dis- 16 EMIGRATION. covered, bearing on the rearing of the plant and the sorting of the ■wool — an effect sometliing like that -which the spinning machinery has had on its conversion into thread — the rearing of cotton must be carried on by races of workmen of an inferior class, and industrial emigrants led to perform that function would be grossly deceived. Like the handloom weaver, the cotton-grower will be a being of inferior caste, independently of all climatical influences ; and it will not be doing the world a service to induce the race of our energetic workers to degenerate by exposing them to so depressing an influence. Nor, indeed, will these workers — when they examine the political economy of the matter, and finding that their work is only to be that of Zoolus and Hottentots, know that they cannot expect to be better kept — be inclined to enter on so profitless a bondage. The position of our great Indian empire here demands attention. It is not an emigration field, but it is so intimately connected with the history and prospects of the empire, and has received within its bosom so many of its children, that for the mere purpose of shewing in what it differs from the great salubrious districts to which emigration should be directed, it demands some attention on this occasion. It would be as useless to argue on the social and political condition of these territories from the political system of Britain, as to estimate the heat of the sun at Madras by measure- ments in Edinburgh. It is written in the meantime in the book of history, that whatever may come hereafter, the vast population there governed by Britain must be under the dominion of some governing race — their tyrants or protectors, as the case may be. In Britain, the governor considers how far he is following out the wishes of the people ; in Hindostan, the ruler's consideration will be how far he has conscientiously done that which will be the best for the docile beings who obey. The function of the Briton in India is thus essentially that of the ruler and organiser. He adapts his method of government to the people he is among, who, far more than the most illiterate inhabitants of northern regions, are held in awe by pomp, ceremony, riches, and all the physical attributes of superiority and command. It was deemed a wise policy in the French commander Dupleix, to raise a monument among the Hindoos proclaiming the superiority of the French nation to all the rest of the world. It has been sometimes thought that this source of influence has not been sufficiently used by the British in India : it is not in accordance with our habits, and we resort to solemn farces reluctantly. If a sepoy were to meet an ex- govemor-general, as he possibly might, walking through a back street in London with an umbrella under his arm, he would look on the spectacle as a signal instance of the instability of human 17 EMIGRATION. fortune ; while the overworked politician probably is quietly enjoying the contentment of retu-ement. Thus the great men who govern India require to assume a pomp and circumstance they do not care for ; and the subordinate officers, -who do the work of the civil and military departments, are elevated to a height of official grandeur above their fellow- beings, which is a considerable, but perhaps necessary annoyance to the men of sense, and a great glory to the tribe of well-connected young gentlemen who receive appointments in the Company's service. Considering Hindostan d,s out of the question for purely emigration purposes, its peculiar constitution requires to be considered by any one who dreams of <;astmg his lot there as an adventurer. He must remember that all the British officially employed there, whether as civil or mili- tary servants, are paid extravagantly high salaries, and hold corre- sponding state. It is the old policy of Dupleix systematically pursued : the governing nation must be great, gorgeous, dazzling ; it overawes the subject races ; they bow as to deified beings, and are docile. A country under such a system offers a very pre- carious footing to the independent settler. Tf his trade happen to meet the capricious tastes of the wealthy classes, he may perhaps succeed in private business ; but it is a field narrow in comparison with the open world of competition in the growing colonies and the free American states. Then, if he be not a moneyed speculator, but thinks of trading on his abilities, the field is doubly dangerous ; in fact, the avenues are very scanty and very narrow in which a man, trusting to his training and capacity, can succeed in the East India Company's territories. The officers connected with the administration of a ten-itory are paid not the money value of their services, but sums adapted to the support of their dignity as rulers. Hence a young gentleman well connected will draw a considerable salary there if he obtain a civil appointment ; but if lie go out on the principle of competition, expecting to receive a good sal&rj for his services, he would perhaps find that a Parsee or Hindoo can do all that he can do, and more ; and instead of some three or four hundred a year, the native will be rich with forty or fifty pounds. Nor, supposing the emigrant to be a man of great genius, accomplishment, or learning, is this the proper market for its being appreciated. The peculiar character of the Oriental races overturns all our northern ideas of excellence. The vast homage of these uncounted millions before the scanty British governing class is so profound and great, that any literary or artistic repu- tation would be invisible in its vast shadow. There is no great- ness in Indian society but official greatness, and it is accurately measured — no talent or industry can break through this gradation ; and he who goes there intending to make a sensation, and draw 18 EMIGRATIOX. applause aiid consequent profit, will generally be disappointed. There is only one class of voluntary intellectual workmen to whom our Eastern empire has offered employment, and that a somewhat precarious one — the press. But whoever goes to India with the idea that politics, art, and literature are the elements out of which he can live there as a gentleman does in Britain, will find himself grievously mistaken. He must pander in some degree at least to the taste of the official class or be neglected. Indeed, it is sometimes said that base scandal is the only commodity that tlie man of letters would find it pecuniarly worth his while to bring to that market. As to the artisan class, it is in the same sphere only that encouragement is held out to them in India. The natives have been found incompetent as printers ; and a class of Portuguese, only a step above them, have been in general employed as compositors. In other departments, however, there can be but few inducements to the artisan. The patience and perseverance of the native workmen, working for pence instead of the shillings which our own would expect, fill us with surprise. It is evident that it would be useless to compete with them in their own field. In one respect we shew them in a startling shape the superiority of our own enlightened industry to their ingenuity, since now the cotton grown by the Hindoo is sent hither — ten thousand miles— to be twisted into thread, and woven into the cloth, which tbe Hindoo wears while he hoes a future crop. 'VMien articles can be made by machinery, it is thus more economical to have them worked in Britain than even vrith the cheap labour of the East. As to the produce of Indian hand -ingenuity — the fans, ivoiy balls, inlaid work, Trichinopoly chains, silver filigree, and the like — there is no doubt that the artisans of this country could produce them had they a sufficient inducement to do so ; but wo to them if they should go to a country to compete as silversmiths, jewellers, and gold-chasers, with men who work at twopence-halfpenny a day, and who liave been well enough compared to tinkers using the precious metals instead of brass and tin ! The native workman sits down at the door, with his crucible and pincers if he be working in metals, or with his knife and a tusk if he work in ivory, and there, with a quiet deliberation which we of Saxon race can hardly comprehend, he goes on, day by day, putting together his light golden or silver filigree, or cutting tlie solid ivory into symmetrical shapes, as airy in their structure as the spider's thread. The English workman always looks with wonder and admiration at these productions, as if they were the work of fairy fingers. But he himself could produce the like were he not better occupied. A race of workmen, in some measure inferior to our 19 BMIGBATION. own, astonished the inhabitants of this country by an ingenuity of the same kind. These were the French prisoners during the last European war. Their means of existence were limited, and they had to use such materials as they could command. Thus out of bones or nut-shells they made some exquisite little toys— such as ships with all then: apparel, Swiss houses, and the like. It was long the wonder of people in this country that human fingers could make such things. The artisans who so wondered could have made them themselves, had they found that by doing so they could earn enough to support their families in comfort. They could also, without doubt, make the ingenious productions of these Hindoo workers, if such work were sufficiently remune- rated ; but there is no chance for the brazier or the silver-chaser going to a coimtry where he has competitors at twopence-half- penny a day. And much as they are admired as curious, inge- nious, and pretty things, they have no place in the commerce of the world. There is possibly more gold and silver work, and there certainly is a greater quantity of cotton and silken fabrics carried from Britain into the Company's territories than there is brought from India here, notwithstanding the many pretty trifles brought home by our Indian officers. A regular trained workman of this country would utterly despise these trifling though pretty productions. Yet though they do not come to compete with him in the British market, they are sufficient to keep him out of the Indian market. There are some articles coming within this class, as, for instance, watches, which the European native can only obtain by European production ; yet the demand is so easily supplied from Europe, that it would be a very questionable speculation for an artisan of this description to proceed to the Company's territories. K the railway system suggested for India be followed out, it will develop employment for British workmen, and especially for operative engineers. In all things connected with machinery and engineering, the Oriental nations are children. Perhaps some new and great tield of exertion may some day be thus opened : it is not, however, in the meantime within the bounds of legitimate speculation. There naturally suggests itself, however, a means of enterprise which used to be often tantalisingly presented to those who worked in mechanics with the head or hand — this was the employment given by enlightened Oriental despots, such as Eunged Singh or Mohammed Ali, to ingenious men who could serve their views. Occasionally men have risen in such a service, and the peculiar romance surrounding a Cockney or a raw Scotsman so rising has generally given an undue publicity and 20 EMIGRATION. importance to such occurreiices. We cannot, in going through our streets, point to the men who have thus made their fortunes in Egypt and the Punjaub. Much as the small despotic courts stand in dread of the British government, they will not make fortunes for those of our citizens whom they get into their hands. These petty despots dare not treat them with indignity or palpable injustice ; but while the dread of our government's influence is thus supreme for protection, it does nothing for promotion, and the most ingenious men do not make fortunes in such employ- ment. Those who have been seduced into it generally regret that they had abandoned the ordinary career of their class in this country. There is a larger field for such exertion in Russia. The autocratic government of that country, while guarding itself with the utmost jealousy against our philosophical and con- stitutional lights, is quite alive to our purely physical engineeruig capacities as adjuncts of power and organisation. For nearly a century past the Russian government has seen the wisdom of encouraging British mechanical talent, high and low. But if the field be wider than that of the little Oriental despotisms, it is not so efiectually overshadowed by British protection. Whoever goes there must let the policeman be his superior officer and com- mander. He must throw his lot in with the children of despotism, and leave the protection of British publicity and constitutional justice hopelessly behind. The preceding observations do not strictly apply to emigration as a permanent removal of a household from one country to another. They refer, however, to those vague views of success through foreign adventure which are often confounded with emi- gration, and thus it has been thought a good service to examine and separate the two operations — that of the emigrant who goes to find a home for his race on a new soil, from that of the adven- turer who is trying to make his fortune in a foreign country. As strictly emigration fields, then, it will be seen that those countries only which afibrd a prospect of health and sound constitution to the emigrant and his descendants are to be counted. These will be found to lie entirely in North America — including the British colonies there and the United States — in South Africa, in the other trifling American colony called the Falkland Islands, in the Australian colonies, and in New Zealand. FIT AND UNFIT EMIGRANTS. Practice has established two completely distinct kinds of emi- gration ; and though they are often confounded together, it is of n EMIGRATION. great importance that they should be kept distmct. There is, lirst, tlie vohmtary and deliberate emigration of those who seek, a new tield of exertion as a better means of rising and going forward in the world than any they can find at liome. These, be they capitalists, men of education, or hand-workers, are the true elements of a sound and hopeful emigration — the seed from which future empires will arise. The other is that totally distinct kind, the object of which is to get rid of a ' surj^lus population,' as it is called — a class either by race or false habit permanently damaged, unfit for enterprise or any kind of self-action, who indo- lently rely on the rest of the community, and take submissively, if not contentedly, the fate that awaits them. A more melancholy object of contemplation, in a civilised, active community like this, cannot well be conceived : it is the source of heart-soreness, of gloom, of deep perplexity, to all who feel for mankind. We shall liave to consider their position more fully in another place, and especially to examine the question, whether it is not better so to manage matters at home, that such a class is not likely to increase and continue, than to look forward to its continually arising, and being continually drained away by emigration. But in the meantime the class exists, and it is the interest of the country to get rid of it. Fortunately, it happens that for this sort of human commodity emigration tields are a market. In this crowded country the mere human being — the mere articulation of bone and muscle, destitute of skill or cultivation, is not a valuable commo- dity, or rather there is too much of him for the demand. In Australia it is otherwise : he is worth having in the bush, and therefore it suits those whom he burdens in this country to send him thither. This kind of emigration can scarcely be called voluntary. It is part of the public policy of the country, and in this view it will have to be considered by itself farther on. But, in the meantime, the reason for making a broad distinction at the outset betw^een this kind of emigration — the population-drain, as it is sometimes called — and the spontaneous emigration of those who go abroad to better their condition, is, that the most lament- able practical mistakes often occur from confounding them together. The spontaneous emigrant, as we shall hereafter see, has often gone to the places to which pauper emigrants only should be sent, since it is their peculiarity that they ^ve the means of life alone — a valuable boon to our Irish agricultural peasants and hand- loom weavers — but afford no prospect of progress and improvement in condition. On the present occasion, it is with the spontaneous emigrant of the healthy, hopeful class that we have to deal. The first lesson to be learned by those who desire to people distant wastes is, that they should possess the capacity and the 22 EMIGRATION. disposition to meet emergencies, and take advantage of facilities and openings. For this, the mere capacity to follow with clock-work precision any of the defmed pursuits of life which a highly-finished civilisation, acting on an almost infinite division of labour, has adjusted and marked out, will not suffice. The colonist, if he pos- sess the faculty of following any of the established pursuits of society, should also develop in some measure those higher facul- ties which served in the progress of society, from chaos into order^ to devise and create these pursuits as elements of social existence. We say he should exhibit them in some measure ; it need not even approach the extent to which such qualities were possessed by the great civilisers of mankind — the heroes of social progress.. Though the colonist goes to do the same thing in miniature, he goes with the advantage of the whole experience of civilisation at home — that civilisation which the other has assisted to create out of chaos by his own genius and force of character. The colonist need not be an Arkwright or a Watt ; but, coming from the country where the results of these great men's genius are in daily action, he should be conscious of the power of thought and inventiveness- to conquer difficulties and enlarge results. He need not be one capable of havhig invented a steam-engme, but he should be fit to do more than stoke its fire or adjust its gearing, lest he go to a place where he must support life and push his fortune without finding such a function ready made to his hand. To teach the me- chanic the use of inventive resources in an emigration field, there could be no better book than ' Robinson Crusoe.' Defoe, its author, had a thoroughly-inventive genius and practical mind, enabling him to describe the progress of one possessed of the same qualities in a humbler range. It is often said that purely intellectual men are not wanted as emigrants; but this is still more true of purely mechanical men. Ostensibly, all the settler's work is done with the hand ; but it must be guided by the head. At home, in the iniinite division of labour, one man thinks and another mechanically follows his thoughts. The head that directs and the hands that execute, belong to different persons. In a new country the same man must both think and do. Helplessness — the want of self - reliance — the necessity for ha>ang not only a distinct path in life, but a guide to lead him through it, is tlie saddest characteristic defect of the emigrant. Too often thus feeble and dependent, he crosses the ocean, believing that, in the new country, the path he has to follow is not less distinct than in the old, and much safer ; that the guide is as close at hand, and much more accommodating ; and that he is to be led through rosier gardens, beneath a brighter sky, to a more brilliant destiny. Alas ! the road is barren and 23 EitlGRATION. pathless — hard and stony. There is no guide there, and the tnrf and flowers have all to be reared by his own energetic industry. The re^Tilsion sometimes does good. Rudely, but effectively, all thoughts of dependence are kt once extinguished, and the blessed resolution of self-support, at once formed, expands into a self- relying ambition to create a destiny in life. From such happy results arise many of the advantages of emigration : the well- connected youth is thousands of miles from the sympathising rich relations whose bounty prevented him from ever seeing necessity face to face at home; but now he must act or starve. For- tunate indeed is he if a latent independence point effectively to the former alternative ; but sad is the proportion of those who sink in hopeless despondency, or make some miserable effort to return degraded to their disappointed friends. To young men of this kind emigration is a formidable lottery — an alternative that would fill their friends with agonizing anxiety for their fate, were it not that generally they have lost the esteem, and insensibly undermined the affection, of all around them. For the younger son, or the heir who has exhausted his patrimony, a last contribution is made by indignant and impatient connections * to send him to the antipodes — to cut the connection effectively.* He has a few hundreds over when he arrives in Sydney, Port Philip, or Nelson ; and then comes the critical moment for trying what strength there may really be at the heart of his heretofore neglected and wasted character. If he really be sound at heart, if he is to ' do good,' he will at once peel off the varnish of fashionable life, and set his face to labour. A man with so few capacities as such a one generally has, will have a miserable fate if he have not a little capital : he will then require, like the hand- loom weaver or the Irish cottager, to submit to the humblest tasks with the most frugal remuneration. Let him, then, religiously save every scrap of money for investment when the right time comes. In the meantime, let him hire himself out at the best occupation which he can procure. He thus has an opportunity of acquiring experience, and of finally seizing tlie proper time for investing his little capital in sheep, cattle, or land, as the character of the country may suggest. If he set earnestly and zealously to work, that he has been a gentleman at home wiU be all in his favour. * We want gentlemen, but not gents,' is the significant remark of a South Australian newspaper. Some of the aristocratic youth sent to these wastes to be got rid of had acquired hardy, daring habits in their field-sports, and thus pos- sessed the capacity and a little of the inclination for the life of a stockman, which is one of excitement and adventure, of riding and hunting ; but whatever he turn to, if the gentleman, however 24 EMiaEATION. profitless have been his past life, has firmness to take the mastery of himself in the struggle, he will find many resources in the education and knowledge of the world which his position has given him. But there is another side to the picture — alas ! too prominently witnessed. The voyage out only tends to nourish the idleness, the listlessness, and the dissipation wherein it is the natural character of the young scapegrace to indulge. When he arrives with his little remaming capital, he takes up his quarters at a comfortable and accommodating inn, where he drinks champagne, smokes cigars, and plays at billiards till 'something turns up.' Nothing does turn up ; and as funds sink, whisky becomes a substitute for the champagne, and the cigars degenerate into a short black pipe. At length want stares the shattered profligate in the face; and there is no long-suffering aunt to take compassion once more — no respected uncle to be coerced by the scandal of a half-ragged nephew- prowling about his door, to ' come down' again. He has before him the alternative of finding his way home, or accepting the humblest of occupations. It is wonderful how frequently a last desperate spark of energy often enables the exiled scamp to accomplish his return, to the consternation of his affectionate *relatives. If he enter service in some humble capacity, as a bullock -driver, an assistant shepherd, or hut -keeper, something in his future fate yet depends on the part of the world where he has been dropped, and this is a matter to which the friends of this class of exile will do well to look before they set him adrift. If he be in America, or 'the Cape, or any of the old -settled districts of Australia — in any place, in short, where liquor is cheap and accessible, he is gone — he wiU soon drink himself out of this world and its miseries. But if he have got into the far- squatting districts, he is safe to live in pastoral contentedness and sobriety, to the great benefit of his broken constitution, if not also to the improvement of his mind and the amending of his morals. His food will be ' damper,' with an occasional relish of butcher -meat; his most luxurious drink will be tea; his sole narcotic an occasional pipe; while his uncontaminating com- panions will be the sheep or oxen of which he has charge. The almost total absence of ardent spirits in the distant stock and pastoral districts is an important consideration in connection with some classes of emigrants. It may be of moment for their friends to look to it before they go ; it may be also of moment to them- selves, if they wish to act well, yet distrust their own powers of self-restraint. The cause of this abstinence from intoxicating liquors, among people not generally looked on as exempt from excess, is a little curious : the joui-ney is long, and the class who 25 E,\lIGIUTIOX. «ict as the carriers of commodities into the bush are for a long-time necessarily intrusted with them in solitary places. Tliey are, it seems, a class in whom the propensity for indidgence is so irresistible that no reward or threat is sufficiently strong to make them convey liquor safe, and the cask of whisky has so slight a chance of arriving, that it is preposterous to send it. If it were sent, it would be almost to a certainty staved in, and the contents consumed. On the whole, it is a very difficult question whether the class of men on whom these remarks have been made — namely, dissipated or careless young men of the upper classes, who are found incap- able of doing good in this country — ought to be put in the direction of emigration. At all events, the perils are so great, the chances- of success so narrow and critical, that their real friends, or their affectionate relations, if they have any, would do weU to bear on and try what can be done at home before subjecting them to this rough alternative. It is in general, however, not the chance of suc- cess, but the intervening distance, that is the inducement to consi- derate friends or relations to send such persons to the antipodes. There is another class — far more respectable, though not very much respected — who ought not to be induced to emigrate. These are your peaceful men, who are of uniform habits and docile dispositions, who go on in the groove in which they are set, but who somehow or other have not been ' lucky ' at home. Let them, however, stay there — they are likely to be still less lucky in a new country. They are no more to be confounded with those active, enterprising men, whose activity and enterprise somehow are not in their proper element at home, than the stray sheep with the houseless dog. Their natures are utterly different ; and it is the characteristic of the docile but feeble being, that although he never achieves much in this world, and does not become very successful, yet his chances of quiet happiness are in remaining among his friends. The men who wear good coats, and can do nothing but copy or write to dictation, are of this kind. Mere clerks make wretched emigrants, lliough their position in some measm-e partakes of the professional worker's rank, their services do not imply so much labour vdih the hand or the head either, as those of the superior class of artisans. A sort of old conven- tional association of writing with skill and scholarship has made them be considered of the gentry class, but they are in reaUty very humble members of the labouring class. It is a matter of the utmost importance, e^ecially to parents looking to the prospects and position of their children, to remember that in emigration fields there are none of those quiet little comers where people find incomes without giving corresponding services, and which are ever numerous in an old country. They are called EMIGRATION. sinecures vsrhen they are filled by the aristocracy ; but in truth they pervade all society, from the master of the buckhounds to the man who, with a scarlet coat, a cocked hat, and a gilt -headed cane, decorates the opening of a public institution, or, dressed in black small-clothes, bears the train of a lord chancellor- To some e:stent, in a country where there is much realised wealth, over -remunerated offices are in a manner necessaiy ; since however small may be the services required, trust and respecta- bility are necessar}^, and must be bought. In some gi*eat public office, where heads of departments and secretaries are toiling to the utmost stretch, and are not overpaid with their five hundreds, or their thousands, a man is wanted to sit upon an easy-chair smd tell visitors the way to the several departments — his mere labour would be much overpaid by £20, but perhaps a suffi- ciently respectable person may not submit to the slavery for less than £50 or £80; and such a person must be liad. The old country is strewed -vsdth such offices of more or less emolument and dignity ; and the love of ease which pervades a large por- tion of the people, even of our busy country, makes them eagerly sought after. Now, the parents of any respectable youth fit only for a sinecure secretaryship or door-keepership, and who may, from their social position, have influence to obtain such an office for him, should never dream of his emigrating. There are no such quiet, reposing comers in an emigration field — at least mth decent subsistence attached to them. The Australian hut-keeper is almost the only emigrant who comes within that character ; and many a damaged man who has seen better days may be found exhausting his remnant of life in that dreary vegetation. But all the enviable fruits of emigration are gathered in the bustling pressure of onward progress. Not but that there are exceptional and peculiar ' opportunities,' as they are termed, in new countries ; but they are not of the sinecure character, or suited for the docile and indolent. A gentleman made the beginning of a fortune at Port Philip by constructing pumps to pull out the water of the Yarra Yarra, and save people the trouble and time of filling buckets. In New Zealand a scion of one of our great aristocratic houses is understood to be doing well by working a ferry, while another has been breaking horses. In the build- ing mania at Adelaide, some gentlemen who had received a good education, with a smattering of science in it, extempo- rised themselves into architects ; and the same class turned out some tolerable mining engineers on the discovery of the copper lodes. Such are the chances of the pushing and observing emigrant, but to the somnolent children of monotonous ease they would arise in vam. EBOGRATION. There is a class of meu who are half-way between your well- bom scapegraces and the docile clerks of public offices, to whom emigration must often be ill applied. They are not vicious, and they are not idle. They have indeed a certain amount of restless- ness about them which partial relations sometimes mistake for energy, but it is always spent either on trifles or ii# pushing serious matters in the wrong direction. There is an expressive term applied to such persons in Scotland of ' daidlin' bodies.' They are always doing somethmg or other, but it never happens to be the right thing. They are very active in applying for all vacant offices of whatever character, believing that the question, whether they are to be employed in the public service or not depends on their ' good luck,' and that all the people they see around them remunerated for valuable services are only more lucky than themselves. It is one of the current fallacies on emigration to hold that these men are peculiarly well adapted to it. It would seem to be considered that their very incapacity for success in the old world augurs their success in the new. With so sanguine an eye are their future prospects scanned, if they will but leave the country in which they trouble their relations, that a moralist like Rochefoucauldt would embody in an epigram the manner in which the relations, in getting rid of the poor fellow, come to the conclusion, that because his exile is a relief to ihem, it must also be an advantage to himself. The delightful writer who is at the head of our fictitiousliterature has painted such a person in Mr Micauber. He is fluent, good-natured, intensely friendly^ hopeful to the utmost, ever looking out for something to 'turn up,' and accommodatingly ready to take any spoke of the wheel of fortune that does turn up. But he does not get on somehow; and the real reason is, because he is objectless, unsteady, and unthrifty. With the licence of the novelist he is represented as a success- ful emigrant. Any kind of person may possibly get on in this country, or in a colony — good fortune may alight on him in either. But representing such a person as worthily and naturally obtaining success is not, as an example to others, teaching truth through fiction, and fulfilling the high duty which the author of the character has undertaken. It is a dangerous notion that the Micaubers, out of the very qualities which are worthless here, are to make eminence and success to themselves in a new country. The friends of men of this kind, if they really wish to befriend them, should not send them to the wilderness. It would be more humane, and sometimes in the end would be more economical, were those who wish to help on the Micaubers of the world to put emigration out of the question, and looking matters in the face, help them through the remainder of their days at home. Even if there is a wish 28 EMIGBATION. to get rid of the man and hear no more of him, the resom*ce is a questionable one. A little acquaintance with the middle world ia Britain shews one how marvellously often the * bad shilling,' as he is technically called, returns. Indeed it is often seen that those who have exerted themselves for his removal are haunted by that misgiving of his possible return, which shews that they do not really believe in the capability of colonial life to redeem him into usefulness. Through difficulties and tlu-ough dangers which no one would have previously believed him capable of encountering, ' the bad shilling ' finds his way back to those who have uttered him ; and the whole moral of the case is, that he is the base coin they have been unfortunate enough to possess, and they ought not, knowing it to be base, to have attempted to pass it off on others. The gentleman emigrant often has not any specific view before him in emigration. Having a somewliat adventurous disposition^ being a little tired of the systematic uniformity of daily life at home, and being free to act as he pleases, he chooses the freshest arena of adventure. Emigration sometimes suits such men : it leads their roving energies into fixed courses, and supplies openings to that territorial and occupational restlessness that at home would perhaps have exhausted itself in Steeple-chases, in game preserves which cause poaching and crime, and in attempts to create deer- forests in this thickly-peopled country — ending in the alienation of a well-meaning peasantry, and legal actions with the defenders of public rights. These form an easy, and it may be said, a happy class of emigrants. Their ease and happiness they generally suppose to arise from their capacity for ' roughing it ;' but this is an entire mistake : it arises from their ability to come home if they find that emigration does not suit them ; and in reality, as the brief eventful history of New Zealand can teU, they generally do come home. But when they happen to suit with the new ways of a colony, this class of men are valuable emigrants. They often get fascinated with the excitements of the stockman's life in Australia, and their existence there is a sort of gleam of sunshine varying the darkness and dreariness of the convict's services and the squatter's mastership. To this class of emigrants, and to all who go without definite views, an education that has dealt with external objects is of the utmost moment. When rapid fortunes have been made in emi- gration fields, they generally have had their foundation in some knowledge peculiar to the individual, and thus a valuable possession to him from the ignorance of others. The very reflection that men of all degrees of intelligence are daily walking through an old civilised country, and must have had abundant opportunities of seeing its capabilities, while those of the emigration field are 29 EMIGRATION. generally fresh to the first capable observer, will shew how greatly the resources of knowledge are valuable to the emigrant. Nor need his knowledge be of the higliest scientific order. The gentleman who discovered the copper-mines of South Australia, and, after making a rapid fortune, communicated to the Australian colonies a kind of mining mania, owed his success to the teaching of Pestalozzi, from whom he had so far acquired a knowledge of objects, that he saw copper ore in a bright green stone. It is at once evident that observative capacities thrown away in the old country, where they are enjoyed in common with thousands or millions, may be of great service in a new country, where their owner may be the first, and for a long time the only human being who has any opportunity of exercising such faculties, llie first principles of various kinds of knowledge may be agreeable and sometimes useful in the old country, but they are not so directly efiective as in the fresh emigration field, where no one can tell precisely what undiscovered sources of riches may exist for tlie expert and able man to develop. A knowledge of minerals is in this country a mere intellectual accomplishment to every one but the practical chemist and the mining engineer. An acquaintance with botany is necessary to the physician — it is scarcely of use to the practical gardener. By the division of labour, iutellectuj^l and physical, the necessary scientific acquaintance with these subjects is so well supplied by those whose peculiar department it is to master them, that any acquaintance which other people, gr..«y of knowledge, may cultivate in the same fields, is gene- rally rather kept out of sight than shewn or used. But in a fres^ country this general knowledge may be eminently useful, Just because the elements on which knowledge can work are there in abundance ; while, in default of any better order, this rough kind alone occupies the field. But perhaps it is not so much by enabling the adVehfurer. to Bee the value of sources of riches when they happen to be cast up to him — always a rare occurrence — that this faculty does him good service, as in preventing him from hastily, in ignorance, attributing value to things utterly worthless. A dismal ridicule was cast over the gallant adventurers of Darien, from their having actually mistaken a glittering micaceous schist for gold ore. ITiis was ail example of ignorance not to be believed were it not well accre^ dited ; but how often has it happened that iron pyrites have be^^ mistaken for the precious metal, and that rock-crystals and com- mon garnets have been taken for diamonds and rubies? Th^ practical education afforded by the Scottish universities has been very instrumental in imparting this kind of knowledge to emi- grants, and so making them valuable for particular positions. It 30 EMIGRATION. has been generally remarked, that when there is a position long knovrn or tilled in the old country, wliether it be connected with learning, science or art, or be that of a mere highly-trained me- chanic, an Englishman tills it best ; while, if the occupation call for general knowledge and n,ew resources, an educated Scotsman Is the man. . - -. The purpose of healtfiy, well-considered emigration is not to give relief for the present, but awaken hope for the future. There is little satisfaction in the indiscriminate hustling out of the starving children of misfortune : some of them may be accidentally dropped in places where they can thrive, but chiefly they fall among tliorns or hi stony places. On the man who really ought to emigi-ate the cloud should have only so far lowered as to trouble him about the future. ' The anxious classes ' is a term happily applied by Mr "Wakefield to those most likely to fulfil the true ends of emigration. They have not felt the pressure of that penury which unfits its victim for bold views and manly resolutions; but they feel that they have got into a wrong groove which is taking them downwards, and they are filled with fear for the social posi- tion of their oifspring. To such men — before their energies are touched, their hopes entkely blighted, and their means dissipated — the fresh soil offers new materials for enterprise. It is so much fresh capital to them ; it starts them anew in life ; and they have not only the doctrine of chances in their favour — in the chance that while they have been unsuccessful in one sphere they may yet be successful in another — but the very sanguine confidence with which such men throw themselves into then- new world in some measure helps them to success. There are many men of prudence, of sagacity, and of energy, who have not found efforts, however well directed, crowned with success at home. It is to these that the emigration field opens its arms with ;t}w?; warmest assurance of a better future. ,?. ,,,.r -.^ There is no doubt that the possession of money — or capital as it is generally called — is of great advantage to the emigrant, as it is to every class of men, m every part of the world, who can use it discreetly. But so much greater as are the productive resources at the command of the inhabitant of a new country, by so much gi-eater is the value of capital, which is the maclmie by which they are made eftective. Tlie high percentage of colonial interest is sufficient of itself to prove this. Indeed, it may be said that the man who possesses from £250 to £1000, if he judiciously examine the several emigration districts, if he be a man of common sense and business habits, and if he be not rash or infected by an emigration theory, is as secure by emigration of a good though plain and moderate source of subsistence to c 31 EMIGRATION. himself and his descendants as human beings can be certain of anything. For the great capitalist emigration is not the natural sphere; at all events, he is not a person to whom a public -writer need offer advice, since he will only have foregone the obvious advantages which wealth brings to its owner in this and all other parts of the old world, for some peculiar project of ambition or beneficence of his own planning. Great capitalists have not been very fortunate in their emigration projects: Mr Peel's colonisation of Swan Eiver, and the great speculators in South Australia and New Zealand, may be taken as instances. These men are too apt to embark with some grand design, concocted by themselves, or by an emigration or colonisa- tion pliilosopher ; and as emigrants succeed chiefly by groping their way through diflSculties, and by careful perseverance, the wealthy men who want to do something vast often launch projects which are shipwrecked. The history of colonisation in later times seems to prove that profuse wealth and abject penury are alike inimical to sound emigration. The stuff of which colonists are made is neither your heirs of the accumulated riches of generations in England, who are looking over the world for a field on which to devote their restless energy and their great wealth, nor degraded, objectless paupers, but that steady, persevering class who have neither been lifted above the working world by the inflation of mordinate wealth, nor trampled down beneath the feet of the mob who hurry on to enjoyment or to effective labour. Depend on it, we shall find that it is neither exuberant wealth nor abject helpless poverty that will be the true spring of colonial existence ; but those qualities of enlightened energy, patience, and prudence, which are not necessarily the concomitants of great wealth, and may safely be pronounced incompatible with utter wretchedness in a country so full of opportunities for exertion as this is, and so well provided with the means of aiding those who happen acci- dentally to slip and fall in the race of enterprise. The class who produce the wealth of this country are the class who will create new states. It was by them that the great empire of the United States was made. By our writers on colonies and emigration, capital and labour are too often discussed as separate ingi-edients, which require but to be measured off in proper proportionate quantities, like chemical elements, to produce the required effect. There is a sort of traditional economic idea of capital, as of an agent existing in human society, independently of creative means, like sunshine or rain — something of which the mere presence is a fructifying influence, and the absence is aridness and despair. But mere capital is as unwieldy and helpless to all 32 EiHGEATION. effective purpose as mere nmscular labour. Both require the energetic productive intellect to guide them to good purpose; and though each be a valuable machine in its hands, that pro- ductive intellect itself — the capacity for taking advantage of circumstances, and directing them to the best practical re- sults — ^would, if left alone, and without either of the others to aid it, be the most independent and effective of the three. It is the class of men so endowed which has brought capital into existence, and can bring more into existence, distributing benefits around it while it does so. It may safely be said that the creation of capital has produced more good to the human race than its mere existence can accomplish. The sum of aU that has been just said may appear to be, that those who make on the whole the best home citizens are likely also to make the best emigrants. Undoubtedly, however disap- pointing it may be that there is not an El Dorado of riches abroad for those who will not submit to the labour and endurance that generally bring success at home, the law of nature which gives man the fruit of the earth for the sweat of his brow follows him wherever he goes. It is one of those hard laws which cannot be too well looked in the face, since its harsh lineaments are too often smoothened or omitted by those who draw sanguine pictures of the future. Man is ever seeking and thinking he has found a dispensation from that law — thinking to reap where he has not sown, and to gather grapes from scattered roadside thistles. Such are our Califomias, new emigration tracts, colonisation schemes, plans for paying national debts without taxation, and spending millions upon wars without impoverishing a people — vain bubbles, which burst and blind the eyes of those who blow them. The intending emigrant must pass them by contemptuously, and before he calculate his gains and success, look sternly at the elements from which they are to be obtained, and his own capacity to deal with them. But it does not follow that because, in general, the classes who make good home citizens also make good emigrants there is no advantage to the country in emigration. It is just as advantageous as the variety of home pursuits : it widens the field. Though the regular moral energetic men who make the best shipbuilders might also be found to make the best railway - engineers, the addition of the latter occupation to shipbuilding was a great opening and a great boon to the community. It Will often happen that there are peculiar faculties which get room for exercise in a new country, but would have been sadly unproductive in the old, just as, on the other hand, there are men possessed of faculties adapted to the higher uses of civilisation which would be thrown 33 EMIGRATION. away in the desert. If Sir Walter Scott Iiad emigrated before lie wrote his novels, or James Watt before he improved tlie steam- engine, or Arkwright before he invented the spinning- macliiiie, and all three had become tlockmasters in the bush in New South Wales, the world would have been a great loser, just as, on the other hand, it is a gainer in the elements of productiveness rescued from Ixin-enness, by those rough energetic pioneers of civilisation who find the ways of the old world too smooth, and artificial, and complicated. It is a question of the balance of Jiccounts. In general tlie highly-cultivated ministers to the wants of an advanced civilisation — philosophers, poets, artists, will not find the new field of exertion suited to their tastes or the full development of their faculties. But let it not be supposed that high faculties are unsuited for a new sphere. It is a great mistake to believe tliat the head is a useless member there. He who lias been accustome4 to observe and think, will do better anywhere tliaii he wlio has not, though it may be that he is not in the pl^c^ wh^flelijs i^cj^t^ will tend to the highest results. • : . •; .true LA»D-PURCHASJK(fr ^MIGB4^'y, v/ j We shall suppose that the intending emigrant, Jiaving made up his mind to be a landowner, and invest his small capital in an estate, looks around among the land-sale systems of tlie several emigration fields, comparing them with each other, that he may decide which of them promises the best investment. In Australia, where the best lands were given away for nothing, and where the next grade were parted with for os. an acre, he finds that he must- pay £1 an acre at least for the land he wants, however poor it may be. The price may be far gi-eater, but £1 at least it must be. This is the general rule of what is called the ' sufiicient- price ' system; but if he wish to know more precisely the tenns on which he will be dealt with, he will have to examine a series of documents, long and complicated, correcting and amendmg each other like acts of parliament. If he have had experience in legis- lative matters, he will shake his head and say: ' The projectors of some artificial system have been at work here as in our old pro-, tective legislation, and when forced and artificial systems are adopted, there is no end to the interference necessary to prevent nature from fording its way.' If he turn to New Zealand, he will find the same minimum of £1, with still greater complexity of arrangement, though here he may have a chance of making a good bargain with some one who has an allotment which he is glad to get rid of on any terms. Moreover, if the price of land be na 34 EMIGRATION, object to him, he can buy for £3 an acre from the Ganterbnry, «i5- for £2, 10s. from the Otago Association. AVlien he looks towards the African settlements, he will find that the sufficient-price system had fortunately been seen through before it crossed the Indian Ocean. The general minimum of the Cape districts is 2«. an acre ; but there is an unsatisfactory uncer- tainty here, as the local government may raise the price to any height if the circumstances seem to warrant it. At Natal the price is 4s. an acre for country lands ; but town lots may reach an enormous price, and those called suburban lots are set up at £1 an acre. It is clear to the settler, however, that in the mere acreage he is cheaper here than in Australia or New Zealand. He finds, when he becomes acquainted with the real state of the matter in Aus- tralia and New Zealand, that every one practically connected with the system for charging a high price for waste land is very much vexed that it should be as it is ; but as the minimum price of £1 per acre has been fixed by act of parliament, it is absolute. All that the local authorities can do is to encourage the system of local smuggling called ' squatting ; ' and this they have so effec- tually done, as to create a great squatting influence, of which some account will be given further on. If it seem to the emigrant, that for the sake of the mere price of land he had better go to South Africa than to Australia or New Zealand — as it often has done — he comes to the conclusion with the regi-etful considera- tion that he has been induced to look for an inferior commodity because a heavy tax is laid on the good article. We shall see further on how this works. . o We now suppose our land-buying emigrant examining the land market in the North American colonies. In the Canadas there is possibly a greater variety of prices for land than in the British islands. There is all the difference between the garden grounds of Montreal, or the gi-ain fields of Niagara, and the timbered wilds of the Ottawa and the Huron. Then the Canada and Western Company, with other powerful associations, take the wanderer by the hand, and offer him a settlement at a reasonable price. And when such a body is able to keep itself alive, as the Canada Com- pany has for a long course of years, and preserves its character,' the emigrant, doubtful about such matters, and not relying on his own naked ability, may trust himself in its hands. When it docs not, like the New Zealand Company, break down early, it may be considered as sound. A land company cannot, like a bank, fail^ and ruin all its connections. If the lands it has transferred during a period of years have good farms and fields, and comfortable owners on them, the system is a reality : it can support itself, and those who deal witkit may triist to its preserving its character by 35 EMIGRATION. fair dealing. It is not said that the New Zealand Company, and other land -selling corporations which have had but a brief existence, have not had equally honest or even higher views — the reliance of the emigrant in dealing with the land-selling companies in Canada will be on their long continuance as known and respectable corporations rather than on their professions, or their avowed principles of colonisation. In the other North American colonies the chief land-purchasing district is New Brunswick. There, as with its neighbours, there is in reality but scanty investment ; but the arrangements are flexible, much encouragement being given to the man who really wishes to improve and work out land with capital. It may be said that to the capitalist otherwise induced to go to these colonies the purcliase-money of the land is a nominal matter. In late years the governments of these remote and almost forgotten colonies have followed a system connected with the disposal of land which promises well. The dense forests which cover the best lands in these territories not only preoccupy the fruitful soil, but stop communication between one clearing and another. To give the clearers of soil an individual interest in roads, the price of land allotted to them has been taken in road -making — ^the person who receives so many acres being bound to make certain communications with his neighbours by roadway, under the inspec- tion of surveyors. The system appears to be suitable for a forest district. An impartial observer, after taking a general survey of the several fields, will see much to recommend in these compara- tively-neglected colonies of North America to the small capitalist desirous to buy land. And though they are far less popular, to this class they have many advantages over the United States. No one who looks at the general statistics of emigration from this country can help seeing that the arrangements for the dis- posal of land in oiu* colonies are felt to be on the whole unsatis- factory by the emigrant who is making his survey and his choice. All the facilities for the acquisition of land in the minor North American colonies are in his eyes apparently but the cheap price of a poor or an overlooked article. The notions of valuable land purchases in our colonies have of late years associated themselves with Australia and New Zealand, where land investment has been purposely checked. And turning from the provoking regulations there, and from the rather vague but on the whole promising land systems in the American colonies, the land-purchasing emigrant has found that the true rest for the sole of his foot has been in the United States. The emigrant naturally looks first to any system arranged and guaranteed by the government of the place where it is ; and if he 36 EMIGRATION. finds it both ecoDomical and uniform, he will feel himself safer under it than in any voluntary market. When he looks over all the colonial systems, he finds that they are not uniform ; that the best of them are costly ; and that they are altogether surrounded by an unpleasant vagueness. In the United States, on the other hand, aU is systematic precision. So jealous have Congress been of preserving perfect imiformity in their disposal, tliat the waste lands of each state are the property of the whole Union, and are disposed of on a uniform system and at a uniform price. The price is a dollar and a quarter per acre, and the progress of that vast system of civilisation over the wilderness is conducted with the systematic precision of machinery, the land being sur- veyed in squares of six miles, subdivided into sections of a square mile, in which the allotments are marked off as on a chessboard- Thus the purchaser looks at the survey, lays his finger on the patch which he has selected as suitable, pays liis money, and receives his title. The system has all the sanction of a steady, conservative uniformity. Its simplicity is at once apparent — its practicability has been tested by long use ; for it has remained imaltered since the year 1785, when it was devised. It thus carries with it a feeling of confidence and security which throws into unfavourable contrast the varied and complex system of our colonies, revolutionised and inverted as it has been at the bidding of schemers and speculators — not alike in any two colonies, aiid scarcely the same for ten years in any one. The Americans boast that, notwithstanding the vastness of their land-operations, there are no questionable titles, and consequently there is no litigation. Where land is so indefinitely procurable, and its price is so small, there can be little room for litigation ; but the emigrant stands in wholesome dread of the wholesale vitiations that have swept away supposed colonial titles, and everything combines to turn him to that market where the commodity he desires is sold on a cheap, uniform, and secure system. It has been the policy of the United States to perform effec- tively that one best service which a government can perform for the land purchaser — making an effective survey. To see liis allotment, with its boundaries and character, accm-ately laid down on paper, is to the intending purchaser a relief from a world of anxiety and trouble. Mr Fenimore Cooper's novel of ' Satanstoe," which is a picture of New York society in the early part of the eighteenth centmy, long before a satisfactory land system was established, weaves its main incidents round a search made after a ' patent ' or grant of land, and one of the persons interested in it, before setting out says : ' I have heard of a gentleman who got a grant of ten thousand acres five years ago ; and though he has EMIGRATION. had a hunt for it every summer since, he has not been able to find il yet.' The same and more might be said at this moment of grants in the Austi-alasian colonies. The hapless Swan lliver settlers foiind the land unsurveyed, and their allotments as incapable of appropriation and distinction as if they had been so many acres of tie broad ocean, or so many cubic feet of the atmosphere. There are titles for tracts of land in South Australia and the New Zealand settlements, which their ownere have long since ceased to look upon as anything more specifically valuable than old dishonoured Mils. They represent their thousands of acres somewhere, but BO one can tell exactly where. The most fortunate allottees have been often those who took what they could get without regard to position, and set themselves down where they found it convenient to do so, without knowing very distinctly whether they were occupying their own allotment, or that of some other person, or an allotment at all. All they knew was, that they had land round them, and were applying it to use ; but where their ' ffettdw-^ colonists with other allotments might be was a mystery. • ^''"" '* The man whose intention it is to make an immediate invest- ment is not the only person whose interest and inclination should be consulted in arrangements for the disposal of land. Its possession is the means by which a new country confers inde- pendence ; and the prospect of being a landowner is that most attractive of all prospects which beckons the ambitious exile onward through all the perils, and labours, and disappointments of his path. If you make land inaccessible, you remove the most coveted of all the rewards which you can offer to the able and enterprising emigrant. Now when such a person, a little surprised to find that waste land is so dear in Australia and New Zealand, asks for the cause of it, he finds the author of the high-price system — the man whose ability and perseverance have made land so dear in our colonies — stating the reason why it should be dear in these distinct terms : ' There is but one object in a price, and about that there can be no mistake. The sole object of a price is to prevent labourers from becoming lando^vners too soon ; the price must be sufficient for that one purpose and no other.' Placed by itself in its original nakedness, the principle seems as insane as it is cruel. Yet it is embedded in a system so ingeniously brought out as to blind people to its falsity. This system, ori which we shall have to make some further remarks, proposes by a high price to bring out labour and capital in their due proportions. We shall speedily mention the effect this has had on the internal condition of the colonies where it has been adopted. Its effect on the emigi-ant has simply been, that he has cut the whole political economy x)f capital and labour, by buying land where he could 38 ElUGRATION. get it cheapest. The consequences may bo seen largely in tigures. In the ten years ending with 1839, before the high-price system came in force, the number of emigrants to the colonies was 366,822, and that of emigrants to the United States 292,492 ; of 547,587 who emigrated in 1848 and 1849, there went to our colonies 139,904, and to the United States 407,683. Otiiev elements of course enter into this vast difference, but no one could doubt that the dear - land system is among the most influential. ; If the emigi-ant do not purchase waste land on the regulation system, and be not incluied to invest his money in some old cleared estate at the fair market price, which is often the best plan, the third resource, which sends him to deal for waste land with speculative companies or individuals, is the most precarious of all. It has been already observed, that where there is an old- established company, solid, and of good repute, it may be more satisfactorily dealt with than the government or individuals: it is more safe than the latter, and it is more likely to accom- modate the purchaser, and consult his interest, than the former. But in dealing with inferior and flashy companies, or with individuals, the poor emigrant gets into the dreadful meshes of the land -jobbing, or as it is more picturesquely called, land- sharking system. There has been in this system more rascality and cruel rapacity, more fallacious hope and bitter disappointment, than in any transactions that have disgraced commerce and civi- lisation since the swindlers of the Mississippi and South Sea schemes passed from the scene. The calamities of land-sharking have fallen more heavily than those of railway gambling, since they have generally attacked the stranger and sojourner in a dirtant land, and stripped hun, in all the helplessness of exile, of those material aids to which he looked for, support and sult)si&t-, ence, if not wealth and prosperity. - > ^ ,, %. To understand the great extent of the material on which such a system works and preys, it is enough to remember that the difference between a few acres of land being valueless, and being a splendid patrimony, depends on the concentration of population within it ; and this concentration of population is brought there by making people believe that they ought to go there. In twenty years a desert waste becomes a city of fifty thousand inhabitants ; and no one can tell how it became so, except that people wer« persuaded to go there with the conviction that it was to become that great place of resort Avhich their going to it made it be. So wildly has speculation run on to^vn lots, that frontages in Adelaide or Port Philip have been sold for larger sums than they would bring in the Strand. At the starting of the later Australian 39 EMIGRATION. colonies, all were embarked in this wUd trade of speculation — a trade which made money change hands only, but made no addition to the common stock — instead of the legitimate and productive occupations of the settler. Whoever could induce a swarm to settle on his holding and make a town of it, had his fortune made. In Adelaide and the other actual towns, there was a bold game for the frontages of streets, but in the distant solitudes a still bolder game was played. People abandoned the sober occupations of sowing and reaping for the more brdliant pursuit of laying out infant cities. On occasion the wanderer in the far recesses of the bush, which he believed to be untrodden by human foot, has been per- plexed by meeting a decayed fingerpost, bearing such a name as Bedford Square or Victoria Terrace — a sad memorial of the airy oastles of some ruined town speculator, whose land is destined to feed sheep and cattle instead of being trodden by numerous city- crowds and flaring in gaslight. There is still another resource open to the settler desirous of occupying land, who will not go to the cheap-land districts, and grudges the ' sufficient price ' of the Australian colonies : he can squat. The term is not a dignified or inviting one ; but as we shall presently see, it is fast surrounding itself with aristocratic asso- ciations. It was first applied to the American wanderer in the forest, who setting off with his pipe, his rifle, and his axe, cleared for himself a little plot of land beyond the borders of government a.nd civilisation; and if he escaped scalping, after a hard life of labour, danger, and dissipation, saw in his older years the elements of a busy progressive civilisation thickening round his lonely dwelling, and found himself in some inexplicable way a man of property and a patriarchal leader. The squatter of Australia is, on the other hand, a great capitalist, who has laid his hand on a territory which he covers with his flocks and herds ; the true representative of the patriarch of old; a shepherd-king, simple in his habits, but absolute in his authority ; the unquestioned lord of every living thing within the compass of his wide and self-adopted domains. The ' great squatting interest,' as it is termed, is now the leading aristocratic power in Australia, and its history is a memorable one — memorable as an instance of the baneful effects of empirical interference with the natural laws of buying and selling. It is now about twenty years since a man of great ability in discovering the defects of systems and turning them into ridicule— namely, Mr Gibbon Wakefield — attacked tlie method of distributing land in our colonies. The system was indeed indefensible. The most valuable tracts of land had been given away in the colonies in profuse grants to greedy official persons or cunning ' land sharks ; ' and frequently what would have been of 40 EMIGEATION. great value had it been judiciously disposed of, was rendered worthless by being given over to individuals who could not put it to use, or transferred in lots too extensive to be practically occupied or reaUy worked out. It is a palpable mistake to say that when there are a certain set of allottees, with so many acres each, in a new country, letting them take their choice of a location is actuallj^ gi^'ing them their choice, or settling them as they would desire to be. It is not dealing fairly by them, or giving them what they want, but starting them on a sordid race, in which one gets his choice to the prejudice of the others. They no more have aU their choice by such an arrangement than all the horses win who start on a race. In fact, the circumstance that one, or two, or three actually get their choice, and choose all the desirable acreage, leaving what is undesirable to the rest in the ratio of their selection, is just preventing the others from exercising a choice — is using up at once the elements of it. Nor are these sordid graspings in the end so good a policy to the successful as they might at first seem. The want of a judicious, equitable hand measuring out to the wants of all is in the end felt by him who seems to have gained the race and monopolised aU the good. In the first place, though he may have more land than he wants or can make use of, the spirit, that made him seize it will not let him easily part with it. The next settler, therefore, is sent at a wide distance beyond his area ; and thus, instead of there being two neighbours who might be of use to each other, they are separated by a desert, and instead of a community arising, which gets gradually populous while its lands get gradually fiiiitful, there are a few Robinson Crusoes scattered at wide distances who are incapable of afibrding each other mutual service. The climax of this system, or rather blind unsystematic action, was the fatal Swan River Settlement, where one man took a quarter of a million of acres to begin with, proposing to bring in the other three-quarters of a million at his leisure, while the fresh purchaser of land had to go a hundred miles into the desert to be free of the boundaries of tracts which might remain for ever desolate, uncultivated, and virtually mipossessed. Mr Wakefield exposed these arrangements with eminent success — ^with a success fraught, indeed, with calamity, since it had the effect of carrying the public by its impetus not only into a conviction of the absurdity of the old system, but right into a counter project of Mr AYakefield's own devising, which has illus- trated an old truth, that if non-interference be a bad thing, over-interference is a worse. This scheme has to be far more fuUy considered in relation to labour. The principle of it, as already 41 EMIGRATION. alluded to, is, that capital and labour may be taken out according to their due proportions to the colony ; and the method in which the system was proposed to be worked was by selling the land at a high price, and employing the purchase-money in industrial emi^ gration. Hence that broad statement of principle, that the price should be high enough to prevent the labourer from becoming a landowner. ' The perseverance and versatility with which this principle was promulgated were stunning and overwhelming. A host of writers at once took it up — spoke of it as a fully-established rule, which nothing but the stupid obstinacy and pertinacious pedantry of official persons prevented from being at once adopted, while all •who ventured to question the ingenious, artificial theory were ridiculed as Utopian theorists, whose opposition to the practical men was preposterous and provoking. It is proverbially difficult to influence the official mind in this steady country. The history of the Wakefield schemes will be a memorable warning to public men of the safety of letting things alone. In the end, somewhat to the astonishment of onlookers, the sufficient-price system was' adopted by the government. It was made the rule of the nevr colony of South Australia from the beginning. Its supporter* complained indignantly that it had not fair play, since the neigh- bouring colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land were allowed to remain under the old system ; so, to gratify the authors of tlie scheme, these colonies, too, were brought under it ; and in 1843 the decree went forth that not an acre of land should be purchasable in the Australasian colonies for less than £11 The system has signally failed by destroying the very land-fund it was destined to enhance, and by aggravating that dispersal of population which its authors intended that it should check. It iff now, however, considered a sort of permanency which must not be rashly touched — a fixed institution not to be shaken. It has, in fact, proved its own protection by teaching statesmen an unpleasant lesson in the consequences of rashly meddling with things as they are. The system started with an appearance of so much success as to make a statesman who had reluctantly assented to it declare that it astonished him. The fatal railway year of 1847 has roughly explained to the public the nature of that kind of success which is made out of the sanguine expectations of the projectors of a scheme. A considerable body of wealthy gentlemen had become the avowed patrons of the scheme — they believed in it— ^ they thought it would bring fame and fortune to all concerned in it — ^just like many influential promoters of railways. They there-* fore bought land ; and the phenomenon of a high price proving a temptation to purchasers was visible for a fev/ months. But 42 EMIGRATION. almost within a year the sale of the waste lands of the crown in Australia virtually died away, until no one made purchases but those Avho desired to round off old estates. Thus the fund raised Irora the sale of land, which was £300,000 in 1840, was £1G,508 in 1842, and £7403 in 1844. There was a point overlooked m the high-price principle which has ever been overlooked in these artificial and forcing projects. There is no doubt that it would be a great advantage if every land- purchaser would advance a sum of money to bring out labourers according to the extent of his investment. But you cannot force men following their individual interests into the channel that you can prove to be the best for the public. When the settler found that he could buy better land in the United States for 5s. 4d. an acre than he could get in Australia for £1, no eloquence or sarcasm could persuade him to go to the dearer market. But numerous settlers found out a more immediately available plan — that of getting the dear land for nothing. They took what they would not or could not buy. Such is the secret of the vast squattuig system which has spread the stock - and - flock - aristocracy of Australia over a territory counted in extent by thousands of miles. The government dared not dispossess them : the utmost it could accomplish — and it did that with difficulty and considerable risk— was to lay a trifling tax on them- They achieved then- final triumph in then* sheep-walks and cattle-runs giving a qualification for the elective franchise ; and in fact it simply came to this, that as they could not get the land at a reasonable price, they had it for nothing. It was predicted by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841, that 'just as the smuggler places a limit beyond v/hich the duties of customs cannot be uicreased, so the squatter would defeat an indefinite increase of the price of land : for as soon as the consideration demanded by government for granting a title becomes extravagant, persons will prefer the course of taking land without title, and bearing the risk.' In 1849 a select committee of the legislative council of Xew South Wales reported that the prediction had been precisely fulfilled. ' The only persons,' they say, ' who wish to perpetuate the present price are those who have the same interest in it as the smuggler has in a high rate of duty. Free trade ruins the smuggler — cheap land destroys squatting.' It is not the least remarkable of the defeats which this system has received at all its posts of defence, that the raising the unsold lands to 20s. an acre, instead of enhancing has dete- riorated the value of the land in possession of those who had bought it at 5s. an acre. Here again the comparison with the smuggler applies. If your high duty is suflicient to tempt him into business, he can even undersell the man who has bought under 43 EMIGRATION. the moderate duty. If the government could have compelled every new settler to buy his land at 20s. an acre, those who had bought land much lower, coming into the market, might have undersold the government at a profit to themselves. But even the piu-chasers at 5s. could not compete in a market where people paid nothing. When squatting became the prevailing system, those who had been induced to buy at 5s. an acre lost their money. The effects of this, as of all other interferences with trade for the sake of enforcing a theory, are deep and irritating. Capital, instead of concentrating itself into small fields well provided with labour, has spread itself into vaster wildernesses. The settler, instead of seeking to improve land by the use of that energetic labour which encourages the existence of a healthy productive class of citizens, has spread his wealth over a wide extent of territory, where he encoiu^ges no productive labour, and only needs that hmnblest kind of serfdom for the purpose of looking after his property, which brings the worker to the verge of slavery. The effect of the system on the industrial operations of our colonies is noticed in two other departments of this essay — in the one, it is brought before the labouring emigrant who desires to advance in life as a department of service in which he cannot expect to rise ; in the other, it is considered as a probable refuge for pauper emigrants. The effect of the system on the moral progress of our colonies is thoroughly disheartening. The squatter seems to nuss the great and good aims of life. Whatever maybe his wealth or his original social position, the advantages of birth, station, education, and accomplishment fade before the influence of a soHtude only intruded on by the beasts that perish, and by men as near their level as his fellow-countrymen can be brought. The flockmasters and the stockmen learn to abandon all the adjuncts of civihsation, even those that might be obtainable. The fate of a rich squatter— of one possessed of any given number of sheep or cattle — is not one that a right-minded parent would desire for his son, so stripped is it of all that ennobles and renders life delightful. Economically, the squatters are not valuable emigrants, for they are not among the classes of colonists who purchase the produce of oiu- manu- fectures. They learn, indeed, speedily to dispense one by one with the amenities of life, until in the end they are found to have repudiated even those which lie at their own door. The latest squatter-author — the tribe is not prolific in literature — Mr Henderson, the author of ' Excursions and Adventures in New South Wales,' says of the class : * Removed from society and the refinements of life, he becomes careless of his appearance and manners ; nay, he becomes heedless even of those comforts of life which are within his reach. With hundreds of cattle, he has no 44 EMIGRATION. butter or cheese, and very often no milk ; with a rich soil around him, he has no garden — not any vegetable or fruit to drive away the scurfy; with grain, he has no poultry; with a gun, he has no game; with hooks and grasshoppers, he has no fish. Make a hole with your toe and throw a peachstone in, or drop one in the ground, and in three years it bears finut ; stick a vine-cutting into the earth, and in fifteen or sixteen months clusters of fine grapes are hanging from its boughs ; and yet the squatter seldom does the one or the other.' And after such a person has accumulated — if he ever do accumulate — the fortune for which he sacrifices all that renders life delightful, what can he do with it? The natural tendency of all men who have accumulated wealth is to buy an estate and found a house. But the restrictions which have driven him originally to squatting still prevent him from buying the abundant land at its market value, and becoming a centre of wealth and civilisation. It will be thought, perhaps, one redeeming influence of the system, that it sends the squatter Croesus home to Britain. But it is not a happy change either for himself or for the colony. High civilisation offends his senses, and he feels like Gulliver after his return from the land of Houyhnhnms ; while the colonies miss the wealth that might have been advantageously spent in a state of society not so distinct from that of the bush as to be intolerable, but sufiiciently redeeming to lead him on to a better standard of social existence. THE WORKING EMIGRANT. The true rule to be followed by the artisan, by the working engineer, by the skilled workman generally, who, discontented with his condition here, desires to try his fortune in a wider field, is sur- rounded with perplexities and difficulties; and some of the mischiefs occasioned by a too hasty practical solution of it. will be presently mentioned. The skilled training imparted by a complicated system of the subdivision of occupations often cuts two ways. Your work- man is perfect in his department, but his very perfection there unfits him for other occupations. The finished artisan is apt to see but his own single occupation in all this wide world, to devote himself to it with pedantic single-purposed nicety, and to despise everything else as unworthy of his thoughts. If he get into the right groove and go where he is wanted he is without a rival, but if he miscalculate, and throw himself into the general field of miscellaneous occupations, he will find himself far excelled by the rough-handed Jack-of-all-trades for whom he has ever entertained a contempt too deep for words. 45 EMIGliATIOX. For the trained meclianic, who is conscious that he can follow but one pursuit, the safest market is the United States. But he must keep in view that it is not a place where mediocrity is comfortable, but where high skill and great industry are amply rewarded. Our republican brethren are an exacting people wherever skill and energy are in the question, and the sleepy unmethodical artisan will be happier in his native village than in ' going a-head like greased lightning' with Sam Slick. The workman who proposes to go to the States must first of course ascertain that his trade is there in demand. If he be a maker of lawyers' wigs, or a cleaner of monumental brasses, he may find that he is not wanted. But our busy kinsmen have a large capacity for the absorption of workmen in the staple artisan occupations. The unifonnity with which, in the ITnited State*, mechanical and engineering enterprise keeps up to the progress of popula- tion and territorial extension, must ever render it such a field for the better kind of artisan emigi-ants as our colonics can never compete with. No plan for the sale or occupation of waste lands, no arrangements for balancing capital with labour, will accom- plish for Australia or Canada wh.at the shipping, the railways, the roads, the bridges, the canals, the rapidly-growmg cities, with their waterpipes, gasworks, and harbours, do to make tiie States a field of never-failing industrial cntei*prise. ^Yhen our colonies go forward witli a like impulse they will afford similar inducements to the artisan, but not till then. If the exile have been a worker in iron, there are the railways and the steam-engines ; if he be a plumber, the water and gas-pipes for the new cities are ready at his hand ; if his functions are those of the builder, there is an accumulating population, not contented, like our Australian squatters, with bark huts, but concentrating itself into cities, and rearing stately edifices. There is scarcely any kind of mechanic who will not find that he is wanted more or less — if not at the moment when he amves, yet at no great distance of time, when the next step is made onwards. We have seen how different is the industrial aspect of our southern colonies. The city popula- tion is comparatively small, and appears to have more mechanical industry engrafted with it than it requires. In the bush it is a useful thing for a man to be ingenious — to be able to help him- self. If he can supply a new tongue to a buckle, weld a shears, or splice an axle, he will feel the advantage of it ; but the flock and stockmasters of these colonies do not, as we shall see, give much encouragement to any skilled class to emigrate. Still, in our colonies, the skilled workman has sometimes had rare and valuable opportunities of success, and he may have them again ; but thev have been of a fleeting and convulsive character, 46 EMIGRATION. and not, easily caught. Wherever an emigration impulse has been communicated to a spot, tliere the workman is sure, if he be promptly present, to find occupation on his own terms. So it was wlien the first impulse was given to Port Philip, to South Australia, and to the New Zealand colonies. The source of supply in such cases is in the spending of the zealous rich. If Canterbury and Otago liad brought round them as many adherents as the sanguine projectors anticipated, speculators would have there been rapidly spending money, and workmen acquiring it, as at Port Philip and Adelaide. Unfortunately the imprudence of our artisans has too often dashed this cup of prosperity from their lips. Inflated by great prospects before their departure, if they have by chance alighted on any of these centres of busy speculation, they have naturally mistaken the momentary impulse of fortune for permanent prosperity awaiting them in the land of their adoption. A few of these men, possessed of caution and self-restraint, and conscious that the sunshine of prosperity was but a passing gleam, are now the owners of fair estates, where they ai-e employing tliose very capitalists whose reckless speculation was the fomidatiou of their good fortune. Others worked one -half of the week, and drank champagne during the remainder; and when the period of pros- perity came to an end, if they survived delirium tremens^ betook tliemselves to those departments of humble drudgery which it is too often the ambitious mechanic's fate to find the only occupation awaiting him in the emigration-field from which he has expected so much. If a man is assured that he possesses certain qualities of the head or hand which he could exercise effectively and productively in the right place, it will be gall and bitterness to him to reflect that by his own culpable rashness he has placed himself on a spot many thousands of miles from the place where they are useful, and many hundreds of miles from the civilisation in the midst of which he might obtain counsel and assistance to enable him to redeem his error. It is difficult to picture a position more thoroughly disheartening and overwhelming. The ruined mer- cliant, the sailor cast upon a barren rock, the artisan father out of work in bad times, are none of them more desolate objects of compassion than the man who has emigrated to the wrong place. And yet, in sheer ignorance and rashness, this fatal mistake is often made, on the supposition that emigi-ation must make a change for the better. There is no such rule in political economy, and there has been no such practical experience from emigration as that mere change of place disperses the causes of adversity and creates the elements of prosperity. "With mere chance exceptions, tem- poral prosperity is the fruit of industrial eff'ort made in the right D 47 EMIGRATION. direction ; and he that wastes his efforts by misdirection need not look for prosperity either at home or the antipodes. The reck- lessness with which the emigrant of the working-classes generally selects his field of operations at once prepares the investigator for what he finds — that in their hap-hazard efforts they often go to the wrong place, are miserable instead of becoming prosperous, and by their mihappy experience discourage the sounder applica- tion of emigration. It is not entirely their own fault. A selfish, sordid voice often calls them over the ocean, proclaiming to them a land of wealth, and health, and happiness, where they are doomed to find a desert. It is, indeed, a fact, and one that cannot be contemplated with- out pain, that the members of the artisan class who have of late years emigrated have in many instances made a sad mistake. They and their friends have played a tragic game of cross-purposes. In one set of instances, where shepherds and hutkeepers were wanted for the Australian pasture districts, and the commodity demanded in the colonies was a kind of quiet, sleepy, semi-slavish labour, the live consignment was a body of sanguine, restless, impracticable artisans, expecting that the change was to carry them from the ill -paid to the well-paid practice of then* profession. In other instances, where the artisans emigrated to a better but a larger field of emigration, they were found to be men with aU the wants and demands of colonial prosperity, but with none of the energies and capacities for grappling with the difficulties of a new sphere of existence. The characteristics which induced them to leave their homes were improvidence, indolence, and a decided preference of the luxurious joys of the tea-garden and gin-palace to the journey along the dusty road of life. By such men exile was sought as a relief from the hard labour and the other dry arduous duties of the self - supporter in civilised life; but the emigration- field was an arena where the prizes certainly might be greater, but where the virtues of fortitude, self-restraint, and energetic industry were only more sternly taxed and more inex- orably required. The indolent, luxurious, careless artisan might at home drift lazily in the wake of his more industrious fellow- workmen, but on the new and not tranquil sea of enterprise he was left to the strength of his own resources. Energetic, industrious, cautious, watching their opportunities, never extravagant or intem- perate — many avenues of success were opened to those who pos- sessed such qualities. In many instances, however, the absence of the very qualities necessary for colonial prosperity had made them seek colonial life; and they had thus no choice but to abandon the chances of prosperity and adopt those of bare, rude, temperate, duU, dreary subsistence, in the humble occupations of 48 EMIGRATION. the shepherd and the hutkeeper ; respectable occupations, tend- ing to sobriety and to longevity, but by no means responding in solid facts to the gorgeous visions of the discontented artisan emigrant. As we have already hinted, this has not always been the arti- san's fault. He is often invited to a colony to which he should not go — 'a colony where the means of success are very narrow, and can be applied only through great skill and caution even by those possessed of some capital — where the staple labour is of the humblest kind, desirable only by those who are on the borders of pauperism — and where superior success, if attainable at aU by the workman, can only be gained by peculiar originality and talent. It has proved a sad mistake to many a working emigrant to suppose that the field of satisfactory enterprise is that to which he is most earnestly called by the employer. Whether in Britain or the antipodes, the arenas in which men rise to prosperity or eminence are thOfee selected by themselves — not those to which they are beckoned or called by interested parties. Look at the great internal sheep-prairies of Australia. The capitalist-squatter proclaims loudly, year after year, that he has an inexhaustible field for the emplojnnent of labour. ' Send us more labourers — and more — and more ; they cannot be too numerous if they be of the right kind' — is then- ceaseless and reiterated cry. They become even pathetic, and say, that while our streets swarm with the imemployed, and our workhouses are crammed with able- bodied paupers, they are ruined because they cannot get work- men — they are obliged to boil down their sheep for tallow because they cannot get shepherds. Such is the unsupplied demand which will continue unsupplied; and why? Because the workman is invited over not to an arena of exertion, where he has hopes and prospects before him, but to perform the humblest drudgeries of a uniform semi -slavery. The capitalist- occupants of these vast territories go there not to produce, but to take advantage of the fertility on the surface of the unoccupied earth. They are in a perfectly different position from the improving settler, who, according to the extent of his operations, may require more or less of the services of the land -improver, the horticulturist, the builder, and the carpenter — all functions in which there are gradations, and which admit of the exercise of a worthy if moderate ambition, and afford suitable openings for the exertions of meritorious artisans. But the squatter, improving nothing, but merely skimming the surface of the earth of its natural produce, requires but the humblest and most hopeless class of labour. He wants a certain number of human beings — the children of the clod, the least blessed with even the moderate aspirations of 49 EMIGRATION. ambition — ^the most soddenly contented with what is necessary for the wants of the mere human animal. It is no improvement to the condition of our artisans, at the worst of times, to be drafted into this asyhim for the helpless. It supplies them with the very reverse of the notion they had formed of the emigrant's fate and fortune. Is it to be wondered, then, that it is unsupplied, and that the capitalist-squatter still laments the want of labour — labour of the right kind, and at a reasonable price ? In early ages, and in other lands, such persons would supply the necessities of their case by force. They would establish slavery, and make the necessity they now plead an excuse for supplyhig their labour- market, as our fleets have, to the scandal of this countrj', been manned by our pressgangs. A letter by the Kev. Mr Naylor to the legislative council of New South Wales, expresses the views held on the subject pretty accurately : ' We want labour — labour at a reasonable rate : unless we have it the colony will dwindle into 'insigniticance, and 4;he vast amount of capital invested in it must remain unproduc- tive. We want labour for other reasons. The present insuthcient supply is tending to produce a total disruption of society. The capitalist and the employer are the insulted drudges of the per- sons they are nevertheless forced at any rate to employ ; whilst the exorbitant wages paid lead to idleness and dissipation, and there is no present help for it. A settler must give £30 or £36 a year for a shepherd, or his ilocks will be destroyed. He must make his election betwixt the waste of his wheat, or submit to pay 2O3. an acre for reaping it.' — {Commons' Papers^ 184'J, xliii. 3.) This letter is only a brief embodiment of the views repeatedly expressed in the Legislative Reports of the Pasture Colonies. In a Report from the Select Committee of the Legis- lative Council of New South Wales on Immigration ( Commons' Papers, 1849, xi. 532), one of the exigencies of the colony is classed as * the immediate demand and means for the employment of labour at remunerating rates of wages,' meaning rates remune- rating to the employer. In this document one of the great squatter potentates— the head, we believe, of that aristocracy — brings the hardships of an insufficiency of labour to this climax, that ' in fact the natural order of society is reversed — the servant becomes the master, and the master may be said to be a slave.' The taste for slave labour, or something akin to it, had in fact been fostered in Australia by the assignment system. The rich men there looked on the raw materials of their ov.n prosperity as embodied in two elements — capital and labour ; meaning by labour not that which the independent entei*prising man does to suit his own purpose, but that which the slave, or the pauper whose 60 EMIGRATION. position is the same, does to suit his master's purpose. The squatters wanted men as they wanted sheep — so many at so much keep per head — and tliouglit it unreasonable that the article was not to be had. ' As for free labour,' says Mr Ritchie in his ' British World in the East,' ' it was not to be had in any of the Australian colonies but at a price which would materially diminish the profits of the employer, then in the high road to fortune ; and the exclamation rose simultaneously from every moneyed lip: " Oh that we could get servants as cheap as in England ! " A whole world of wealth seemed before them, if they had only labourers to gather it in. Flocks, herds, metals, fisheries, com, wine — all were theirs ; but unhappily the cheap drudges were wanting with whom England was blessed — the slaves of the soil, the gnomes of the mine, whose wages were fixed at tlie exact point which gave them strength to labour, and to whom no other choice was left but the workhouse or the jail. Servants as cheap as in England! They forgot that their poorer brethren had travelled from the antipodes for the express purpose of escaping from their dreary fate at home, and that such a cry from the lips of men who had performed the same journey to extort an enormous and unaccustomed profit from a capital certainly not more intrinsically respectable than labour, was both a folly and a dishonesty.' A main cause of the contradictory views taken of labour in emigration districts is, that colonial slavery has not been long enough abolished to let practical men cast theur notions of labour and remuneration loose from it. The colonist still speaks of labour — meaning the humblest and worst-paid kind of it — as an article of export ; and he is angry that it is not sent to him, as a man who is ready to pay for any ordmary article of commerce gets u-ritated with an uncommercial indolent people who possess it in abundance, but will not be at the trouble of trading with liim. A deep fallacy lurks in the expression ' the labour market ' when it confounds om- notions with those of an existing thing bought and sold. Labour is so different from existing commodities that it is their parent — ^their operative cause — the process through which they are brought into existence. By the primary opera- tions of buying and selling — whatever the secondary effect may be — we merely change place and possession. What was the property of an Italian one day becomes a Frenchman's next ; what was at Genoa yesterday is in Lyons to-day. Commerce may indirectly cause things to be made, but in its direct influ- ence it only changes then- place. The words 'buy' and 'sell' are used towards labour with a different meaning. They ex- press not mere transference of ownership, but production. The purchase of a commodity is the change of its place and possession 51 EMIGRATION. — the purchase of labour is the bringing something into existence that did not exist before. All this is matter of serious practical consideration for the higher class of working-men in this country. They must not con- found a large ' labour market' with good sources of employment. That they should be induced by their own ignorance, or the fallacious representations of others, to put themselves and their labour into such a market, as it is termed, must often make that removal out of which they have expected increased happiness productive only of disappointment and misery. He who finds himself in a desert where he can only live by the humblest of occupations, pm^ued under the orders of an employer, is but fjaintly distinguishable from a slave. He has been deceived into servitude as the negro has been forced. It is not perhaps gene- rally known, that in the earlier part of the last century it was a practice in some of our seaports to kidnap young lads and carry them off to the plantations. Articles of indenture were entered into with them, and they were called apprentices, but in reality they were slaves. One of them, named Peter Williamson, after making his escape and living among the Indians, returned to this country, and published an account of his marvellous adventures. The people who had been concerned in kidnapping him were magis- trates in a northern city ; and as he afterwards came within their reach, they punished him for defamation. Some influential mem- bers of the bar, however, took up Williamson's cause — he was vindicated, and his oppressors were exposed. This case is men- tioned here as an illustration of a general truth to be ever kept in view by the workman — that there is a standing conspiracy against him through aU time on the part of the capitalist who possesses a large tract of soil in any distant settlement, capable of affording such a capitalist riches if he can get human beings persuaded to per- form the humble task of looking after it for him and bringing in its increase. How closely the system comes to slavery — how readily the two things are mixed up, is curiously shewn in some of the suggestions thrown out by Mr Wakefield on colonial labour in his ' View of the Art of Colonisation.' ' Slavery,' he says, ' is evidently a make-shift for hiring : a proceeding to which recourse is had only when hiring is impossible or difficult. Slave labour is, on the whole, much more costly than the labour of hired freemen ; and slavery is also full of moral and political evils, from which the method of hired labour is exempt. Slavery, therefore, is not preferred to the method of hiring. The method of hiring would be preferred if there were a choice, but when slavery is adopted there is no choice : it is adopted because at the time, and under the circumstances, there is no other way of getting labourers to 52 EMIGRATION. work with constancy and in combination. What, then, are the circumstances under which this happens ? It happens wherever population is scanty in proportion to land.' — {Art of Colonisation^ 326.) It is hoped that, however desirable a system of slavery may be to the free owners of thinly-peopled lands, few will for a moment admit, as the author seems to do, that the tempta- tion is an excuse for slave -holding. ' Neither communities nor individuals,' he says, ' keep slaves in order to indulge in oppression and cruelty. Those British colonies — and they are many — which could get slaves to-morrow if we would let them, are not more wicked than we are. They are only placed in cir- cumstances which induce us to long for the possession of slaves notwithstanding the objections to it. These circumstances, by producing the state of mind in which slavery becomes desirable for masters, have ever been the originating cause of slavery. They are not moral but economical circumstances : they relate not to vice and virtue, but to production. They are the circumstances in which one man finds it difficult or impossible to get other men to work under his direction for wages.' Hence it seems to be inferred that, because you cannot get them of their own consent, you are entitled to seize, manacle, and whip them. It is not to indulge in ' oppression and cruelty' that people forge, steal, and rob; that they commit piracies on the high seas. It is to get possession of something that they want, and cannot obtain otherwise. But it surely no more follows that you are entitled to seize your fellow-being, and extort his labour, because you want it, than that you are entitled to knock him down and seize his pocketbook for the like reason. Our civilised and high-minded nation has resolved to suppress this great crime ; and such arguments, confusing mere personal expediency with justice and injustice, right and wrong, virtue and vice, will be found far too feeble it is hoped to revoke the national con- demnation. But though thus offensively expressed, Mr Wake- field's practical experience of that difficulty in procuring the application of labour to colonies, which he seems to think sufficient to justify slavery, is in itself very valuable. It shews how the difficulties in the way of obtaining humble labour in our pastoral colonies drive the employers to expedients for obtaining what will not naturally come to them. ' The operation of superabundance of land in causing a scarcity of free labour and a desire for slaves is very distinctly seen in a process by which modem colonies always have obtained free labom'. Free labour, when it can be got, and kept in a colony, is so much more productive than forced that the colonial capitalist 53 EMIGRATION. is always ready to pay for it in the form of ivages more than slave-labour would cost, and far more than the usual rate of wages in an old country. It is perfectly worth his while to pay, besides these high wages, the cost of the passage of free labour from the old country to the colony. Innumerable are the instances in •which a colonial capitalist has done this, confident of the prudence of the outlay. It was commonly done by the founders of our early colonies in America, and has been done by many capitalists in Canada, South Africa, the Australias, and New Zealand. To do this appears such a natm-al, suitable, easy way of obtaining labour for hire, that every emigrant capitalist thinks of doing it ; and thousands (I speak within compass) have tried the experiment. It is an experiment which always fails; if it always or generally succeeded, scarcity of labour for hire would not be a colonial evil. I have never missed the opportunity of tracing one of these expe- riments to its results ; and I assure you that I have never beei> able to trace a shigle case of success. The invariable failure is produced by the impossibility of keeping the labour, for the passage of which to the colony the capitalist has paid, and ife happens as follows : — ' Under this voluntary method of exporting labour all capitalists do not pay alike ; some pay, some do not. Those who do not pay for the importation of labour can afford to pay for the use of it more than those who pay for the importation. These non- importing capitalists, therefore, offer to the newly-arrived labourers higher wages than the employer who imported them has engaged or can afford to pay. The offer of higher wages is a temptation which poor emigrants are incapable of resisting. When the non-importing capitalist is not rogue enough to make the offer to the labourers whom his neighbour has imported, stiU the labourers know that such higher wages can be obtained from persons who have not imported labourers. They quit the service of their importer; and being now out of employment, are engaged by somebody w^ho can afford to pay the higher wages. The importer, I repeat, never keeps the labour which he has imported.' — (P. 327-8.) Bo far it is well for the labourer. It is well that the capitalist ■who has exported him cannot keep him. He has his choice of selecting a master. Many plans have been suggested, many of them tried, for compelling the labourer who has gone out assisted by the land funds of the Australian colonies, to remain with the master or with the community by whom the expense of his expatriation has been borne ; but this has had too near an approach to actual slavery to be practicable. A report by a select committee of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, EMIGRATION. laid before parliament in 1850, complained of the colony being made a stepping-stone to reacli neighbonring settlements. They prayed for a rule that every emigrant sent out by the Emigration Commis- sioners should come under a legal obligation to refund his passage- money before leaving the colony ; and they made this instructive remark : ' To pastoral and agricultural labourers such a condition would not be likely to be distasteful ; and v:e require no others to he hroiiglU out at tJie public expense.'' In other words, they want a body of men approaching as nearly to predial slavery as they can venture to ask for, or may hope to get a law to tolerate. In these efforts they are not it appears always successful. But still it cannot be too distinctly enforced on the artisan or skilled emigrant of any kmd, that this humble tield is not the right one for hira. On its applicability to the pauper class of emigrants we shall have presently an opportunity of speaking. To understand the full extent of the miserable miscalculations made by the mechanics and skilled workmen of this countiy, let us take an ordinary specimen of the assisted emigrant of the disastrous year 1847^ the intluence of which, however, was not felt on emigration until the ensuing year 1848. The famine and the railway revulsion have come ; the artisan loses a week or two, perhaps a month or two of work, and has nothing in the savings' bank or in any other shape to break the fall with. He gets discontented and dissipated ; he tinds that this is not the country for him ; there is no room for the expansion of liis energies ; he is not free to fulfil his destinies ; it is an old, worn-out, rotten country, unlit for aspiring ability. He has read something in Mr Carlyle's works which confirms it all, and he must go. Australia is his selected field : it is the widest and most distant. He applies to the Emigration Commissioners ; and having raised a small sum from friends who, seeing him grow restless, wish him at a distance, he has enough to meet the government allowance for an assisted emigrant — according to a benevolent scheme which failed in a manner which will prevent statesmen from repeating it. Well, the exile is off, thanking fortune tliat he has left the land of slavery, misery, and starvation, for that of freedom, felicity, and abundance. It is unnecessary to say anything about the voyage : if it lead to a good result, that, though no small evil in its way, should be thankfully endured. We shall now suppose the artisan passing the Heads of Port Jackson, and entering Sydney. He has arrived, and has told the emigration agent what he expects. Perhaps he is a stone-mason, perhaps he is a veneerer or French polisher, a marble-cutter, an ivory turner, an artificial flower -maker, a manufacturer of lawyers' wigs out of whalebone, an ecclesiastical glass - stainer or wood- carver — ^what- 55 ESnORATION. ever he may be, the great chance is that he expects immediate employment in his old occupation ; the sole difference between his position at home and that which he has adopted being, that in the latter he shall have more wages, work shorter hours, and find his money go farther. The extent to which such poor fellows have miscalculated or been deceived is really a painful portion of the arid statistical details of the colonial parliamentary returns. The ambitious artisan who has left behind him an occupation which in the bad times has fallen from 30s. to 25s., or from 25s. to 20s. a week — from £60 a year to £50 — is asked to go 200 miles into the bush where he shall have £20 a year, with a gum-slab hut rather larger than his coffin; feed on damper and tea; take charge of 1500 sheep, ranging over 150 square miles of stunted grass, where he may possibly meet a fellow-being, besides the hutkeeper who accompa- nies him, and the storekeeper on the nearest sheep-walk — when our vast colonial possessions are more thickly peopled, but not till then. The artisan knows little enough of the lonely desolation, the tiresome monotony of the bush ; he has but slight notions of any kind of life perhaps except that of the crowded street ; but he knows what the wages offered to him are worth, and he rejects them with disdain. He is one of many. The emigration agent in his next report states that there is an enormous demand for labour in the colony, but that people come out with ' unreasonable expectations,' and will not take the terms offered to them. The poor deceived mechanic — or mistaken is the proper term, for it is his own doing — cannot easily believe that in coming to the land of promise he has reached a place where his own trade is utterly useless. In the meantime he resides at Sydney or Melbourne, and his old city associations revive — he clings to the streets and the shops, as mountaineers do to their native scenery, and hopes that somethmg will ' turn up.' Nay, if the Emigration Commis- sioners have, in what he feels a spirit of perversity, landed him in the district where work is wanted — some couple of hundred miles or so from a town — he will set to and find his way to the town by begging and soming. "V\Tiether he be landed there, or have reached it after great exertions and humiliations, his fate is the same. He may perhaps succeed in getting work, and in com- peting with the bom colonists ; but much more commonly he gets disgusted, disappointed, and dissipated, and dies in a penury and wretchedness which, in the midst of callous strangers, is more miserable than the worst fate he was likely to have encountered at home. The returns of the emigration officers notice the fact, that artisans have gone hundreds of miles to find their way to the 56 EMIGRATION. Australian towns, where their trades are aheadj overdone. But this only shews that the poor artisan has made a mistake, and has gone into a bondage from which he is making desperate efforts to escape. When not rightly understood, such incidents, dimly and indistinctly heard of in the circles of the working-classes, produce a prejudice respecting emigration much against their true interests. Here, as in all other matters, their true rule is to learn and observe, and act accordingly. THE PAUPER EMIGRANT. Hitherto we have considered emigration in so far as the indi- vidual, looking to this resource as a means of improving his condition and prospects, is concerned. The primary question has been one of pure individual profit and loss, and the object of the adviser has been to indicate, as far as he could, how the former may be achieved and the latter avoided. In this sort of emigra- tion, however great may be the interest of the public at large intending to remain at home, it is of a secondary character, and indeed resolves itself generally into this — that as the pubhc wealth and prosperity consist in the wealth of individuals, it wiU ever be the interest of the public that each individual does what is most conducive to his own prosperity. Nor will it detract from the good influence of a sound choice even on those remaining at home, that valuable men are taken from them to reap a harvest abroad. He who produces wealth, who creates value out of what was valueless, however distant he may be, is the coadjutor of those who are doing the same at home. It is better not only for him but for us that our neighbour should go to Sydney and become rich than remain here poor. The national interest in this kind of voluntary self-supporting emigration is thus identified with the interests of the individual ; and what each man, and those who venture to advise him, have to do, is to discover how emigration can be made a good speculation. But there is another point from which emigration has been lately viewed — as a means of direct benefit or rehef, as it is termed, to those who stay at home. In this view it is considered as a question for landlords, capitalists, poor-law authorities, charitable and benevolent associations, and the countr}'^ at large. Of course it is not for a moment dreamed that this kind of emigra- tion is to be followed with any but advantageous prospects to those who emigrate. Their misery here is what makes them dangerous or burdensome, and giving them the means of well- being abroad is the remedy sought for the disease. TMiatever may have been sometimes actually done, no one would dare to 57 EMIGRATION. tell the public that this kind of emigration is conducted for the purpose of casting off the burden and leaving it to its fate. Still the persons who are the objects of tliese emigration projects are generally passive from ignorance and helplessness. Their sole impulse is in the consciousness that almost any fate would be better than their present. They are in the hands of others — of the government, of their landlords, of the poor-law adminis- trators, as the case may be ; and the question of their emigration is considered not entirely in its effect on their own prospects, but with general reference to the good of others — it may be tliat of the nation at large — of the parish — sometimes of the estate. A few considerations on this subject will here be offered ; and as our previous remarks have been addressed to those who are making up their mind to emigrate, these are addressed to those who interest themselves alx)ut the emigration of others either on a large or a small scale. The simplest form in which emigration, as a means of relief, generally presents itself, is this — that there are too many people in this country for the available means of support, and that it would be well to remove a certain number. This is what is generally understood by the removal of a " surplus population ; " but it is, as we sliall presently see, but a rough, undigested principle, quite in- adequate to solve any social difficulty. It never has yet been the case, save perhaps in one year of peculiar calamity, that emigra- tion came near to the reduction of the population of this country, or even came near to the keeping down of the annual increase. The emigration from the United Kingdom during ten years ending with the year 184G amounted in all to 85G,392 persons. If we suppose the increase of population during the same ten years to have been what it was in the ten years for which the preceding census was taken, it would amount to 2,609,129, or more than three times as much. Tims the average annual removal by emigration was 85,439, whUe the average increase of population exceeded 260,000. The famine which began to appear in 1846, and was so frightfully developed in 1847, gave emigration an impulse such as political economy and public opinion can never impart to it — such an impulse as all must fervently hope it will never receive again. The number who embarked in 1847 was 258,270 ; in 1848 it was 248,089 ; and in 1849 it was 299,498. In this last item it for once approached the number of the increase of population. Taking the annual increase of our popu- lation at 260,000, at the time when the annual emigration was 85,639, the amount of emigration for that year would just be 46,132 behind the increase — that is, less than the previous annual increase added to the previous annual emigration. But it is in 58 EMIGRATION. truth an abuse of words to apply the name ' emigration ' to this famine-flight of multitudes, fleeing, they cared not whither, from a dreadful death. The operations of those three years do not admit of being applied to systematic emigration. j vljfirjir . But suppose that the human drain were brought np .t^isthe point at which we have heretofore seen our population increase, and even beyond it, does it follow that it would be an actual reduction of numbers ; and even if it were so, that this indiscrimi- nate reduction of numbers would produce what is called a relief from surplus population ? Some political economists say that a population which has room to grow — ^\s'hich is not, in short, pressed upon by want — will double itself in twenty-live years. Now, as the presumed result of the removal of the people is to give the rest room, to make them more comfortable, to give them more food and clothing by the removal of social participants, it follows that the more efibctually the removal is conducted the more the population increases, and that the real object would not ha accomplished unless we could remove the people faster tliaii they can multiply — that is, at the rate of upwards of a million annually. But it is useless to speculate further upon views which have been founded on false analogy from a ship running short of pro^^sions. There all are consumers of a fixed quantity, and every riddance increases the share of the remainder. The people of this country, taken at large, are producers as well as consmners ; and the object of emigration must be the removal, not of the population generally, but of the part that consumes without producing or possessing. It will be pretty clear, whether we reduce the total amount of popidation or not, tliat if we remove the Birmingham iron worker and the Manchester calico prmter to Australia, we will not make the Dorsetshire labourer less a pauper ; and we will not make the Irishman or the Western Highlander less inclined to marry whenever he sees a good potato crop and food for the year. We have reasoned on it as a leading principle, that self- emigration is, on the whole — deducting aU mistakes or calamities — profitable to the community, since each man finds in it what is most advantageous for his future prospects. But it does not follow that those who are indiscriminately hustled out of the country have their condition and prospects improved for them. There is reason to believe that sweeping systems of removal have had the effect of carrying off productive men to places where they were not so useful as at home, and leaving the unproductive ou our hands. Nay, this has been avowedly advocated by some writers on the plea of what they call the ' relief of the labour- market,' as if it were production, not consumption — industry, not 59 EMIGRATION. idleness — prudence and forethought, not recklessness — that cause national pauperism. In a country of equal laws and free trade, where there is no piUage and no slavery, a population consisting entirely of families producing more than they consume cannot be surplus. Let an industrial population be as dense as they like, they draw their food from all the world. If the world has not enough to supply them in exchange for the produce of their industry, then indeed they may waste their efforts in vain ; but we have not in this country reached so hard an alternative ; and the judicious dispersal of our people over the productive parts of the earth may prevent us from ever approaching it. "What the damaged part of our popula- tion sufier from is not labour which is effective but unremune- rated ; it is from idleness, or, what is the same thing, ineffective labour. We are at present undoubtedly in the position that those who are energetically industrious, active, vigilant, sober, and frugal, can live, and live weU, being rather an advantage than an e^^l to the country. But there are among us whole classes who, instead of having these virtues, are idle, listless, careless of the future, or if they work, do so ineffectively and unproductively. In short, they are unable to compete with more enei^etic and self-denying neigh- bours. Such, then, are the people whom it concerns the public to remove elsewhere, if the removal can be justly and fairly accomplished. Collective emigration is, therefore, the removad of a diseased and damaged part of our population. It is a relief to the rest of the population to be rid of this part. It were invidious to say what it is that makes a part of the population thus a burden. Some people say that it is the effect of race ; and they point to the Celts of Kerry and of Barra, distant some four hundred miles from each other, yet precisely in the same condition of hopeless, listless, actionless, useless penury. Some say it is false legislation, and point to the pauperised agricultural labourers of the south of England, rendered inert and useless by the old poor-law which took in hand to provide for them, and made the idle as well off as the industrious ; or maintain that aU the industrial miseries of Ireland have proceeded from those laws which prohibited the majority of the people, on account of their religion, from holding a stake in the enterprise of the nation. Others say that ignorance, and especially ignorance of pohtical economy, is at the root of the disease, and they point to the handloom weavers, and the other unskilled workers, who obstiaately and blindly continue to compete with machinery ; and finding that they cannot live comfortably by doing easy and 60 EMIGRATION. useless work, become lethargic and despondent. It is enough for the present purpose to keep in view that there are classes of this kind, and to consider how far their removal from the country is a proper remedy for the evil. Now, the evil which such a popu- lation creates in the midst of a busy country like this is, that they are burdens upon those who produce more than they consume, by requiring, for mere subsistence, to consume more than they pro- duce. Apart from those whom fortune, or the past exertion of themselves or their ancestors, lias gifted with wealth, we may divide the able-bodied inhabitants of a country, or the heads of families, into those whose labour benefits the country by producing more than they consume, and those who are burdens to it by requiring to consume more than they produce. The production must be measured by results ; in other words, by the family keeping itself, and Kving in independence — all other measurements of industrial service are likely to be fallacious. It is useless for the handloom weaver to say tliat he has gradually added half hour after half hour to his period of labour until he now sleeps at his loom — political economy can give him no other than the harsh answer, that his occupation of jerking a stick from side to side, which he so obstinately pursues, is one not wanted, and therefpre not paid for. It is useless for the Irish cottar to say that he has turned up the turf, and dibbled the holes, and dropped the potatoes in, and he has trusted to the Almighty for the increase — the stem answer comes that he has not done enough to make rationally secure to himself a share in the produce of our high-strained indus- trial energies. It becomes clear at once that it is the interest of the productive members of society to get rid of all these classes. In getting rid of such classes of people, however, there are other interests besides those of the wealthy and industrious part of the community to be considered. However valueless in an economical sense the objects of this kind of emigration may be, they are not slaves, and we must have their consent to the trans- action before they can be removed. This consent must be ob- tained honestly and without any species of deception; and to make the whole transaction a fair one, the removal should be a change rather to their benefit than their detriment. If they do not think it is so, they will not remove ; and if they think it is so when it is not so, they will have been deceived. Again, we must consider the position economically and politically of those on whom we throw them. Independent nations like the United States wiU, of course, refuse to receive them unless they are for some purpose or other worth having; and we have no right to throw forth the moral refuse of our population on the colonies, casting a burden which we do not choose to bear off our own shoulders upon those of our younger 6# EMIGRATION. find weaker brethren. It must be taken for granted at the same tiine, that a condition of any such removal at all ought to be that some change is to be operated at home, which shall prevent the damaged population from resprouting and growing up as vigor- ously as ever. That this countr}- is to become a permanent betbed to manure emigration lields, as it were, with a deteriorated, morally-diseased class, ever renewing itself as fast as it is exported, is a supposition too odious to be seriously entertained. Neglects and blunders have permitted the disease to creep in — if the ampu- tation takes place, it were with all its pain and risk a lost opera- tion if the same neglects and blunders are to leave the same disease to break out again. The two conditions then — that the removal should be beneficial to the emigrants, and that they should be welcomed in the place to which they are sent — are in some measure dependent on .each other. It is cruel and useless to attempt to drive away the aged and the imbecile. It is both more economical and more humane tty let them remain, a burden though they be, in our country for the remamder of their days. They cannot increase and multiply their kind, or continue the effects of their idleness and improvidence by influencing others to follow their example. As to the able-bodied, the demand for them in the emigration field will be the measure of their advantage by emigration. Among a people spreading themselves over n'ew productive lands, a mere human being, with some bone and muscle at his disposal, is of value, however worthless he may be in a country where the productiveness is not in new sources of natural supply but in new developments of the skilled industry of man. In America you open a rich productive field by breaking down a beaver-dam ; it is of great consequence to the energetic settler to have a man who will do this job for him while he is attending to more serious and important works ; and the labour which, in the old coimtiy, might have only planted a boll of potatoes, has drained a large alluvial field for wheat or Indian corn. Then, again in Australia the squatter has mile over mile of pasture for his sheep could he but get a human being to be a hutkeeper or assistant shepherd — and thus it is worth his while to keep men alive, and in some rude comfort, for the performance of tasks so simple as to be comparatively valueless at home. The United States have of late years afforded a considerable asylum for this humblest class of emigrants, though they have, only in justice to themselves and their great institutions, raised impediments by taxation on their being imported in a state of disease and imbe- cility, and have indeed laid a general small tax on all immigrants, as a pBMnium of insurance to meet the burden created by such as EMIGRATION. became chargeable on charitable institutions. Our useless popu- lation of this country find scattered in the skirts of these shifting communities, in their progress onwards, many little pursuits for which they are fitted and by which they can live. The Irishman, for instance, who has starved on half meals of potatoes, and lain on straw, becomes a footman in New York, and is fed and clothed to his astonishment. The post is one which no citizen of the States, and no enterprising working emigrant of this country would take, because, independently of all questions as to servility and independence, productive industry is so highly rewarded that those who would liire servants cannot afford to buy off from it the men who are fit for it. The Americans have a saying that Britain is valuable to them, for it costs them 500 dollars to ' raise a man,' and they can get him for nothing from the old country. But while the States can, as it is generally said, absorb them — while they are in the meantime an advantage, in a pecuniary sense at least to the American people, transatlantic statesmen, who look into the future, shake their heads and fear that too large a stratum of tlns.c(jfersest clay of human life is exported from our country and deposited in theirs. They think that it comes in masses too large to be sufiiciently disintegrated and dispersed among their own energetic people. The time may come when it is no economic advantage to receive them ; and here is one warning to us in Britain to strain every nerve to save our o^vn country from a succeeding race of a similarly damaged population — a warning that, disas- trous as it ever must be to possess such a population within our bosom, the wretched resource of draining it off may be denied ta us by the stopping of the exit. Let us now turn to the right, and glance at our own North American possessions. Here there is extremely little room for a damaged population. It is the#fortune indeed of these colonies to possess such children already in the descendants of the French feudal colonists — the Habitans. Moreover, the very want there of the wide-expanding energy of the United States, which grasps only at large results, and leaves many scattered grains to be picked up by the humble gleaners, makes these colonies unsuitable for our pauper emigrants. In fact they are the very places to which it is desirable to lead energy and enterprise. They want life when compared with their republican neighbours, and to send them our exported emigrants is to swamp them. For men of moderate capital and some, energy, or men of great energy if they have no capital, they are an excellent field ; but it is a field not yet rich enougli to leave anything for our gleaners, and indeed the legis- latures of these colonies have very significantly shut then- doors on the burdensome class of colonists by' a hea\y emigration tax. E 63 EMIGRATION. It may be set do^vn as a general rule, indeed, for the effecth'e emigration of paupers, that they should be sent to a place where they are not left to make their own fortunes, but where they are imder the direction of others, to whom their services, such as they may be, are valuable. They need guidance and mastership. Thus it is in the United States, where the intensity of the productive energy of the people in general makes it worth their while when they have not slaves, to give good food and clothing to those who will undertake the humble duties for which, in the pursuit of larger objects, they cannot spare time. In the pasture districts of Australia, of which we shall shortly speak, the emigrant is in the same manner imder direction. In the North American colonies, where there is not the same superior influence to bring them on, the Irish and Highland emigrants who have gone in masses have not made improving colonists. The tourist finds the filth and indolence which distress him in Lochaber characterising the Highland emigration districts of America, such as Glengarry and the Red River. Mr Johnston in his ' Notes of North America * says : ' The small Highland or Irish farmer, who is driveA from liis holding because his face is set against all improvement — and many emigrants are of this class — carries his prejudices, his obstinacy, and his conceited ignorance to his new home, and leaves to his children, as an unhappy legacy, the same practices which in his fatherland had brought poverty upon himself.' He found in New Brunswick an Irishman who had remained some years on the spot where he was landed, and did not move on to the place where he might be wanted, though miserably poor, ' because he had no one to depend upon but himself.' Another, who had been equally unsuccessful, because idle, said : '■ Them people had got on well enough who liad the luck to get a good lot of land.' At the time of the famine inroads of 1847 and 1848, the enwgration officers of our North American colonies complauaed of the idleness and mendicant spirit shewn by those Irish who were landed in such numbers as to countenance each other, and form a deadweight preponderating against the uplifting influence of the industrious inhabitants. To prevent them from assimilating the place to their own idleness instead of being themselves brought within its industrial influence, such emigrants require to be scattered, and that thinly, among a people of superior class. Montreal was becoming a Connemara under the influence of the invasion of 1847. Some apology might be necessary for appearing to overlook the fact, that many of the Irish have made excellent self-sustaining emigrants, were it not that it is entirely with the pauper and dependent class — forming, unfortunately, a large proportion in Ireland — that we are at preseAt dealing. But the argument for a 64 EMIGKATION. disintegration or dispersion of Irish emigrants generally, is strength- ened by the claims of the better class to be relieved of the ■weight of misery that presses them down. A traveller through Ireland vsdll often see a whole district one dead level of inaction, misery, and mendicancy. But if, instead of merely passing through it after it has acquired that character, he had been able to watch the progress of the inhabitants during a course of years, he would have seen that many of them made a gallant struggle for self-support and independence ere they were dragged down by the overwhelming weight of the majority. If we export the mass just as it is, we do our best to keep these meritorious men still struggling in the swamp of social degradation. To them, whatever it may be to others who have been the causes of their own calamities, it would be but bare justice that we should ' clear their feet,' as the common saying stands. The best authorities on the state of our emigration fields — such as Colonel Mitchell, Mr Perley, Mr Uniacke, Mr Bernard, with ^any others who gave evidence before the Lords' Committee on emigration from Ireland — ^have given instances of Irish emigrants who, on being relieved from the down-dragging influences of the social state at home, have appeared totally to change their nature, becoming as energetic and successful as their English and Scottish brethren. 'I saw Irishmen in the United States, in Canada, and in Australia,' said Count Strzlecki, in evidence before the House of Lords, * Uving as well as the Anglo-Saxons, acquiring their grumbling habits, and thus improving continually their condition.' 'Mr Justice Sullivan, in a lecture delivered in Canada in 1847^ * I know of many, very many instances, in which Irishmen who commenced by working for wages as labourers in the United States have advanced far beyond that condition — some to respectability — some to wealth. We have here a goodly number who brought into this country their savings from wages, and have become landowners. Probably it may be said that the more energetic and ambitious amongst them emigrate, and become landowners in the West ; but many, too many, remain hanging about the cities, inhabiting low and dirty suburbs ; keeping shops with two tobacco pipes and a ginger- bread fish for a stock in trade, or doing the work too heavy or too disagreeable for other people; and tens of thousands of them wander about the land, going thousands of miles backwards and forwards, hither and thither, in search of a public work. "Some canal dug with the produce of repudiated public bonds, where, in the midst of the reeking miasma, under the sweltering summer sun, fever and whisky, and filth and improvidence, do their work of death — and the graves of Irishmen track in thick succession the course of American enterprise. The native American turns aside 65 EMIGRATION. from the sty in which we recognise the cabin of our native hills : he shuddering says : " This is misery ! " but no ; misery, true misery, is more Irish still — she does not wander from her own green island ; there she has mounted the shamrock for her emblem, and deigns not to visit other lands ; but still it is a kind of spurious misery, sufficient to demoralise, to brutalise, to destroy. Once introduced into this mode of life, the mass of them so continue. You may have thousands of them in Canada by means of an adver- tisement ; you may have the same men anywhere north of the slave states (wliere they are excluded by cheap labour) by a newspaper para- graph. They have no hope, no ambition, no home ; they will follow you to the world's end for sixteen dollai-s a month and a quart of whisky each day : they will work from four o'clock in tlie morning till seven in the evening, and they will spend all they earn ; but they will not understand the American ambition to own land; to become one's own master.' But here is a more agreeable picture of the Irish emigrant when he has, notwithstanding outward appearances, real heart and energy, and is mercifully isolated from his fellow-countrymen : — *I was one day riding out towards the Owen's Soimd Settlement with a gentleman now dead, the late William Chisholm, whom we used to call "White Oak for his truth and honesty of character, and genuine soundness of heart. At the Township of Garrafraxa, a place with scarcely any inhabitants, after getting over a detestable road, and having been long without seeing a house, we fell upon a large and handsome clearing of one hundred acres, Avith herds of cattle grazing in the pastures, sheep clustered in the shade under the fences, wheat ripening in the fields, and apples reddening in the orchard — a good loghouse, and a better barn and stable in the midst of all this. Inside the house was a respectable-looking man, his wife and grown-up daughters. Their house was clean and comfort- able, and abundant, and we fared well. They had books on the shelves ; and one of the girls was reading, others spinning, churning, or knitting. I asked no questions, but knowing that my friend could give me the history of the settler on the road in the morn- ing, I waited. My fii-st exclamation was: "Well, Cliisholm, I do envy you your countrymen ! That man must have lived here many years without a neighbour?" "Yes," was the answer, "he was the first settler in these parts ; and when he came there was no white man between him and Lake Huron." " He must have been poor, or he would not have come here?" " Yes," was the answer, ''he was very poor." "He must have educated his children himself ?" " Yes ; there was no school within many miles of him." " He could not have employed labourers ?" " No; all this was the work of his own hand." " Then," again I said, " I do envy you your country- men! This is vScotch prudence, Scotch energy, Scotch courage" " Well," said he, " it may be all just as Scotch as you like to make it, but, after all, the man is an Irishman." ' EiHGRATION. Thus it appears that when pauper emigrants are dispersed, there are opportunities for those among them who have sunk, in spite of conduct and exertion, to regain their position — opportunities which will not occur in a dense pauper colonial population. Turning from British America, and the very scanty means of there absorbing pauper emigrants, we shall find that the Australian colonies are differently situated. Their position, indeed, in con- nection with this very question of the disposal of our burden- some labouring population, is very curious, and worthy of a fuller investigation than it is possible on the present occasion to bestow on it. In the first place, however, Australia is so far different from the nearer emigi'ation districts of America, that it ofiers, as we have already seen, money to help out the emigrant, and co-ope- rates with this country in ridding it of its unproductive and valueless population. The expense of sending an emigrant to Australia is nearly three times as great as that of sending him to Quebec or New York ; and of course, if it were a mere considera- tion how the burden to the country is to be best ' shovelled out,^ the simplest way would be to send him merely across the Atlantic. In the Australasian colonies, however, it is of so much import- ance to obtain human beings — to obtain labour, as it is rather erroneously called — that it is worth the colonists' while to provide a fund for the purpose of attracting thither their fellow-countrymen of the humbler orders. The dear-land system, which has had its natural conclusion in nearly abolishing the sale of land, was destined to enlarge this fund, but has poured into it a driblet too trifling to be considered in connection with a system of pauper emigration. The object of the great Australian squatters is to have a substitute for their assigned convicts under the old penal system. It is therefore theh desire that the individuals they receive should be as humble and unambitious as possible ; that they should, in short, be as near to slavery as British institutions will permit. We have considered how ill-fitted our artisans are to supply the demands of this shepherd aristocracy. They complain but little of the indolence, the stupidity, even the viciousness of their servants; they have been accustomed to put up with this last quality under the con>'ict system. They complain only when they find that, being city bred, they do not turn with docility to the bush ; they complain still more when one of them turns out to be ambitious, saves a little money, and desires to invest it and be independent. The metamorphosis seems to astonish and perplex them as much as if one of their sheep were to be changed into a wolf. In fact, having contributed to the price of his exportation, they consider themselves to have been in some measure deceived. They have not got the commodity they intended to purchase. It 67 EMIGRATION. is as if they had ordered a draught-liorse and had got an Arabian, more valuable perhaps in Hyde Park or on the race-course, but not so valuable for their pm-pose. In the great continent of Australia it is impossible yet to come to a near estimate, even by millions, of the number of acres avail- able for pasturage. The land is thin and poor, and covered with a meagre though wholesome herbage. Three, sometimes five acres, are necessary to support a sheep, and one man's flocks or herds will cover hundreds of square miles. How far these districts are capable of agricultural or any other kmd of improve- ment is a question for future consideration. Meanwhile there are just two things needed to bring a vast produce in wool, tallow, and cattle, out of these wide wastes : the two things are — capital, to purchase stock and flocks ; and the humblest kind of labour to take charge of them. Out of these two elements great wealth is procurable. Here, then, is a large place of refuge for those who have fallen behind the race of industrial production at home. They are useless and a burden here ; they may be useful and pro- ductive there. It is thus in the pastoral districts of Australia that we must look for the best, though it may not at first be the cheapest, emigration drain. But here we must pause. The damaged classes exist among us — the refuge is available and should be sought. But if such fields for the humblest class of industry should exist indefinitely through all time, it does not follow that this great country should become a permanent nursery of semi-slaves for such a market. Surely for the boasted qualities of our Saxon race — the ceaseless vigilance, the unconquerable perseverance, the haughty contempt of danger, the undying struggle agahist overwhelming difficulties and calamities — there is some better destiny prepared than this. But while the vacuum exists it may be well to consider how it can be filled. The squatters are enamoured of that type of agri- cultural wretchedness, the Dorsetshire labourer; so docile is he, so unambitious, so fitted for his humble duties, and for nothing more. Let the squatter have him then — it is good for both ; but let us, if it be within the wit of man to accomphsh so great an end, remedy those defects which have left the Dorsetshire agricul- turist and his fellows so far behind. The Celt is at hand starving on the mountains of Skye or the bogs of Kerry : he may not be so docile and unexceptionable an agricultural machine as the surplus English labourer ; but he is a burden here, and he is at least worth supporting there — and worth supporting in such fashion as becomes luxury to one who has been so long depressed by the practical miseries and wants of life. For our damaged population in general — that is, the population which has failed to EiHGEATION. keep up with the productive capacities of the age — the resource is a tempting one. The colonists are ever, in the qualities which they require of their servants, shewing us that it is this useless burdensome population that they want ; not our actively indus- trious citizens, who too soon leave the labour market and become petty proprietors. A committee of the Legislative CouncQ of that unhappy colony. Western Australia, put the case into figures in a report issued in 1848 : — * Incredible as it may seem, it has been repeatedly calculated that the cost of maintaining the surplus population of the United Kingdom by recognised public and private contribution, debilitating her manu- facturing and agricultural efforts, equals annually the interest of the national debt, or a sum of about £1 per head of the entire population ; which, being converted into capital at twenty years' purchase, would give a total of nearly £600,000,000. In other words, the pauperism of the United Kingdom is estimated in round numbers to cost her (independent of secret private charity) an annual taxation in poor- rates, benefit societies, and the infinite number and variety of asso- ciated charities, a simi sufiicient, if converted into capital, to convey every individual of the entire population from London to X ew South "Wales; and when there to start him with £10 ia his pocket. * In this calculation no allowance is made for the fearful aggra- vation of the evU by famine and pestilence, which might have been greatly alleviated, if not prevented, by a national system of emigration. ' From hence it is obvious, that if the existing burden of pauperism be even one-half what is estimated by the best authorities, it is still equal to the passage-money to AustraUa of the whole population, at an average of aU ages, of £10 per head. Therefore were the United K i n gdom to defray the passage of the entire pauper population, it would be a clear gainer of the difierence between the cost of their passage and that of the whole population. * Thus taking the aggregate annual burden at £15,000,000 (really near £30,000,000), equal 5 per cent, on £300,000,000, and the pauper population at one-sixth of the whole (much beyond the truth), and this sixth to be exported to New South Wales, at the public expense at £10 per head — say £50,000,000, the United Kingdom would save a capital of £250,000,000 ; or at an annual taxation of £25,000,000. * The fact is, however, that if the pauperism were one-sixth, yet if half of this number were placed in Australasia by degrees, as they could be taken, and blood, education, and capital induced to accom- pany and direct them there, to raise raw material and food for Britain, and consume £7 per head of her manufactures (say £17,000,000) annually, the other half would have full work, food, material, and wages. * It is evident, therefore, that to ask Britain to convey labour to the colonies at her own expense, is not proposing an additional burden, but requesting her to secure for herself a reUef from present 69 EMIGEATIOX. taxation, as well as an increasing market for all she produces, and an increasing supply of all she requires.' So much for the present state of the account ; but wliere is this to stop ? Are Ave to continue to be a great breeding-ground of pauper slaves to supply the shepherd monarchs who occupy the distant grazing tracts of the earth, penetrating farther into the desert as civilisation approaches ? God forbid that this should be the destiny of so great a country! And doubtless better things will ensue. In the lirst place, no rational supporter of any system of emigration as a means of human drainage looks to a general pauper removal as the ultimate solution of the difficulty. He desires to see the damaged population that is so removed replaced by a healthy, self-supporting population. He may fail in seeing how this is to be accomplished; but no man in his senses can fail to aim at it, and can literally contend that the frequenters of our workhouses, and the cottars of Skye and Skibbereen, should be succeeded by generations after their kind. Then, on the other hand, the field for this kind of emigration will in time become narrowed. We have alluded to its probable limitation in the United States. Vast as are the grassy plains of Australia and Southern Africa, we can have some conception of their boundaries ; we know, too, that their wide areas are easily filled with such emigrants. When they come to require a thicker settling, it will be with emigrants of a better and higher character. Here will open a noble vista for the future. Between the flock- owners and the semi-slaves wealth will be created, and wealth will bring out able enterprising men to fill up the vacuum between lord and slave, and create a healthy stirring middle class, drained not from those who emigrate merely to live, but those who go for a field of enterprise. So, as in organic decay and reproduction, the degraded heaps of our pauperism and indolent dependency may go to fertilise the fields of healthy enterprise and well-directed exertion. In this consummation of prosperity it is not vain to hope that the very offspring of the pauper emigrant may partake, bringing hope for a better and brighter future for those helpless children of depression dispersed over the distant waste. Occupied as they will be in the production of riches, a middle class must in the end grow among them, even out of their own ranks, and the descendants of the pauper emigrant may fill all those varied social grades which make the charm and vital happiness of progressive civilised life. Let us trust that the looms and forges of the next generation may be kept at work by the descendants of those whom the bounty of this generation has so removed. Looking to the other parts of Australia nearer the tropics than the pastoral districts, and to the new territories opened up in EMIGRATION. Africa, it is supposed that we may there find new resources for pauper emigrants. This field has yet to be distinctly developed : in the meantime, great hopes are entertained of sugar, cotton, coffee, and other tropical produce coming from it. We have already considered it very questionable if the skilled and ambi- tious workman should look to such emigration fields with hope and reliance. But it may possibly open a considerable refuge for pauper emigrants in the light, easy, uniform, unskilled toil which it seems to be the peculiarity of tropical produce to demand. Yet before we can justly and humanely send our pauper emigrants to such a destiny, we must be sure of the suitability of the climate to the moderate support at least of European health, and beware lest we send them where, instead of rearing a hardier and more valuable race, they will only degenerate into farther apathy. The voluntary exile may go where he pleases, and cast his life upon a die, but we must never send forth our exiles to be deteriorated. This consideration has already been operative in preventing us from sending our Irish and Highland paupers to fill the vacuum in the labour market caused by the cessation of slavery in our West Indian colonies. Some maintain that our Celtic brethren are of a tropical race who will assimilate to the climate of hot countries, and be as sound and healthy a people there as they are here, if not more so. But the supposition is too vague to be acted on, and has too close a resemblance to that assertion of natural inequality which justifies the white man in enslaving the negro. Some poor- law guardians who had not studied these matters, but simply thought they would do good rather than harm by sending people who were impoverished here to the place where their services were wanted, sent some Union boys to Bermuda ; but the proceed- ing received such a check as wiU probably prevent it from bemg repeated. It is indeed greatly necessary that whoever takes the responsi- bility of the removal of these classes of men — be it a government or a parochial officer— should consider well the best means of making it efiective for its purposes. It is not a task to be lightly or negligently performed, for the more helpless the emigrant the more difficult is it of course to find a place for him. We have shewn that the class in general are ill fitted for a field where they have to make their own way ; and we have shewn that it is not advantageous to amass them in large bodies in any one place. The reason, indeed, why emigration is a remedy for their posi- tion seems to be simply this : wherever there is an active pro- gressive community, there is room for a certain number of the humblest and least productive classes — able-bodied paupers, in short. The curse of every old country that has any social blot 71 EMIGRATION. in it is the possession of too large a number of such persons — of more than can find a living on the skirts of productive industry. They are not of a locomotive character, however. They do not advance with the advancing citizens of a new colony. Hence while they preponderate at home there is sometimes an absolute ■deficiency of them in the emigration field. Thus it is that the balance, or a part of it, can be absorbed, and so many human beings who could not find a living here may find one elsewhere. But care must be taken to send no more than may be neces- sary to adjust the balance. Every additional pauper exported will be a pauper in the new scene, while there is less ability to support him than in the old. The mistake is no mere theoretic one evolved from principles of political economy : it has, as we have seen, been frequently exemplified in our North American -colonies ; and our government has there been deliberately charged with the design of making our paupers a burden on our colonies. In looking over the whole mass of the pauper classes, it will be necessary to make a selection of those with whom emigration is most likely to be successful. This is necessary for two reasons — the one, that it is impossible to remove all ; the second, that it is both inhumane and useless to remove those who are not to be benefited by the movement. It must be remembered, then, that emigration is a transplanting — a change of soil; and into the futurity of growth and fructification must we look for its efficacy. The removal will, therefore, be most successfully applied at that point in the lives of the class which predicts most danger to us at home, and the best chance of success to them and theirs in a new field, if such a point there be. It is found at the time of marriage — usually very early with this class. It is early, because there is no class in the community to whom it is more a matter of mere inclination and less a matter of anxiety.- Those who have fortunes and titles at issue in matrimonial arrangements may hesitate — those who have slender incomes may question the prudence of enlarging the number of participators — but those who have nothing care not among how many it is divided. Hence the indefinite multiplication of Irish and High- land families, and of any operative class which gets into an unpro- ductive, mistaken, starving position. Mr Wakefield has shewn, with the pleasant rhetoric that makes what he says interesting whether he be right or wrong, the advantage of promoting emigration at the period of marriage — and here at least almost all his readers believe him to be right. Perhaps the Irish or High- land landowner, who is clearing his estate on the principle of making the best bargain and the kindest arrangement he can make with its living encumbrances, will have the best opportunity of 72 EMIGRATION. seeing how this occurs. Let us suppose a landlord in the essentially pauper districts desirous of doing good — of giving thfe human beings who are on his land the best opportunity of becom- ing prosperous, and of affording the land the best means of being productively applied. There are aged people on the land whom he may perhaps drive off the estate — whom he may possibly ship to an emigration field — but the poor-law stops him near at hand, and now the precautions of the United States and the North American colonies stop him at the first door of escape. The thing cannot be done, and the next best arrangement — supposing the pure selfish feelmg only of the owner of the soil to be appealed to — is to keep them and provide for them. This is of course, in a question between emigration and home eleemosynary subsistence, a mere pauper provision. There is a possible alterna- tive, which affords from the humblest of sources the brightest moral light that can be shed over this whole subject — it is when the able-bodied members of the family find that they must go, and make great efforts to take their parents or other aged relations with them ; or, having gone in their adversity, and got on, employ the first money not required for the necessaries of life in reuniting the family group. It was at one time held as a principle of emigra- tion, that entire families should be removed. This was not an original idea — it was a canying into mmute application of one of the great artificial theories of the age which has to be afterwards noticed. It is almost needless, after what has been said, to put in words the objection on all kmds of grounds to the removal by pubhc funds of families ; but there can be nothing more cheerfully indicative of the success of the emigration of one portion of a family than its sending for the rest. Hoping, however, that all such prospects wiU turn out for the best, the great landed proprietor clearing his estates of a burden- some population, or any pubhc body who have the same task to pursue, must, as we have said, choose the period of marriage as that of hopeful removal. It is an epoch at wliich a great change must take place — and sometimes both parties are the more at their ease the greater the change is. It is the time of new hopes, of aroused energies, of the laying down a plan in Hfe. It is the time when the head of the family looks forward to aU flattering visions of a prosperous futurity, and would perhaps be likely to see a more flowery vagueness in the antipodes than in the undrained paddocks of his paternal farm, or the smoky streets of the nearest manufacturing town. It is the prelude to expectant parentship, and the appearance, one by one, of offspring who are either to be a heritage and gift if they come m the train of success, and are to arise in usefulness, or a burden and a curse if they are 73 EMIGRATION. to be presented at the parish pay-table. For this same reason, it is the epoch when all men, from the prime-minister or terri- torial duke down through the poor-law commissioner to the relief officer, are dreading a new inroad on the funds distributed by the realised and industrial wealth of this country among its incapables. Hence they must see how great is the advantage, among the classes removed at the expense of others, of removing newly-married couples, and, as a general principle, of removing those who have reached the marriageable age. It need not be said that where there are any motives above the most selfish ones for such a removal, it will impart a feeling of satisfaction to the landed proprietor, or whoever he may be, who makes the change, to have reason for believing that it may be successful. If he have done some good service in helping human beings to better their condition, it might be a cause of as great pride as the obtaining a prize at any agricultural exhibition, or winning a race. It would be wrong to leave this subject without noticing another class who may be judiciously removed at the public ex- pense. These are the pauper outcast children which form the material of our industrial schools. They are in a great measure the offspring of the same depressed classes whose case we have been just considering ; nay, many of them are in a worse hereditary position, for they are the offspring not only of the poor but of the depraved. Being, however, as yet children, we are not to look on them as so hopeless for future self action as the adult pauper. They are still trainable and impressible ; and though they may have inherited through generations of degradation many unmanage- able and discouraging qualities, yet in those who are sprung from the predatory classes, and are not themselves clear of the suspicion of having followed the hereditary pursuit, it is wonderful how rich a soil of energy and ambition there is to be made available by proper culture. It is a double mistake to employ these children in the humble and uniform drudgery of handloom weaving or rope-picking, since it not only unfits them for any active progres- sive position in afterlife, but is scarcely a temptation to keep them from the more exciting pursuits from which they have been taken, and which they will only heartily abandon if their energies aind excitements are fully occupied in productive and skilled labour. This is the prmciple on which the United Industrial School of Edinburgh has been conducted, and its managers have found that, to use their own words, ' skilled labour, inferring progress with effort, has served entirely to supersede their dangerous hankerings, while it keeps up a healthy energj'- of body and mind, visible in the zeal with which the children betake themselves, whether to their work or their tasks.' 74 EMIGRATION. If it be said that sucli a system elevates these children of misery above the necessity of emigration by making them fit for home- citizens, the answer is, that whether he be to emigrate or to stay at home, the more productive you can make any human being the better, and, despite the cries of the princely flockmasters to whom they are so useful, we would make every Dorsetshire labourer and handloom weaver, and Irish and Highland peasant, an active, productive, enterprising man, if possible, and that in the full belief that, whether we were to exercise his powers at the antipodes or in London, he would be more valuable to the world at large. Such a man, for one thing, would not need to be exported at the public expense. A reason, however, for looking to speedy emigration as a resource for the industrial-school chil- dren, however highly trained, is, that they may be removed from the theatre of hereditary degradation, and may hav6 a world before them in which they are not perpetually haunted by the shadows of their parents' iniquities, or tempted by the inducements of fraternal associates, or even of their own depraved relatives, out of the path of rectitude. ARTIFICIAL SYSTEMS OF EMIGRATION. The intending emigrant will be at no loss to find some artificial system of emigration to which he can attach himself, if he desire it. The making of systems of social organisation, put together like the pieces of a watch, has been a favourite occupation with schemers of all ages. Since there are men living in Paris, who are prepared, at a moment's warning, to take all society to pieces and reconstruct it in perfect order, it is not surpris- ing that there should be people ready to undertake the much simpler function of organising a body of fresh and intelligent wanderers in the wilderness. It would be wrong perhaps to say that all these schemes are failures. Something will always arise out of human endeavour, however ill directed. He who has induced a certain number of human beings to place themselves on a parti- cular spot, however unprofitably, has made a beginning that must in some way go on ; but it may be pronounced, as a general rule, that all such projects fail to the projectors. The Swan River Settle- ment was a neat and simple arrangement. By one of those slight- of-hand operations by which some people engage to pay the national debt with notliing, the land was to support tlie expense of the colony. The governor, the secretary, every colonial officer, was to be paid in acres. We all know how lamentable was the failure. The colony of South Australia was started on principles directly EMIGRATION. the reverse. Land, instead of being given away, was to be sold at a high price, and Mr Wakefield's plans for making a colony a perfect model of old society were adopted. Virtually this colony too was a failure to its projectors — that is to say, their schemes were all baflfled, and they lost their money. The colony itself has in reality been prosperous, but not from its system of construction. When it was on the brink of ruin, a settler's son picked up a bit of copper ; and his father, who had bought an allotment of land for £80, refused £27,000 for it. The lucky accident was the same to the colony as a large legacy is to a merchant on the brink of bankruptcy. As all artificial colonies invariably turn out to be ruinous to their projectors, it follows of course that any one giving counsel to the emigrant should recommend him to avoid embarking in such projects. To one, however, who may happen to be infected with any colonising mania, it would be as useless to offer advice as it was to call up the recollections of the South Sea and the Mississippi to the railway speculators of 1846. At the same time, though these speculative operations seem ever doomed to be ruinous to their projectors, they may be advantageous to others. When a number of rich men have been induced to carry out a colonising scheme, there is money let loose; and when money is let loose, there are openings for success to the cool and the discerning. Many men with comfortable fortunes and con- siderable estates in South Australia and New Zealand have risen from among the ruins of the original speculators. It has already been observed that the artisan has often possessed rare opportu- nities of success in connection with these speculating manias. The Wakefield system of colonisation, by which all the social grades were at once to be filled up, and capital and labour, with every other element of civilised society, were to bear their due proportion to each other, looked so pleasantly symmetrical on paper, that one almost regrets its failure in practice. The pro- jectors have done one service to the world in shewing practically that colonies cannot be constructed and sent out ready-made, any more than old states can be taken to pieces and remodelled. The principle at the foundation of the system — that it is a good thing for capital and labour to bear a just proportion to each other — is true enough both in old and new countries ; but if we may by sound institutions assist nature, it does not follow that we can bring about a satisfactory artificial adjustment of the elements. Like constitutions, colonies are not made — they grow. In spite of the most ingenious social adjustments, the colonist must be prepared to see a chaos very gradually reducing itself to order — to find unoccupied tracts of land — distance from civilisation — 76 EMIGEATION. meagre cultivation — ^fields unfenced — and the unsightly remains- of primeval forests. It is a good thing to help the colonist onward in his work of organisation ; but he who engages to do it for him at once, engages for what he cannot perform. It is admitted that the schemers whom we now speak of had in general no immediate views of personal aggrandisement. StiU they played for a large stake in the world's esteem and future fame, and playing it somewhat desperately, have sacrificed in the game many humble fortunes, which have disappeared along with their own. There is no room on the present occasion for takmg any more than the most cursory notice of the question between the government and these projectors. It is a matter full of com- plicated and doubtful details ; but if its history should ever be ^v^itten in a candid and inquiring spirit, it wiU be found full of interest. At first sight it seems hard that men should not have been permitted to carry out their colonisation schemes as they pleased in an unclaimed territory like New Zealand. Without venturing, however, to judge the merits of either party in the dispute, it is necessary to lay down as a rule, that the interest of the British emigrant must ever stand in the way of an irrespon- sible body of men taking possession of an emigration field, and ruling and apportioning it as they choose. "When a territory is shewn to perform the services of an emigration field to this coun- try, the public through the government must possess it — it cannot be left to projectors. In New Zealand it was right, both for the sake of the natives of the country and for the Europeans who took up their abode among them, that the supremacy of the British crown should there be acknowledged, if inhabitants of the British empire flocked thither as a place for permanent residence^ and the establishment of their households. The colonists must have had law and government, or they could not exist. The self- government so natural to the inhabitants of this country would, it may be said, have enabled the settlers to make institutions for themselves; in fact, they attempted to form them: but the superior race having nothing to restrain them in their selfish objects, a contest with the aborigines must have ended in their slavery or extermination, or, what subsequent events shewed to be more probable, the settlers would have been driven from the country, along with the missionaries and Christianity, and the original barbarism, with cannibalism as one of its features, have been restored. Nor, if the adventurers had succeeded in making the islands their own, could a satisfactor}^ government have been possibly wrought out. Unaided by the strength of Britain, such a country would have been viewed by other powers not merely as 77 EiUGRATION. n feeble, independent state, on which war might be made without bringing any European power into the quarrel, but the new state would have been likely to be treated like a pirate ship which, sailing imder no flag, is at the mercy of the first conqueror, acting entirely as he pleases, and accountable to no diplomatic responsibility. A peculiar feature of the day is the attempt to establish ec<^le- siastical or sectarian colonies — settlements whicli spring from the exclusive supremacy of one church. "VMien we witness such attempts, it would seem as if we had indeed retrograded from the day when Roger Williams established the Rhode Island colony on the principles of perfect religious equality ; but it would be a mistake to suppose that these projects arise out of that intolerant cxclusiveness which at first sight appears to animate them. They are the creature not of religious but of colonising enthusiasm. This has given them their impulse — the other has only tinged them with its hue. The vehement colonisers whose feats in the southern dependencies have made them liistorical — who have been so great and energetic even in their failures — searching about hither and thither for motives imder which they could tempt men to join in colonising schemes, found that ecclesiastical partisanship would be one of the most hopeful in this country, as some of their fellow-labourers in France found Socialism to be the best lever there. The Free Churchmen of Scotland, known to be an active, energetic, enthusiastic body, with many able men of business among them, were first enlisted, and, as the promoters of the colony of Otago, became very valuable partisans. The ascen- dancy of the ecclesiastical spirit in the Church of England was next looked to as a hopeful sign. Its prevailing tone was artfully adjusted to the designs of the colonisers, and the Canterbury Association was formed. Its main feature is a charge of £3 an acre as the purchase-money of land, of which £1 per acre is devoted to ecclesiastical purposes. The ostensible motive of ecclesiastical colonisation is religious unity; but no one who reads historj' can fail to see in these projects the seeds of the deadliest religious discord. There are two ways of obtaining religious peace : the one is by the old unity of the Catho- lic Church, where, if sections differed somewhat from their neigh- bours, all appealed to the authority of one head — not in the next world, leaving the battle to be fought out from generation to generation — but present sitting in judgment, to nip disputes in the bud. The other is the system exemplified in America, where the sects are so many, and their power so equally balanced, that they give up the temporal battle of supremacy as a vain attempt, only fraught with misery and loss to all, and live in peace and EmGRATIOX. good-will with one another. T\niere there is one great dominant church and smaller representatives of opinion fighting for exist- ence, and, after existence, for power, is precisely the place where all the theological passions break out in their darkest and most ruthless spirit — where oppression, insolence, and haughty into- lerance, on the one hand, generate spiritual exclusiveness, secret hate, and cherished vengeance, on the other. For such a scene these colonies are laying the foundation. Canterbury cannot expect to be always uncontaminat^d by dissent or heresy, or Otago to be always evangelically Free Church. We admit that in the detailed arrangements connected with these colonies there is much to commend. Some valuable men have afforded examples of sound colonial farming in Otago. The economy of the vessels in which emigrants have been conveyed to Canterbury will be an invaluable example in shewing what attention and zealous kindness can accomplish for the comfort of the inmates of crowded vessels on long voyages, in spite of old prejudices and confirmed bad habits. Such incidental commend- able features would insure these associations a favourable consi- deration, were it possible to get over the doubtful principles on which they are founded. The economics of a colony must be considered a secondary matter to its religious and moral welfare ; but it has a powerful bearing on them, in as far as a colony based on unsound economics will lose a main influence of good. An exclusive colony must pay for its exclusiveness in economic sacrifices in the long-run. But even at its commencement it is costly. Already the restriction on labour has driven the Canterburians to the employment of natives in doing the rough work of the settlement. It is not stated whether they require these ex- lannibals to declare them- selves members of the Church of England — it would rather seem that they do not consider them within the scope of the eccle- siastical polity of the Association. But this is only a foreboding of the difficulty. The working- Chiu-ch-of-England men in the southern colonies will not go where there is most church, but, like all their race, will go where labour is most valuable. The colony may keep out heretical labourers, and will find that task all the more easy that they fail in the art of colonising. But they will not prevent their own labourers, even those whom they have been at the expense of exporting, from going wherever they find them- selves best ofi"; and thus their large acreage payments will go to supply the other and more economically-managed colonies with labour. The suggesters of ecclesiastical colonies take a fallacious analogy from the history of the pilgrim fathers in America. These men EMIGKATIOX. were seeking refuge from the intolerance of another religion which happened to be dominant ; and in pursuit of a place where they could foUow their own worship in peace, they at last fled to the wilderness. No body of Christians requires in the British emph-e at least to take so desperate a course. There may be questions as to which body shall have the social superiority over the other, but there is none about the essentials of religious liberty — the liberty of every man to enjoy his own religious opinions, and follow uninterrupted his own form of worship. Mr Wakefield and others say that toleration was not exactly what the pilgrim fathers wanted; that they could not have tolerated any other religion but their own in the land ; and that a main reason of their exile was, that they might not only be free to follow their own worship and church government, but might be rid of the abhorred existence of any people beyond the pale of their own opinions, within the same land and government with themselves. But if these were the actual views of the pilgrim fathers, they are, it is to be hoped, quite as alien from the designs and feelings of the founder of Canterbury and Otago as simple toleration is frt)m their needs. Acquitting the founders both of the American and of the modem ecclesiastical colonists of intolerance, it would seem that the latter are founded on a mistaken notion of the tendency of ecclesiastical zeal in this age. People are anxious to pro- pagate the doctrines of their peculiar churches among their neighbours, but have no need of retiring to desolate lands to practise their religion in peace and safety. Ecclesiastical zealots are, therefore, more anxious for audiences than for the silent pursuit of their own worship, and are more inclined to appear at Exeter HaU than to retire to the wilderness. K members of the Church of England and of the Free Church of Scotland were persecuted in the other colonies, they would not grudge, for the sake of freedom of conscience, going respectively to Canterbury and Otago, even at some considerable inconvenience and expense ; far more zealously would they flock to these settlements if their churches were also persecuted in this country. But our emigrants have freedom of conscience wherever they go ; and there reaUy is no inducement, except to people fJEistidiously zealous, who are rare among emigrants, to make the sacrifices required by these peculiar settlements ; nay, it is questionable whether the majority of zealots wfll exactly like them, for such people are partial to propagandism and its parent — controversy ; and they would in many instances feel their occupation gone when doomed to live in a community aU of one mind. As to the ordinary honest, but not very zealous members of the respective churches, they will content themselves with such ecclesiastical ministrations as they may find in other 80 EMIGRATION. settlements, rather tlian make any extravagant outlay to be in a place where there are no other clergy but their own ; and perhaps many of them may think it even an advantage that their own clergy should not enjoy an unquestioned spiritual supremacy by being entirely unapproached by those of any other religious community whatever. Of Canterbury and other high-priced districts people are often told, that if all the colonists necessary to support the new hier- archy, and fill the country, and interchange with each other, would go out, the land would be in reality cheap at £3 an acre, because it would be as valuable and available as land at home. But the difficulty just is to get individuals to make a sacrifice, in the trust that a given multitude will do the same, and render it no sacrifice. The same difficulties are at work as those which prevented the 1500 Socialist tailors in the Hotel Clichyfrom working so effectively as those hired and paid for their work. They were each told that if all would work to the utmost of their ability, they would all be better off than under the free-trade system; but none of them would invest his own hard work on the chances of his comrades working up to the same pitch ; each tailor preferred investing it alone, even though a capitalist took a share of the result. If any given intended emigrant felt assured of the presence of all the others necessary to make his land valuable, he might perhaps purchase at once with a feeling of safety. But in the meantime he is purchasing a chance not a reality, and he thinks the lottery- ticket too dear : he believes that his chances are better at a dollar and a quarter an acre in the United States. USES ANB ACTUAL EXTENT OP PROTECTIVE INTEEFERENCir. If the government, whether acting directly, or indirectly through the powers conferred on others, may fail to send forth completely- made emigrant social systems in which the exile scarcely knows that he has left home ; yet it can do much to smooth his path across the desert, to guide him through difficulties, to protect him in danger, and to enlighten him on all matters connected with his probable destiny. In these, its proper functions, the government of this country has too long lagged behind ; and it is only within a very few years that it has seriously offered the emigrant true guidance and protection. It was perhaps only when free trade was making its first victories that we were able to see the exceptions to which it is not applicable. There was a natural reluctance, perhaps, to lay on shackles while there was a general demand for their removal ; but we are now in a better position to know the actual 81 EMIGKATIOX. province of free trade. In simple commercial supply and demand its empire is supreme. AVe need no compulsion, like tliat of the old English labour statutes, to make men work for reasonable wages; no penalties on forestallers and regraters; no assizes of ale and bread. But it has been found that we still need j^rotection when individuals are placed at the mercy of others. It has been extended to the factory child, who is not to be maimed by the dangerous machinery which a sordid employer may expose it to ; it has been in some measure extended to the miner, whose life is not to be recklessly exposed for another man's profit. Nay, railway companies, and the owners of other public vehicles, are subject to regulations for the protection of the public. A moment's consideration will shew that the emigrant is in a position which specially demands protection. The rule on board a ship must be a despotism. The safety of all requires that one man should be absolute, and for the time irresponsible. If there be human beings who can be safely trusted not to abuse absolute power, the com- manders of our merchant vessels are not likely to be found in that rarefied moral atmosphere. In fact, they have been too often brutal, tyramiical, and capricious; while the emigrant at his mercy has been ignorant, helpless, and often spiritless from con- finement and sickness. The impositions that have been practised on emigrants would be an endless theme of exposure. Let us hope that late efforts have been successful in transferring it from the pages of matter- of-fact warning to those of romance. Many of the calamities of misdirected emigration, as already alluded to, have been referable to that fruitful cause. We cannot wonder that, so unprotected as they were, the transference to a foreign shore filled the uneducated children of the clod with doubt and dread. They had too many good reasons for their suspicions. The emigrant ship, in which they were as entirely captive as the African in the slaver, was a scarcely less horrible den for filth, foul air, and corrupt food. In some respects the slave-dealer had an interest in his human cargo not possessed by the emigrant broker. The former was paid on live delivery, the latter had been paid on reception : to the one, then, the contents of the vessel were a human cargo — to the other, human lumber. Arrived at the destination, the poor, helpless crea- tures were discharged — ' shovelled out,' as it has been termed — upon the barren shore, unguided. So the simple agricultural peasantry of England — a few respectable females, perhaps — if they alighted where there were human beings at all, might find themselves in the refuse of the home jails, where discharged convicts, rolling in carriages, were to be their employers and advisers — a set of sheep sent to the wolves. Even if there were means of protecting 82 , EMIGRATION. property and person on the spot, it was not for them. The very- agents of the law were their enemies; and many a respectable young female peasant, wandering helpless in the streets of Sydney^ has been seized and committed to some police den for a breach of the rigorous regulations necessary for the polluted city ; there, among the most abandoned of the convicted criminals of Britain, to take her first taste of the sweets of liberty and the emigrant's life of happy independence. It was the function of a lady as courageous as she was himiane to call attention to the unprotectedness of the poorer Australian emigrants, and to support her precepts by worthy and successful example. The system of establishing emigrant officers both for home and colonial service was at length gradually adopted. More than one improvement had taken place when the horrors of the emigration of 1847, in which it is supposed that upwards of 50,000 lives were sacrificed, brought about the systematic Emigrant Act of 1849.* In the meantime, whatever was done in this country was nobly seconded by our republican brethren in America. A select committee of the legislature of New York was appointed to report on the * frauds on emigrant passengers.' A full exposure of cruel rascalities was introduced by them, with the following emphatic remark : — ' Your committee must confess that they had no conception, nor would they have believed the extent to which these frauds and outrages have been practised, until they came to investigate them.' A number of regulations were adopted, highly honourable to a people so jealous of interference with their liberty, of which some accomit will be found in the department dedicated to America of the series of publications with which this essay is associated. The British Passengers' Act of 1849 (12 and 13 Vict. c. 33), though some of its provisions apply only to our colonies, and others would not be easily enforced against foreign shipowners, yet professes more or less to protect the poorer emigrants of Britain to whatever emigration field they may desire to proceed. Among its many and complex provisions there is one of vital importance to the colonial emigrant, as affording him the key to his privileges and to the responsibilities of those in whose hands he has placed himself. Abstracts of the act and of the orders in * It is impossible to approach with certainty the mortality of 1847. It is known that of 106,812 emigrants who embarked for Canada and New Brunswick, 17,445 died on the voyage or in the hospitals, to which they were immediately consigned. But many must have carried with them the seeds of the ship-epidemic ; and the Emigration Commissioners say in their Report : ' The emigrants who escaped in the first instance, as they proceeded up the country, carried with them and commu- nicated to the inhabitants the seeds of this fearful pestilence, so that in a short time there was no town in Canada, from Quebec to Hamilton and Niagara, or in New Brunswick from St Johns to the Province Line, in which it did not exist.* 83 EMIGEATION. council are prepared by the Emigration Commissioners for the masters of vessels, and copies of these must be kept at all times posted between decks, so as to be accessible for consultation. The shipmasters are entitled to copies of the act, and are bound to produce them to emigrant applicants. The most important general security in the act, however, is the appointment of emigration officers to see that its provisions are enforced. It is their function, when the voyage is a colonial one, and where there is therefore British authority at each end of it, to see that the ship removes her living cargo in conformity with the regulations, and to receive and pass it at the other end. As to the former function, every emigrant ship, whether to the colonies or to any other emigration field, Ls prohibited from clearing out on her voyage, until the master has obtained a certificate from the emigration officer that he has complied with the terms of the act. Part of the regulations which must be complied with is a report of a professional survey under the emigration officer, importing that the vessel meets the requisitions of the act in seaworthiness, ventilation, and other regulations. The number of passengers to the tonnage, and the space that must be provided for each, are regulated in the act, with the construction of the decks and berths. The regulations for lifeboats and buoys, and the sufficient manning of the vessels, and the arrangements for dietary, accord- ing to the length and character of the voyage, are full and minute. There are provisions for a supply of medicine, and for enforcing the employment of a medical attendant when the voyage is long, or the passengers numerous. An inspection is also required of the state of the passengers, in order that no one may be taken on board in a state of infectious disease. When a passenger is found in this state, he may be removed by the inspector, along with his children or other dependent connections, if they had been proceed- ing with him, and the passage-money may be recovered. The detention of emigrants at the port of embarkation from the selfishness, carelessness, or dishonesty of emigration contractors, was one of the most serious of the old grievances. An attempt is made by the Passengers' Act to remedy this : it would be difficult perhaps yet to say with what success. If the vessel do not sail at the day appointed, each passenger ready to embark is entitled to receive a shilling a day of subsistence-money. A combination of contractors might perhaps easily baffle such a regulation, by contriving that this shilling should be spent on themselves, and that very little value should be obtained for it; but the emigration officer is authorised to take the matter in hand, and receive the amount due. There are some other provisions attempting to 84 EMIGEATION. grapple witli the greater difficulty of compelling contractors to fulfil their obligations, and convey their passengers to their destination, although a shipwreck or any other interrupting calamity should happen to the vessels ; and there are at the same time checks against the act being evaded by vessels putting into ports after their departure, on the ground of any pretended or real contingency, and there increasing their cargo of exiles. At the end of the voyage the passenger is entitled to the accommoda- tion of the vessel for forty-eight hours without charge. To bring the penalties of the act in a position to strike so inac- cessible a class as the owners and masters of vessels sailing under a foreign flag, before emigrants can be removed, the master, along with an owner in this country, or some person who will stand good for an owner, give bond to the extent of £1000 for the fulfilment of the provisions of the act, and of any orders issued under them. In addition to this security, passage - brokers to North America — whether the United States or the British possessions — must take out an annual licence, and become bound to the extent of £200 for fulfilment of the act. None but the licensed brokers, or persons in their employment, are entitled to engage for steerage-passages to North America. The emigrant dealing with such a broker receives a ticket, drawn up in a form minutely set forth in the act. It indicates the amount paid by the emigrant, and the services engaged to be performed for it, and is intended to serve as his protection against unexpected fees and charges. The act is full of penalties against aU the parties who may be liable to transgress the regulations for the protection of emigrants. It is needless to specify these penalties ; the method of their recovery is of chief importance, and is in fact the great difficulty in%ll efforts either to protect or to punish birds of passage. One important provision is, that the emigration officers and the custom- house officers may institute proceedings. As to the parties injured, they may apply to any justice of peace, whether in the place where the breach of the act was committed, or where the person charged with it happens to be. A single justice so applied to issues a sum- mons or warrant, as may be necessary, and the case is heard before two justices. In Scotland the proceedings may be held before the sheriff. The summary remedies created by the act do not, however, prevent parties from seeking any ordinary legal remedy to which they may be entitled. The Emigration Commissioners issue in their circular the folloTving account of the emigration ofl&cers and their functions. It is to these ofiBcers that the intending emigrant at a loss for information will general!}' apply. But there are cases where it may be found material to apply to head-quarters by addressing ' the Secretary of the Board of Emigration at London.' It is but justice to state that no one can occupy himself in inquiries on this subject 's\ithout observing the untiring zeal with which in that office the public is served, while at the same time it mav be much 85 EMIGRATION. After the repeated and well-meant efforts that have been madc^ it is still doubtful how far the frauds and cruelties of those who prey upon the helpless emigrant can be reached by the law. Some recent transactions have served to shew the difficulty, at all events., of reaching the commanders of foreign vessels. A gentleman o£ qtiestioned if the establishment possesses sufficient official strength to carr>' out all the functions to which it might be applicable. GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION OFFICERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. r '^JSX.' ^vl' n X 1 ^^'^"°" ^•^' \ London (Office. 70 Lower R?;^S;^;;r.n;} ^-^*-. ( Thani«8treet, Lieut. Hodder R N.. EmigraUon Officer, 1 Liverpool (Office. Stanley \:^^.m^sJX } A-^"^'- I Buildings. Rath St«ot., Lieut. Carew, R. N., Emigration Officer, Plymouth. Captain Patey, R. N., ... ... Gla4gow and Gramock. Lieut, Henrj', R. N., ... ... Dublin. Ijeut. Stark, R. N„ ... .. Belfast. E. A. Smith, Esq., R. N., ... . Londondcrrr. Lieut Saunders, R. N., 1 J Lieut. Moriarty, R. N., | / Com. EUis, R. N., \ ... ... Kit„«rf^v Jt/, Captain Fitzgerald, / Aatdstant, j Limericlt, &c. Lieut Friend, R. N., Elmigration Officer, Cork, &c. Captain Kerr, R. N., ... ... 'Waterford and New Ross. The.se officers act under the immediate directions of the Colonial I>and and Emi- gration Conunissioners, and the following is a summary of their duties : — They procure and give gratuitously information as to the sailing of shipe, and means of accommodation for emigrants ; and whenever applied to for that purpose, they see that all agreements between shipowners, agents, or masters, and intending emigrants, arc duly performed. Tlicy also sec that the provisions of the Passenger*' Act are strictly complied with— namely, that passenger vessels are seaworthy ; that they have on board a sufficient supply of provisions, water, medicines, &c, ; and that they sail with proper punctuality. They attend personally at their offices on every week-day, and affi>rd gratuitously all the assistance in their power to protect intending emigrants against fraud and imposition, and to obtain redress where oppression or injury has been practised on thCTi. % Sligo, Donegal, Ballina, &a GOVERNMENT IMMIGRATION AGENTS IN THE COLONIES. North A.mbrican Colonies. Canada— (^bec, - A. C. Buchanan, Esq. Cliief Agent for Eastern (LowerJ Canada. Motttreal, - Mr Conlan. Toronto, - A. B. Hawke, Esq. Chief Agent for Western (Upperi Canada. Kingston, - Anthony Hawke, Esq. New Brunswick— St John, - M. H. Periey, Esq. St Andrews, - T. Jones, Esq., Assistant Emigration Officer. Chatham (Miramichi), - - - \ Baihurst, ..... I The Deputy Treastu-ers at these ports act DalhousU, / as Agents for the present Eichibucto, .... J In the other North .\merican Colonies there are no Government Agents yet appointed. Capk of Good Hopk. } "Wkst Ixdibs. Cape Town, - J. Rivers, Esq. 1 Jamaica, D. Ewart, Esq. Port Elizabeth, MrR. Tee, Overseer. | British Guiana, AV, Humphrjs, Esq. I^atal, . G. Macleroy, Esq. j Trinidad, Thos. F. Johnston, Esq. EMIGRATION. high aristocratic connection lately took his passage in the steeraga of an emigrant ship for the heroic purpose of investigating, by personal experience, the fate of the poorest class of emigrants. His statement is referred to in the Emigration Commissioners' Report for 1851, with a remark on the necessity of emigrants ' appealing to the tribunals of the country to which they are going in case of ill-treatment during the voyage.' This commentary may teach the emigrant that he must not rely entirely on the self-acting influence of legislative intervention ; and that whatever pains and forethought he can exert are not likely to be thrown away. While the system of stipendiary guides and instructors appointed under this act is an eminent service to the emigrant, by saving him from the wrong, and instructing him in the right road, there are perhaps other services still performable by the government in which a higher class of emigrants have an interest. Among these may be named an acciu^te and full survey of waste lands. The success and completeness with which thLs is accomplished in the United States have formed a material element in the attractive- ness of the land-system there so long established. In many shapes, indeed, as we have already seen, our republican brethren hold out inducements to the enterprising emigrant with which our colonies lind it vain to compete. In proceeding to these far-western terri- tories the inhabitants of Britain feel less that they are leaving their own country and going to another, than that they are making a new country to themselves. It is not as if they were to become farmers in Russia, or even in Prussia, where, unless so far as the English- man ever makes a kind of little centre of freedom round himself, they must be subject to the rules of an established government. In these distant outer districts of an elective democracy they find themselves no sooner planted than they are vegetating into an independent political existence. This is not the place for considering the question of the proper Sierra Leonr. R. J. Fkher, Esq., Emigration Agent for West India Colonies. ACSTBALIAN COLONIES. New South Wales — 1 Western Australia — Sifdn^, F. L. S. Merewether, E-q. Perth, • D. D. Wittenoom, Esq. Port Philip, J. Patterson, Esq. ; South Australia — Van Diemen's Land— ; Adelaide, Captain V. Butler. Hobart Tovrn, Com. George King. New Zealand — Launccston, W. R. Pugh, Esq. i Auckland, David Rough, Esq. The duties of these officers are to aflFord gratuitously to emigrants everj' assistance in their power by way of advice and information as to the districts where eniploy- ment can be obtained most readily, and upon the most advantageous terms, and also as to the best modes of reaching such districts. Chaplains for Immigrants. Sydney, Rev. T. W. Bodenham. j Adelaide. Port Philip. I Cape Toum, Rev. W. A. Newman. 87 EMIGRATION. principles of colonial government. If there be abuses in our present system, they involve rather the interests of the old settlers, who have inherited a stake in the country, than of those who are going to spread themselves over fresh lands. On them, indeed, the doings of the colonial office, or of any other ruling body, ■cannot have much influence, unless where they affect the commerce in land, and the land-sale system in our colonies has already been ■considered. The only other matters of main and immediate interest to the colonist in the government of the place he is going to, are to be foimd in the broad general rules of protection to person and property. To the emigrant of British origin, it is of course as essential that he should have freedom as that he should have bread ; and the constitution of the govern- ment under which he proposes to place liimself is, in this respect, a matter of serious moment. The general desire of oourse is to have as much individual freedom as possible. It would sometimes be a mistake, however, to suppose that this is best obtained where the inhabitants of the colony are most entirely uncontrolled and left to themselves. In drawing an analogy from the United States, it must be remembered that each new settlement there forms part of the cluster round a powerful government — it is not left to its own absolute disposal -and management. Eeal freedom must always be associated with some great commanding power. In the little repubHcs of the ancients, of which we read, there was little personal freedom : the poor citizen was almost entirely at the mercy of the rich and powerful. The occasional employment at least of the vast and overwhelm- ing strength of the home government is necessary to check the passions and sinister interests that would otherwise bear down justice and humanity among distant and scattered populations. The expectation of a just and responsible representative system in a newly-settled country is often purely Utopian. The removal of the influence of a central counteracting power in such a quarter often does not give freedom, but makes the law of might the law of right. Among colonists the individual inequalities are nearly as great as in old states, while there are no aggregate organisa- tions to balance them, and set the numerical power of the individu- ally weak against the isolated power of the strong. Freedom is therefore, in such places, often another word for oppression, and the desire to manage their own concerns is a desire to subject the interests of the weak to those of the strong. No one who reads the earnest, the almost fierce demands for labour by the great grazing interest in Australia, and the indignation expressed against those who will not reraam in their proper position 88 EMIGEATiON. as humble labourers, but endeavour to rise and acquire land, can doubt that, if this squatting interest had its own way, it would create a system partaking strongly of the nature of slavery. The aggregate liberality of our nation is grand and just ; but our great country can send forth individuals as cruel and unjust as the world has ever produced — as selfish and relentless as the Portuguese man-stealer, and more terrible in their energy. Their restlessness, ferocity, and selfishness require regulation from the firm, sound, honest heart of the empire at large. There are elements in our colonial system among which pure representative government is sometimes incompatible, and where so much only of its advantages can be taken as may be reflected from the great home institutions. A local irresponsible govern- ment at our new colony of Natal in Southern Africa, for instance, would be neither more nor less than making the white men slave- owners, and the Cafires and Hottentots their slaves. A like representation, unbalanced by some other and greater power in Canada, would but enable the British Canadians to trample the French Habitans under their feet. In the pastoral colonies, representation is sometimes neither useful nor desired. New South "Wales, when it got an act to form local municipal institutions, could make no use of it in the bush. To men scattered over vast sheep-walks, who scarcely ever saw each other, corporate institu- tions were as useless as varnished boots and court-dresses. These are places where a government called representative could be nothing but a tyrannical oligarchy. The scattered and contrasted materials which make up our colonial empire have their variations and contrasts from events which would form the material of many a proud boast, were it the fashion of this country to boast of her warlike acquisitions. They were not, in general, acquired by stealthy encroachment on weak barbarians, but were the trophies of honest contest in the great European wars. The meaner functions of encroachment and op- pression had been performed by others, when, no sooner were the natives subdued, and the soil devoted to the service of the civilised oppressor, than behold in the next European war a stronger man has come and driven him out. Neaisly every European language is spoken by the original colonists of our settlements — Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and French ; but in no dependency of any foreign power is a victory over England represented by the original colonists speaking our tongue. We have restored captures which we might liave retained, but no foreign nation has acquired a territory that was colonised from Britain ; and it would only be a sequel to the history of colonisation, as it may now be read in the past, should Algeria, after the work of aggression and subju- 89 .1 EMIGRATION. gation has been accomplished, be ceded to Britain in the next European conflict. The mixed interests thus committed to our charge create a heavy responsibility, invoking a mildness and lirm justice in their control Avhich should be as eminent above all petty conflicting personal interests as the power finally victorious has been superior to those tliat have gone before it. British settlers — the descendants of the original foreign European colonies — the aborigines and imported slaves — are all more or less the elements of our colonial empire ; and we may feel assured that whenever the strong grasp by which they are held in peace and good -will towards each other is relaxed, the elements will resolve themselves into their natural state, and the stronger will press upon the weaker — the strongest of all crushing down all others. Apart from Hindostan — where A the function of the protector of the weak against the strong, and the gentle against the fierce, has been so signally and illustriously the function of the British government — what, we may ask, has made the Dutch Boers of the Cape rebel against the British rule, and migrate a thousand miles over dreary mountains to avoid its accursed shadow? — what but that our firm and equitable rule prohibits slavery ! WTiat envenomed the old leaders of discontent in Lower Canada but the impracticability of their enforcing the tyrannical seigneurial privileges of French feudalism ? And what ji has roused the discontent of the Saxon race there but the pro- «* tection of the feeble French peasantry from their domination ? ^ AVhy do the squatters of Australia grumble but because we will \ not send them cargoes of workmen to be their serfs ? f It is true that this strong and high-minded equity has its K inconveniences when applied to races inured to despotism or ^^^ slavery. All through the vast territory stretching inward from %► our colonies of Southern Africa the native races form but two ifCaCf* ■J liaiYifd 10 J CONTENTS. Pagk America — Divisions and Geography, _ _ > . x Emigration Districts, ----- 1-3 Climate, ------ 4. ^loney, ------ 4 Eecent Emigration, ----- 5 Cautions applicable to the Passage to various parts of America, G Canada, ------- 10 Divisions, Natural and Political, - - - 10 Topograph}', -- - - - - 11 Extent of choice to Settlers, - - - - 13 Towns, ------ 11-13 Methods of Transit — Lakes, Canals, and Koads. - - 14 The St Lawrence, ----- 15 Productions — Garden, - - - - - 16 Agriculture, Timber, &c. - - - - 16-18 Productions and TojKigraphical Divisions. - - 18 Lower or Eastern Canada, - - - - 18 Land System there, - - - - - 19, 20 Capabilities for Production, - - " - - 21 Upper or Western Canada, - - - - 23 Character of the several Districts, - - 23-25 Purchase and Lnprovement of Land, Prices, Terms, &c. 25-29 Eirst steps in choosing an Allotment, - - - 29 Question as to Clearing Forest Land, or buying Cleared, 31 Clearing, .----- 32 Progress, ..---- 33 Suitableness for Emigration, - - - - 34 Amount and Nature of Emigration. - - - 35, 36 Labour and Wages, _ - , - 37 ii'm AMERICA EinGRATION DISTRICTS. ^ •• nsists of two great divisions, North and South Ame- ; by an isthmus or neck of land. South America 1 settled by the Spanish and Portuguese nations, is .:..-. a .- :jv purposes of emigration from Britain. North Ame- i^mfiV^h the exception of Mexico, having been settled by the is on that account, as well as its generally temperate e tield to which the emigrant will more properly direct n. is bounded on the east by the Atlantic, and the west cific Ocean. Along its shores on the east lie various , for example, the West India group, and the Bahamas, tliese islands present scope for trading enterprise, and me places, for agricultural operations and for fishing, lOt come under the character of emigi-ation fields, and need not form a feature of our present inquiry. The equiring notice are chiefly those on the mainland of erica, and of these only a select portion come within t object. :^1)®MQ»o great emigration fields in North America are the Brit Waio^ sessions and the United States. The British possessions t») anada. New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia—the latter -1: ^ -ince Edward's Island. There is, indeed, another large • ^W^tiy belonging to Great Britain— namely, the Hudson's ^ e^toy ; but it is situated in the extreme north ; and being fihuost exclusively by hunters in quest of furs, is not or regular settlement. On the west coast lies Vancou- d, -Waicli also belongs to Great Britain : it has latterly AMERICA. been opened for immigration, and -will afterwards be nqticec some minor British fields of emigration. ,'./^' While the United States occupy the southern and nxicpne gions of North America, the British possessions are ii/th* nortb Each faces the Atlantic ; but the United States, besides having a very extensive front to this ocean, stretch across the Cj. inent at its broadest part, and present a border to the Pacific. T breadth of land, drawmg a straight line across the United States 3000 miles— an extent as great as the breadth of tlie Atlar.: Settled by parties of colonists principally under cli:irters fr. EHzabeth and James L, North America has now been occupied by an English people for a period of 250 years ; and is therefore entitled to be called an old country. Yet such is its vast size, that it is filled up to a comparatively small extent. The settled population extend, in diminishing density, only about halt-way across the continent to the Pacific, on which, as yet, there are only two or three settlements — one of these being the recently- established district of California. Although emigration to North America is proceeding at the rate of about 250,000 per.MHKAl, the accession is scarcely observable. Ample space is affqa^^ for all the inhabitants of Europe, and still there wu to spare. North America difiers in many respects from the othi of the globe. Nature is on a great scale. The di the country, magnificent in their extent, are a type of features — vast rivers and lakes, resembling inland frith lofty mountain- ranges, boundless forests, and far-stretchi^|^aities. The climate of so extensive a region is as varied as ^M^iviikJi prevails in Europe from Kussia to the MediterraneaxipJbiifAfe north, long winters and short fierce summers ; m the I^Mhi^l^ genial temperature of the tropics, and frost scarcely kn 'wni ,, - With the political history of North America all realer-ti^Ul less or more familiar. Only a few facts may here be notftl early English colonists had to contend first with intractal^t' of native Indians, and with the aggrandising efforts of tlntiSgtlK who fonned a line of settlements from Canada to Louis" a series of military campaigns, Engljtnd defeated the the most of their settlements, and added them to thi colonies. By what has ultimately proved a fortunate America and England, thirteen of the British Americ; revolted, gained their independence, and established as the United States, to which fresh additions har made. In this revolution of afi'airs the more norfl did not participate, and till this day they yield al^ej British crown. By the establishment of independerf^e, / :^ EMIGRATION DISTRICTS. on a career of prosperity and development of ' which they could have had no prospect under the dcadenuig tutelage of foreign control. The only subject of lamentation is the violence with which American independence was achieved, and the humiliation to which Great Britain was on the occasion exposed — circumstances which have left an unhappy impression on the traditions of the country that will not be soon obliterated. It will be seen, from these observations, that North America offers two distinct fields of emigration : one — namely, the British Possessions, in which the emigrant from the United Kingdom will r^Aain a subject of the crown, with all the attendant privileges of that character; the other being the United States, in which he becomes a citizen of a new power, and cuts all political connection vv-ith the country of his fathers. Let it be understood, however, that citizenship in the great North American repubhc infers to the poor man a certain gain in personal consequence, and that as the language, literature, and social usages of the States are Eng- lish, the exchange of country will cause no essential inconvenience. The expense of transit to the British possessions and to the States differs in so small a degree as to form no matter for serious con- sideration. One peculiarity attends emigration to both countries : this consists in the difficulty in reaching any suitable spot of settlement in the interior regions, after arriving at tlie place of landing. For the most part, as will be shewn under the proper heads, the emigrant who designs to be a cultivator of the soil has to travel by canal, or some other means, several hundreds of miles to the interior ; so that the cost of this inland journeying requires to be added to the expense of sea-passage, which it will generally double. Hence, although America is very much nearer to Great Britain than Australia, the actual money-outlay and loss of time in- curred by the emigrant may be nearly as great in going to the one as to the other. An exception to this general difficulty of reach- ing emigration fields m North America exists in the case of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and New Brunswick, all close upon tlie Atlantic. On this account these regions may be said to offer the readiest spot for settlement to which the emigrant can look — a circumstance of no small importance to the agriculturist with limited means at his disposal. The population of the whole British North American possessions may be estimated at two and a quarter millions. This is a popu- lation less than that of Scotland for a country larger than Great Britain, and equally fertile. Three things liave materially retarded settlement in these possessions — their general inaccessibility, the prevalence of dense forests, and the inclemency of then* wmters, 3 AMERICA. during which outdoor labour is suspended, and live-stock require to be housed. In consequence of the severity of the frost, all communication by water is closed diu-ing a considerable part of the year. To obviate this impediment, a railway has been pro- posed to be formed from a pomt on the coast, running through New Brunswick and Lower Canada towards the upper country, where settlers will locate. Surveys have been made of the pro- posed line, but as yet no commencement of tliis great work has been made. All countries lying in a state of natm*e, and covered with pri- mitive forests, possess a climate which ranges in extremes — fiercely hot summers and intensely cold winters. Such istlfe CAse to a remarkable degree with the climate of America in its more northern parts. Instead of that diffusive moderation which characterises the climate of similar latitudes in Europe, we find the North American climate ranging from the cold of the polar regions to the heat of the tropics. All, therefore, who are unpre- pared to endure great extremes should refrain from going to America. The extremes here spoken of, however, are not con- sidered to be more injurious to health than the climate of the British islands, where, with a moderate temperature, there is a •continual shifting from wet to dry, from haze to sunsliine. The very cold wmters of Nprth America are always spoken of as periods of exhilaration ; in commerce and agi'iculture they are inconvenient, but in matters of social concern they are generally preferred to those broken, plashy winters of England, which are so productive o? bronchial and other affections. Money. — Money may be safely transferred to North America, by depositing any given amount in banks in Great Britain, and receiving in exchange bills on certain banks in America, which will be paid on bemg presented. If cash in large sums be taken by emigrants, there is a chance of losing it ; whereas, if bank-bills be lost, their payment can be stopped until fresh bills are pro- cured. The prmcipal Scotch banks grant unexceptionable bills of this kind. "WTiether bills or cash be taken, they will bring a somewhat higher value than they bear in England. In the United States, the circidating medium is dollars in silver, resembling crown-pieces. The dollar, as will afterwards be more specially mentioned, is reckoned to be worth about 4s. 2d. Eng- lish. In the doUar are reckoned 100 cents. The copper cent is about the value of a halfpenny. The United States abound in bank-notes of the denomination of a dollar and upwards ; gi-eat caution will be required in taking this paper money. The British American possessions have also a peculiar currency. The same denominations are employed as in England, but tlie i EMIGRATION DISTRICTS. value is different. The money of Canada and the other colonies is stated in Halifax currency, v/hich is 16§ per cent, inferior to ster- ling money. Thence 5s. currency is equal to 4s. 2d. ; £1 currency is equal to 16s. 8d. ; and £100 currency is equal to £83, 6s. 8d. The English sovereign is valued at £1, 4s. 4d. ; the crown at 6s. Id. ; and the shilling at Is. 3d. AU prices and wages are of course reckoned in currency. Therefore when a working-man is told he will receive 4s. a day of wages, the actual value of this 4s. is only 3s. sterling. This distinction between sterling and cur- rency will soon be learned, and is of less consequence to the labouring-classes than the practice of paying wages in goods. Tlie most serious complaints are made on this subject. From all we can learn, it is not unusual for an employer, in places remote from towns, to pay his workmen by an order for goods on a store corresponding to the amount bargained for ; and sucli is the high price at which articles are generally sold when such orders are presented, that sometimes a workman, instead of getting 4s. a day, does not in reality get more goods than he could buy in England for Is. 6d. Thus an apparently high sum dwindles down to a trifle. Emigrants will require to be on their guard against these practices ; they will ascertain whether they are to be paid in money or goods, and act accordingly. Recent Emigration. — The rate of emigration to North America has been stated to be about 250,000 per annum. i\Iuch the larger portion of this flood of emigrants is to the United States, and cliiefly through New York. From whatever country they come, the emigrants are welcomed, and acquire the right of citizenship. About three -fifths of the emigrants are from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but chiefly from Ireland. The remaining two-fifths are from Germany, floUand, Norway, Sweden, Switzer- land, and France — principally from Germany. There is no accu- rate statement respecting the final settlement of emigrants : many who land at New York settle in Canada, and many who arrive at Quebec and Montreal push across Canada to the States. Only one thing is certain : the United States are preferred by the larger nu.naber, and that very much in consequence of the more easy acquisition of land. Political considerations are not believed to exert any preponderating influence on the m.inds of the emi- gi-ating classes. Passage. — Emigrant ships for America sail from almost every port of any consequence ; and advertisements of their period of departure may be seen in any newspaper. At each principal port is a government emigration agent to superintend the shipping of emigrants. He may be applied to in the event of any necessity for seeking counsel or recess. The charge for a cabin passage, AMERICA. including provisions, to Quebec, New Brunswick, or New York, is from £12 to £20. For an intermediate cabin passage, with pro- visions, £7 to £10; without provisions, £5 to £7. For a steerage passage, with full allowance of provisions, £5 to £6 ; without pro- visions beyond the legal allowance, £3 to £4. The passages are cheapest from the Irish ports ; but the crowding is usually greater, and the accommodation less comfortable. The best season to emigrate to America is in March or April. Lumber Trade. — Formerly persons emigrated to the British American colonies with a view to cutting down timber, and selling it to merchants for shipment to Great Britaia. This lumber trade attained importance in consequence of the admission of colonial timber at a considerably less duty tlian foreign timber. Altera- tions in the timber-duties have nearly ruined this trade ; and for this cause, as well as the dissolute character of the lumbering pro- fession, emigrants are cautioned against adventuring in it. Cautions and Advices. — By the Emigration Commissioners the following cautions and advices are published relative to the pas- sages of emigrants to any of the North American colonies, and the means of settlement : — * Caution against proceeding to Xew Brunswick, vTnter snows ; the bourossou, a russet and highly -flavoured keeping apple; the pomrae-gris, or gray apple, also excellent, with many other varieties of inferior kinds — such as codlings, little red-streaks, &c. * The pears were of two kinds — one, the little early yellowy-and the other a small hard one, but neither good. * Of plums, there were the greengage and egg plum, the bullace, the common blue and the common yellow plum, but none of them possessing the taste of those in Fi-ance or England, and more fit for preserves than for the table. * Of grapes I had only the Isabella, and these were not productive, requiring in this climate great care and management. * Of cherries, the Kentish and the Morello ; the sour Kentish is, however, the common fruit of the country, and very little pains has been taken to improve the stock. * Raspberries, red and white ; gooseberries, large and small, rough and smooth-skinned ; the red, the white, and the black currant were in profusion, and yielded abimdantly. *0f strawberries, there were several of the European varieties, but they have not the rich flavour of their originals: in fact, the wild Canadian strawberry, though smaller, is better, and makes a richer preserve.' The settler, however, in a new country generally despises the mere luxuries of the garden, and considers the main staff of life and the exportable produce. The main indigenous production of the soil in Canada is timber. Some account of the position of the lumberer, or timber-cutter, will be found fm-ther on. There is a large pro- duce of potash from the burning of the felled trees. At the same time there is a considerable production of sugar from the tapping of the maple-trees : from six to seven million of pounds are pro- 16 duced annually. ' Some trees,' says J\Ir Johnston, in liis Notes on North America, ' yield three or four pounds — a pound being the estimated yield of each coulisse or tap-hole — and some trees being large and strong enough to bear tapping in several places. Some years also are much more favourable to this crop than others, so that the estimate of a pound a tree is taken as a basis which, on the whole, may be relied on as fair for landlord and tenant. These trees are rented out to the sugar-makers at a rent of one- fifth of the produce, or one pound for every five trees.' The same gentleman states that in Upper Canada the sugar weather is more variable, and the crop less certain — probably from the vicinity of the lakes — than in Lower Canada. Besides being an article of produce which the settler may look for in the micleared portion of his allotment, maple-sugar is a produce of the untrodden forest, where, like any other of the wild bounties of nature, it is sought by adventurers, who take with them their pots and buckets at the proper season. In the cleared and agricultural districts grain will be the staple production of the Canadas ; and the clearer of waste lands may confidently, since the repeal of the corn-laws, look to this crowded empire as an unfailing market for his produce. Indian com is, as in the northern parts of the United States, an abundant and tlierefore generally a satisfactory crop ; but the main agricid- tural production of the land coming into cultivation Avill doubtless be wheat. The upper province is the most suitable for wheat, and, according to Mr Johnston, the best samples ' are grown on a belt of some twelve miles broad, which skirts the lake from Niagara round as far as the town of Cobourg, which is about a hundred miles west of Kingston.' From Mr Johnston's book, and other authorities, however, it is clear that though wheat be the most valuable crop under an enlightened system of fanning, its immediate prospects are not good, from the exhausting system pursued, and the land receiving little or no artificial aid. He mentions Prince Edward's district, where the land has in some places been wheat-cropped for fifty years, without any other aid than a ton of gypsum per year to a whole farm. Under such a system Canada is not likely to be the immediate granary it is supposed to be, and, indeed, the lower province lias already become an importing district : the staple com- modity which supports the country, and enables it to purcliase of its neighbours, being the lumber trade. It is known . that the changes on the timber-duties are supposed to have an effect on this article of production. It was our policy to charge a high and almost prohibitive duty on the timber of foreign countries for the sake of our provinces. Now, though there is still an inequality, both sets of duties are low. How far this may affect the question of cropping it would perhaps be premature to decide. Hitherto, B 17 AMERICA. however, the nature of the Canadian land has not been to afford any vahiable commodity other than timber until it has been cleared and worked, and the agricultural productions fall to be con- sidered, to a considerable extent, under the subject of the brmging in of land (p. 27.) Cattle and sheep will spread as the country becomes cleared, and necessarily connect themselves with the farming rotations. Though not naturally a sheep country, yet the quantity of wool exported from the Canadas approaches two and a half millions of pounds. Building-stone and clay abound in the provinces, but the pro- fuse abundance of timber is a great inducement to its employ- ment in all buildings and fences in the country. The mineral resources of the provinces are considerable — coal and iron occur in various places ; and a joint-stock company was incorporated for working the coal even in Gaspd, the cold, distant peninsula which stretches out to the ocean between New Brunswick and the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence. There are iron-works at Marmora on the Trent, and in other districts. The abundance of wood for smelting gives all opportunity for taking advantage of the supply of this mineral ; but very little is yet known of its probable extent — it is not one of the main productions of the colony. There are rich copper ores in various parts of the colony, and indications have been found of other minerals — such as galena or blacklead, and gold. The indigenous animals of the colony will be noticed in connec- tion with the clearing of land. Canada is not one of the great North American fishing colonies. Yet the company embodied to work the coal in Gaspe at the same time took powers for conduct- ing fishmg operations there. TOPOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. It will be observed, by a glance at a map, that the Eastern or French district lies in general farther north than the Western. It is thus subject to a longer and deeper winter; and as the coldness is looked upon as one of the general disadvantages of Canada as a settlement, it would require some counteracting advantages, which it does not possess, to compete with the newer districts beyond the Ottawa. It is at the same time the more mountainous part, the St Lawrence being bounded, on the north side espe- cially, by steep rugged hills, affording openings for large streams to fall into the main river or its gulf. On neither side of the gulf are there settlements to any noticeable extent, and on the northern bank, the forest-clad mountains merge into the inlios- 13 CANADA. pitable deserts of Labrador. From the mouth of the river up- ^vards to the Ottawa, the banks are more or less settled, but the inland regions are little known. The garden of Eastern Canada is the westernmost territory on the south of the St Law- rence, and west of the Chaudiere, meeting the United States at the lately -established boundary. The scenery is varied, being partly mountainous, partly richly- cultivated plain and valley. The French settlers have at aU events given a rich, lifelike, old- settled appearance to their districts, from the garden-like cultiva- tion, the fences, the villages, and the churches. Indolent as they are, they give a country a more highly-cultivated air than British settlers, since, instead of covering a large space, and taking the greatest amoimt of produce with the least outlay of labour and capital — the most economic way of working a new country — they are content, with the simplest hand-labour, to extract the utmost from their small holdings. Their long, lean swine, and their use of the old starvation system generally for their live-stock, attract the unsparing ridicule of our tourists, especially those who are adepts in agriculture. The west is the popular field of British settlement ; but Sir Kichard Bonnycastle thinks that among the best speculations for a man not ambitious of making a vast clear- ing, would be the purchase of holdings, with all their feudal incon- veniences, from the Jmbitans, at the rate at which they are gene- rally obtainable. The feudal tenure of land, which applies to a large portion of Eastern Canada, is a matter of importance to the intending emi- grant, as it doubtless is to the Canadians themselves. It is said that this system is in force over about eleven millions of acres of land — part of it of course unproductive. This system is a very remarkable relic of the old feudal law of France. It foUows the ' Custom of Paris ' — a collection of laws completely obsolete in the capital whose name they bear. The French land system is now as opposite to the feudal as it can be made, estates having been brought as near as possible into the position of goods and chattels. Such has been the effect of the Revolution in the parent country; while, under a government like ours, stiU partly feudal, it has been found impracticable to get the feudal habits of the colonists reason- ably modified. By this system a tract of land was granted by the crown to a seigneur, or lord of a manor, who might distribute it to tenants or vassals. These lordships or seigneuries were more or less in extent. Of old the seigneur was a feudal judge within his lands ; but this power being inconsistent with our notions of the supremacy of the crown, has been for some time obsolete. There were thus two kinds of estate — that of the seignem* or overlord, who held directly of the cro'SN-n, and that of the rotourier or tenant, 19 AilERICA. holding of tlie seigneur. Each party paid certain fees and casual- ties, as they are called, to his superior — the crown in the one case, the seigneur in the other. Thus a quint or fifth became payable to the sovereign on a seigneur parting with his estate, and relief, equi- valent to a revenue for one year, was payable on its changing hands by the succession of a collateral relation. The feudal dues from these various estates are numerous and peculiar, and have a great influence on the character and value of the property. Thus it is remarked, on sailing along the St Lawrence and other rivers, that the farms are narrow stripes passing lengthways from the bank of the river; and the peculiarity is explained by a feudal tax being laid on the frontage, according to the old measurement, called the arpent. As the seigneurial lands pay certain casualties or penal- ties on changing hands, so do those of the vassals, according to a somewhat minute and complex arrangement. In general, too, the commerce in land is hampered by a right of pre-emption on the part of the seigneur. There are many little casualties payable in the form of farm produce — pigs, fowls, measures of grain, &c. It is worthy of remark, that the phraseology applicable to sucli feudal taxes is still kept up in Britain ; and especially in Scotland ; but the economising and utilitarian spirit of the country has led to their being almost invariably commuted mto fixed money payments, while the hahitans of Canada like to retain them in their pristine inconvenience. There were seigneurial rights connected with the cutting of timber and the produce of fisheries, while the grain required to be ground at the seigneur's mill, paying to him a certain share as his feudal tax. On the other hand, the seigneur was under certain obligations to his vassal, or rather to the land which his vassal cultivated. These obligations referred to the making of roads, and to the vassal's privilege to obtain, on the fixed conditions, so much waste or forest land. It has been maintained by some writers of this country, that if left in its native purity the system is a good one ; that it establishes mutual rights and obligations tending to make a social system in each estate, and to concentrate population and agi'icultm-e in each seigneury; and that it is British interference alone that has exposed its defects. It may be admitted that it is a suitable arrangement for tlie French, since they will not part with it. An act was passed in 1825, giving facilities, as it were, for the system being worked oft" by the mutual agreement of parties. Mucli fault has, however, been found with this measure, since it is stated that the hahitans in general would not take advantage of its arrangements to alter their system of tenure, and that it only practically relaxed the counter- obligations on the seigneurs. 20 CANADA. Near Quebec the land which has been occupied by these French settlers sells high. Mr Johnston mentions a farmer in that neighbourhood who paid £75 currency per acre. But there is uncleared land at no great distance as cheap as in other dis- tricts. ' Formed,' says ilr Johnston m his Notes on North America^ ' from softish, somewhat calcareous slates, which in many places are near the surface, and crumble readily, the soil is inclined to be heavj^, and rests often on an impervious bottom. Drainage, therefore, generally, and the use of lune in many places, are indicated as means of improvement. The latter, if I may judge by the frequent limekdns I passed on my way to Mont- morency, is tried to some extent by the farmers around Quebec' Near the Kamouraska Bays there is said to be much rich flat land easily procurable, but sharing in the unpopularity v\^hicliwith British settlers infects the eastern province generally. I\Ir John- ston, as usual, urges draining and improving. ' Though marshy,' he says, 'I was informed that this flat is exceedingly healthy — as most places in Lower Canada and New Brunswick are said to be — even where in Great Britain fever and ague would inevitably prevail. But nevertheless, for agricultural reasons, it is a lit locality for the introduction of a general thorough drainage. The narrow nine-foot ridges so common in Canada, the open furrows between them, and the large main drains or ditches around the fields, ai^e all insufficient to remove the water which falls and accumulates in the land. To keep the two sets of open ditches in order must here, as elsewhere, annually cost much more than the interest of the sums which the construction of covered drains would require.' Mr Johnston has expressed a high opinion of the capabilities of the land near Montreal. The farm-laud near the river he states to produce per acre from twenty to thirty-five bushels of wheat, and from forty to sixty of oats — moderate amounts in this country, but considerably above the ordinary capacity of emigration fields. He values the land when it is good, well in heart, and with sufficient buildings on it, at £16 sterling per acre. He particularises in this garden of Canada the farm of Mr Penner, on which there are from forty to fifty acres in hops, which tlu-ive, producing from 800 to 1000 pounds weight per acre. ' Here,' says Mr Johnston, ' as in our own hop-grounds, and in those of Flanders, they require high manuring ; and thus, as a general article of culture, they are beyond the skill of the manure- neglecting French Canadians, and the equally careless British and Irish emigrant settlers. This rich hop-ground is worth £40 an acre.' Mr Johnston found in this neighbourhood some farmers of the 21 AMEKICA. old Scotch school, and he quotes their precept thus : * Lay tlie land dry, then clean and manure — make straight furrows — clean out your ditches — take off the stones, and plough deepish."^ ' AYitli these good mechanical principles,' he says, ' industriously carried out, they have greatly surpassed the French Canadian farmers ; and with the possession of good Ayrshire stock, and the growth of a few turnips, and of mangold -wurzel, which does well even with the early winters of Lower Canada, they have raised good crops, extended the arable land of their faiTns, and kept up its condition.' Fmding the land, which near the river especially is rich, loamy, and easily worked, drained by open ditches and cross furrows, he recommends tile - draining. This opens the great question — how far it is more economical in such a country to lay out additional labour and capital on the land in use, or to apply the labom' and capital to virgin soil ? It is impossible to make an absolute rule. Each tract of country must be considered by itself, and by the views and objects of its settlers. If the agricultu- rist will draw more produce for his capital and labour in new fields than by working up his old, it will not be easy to get him to abandon the more profitable course, and take to the less pro- fitable. At the same time it is beyond doubt tliat he may, by exhausting a large tract of country with scourging crops, find that he has outwitted himself by makmg haste to be rich. His judgment and knowledge must decide tlie matter on a view of all circumstances. Of tile-draining, as applicable to these lands, Mr Johnston says : ' Although here, as in the state of New York, the cost may appear large when compared with the total value of the land, and the increase of price which, after tile-draining, would be obtained for it in the market, yet, if from the cost be deducted the annual outlay which must be incurred to keep the ditches and cross furrows open, the actual expense of the permanent tile- drainage will rapidly disappear. AVhen a man settles on such land, therefore, as requires the maintaining of open ditches — with the view of retaining it say only ten or twelve years — he wiU, in most cases, find his pecuniary profit greater at the end of the term, although the price he then sells his land for should really be no greater. Intimately connected with this is the question : whether capitalists farming, by a large expenditure on hired labour, or what may be called domestic farming — the settler and his family doing the whole, or nearly the whole — will be most produc- tive ? ^Ir Johnston seems to point at a medium. He says : ' It is conceded that a man with 100 acres in cultivation, doing one- half the work by the hands of his own family, and employing hired labour to do the rest, may make both ends meet ; but if a larger farm is to be worked by the same home force, with a larger 22 CANADA. number of hired labourers, it is a question whether it can be done in average years so as to pay. The doubt arises not merely from the high price, but from the alleged, and I believe real, inferior quality of tlie agricultural labour, chiefly Irish, wliich a farmer is able to procure.' One of the reasons why the Eastern Province is unpopular as an emigration field may be, that the settler passing through it sees it have the appearance of being thickly settled. The habitans are very neighbourly, and, at a sacrifice to the convenience of their farm operations, live near the high road, which is thus lined with houses running in long strings, separated from each other by a field or two. It is the way in France, except that there the peasantry live in clumps called villages — m Canada they live in streaks along the road. Thus the Scottish and even the English emigrant thinks the district is not for him, as it seems more tliickly peopled than even the country he has left. But in reality only a tritlmg portion of Lower Canada is brought into cultivation. At the back of the farms which line the highway, the primeval forest often comes close down. Taking together the counties of Bellechasse, LTslet, Kamouraska, and Rimouski, of 11,593 square miles, but 4094 have been surveyed, so that nearer two- thirds than a half of the land has not gone through the first step for settlement — in fact, is not known except perhaps to the lumberer, and not explored. Even of what is surveyed, it is only a portion that is even granted ; and Mr Johnston, a good authority, states, that of land granted, above two-thirds is stiU uncleared. Leaving Easter Canada, and taking the districts of the western province, the chief emigration field, successively, it will be seen that the angle of junction of the Ottawa with the St Lawrence is occupied by the Eastern district, and that of the Ottawa, Dal- housie, Bathm'st, and Johnstown. The general character of the land bordering on the Ottawa does not make it the most suitable for the farmiug settler, as it is considered cold and wet, and the timber trade is the chief occupation of the inhabitants. There is in Ottawa, at Hawkesbury, a timber-sawing establishment, giv- ing employment to above 200 hands. Costly works have been carried on, by slides and dams, to facilitate the transit tlu'ough the Ottawa River; but it is still tedious and imperfect. The Eastern District is one of the old settled countries, having a popu- lation exceeding 30,000, and has but a comparatively small quan- tity of crown-land for disposal. The same may be said as to the good and available land of Johnstown district, which contains a population exceeding 40,000. The Rideau Canal runs through the north-west portion ; but much of the land which would other- AMEEICA. wise be valuable from its vicinity to the canal or the lakes, is said to be cold and stony. Dailiousie and Bathurst — the latter espe- cially — are reported to contain large tracts of forest land. The district town of Perth, in Bathurst, Avas founded in the year 1816, with the river Tay connecting it, by means of expensive works, with tlie Rideau Canal. In Dalhousie, near the Chaudiere Falls of the Ottawa, is the still more important and flourishing town of Bytown, witli a gi*eat lumber trade, and about 7000 inhabitants. The land on which the lower town is built was bought a few years ago for £80, and was lately computed as worth many thousand pounds. The Midland District, which is the next towards the west, contains the important towii of Kingston. Much of the known land in this district is said to bft inferior ; but along with the next district, Victoria, it runs into distant northern tracts, far from water-carriage, wliere, if the land has been surveyed at all, it has been so very recently. A considerable stretch of the surveyed land, of good quality, may, it is believed, be obtained in Victoria at the usual government price. Marble and excellent building stone occur in these districts ; and in Victoria there is iron and lithographic stone. The Newcastle District luas a large frontage to Lake Ontario ; while its eastern dividing-line is washed by Rice Lake and the Trent. It is of varied character, part of it having been settled for a considerable time, and producing heavy gTain crops. Part of the land is of the rolling prairie character, and a portion consists of ' oak plains.' The latter were believed to be comparatively worthless and unproductive ; but under a skil- ful system of clearing and culture, they have been found rich and productive, and have brought a high price_even when uncleared. Behind this is the Colbome District, stretching into the unsur- veyed country, but having by a series of lakes a ready communi- cation with the Trent and Lake Ontario. It is .i great lumber district, and at the same time has a large supply of waste crown- lands for disposal. Immediately westward is the vast district of Simcoe, touching Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Its population at the census of 184*2 was but 12,592, but it must since then have greatly increased. Great tracts of government land stand for sale ; the quality is believed to be- very productive, but the want of roads and other means of communication is a great drag on the progress of improvement. Along with the next district, "Welling- ton, it will be the means of communication, through Lake Huron, with the great north-western provinces. TVeUington, enjoying the advantage of bemg watered by the Grand River, contains some valuable old settlements, and is traversed by good roads. Ic is partly a rolling coimtry, but contains at least a sufficiency of timber— hardwood, beech, oak, elm, and pine. Guelph, the 2-t CANADA. district town, is described as flourishing, healthy, and placed in the middle of a richly-cultivated country. The population of the district is not large, but several of the settlers are understood to be wealthy. Whether for the purchase of waste land, of which there must still be a considerable quantity, or of improved clearings, this would appear to be one of the most promising dis- tricts. To the west and south, and approaching nearer to the Niagara centre, are the districts of Huron, Brock, and Gore. If there be any crown-lands still for sale in these districts, they will be in Huron, where the Canada Company have also large stretches at their disposal. The neighbouring districts of Talbot and Niagara are comparatively old settlements, with no government land for disposal. The remaining districts between the Huron and Erie are the London and Western. The former contains some of the most flourishing of the modern settlements. The latter has many advantages in valuable land, and means of communi- cation by water, and will be one of the most available districts for new settlers. PURCHASE AND IMPROVEMENT OF LAND. The parliament of Canada, almost immediately after the union in 1841, made arrangements for the disposal of public lands. It prohibited free grants, valuing those which had been issued but not made available, at 4s. currency per acre. The right to these old grants is represented by scrip-certiticates ; and it would appear that they may be sold, as they are referred to as land-scrip in the note of the terms for disposal of land quoted below. The act provided that the price of the public lands should be from time to time fixed by the governor in council, who was empowered to make arrange- ments for granting lands as compensation for the making of roads. Tn paying the price of the land to the district agent, it was pro- vided that the purchaser shall receive letters -patent as his title without farther fee. There is thus no arbitrary price fixed by the home government for the disposal of the waste lands, as in the case of the Australian colonies. The price will vary from time to time, according to circumstances. It does not appear, however, that any alteration has been made since the year 1841 ; and the terms then adopted are set forth as follows, with instructions for the guidance of purchasers, by the Emigi-ation Commissioners in their circular for 1851 : — 'By a provincial act of 1841, crown-lands are to be sold at a price to be from time to time fixed by the governor in council. The prices fixed for the present are as follows : — AMERICA. In Canada East (Lower Canada), for lands situated south of River St Lawrence, down to River Chaudi^re and Kennebec Road, and includ- ing the township of Newton, county of Yaudreuil, - 4s. per acre. County of Ottawa — Lands in townships previously advertised, - - 4s. Lands in townships to be hereafter advertised, - os. East of River Chaudifere and Kennebec Road, and in- cluding the counties of Bonaventure and Gaspe, - 2s. I^orth of River St Lawrence, from westerly limit of county of Two Mountains, down to easterly limit of county of Saguenay, 2s. ... * One-fourth of the purchase-money will be payable in five years from the date of purchase. The remaining three- fourths in three equal instalments, at intervals of two years between each, all with interest. ' No person will be allowed to purchase on those terms more than 100 acres. 'The purchaser must clear, on taking possession, one-half the width of the road on the whole front of his land; and within four years from the date of purchase, one - tenth part of the lot, and must reside thereon. ' No patent will be issued to the purchaser until it is satisfactorily proved that the above-mentioned settlement duties have been duly performed, nor until the whole of the purchase-money and interest is paid up. In the meantime no timber must be cut without a licence, except for clearing the land, or for farm purposes. * Applications to purchase land are to be made to the respective local agents in the colony. ^For Canada West (Upper Canada), 8s. currency (about 6s. 7d. sterling) per acre. * These prices do not apply to lands resumed by government for non-performance of the conditions of settlement on which they were granted, under a former system, now abolished, nor to lands called Indian Reserves, and Clergy Reserves ; which three classes are, as weU as town and village lots, subject to special valuation. * The size of the lots of country lands is usually 200 acres ; but they are sold as frequently by lialf as whole lots. ' The following are the conditions of sale at present in force, as regards land in Canada West : — ' 1. The lots are to be taken at the contents in acres marked in the public documents, without guarantee as to the actual quantity contained in them. *2. No payment of purchase -money will be received by instal- ments ; but the whole purchase-money, either in money or land-scrip, must be paid at the time of sale. ' 3. On the payment of the purchase-money, the purchaser will receive a receipt, which wiU entitle him to enter on the land which he has purchased, and arrangements will be made for issuing to him the patent without delay. * The receipt thus given not only authorises the purchaser to take 26 CANADA. immediate possession, but enables him, under the provisions of the Land Act, to maintain legal proceedings against any wrongful pos- sessor or trespasser, as effectually as if the patent deed had issued on the day the receipt is dated. ' Government land-agents are appointed ia the several municipal districts, with full power to sell to the first applicant any of the advertised lands which the return, open to public inspection, may shew to be vacant within their districts.' One of the means of acquiring waste land in Canada is by buying from the Canada Land Company or the North American Land Company. The former body, which has conducted large operations, was established by charter in 1826. The company purchased about two and a half millions of acres of land from the government (2,484,413), all in Upper Canada, a million being on the borders of Lake Huron, for the sum of £348,680. The chairman of the company, on examination before the House of Commons' Committee of 1841 on Highland Destitution, when desired to state the object of the company, explained simply that it was ' the resale of that land, and the outlay of capital to improve it, so as to obtain a profit on the sale of the land.' The company sells its land according to what it deems the market value ; and the chairman stated the range of its prices to be so wide as between 5s. and 35s. an acre. Their lands are partly in scattered lots of about 200 acres each, and in blocks. The largest of these is the Huron block of 1,000,000 acres, now containing a population of 26,000. The other blocks are from 3000 to 4000 acres in the Western District. Li their latest documents the company advertise their lands at the following prices, stated in currency. They state them with reference to the new division into counties, but it is more convenient here to take them by the old topographical division, which is laid down in the ordinary maps. The amounts are stated in currency (see above, p. 4) per acre : Huron Tract, from 12s. 6d. to 20s. ; Western District, from 8s. 9d. to 20s. ; London, Brock, and Talbot Dis- tricts, from 20s. to 30s.; Gore District, from lis. 3d. to 20s.; Wellington, from 15s. to 25s. ; Home and Simcoe Districts, 8s. 9d., and upwards; Newcastle, Colborne, Midland, and Victoria Districts, from 8s. 9d. to 15s. ; Johnstown District, from 2s. to 15s. ; Bathurst, Eastern, Ottawa, and Dalhousie Districts, from 2s. to 12s. 6d. The company disposes of land by lease for nine years, at a per- centage on its value. ^Tien the price is 2s. an acre, 100 acres may be thus hired at 10s. ; when the price is 3s. 6d. an acre, the rent of 100 acres is 12s. ; when it is 5s. an acre, 18s. ; and so on in an ascending scale. "VMien the price of the land is 17s. 6d. an acre, the rent of 100 acres is £4, 2s. 6d. 27 AJIERICA. The Canada Company obtained returns in 1840 regarding the progress of the settlers, stating what they were understood to be worth when they entered on their holdings, and what they had since acquired. The object was said to be to test the capacity of the settlers to pay the instalments that would be required of them, and the returns were laid before parliament in the Report of the Committee on Highland Destitution in 1841. They go over the period from the commencement of the company's operations to 1840, about 22 years. One table referred to 724 settlers in 38 town- ships. Of these, 337 had originally no property, and were com- puted to be worth £110,228, 9s. 6d., or, on an average, £334, 17s. 9d. a head. Another class, consisting of 89 settlers — the term ' settler' applies either to a solitary individual or the head of a settling family — originally possessing each less than £20, had collectively £38,213, 10s. 6d.— an average per head of £429, 7s. 3d. A third class, consisting of 298 persons, when they arrived had on an average each £111, 19s. lOd., and were collectively in possession of £169,304, Is. 9d.— being an average of £568, 2s\ 8d. per head. The company have lately issued a no less instructive statement — that between the beginning of 1844 and 31st December 1850, they have been the channel of remitting from emigi-ant settlers £77,661 to their friends in Britain, chiefly for the purpose of enabling them to emigrate. Besides the Canada and British American Company, another body, called The North Americ?an Colonial Association of Ire- land, was formed a few years ago for the acquisition and disposal of lands. It directed its attention chiefly to the eastern province. This body purchased the large seigneurial estate of Beauharnois, containing about eight square leagues. In a dispatch from Lord Sydenham to the Colonial Secretary in 1841, he says : ' I under- stand that their eflbrts will be directed to the improvement of this property by the direct expenditure of capital there, or by advances to the local authorities for the construction of roads and commu- nications, and to affording assistance to the provisional govern- ment in providing means by which some of the great improve- ments in contemplation may be effected. Likewise, that it is not their intention to speculate in wild lands.' According to the general accounts given by Mr Smith in his ' Canadian Gazetteer,' a work which the emigrant will find sig- nally useful, improved lands may be had in the Victoria District at from £4 to £7 an acre ; in Newcastle District, from £2, 10s. to £5 — some farms being as high as £10; in the Colborne District the prices will vary from £2 to £6, according to distance from the towns, while wild land may be had as low as from 4s. to 5s. in the less approachable parts; in the Gore District, cleared land will 28 CANADA. range as liigh as from £5 to £10 ; in the Wellington District, the amount will be from £3 to £8 ; in Niagara, from £2 to £8 ; -while in the Brock District the range will rise from £4 to £10 ; in London, from £4 to £8. The quantity of land surveyed in "Western Canada is estimated at 18,153,219 acres. Of this quantity, it is calculated that a mil- lion and a half remain on hand. About ten and a half millions liave been miscellaneously disposed of. The clergy reserves forai 2,407,687 ; the reserves for educational purposes exceed half a million ; the Indian reserves are 808,540 ; and the Canada Com- pany held, as -sVe have seen, about two millions and a half. The unsurveyed lands are estimated at thirteen millions and a half. The late movements relative to the clergy reserves will of course tend to bring a new breadth of available land into the market. CHOICE OF AN ALLOTMENT, AND SUBSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS. The first steps to be taken by the intending purchaser of land on his arrival are of the simplest kind. He calls on the govern- ment agent and makes his inquiries as to the allotments surveyed and for sale, or seeks general information. This will be a proper step, whether he intend to clear for himself or buy a farm. According as his intentions may turn to the Western or Eastern province, to the bush or cleared land, he will make inquiry of the agents of the three land companies mentioned above. The advice generally given by old colonists to those following in their footsteps, is not to be in a hurry to buy land ; but to lie by, gain experience, and see how matters stand. It is almost needless to remark, that if it be possible, the settler should see the land he proposes to purchase, and examine it deliberately with a view to its eligibility. Any man will know how a lot stands as to means of communication, but it requires a practised eye to understand the productiveness of the soil ; and if it be possible, the uninitiated emigrant will obtain the assistance of a well-informed friend. Should he trust to his own resources — if his land contains beaver meadow, or dry alluvium from water subsidence, he may conclude that it is valuable. In general, however, he will have to judge of tlie capability of the soil by the character, size, and healthiness of the timber. A settler on the Huron Tract, in a pamphlet called ' The Life of a Backwoodsman,' says : * The forest consists of a variety of trees — such as maple, beech, elm, bass wood, ironwood, cherry, hickory, white ash, and butter- 20 AMERICA. nut, which grow on drj' land ; and when seen to be tall, and branch- ing only near the top, denote the quality of the land to be good. If low in size, and scraggy, the soil is clayey and cold, and inclined to be wettish ; and in this situation will be found the birch. It is a tree which grows healthy and strong (often found from two to tlirec feet in diameter) in land inclined to be wet at the spot where it grows. It is sometimes a mark to discover a spring of water. Tlie birch •will almost always be found near a spring. The trees which grow on wet and swampy lands are the oak, pine, hemlock, tamarack, black ash, and cedar ; but the pine and hemlock are found also on dry soil. Consider thousands and tens of thousands of acres covered with trees of the above kinds. Maple, beech, elm, and basswood, are the kinds which grow most numerous, and on good land are sure to be found growing tall, and from one foot to three and four in diame- ter. There will be found in dry sandy plains and hills the oak and pine. "When the oak grows on soil not sandy, it is apt to be clayey ground In order to direct an emigrant to choose a lot of land, the following marks may be noted : — First, get, if possible, a lot with a small running stream (called a creek) on it, or a spring of water. Every lot has not a creek or spring on it ; but water can be got by digging ; and the well, when dug, ought to be lined or walled up with stones. I have known wells built up square with logs ; but this may be done above where the water rises to ; from the surface of the water and under, stone should be used. Second, observe that tall and strong timber, fi-ee of rotten branches or an unhealthy look, grows on good land — I mean elm, maple, beech, basswood, and cherry, and the other timber previously mentioned as growing on dry land. Throughout the bush, on both good and bad land, w^ill be found the lifeless trunk standing ready to fall, ** where it must lie." A lot of land should not be rejected if a corner of it, even fifteen acres, is covered with black ash, pine, or cedar. For fencing the cleared fields, black ash and cedar are invaluable. For boards (lumber, as commonly termed) and shingles the pine is more valu- able. Where the land is undulating — that is, rising and falling — it is likely to be good. "Where the butternut and cherry are, the land is rich ; but maple and basswood, with the elm, denote the same : if much beech, the land is lighter, but a warmer soil. The more "knolly" the land is (the knolls or small hills being caused by the ''turn up" of the trees in falling) the better the soil. "Where these are not much seen, the soil is apt to be clayey. The emigrant, how- ever, will find a superior surface mould at which to try his hand and his plough.' Whoever glances at a map of Canada will see that, nnlike many emigration fields, the uncleared forest is not far distant from the settled, cleared, and inhabited districts. The St Lawrence and the lakes may be considered as a street passing through the strip of comitrj\ Near the edge of the water are the settled districts — the forest is behind : not that the settler is limited in his choice CANADA. to the immediate neighbourhood. He may proceed up by the Rideau, and settle by its side, or on the banks of the Ottawa ; or he may pass from Toronto to Lake Simcoe or Georgian Bay, or bevond the London Settlement to the Huron Tract. He is not, however, driven to unapproachable places ; and need not, like the Australian squatter, go hundreds of miles away from neighbours. Still, while he has communication by roads, or the great natural highways with the centres of colonial civilisation, the bushman is almost the more lonely of the two. He has more access to the means of procuring the necessaries or luxuries of life, but not of having society ; for in the midst of the lonely forest it is of little more consequence to him that there are feUow-mortals a few miles distant, with the pathless wilderness of trees between, than if they were so many hundreds of miles off. At the same time, the cheerfulness of a wide prospect around, and the presence of herds or flocks — a sort of companionship in themselves to the Australian squatter — ^are wanting. From these and some other considerations, the proposing settler who takes out a moderate sum to Canada should weigh well the question whether he shall buy a clearing in a pleasant neighbour- hood, or proceed and clear in the bush. He must consider whether he can stand the extremes of heat and cold, damp and exposure of all kinds, and almost ceaseless labour. He must also consider whether he can resist, in such circumstances of loneliness and fatigue, temptations to intemperance. The distance of the squat- ting districts in Australia from towns and distilleries renders it extremely difficult to procure ardent spirits there. But it is other- wise in the backwoods of Canada, where drunkenness is the lonely settler's curse and ruin. Many a man who, in the cheerfulness, and with the restraints of social life, never felt himself liable to such a fate, has become a victim in the bush. In creeks and inlets of the lakes, and by the sides of the rivers and brooks, aUuvial patches are to be found, which have their temptation from the absence of wood. The beaver-dam is some- times, too, taken advantage of in the manner which will be men- tioned in connection with New Brunswick. Where the alluvium is natural, it will be for the settler to consider the chances of ague, and the facilities for effective drainage — as in a timbered country there is seldom much free alluvial soil that is not essentially marshy. Nor must the settler calculate on being jfree of such sanitary risks, even where he has to clear the forest ; and if he should choose to brave or risk the consequences in his own person, he will do well to have the prospect of his clearing being rendered dry and salubrious before he subjects his less hardy family, if he have one, to these risks. 31 AMERICA. Again, before he fix on clearing for himself, the settler must con- ■sider his capacity and prowess. He may be clever, muscular, and a good worker, but it does not follow that he is accomplished in felling and logging timber, and grubbing roots. >Ve are not ad- dressing ourselves to the capitalist who wishes to open a large district by employing lumberers, and who of course does nothing but calculate outlay and returns, and overlook the operations. The man, however, who goes to the woods with a small patrimoii}'. which he desires to improve, must, with his own hand, lay the axe to the root of the tree. It will be almost good economy for the speedy return, in the first crop of grain, to employ an assistant ; but it will be bad economy for the settler not to be able to give his own labour. He should try practically what the task of clearing is ; and if he is not fit for it, invest his capital, however small, in a patch made fit for the plough. To him who is resolved on the bush, Sir Richard }k>nnycastle, a gentleman of long Cana- dian experience, says : ' Firet lay your land in as fine a part of the province as possible, then build your log-hut, and a good barn and stable, with pig and sheep-pens. Then commence with a hired hand, whom you must not expect to treat you en seigneur, and who will either go shares with you in the crops, or require £30 currency a year, with his board and lodging. Begin Iiewing and hacking till you have cleared two or three acres for wheat, oats, and grass, with a plot for potatoes and Indian com. ' When you have cut down the giant trees, then comes the log- ging. Reader, did you ever log ? It is precious work ! Fancy yourself in a smockfrock, the best of all working- dresses. Having cut the huge trees into lengths of a few feet, rolling these lengths up into a pile, and ranging the branches and brushwood for conve- nient combustion ; then waiting for a favourable wind, setting fire to all your heaps, and burying yourself in grime and smoke ; tlien rolling up these half-consumed enormous logs, till, after painful toil, you get them to bum to potash Cutting down the forest is hard labour enough, until practice makes you perfect ; chopping is hard work also ; but logging — nobody likes logging.' — {Canada and the Canadians in 1846, p. 73.) It brings the clearer, however, his first mcrease. The potash -lea from the burning is a regular export from the forest districts, and he can exchange it for commodities down the country. He can thus supply himself with fiour until he has it from bis own grain, and with barrels of pork. The whisky of Canada, if he has been accustomed to taste temperately at good tables old malt spirits at home, will taste at first detestably ; but unfortunately too many in his position become speedily reconciled to it : he will do well to give all play to his first disgust. Maple-sugar, which is compared CANADA. to candied horeliound, he can procure by tapping. For more luxurious appliances in this early stage, Sir Richard Bonnycastle says : ' If you have a gun, which you must have in the bush, and a dog, which you may have just to keep you company and to talk to, you may now and then kill a Canada pheasant, }rclept partridge, or a wild-duck, or mayhap a deer ; but do not think of bringing a hound or hounds ; for you can kill a deer just as well without them, and I never remember to have heard of a young settler with hounds coming to much good.' The Emigration Com- missioners, in their circular for 1851, estimate the cost of clearing waste lands at £3 per acre. The shanty or log-hut has cost little more than the price of the shingle for its roofing — some 6s. or 7s. — and has been built by the clearer himself with the aid of his hired assistant or his neighbours. "When the ground is cleared, the stumps stick up like so many butchers' blocks. Uninstructed settlers naturally think of blasting and burning them, but the former is ineifective, and the latter only tends to preserve them from decay by charring. It is said that hardwood stumps decay in five or six years, but that thirty elapse ere the pine is mingled with the earth. A machine has been invented, to which steam-power may be applied, for the extraction of stumps, like gigantic teeth; and there is no doubt that the adaptation of machinery to all clearing purposes will in time revolutionise the system of forest clearings. Meanwhile the fresh hand, ploughing as he best can among stumps and stones, has soon the satisfaction of seeing the first sproutings of Indian corn or buckwheat on his own land, and of gi-ubbing out a few potatoes. He gets his grain ground for a pro- portion of the meal, and he can now keep live-stock — fowls, a pig, then a few sheep and cattle, while a garden begins gradually to smile round the rough log-hut, which has been perhaps raised by the settler's own hands, with the assistance of his neighbours. Ere some years are past, if he be sober, steady, and industrious, he is owner of a hundred or two acres, a great proportion of them productive, and thinks of fences and a larger house. In the purchase of cleared and long-tilled land, the emigi-ant, if he be not a practical agriculturist, is as apt to be deceived, perhaps, as in that of waste land ; and even if he be a practical man, he must be prepared for certain defects peculiar to the district, and characteristic. From what he hears of American agriculture, the purchaser will be warned not to invest in exhausted, worthless land. But there are some peculiar defects which the slovenly husbandry of the country has introduced — as, for instance, the spreading over the soil of a pestilent weed called the stone-weed, pigeon-weed, wheat-thief, red-root, and by various other names. C 33 AMERICA. It is said not to be indigenous, but to have been brought from Europe. If it once gets root, it grows, spreads, and flourishes with each crop of wheat, lying indestructible during the spring ploughing, and becoming more and more luxuriant the more pains are taken in the culture of the grain. Mr Johnston says : ' The peculiarity of this weed consists in the hard covering with wliich its seed or nut is covered; in the time at which it comes up and ripens its seed; and in the superficial way in which its roots spread.' The hardness of its covering is such, that ' neither the gizzard of a fowl nor the stomach of an ox can destroy it,' and that it will lie for years in the ground without perishing, till the opportunity of germinating occurs. ' It grows up very little in spring, but it shoots up and ripens in autumn, and its roots spread through the surface soil only, and exhaust the food by which the young wheat ought to be nourished.' This weed is a punishment not only to the careless farmer but to his more industrious neighbour, if not to the farmer in our own country, since where it greatly abounds, its seed is used in the adulteration of lintseed cake. SUITABLENESS FOB EMIGRATION. There is no doubt that the natural resources of Canada for the employment of labour are very large ; for all practical pur- poses, limitless : the great difficulty is in then- effective develop- ment. The immigration in 1841 amounted to 28,086. In the en- suing year, which -was one of great home depression, it had much increased, amounting to 44,374. It was observed that the excess consisted in a great measure of that hopeful species of migration when people are induced to go out at the instance of, and with assistance from, their relations ; and the chief emigration agent reported that ' there is reason to believe that few of the indus- triously-disposed remained at the close of the year without employment.' The numbers in the two ensuing years were 21,727 and 20,142 respectively. In 1845 the number was 25,375 ; and it is stated in the emigration agents' reports, that several of them were possessed of moderate capital, and proceeded at once to purchase partiaUy-improved properties, or enter mto trade. Some were small farmers, with sufficient means to establish them- selves advantageously on wild lands ; ' but the great bulk were agricultural labourers, many of whom had nothing even for their immediate support.' Yet, along with the immigrants of the ensuing year, 1846, they seem to have all foimd some satisfactory outlet, many of them proceeding to the United States. The year 1847 was totally exceptional. The number of exiles 34 CANADA. who reached Quebec in that year was 89,440. The reports, both by the emigration agents and the colonial authorities for that year, afford a miserable picture of the state in which the Irish were shovelled forth. It will have to be mentioned in connec- tion with the other British American colonies, as well as in its connection with the United States. Confusion and alarm were excited not only by the appearance and for the fate of the miserable objects discharged from the emigrant vessels, but for their effect on the health and the supply of food at the places where they landed, or which they passed in their route. Many died on board the vessels ; others, helplessly and hopelessly sick, had to be removed to lazar-houses. A large number of these people had been removed with the distinct intention that a burden should be removed from the Irish parish or estate, and that it might fall where it alighted. Men in extreme old age, permanent imbeciles, widows with swarms of children — all were huddled off together, and strewn as it were on the Canadian shore. It was with reference to the burdens thus laid on the province that the measure for a tax on emigrants, mentioned below, was passed. On the whole, it does not appear that we have any right to cast off our social degradation on another shore. Strangers wiU not receive it : our own colonies ought not to be subject to it. The object of a great part of the emigration of that year was to remove certain burdens from landlords and ratepayers in Ireland, and lay them on some ' person or persons unknown' across the Atlantic. The Canadians found, in 1847, that in many instances widows, with helpless infant families, were sent over to them by Irish landlords and relief committees. ' They are generally,' says the report of the emigrant agent for Upper Canada, ' dirty in their habits, and unreasonable in their expec- tations as to wages. They appear to possess but little ambition or desire to adapt themselves to the new state of things with which they are surrounded. The few who possess any money invariably secrete it, and will submit to any amount of suffering, or have recourse to begging in the streets, and the most humi- liating and pertinacious supplications to obtain a loaf of bread from boards of health or the emigrant agents, rather than part with a shilling.' — {Papers relative to Emigration. 1847. P. 21.) The United States' authorities required the railway companies and the masters of the passage vessels on the lakes to let the English, Scotch, and German emigrants pass, but to stop the Irish : and the ferryman at Lewiston was imprisoned for disregarding the injunction. It is pretty clear that the occurrences of this year must have AMERICA. a still disheartening effect on Canadian emigi-ation. The dis- tressing invasion deters the colonists from offering encouragement to people of the labouring class to pass over — the miseries of which they hear prevent the same class from seeking to try their fortmie across the Atlantic. Yet it appears that even in that overflowing year those who were of use were absorbed ; and by this time it may fairly be predicted that all tlie disorganisation occasioned has been righted. The chief emigration agent for Upper Canada, writing so early as IGth October 1847, observes that ' 95,000 immigrants had then landed, of whom he ascertained that 18,960 had passed on to the United States, leaving rather more than 70,000. It is the opinion,' he continues, ' of the immigrant agents, as well as my o^^^l, that two-thirds — in round numbers 50,000 — have settled, and are now employed in various parts of Canada.' In 1849 the Canadian legislature passed an act, following on the example set by the United States, placing, for the protec- tion of the province, restraints on immigration. In its preamble it professed to make such provision ' as will tend to prevent the introduction into this province of a pauper emigration labouring under disease, and at the same time to encourage the introduction of a more healthy and useful class of emigrants.' By this act a tax is laid on the master of every emigrant vessel arriving at Quebec or Montreal, amountmg to 7s. Cd. currency for every adult, and 5s. for every one between live and fifteen years old, on government emigrants, and 10s. for every other passenger. There is a provision for debiting the tax against the home govern- ment in the case of government emigrants. For any passengers who have joined the vessel after clearing, and are consequently not on the certified list, there is a considerable addition to the tax in the shape of penalty. Lists of the passengers must be given in and certified ; and they must specially indicate all who are lunatic, idiots, deaf and dumb, blind or infirm, stathig whether they are accompanied by relatives likely to support them. For every such person who, on inquiry, is officially declared to be unlikely to be so supported, the master of the vessel must find security to the extent of £75 currency, to relieve the province and its chai-itable institutions from being burdened with the maintenance and support of such an immigrant for three years. It has been stated in the latest official docu- ments from Canada, that this act has not been found very effective in saving the country from the class of immigrants whom it is not desirable to receive. From the report of Mr Buchanan, tlie emigration superin- tendent, it appears that the number of immigrants who reached 36 CANADA. the colony in 1848 was 27,939, and in 1849, 38,494. More than a half in each year came from Ireland, while from Germany there were in the former year 1395, and in the latter 436. The 38,494 who arrived in 1849 are reported to have disposed of themselves as follows, the numbers being in each case approximations by the superintendent: — In Quebec and its neighbourhood, 400; Eastern townships, 100 ; ^Montreal, and the district south of the St Lawrence, 2500 — making about 3000 in East Canada. The number who had been ascertained to have gone to the United States by St John w^as 5305 ; distributed through the West Canada Districts were 26,687. The largest portion went to the Toronto, Home, and Simcoe Districts — namely, 11,520. In the Hamilton, Wellington, Gore, Brock, and London Districts, it is calculated that 6330 were distributed. Of those who passed to the west, 5172 are set down as ha^'ing crossed to the LTnited States; while it appears that 1700 had gone from or through the States to Western Canada. * In the early part of the season,' says the superintendent, * I had occasion to notice the arrival of a number of families possessed of capital and intelligence, who promised to prove valuable additions to our colonial population. All these proceeded at once to purchase partially-improved pro- perties, or to enter into trade. A proportion of the emigration consisted of farmers whose means will establish them with some advantage on wild lands, for the purchase of which only a small outlay is required. But the great bulk of the emigi-ation has been agricultural labourers : some of them with small means, but very many having nothing even for their immediate support.' 9;ft ot non?bbiJ LABOUR-^-M^AfeirS^-^R]K!ES;^ ■'^'^-^''■\ ^'■' For mechanics, it is perhaps not the least advantage of Canada that it is close to the United States. The colony, however, affords better openings than the British possessions in the southern hemisphere, from the greater density of population, and the larger proportional number of towns and public works. Among the wages set down in the Official Circular of the Emigration Commissioners for 1851, there are bricklayers from 4s. to 5s. a day; bakers, 3s. in the eastern, and 4s. in the western province ; car- penters, 5s. in the eastern, and 6s. 3d. in the western province ; coopers, respectively, 3s. and 5s. ; gardeners, 3s. 9d. to 4s. 6d. ; shoemakers, 3s. in the eastern, and 6s. 3d. in the western pro- vince ; sawyers, paid per 100 feet, 4s. 3d. in the eastern, and 5s. in the western province ; stonemasons, 4s. 6d. to 5s. ; tailors, 4s. to Gs. 3d., the latter in the western province ; plasterers, a 37 AMERICA. trade in much requisition, 5s. in the eastern, and 6s. 3d. in the western pro\'ince. The remuneration to dressmakers and milliners seems to be under some peculiar depression in the eastern pro^•ince, where it is quoted at Is. a day. The amount in the -western is 2s. 3d. There is a good deal of employ- ment both for stonemasons and bricklayers — the one being pre- ferred to the other according to the building material, and the habit of the place. It was long the practice, for instance, in Toronto and Hamilton, to use brick ; while stone was employed •in Montreal and Kingston. Farm-labourers are stated to receive 2s. 6d. in the eastern, and the same in the western province. For shepherds, the entry is, * no employment.' In all out-of-door occupations, the nature of the seasons, and their effect on the kind of work, must be kept in view. Canada, in some measure, resembles the United States, in not being a place of refuge for inferior workmen ; and the remarks to be made on the position of mechanics there, apply in a considerable degree to the same class in Canada ; since their vicinity to each other keeps the two labour markets nearly on a level. The Emigration Commissioners, in their circular for 1851, have found it necessary in the meantime to say : ' Ife appears by information received from Mr Buchanan, the chief emigration agent at Quebec, that the demand for labour in Canada continues to be limited. A general depression of the trading inte- rests, together with the discontinuance of the expenditure main- tained for some years past in the construction of public works, has thrown out of present employment many artisans and meclianics, and a still larger number of common labourers. Some of those classes have turned to other means of living, or have sought employ- ment elsewhere. But it may perhaps be some time before the ex- tensive field for labour which has existed hitherto in Canada becomes fully reopened. The agricultural interests, however, are in the meantime in a healthy state ; and the settlement and improvement of land, encouraged by fair prices for most kinds of produce, con- tinue to be carried on extensively.' The occupation of the lumberer or woodcutter is of course open to the Canadian settler; but it is rather a pursuit to which some classes are driven by their destiny than one to be sought and courted. Its characteristics are hardship, danger, and vice. Attacked by so many moral and physical enemies, it is said that the lumberer rarely reaches the age of fifty. The following description is given by an experienced eye-witness of the ordinary characteristics which surround the lumberer : — 'You stand before the fire made under three or four sticks set up tentwise, to which a large caldron is hung, bubbling and seething, with a very strong odour of fat pork : a boy, dhty and ill-favoured, with a sharp, glittering axe, looks very suspi- CANADA. ciously at you, but calls off his wolfish dog, who sneaks away. A moment shews you a long hut formed of logs of wood, with a roof of branches covered by birch-bark ; and by its side, or near the fire, several nondescript sties or pens, apparently for keeping pigs in, formed of branches close to the ground, either like a boat turned upside down, or literally as a pigsty is formed as to shape. In the large hut, which is occasionally more luxurious, and made of slabs of wood or of rough boards, if a saw-mill is within rea- sonable distance, and there is a passable wood-road, or creek, or rivulet navigable by canoes, you see some barrel or two of pork, and of flour, or biscuit, or whisky, some tools, or some old blankets or skins The larger dwelling is the hall — the common hall — and the pigsties the sleeping-places.' — {Bonny castle's Canada and the Canadians^ i. 66.) Near the settlements, the lumberers are much complained of in Canada as a sort of freebooters; cutting their timber wherever they find it most convenient for removal by water, and often in those places where the owner of an allotment would wish to have the trees at his own command. The lumberer generall}' deals with some speculator on the lake towns, or the St Law- rence, who chains him down by a system of credit, by providing him with the tools and other instruments of his trade, and the means of dissipation. It is exactly the same story over again as that of the logvvood-men of Honduras, and the cedar-cutters of Moreton Bay. The wood is brought down the rapid rivers in small rafts or drams ^ the conductor of which encounters frightful perils, which he is incited to imdergo, as horses return briskly to the stable, by expecting his speedy reward in city luxuries — amusement and whisky. On the lakes, several of these will be fixed together in a wide floating island, with flags, huts, and various contrivances for catching the breezes. The old used-up steam- boats are occasionally converted into lumber- vessels, superseding this method of transit. On the whole, it may be expected that, in various ways, science will soon invade this barbarous field of employment, and facilitate the removal of the forest coating, without exposing humanity to so many risks, physical and moral. On the price of commodities, as on the wages of labour, the latest information that has reached this country can be obtained in the Circular of the Emigration Commissioners, sold for 2d. It must be remembered, that though a great part of the colony is pathless forest, it is not like the fresh settlements in Australia and New Zealand, where a commercial system for supplying the settlers with the necessaries and conveniences of life is only form- ing itself. Some of the towns in Canada are virtually as old as many of our own market-towns, and are full of accomplished 39 AMERICA. tradesmen, wlio make it their business to supply the colonist 7 and who will import for him the articles he is likely to require at a much smaller expense than he will be able to take them out at himself. The most preposterous mistakes have been made by the humbler classes of emigrants, especially in the conveyance of ponderous articles of furniture ; the materials of which have pro- bably been conveyed to Britain from the very forests they are going to dear. - In general, in both the provinces, food is far cheaper than in this country. In the Emigration Circular for 1851, we have wheat from 3s. 9d. to 4s. per bushel, and butcher-meat from 2id. to 4d. per lb. Produce is generally cheaper in the western province than in the eastern ; but the proportional price of manufactures and mechanical productions is reversed ; so a wagon is quoted as £10, 7s, in Lower, and £15 in Upper Canada; and blankets are quoted as 10s. to 12s. a pair in the former, and 15s. to 20s. in the latter. In a return of 14th August 1850, the imports of British manu- factures and produce into Canada are thus rated — Hardware and cutlery, £64,470; hats, £10,158; iron and steel, £208,391; lead and shot, £4971 ; leather, wrought and unwrought, £38.680 ; linen manufactures, entered by the yard, £15,033; thread and smallwares, £1122; machinery and mill-work, £210. NEWrBRUNSWICK. This compact province lies between the latitudes of 45' and 48* north, and stretches in longitude from 63" 48' to 67' 30^ west. On the south-east it is bounded by the Bay of Fundy, terminating at the narrow neck of land which joins New Brunswick to the peninsula of Nova Scotia. Making an angle with the bay, and bounding the province on the north-west, is the Gulf of J?t Lawrence, turning due west in the great inlet of Clialeure Bay, which thus forms a northern boundary. A line running from Passamaquoddy Bay to the north, with a westward inclination, keeping, when it has advanced inland, in the neighbourhood of the St John River, sepa- rates the province from the state of Maine of the American Union. Its boimdary-line on this side was the cause of the celebrated discussion which ended in the treaty of 1842. The province covers about 26.000 square miles, with a population approaching a quarter of a million. 40 NLW LKUNsWICK. Tlie history of this province presents little as distinct from that of the other American colonies to affect the interests of the settler. Under the dominion of France, it was chiefly in military occupa- tion, and appears to liave been scantily settled. The proportion of French families still remaining is small in comparison with the Habitans of Canada, but there are still several Acadians, chiefly in the eastern districts. The establishment of British settlers began in 1761. Their position was necessaril}^ rendered precarious by the outbreak of the American war, but the staple of the colony was subsequently framed of loyalists and other refugees. The district was erected into a separate province m 1784. Its subsequent importance has been chiefly owing to the fisheries, and to the influence on the lumber trade of the duties on Baltic timber. As an emigration field, it received a terrible check in 1826, from a calamity of a peculiar and appalling kind. The cele- brated fire in Miramichi at once horrified and astonished all the civilised world ; and perhaps, for the first time, conveyed an adequate notion of the vastness and compactness of the North American forests. When first recorded in the newspapers, it appeared like some wild fiction. People were accustomed to hear of tenements being burned do^\ii before their unfortunate inhabi- tants could escape, and of several thus perishing in some great city conflagration ; but that the fire should literally travel over a pro- vince — that its influence should be felt for days before it actually reached its victims — and that they should find, with both the land and the water before them, no means of escape from its devastating approach, seemed something incomprehensible. It was stated, that for some time the inhabitants of the settlements along the ]Miramichi River had been conscious of a strange, sultry, oppressive heat, and heard a sort of distant roaring in the recesses of the forest, mingled with faint sounds like explosions, or the crash csf fallen trees. As the heat grew greater, a dense mass of smoke- coloured cloud gathered overhead. The clearings from the forest formed unfortunately a mere strip ; but a quarter of a mile wide — and the great amphitheatre of flame, spread over a surface of several thousands of square miles, filled it with fiery air, which ignited the wooden houses and stores of the hapless settlers. Anything more frightful than the devastation occasioned has never been known, save in the earthquakes of Portugal and South America. The towns or villages — of which one, Newcastle, con- tained 1000 mhabitants — were almost entirely reduced to ashes ; and the burned bodies of the inhabitants lay putrefying among those of wild beasts driven through the forest before the flames. Such conflagrations on a smaller scale are a calamity to which this province is alwavs liable. These fires, unfortunatelv, leave 41 AMERICA. no compensation for their immediate mischief, as their effect is to destroy the fertility of the soil, instead of clearing it for cultivation. There are few great mountains in this territory, but the ground is in general broken by precipitous hills, and large rivers rolling in deep rocky beds. The vastness of the forest-clothing may be imagined from the catastrophe of jMiramichi, and this peculiarity prevents the surface of the uncleared parts of the interior from being well known. There are many lakes, some of them pictu- resque, clear sheets of water ; others marshy. The principal river, the St Jolm, running near the boundary with the United States, is in some respects a series of lakes. It is navigable for small vessels for about 230 miles, when they are stopped by the great falls, and the upper navigation can only be accomplished by canoes. The Miramichi also, a broad, lakelike river, falls into the Gulf of St Lawrence. Four rivers run into Bathurst Harbour in Chaleure Bay, of which the most important is the Nepisiguit, a rapid, full stream, leaping over some great cataracts. The presence of many granitic and other primitive rocks would, in general, intimate the absence of a very rich soil. But the granite, with the sienite and trap, are described as generally of the friable kinds, which readily triturate and decompose, becoming elements in the formation of a finely-pulverised earth, suitable for the growth of wheat, oats, and maize. There are at the same time spaces between the eminences, containing deep alluvial brown mould. Many of these are called beaver meadows, because they have been formed by the draining of the small lakes, caused by the dams of these industrious animals, who disappear when man makes even a distant approach to their abodes. When the settler is fortunate enough to obtain one of these patches, it may be sud- denly transformed by him, as if by magic, from a cold-looking, half-swampy lake into the richest garden or agricultural ground, producing a succession of full crops without manure. Air Johnston, in his Notes on North America, describes nu- merous stretches of soft, rich, alluvial soil, of the kind called in the province intervale. It is found often along the banks of the rivers ; and he remarks : ' These lowlands are liable to be flooded when the ice melts in spring, but they are, nevertheless, very healthy. There are no agues in the country. I have heard of none indeed in the whole province, even where water, and bogs, and marshes most abounded. These spring floods no doubt con- tributed to the richness of the land ; but the best-situated or most esteemed farms here, are those which consist partly of this low intervale .land, and partly of upland.' From the impetuous cha- racter of the rivers, and the quantity of organic and mineral matter brought down by them, large stretches of marsh-land have been 42 KEW BRUNSWICK. formed near their mouths, and have been diked in and drained like the Dutch polders. Many of the Dutch settlers, indeed, from native liabit, have she\\Ti a partiality for these marshes. Mr Johnston mentions a ' tract of land, upwards of 1000 acres, thus diked on the St John, consisting of * a black, spongy, vegetable mould,' of inferior quality, and capable of yielding large crops of hay, but not weU adapted for cereal cultivation. * The marsh- land,' he says, ' of St John lies in a narrow valley, bordered by high ground on each side, but itself very little elevated above the sea. The upper end of the flat is only two feet above high- water mark; but as the tide rises here twenty-seven feet, its height is considerably above mean- water level, and the entrance of liigh tides is prevented by a sluice at the mouth of the valley. I visited what is considered one of the best farms on this flat. It consists of 120 acres of marsh and 100 of upland. The upland is partially cleared, and affords pasture and firewood, but the marsh alone is under arable culture. The whole is rented for £150 a year currency. It requires high manuring ; but when well culti- vated, any part of it, the tenant said, would produce four tons, and I was assured that five tons of hay was occasionally reaped from such land.' But the same gentleman has noticed a larger breadth of diked marsh-land, of a far superior quality, at the upper waters of the Bay of Fundy, and near the neck of land which separates the province from Nova Scotia. Here at Cumberland Bay four streams near each other make a sort of delta, consisting of stretches of marsh-land, with headlands between. ' I roughly estimated,' says IMr Johnston, ' that there are upwards of 20,000 acres of this flat land, diked and undiked, in the district under my eye, and spread all around the head waters of the Cumberland basin. Where not entirely swampy and barren, the produce varies from one to three tons of hay per acre ; but take the average produce of the whole at only half a ton an acre, and the owners may yearly reap 100,000 tons of hay from these levels, supposing some of them to be in arable culture. This would feed 30,000 head of cattle, which, if raised for beef, and killed at three years old, would supply to the markets of New Brunswick about 10,000 head of fat cattle every year.' At the same time, he considered that every ton of hay so u^ed, along with the marsh-mud, ought to fertiKse an acre of upland. This state of matters he justly considered appropriate to the circumstance frequently brought under his notice, ' that New Brunswick does not produce a sufficiency of first-class butcher- meat for its own markets, and that its shipping is chiefly supplied with salt provisions from the United States, because the beef of the province will not stand salt.' 43 AMERICA. In its climate this territory is of course not exempt from those extremes which characterise the North American countries. The variations are not entirely those of the season, for great changes in temperature will take place In the course of a day — the south wind bringing comparative mildness, while the north vnnd comes fraught, even in the middle of summer, with icy drafts from the pole. At Frederickton, pretty £isur inland on the St John River, the thermometer ranges from 95^ to 35 '' below zero, and yet this is in the southern part of a province the whole of which lies south of England. It has been stated, however, by observing settlers, that the progress of improvement is ameliorating the climate : the period when frost and snow prevail becoming shorter, as the dense forest covering becomes removed from the surface of the earth, and the swamps are improved. Thus it has been observed that about twenty years ago winter began early in November and remained imtil the conclusion of April, while in later years it has not set in with all its rigour until after the middle of December, and the early weeks of April liave seen the thaw and the symp- toms of opening spring. The severest cold generally extends from the last week of December to the end of the last week of March. Then, as in the other North American provinces, nature is sealed up, and the inhabitants — at least those whose pursuits are out of doors, forming of course the preponderating bulk — have to give themselves to idleness or pleasure. Towards the con- clusion of March alternations of thaw and frost are perceived, and as April advances the weather becomes genial. Ploughing then begins, followed by all other agricultural and horticultural opera- tions ; and tlie genial and frost-cleared soil, nourished by the rapidly-advancing heat of the sun, vegetates with the well-known rapidity of the western hemisphere. With all its varieties — part of which are cold, foggy winds, which fill the air with damp raw- ness and darkness — the climate has on all hands the reputation of being extremely healthy. The province forms thirteen counties, inereasable as population may render expedient. Their names are chiefly taken from those of England — as Gloucester, Cumberland, Kent, &c. There aro no great generic differences in their characteristics, rendering it necessary to consider them separately; and the chief distinction is what occurs throughout the greater part of the globe — namely, that between the mland territories and those on the navigable parts of the rivers, or on the sea-shore, where, as will presently be seen, the opportimities for fishing operations are peculiarly^ great. In the surveys for a railway from Halifax to Quebec, the advantages of penetrating this province were of course fully con- sidered. The surveyor, in his report, alluded largely to the 44 NEW BRUNSWICK. favourable characteristics of the district. He observed that it was plentifully -watered, and penetrated by streams ; and in some parts of the interior, for a portage of three or four miles, a water-communication may be opened with the Bay of Chaleure and the Gulf of St Lawrence on the one side, and with the Bay of Fundy on the other. The officers employed to siurvey the line of the Halifex and Quebec Railway say — ' For any great plan of emigration or colonisation, there is not another British colony which presents so favourable a field for the trial as New Brunswick. * To 17,000.000 of productive acres, there are only 208,000 inliabitants. Of these, 11,000,000 are still public property. ' On the surface is an abundant stock of the finest timber, which, in the markets of England, realise large sums annually, and afford an unlimited supply of fuel to the settlers. If these should ever become exhausted, there are the coal-fields under- neath. ' The rivers, lakes, and sea-coasts abound with fish. Along the Bay of Chaleure it is so abundant that the land smells of it. It is used as manure ; and while the olfactory nerves of the traveller are offended by it on the land, he sees out at sea immense shoals darkening the surface of the water.' The emigrants landed at Halifax would, by the line of railway, be easily conveyed to the interior, and would avoid wliat is often the most difficult and dangerous step in the process of an emi- grant's removal. New Brunswick has been an importing district of food. AMieat, the growth of the valley of the Mississippi, is imported to St John, ground there, and consumed by the labouring population. Two hundred thousand pounds is the estimated ave- rage sum paid annually for provisions from the United States, which it is believed that the province, if opened up by a railway, and otherwise aided by enterprise, would itself produce. Frederickton, on the upper part of the St John, is the seat of government, and so nominally the capital of the province, but it is not the largest town. The population has been rated at 6000. At the mouth of the same river is the largest town of the colony — the flourishing city of St John, said, with its extensive suburbs, to have 30,000 inhabitants. It is the great commercial port, and its name is that by which the New Brunswick timber is known in the market. It has a less agreeable renown from the fearful con- flagrations that have sometimes swept away its streets of wooden edifices. Close to the harbour there is a curious phenomenon in the course of the River St John. It passes between two rocky eminences over a ledge, or rather dike. It is not so high but that the tide is still higher; and the consequence is, that when 45 AMERICA. the tide has risen pretty far, and is rising, there is a slight fall in the direction of the source of the river ; and vrhen the tide is receding, a much larger and more formidable fall in the direction of the mouth. At a particular point, and for a very short time only, vessels can pass this bar. Produce. — ^The great staple commodity of this country is tim- ber ; a harvest not requiring to be raised, but affording a double inducement to its removal, in being itself useful, and making room for cultivation. The vastness of the forest district may be imagined from the calamity of Miramiclii. The trees, besides the predominant pine, consist of maple, ash, oak, beech, birch, and ironwood. About 150,000 tons of timber are annually exported from the colony. We have no recent returns of the saw-mills, but in 1834 they numbered 314, and the timber which passed tlirough them was valued at near £500,000 at the place of shipment. As elsewhere mentioned, the ready supply of wood had at one time at least given encouragement to considerable shipbuilding in the province. It need scarcely be mentioned that the settler finds it supply him with abundant fuel. Grain is the natural industrial produce of the colony ; but the clearings have heretofore been so comparatively small, that it is an importing rather than an exporting country. The lumber or timber trade has hitherto been the staple occupation of the province, interfering with agriculture. It is, however, pretty clear that its future hopes must rest on the latter occupation ; and Mr Johnston, in his valuable notes on North America, confidently predicts that it will be found a surer and more satisfactory reliance than lum- bering. The wheat produced is said to be very heavy, and in every respect of fine quality. On the general productiveness of small clearings, Mr Perley, the government emigration agent, thus gave evidence before the Lords' Committee of 1847 : — • If you put a man down upon a piece of wilderness with two hundred acres of land, how long is it before that man can do any- thing with that land, so as to enable himself to live upon it ? — He should the second season, after securing a crop. I assume that in the first season he begins too late to put in a crop. * How long is it before he secures a crop ? — It depends upon the time the man goes on the land, whether early or late, in the first season. The better course, and which I recommend them to adopt, is to hire themselves out the first season, and at the close of the year, if they do not get employment for the winter, they have some montlis to work on their own land. During the winter they chop a piece down, erect a log-house, and get upon the land in the spring. If a man is industrious and successful in getting his land cleared in the spring, and getting in his crop, he may secure enough that season to 46 NEW BRUNSWICK. maintain himself and his family for the succeeding year. Having- done that, he is safe. ' Do you grow wheat in New Brunswick ? — Of the very best quality. * What is the weight of your wheat as compared with American wheat ? — It is much heavier. The 'Nevr Brunswick wheat reaches sixty-five pounds the bushel, and even more. * Do they grow Indian corn ? — It is not a certain crop. "We grow buckwheat ; but the great crops of the country are oats and potatoes ; oats more especially ; they are a very safe crop. * Have not your potatoes failed lately ? — They failed in the year 1845. * Will you state the progress of the potato failure in New Bruns- Avick ? — In 1844 there was a partial failure of the potato crop. The disease reached us from the westward. It came from the United States. It gradually crept its way over the boundary-line, and got in upon us, and kept proceeding from west to east. In 1845 the crop of potatoes suffered very much indeed ; in fact, as much as it suffered in Ireland last year ; but in 1846 the disease disappeared to a very considerable extent, and there was nearly an average crop of very good quality.' As on the coasts of all the North American colonies, fish abound on those of New Brunswick. Along with the ordinary white fish, herring and mackerel are so profusely found at times as to be used for manure; lobsters can be picked up in cartloads; and in the mud deposits at the mouths of the rivers a very fine kind of oysters is spoken of as being abundant. Inconsiderable efforts only have been made to take advantage of these resources. The superior energy of the inhabitants of the United States is here developed, since, notwithstanding all complaints of breach of treaty, they fish extensively along the 500 miles of the New Brunswick coast ; and since they apply to useful purposes a field neglected by our colo- nists, do good rather than harm to the settlement by the trade they carry on with it. The minerals of New Brunswick are not at present at least of great moment to the emigrant. A coal-field covers nearly a third of the area of the province. It may be doubtful whether railway operations wUl lead to its being more extensively worked, but for the needs of a scattered population the refuse timber is generally more than sufficient. Iron ore is abundant ; lead has been found, and rich veins of copper. Limestone abounds and is worked, and a very serviceable kind of millstone is cut and exported. Mr Johnston appears to thmk that the vast masses of gypsum, hitherto almost unused and unnoticed, must have great influence in forwarding the agricultural capacities of the country. Purchase and Improvement of Land. — The waste lands of the 47 AMERICA. crown in this province are sold at a minimum price of Ss. currency, or about 2s. 6d. sterling per acre. This is the absolute price in reality, as it is only in peculiarly favourable circumstances that there is any competition. The working of the system of sales can be best told in the words of Mr Perley, the emigration agent, when examined before the Lords' Committee of 1847 : — * Land is now sold in New Brunswick by auction, under tlie Civil List Act, at 3s. currency per acre as the minimum upset price. A party desiring a lot of land applies by petition for the lot that lie is desirous of obtaining. If uusurveyed, an order is sent to him for a survey, of which he bears the expense. On the return of the sur- vey it is advertised one month to be sold in the county where the land lies. If surveyed, upon an application being made, it is at once advertised to be sold at the monthly sale. In the one case, the party advances the expense of the survey ; in the other, an estab- lished price of threepence per acre is added to the minimum price of land. The party attends at the sale, and if he purchases and pays down the money, he obtains a discount of twenty per cent, for prompt payment. If he does not pay for the land, he pays one- fourth, and enters into a bond to the crown for the remaining three- fourths, payable in one, two, and three years without interest, and receives a location ticket. The money is transmitted by the local deputy to the receiver-general of the province, and eventually finds its way into the general revenues of the country. If a settler pur- chases a piece of ground in the wilderness to which there is no road, he may languish on for years without gettiug one, because the money which he pays for the land goes into the provincial treasury, and it does not at all follow that it shall be applied to making a road to the land. It is appropriated generally by the local legislature with other monies of the province.' Those who have the improvement of the province most at heart have long advocated the construction of roads as an essential engine for bringing out its resources. It is obvious that a forest country is more dependent on such perforations than a prairie or pasture country : it is, in fact, a blank without them. A plan was devised and adopted by the legislature for connecting the making of roads with the acquisition of lands. A provincial act was passed in 1849 to facilitate the disposal of the waste lands, which in reality does not create a law or system for their disposal, but authorises the governor to sell, as any owner may do, as he thinks best in each individual instance, provided no lot be sold at less than 3s. an acre, or contain more than 100 acres. With this limitation, the act authorises him, ' with a view to the early disposal of the vacant crown-lands to persons who are able and willing to improve the same, to cause portions thereof to be surveyed and laid off in such place and in such way 48 NEW BRUNSWICK. and manner as may be deemed most advisable.' The importance of the settlers opening up the means of communication as a part of the value given for their holdings has been felt in this pro- vince ; and in the bargain made with any proposed settler, the price he has to pay may be either in money or the making of roads. An act was at the same time passed for enablmg settlers to clear off their arrears of purchase-money by makmg roads. Mr Johnston, in his tour through the province, found this system in operation. A certain section for settlement is divided into lots of eighty acres each. Any person may get a grant of one of these lots on payment of no more than Is. per acre, to defray the ex- pense of the grant and surv^ey ; at the same time engaging to give labour on the roads, at a fixed price per rood, to the amount of £12 — thus making the entire price of his land £16. This sum, however, is in currency : in money sterling, the amount is about one-fourth less. Tn speaking of this advantageous opening for settlers with limited means, Mr Johnston mentions : ' That a body of emigrants arriving in June would be able to open the road, cut down four acres on each of these lots for crops on the following spring, and build a log-house before the winter sets in. Of course they must have means to maintain themselves and families during the winter, and until the crops on their new Lands are ripe. Bodies of emigrants from the same county or neighbourhood, going out as a single party, would work pleasantly together, and be good com- pany and agreeable neighbours to each other.' In 1849, a valuable report by a Committee on 'Immigration and the Settlement of Wild Lands ' in New Brunswick, was laid "before the governor in council. In noticing the method of allot- ment which had been previously pursued, they find fault with the length of some of the lots — in some instances with a river front- age of thirty rods only, but extending seven miles back. They find another defect in the large allotments held by individuals who do not intend to improve tliem, but retain them with the expectation of selling them profitably, as the settlement of the province advances. This report contains valuable information on the resources of the several parts of the colony, and espe- cially on the nature and extent of the unsettled lands ; and its value as information from authority prompts us to give several extracts from this document : — ' Some of the prevailing ideas among those who have not seen tlie province appear to be, that the settlements are very few and remote from each other ; that they are separated by dense forests abounding with beasts of prey ; that there are great numbers of Indians, to whose depredations the settlers are constantly exposed ; that tliere are no churches or schools, except in the towns ; that good roads D 49 AMERICA. are nowhere to be found; that the cold of our winters is so intense, that the inhabitants are continually in danger of being frozen to death, and very often dare not venture out of their houses ; that m> such field crops can be grown here as are cultivated in Great Britain ; that our soil is of a very inferior quality ; and that we are subject to all the epidemics and agues which afflict the southern and western portion of this continent from Florida to Lake Huron. * It is no wonder, therefore, that with such impressions the emi- grant seeks for other countries, and will not cast his lot among us, involved, as he supposes, in such adverse circumstances. * But these impressions are altogether erroneous : in every part of the province there are extensive and continuous settlements There are upwards of 500 parish, besides other schools, scattered over the rural districts, and upwards of 200 churches and chapels of different denominations of Christians. There is no danger to be apprehended from beasts of prey, or from the Indians, very few of whom now sur- vive. No colony of the empire, and no state of the neighbouring Union is better provided with roads than New Brunswick ; every kind of field and garden crops cultivated in England can be grown in this province, with the addition of Indian com. * 3Iore persons, we believe, have perished from cold in England and Scotland in twenty years, in proportion to the population, than in this colony * Agricultural operations are generally commenced about the middle of April, and cease about the middle of November. From this period the prevalence of frost and snow prevents the labours of the husbandman as respects the soil. Yet the industrious fanner can always find employment during the winter, as it is the most favourable season for cutting and haulin"' fuel, and rails for fences, and for transporting grain and other produce to market ; and so far from condemning the climate because of our winters, there is not a farmer in the country who would dispense with them, although some might prefer them of shorter duration.' .... Mr Johnston giyes a description of a farm of 1000 acres on the St John. It contained three kinds of land : ' First,^ he says, ' an island in the river of eighty acres, to which I crossed, and found it a free gray loamy clay, full of natural richness, and subject to be overflowed only twice during the last thirty years. Second, Interv^ale land, generally light and sandy, but bearing in some places good turnips, and resting upon a loamy clay resembling that of the island, at a depth in some places of no more than eighteen inches from the surface. Third, The rest is upland on the slopes, generally very stony, but on other parts of the farm capable of being easily cleared.' This farm, he said, cost £2000 currency, or £1600 sterling, ' It had been exhausted by the last holder by a system of selling off everything — hay, com, potatoes — the common system, in fact, of North America, of selling every- 50 NEW BRUNSWICK. thing for which a market can be got, and taking no trouble to put anything into the soil in return.' He describes another farm of 1025 acres, of which but eighty acres were cleared, fifty of them being intervale. The intervale was valued at £15 an acre, the cleared upland at £3, and the whole farm at jQrom £1200 to £1500. SITUATION AND EXTENT OF SETTLE3IENTS. * The county of St John, on the western shore of the Bay of Fundy, contains an area of 586 square miles, and a population of about 45,000, with forty-eight parish schools. * The city of St John, including the suburbs, contains about 30,000, and is accessible by ships of the largest class at all seasons of the year. Although this county is much broken and rocky, yet many fine farms attest the success Avhich follows persevering in- dustry. ' Very little ungranted land fit for settlement is found in this county, except at the north-east extremity near the county of Albert, where a good tract, possessing many superior advantages, is open to application. The salmon, shad, and herring fisheries of the Bay of Fundy are very valuable; and although they yield a lai'ge and profitable return to those who engage therein, they have never yet been prosecuted to that extent which their value and importance demand. * King's County, the next in order, contains 1328 square mUes, with a population of about 19,000, and sixty-four parish schools. ' Many parts of this county are highly cultivated, and present some of the finest scenery in the province. / ' The principal part has been granted, and the remainder is being rapidly disposed of. Its proximity to the city of St John has given it a market which has insured a ready sale for its surplus produce. The great road from Halifax to Quebec passes through this county for a distance of seventy-five miles, and a line of railway is projected, and has been recently surveyed, passing through this county from St John to the Gulf of St Lawrence, which, when opened, will unite with the contemplated trunk-line from Halifax to Quebec, and will greatly contribute to the general interests of this section of the pro- vince. ' The next on the St John River is QueerCs County, containing 1502 square miles, and a popidation of 10,000, with forty-seven parish schools. ' Some of the best farms in the province are found in this county, and large tracts of good land are yet undisposed of. ' Several leases of coal-mines have been lately granted on the Grand Lake, and extensive operations are being commenced, which promise to create a valuable trade, and to give employment to a large number of operatives. 51 AMERICA. * A road has been explored between tlie head of the Grand Lake and Richibucto, in tlie county of Kent, which will open up a valuable tract of country for settlement, presentuig to settlers a choice of markets between St John and Richibucto. * This locality is strongly recommended for immediate settlement if a good class of emigrants can be had for the purpose. * 2116 county of \Sunbunj contains an area of 1222 square miles, a population of 5000, and twenty-four parish schools. ' Extensive and valuable farms are seen on both banks of the river, and some good tracts of ungranted land remain for sale. ' The River Oromocto, with its branches, present some flourishing settlements. * This county and Queen's contain an immense extent of the finest alluvial land, and some of the most productive and fertile islands in the River 8t John. ' The county^ of Ywh contains an area of 3440 square miles, with a population of 21,000, and sixty parish schools. The city of Fre- derickton, the seat of government is in this county, on the right bank of the river, distant from St John, by the liver seventy-iive, and by the road sixty-six, miles. ' Five steamei-s, with numerous sailing vessels, ply night and day with freight and passengers, during the navigation, between Fre- derickton and St John. * The tract of land granted to the Nova Scotia and New Bnmswick Land Company has left but a small portion at the disposal of the government on the eastern side of the river below the Nackawick. Extensive settlements are found on the Xashwalk and Keswick l^ivers, and on the rear-land between tljose rivers and the upper line of the county. On the western side of the river there are numerous back settlements. * At the distance of twenty-four miles from Frederickton, on the .great road to St Andrew's, is the Harvey Settlement, formed in 1S37 by emigrants from Northumberland (England), and which, by its present thriving condition, proves what can be done by sober and industrious men even on an inferior quality of soil. * Accompanying this is a tabular return of the state of the settle^ anent in 1S43, with the remarks of the commissioner. * "With such settlers for our ungranted lands, the most astonishing and gratifying results would soon be manifest. * In the vicinity of Harvey is an Irish settlement, foi-med in December 1S41, under the gratuitous management of the same commissioner, whose report and return accompany those of the Harvey Settlement, and furnish an additional proof of the success attending pei-severing industry. ' Some good tracts of land are still ungranted beyond the Harvey, on the Magadavic River aud its branches and lakes, and in the vicinity of the contemplated railway between St Andrew's aud Woodstock. * A few miles below Eel River, the Howard Settlement is forming, 52 NEW BRUNSWICK. in the midst of a tract of excellent land, and capable of settling several hundred additional families. ' At a distance of forty-eight miles from Frederickton commences the county of CarIeto)i, which extends upwards to the frontiers of Canada and the United States. This county has been more rapidly cleared and improved within the last fifteen years than any other county of the province : it contains an area of 4050 square miles, and a population of 21,000. ' On the western side of the river^ up to the Arestook, some of the settlements extend back to the American frontier, and nearly all the land lias been granted. * Several large tracts belonging to absentees present a great obstruction to the settlement of this district, which w ill not probably be removed for a long time, unless by legislative interference. * The soil throughout this section of country is deep and rich, and under good cultivation would soon render it one of the most produc- tive portions of the province. ' This county is rich in iron ore, and a company recently formed, for the purpose of working a mine near "Woodstock, is now in opera- tion ; and from the superior quality of the ore, and the facility for working and bringing it to market, an extensive business will ere- long be carried on in the manufacture of iron. ' Two steamers now run between Frederickton and Woodstock, and a third will be put on next year to ply between "Woodstock and the Grand Falls, a distance of sixty miles. * The Tobique River, which empties into the St John about forty miles above "Woodstock, is of great extent, and offers superior facili- ties for immediate settlement on a large scale. Gypsum and free- stone of the finest quality are found on this river. * An extensive tract of good land lies on the eastern side of the Sc John, from the county line upward, past the Grand Falls, which, if opened by roads, would form an attractive and valuable locality for settlers. * To the southwai'd of York, Sunbury, Queen's and King's, lies the county of Charlotte, containing an area of 1224 square miles, with a population of about 22,000, and sixty-nine parish schools. This county contains many expensive and valuable settlements, but very little good land remains ungranted. *The counties of Westmorelajid and Alhei-tlie to the northward and eastward of St John and King's, and contain a population of about 2.5,000, with ninety-eight parish schools, and cover an area of 2112 square miles. The most extensive and valuable marshes in the pro- vince are in "Westmoreland, and furnish facilities for grazing of imrivalled value ; and although the agricultural community of tliis county is esteemed the richest in the province, they have never yet availed themselves, as they might have done, of the resources of their uplands, which lie in many instances comparatively ne- glected. ' The shad-fishing of this district is not surpassed hy any other in '53 AMERICA. the world. Cannel coal, of a superior quality, has been discovered in Albert, and promises an extensive and valuable trade. * The greater part of Albert is ungranted, and embraces a large tract of land of the finest quality, presenting one of the most eligible situations for immediate settlement in that section of the province. * The county of Kent covers an area 1260 square miles, and con- tains about 9000 inhabitants, with thirty-five pai'ish schools. ' Extensive cultivation is found along the coast, and on the Richi- bucto River ; but a large tract of ungranted land, of a good descrip- tion, still remains, and through which the line of projected railway from Halifax to Quebec passes. ' The coal-formation extends to this county, and may be worked at small expense. * The haibour of Richibucto is safe and commodious, and the river admits of vessels of the largest class for some distance. * NoHhumberland includes an area of 5000 square miles, with 20,000 inhabitants, and fifty-three parish schools. * This county presents a large extent of cultivated land, and some of the best specimens of husbandry in the province. * A vast tract of ungranted land is contained within this county, the most eligible whereof, for immediate settlement, is on the north- west and south-west branches of the Miramichi River, in rear of the front lots. An excellent road affords communication between this county and the seat of government. * Gloucester and Restigouche^ the two most northern counties, lie on the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Bay of Chaleurs, and include an area of about 4000 square miles, with a population of only 15,000, and thirty-seven parish schools. * The quality of the soil is generally good, and in many parts of a very superior description. For many years past this has been the best wheat-growing disti'ict in the province. * The settlements in these counties are principally along the coast ; but the extent of ungranted land in the rear from Shippugan to the head of the Restigouche River, and the superior quality of the soil, with the valuable fisheries of the bays and rivers, recommend this district as one of the most desirable in the province for the immediate settlement of large bodies of emigrants. * The country above Dalhousie is principally settled by Scotch, who are in very prosperous circumstances, and contented with their situation. * The projected line of railway from Halifax to Quebec passes through these counties, down the Nepisiguit to Bathurst, and from thence to a point above Campbell Town, and when opened, will soon render this section of country, in an agricultural point of view, the most valuable and prosperous of any in the province. * The vast .tract lying between the Restigouche and the St John Rivers, containing several millions of acres, presents a wide field for settlement, and which could be opened and made available as soon as a sufficient number of approved settlers were found to enter upon and cultivate the land. NEW BRUNSWICK. * In addition to the ungranted wilderness lands, there are always in different parts of the province improved lots, with dwelling-houses and barns, which can be purchased at a reasonable rate ; and if an agency were established for the purpose, a great number of emigrants could be provided with such lots, at a cost ranging from one to five pounds currency per acre, including the unimproved land. ' To persons possessing £150 and upwards, this course would be most desirable for themselves, and most advantageous to the pro- vince, should the purchasers be skilful agriculturists, as in such case any improved system tliey might introduce would soon recommend itself, and be adopted by those around them. * Notwithstanding the defective system of agriculture generally pursued in the province, the average produce per acre is large, which proves the natural strength and fertility of the soil ; but in those cases where the system of rotation has been adopted with high culti- vation, the average produce will compare with some of the best dis- tricts in Great Britain. * Take, for example, the following crops per acre, which have been produced in different parts of the province : — >\Tieat, 40 bushels, some weighing 68 lbs. per busheL Barley, - 40 Oats, 60 Indian Com, - 75 bushels per acre. Buckwheat, - 75 Peas, - 40 Tiimips, 1,000 Potatoes, - 800 ... Carrots, 30 tons. Mangel- Wurtzel, - 30 ... In 1849 the surv'^eyor-general made a report on the condition of the crown-lands, in which he stated generally : — ' It may be con- sidered as a fact, that this province presents eight millions of acres of vacant crown -land, of unexceptionable quality, fit for agricultural purposes.' In a A*iew of the then latest transactions as to waste lands, he had to say — * The number of petitions received for the purchase of land, from 1st January 1848 to 1st January 1849, is 969, which, on an average of 100 acres each, would comprise 96,900 acres. Of this nimiber, 938 have required to be surveyed at the expense of the applicant, of which 510 are not yet returned as surveyed, and consequently no further action has been had upon them. The total number of acres which have been surveyed within the year is 31,350, at a cost to the applicants of £831, averaging about 6^d. an acre, or £2, 14s. 2d. per lot of 100 acres ; a sum far exceeding that for which the same work could be p^sformed by the government under a systematic arrange- ment of sui^y 'The whole quantity of land purchased during the year 1848 AMERICA. amounted to 26,761.], acres, of wliich 14,777 acres have been paid for in full, and upon which £1789, 19s. 3d. have been received; leavin«» 11,9844 acres which have been sold under the instalment system, and upon Avhich £473, 3s. 4d. have been received. ' I feel it my duty at this place to state, tliat no less a sum than £22,831, 13s. 3d. appears, by the books of my office, to be still duo upon previous land transactions; but many of the original pur- chasers, I have reason to believe, have abandoned the land and left the country, and yet their names still remain on the books and plans of this office, as having a claim to the land in question. The area covered by these claims cannot be less than 150,000 acres.' Of the extent of the timber licences he gave this account : — * The timber licences for the past year, and which will expire on 1st May next, cover an area of 2157 square miles, at an average rate of I6s. 8.^d. per mile, producing to the end of the year £1992, 8s. The highest rate paid for any one lot was £20, Is. per square mile, being a licence for nine square miles, situate on the left bank of the river St Croix, about twenty-five miles above St Stephen. The quantity of land under licence in 1847 was 5360 square miles', which produced the sum of £3585, 7s. 9d.; the highest price paid per square mile being £5, the whole quantity averaging only 10s. 5^d. per square mile. By the above your excellency will perceive that the system of auction has this past year produced some beneficial results, having increased the rate from 10s. to 16s. S^d. per square mile, although only sixty-eight lots were contested.' His estimate of the raining transactions was : — * The mining transactions of this department may be stated to be twenty-three leases now extant — namely, one in Gloucester, four in Carleton, two in York, two in Sunbiiry, six in Queen's, one in Xor- thumberland, two in Kent, one in St John, one in Westmoreland, one in Albert, and two in Charlotte. The whole have realised the sum of £365, 10s. Two rights only were sold during the last year — one for £35, and the other for £o. All these leases are held subject to the regulations which existed at the several periods when they were taken out.' In pursuance of the plan already mentioned, of opening up the country by a system of roads, to be made by the settlers as a sort of commutation of the money-price of their allotments, reports were required in 1848 from the deputy-surveyors of the counties to the surveyor-general. They of course referred chiefly, to the practicability of roads in the districts, to the engineering difficulties to be overcome, the materials accessible, the direction to be most conveniently taken, and other matters which would naturally be of great importance to persons already settled in the country, but could scarcely be taken into consider^on by the class to whom these pages are addressed — namely, ^rsons pro- posing to emigrate, and desirous of knowing whether New Bruns- 56 NEW BRUNSWICK. wick generally is a settlement likely to suit-their views. It, how- ever, necessarily came within the province of the reporters to notice how far road-communication was vahiable in their respective counties, from the industrial resources it might develop, and the consequent inducement afforded to settlers. In many of the reports there is thus more or less said on this subject ; and having perused the reports themselves, the general ability and practical application of which give one a high idea of the capacity of the useful class of officers by whom they are made, it is thought that the few passages which seem to bear on the availableness of each county for settlement may be usefully printed. The passages extracted are given in a series, under the name of the county to which each belongs. They will necessarily have a disjointed appearance, but they have considerable value in this country, as coming direct from the class who know more than any other of the particular locality to which each refers. * King's County does not embrace any large tracts of good land unoccupied. The largest tract lies between the road formerly opened between the head of Mill Stream and Xew Canaan Settlement and Spring Hill Settlement. There is good land on both sides of this road. The distance between those settlements is about eight miles, and embraces Thorn's Brook, &c. In many parts of this tract there is good land for agricultural purposes, and in other parts the land is of an inferior quality; but there can be no doubt, that in case those settlements were connected by good roads, eventually the whole would be occupied. There is also some good land between the Baskin Settlement, north-east of Dutch Valley, and the Mechanics* Settlement. As I have never explored this section of country, all the information I possess is derived from other sources. I ara also informed there is good land north-east of the old Shepody lioad, and also south-east thereof, extending nearly to the bay shore, but I am unable to give any coiTect statement thereof.' ^ ' St John. — After leaving the sea-coast, the road would pass along a table-land, covered with heavy timber, and possessing a deep soil of good quality. The country is well watered, and in every respect fit for settlement and cultivation 'There is considerable vacant land at the western extremity of this country as yet almost unexplored and unknown. As there are no settlements with which it could be connected advantageously, I am unable at present to make any recommendation respecting it. * Albet-L — The land is very level, and of an excellent quality for settling * There is nothing to prevent running a number of roads back on a north line to the Coverdale River, through a large level tract of land, and the best land for settling in the county ; and if roads were once opened through this tract, I think it would be immediately settled. 57 AMERICA. *Carl€ton. — From tlie superior quality of the excellent tract of country lying between the first and fourth settlements, I have every reason to believe that the intermediate spaces will be taken up before twelve months. From what I can leam, we shall have the greater part of young Frenchmen (who are now living on the American side) locating themselves on our back settlements * In all my travelling through the interior of this province, parti- cularly in the north-eastern part of it, I have not met with such a large tract of beautiful countrj' as that lying between tlie Salmon River and Green River, extending back about from ten to fifteen miles, thence extending itself on a parallel course with tlie River St John upwards of thirty miles. Allowing a fifth of this tract for waste land, which may not be probably fit for settlement, it w ould be capable of containing 2300 families, giving to each fjeunily 100 * Gloucester. — A line of road from league's Brook would pass through a fine rich tract of country; and if surveyed, would be speedily occupied *■ The lands extending south from the Innishanon, and the south branch of Caraquet to the Pocmouche River, are of a superior quality ; and I think, if a portion of them were surveyed, would soon be occupied. The road leading from Smith's on the Innishauou to the bay shore, passes through a good tract of land, and if surveyed would readily be occupied. * Sunhury. — The roads here recommended would be through land generally very level, not intersected with large streams requiring expensive bridges, and pass through many good tracts of land for agricultural purposes, which, witli its proximity to Frederickton, and other local advantages, surrounded on three sides by mills and manufacturing establishments, and no part of it more tlian ten miles from an old settlement, affords a field for improvement seldom equalled in other parts of the province. ' A road opened from the north-west branch of Oromocto River to the Cork Settlement, woidd be of great benefit to both settle- ments, by opening a communication between them through much good land fit for cultivation. It has proved a great drawback on the benefit of emigration to this province, that most of the capitalists among the emigrants, if they were only able to purchase a pedlar's pack, have preferred speculation to agriculture ; and while the farmers could only afford £2 per month, the lumberers would give £A to migratory labourers — thus sending the specie out of the pro- vince, and fixing the rate of wages far above its real value. * Bestigouche. — Notices of various lines for roads, which would open up " very valuable tracts of land." * Queoi's County. — As for the question in a general way, whether the land will pay for the making of the roads, I think admits of no doubt. There are two instances of it paying the government well in this county : I mean the 2s erepis Road — ^great road between Frederickton and St John, for one. How quick were settlements 58 XEW BEUNSWICK. made after this road got into operation, which neither could nor would have been the case if no such roads had not first been made ! The other instance is more recent — namely, the road on the county- line between this county and Sunbury, extending from the River St John to the Xerepis Great Road, through the Victoria Settlement. I think I am very safe in saying there would not have been 100 acres taken up, at least in this county, if that road had not been previously made. Now there are several settlers there who have bought and paid the whole amoimt for their land, and applications monthly for more in each county ; for instance, this present month there are 600 acres in this county, and 500 in Sunbury, advertised for sale next month — the applicants in both counties being respect- able farmers* sons, the most of whom will pay the whole amount down * I would recommend that the front land on the south-east side of Salmon River, to the mouth of the Little Forks, be surveyed for settlement. This land would soon be occupied, and a survey would prevent squatters from impro\'ing on land so irregularly. * There is also an excellent tract of land situate between Salmon River and Coal Creek, extending up stream about twenty miles, which, I think, if surveyed, would soon be occupied, and also prevent squatters from settling irregularly, as they now are. * Kent (Bichibudo).— There are no remote settlements of any note in my district, the settlers confining themselves chiefly to the banks of the different rivers and their tributaries. The greatest obstacle which prevents parties from going farther up the country to settle is the want of roads to encourage them to do so. . (Seven lines for roads mentioned leading through good land.) ' Xorthumberland. — There is an excellent tract of land in rear of the granted lands from Burnt Church to Neguac, extended back towards Stymist's Mill Stream, and easterly to the granted land on the west side of Tabusintack River. There is also a good tract of land on the north side of Little Tracady River, above the head of the tide, extending upwards, and back towards Pocmouche River. There is also an extensive tract of good land between Pocmouche River and the south branch of Caraquet River, extending from the upper settlement on Caraquet River, I think, to the Bathurst Road ; and if a road were opened from the upper settlement on the south branch of Caraquet to the Bathurst R<^d, about eleven miles south of Bathurst, it would pass through a fine tract of hardwood land. The whole distance would be about twenty -four miles ; and I am not aware of any bridges, except small ones, that would be required in the whole distance. ^Charlotte. — There are several extensive tracts of good land in this county, if through which roads were opened, would soon be settled upon ; and I believe that it is for want of roads that they have not been settled upon before this time. However, the people in this county do not seem to be much inclined to settle upon new lands (witness the few sales of crown-lands which have taken place 59 AMERICA. in this county for the last two years) ; and where they have settled, they do not improve very fast. ; * The extensive trade in cedar-shin<»les which is canned on at St Stephen's and Calais has very much injured the settlement of the surrounding country. The mei-chants and traders there en- courage the settlers to manufacture these shingles, for which they generally pay them in goods and provisions. This is apparently an advantage to the settler, as it would seem to be an easy means of providing provisions for the first year ; but in the end it is ruinous to his farming interests, as the merchant generally manages to got the settler into his debt ; so that he (the settler) is obliged to con- tinue the manufacture, to keep his credit good, even at times when he ought to be either sowing or securing his crops, and leaving him bat very little time to clear and improve his farm. * This trade has also caused the crown-lands within twenty-five or thirty miles of St Stephen's to be all pillaged of the very fine cedar- timber it contained, thereby rendering it of much less value when purchased for actual settlement. * There is one tract of land which I wish particidarly to bring under your notice ; it is situated to the north and west of Canoosc River, and is bounded on the north and west by the River St Croix ; it contains a large quantity of good land, enough to form a parisli of itself. There is a new settlement on the Canoose River on the continuation of the Oak Hill Road, and a bridge was built over the stream at this place last summer ; and should this road be continued on northerly along the east side of Captain Spearman's grant, and then in nearly a direct line to the Little Falls on the St Croix River, below Porter's Meadows, Avhere a bridge could be constructed at a small expense across the river, it would in that distance pass through large tracts of good land ; and all the travelling from St Stephen and Calais to the Great Lakes, and to the settlements on the Ame- rican townships on the opposite side of the river, woidd pass along it : it would be a complete thoroughfare. And after it would be opened, then branch-roads to the good land east and Avcst of it could be made, and a connection made with the Woodstock Road ; then the whole tract would be settled.' In the papers relative to emigration to Xorth America, laid before parliament in 1849, a statistical return of one of the newest settlements — the Harvey Settlement — is printed. The settlement is situated twenty-four miles from the town of Frederickton, on the great road to St Andrews, The colonists were a body of Nor- thumbrians. The return is so old as the year 1845, but the importance apparently attached to its publication in this country, in the following passage in the letter in which it is transmitted by the district commissioner to Governor Colebrooke, induces us to present a portion of the general result to the reader : — * It is desirable that the accompanying return may be circulated among the settlers' friends and comitrymen in the north of England, GO NEW BRUNSWICK. 8s well as in other parts of the United Kingdom, so that the capa- bilities of our new land -soil may appear, and that it may also be made known that we have at least 5,000,000 acres yet imdisposed of — a great portion of which is of better quality than the land at Harvey, whereon the sober and industrious emigrant may create a home under the protection of British laws, and in the enjoyment of British institutions.' The return refers to a tract on whiqh it is stated that ' not a tree had been felled in Jiilv 1837.' ■',... William Embleton, James Mo watt, "William Messer, Thomas Herbert, - William Grieve, John Coctburn, David I.etford, - John Thomson, iRobert Wilson, Henrj- Craigs, William Bell, Thomas Mowatt, - James Wishct, Alexander Hay, Andrew Mont^omeiy, Matthew Percy, James Corne, Thomas Kay, Geoi^e Davidson, John Seott, Thomas Percy, John Carmichael, - John Wightman. - John Nesbitt, EobertTait, "William Patterson, - William Robison, 14 \^ 6i 6^ 15 111 10 11 a » 10 10 10 - 10 219^ !t«iaevl«ad for Crop next Year. 3 4 10 5 4 10 5* 5()- Estimated Value of Land and Irapruvo' mentj. £60 100 r>oo-.j-'l, 180 118 100 165 150 130 92 1.50 100 150 135 126 73 75 10 90 10 180 10 92 135 130 70 120 130 q, £3007 10 These settlers collectively produced 115 tons of liay; 91^ tons of straw ; 6955 bushels of potatoes ; 270 bushels of wheat ; 2920 bushels of oats ; 504 bushels of barley and buckwheat ; and 160 bushels of turnips. They possessed 41 cows, 19 oxen, 9 horses, 59 sheep, 97 swine, and 40 young cattle. Of buildings they had 28 dwelling-houses, 26 bams, and 47 other outhouses. A similar return is given for the ' Teetotal Settlement,' whicli, * but two years ago, stood a dense forest.' The general results may be stated, in this instance, to aid the result of the above in developing the progress of a small body of associated settlers. The number, not of heads of families merely, but of human beings, was 101. Houses, 33; acres cleared, 177; acres cropped, 127. Produce in bushels — potatoes, 5700; turnips, 464; oats, 980; wheat, 61 AMERICA. 95; other grain, 37. Of live animals there were — cows, 11 ; horses, 3; pigs, 29. The estimated value of the improvements, not includ- ing the purchase - money from government of the waste land, was £1137. To 33 houses and 101 inhabitants we cannot allot more than 40 able-bodied men ; and by such a number this little fortune — a fixed capital, independently of the value of the pro- duce — was created in the space of two years. On the 31st of March 1849, the lieutenant-governor. Sir E. Head, writing to the secretary for the colonies, and drawing his attention to the capabilities of the colony for industrial allottees^ said : — * Of all the colonies of England which present any field for settle- ment, New Brunswick is accessible at the cheapest rate. Its climate is rigorous, but perfectly healthy : no emigrant brought here with his family could complain on that score. The sum required to take a man with his wife and two children to Australia would far more than defray his passage hither, and give him a fair start on his. own resources, -mih a log-hut and a crop in the ground. I am supposing that by an arrangement, which, in connection with a railway, could be made on a large scale, a certain number of rough log-huts were built, and a certain number of patches of ground tilled and planted in the spring before the emigrant arrived, so that he might derive from the crop thus raised the means of living through the first winter. ' Fuel is at his door ; and although hard work and hard fare would be his lot, it is evident that if he were thus able to wait for the com- mencement of railway work in the following year, he would have a clear course before him. The annexed memorandum contains a rough estimate of the probable cost of making the preparations necessary for receiving and housing an emigrant family in the first winter. ' All this, however, would require great care. The men must be bond fide able-bodied labourers ; they must not be burthened with excessive families, or with aged or sickly relatives ; and they must be selected by some person strictly responsible for their fitness. Without these precautions, the scheme would inevitably faij, and would be unjust to the colony as well as to the men themselves.' The memorandum enclosed in this document may be of use to industrial proposing settlers with small means. ' Average produce of an acre of potatoes, first year of clearing, planted amongst the stumps ? — The land being good, well cleared, and cropped, 200 bushels might be looked for. ' Average cost of clearing half an acre, burning the rough wood, and fitting the laud for planting? — Good hardwood land would take ten or eleven days to prepare it for crop ; and if done by the job, would cost from £3, 10s. lOd. to £3, 15s. per acre. •Quantity of seed for half an acre of potatoes? — The seed being 62 NEW BRUNSWICK. carefully planted, ten bushels would be required, at say 2s. Id. per bushel. 'Kate per day of labour if hired? — In a short period, 3s. 4d. without board ; and 2s. S^d. with board. ' Average cost of rough log-hut ?— A log-hut 18 feet by 12, shingled, but without chimney or flooring, would cost £8, 6s. 8d^ including two windows and one door ; a hut of the same dimensions, with chimney, double-flooring and ceiling, with a cellar, would probably cost £15 or £16, 13s. 4d.' Labour. — ^It is well that it should be at once understood that Kew Brunswick is not at present a good emigration field for the mechanic or the mere labourer, who has nothing but his work to give. There is, of course, employment for the workman — espe- cially in the staple produce of the country — lumbering, or timber- cutting, but it seems to be pretty fully supplied. If it were not, it is not one to induce aspiring men of the better class of skilled labourers to foUow it. The work is hard. It is of a kind that necessarily demands a lifetime of seclusion in the lonely forest. For its chief characteristics, reference may be made to page 37- In their circular for 1851 they give a rather better account, an- nouncing that ' the immigration agent stated, in a letter dated 10th March 1851, that the demand for unskilled labour was on the increase, and that a moderate number of ordinary labourers and farm - servants might find employment at fair wages in 1851.' With regard to other labourers, they appear to be already suf- ficiently abundant in the colony. It is not a place where great capitalists who can give much employment go. It has been chiefly colonised by capitalist- workers ; men of small means, who clear and labour in their settlements — and it is to this class only that it is at present suitable. Mr Johnston found an impression there, that if a man had from £50 to £100, with industrious habits and common sense and caution, he was sure to get on ; and the pro- vince was thought much more suitable to this class than to men of large means. He mentions many well-to-do Lowland Scotsmen of this class ; but he does not give so good an account of the success of the Irish and Highlanders. The government agent calculated that nine-tenths of those who landed in New Bruns- wick in the year 1849, passed into the United States, led by the better encouragement for labour. The Emigration Commissioners reported, in 1850, that though there had been a good harshest, and other matters had been on the whole encouraging tb the settlers, the demand for farm-labourers was likely to be very limited, ' if any,' ' while for ordinary or skilled labour,' the resident population was reported to be ' quite sufficient.' AMERICA. The observations of practical men who have been connected with enterprise on the spot, confirm the notion, however, that New Brunswick will not be for some time a field for the absorption of milch labom*. There are always two opposite views of labour or its reward in emigration fields, and perhaps elsewhere. The em- ployer looks to a sum as the amount at which it should be obtamed ; and when he cannot obtain it at that rate, is censorious, discontented, almost fierce. The labourer, who has taken the trouble of emigratmg, calculates on a golden reward for his ser- vices, and is mortified and discontented with the employer who cannot afibrd to give it. Thus what the one party talks of as prosperity, will not be vieweci by the other in the same light. Mr Perley, the government emigration agent, was exammed before the House of Lords' Committee on Emigration in 1847. He was desired to mention an instance of a raw emigrant rising by his labour and prudence. He mentioned one which he seemed to consider rather an eminent instance ; but though it came to a satisfactory conclusion, the beginning was not wliat would be an inducement to any but the humblest of the working-classes in this country — and in good times liardly to them. * Can you give any instances within your own knowledge of the pro- gress of an unskilled labourer upon his arrival to the condition of a skilled labourer receiving higher wages, till he reaches the point of liaving the means of acquiring land, and becoming a landowner?—! can mention one case. I sent a young man to a firstrate farmer in the country, who wrote to me for an active young man. Was the emigrant an Irishman ' — From the county of Cork ; the son of a small farmer in that county. He brought me a letter of introduction, stating that he was of a decent family. I sent him up to a firstrate farmer, who gave him 30s. currency per month, with which he was not Avell satisfied ; that is equal to 25s. sterling. He had his main- tenance, and washing and lodging, in the farmer's house. He proved himself so active and useful, that in the second month his wages were advanced. Before the close of the season, and the setting in of winter, he had learned the use of the axe very well, and v.-as engaged by a lumbering party in the woods at £5 per month. — Feeding him- self ? — No ; they found him everything in the woods except clothing. He proved himself so good an axeman, that at the end of tlie year, when the men came down with the tunber, and he was paid off, lie brought to me a sum of £30 currency, and wanted to know what he should do with his earnings. I advised him to buy 100 acres of land, which would cost liim £12 currency ; to put the other £18 in the Savings' Bank, and hire out another year, and by that time he would be in a position to establish himself comfortably as a farmer. — In stating that case, do you state it as a remarkable case, or as a case frequently occurring, or as at all ordinarily occurring in the pro- vince ? — I have knov.n within the last three or four years several 61 NEW BRUNSWICK. such cases. Tliis probably is a strong one ; but I have knoAvn many- cases where emigrants have gone on nearly as successfully as that, and have had £20 at the end of the first year.' The labour-market being in the meantime of the limited kind wliich we have mentioned, it does not follow that the opportunities for enlarging it are limited, and that it will always remain thus bounded. There is great room for enterprise in this colony : it may some day make a great start onward. It is believed that the road-making operations, elsewhere alluded to, will be of great advantage — on the one hand, new emigrants will be occupied ; on the other, good places of settlement will be made more accessible. The contemplated railway operations Avould tend still more to infuse spirit and enterprise into the district. Mr Perley stated to the Lords' Committee of 1847, that ' the impression in New Bruns- wick is, that for every emigrant labourer who may be employed upon the railway itself, four other emigrant labourers w^ould find employment throughout the province in other works which would spring up in consequence of the construction of the railway — such as the establishment of new settlements ; the founding of towns ; the establishment of foundries, forges, and furnaces ; the erection of mills ; the making of roads ; construction of bridges ; and in an mfinity of other ways.' On the occasions where active operations have been carried on, a stream of labour, which may be said to pass through this colony to the United States, becomes partially arrested. This was the case in 1846, when a more than usual number of w^orking-men remained in New Brunswick. The gentleman just quoted thus accounts for the phenomenon : ' I can explain that. Last year there were large grants from the provmcial legislature for the road service — about £40,000. Shipbuilding also was in a very flourish- ing condition. We built a large amount of ships in the province last year ; nearly double what had been built in previous seasons. ix number of new steam saw-mills were also erected ; and in St John, what gave employment more than anything else was, that a gas-light company and a water company were each laying down pipes for gas and water in the city of St John. All these circum- stances combined gave employment, at good wages, to a certain extent.' Emigration. — From the limited employment, emigration to this colony has not shewn a disposition to increase. According to the report of the Emigration Commissioners for 1850, the whole number of arrivals in 1849 was 2671, being less than those of the previous year by so much as 1470 ; and it w^as the opinion of the emigration agent, that of the reduced number nine-tenths had passed on to the United States. The immigration of 1848 — 4020 persons — was E 65 AMERICA. a decrease on that of 1847 — the great year of misery and helter- skelter emigration — of 11,249 ; and was a decrease on the more moderate year, 1846, of 5745. The number in that year was 9765, of whom about 4500 are supposed to have passed over to the United States, leaving, however, an increase to the New Brunswick population of more than 5000. Along with the other North American colonies, New Brunswick suffered considerably from the wretched cargoes of emigrants fleeing from the Irish famine and all the miseries of 1847. Not only were helplessness and starvation unshipped upon the island, appealing clamorously for relief and the saving of life, but conta- gious diseases of an appalling kind were imported in these miser- able vessels, which communicated themselves around, and espe- cially among those who benevolently attempted to mitigate the miseries of the helpless strangers. A better notion could not be formed of the nature of the sufferings to be mitigated, and of the sacrifices made by the colony, than the perusal of an act of the colony, passed in 1848, ' to provide for the expenses incurred in the support, relief, and maintenance of indigent, sick, and dis- tressed emigrants and orphans who arrived in this province during the past year.' The items shew that the colonists near where the living cargoes were unshipped had to make great pecuniary sacri- fices to save the lives laid down at their doors. To protect themselves from so costly and dangerous an inunda- tion, the colony passed an act in 1848 to increase the tax on im- migrants — making it 10s. a head between 1st April and 1st Sep- tember; 15s. between 1st September and 1st October; and £1 from that time to 1st April. If the vessel required to go into quaran- tine for the health of the passengers, an addition of 5s. a head was incurred ; and if it required to remain in quarantine more than ten days, a further sum of 5s. In reference to this enactment, which of course pressed heavily on the emigration to the colony — £300 or £400 requiring sometimes to be paid for one vessel — the lieutenant-governor. Sir Edward Head, wrote to the secretary for the colonies in April 1849, that * there never was a more striking example of the fact, that incautious and ill-regulated emigi*ation does more than anything else to throw impediments in the way of that which may be properly conducted.' Better symptoms were, however, observable in 1849, the number of emigrants being much reduced, and the health and general con- dition improved. In 1850, an act was passed reducing the fees or taxes by precisely one-half. The tax came, then, to be as follows : Emigrants arriving between the 1st April and 1st September will now pay 5s. ; between 1st September and 1st October, 7s. 6d. ; between 1st October and 1st April, 10s. ; and vessels placed in 66 NOVA SCOTIA AXD CAPE BRETON. quarantine will pay, in the first instance, 2s. 6d. a head ; and if detained more than ten days, an additional 2s. 6d. a head. NOVA SCOTIA AND CAPE BRETON. The old province of Nova Scotia is between the 43d and 46th degrees of latitude, and the 61st and 67th degrees of west longi- tude. It is about 320 miles long, with an average breadth of 70 miles, and is computed to contain 7,000,000 acres of dry land, 2,000,000 of which are barren, and incapable of cultivation. The stormy island of Cape Breton, separated from it by a strait which in some places is not above a mile wide, is supposed to contam about 500,000 acres of land capable of cultivation. The coasts are wild, rocky, and deeply indented; but the province is not strictly mountainous, the greatest elevation not rising above 700 feet above the level of the sea. ' Granite and calcareous rocks, with gray and red sandstone, prevail in the northern parts of Nova Scotia, from the Gut of Canseau to the Bay de Vert, and extend across the province to the Bay of Minas, if not interrupted by a granite ridge, which may very probably occur in the Mount Tom range of Highlands. The hard gray or bluish sandstone which occurs in various parts of the province makes excellent grindstones ; the light gray granite quarried at TNTiitehead, near Cape Canseau, makes remarkably good millstones ; and a beautiful freestone, most admirably adapted for building, is abundant in several places, par- ticularly at Port Wallace.' — {Appendices to Macgregor's Commer- cial Reports, Part xxiii. p. 530.) In the same authority it is stated +hat 'the geology and mineralogy of Cape Breton can only be said to be known in outline. From all that we have observed, however, and from all the information we have been able to ob- tain, it may be remarked that almost all the rocks named in the discordant nomenclature of Werner are found in this island. Among the primitive rocks, granite prevails in the peninsular country south-east of the Bras d'Or, and it possibly forms the nucleus of the Highlands between this inlet and the Gulf of St Lawrence. Sienite, trap, mica, clay-slate, and occasionally quartz, also appear in the Gulf coast. Primitive trap, sienite, mica-slate, and clay-slate, shew themselves, together with transition limestone, grauwacke, gypsum, and coal, generally in aU parts of this island.* — (P. 532.) Minerals of the agate and jasper kind are found along the coast, as throughout the gi-eater part of North America. But Q7 AMERICA. what is of chief moment to note in their geolog}', is the abundance of coal spread over the greater part of both districts. There are large strata of ironstone; copper and lead Iiave been met with; and it is believed that when an opportunity occurs for adapting their resources to use, these territories will be found rich in minerals. Few countries are so well situated for the exportation of their productions. There are several navigable rivers, with fertile banlcs, the largest being the Shubenacadie and the Clyde ; and with these, and the indentations of the coast, there is no part of the interior above thirty miles from navigation. A great part of the country is covered with dense forest, the effect of which is to keep the otherwise rich alluvial soil on which it stands in a continual state of coldness and dampness, from the shade, the tliick unaired coat- ing of dead leaves, and the quantity of rain thus attracted. The contrasts of season exhibited in North America generally are pecu- liarly violent here, in the length aud acerbity of the winter, and the heat of summer. There is some stony and worthless land, but much of it is highly available; and when settlement and cultivation make progress, the disappearance of the forest will bring greater equality and salubrity to the climate. The lands are generally divided into tliree kmds — upland, intervale, and marsh. The first kind, generally near the river heads, is sometimes a stiff clay ; but it is varied by a friable and productive loam. The intervale land consists of a rich alluvium, and is of a similar character to that known by the same name in New Brunswick. The marsh is sometimes diked like that already mentioned in New Brunswick. Mr Johnston, who saw but a small portion of Nova Scotia, but wlio noted well what he saw, confirms the previous accounts of the soil of the province, dividing it, like his predecessors, into three classes. He was of opinion that the wild broken coast-line gave ordinary travellers a fallacious notion of the interior, being * as naked and inhospitable as an mhabited country can well be.' Nor would the interior in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital of the province convey a more promising impression ; for he teUs us that there, ' in some places, boulders of various sizes are scattered sparsely over the surface ; in others they literally cover the land ; while in rarer spots they are heaped upon each other, as if intentionally accumulated for some after-UiC.' ' One ought,' he continues, ' to ^isit a country like this, while new to the plough, in order to understand what must have been the original condition of much of the land in our o^vn country, which the suc- cessive labours of many generations have now smoothed and levelled.' Passing across the neck of land between Halifax and the Bay of Minas, I^Ir Johnston was evidently struck by the aridity of the country — it happened to be a very dry season — until he 68 NOVA SCOTIA AND CAPE BRETON. came to the dike-land. ' This land,' he says, ' sells at present at from £15 to £40 sterling per acre; and some of it has been tilled for 150 years without any manure — a treatment, however, of which it is now beginning seriously to complain. It averages 300 bushels (nine tons), and sometimes produces 600 bushels (eighteen tons) of potatoes to the acre.' Of the intervale land Mr Johnston says, that with farm buildings it ' is rarely valued so high as £20 an acre.' The chief productions are of course grain and live-stock. The timber, though so abundant, is of an inferior quality, and does not compete with that of Canada and New Bnmsmck. There are, unfortunately, but scanty statistics of a recent date as to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. In 1827 there was an enumeration of" the cultivated land and its produce. The acreage was 274,501, on which grew 161,416 bushels of wheat, 799,665 bushels of other grain, 2,434,766 tons of potatoes, and 150,976 tons of hay. The live-stock were 13,232 horses, 100,739 horned cattle, 152,978 sheep, and 75,772 swine. The amount of agricultural produce must have greatly increased since this estimate was made, with the exception probably of potatoes, the cultivation of which was in a great measure abandoned after the ravages of the disease. By returns to parliament in 1850, the quinquennial value of the exports of the colony was calculated at £661,581. But it appears that while the amount in 1847 had risen to £831,071, it had fallen in 1849 to £560,947. The quinquennial average of shipping inwards was 476,207 tons ; of shipping outwards, 435,643 tons. It is calculated that the projected railway from Halifax to Quebec would render accessible 1,080,000 acres of ungranted land in this colony. It does not appear that much land has lately been acquired in v]^e colony, and the Emigration Commissioners have not of late reported any sales. In 1845 there were sold in Nova Scotia 21,921 acres, bringing £2028, 18s. ; and in Cape Breton, 17,700 J acres, realising £1669, 13s. The terms on which lands may be acquired here are very easy. A local act was passed, enabling the governor and council to fix any rate not less than Is. 9d. an acre ; but there are ample provisions for relaxing this rule in favour of persons urging any claim for occupancy and improvement. From the excellent means of communication in the great harbour of Halifax and otherwise, it is believed that for a smaU capitalist contented with the climate this would be an eligible emigration field. With regard to labour, though wages have been hitherto good, and provisions cheap, yet the Emigration Commissioners announce that here, as in New Brunswick, there is but a limited demand for workmen. In 1847 the governor represented to the 69 AMERICA. home government that it would not be desirable to encourage the emigration of workmen to the province. The population of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton is estimated at 300,000. That of Nova Scotia separately was, in 1837, 199,206. The people are of a mixed race. Many of the original French settlers or Acadians still exist, especially in Cape Breton. They much resemble in their character and habits the Habitans of Canada. There is a mixed dark race, the descendants of refugee slaves. Several of the descendants of American loyalists hold lands in the province. There are many Highland emigrants; and, unfor- tunately for the progress of the colony, they are apt to keep together in communities, as in Canada. Pictou, a territory pene- trated by a beautiful harbour, has 30,000 inhabitants, the greater part of whom are Highlanders. Few emigrants have lately gone to the province. It suffered along with the other North American colonies by the pauper-emigration of 1847, at a time when, owing to considerable internal depression, it was little suited to receive such an addition to its population. An act was passed, as in the other colonies, for taxing emigrants, which rapidly reduced the number. They were, in 1847, 2000; and m 1848, 140. The number who embarked in the year following was 298. There are several towns in Nova Scotia, the principal of which is the fine city of Halifax, a place of great importance to trade. It contains eight good streets, with a very remarkable mass of government buildings, called the Provmce BuUding; many hand- some private residences built of stone and plastered wood ; and large commodious wharfs for its extensive shipping and mer- chandise. It contauis about 25,000 inhabitants. Its trade is extensive, but its mercantile classes, probably from their being chiefly of Scottish origin, are celebrated for their prudence and the paucity of bankrupts among them. The trade of the town derives its importance in a great measure from its being an entrepot between Britain and America. It is generally the first American port touched by the vessels crossmg the Atlantic, and affords the emigrant the earliest glimpse of American scener)^ Many trans- atlantic tourists speak of Halifax, from having had occasion to land there on their way to Canada or the United States, but few travellers have recorded their opinions of the other parts of Nova Scotia. In general, the notices of Halifax have been very promis- ing, both as to the health and comfort of the inhabitants of the province Mr Johnston, the latest traveller who gives us his im- pression of the capital, emphatically says : ' A European stranger who, on landing in Halifax, looks for the sallow visage and care- worn expression which distinguish so many of the inhabitants of the northern states of the Union, will be pleased to see the fresh 70 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. and blooming complexions of the females of all classes, and, I may say, of almost all ages. Youth flourishes longer here, and we scarcely observe, in stepping from England to Nova Scotia, that we have yet reached a climate which bears heavier upon young looks and female beauty than our own.' — {Notes on North America, i. 3.) The importance of Halifax will be greatly enlarged when the projected railway to Quebec is carried through. Many of the emigrants, not only to the Canadas but to the Western States of the Union, will then disembark at Halifax. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. This island, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, lies between 46^ and 47° 10" of north latitude. Its length, pursuing a course corre- spondmg with its winding shape, is 140 miles, and its breadth about 34 miles. It is deeply indented with creeks, like the west coast of Scotland, so that no part of it is far distant from the sea. It is not mountainous, but has some gentle elevations ; and the surface is described as a peculiarly pleasant diversity of gentle rising- grounds, forests, meadows, and water. This was one of the colonies origmally belonging to France, and the foundation of the population is French. Many Highlanders have been settled there mider the auspices of Lord Selkirk; but they have been too closely associated together, and their position is therefore too like that which they held in their own country. The popula- tion amounts now to about 68,000 ; it did not much exceed 6000 at the commencement of the century. The capital and seat of government is Charlottetown, with about 3500 inhabitants ; it is neatly built and agreeably situated. In 1848 the lands held in Prince Edward Island amounted to the following : — In absolute property or fee-simple, 280,649 acres ; under lease, 330,926 acres; by verbal agreement, 38,783 acres; occupants not freeholders or tenants, being, it may be presumed, of the nature of squatters, held 65,434 acres ; and 31,312 are set down as ' by written demises.' The acres of arable land were 215,389, exceedmg by 73,809 the amount of arable land in 1840. In Mr Macgregor's Appendices to the Commercial Reports, pre- sented to parliament in 1850, where the particulars from which the above general statement is taken are set forth at length, there is also an account of the crop of the preceding year. It consisted of — wheat, 219,787 (an increase of 66,328 over the same crop in 71 AMERICA. 1840) ; barley, 75,521 bushels ; oats, 746,383 bushels ; potatoes, 731,575 bushels (a great decrease from the amount of 1840, which was 2,230,114 bushels); turnips, 153,933 bushels; clover- seed, 14,900 bushels ; and hay, 45,128 tons. There has been httle emigration to this island in late years. In 1849 there arrived eighty-four new settlers, chiefly sent thither by the Duke of Sutherland. The quantity of land sold in the same year was 79.i acres, realismg £99, 15s. The price of land in this island had been for some time extravagantly high — ^wilderness land at an upset price of 20s, an acre, and ' town, pasture, and river lots at from £10 to £30 per acre.' A reduction of 10 per cent, took place in 1837. In 1848 an arrangement of an unfor- tunately complex kind was adopted, the result of which appears to be, that 7000 acres were offered at 5s. an acre ; 2540 at 10s. ; and pasture lots, of eight acres each, at £5 per lot. These are all upset prices. The Emigration Commissioners jom this island with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as a place where much additional labour is not required. It is understood, however, that the settlement would be a suitable one for small capitalists, by whom it could be made very productive in grain. (uoO aoh NEWFOUNDLAND. Newfoundland lies between 46° 40' and 51' 37' north, and covers a vast triangular area, forming a sort of barrier across the greater part of the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence. It is the pai^t of America nearest to Europe. Though an island, and in the centre of the ocean traffic with North America, little was known of its in- terior character until, in 1822, it was penetrated at great risk, and with much exertion, by ^[r Cormack, an adventurous traveller. The impediments which he encountered from the lakes, rivers, and vast impenetrable marshes, shewed the source of its proverbial fogs and damp wmds. The geological formation was chiefly primitive, but indications were seen of iron and coal. The -nild animals of the north were found to abound. The island has forests of timber, but they are not in gi-oat abundance. It is not believed that much good arable land, fit for grain, will ever be found in Newfoundland, but it is thought that its grazing capacities may be considerable. This colony is mentioned on the present occasion rather to satisfy the curiosity of those who may wish to know whether it resembles the other North American territories, than for the sake of recom- 72 THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY, &C. mending it as an emigration field. It has scarcely been used for the ordinary purposes of emigration and settlement, the agri- culture of the country being merely raised to feed its shipping population. In general the soil is covered -with a thick coating of moss, rendering its cultivation laborious. While the population is about 100,000, the quantity of land under crop in 1845 amounted only to 29,654 acres. No hay appears to have been produced ; but there were, of oats, 11,695 bushels, and of potatoes, 341,165. There were in the island 2409 horses, 8135 homed cattle, 5750 sheep, and 5791 goats. With regard to labourers not agricultural, the settlement is in much the same position as the neighbouring colonies. There is work in proportion to the extent of the com- munity, and it is well rewarded ; but there is no room for a large importation of workmen. The great occupation of the place iS fishing, and the operations connected with the curing and preser- vation of the fish. The neighbouring Bank of Newfoundland — the largest submerged island in the world, being GOO miles long, and in some places 200 broad — is the great fishing-ground for cod, ling, and the smaller fish. Whale and seal fishing are largely carried on. The value of the dried cod annually exported is £500,000^ and that of the other produce of the fishery — oil, seal- skin, her- rings, &c. — is about the same, making an export on the whole of nearly a million in value. The Emigration Commissioners, in their circular for 1851, say : * There exists no official return of the surveyed and accessible land at the disposal of the crown in this colony. The area has been estimated at about 2,300,000 acres, of which about 23,000 have been appropriated. By a colonial law, crown-lands are to be sold by auction at an upset price, to be fixed by the governor, at not less than 2s. per acre. Land exposed to auction more than once on diff*erent days may afterwards be sold, without further competition, at the last upset price. Although the agriculture of the province is progressively increasing, there are yet comparatively few persons exclusively employed in it, the population being nearly all engaged in the fisheries.' THE NORTH-W^ST TERRITORY AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. The boundaries of the British American possessions, with the United States and Russian America, have already been re- ferred to. The former is very vague in its character as it passes 73 AMERICA. westward, and may involve unpleasant discussions hereafter. Setting apart, however, the several settlements already considered — the Canadas, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland — the remainder of the vast territory consists of the possessions of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and the great North-west Territory. The boundaries of the company's territories are not very distinctly laid down, but they are understood to commence towards the east with the table-land in Labrador, which separates the waters flowing into Hudson's Bay from those flowing into the St Lawrence and its gulf, and to be bounded westward by the Rocky Mountains. In these directions there will probably be little occasion precisely to fix the bounds : but as the company nominally hold by their charter the country watered by all the rivers running into Hudson's Bay, their nominal boundaries include territories actually within the United States. This vast northern region exhibits great varieties of soil, scenery, and climate. A large part of it is flat and marshy, while the Rocky Mountams rise in granitic peaks to from 10,000 to 16,000 feet in height. The more northern portion is partly covered with stone and arid detritus, and contains more marsh, river, and lake, than any other part of the world. In these desolate regions there is but a brief sununer and a long dreary winter, which requires the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company to exercise the utmost caution to avoid intense hardship, accompanied with danger. In some of their posts and factories, even when there is fire in the room, brandy freezes, and the walls are covered with glittering ice from the breath of the inmates ! A more comfortless life than these hardy adventurers lead it were difficult to unagine. ' The SOU at Churchill Fort (one of the Hudson's Bay Company's sta- tions, in latitude 59° north), on the shores of the bay, is extremely barren, rocky, dry, and without wood for several miles inland ; a few garden vegetables are with difficulty reared. At York Fort, in latitude 57° 2', longitude 93° west, the soil is low and marshy, and equally unproductive ; and though the trees are larger than those inland of Fort Churchill, they are equally knotty and dwarfish. The country around the factory, although elevated above the river, is one entire swamp, covered with low, stunted pine, and perfectly impenetrable, even in July, when it is infested with clouds of mosquitoes. The land seems to have been thrown up by the sea, and is never thawed, during the hottest summer, with the thermometer at 90° to 100° in the shade, more than ten or twelve inches, and then the soil is of the consistence of clammy mud : even in the centre of the factory it is necessary to keep on the platforms to avoid sinking over the ankles.' — {Martin's Hud- son's Bay T&iritories and Vancouver's Island, 10.) 74 THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY, &C. On the other hand, in the districts bordering on the United States, and which may yet be the object of unfortunate disputes, there are fruitful territories of unknown extent and resources. Mr Macgregor says : ' A greater portion of the region lying south of Lake Athabasca, and [of that] west of the Stony Moun- tains, is eminently adapted for agriculture ; and its splendid forests and broad savannas abound with buffalo, moose, carraboo, com- mon deer, and most, if not all, the wild animals and bhds ; in the lakes and rivers great varieties of fish are plentiful. This remote territory possesses resources capable of yielding sustenance and independence to many millions of inhabitants ; but hitherto the soil has in no part been subjected to cultivation, except in smaU spots where the fur-traders have established posts ; and on the banks of the Red River Lord Selkirk established a settlement.' — {Appendices to Commercial Reports, Part xxiii. p. 467.) However great may be the resources of this territory, they are not, with the exceptions to be after noticed, of great importance to our present purpose, which is to deal with existing practical emigration fields, however momentous they may be to our descend- ants. There is one species of emigration which, it is true, is open here on a considerable scale — service with the Hudson's Bay Company. That is, however, altogether a life so peculiar that no inhabitants of Britain wiU be likely to adopt it but those who, from peculiar circumstances, have been led through a wild adventurous career. It is not by any means a popular service, and has been the object of various complaints, whether well founded or not. The Hudson's Bay Company were lately called on to set forth publicly the extent of their privileges, and the amount of territory over which they professed to exercise them ; and the papers on the subject were laid before parliament in the session of 1850. The company founded on their charter from Charles 11. :n 1670, defining their territory as 'all those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks, and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the straits commonly called Hudson's Straits ; together with all the lands and territories upon the countries, coasts, and confines of the seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks, and sounds aforesaid, that are not already actually pos- sessed by or granted to any of our subjects, or possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince or state.' They presented a map of their territory, in which it appeared, from the 90th degree of longitude westward, to be bounded on the south by the United States, while the Canadas bounded it else- where to the south and east. Northward, it was represented as stretching almost indefinitely among the partly -known peninsulas and islands at the entrance of Hudson's Bay and Strait. To the 75 AMERICA. west, its southern extremity extended to the 115th degree of longitude among the Rocky ^Mountains, whence the boundary kept eastward for above 10 degrees. The rights claimed over this district were absokite, both as to property and sovereignty. By an act of 1803 (43 Geo. III. c. 138) the Canadian courts were invested witli a jurisdiction in these territories coextensive with that of the company. Hitherto the company has acted pretty absokitely and irresponsibly on its powers, because it had no subjects within its territory but its owni officers and servants responsible to their employers. But as colonisation proceeds, the question of such a sovereignty becomes a serious one. On the subject of taxation they said, in presenting their case to parliament : * Until a colony of resident settlers was established other than the colony's own servants, the company defrayed the whole expenses of the government of their territories, without the aid of any contribution whatever ; but since a colony was formed, it has been made a stipulation with the community, upon their becoming settlers and receiving parcels of land, that they should contribute towards the expenses of the government of the colony ; but tlie main charge has continued to be borne by the company.' On the extent of the company's powers and privileges being questioned, the opinion of the law-officers of the crown was taken, and was given in their favour, subject to the right of any party to bring them under judicial discussion. Red River Settlement. — In the year 1802, Lord Selkirk published his views on emigration ; the main feature of which was, that care should be taken to prevent the Highlanders, who, by the progress of sheep- farming, had to leave Britain, from settling in the terri- tory of aliens. To aid in accomplishing his object, he bargained for and obtained a gi*ant of land from the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. It appears to have been deemed of little consequence how extensive was the territor}'- so conveyed. It received the name of Ossiniboia, and the boundary was described as commencing ' at a point in 52^ 30' north, on the western shore of Lake AVinni- peg ; the line nmning also west to Lake Winipegoas, or Little Winnipeg ; thence south to the Highlands, dividing the waters of the Missouri and Mississippi from those falling into Lake Winni- peg ; thence by those Highlands to the source of the Paver La Pluie, and dowTi that river through the Lake of the Woods, and River Winnipeg, to the place of beginning.' The tract comprises upwards of 73,000,000 of acres ; and, as Mr Macgregor observes, ' half of the territory at least, and certainly the better half, is within the boundary of the United States.' On a small spot of this territory, very near the northern boun- dary of the United States, and as far west as the 97th degree, was THE NOPwTII-WEST TERKITORY, &C. formed, and still remains, the small lonely settlement of Red River, ■with about 6000 inhabitants. After having undergone many hardships, especially in the attacks of the North- West Company, the rivals of their patrons, the Hudson's Bay Company, the settlers are described as prosperous and happy. The bishop of Montreal, who visited the place in 1844, published a journal, in which he noted such facts as the following : — ' There are 182 horses, 749 mares, 107 bidls, 2207 cows, 1580 calves, 1976 pigs, and 3569 sheep The soil, which is alluvial, is beyond example rich and productive There is an instance, I was assured, of a farm in which the owner, with comparatively slight labour in the preparatory processes, had taken a wheat crop out of the same land for eighteen successive years ; never changing the crops, never manuring the land, and never suflfering it to lie fallow ; and that the crop was abundant to the last.' Virtually, no emi- gration has taken place to this community ; yet one would think it a not unsuitable field. It is said that land is obtainable on liberal terms from the company. The settler is, to a certain extent, under their authority ; they jealously guard their peculiar traffic — the fur-trade; and lay restrictions on some other occu- pations—on, for instance, dealing in ardent spirits. The colony is, to be sure, a very isolated one. If it have abundance of the necessaries of life, it has scarcely any means of exporting its surplus; and from the same circumstance all imported articles are dear. But it will not always be thus separated from the world; for its water-communication comes very near the upper waters of the Mississippi, and soon the western settlements will be approaching it. Vancouver's Island, on the west coast, lies so closely into a bend of the coast, from which it is separated by a winding narrow strait, that its western exterior falls into the general outline of the conti- nent. It lies between the 48th and 51st degrees of north latitude, .and is about 290 miles long, with an average breadth of 50 miles. Little is yet known of its interior character, but it is seen to be abundantly timbered ; producing pine, spruce, yew, red and white oak, ash, cedar, poplar, maple, and willow. Near tlie Hudson's Bay Company's factor}' at Camosack, in the northern end of the island, it is known that there is much valuable prairie land suit- able both for grazing and cultivation. The mineral riches seem to be considerable, and especially coal of excellent quality has been found in abundance. This discovery was a matter of material importance for our communications with western America, however much or little influence it may have on emigration. The quality of the coal was favourably reported on by Admiral Sir George Seymour in AMERICA. 1847, and it was compared to the better kind of Scotch coal. The Indians were at first jealous of the intentions of the strangers, and charged them with a design 'to steal' the coals; but when value was given for the mineral, they brought it readUy, and sold in one lot 90 tons at about 4s. 6d. per ton. It was scraped up with hatchets, and other imperfect tools. The existence of lead of a fine quality has been reported on this island. On the 13th January 1849 letters-patent were issued, conferring on the Hudson's Bay Company the sovereignty of Vancouver's Island, under conditions. The letters declared them to be ' the true and absolute lords and proprietors,' for the purpose of making the island a settlement for emigrant colonists. They were bound to * dispose of all lands hereby granted to them at a reasonable price,' and to apply the money so raised, as well as that realised from the working of coal, with a deduction of profits not exceed- ing 10 per cent., to emigration, and the colonisation and improve- ment of the island. The grant was made revocable if its purpose were not fulfilled by the establishment of a colony in five years. FALKLAND ISLANDS. The last British colonial possessions to be noticed are the Falk- land Islands — a group of small islands in the Atlantic, opposite and at no great distance from the Straits of Magellan. Only two of the islands are of any importance, one being 100 miles long by 60 miles broad, the other being somewhat smaller. These islands are said to form good grazing grounds, and they feed large herds of cattle. They are represented as ofiering some scope for enterprising emigrants; but too little is known of them to warrant our advising any one to think of them as a place of settlement. 78 THE UNITED STATES. The capacity of the United States as a field of emigration is only one feature of this great country, and to that we confine our attention in the present work, leaving information on other points to be procured from other sources. We begin with a few statistical details worthy of being known by the intending emigrant. At the establishment of national independence, July 4, 1779, the States were thirteen in number. By extension over new territories, thirty-one States are now represented in Congress, and there are others partly constituted in the manner to be after mentioned. Each State has a local sovereignty, with its own popularly-elected governor and legislature ; but aU are united for federal purposes, with a central government at Washington. The population of the United States is now supposed to exceed twenty-two millions. At the census of 1840 the amount was 17,063,353, and in 1830, 12,866,920. The rapidity of increase has been the marked feature of this empire. At the commencement of the century the enumeration gave 5,305,925. In 1820 the numbers were 9,638,131. The annual imports are valued at thirty millions sterling, and the exports at a trifle less. The territory of the republic occupies nearly the whole of that part of the North American continent, which is between the 25th and 49th parallel. The northern point is about 1000 miles distant from the southern, and the extreme breadth about 1700 miles. It contains all grades of vegetation, from the tropical rice, cotton, and sugar-cane, to the hardy northern pine ; and in the animal creation, the panthers and venemous reptiles of Southern Asia at one extremity, and the moose-deer and northern bear at the other. The greatest variety of all, however, is exhibited in its mixed population. The first great contrast is between men too free to inhabit anything but a republic, and slaves brought into the position of chattels bought and sold. There are English Quakers and French Catholics. The colonisa- tion of the Dutch has left its trace in the central states, where com- munities still speak the language of Holland, and where, in the midst of the republic, the old Dutch hereditary title of the Patroon of Albany is still sufi'ered. There are German villages where English is not spoken, and others colonised by Swedes, Danes, and Finlanders. In Mexico the indolent Spaniard is jostled by the rapid, impatient Anglo-Saxon Yankee. Many remains of the old French settlements still exist on the Mississippi, while in almost all parts of the States the several varieties of race inhabiting the British Empire are found. The staple, however, there as here, 79 AirERICA. is the great Anglo-Saxon community, predominating in England, lowland Scotland, and the north of Ireland. Though the same republican institutions prevail throughout the States, tlie habits of the people are as varied as their origin. In the southern slave states there is a haughty languid indolence of manner, and an adherence to old formal liabits, which have become obsolete in this country ; while the men of the north and west are renowned for their brisk, officious, mquisitive, rapid manners. In the shifting west, family and origin are matters little consideretl ; but in the old states of Virginia and Maryland, the social privileges assigned to good birth are guarded all the more jealously, because there are no political privileges held by hereditary descent. The most conspicuous social distinctions, however, arise from the great blot of the American constitution — slavery. It is cordially and honestly hated by one portion of the inhabitants of the Union, but resolutely supported by the other. By the census of 1840, the slaves in the United States approached the appalling number of two millions and a half (2,487,355.) They had increased by nearly half a million in ten years, and had risen from 893,041 since the commencement of the century. The chief slave states are Virgmia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Florida. In New York, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Micliigan and Indiana, there are no slaves, or at most in one or two of these states a nominal remnant of the system. Thus in New York, where there were 20,000 slaves at the commencement of the century, the census of 1840 exhi- bited but 4; in Pennsylvania, where the number had been 3737 in 1790, it was reduced to 64; and in Connecticut, where there were 2759, the number was reduced to 17. On the other hand, in Alabama there were only 41,879 slaves in 1820, and in 1840 they had increased to 253,532. South Carolina is the greatest slave territory, the numbers had increa.sed from 146,151 at the commencement of the century to 327,038 in 1840. In Georgia the number was 59,504 in 1800, and 280,944 in 1840. This is a matter of importance to the intending emigi-ant, since the slave states are unsuitable for his purposes. The mechanic and farm-labourer will not seek a country where honest industrj- is associated with bondage and all its degradations. But what is more material, there is no room for him ; where sers'ices may be enforced there is always a superabundance of it going. However dear slave labour may be made in a slave state, it will always be cheaper than free labour; were it not, the masters would abandon their slaves. At the same time, slave states are unsuitable to the constitution of the inhabitants of this country, and especially to 80 THE UNITED STATES. those who require to labour. The indolence and all the appliances of wealth by which tlie affluent planter surrounds himself, are in* sufficient to preserve him from the deadly influences of the climate. To understand how this is an almost unvarying concomitant of filjwe labour, we must keep in view the peculiar circmnstances in which it is more valuable than free labour. It occurs where a very humble grade of labour only is required to gather in and make use of the prolific fruits of the soil; but where the climate is so oppressive that only the races of tropical descent can with impunity give even tliat amount of labour, while they will not give it unless under compulsion. Hence slave labour foimd its natural location in tropical America, the West Indies, and the Mauritius. Slave labour would not pay in the forges, manufactories, and dockyards in this country, otherwise our criminal prisoners might be made self-supporting — an advantage they are far from attaining. Thus wherever the mechanic, the agricultural labourer, or the indus- trious smaU farmer, sees a state branded as one of the regular slave states, he may know that it is not a place for 1dm. But it is not to be inferred that wherever the law sanctions slavery, and a few slaves exist, the state comes within the objec- tion. However odious it maybe to witness a few domestic slaves, the economy of the district, as one adapted to emigration, will not be affected by them. Wherever the climate permits, and the nature of the soil demands the highest class of labour, slavery will not virtually exist ; and it must disappear where the ban'en- ness of the soil renders it necessary for the people to support themselves by mechanical emplo}Tnent. "\Mierever the system of small settlements and small farms are the natural arrangement of agriculture, slavery cannot virtually subsist, for slave-work, to be economical, must be performed in gangs and under discipline. Hence it is maintamed that the law sanctioning slavery in Texas \ will not make it virtually a slave state. AYith regard to the capitalist — there is no doubt that many of the slave states hold out pecuniary inducements to him. It is said that in some of the older states, as Virginia and jMaryland, there are many valuable old farms v.hich, from the great Cahfornian migration, can be obtained on moderate terms. But with every allowance for the prejudices and the other difficulties of contend- ing with old-established practices, to become a slave-o^^^le^ could be looked on as nothing short of a crime in one brought up amidst British institutions and opinions. Nor would such investments only mvolve mere slave- ownership. In these old states the fertility of the soil has sometimes been greatly exhausted, and the land- owners continue to be rather slave-breeders for the new southern states than mere raisers of slave-labour produce. F 81 AMERICA. Looking to the social and moral condition of the proper emi- gration states, it may be safely said that nowhere can a refugee find more independence and toleration than by selecting his position over this vast concretion of distinct and dissimilar social systems. This has its evil, doubtless — it affords a refuge for crime, and a hiding- place for branded reputations ; but so it must be in every advanc- ing prolific coimtry, where people are daily coming in contact with new faces. It has, however, its good and humane aspect. There are bigots and exclusionists of all kinds, and of the bitterest intensity, in the States, if people desire to find them out ; but, on the other hand, those who have what are here called peculia- rities of opinion, will find refuge for them there, as the Quakers and Puritans did of old ; and may even succeed in passing from an arena where they are socially persecuted, and not only be safe from annoyance, but establish a little exclusive community of their own. The Mormons would never have been allowed in any thickly-inhabited country to bloom out unmolested in aU their absurdity, and then fade, leaving their magnificent palace empty and undisturbed, as they did in the West. Mr Joseph Sturge, in his visit to the United States, describes the Weld and Grunke circle of abstainers — a family with many able followers. ' In the household arrangements,' he says, ' of this distinguished family, Dr Graham's dietetic system is rigidly adopted, which excludes meat, butter, coffee, tea, and all intoxicating beverages. I can assure all who may be interested to know, that this Roman sim- plicity of living does not forbid enjoyment, when the guest can share with it the affluence of such minds as daily meet at their table.' In the old coimtry, people so ' fanciful,' instead of being a distinguished circle, would be sneered down to the most abject con- dition in the social scale. The emigrant of the higher classes in this country, before he makes up his mind to proceed to the United States, must consider and weigh with reference to his position, his habits, and his expec- tations, the general equality that pervades the country. It is need- less to speak here of the difficulty of procuring domestic servants and humble attendants out of the slave states — that must be well known. Our tourists tell quite enough about the free, easy, inqui- sitive manners of ' Brother Jonathan ; ' and the English gentleman is generally prepared for any extent of enormity on that point. But he should be prepared for the general influence of equality in fortunes as well as society, and remember that the States are a place to live in, but not to make a fortune in. True there are in- stances of great wealth in the States, especially among the owners of slave properties ; and there are instances where fortunes have been made rapidly. But these instances are exceptional, and there THE UNITED STATES. is nothing fit for comparison with the vast contrasts exhibited hj the social grades of this country. If fortunes are to be made, they are not likely to fall to the lot of our countrymen. A people still more acute and enterprising are in the field before them, sedulously searching out all the avenues to wealth. The Englishman who wants to make a rapid fortune and return with it, will have better chances among the indolent Spaniards and Por- tuguese of the south. He who proceeds to the United States must make up his mind to be content with a competency, and the belief that he will leave to his descendants a solid comfort- able patrimony, ever gradually rising in value. A glance at official salaries readily shews how much incomes just large enough to provide all the comforts and simple elegances of life, but no larger, prevail in America. The highest official salary, that of the president, is 25,000 dollars, or about £5208. This is on a totally different scale from all the other salaries. Thus the highest officers in the ministry — the secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, and secretary of war — have each 6000 dollars, little more than £1200. The chief- justice of the Su- preme Court has 5000 doUars — a trifle more than £1000 of our money ; and the other judges have 4500 doUars each. The Ameri- cans are essentially a practical people. They would liave too muclx good sense to grudge the market-price of efficient public service ; and we must conclude that the general tendency to equality in income admits of the public being ably and honestly served at a price which we would consider likely, in this country, to occasion incapacity and corruption. It would seem that ia some of the old slave states, where ther^is more of a wealthy aristocracy, it has been necessary to adjust the incomes of the local magistrates to the circumstance. While in such states as Connecticut, Delaware, and Maine, the salaries of the chief-justices vary from 1200 to 1800 doUars, the president of the Court of Appeals in Virginia has 5750 dollars, and the chancellor of Maryland, 3000 dollars. Money. — Already we have referred to the American system of dollars. A dollar is equal, speaking roundly, to 4s. 2d. of our money. This is not the precise equivalent, but by an act of Con- gress in 1832 it was so fixed, for the payment of ad valorem duties in the American customhouse. The dollar thus makes about the fifth part of a guinea. It is often useful, when large sums are mentioned in the coinage of another country, to have a formula for guessing at something approaching the value in our own money. ^Tien a large round sum is mentioned in dollars, i£ we cut off a cipher, and double the amount, we know that we are near the truth in pounds or guineas of our own money. Thus when the amount is 3000 dollars (expressed thus — $3000), 83 AMERICA. if tve cut off the last ciplier, and double the amount, we have GOO; which, if Ave say pounds, will be rather below the amount, as GOOO pence, or 500 shillings, equal to £25, have to be added to make the exact sum. If the amount be stated in guineas, it will be nearer the truth, but rather above it. In reading American books And papers, when one does not require to be precisely accurate, yet wishes to have a general notion of the sums mentioned, it is convenient to use such a rough and rapid mental process. CONSTITUTIONAL PRIVILEGES OF THE SETTLER. The proposing emigrant who selects the United States as his place of destination, will naturally have considered the nature of its constitution as well as its social condition. He must be pre- pared, of course, to find something different from what lie is accus- tomed to at home, but not so different as he would find his position under a Russian or Austrian despotism. He ought not to found his anticipations of the state of the country on the picturesque descriptions or indignant outcries of tourists. A despotic country is the most agreeable to the mere sight-seer — everything is sub- serviency and courtesy in a place where he is going to spend his money in pleasure, not to become an active citizen; and when he gets over some little pedantries about passports and police-books, he will be delighted with the civility and good -temper he meets with, and the great attention paid to him. On the other hand, the mere traveller in the United States is allowed to make his own way unaided. Every one looks after hiiftself ; and people's avo- cations are too important to give them an inducement to put them- selves at the service of the traveller, like the Swiss guides or the Italian ciceronis. The States, therefore, do not hold out their most prepossessing aspect to the ordinary tourist ; but the propos- ing emigrant should look deeper into matters, for he goes not to be a sojourner but a citizen. Such is tlie peculiarity of this remarkable country. With us a foreigner, except in a few peculiar cases, is ever an alien — unre- presented, and without the right even to hold landed property ; and so it is in almost every other old country. But in the United States the settler becomes a citizen, and an organised part of the constitution. Every one knows that the sovereignty of the United States is in a president and vice-president, with a Congress, consisting of two Houses — the Senate and the Representatives. The president and vice-president, as well as the Congress, are elected by the people ; and though there be some distinctions in the arrangement 84 TUE UNITED STATES. of the several states, the suffrage is virtually imiversalio all free mai*.'* twenty-one years old. The form of the ballot or secret voting has been introduced, on the principle that each voter is responsible only to his own conscience for his vote, and that giving others an opportunity of knowing how he acts only tends to give them the means of mlluencing him against his conscience. No one is eligible as a member of Congress unless he have been seven years a citizen. The number of representatives varies with the population, so as to prevent, as far as possible, the members of any small community from exercising an undue influence, by having as much repre- sentation as a large population. In 1823 the representation was fixed at one member for each 40,000 inhabitants. In 1832 the number was increased to 47,700. It was still found, however, that with the prospects of increase in the population, the House would become too large for the convenient transacting of business ; and in 1842 an act of Congress was passed, appointing the body to consist of ' one representative for every 70,680 persons in each state, and of one additional representative for each state having a fraction greater than one moiety of the said ratio.' Under this regulation there are 232 representatives, along with two delegates from Oregon and Minesota, who have a right to speak, but not to vote. Still this law was deemed insufficient to keep the members in the House to a proper level. It was adopted as a prmciple that 233 members should be the utmost limit. An act of Congress was passed in 1850 for takmg a census of the population in 1853, and regulating the matter of representation at the same time. It was appointed that the free population of all the States shall be esti- mated, excluding Indians not taxed, and that there shall then be added to the number three-fifths of all other persons. This aggre- gate is to be divided by 233, and the quotient, rejecting fractions, if any, is to be the ratio of the appointment of representatives among the several states. The representative population of each state is then to be ascertained, and divided by the ratio so found ; and the quotient of this last division is to be the number of repre- sentatives apportioned to each state. The president and the vice-president are chosen by ballot m the first instance. If an absolute numerical majority of the electors vote for one man, he is president. If, however, there is no such absolute majority, those at the head of the poU are chosen, not exceeding three in number, and are made a leet for the represen- tatives of the States to vote on. In this question it is not, how- ever, each member who votes, but each state. The Senate, or upper House of Congress, consists of two representatives from each state, chosen by their local legislatures. To the emigrant these local legislatures, with their constitutions 85 AMERICA. •/vid practice, "^jill probably be of more immediate importance than the general federative constitution. Each state has its own government for its own internal affiiirs, not responsible to Congress for the exercise of the powers conferred on it by the constitution. Among the powers of the central government are, however, all things relating to what may be called the construction of such states; and therefore, although the cultivated land and the rights of its inhabitants are matters for the States to deal with sepa- rately, tlie waste land is considered as belonging to the Union, and the legislation regarding its disposal is undertaken by Congress. This does not, however, prevent the separate states from legislat- ing on the admission of emigrants, and we shall afterwards find that important acts were passed on this matter by the state of New York. Nor does it prevent the States from acquiring possession of waste lands under the public system, as many corporations may do. There are some arrangements of this character of a complicated nature, where rights are given to states as to waste lands in other states. The waste lands belonging to the Union are a sort of means of remuneration or reward, given to individuals or to com- munities ; and frequently a state obtains a portion of its own waste lands for services. Thus in 1849 an act of Congress was passed, *to aid the state of Louisiana in draining the swamp lands therein,' in which all swamp and overflowed lands incapable of cultivation are given to the state, on the condition of the state performing certain improvements entirely at its own expense. In the con- struction of railways it is usual to vest the waste lands required for them in the states through which they pass. It was early predicted that the United States must fall to pieces, so heterogeneous were the materials of which it is com- posed. It was anticipated that the local state legislatures must come into collision with the central government. The totally distinct character and interests of the northern and the southern states were, it was thought, likely to cause an insuperable division; and indeed the former, finding an interest in home manufactures, are the great advocates of a protective system against foreign importations; while the southern states, desirous to export their abundant raw produce, have an interest in encouraging a trade with other nations. The slave-holders and the abolitionists created an- other division of interests and feelings — the old-established states on the Atlantic, and the newly-constructed territories in the west, constituted to so great an extent by inmiigration, made still another. Yet the constitution has remained unshaken, and with no alteration save in some petty details since its adoption in 1787. Thus the constitution made for two and a half millions of people has been found adequate for the government of nearly ten times 86 THE UNITED STATES. tliat number. "\Miatever may be its defects, there is no better e.«- dence of the truly practical and constitutional tendency of the British mind. It may be safely pronounced that it was a task quite out of the capacity of any community who had not among them a predominance of people of British origin. The repubhcs con- structed in all other parts of the world, frequently under far more favourable auspices, have lamentably failed, while this has lived. No part of the system is more interesting to the intending emi- grant than that by which the extending western populations are gradually made into temporary governments, and incorporated with the Union. Thus, in the session of 1849, an act of Congress was passed for laying out a state in that south-western territory between the Mississippi and Missouri, to which the British emi- grants passing through Canada proceed. It received the name of Minesota. This territory, formed of the overflowing as it were of the Wisconsin and Iowa States, was appointed by the act to be thus bounded — its south-east comer to be at the Mississippi, at the point where the line of 43° 30' of north latitude crosses it ; thence running due west in this line, which is fixed as the northern boun- dary of Iowa, to the north -west corner of that state ; thence southerly along the western boundary till it strikes the Missouri ; thence by the Missouri and the White-earth River to the southern boundary of the British possessions on the 49th parallel ; and on from that to Lake Superior, and by the western boundary of Wisconsin to the Mississippi. The act appoints that every free white male inhabitant, twenty- one years old, may vote or be elected to office, provided he be either a citizen of the United States, or have taken an oath of his intention to become such, with the oath of allegiance to the constitution, and the observance of the act. When a local legislature is thus chosen, it fixes the qualification of voters and officers. The legislative assembly is to consist of a council and house of representatives. The council is to consist of nine members, chosen for two years ; and the repre- sentatives of eighteen members, chosen or one year. No law can be passed by this body interfering with the primary disposal of the soil, and no tax can be laid on the property of the United States. A supreme court and district courts are appointed. To start the new state with a code of laws which it may alter at its leisure, it is enacted that the laws of Wisconsin, at the date of its admission as a state, are to be the laws of Minesota. The name of this new state has not yet found its way into the books of geography, yet in a few years it will probably be one of the most wealthy and populous territories in the new world. Nor is the name of another territory created by act of Congress in 1850 better known. It is called Utah. It is bounded on the 87 AMERICA. *^st by California, on the north by Oregon, on tlie east by tlic summit of the Kocky Mountains, and on the soutli by the 37th parallel. It is provided that the territory may afterwards be admitted into the Union, with or without slaverv', as its constitution may prescribe at the time of admission. A similar measure was passed in the same session as to New Mexico, For the gold district, which has lately created so much sensation, a farther and conclusive step in legislative union was made in 1850, in 'An Act for the admission of the State of California into the Union.' The state is admitted on the condition that its legislature shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands witliin its limits, and shall do nothing to interfere with the right of the United States collectively to dispose of them, or to lay a tax on these lands. A jealousy of any interference with the uniformity of the system for the disposal of land is a conspicuous feature in all these acts of union or annexation. The main and most serious defect in all these new states, and one which the proposing emigrant will have gravely to consider, is the powerlessness of the law ■within them. A federative republic is always feeblest, where a central government is strongest, in the outskirts. In our own colonies the power of the crown is far more irresistible than at home, where it is subject to constitutional and popular checks. Even in a society like that of New South Wales, impregnated with elements of the grossest criminality, it has been able to preserve obedience and order. In the United States the central government fixes the constitution and the laws, but leaves their practice and enforcement to the people themselves. Hence how for there is justice, freedom, and protection for life and property will depend on the character of the people who flock to the district. In the new south-western states especially, this has by no means been of the best kind. The public have heard only too much of the reckless, profligate character of the men who have flocked especially to the gold regions; and if we may believe what travellers tell, even judges in Texas are highway robbers. The emigrant who proposes to go to any of the new states must not, therefore, trust to the law and the constitution for protection; he must trust to the character of his neighbours ; and he will find himself best situated in those tracts to which the peaceful hus- banduian and not the gold-seeker or the hunter resorts. MEANS OF CONVEYANCE. The means of transit to the various Atlantic ports of the United States — New York, Boston, Baltimore, Charleston, New THE UNITED STATES. • be Orleans, &c. — are, as already stated, abundant, and the eohc i a passage exceedingly moderate. Those who go to Australia, New Zealand, or Africa, are either persons with some means of their own, out of which they incur the expense of so long a voyage, or are taken under government or other public respon- sibility. America, however, being the nearest emigration tield, lias been the destination of the most wretched; and the competition among shipowners has been,- not to give good accommodation at the most moderate rate, but to bid down to the lowest sura at which it is practical to convey their human cargo. Great efforts have been made by the legislature to check the natural tendency of tliis practice, on the principle, in the first place, that people are not to carry on a trade in a manner to endanger human life ; and in the second place, that as the passenger is completely at the mercy of the shipowners when he is on board, it is necessary to bind them by law to perform what is requisite for his com- fort and health, otherwise he cannot prevent them from sacrificing it. Several Passenger Acts have been passed from time to time for the regulation of emigrant vessels, and it may be hoped that the legislature has at last succeeded in extending a sufficient pro- tection. The latest of these was passed on 13th July 1849 (13 and 14 Vict. c. 33.) Its obligations cannot easily be enforced against foreign vessels ; and it must be remembered that much of the emigration of the present day is carried on in those of the United States. The owners of the ships bringing grain, which of course is a bulky commodity, to Britain, have found it an expedient arrangement to adapt them for return with emigrants. It used formerly to be the practice for those intending to pene- trate into the Far West to take their passage to New York; and the richer class of passengers whose destination was in Canada sometimes preferred this route to the dangers of the St La-wTcnce passage, or the tediousness of the Rideau Canal. The practice is, however, now likely to be reversed by the operations for improv- ing the navigation of the St Lawrence, which have been men- tioned under the head of Canada (p. 11.) Great hopes are enter- tained m that province that it will be the main thoroughfare to the Western and Upper Mississippi districts. The Executive Council of State of Upper Canada issued a document on this sub- ject, from which the following extract is made. Though coming from so important an official body, it may be observed that the report has a good deal of the tone and character of an advertise- ment praismg their own commodity to the depreciation of that of their neighbours : — * It is important to call attention to the great saving effected in 89 AMERICA. .]ue, as well as comfort, by taking the St Lawrence route. The dis- tance from Quebec to Chicago in Illinois, which is about 1600 miles, may be performed in about ten days without transhipment ; and the steamers touch at the ports of Cleveland, Sandusky, whence there is a railway to Cincinnati, and Toledo in Ohio, Detroit in Michigan, and Milwaukie in Wisconsin ; all which places can be reached in propor- tionate time. The dimensions of the locks on the Welland Canal are 150 feet long by 26 1 feet wide ; and on the St Lawrence Canals, 200 feet long by 45 feet wide. The length of the Erie Canal is 363 miles, with a lockage of 688 feet. The locks, eighty-four in number, are 90 feet in length by 15 feet in widtli, with a draught of 4 feet of water ; and the canal is navigated by vessels carrying not more than from 600 to 700 barrels of flour [wlule those on the St Lawrence are stated to carry from 4000 to 5000 barrels.] The length of the voyage from New York to Buffalo, there being at least one tranship- ment, may be stated at about ten days ; but it is very uncertain, as there are frequent delays arising from various causes. The rate of passage from Quebec to Cleveland, Ohio, without transhipment, is stated by Mr Buchanan to have been during last season, just after the completion of the canals, six dollars, or about 24s. sterling for each adult. At this rate several German families, bound for the Western States, obtained passages. It may, however, be fairly assumed, that even this low rate will be still further reduced by competition. The Committee of Council have no information before them of the cost of passage paid from New York to Cleveland ; but as there must be at least two transhipments, and as the time occupied in the pas- sage is fully a week longer than by the St Lawrence route, it is need- less to say that the expense must be much greater. With regard to the cost of transport of goods, an important fact has been brought under the notice of the Committee of Council. It appears that the Great Ohio Railway Company, having had occasion to import about 11,000 tons of railway iron, made special inquiries as to the relative cost of transport by the St Lawrence and New York routes ; the result of which inquiries was, that a preference was given to the former. The rate of freight on this iron from Quebec to Cleveland was about 20s. sterling per ton, and the saving on the inland trans- port alone 11,000 dollars; and there can be no doubt that a much greater amount was likewise saved on the ocean freight. The Com- mittee of Council are of opinion, that the superior advantages of the St Lawrence route only require to be made known to insure for it a preference.' It is proper to remark, that the opinions about the availability of the St Lawrence as a passage to the Western States are amply confirmed by the observations of Mr Johnston. Nay, he opens up still more important views on the subject, by representing this as the passage through which the agricultural produce of these dis- tant regions will pass to the British market. If the emigrant be possessed of means which he is afraid of dis- 90 THE UNITED STATES. sipating on the passage, he may consider whether he will not be safer from pillage, by those whose function it is to prey upon the new arriver, in a British colony, than in a place where he is an alien. If he be an emigrant seeking work, this is a question which will not so seriously affect him : but the matter is treated under the head of E^iigration. Like the British North American territories, the United States possess vast means of water-communication. The greater portion of the line of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior, is within their territories, and Lake Michigan is entirely so. Lake Superior, 1500 miles in circumference, is supposed to be the largest sheet of fresh water in the world. Its waves heave like the sea, and it is subject to desolating storms. Of its islands, one is enough to make a considerable province — it is a jiundred miles long, and from forty to fifty broad. The States have a portion of the rapid St Lawrence, but they possess other means of water-communication on a much more majestic scale. The Mississippi is calculated to be 3200 miles long ; and its availability for navigation may be under- stood, when it is stated that its source is but 1500 feet above the level of the sea — much the same as that of the River Tweed, and less than that of the Spey and the Dee. If we count the Missouri branch of the river as the proper source, it is 4500 miles long. In this river, and its great affluents the Ohio, the Arkansas, &c., numberless steamboats are continually plying. The facilities of river navigation enable vessels to be used of a totally different character from those which sail on our stormy seas. They are great, handsome, airy wooden palaces, with aU their accommoda- tion above the water, on which they float with stately quietness. Gaieties and jovialties proceed in these floating mansions, and many people may be said to live in them, as the Dutch do in their small moifldy track-boats. It is found convenient to have estab- lishments of all kinds here on the waters, where they are in the middle of a floating community — shops, manufactories, theatrical exhibitions ; on the raft -like vessels which lie smoothly on the water, high edifices of cotton bales wiU be piled, uncovered and unprotected, to the value of a great many thousand pounds at once. The Americans have not failed in efforts to connect their great water-systems with each other. The Erie Canal, though its locks are now said to be inferior to those on the short cuttings for making the St Lawrence safely navigable, is a work of wonderful extent. It imites the navigation of the Hudson with that of the Northern Lakes, having Albany at one extremity, and Buffalo at the other — a distance of 363 miles. There are several lateral branches — ' one opposite Troy connecting with the Hudson ; one at Syracuse, a mile and a half in length, to Salma ; one from Syra- 91 AMERICA. cuse to Oswego, 38 miles in length ; one at Orville ; one at Chite- iiingo ; one at Lakeport, extending to the Cuyahoga Lake 5 miles, and from thence to Seneca Lake at Geneva, a distance of 15 miles ; and one at Rochester, of 2 miles in length, which serves the double purpose of a navigable feeder and a mean of communication for boats between the canal and the Genessee River. It is 40 feet wide at the top, and 28 feet wide at the bottom. The water flows at the depth of 4 feet in a moderate descent of half an incli in a mile. The tow-path is elevated about 4 feet from the surface of the water, and is ten feet wide. The whole length of the canal includes 83 locks and 18 aqueducts of various extent.' — {Atnei-ica — its Realities and Resources, by Wyse, iii. 198.) This track-route is naturally a tedious one — a jouraey of day and night with little variety ; while fame does not m general speak encouragingly of the efforts of American sociality in dispelling the tiresomeness of uniformity, or the still severer trial of narrow com- fortless accommodation. ' The part of the cabin,' says the author already cited, ' in which we slept, was scarcely 20 feet in length. Yet in this small space, averaging about 10 feet wide, did they contrive to put up some eighteen berths or resting-places, the seats or couches in which we sat during the day being enlarged, or drawn out to an increased width, forming six — three on each side of the cabin. The other beds were made of a slight wooden frame- work, to which a liair-mattress of slender proportions was perma- nently attached. These were temporarily hooked on or fastened to the boat's side, the outward part of the frame (the entire being raised to a level or horizontal position) being hung or suspended by the upper ceiling. These shelves on which we were put to rest for the night, without the formality of undressing, offered but few inducements to sleep.' The fare, however, is on a correspondingly moderate scale. From Schenectady, where the cars from Albany, Troy, &c., join the canal to Buffalo and Oswego — 334 miles — the conveyance-lists for the summer of 1850 gave the fare as 6^ dollars with board, and 5 dollars without. The list announces two daily lines to be rim from either end during the navigation season. Our brethren of the Union, however, have not contented them- selves with this lazy semi-obsolete mode of travelling. A brisk railway-cormnunication now exists between Albany and Buffalo. The lists just quoted (' Disturnell's Railroad, Steamboat, and Tele- graph Book ') announce six trains a day from either extreme : The first, the express train, through in thirteen hours ; next, the mail tram; next, 'freight and emigrants;' next, 'first class and emi- grants ; ' then another express ; and lastly, the ' accommodation train.' The fare stated is 9 dollars and 76 cents— about 23s. ; but 92 THE UNITED STATES. it is not stated to which train or class it applies. The distance by the railway is 326 miles. Another great line of canal -communication — the Ohio State Canal — unites the Mississippi navigation with that of the lakes, joining Lake Erie at Cleveland. The vast railway system will speedily have united the Hudson and the Atlantic states with the Ohio navigation, if it have not already been accomplished. Rail- ways in America are not the complete and finished lines brought into existence by the concentrative power of a legislative enact- ment which we are accustomed to consider them in this country. They are of local growth and adjustment, and thus their statistics are less completely known. A railway in its infancy is scarcely perceptible. Beams are laid down crossways, so as to form a rough road ; others are laid at right angles to them, at the gage required ; and these, with a plate of iron laid along their edge, serve for a railway till a more complete one can be afforded. In many instances there is no iron at all, and tlie whole is constructed of wood, which is abundant enougli for the renewal of all parts decaying. In the American Almanac for 1851, great pains have been taken to collect the statistics of all the railway lines ; but tliey are admitted to be imperfect. The total mileage collected, however, is 8439. Tliere are enumerated as in progress at the end of the year 1850, in New England and Xew York states, no less than twenty- six new principal lines. These facilities for locomotion, rough, and to a certain extent tedious as many of them are, are of great importance to the emi- grant, to whom, without them, the land journey, after he has crossed the Atlantic, might be the most serious part of his expedi- tion. The great routes to the north-west have already been men- tioned. In the railroad lists for 1850, it is stated under the head ' Routes to the West and South,' that ' travellers for the west and south, via Baltimore and Cumberland (Maryland), can go through in two days from New York to Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) or Wheelmg (Virginia) by the railroad and stage route to the Ohio river ; thence by commodious steamboats to Cincinnati, St Louis, New Orleans, and the intermediate landings on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.' The list states the usual time from Baltimore to Pittsburg, 34 hours, fare, 11 dollars ; usual time from Baltimore to Wheeling, 36 hours, fare, 12 dollars. It would appear, however, tliat through the forwarding offices at the ports, the emigi-ant can make arrangements for a far more economical journey than the published rates of the vehicles would mdicate. Prices of convey- ance shift in America as much as they do at home. But it can do no harm to give the answer of Mr Mintoun, on examination before the Lords' Committee on Emigration, to an inquiry about the price 9?> AMERICA. of transmission from New York to any of the great seats of internal labour : — ' The rate of passage, without food, from New York to Buffalo, a distance of 500 miles, is 2 J dollars to 3 dollars ; from New York to Cleveland (Ohio), 700 miles, 5 dollars 50 cents ; Detroit (Michigan), 850 miles, 6 dollars ; Milwaukie (Wisconsin), 1500 miles, 9 dollars 50 cents ; Chicago (Illinois), 1500 miles, 9 dollars 50 cents.' Far beyond the limits of public vehicles, the wanderer with his family may be met on the scarce-formed bridle-road, or even the open grass prairie. Day after day the wagon containing all the household possessions of the family makes its short journey, and at night aU encamp — the rifle of the head of the family being alike their protection and their means of supply. But this is a species of locomotion for which the American citizen moving westward is better adapted than the fresh immigrant. The American country roads are heartily abused by strangers — ^their deep mud in wet weather, the clouds of dust that pass along them in a high wind in dry weather. Travellers often amuse their readers with the horrors of travelling in a vehicle without springs along a corduroy-road, or a road laid with trans- verse planks of wood. But in the places perforated by these somewhat imperfect roads, the wonder is to find a road at all ; and these rough distant lines of communication are a strong testimony of the energy and enterprise of those who are penetrating into the distant wilds of the south. In the ' Notes of a Foreigner on American Agriculture,' in the ' New York American Agriculturist* for March 1851, there is an account of a new class of roads, called plank-roads, something between a road and a railway. They are thus described : — * In districts sufficiently populous to pay for their construction, a species of road is laid down, called a ** plank-road." These roads are excellent contrivances, and facilitate the communication between fanns and market-towns very much. Although they are of com- paratively recent introduction, immense tracts of country are laid with them. They are supported by tolls, those in the state of New York demanding six cents (threepence) for a single-horsed gig or ^"ogy» for a run of eight or ten miles. The mode of laying them down is very simple, and may be briefly described. The line of road is marked out, and levelled as much as possible. As they are gene- rally laid down in the track of roads previously made, the centre is raised, leaving a hollow on each side, into which the water may run off from the planks through small holes or drains. A track little broader than the breadth of a coach or wagon (if for a single line) is marked out, and on each side of this, planks some eight or nine feet long, eight inches broad, and three thick, are laid parallel thereto. These are laid end to end, thus forming a double line of planks along 94 THE UNITED STATES. the road. On the top of these side-supports the planks on which the carriages run, forming the roadway, are laid. These project a little beyond the side-supports. They are generally some ten to fourteen inches broad, and two or three thick. The side of the embankment is brought up so as to cover the ends, and the road is complete.' PRODUCTIONS. The productions of the United States are various as the soil and climate. The Northern States grow all the cereals and other agri- cultural productions commonly known in this country, together with the staple grain of the western continent — Indian corn. In the Southern States the same productions are found more or less, but they give place to those of more tropical climates — rice, cotton, tobacco, indigo, the sugar - cane, olives, &c. Fruit is abundant, and apples especially are a considerable article of export. Mr Jolmston considers the culture of the apple a very important point in American agriculture, and mentions that the western part of New York and Northern Ohio have entered into earnest competi- tion with the old orchard countries. ' Their rich soils,' he says, ' produce larger and more beautiful fruit, but inferior, it is said, in that high flavour which distinguishes the Atlantic apples. This inferiority, however, is not conceded by the western cultivators, among whom orchard - planting is rapidly extending, and who estimate the average profit of fruit cultivation at 100 to 150 doUars an acre (£20 to £30.') Hemp, flax, and silk are pro- duced. The produce of animals, both farm and wild, is exported in the various shapes of butcher-meat, leather, skins, and wool. Timber of various valuable kinds abounds, and gives rise, not only to a trade in wood, but in bark, dye-stufi's, ashes, tar, turpentine, and rosin, besides furnishing maple -sugar. There are considerable fisheries. The mines produce iron, copper, gold, and mercury ; and the coal-fields cover a surface so large as to exclude the possibility of naming a practical limit to the extent of the supply. The salt springs, and various stone and clay deposits, are of considerable importance. In the American statistical tables the productions are ranged under those of the sea, the forest, and agriculture. In the year ending 30th June 1849 the exports under the first head amounted to 2,547,654 doUars ; the products of the forest to 5,917,994. The agricultural products of animals were estimated at 13,153,302 ; those of vegetable food at 25,642,362 ; tobacco, 5,804,207 ; cotton, 66,396,967 ; hemp, 8458. The miscellaneous vegetable produc- tions were reckoned at 84,092. The tables for 1850, published in AMEBIC A. 1851, give the following items in dollars : — Products of the sea, 2,824,818; products of the forest, 7,442,503; productions of agriculture, including grain, butcher - meat, wool, and skins, 26,371,756; cotton, 71,984,616; tobacco, 9,921,053; miscellane- ous agricultural produce, 152,363. Cotton is the great staple export of the United States to this country — indeed it constitutes, out of all comparison, the largest item of general exportation. But the staple production for expor- tation to which the British emigrant must look is grain, to feed the inhabitants of his own country, increasing, notwithstanding his departure, at the rate of a thousand a day. In the valley of the Ohio alone there is productive land adapted to this purpose, for all practical and immediate pm-poses, inexhaustible. There is reason to believe that the grain exports of America, considerable as they are, are yet but in their infancy. The value of the bread- stufis exported in the year ending in June 1850 was 15,698,066 dollars. Of this the meal and wheat-flour formed 7,742,315. A return was made to parliament in 1850 of the prices of wheat per quarter at the various places of export throughout the world, from 1844 to 1849 inclusive. The lowest sura for New York in 1844 was in October, when the price came so far down as 26s. lid. This is the lovrest in the whole table. The highest price during that year appears to have been 37s. 2d. in April. The highest price reached during the whole course of the six years is 79s. per quarter in February 1847. This appears to have been a momentary elevation, arising from the state of the markets in Britain produced by the famine. The week previously tlie price was 59s. lOd. ; and m the previous month it had been as low as 40s. 4d., returning in September to a still lower sum — 39s. In 1849 the lowest prices were 34s. 2d., the highest 46s. 8d., and these may be held to be the extremes in ordinary years. New Orleans, receiving the com of the great valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, gives the lowest quotations of prices in the American market, and will be likely to be the gate through which the greatest stream of grain-supply in the world will pass, though there is reason to believe that as to the produce of the more northerly of the Western States, the St Lawrence may com- pete with it. The return to parliament of the prices of wheat, from 1844 to 1849 inclusive, embraces New Orleans. The lowest price which occurs in this table — and perhaps it is the lowest that has appeared anywhere — is 16s. lOd. in May 1846 ; the highest price at that time bemg, however, 28s. lOd. So low a sura as the neighbourhood of 17s. is of pretty frequent occurrence. The highest sum during the whole period is in 1847 — 56s. 7d. ; an elevation caused doubtless by the famine in the United Kingdom. 96 THE UNITED STATES. In 1849 the extremes were 25s. Id. and 343. Id. It -will be seen that these prices are on a diiFerent scale from those of New York. One of the most remarkable of the staple-productions of the States, and one of the most readily available to new settlers, is what is called the hog crop, entering the market in the shape of cured pork. Its chief centre is Ohio, and it is peculiar to those states which produce an abundance of Indian com, and have stretches of acorn forest. JSIr Johnston attributes the abundance of this produce to the necessity of an outlet for Indian corn, which was exported until late years only in very scanty quantities. Hence the best exit was found in the fattening of pigs. Mr Johnston enumerates six states — Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio — in which the number of pigs killed in the year 1846 exceeded a million, the number in Ohio being 420,833. * The packing business,' he says, ' in Ohio has been gradually concentrating itself in Cincinnati, where, in the winter of 1847 and 1848, about 420,000 hogs were sold, killed, and packed. The blood is collected in tanks, and with the hair, hoofs, and other offal, is sold to the prussiate- of- potash manufactories. The carcass is cured either into barrelled pork or into bacon and hams, and the grease rendered into lard of various qualities. Some establishments cure the hams ; and after cutting up the rest of the carcass, steam it in large vats, under a pressure of seventy pounds to the square inch, and thus reduce the whole to a pulp, bones and all, and draw off the fat. The residue is either thrown away or is carted off for manure. One establishment disposes in this way of 30,000 hogs.' Among the articles of export to which this produce contributes, we have not only pork, bacon, and lard, but stearine candles, bar and fancy soaps, prussiate of potash, bristles and glue, and also the finer preparations of the £at, which are used to adulterate spermaceti, and even olive oil. t TOPOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS AND THEIE CAPABILITIES. There are different systematic geographical divisions of the territoiy of the United States. One of the most usual is to con- sider the Alleghany Mountains and the Rocky ^lountains as two dividing lines, which afford three ranges of country: the north and east, or Atlantic States; those of the great valley of the Mississippi; and the western districts, sloping from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. For the purposes of emigration, how- ever, it wiU be better to consider them under a different division : the Northern States, chiefly containing the old lands and the cities adapted to the purposes of the mechanic ; the Western territories, G 97 AMERICA. where the settlers seeking new land go ; and the Southern States, chiefly slave- served, and, for the reasons already stated, not well adapted for British emigration. THE NOKTHERN ATLANTIC STATES. The northern territories may be classified as !Maine, New Hamp- shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It is in the large cities and rising villages of this cluster that the trained mechanic, or the person who seeks the western world for other than agricultural pursuits, will generally settle ; and it is a common advice to the emigrant from this country, to satisfy himself well that the north- east is not the quarter best adapted to his views before he seek the more distant regions of the west or south. None of these states contain any of the public waste lands of the United States. It does not follow that there is not abundance of uncleared land, especially in New York, which stretches far west into the lake country, and in Maine ; but it is all the property of individuals or companies. A considerable portion of this affluent territory produces timber; and the chief agricultural productions may be generally classed as cattle, sheep, and pigs, with their exportable produce, for live- stock, and wheat, oats, barley, rye, Indian com, buckwheat, peas, beans, and potatoes, hops, and flax. Apples, growing rather in orchards than in gardens, are very abundant in the old states. Those imported to this country are deemed a great luxury from their juiciness and sweetness ; and in America they are a very important article of domestic consumption, being cooked in a variety of forms. Pear, plum, and other fruit-trees are also culti- vated. Among the luxuries of the garden character, though of field produce, may be mentioned the green Indian com, which is compared, when gathered at the right time, to green peas. Maine and New Hampshire are moderately hilly, and, especially the former, produce a considerable quantity of timber. There are extensive tracts of an unpromising character; but the old cul- tivated grain lands render forty bushels of maize per acre, and from twenty to forty of wheat. In New Hampshire there is a great diversity of water-power; and this, with the energetic character of the population, and the somewhat low agricultural capabilities, have made it a great manufacturmg state. Mr Johnston, who passed apparently rapidly through this part of the country, says : ' Farming in Maine is not of itself profitable enough to satisfy the haste of the people to become rich. The 98 THE UNITED STATES. farms are for the most part small — from 80 to 100 acres — and the land I passed through generally poor. Complaints against the climate, if I may judge from my own experience, abound ten times more here than when I heard them in New Brunswick — that the season is short ; that Indian corn wont ripen ; and so on. Oats and potatoes, however, are allowed to be sure crops when the latter are free from disease. On the Kenebec River, which is further to the west, there are good intervale lands, and the uplands, wliich are a strong loam, are very productive in hay. Stock- husbandry is for this reason beginning to be attended to in that district of the state, but the turnip culture is still almost unknown.' Maine is considered as the centre of the northern lumber trade of the United States. Vermont and Massachusetts follow in a great measure the same character. Part of the country is mountainous — the hills rising to 4000 feet above the level of the sea. Massachusetts is a rich and prosperous seat of trade and manufactures. Its agricultural capacities are limited, but they have been carefully developed. Mr Macgregor says : ' Agriculture has been carefully and skilfully attended to in this state. No extensive or alluvial tracts occur in Massachusetts ; although limited spots occur on the banks of most of the streams, and, with the adjoining elevated woodlands and pastures, have, by skilful industry, been brought under profitable cultivation, and form the best farms in the state. There are numerous uncultivated swamps. The greater part of the soU of Massachusetts is diluvial and ungenerous. By clearing away the stones and rocks, and by the extensive application of manure, many of the originally sterile districts have been converted into productive farms.' This is, however, too much of the old coun- try's character to make the state a popidar one with agricultural emigrants. Yet if the existence of unoccupied land were all that \ the emigrant required, it would be here provided in considerable abundance. From the census returns of 1840, it was found that 220,000 acres were under tillage, and 440,000 in meadows ; while beside 730,000 acres woodland, there are 956,000 unimproved. It appeared that the number employed in agriculture bore a propor- tion of about 1 to 8^ of the population. In a commercial and industrial sense, and for all matters connected with the United States themselves, Massachusetts is of the highest importance, though to the agricultural emigrant it be of secondary importance to others. Rhode Island and Connecticut fill together a small oblong space on the coast between Massachusetts and New York. Of the former Mr Macgregor says : ' The north-west part of the state is hiUy, sterile, and rocky. Hills, though not elevated, pervade the 99 AMERICA. northern third of the state ; the other parts are level, or generally- undulating ; especially near Narraganset Bay, and on the islands witliin it. The soil is in many parts arable, and the farmers affluent. The lands are generally better adapted for grazing than for corn, and it is renowned for the excellence of its cattle and sheep, and its butter and cheese. Maize, or Indian corn, rye, barley, oats, and in some places wheat, are grown, but scarcely in sufficient quantity for home consumption. Fruits and culinary vegetables are produced in great perfection and abundance. * The climate is healthy, and more mild, particularly on the islands, than in any other part of New England. The sea-breezes moderate the heat of summer and the cold of winter.' The same statement is in a gi-eat measure applicable to Connecticut. N^io York- — the greatest and wealthiest territory of the States — presents vast varieties, both in its social and physical features. It has, besides the city of New York, with its population of 400,000, Albany, the nominal capital, Brooklyn, Hudson, and Oswego ; while far north on the lakes which divide the States from Canada, is the city of Buftalo, containing between 30,000 and 40,000 people. The population of the state in 1845 was 2,604,495. Its railways, exceedhig 1200 miles; its canals, harbours, public buildings, towns, and manufactories, and, in general, the expendi- ture of its rich population, give large employment to artisans and labourers. "WTiat is closer to the present purpose, they cause the consumption within the province itself of an extensive agricultural produce ; while the extending means of conveyance is ever increas- ing the availability of new and distant districts. The amoimts of the various kinds of produce must have greatly increased since 1840, when they are thus stated by Mr Macgregor : — * The soil in the eastern and south-eastern parts is generally dry, and in some parts loamy. This section is considered as best adapted to grazing, and the western to arable culture. All tlie hilly and mountain districts afford excellent pasturage. Tlie soil of the alhi- vions along the rivers, and of innumerable valleys, is remarkably fertile. The valleys of the ^Mohawk and the Genessee are among the best wheat-growing soils in the world. A clayey soil prevails round parts of Lake Champlain. Marshes, bogs, and sandy plains, are met with in some parts west of Albany. The west end of Long Island, and Dutchess and Westchester counties, are extolled for good culture and productive crops. The principal are wheat, Indian corn, grass, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and potatoes. Beef and pork, butter and cheese, horses and cattle, pot and pearl ashes, flax-seed, peas, beans, and lumber, form the great articles of export. Orchards abound- The apples, pears, plums, and peaches are delicious and abundant. In the state there were, in 1S40, 474,543 horses and mules; 1,911,244 neat cattle; 5,118,777 sheep ; 1,900,065 swine; 100 THE UNITED STATES. poultry to the value of 1,153,413 dollars. There were produced 12,286,418 bushels of wheat ; 2,520,060 bushels of barley ; 20,675,847 bushels of oats ; 2,979,323 busliels of rye ; 2,287,885 bushels of buck- wheat ; 10,972,286 bushels of Indian corn ; 9,845,295 pounds of wool; 447,250 pounds of hops ; 30,123,614 bushels of potatoes ; 3,127,047 tons of hay; 1735 pounds of silk cocoons; 10,048,109 pounds of sugar. The products of the dairy amounted in value to 10,496,021 dollars ;. and of the orchard to 1,701,935 dollars; of lumber, to 3,891,302 dol- lars. There were produced 6799 gallons of vdne ; and of pot and pearl ashes, 7613 tons; tar, pitch, tui'pentine, &c., 402 barrels.' — Offi- cial Returns, kc. Mr Johnston, whose experience of the state of American agri- culture was chiefly derived from New York, has preserved some interesting particulars as to land and farming there. He observes that a great part of the western portion is damp, cold, and marshy, yet that drainage is unknown ; and he mentions having seen, at an exhibition of agricultural instruments at Syracuse, some dram-tiles exhibited as a curiosity. Yet the objections which he has to state to costly drainage in the meantime, and imtil the country becomes fuller, are pretty solid. ' The cost of this improvement, even at the cheapest rate — say £4, or twenty dollars an acre — is equal to a large proportion of the present price of the best land in this rich district of Western New York. From 50 to 60 dollars an acre is the highest price which farms bring here ; and if 2.5 dollars an acre were expended upon any of it, the price in the market would not rise in proportion. Or if 40-dollar land should actually be improved one-fourth by thorough drainage, it would still, it is said, not be more valuable tlian that which now sells at 50 dollars, so that the improver would be a loser to the extent of 15 dollars an acre.' This argument seems unanswer- able, whether it apply to the native of the States or to the fresh settler. Mr Johnston, however, found that the agricultural citi- zens of this state were acutely alive to the advantages of scientific and mechanical improvements in the emplojinent of the soU. He found good evidence of this in the exhibition where he saw the drain-tiles. ' The general character of the implements,' he says, * was economy in construction and in price, and the exhibition was large and interesting.' Still they partook of what a British agi-iculturist considers the wasteful character of American hus- bandry. They were rather directed for the speedy realisation of produce than the improvement of the soil. Such were the reap- ing machines, calculated to cut from fifteen to twenty-five acres in a day. ' Of course,' says Mr Johnston, * it is only on flat lands that they can be advantageously employed. But where labour is scarce and unwooded prairie plenty, the owner of a reaping and 101 AMERICA. a tlirashing machine may cultivate as much land as he can scratch with the plough and sprinkle with seed.' One of the superior productions of the agriculture of the New York state is called Genessee flour. Not that it is all produced in the Genessee Valley, but that the superior excellence of the wheat grown there gave its name to a certain high standard of quality. Mr Johnston naturally examined this district with interest, and found the soil to be ' a rich drift clay — the ruins of the Onondaga salt group — intermixed with fragments of the Niagara and Clinton .limestones.' * A very comfortable race of farmers,' he continues, * is located in this valley. The richest bottom or intervale land cut for hay or kept for grazing is worth 120 dollars or £26 an acre. The upland — the mixed clay and limestone-gravel land, of which I have already spoken, when sold in farms of 100 to 150 acres — the usual size on this river — brings from 35 to 70 dollars, accord- ing to the value of the buildings that are upon it. The bottoms, when ploughed up and sown to wheat, are liable to rust ; but the uplands yield very certain crops of 15 to 20 bushels an acre. Land, of which a man with a good team will plough 1^ to 1 J acres a day, costs 6 dollars an acre to cultivate, including seed, and 3J more to harvest and thrash. Fifteen bushels at 1 to 1^ dollars (4s. 4d. to 4s. lOd.) give a return of 15 to 17 dollars, leaving a profit of about 6 dollars or 26s. an acre for landlord and tenant's remuneration, and for interest of capital invested in farming stock. That this calculation is near the truth is shewn by the rate at which the average land, producing 16 to 18 bushels, is occasionally let, where it suits parties to make such an arrangement. In these cases 7 to 7J bushels of wheat an acre are paid for the use of the land. In taking a farm at such a rent as this — half the produce — the tenant makes a sacrifice for the purpose of obtaining an outlet for superfluous home labour.' Here, as in the other Atlantic states, ]\Ir Johnston animadverts on the smallness of the capital invested in farming : ' The land itself, and the labour of their families, is nearly all the capital which most of the farmers possess.' The inducements are evidently greater to the working farmer with a famUy of sons, and a little money besides what he requires to buy his farm, than to the large capitalist. Mr John- ston met with one of the largest land-proprietors in the state — himself farming 1000 acres. He cleared from 3 to 7^ per cent, on his whole capital, including the market value of the land and of the building and stock. ' For a gentleman farmer,' says Mr Johnston, ' this would be a very fair return, but it is scarcely enough in a country- where land gives no political and little social influence, and where, by lending his money and doing nothing, a man can obtain 7 per cent, certain.' 102 THE UNTIED STATES. New Jersey is in its character very like the eastern portions of Ne^v York, to which it adjoins ; and it has to some extent the same advantages to its agriculture from so populous and rich a market. ' The northern section of New Jersey is mountainous or hilly; the central parts are diversified by lulls and valleys; and the southern part is flat, sandy, and sterile. The natural growth of the soU is shrub -oaks, yellow -pines, marsh -grass, shrubs, &c. With the exception of this barren, but, by industry and manuring, in some parts, cultivated district, the soil of New Jersey afibrds good pasture and arable land. The produce is chiefly wheat, rye, Indian com, buckwheat, potatoes, oats, and barley. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, and cherries, are grown in great perfection. In the mountainous districts cattle are of good breed and size, and large quantities of butter and cheese are made. The produce of this state finds a market chiefly at New York and Philadelphia. The principal exports are wheat, flour, horses, cattle, hams, cider, lumber, flax-seed, leather, and iron. Pennsylvania — stretching far towards the western districts — is like New York, a large, wealthy, enterprising community; its population approaching, if it do not now exceed, 2,000,000. Its capital, Philadelphia, contains nearly 300,000 people. In this territory, as in New York, there is room for artisan and engineer- ing enterprise. But agricultural pursuits occupy the greater part of the population. By the analysed census of 1841, the persons employed in agriculture were 207,533 ; while those devoted to all other pursuits (including 105,883 in manufactures and trade) amounted to 138,296. Mr Macgregor says : — * The Alleghany Mountains traverse the state from south-west to north-east, and several ramifications branch from, or run pai*allel with the principal range. Mountainous tracts over the central parts \ of the state comprehend nearly one-seventh of its whole area. The south-east and north-west districts are generally level or undulating. The soil east of the mountains is generally fertile, and rendered highly productive. The south-east, on both sides of the Susquehanna, the lands are rich, and having been long settled, it is nearly all under high cultivation. Between the head-waters of the Alleghany and Lake Erie the soil is also very fertile. In the mountainous region the formation of the soil is often rugged, and in many parts stenle ; except in the valleys, which are very rich — west of the Alleghanies, and especially near the streams of the Ohio. Some authorities con- sider Pennsylvania better adapted for grazing than for the plough. The authors of the " United States Gazetteer " are of a difierent opinion, and observe : " The most important production of the state by far is wheat, which grows here in great perfection ; and next in value is Indian com. Bye, barley, buckwheat, oats, hemp, and flax, 103 AMERICA. are also extensively cultivated. Cherries, peaches, and apples are abundant, and much cider is made. Although the state is better adapted to grain than to grazing, yet in many parts there are large dairies, and fine horses and cattle are raised." ' TUE WESTERN DISTRICTS. The western emigration states are those vast districts of prairie and woodland watered by the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio, and their tributaries, the territories still west of this basin near the northern lakes, and the new countries which slope to the Pacific. As emigration fields, the portion north of the old slave states will only be here considered, but the Southern States will be noticed farther on. The emigration states may be enumerated as Ohio, Illinois^ Wisconsin, Indiana, ]\Iissouri, Iowa, and the new territory of Mini- sota, in the basin of the great central rivers. To the same system geographically belong the northern districts of Kentucky, Ten- nessee, and other states, the greater part of which are too far south for suitable emigration fields, and which are unsuitable to British emigrants from the inveterate practice of slavery. Michigan, though not properly in the basin of the great river, may be con- sidered geographically part of the same territory. The districts stiU farther west are the large territory called the Oregon, and the new government of Utah, elsewhere mentioned (p. 87.) The central valley or rather plain, watered by the great rivers, has a certain uniformity in its majestic features. It is rather a plain than a valley, scarcely any part of it, even upwards of a thousand miles from the sea, rising more than 500 feet above its level. This, the largest alluvial tract probably in the world, is considered as stretching west of the slope of the Alleghany Mountains for 1500 miles, with a breadth, or rather as valleys are spoken of, a length of GOO miles from the lakes to the mouth of the Ohio. It is a horizontal limestone stratum, covered with a thick coating of earth rich in aUuvium. As there can scarcely be said to be valleys in this region, the rivers, naturally deepening their courses as they proceed, cut a trench, as it were, so narrow as only to admit of the passage of their waters between banks which thus have an abrupt and rocky appearance. In this vast territory there are incalculable masses of forest, differing according to the latitude, from the predominating pine and birch, to the varied forest of oak, elm, walnut, sycamore, beech, hiccory, maple, and tulip tree. There are strange peculiarities in the forest, some- times running in straight belts through the wide prairie districts, and at others surrounding the prairie witli a circular forest girdle, 104 THE UNITED STATES. like die exaggeration of some park-opening in the artificial-domain lands of England. The marvel, however, of this region, and of its great source of agricultural riches, are the prairies. It is unnecessary here to discuss the theories by which this peculiar formation is accounted for; it is sufficient to say, that it presents an alluvial surface capable of feeding a population larger than that of all Europe, and one on which, to all human appearance, immigrants may pour their numbers for a century to come without exhausting the field. Part of the district is perfectly flat, but in general its character is what is expressively called rolling — not lines of hills and valleys, but such circular mounds, with depressions between, as the bent- covered sands sometimes form along shelving coasts unprotected by rocks. The prairie is divided into the meadow and the weed class. The Aveeds are a gi'owth of richly-coloured plants of infinite variety, making a compact thicket, sometimes eight or nine feet high. These are the tracts which produce, when set on fire, the wild scenes which we read of in the American romances, when man, the fiercer animals, and the gentler which form the prey of both, all flee in company. The strength of the growth on this kind of prairie attests its fertility. When burned, the weeds become a top-dressing, and the groimd, if but scratched, will grow a crop. The districts most popular are not on the boundless prah'ie, where the eye sees no outline within the horizon, bu)t where it is alternated with timber. Of such a country an acute observer says : * The attraction of the prairie consists in its extent, its carpet of verdure and flowers, its undulating surface, its groves, and the fringe of timber by which it is surrounded. Of all these the latter is the most expressive feature ; it is that which gives character to the landscape, which imparts the shape, and marks the boundary of the plain. If the prairie be small, its greatest \ beauty consists in the vicinity of tlie surrounding margin of wood- land, which resembles the shore of a lake, indented with deep vistas like bays and inlets, and throwing out long points like capes and headlands; while occasionally these points approach so close on either hand, that the traveller passes through a narroAv avenue or strait, where the shadows of the woodland fall upon his path, and then again emerges into another ^rsime^— {Notes on the Western States, by James Hall, p. 72.) Such are the lands of which an inexhaustible supply is to be obtained at the government fixed price of a dollar and a quarter an acre. Vast as the district is, its unvarying fertility leaves little of a distinguishing character to be stated about particular portions of it. Some of the prairies are wet, but their general character is diy, breezy, and healthy, the waters running in deep close ruts, or 105 AilEKlCA. passing underground, so that the whole is naturally and effectively drained. Near the borders of the rivers, however, there is another kind of soil, which, by its extreme richness, tempts the settler to brave its insalubrity. It is of the character of alluvial deposit on flat and interrupted surfaces, and exists in large tracts at the lower parts of the Mississippi, yet is also found to a considerable extent in some of the higher, and in general more salubrious tracts. In an article in ' Hunt's Merchants' Magazine,' quoted by Mr Mac- gregor, there is this account of the ' Bottoms,' as they are termed : — • These " bottoms'* constitute the richest lands in the west. The soil is often twenty-five feet deep, and when thrown up from the digging of wells, produces luxuriantly the first year. The most ex- tensive and fertile tract of this description of soil is what is called the " American Bottom," commencing at tlie mouth of the Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, and extending northward to the bluff's at Alton, a distance of ninety mUes. Its average width is five miles, and it con- tains about 288,000 acres. The soil is an argillaceous or a siliceous loam, according as clay or sand happens to predominate in its forma- tion. This tract, which received its name when the Mississippi con- stituted the western boundary of the United States, is covered on the margin of the river with a strip of heavy timber, having a thick undergrowth, from half a mile to two miles in width, but from thence to the bluffs it is principally prairie. It is interspersed with sloughs, lakes, and ponds, the most of which become dry in autumn. The land is highest near the margin of the stream, and consequently, when overflowed, retains a large quantity of water, which is apt to stagnate and throw off miasma, rendering the air deleterious to health. The soU is, however, inexhaustibly productive. Seventy- five bushels of corn to the acre is an ordinary crop, and about the old French towns it has been cultivated, and produced successive crops of com annually for more than one hundred years. Besides the American Bottom, there are others that resemble it in its general character. On the banks of the Mississippi there are many places where similar lands make their appearance, and also on the other rivers of the state. The bottoms of the Kaskaskia are generally covered with a heavy growth of timber, and are frequently inun- dated when the river is at its highest flood. Those of the "Wabash are of various qualities, being less frequently submerged by the floods of the river as you ascend from its mouth. When not inundated, they are equal in fertility to the far-famed American Bottom, and in some instances are preferable, as they possess a soil less adhesive. * These bottoms, especially the American, are the best regions in the United States for raising stock, particularly horses, cattle, and swine. The roots and worms of the soil, the acorns and other fruits from the trees, and the fish of the lakes, are sufficient to subsist and fatten the swine ; and the horses and cattle find inexliaustible sup- plies of grass in the prairies and pea- vines, buffalo grass, wild oats, 106 THE UNITED STATES. and other herbage, in the timber in the summer, and rushes in the winter. The soil is not so well adapted to the production of wheat and other small grain as of Indian corn. They grow too rank, and fall down before the grain is sufficiently ripened to harvest. They are also all, or nearly all, subject to the very serious objection of being unhealthy.' Though the prairie land is of a very uniform character, yet the states in which it is chiefly found require separate notice, on account of their other peculiarities. Ohio is a rich enterprising state, with manufactures and public Tvorks. Its chief city, Cincinnati, which in 1810 had not 3000 inhabitants, has now upwards of 60,000. In this province it is stated in an American authority, that ' There is no elevation which deserves the name of a mountain in the whole state. The intervale lands on the Ohio, and several of its tributaries, have great fertility. On both sides of the Scioto, and of the Great and Little Miami, are the most extensive bodies' of rich and level land in the state. On the head-waters of the Muskingvun and Scioto, and between the Scioto and the two Miami rivers, are extensive prairies, some of them low and marshy, producing a great quantity of coarse grass, from two to five feet high ; other parts of the prairies are elevated and dry, with a very fertile soil, though they are sometimes called barrens. The height of land which divides the waters which fall into the Ohio from those which fall into Lake Erie, is the most marshy of any in the state ; while the land on the margins of the rivers is generally dry. Among the forest trees are black walnut, oak of various species, hickory, maple of several kinds, beech, birch, poplar, sycamore, ash of several kinds, pawpaw, buck- eye, cherry, and whitewood, which is extensively used as a substitute for pine. Wheat may be regarded as the staple production of the state, but Indian corn and other grains are produced in great abundance. Although Ohio has already become so populous, it is surprising to the traveller to observe what an amount of forest is yet unsubdued. . . . * The summers are warm and pretty regular, but subject at times to severe drought. The winters are generally mild, but much less so in the northern than in the southern part of the state. Near Lake Erie the winters are probably as severe as in the same latitude on the Atlantic. In the countiy for fifty miles south of Lake Erie there are generally a number of weeks of good sleighing in the winter ; but in the southern part of the state, the snow is too small in quantity, or of too short continuance, to produce good sleighing for any considerable time. In the neighbourhood of Cincinnati, green peas are produced in plenty by the 20th of May. In parts of the state near marshes and stagnant waters, fevers, and agues, and bilious and other fevers, are prevalent. With this exception, the climate of Ohio may be regarded as healthful.' — U. S. Gazetteer. 107 ^VilEEICA. Illinois has some slightly hilly territory, and is partly coveretl with timber; but the prairie land greatly predominates. There are some rolling districts here, as in other prairie countries, which are honoured by old practice with the name of ' barrens.' This arose from an opinion, founded on the scrubby copsewood covering the soil, which has not been justified, since these tracts are among the most fertile, and at the same time most salubrious in the United States. There predominates at the same time in this state a species of land wliich the extreme richness of the soil is apt to tempt the settler to cultivate to tlie detriment of his liealth — the alluvial deposits called bottoms, already mentioned. Beef, pork, and poultry are raised in abundance in this state. The author of the article in Hunt's Magazine, cited above, says : * The cultivated vegetable productions of the field are Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rye, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, the castor bean, &c. Maize, or Indian corn, is the staple. No fanner can live without it, and may raise little else. It is cultivated with great case ; produces orduiarily fifty bushels to the acre ; often seventy-five ; and not unfrequcntly reaches to one hundred. Wheat is a good and sure crop, especially in the middle part of the state, and in a few years Illinois will pro- bably send immense quantities to market. Hemp grows sponta- neously, but is not extensively cultivated. Cotton is raised in the southern part of the state, and in 1840, 200,000 pounds were pro- duced ; 30,000 pounds of rice were gathered in the same year, and 2591 pounds of hops.' Wisconsin and Iowa stretch far northwards, and join the Britidi western territories, the former touching the great chain of lakes. A large portion of these tracts is unsurveyed and almost unex- plored, but enterprise is rapidly advancing on them, and the new governmental territory of Utah was lately severed from the land vaguely divided between them. There are prairie lands in Wis- consin ; but a great part of the country resembles the British American territory — is broken and rocky, with many torrents and wide forests. Of Iowa, Mr Macgregor says : * The surface of the country is imdulated, without mountains or high hills. There is a district of rather elevated table-land, which extends over a considerable part of the territory, dividing the waters which fall into the Mississippi from those which fall into the Mis- souri. The lands near the rivers and creeks, extending back from one to ten miles, are generally covered with timber ; and farther back the country is an open prairie, without trees. By the frequent alternations of these two descriptions of land the face of the country is greatly diversified. The prairies occupy nearly three-fourths of the territory, and although they are destitute of trees, present a gi-eat variety in other respects. Some are level, and others are 108 THE UNITED STATE.S. undulated ; some are covered with a luxuriant grass, well suited for grazing ; others are interspersed with hazel thickets and sassa- fras shrubs, and, in the proper season, decorated with beautiful flowers. The soil, both on the bottom and prairie land, is generally good, consisting of a deep black mould, intermixed in the prairies with sandy loam, and sometimes with a red clay and gravel. The cultivated productions are Indian com, wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, pumpkins, melons, and all kinds of garden vegetables. The soil and climate are favourable to the cultivation of fruit. Wild crab-apples, plums, strawberries, and grapes, are abundant.' Missouri, reaching no farther north than 40° 36', and stretching soutli wards below the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi nearly to the 36th parallel, is more tropical in its character than Wis- consin, Iowa, and Michigan. It contains a considera])le portion of the species of land which is the most productive, but at the same time the most imhealthy. • This state presents a great variety of surface and of soil. Allu- vial or bottom soil extends along the margin of the rivers ; receding from which the land rises in some parts imperceptibly, in others very abruptly, into elevated barrens, or rocky ridges. In the inte- rior, bottoms and barrens, naked hills and prairies, heavy forests and streams of water, may often be seen at one view, presenting a diversified and beautiful landscape. The south-east part of the state has a very extensive tract of low, marshy country, abounding in lakes, and liable to inundation. Back of this a hilly country extends as far as the Osage River. This portion of the state, though not generally distinguished for the fertility of its soil, though it is interspersed with fertile portions, is particularly celebrated for its mineral treasures.' — {United States Gazetteer. — Macgregw^s Sta- tistics.) Indiana has Michigan Lake and state on the north, Ohio on the east, Illinois on the west, and Kentucky on the south. It is in the centre of the prame district, salubrious, and furnished with great facilities for the exportation of its produce by the Ohio, which washes the southern border, and the Wabash, which runs for 120 mUes along its western. * There are no mountains in Indiana. The country bordering on the Ohio is hilly and undulated. A range of hills runs parallel with the Ohio from the mouth of the Great 3*liami to Blue River, alter- nately approaching to within a few rods, and receding to the distance of two miles. Immediately below Blue River the hills disappear, and then a large tract of level land succeeds, covered with a heavy growth of timber. Bordering on all the principal streams except the Ohio, there are strips of bottom and prairie land from three to six miles in width. Remote from the rivers the country is broken, and the soil light. Between the Wabash and Lake Michigan the country is generally level, interspersed with woodlands, prairies, 109 AMERICA. lakes, and swamps. The shore of this state, which extends along the southern end of Lake Michigan, is lined with sandhills about 200 feet high; behind which there are sandy hillocks, on and between which grow some pine and a few other trees. The prairies bordering on the "Wabash are ricli, having ordinarily an excellent vegetable soil from two to five feet deep. The natural growth of this soil consists of several kinds of oak, ash, beech, buckeye, walnut, cherry, maple, elm, sassafras, linden, honeylocust, cottonwood, sycamore, and mulberry. The principal productions are wheat, rj'e, Indian com, oats, buckwheat, barley, potatoes, beef, pork, butter, cheese,' &c. — {United States Gazetteer. — Macgregor'a Sta- tistics.) Mandan is the name of the district on the upper waters of the Missouri as they turn westward, lying to the west of the states Illinois and Wisconsin, bordered on the north by the nominal boundary of the British North American territories, and stretch- ing westward to the Rocky Mountains. It is understood to comprise an area of 600,000 square miles. Erelong the tide of immigration will doubtless pour into this district, and it will be provided with a temporary government previous to its becom- ing a representative state. It will be in one of the great highways of America, as it opens on the only pass through the Rocky Mountains which is believed to be sufficiently gradual for the bed of a road. ' The surface is chiefly an elevated plain or table- land, consisting of vast prairies, on which large herds of the bison, elk, and deer range ; and though the soU is generally light and thin, it affords abundant grass and herbage for their support, and is undoubtedly capable of supporting an equal number of domestic cattle.' — United States Gazetteer. Until within the past few years this territory was inhabited by a powerful tribe of Indians ; but they were almost entirely exterminated by the smallpox, and their scattered remnant are resorting to the neighbouring terri- tory set apart for the Indian tribes. Oregon and Utah Territories. — These comprise the district on the west of the Rocky Mountains sloping towards the Pacific, and comprehended between the 49th parallel — which has been declared to be the boundary of the British possessions — and New Mexico and California on the south. Oregon is the northern division ; and though not yet a state in the Union, it has a delegate to Congress. Utah, separated from it at the 42d parallel, was only incorporated into a state with a government in 1850 (see p. 87.) We are here in a land as new to the ci\alised world as New Zealand. From time to time the public have been interested in the narratives of daring adventurers — generally hunters, who, urged by the spirit of their craft, have left behind them the 110 THE UNITED STATES. southern prairies and the * meat,' as they call the buffaloes and other animals hunted and trapped by them — and have undergone the horrors of a journey over the Rocky Mountains in search of new regions, or perhaps to open the way for half-marauding expeditions against the Spaniards of the south. For a charac- teristic account of such expeditions, a reference may be made to the animated little work of Mr Ruxton. Space cannot be afforded on the present occasion for any account of the more important experiment of ^Mr Astor, or the expeditions from time to time made by the western coast, as well as the Rocky Mountains, to this district. The progress of the American people westward and southward has suddenly changed its position, and made it a place of considerable importance among the districts likely to be occupied by emigrants. For sometime it will probably be almost exclusively sought by the adventurous citizens of the states ; but when our own emigrants are called on to look to Vancouver Island as an eligible place of settlement, it is not extravagant to suppose that this great tract of varied capabilities wiU compete with it. Many of the disappointed British adventurers in Cali- fornia — perhaps some of those few who have succeeded in carrying away a small capital — may find that Oregon lies conveniently to them as a place of settlement. The communication to be soon opened across the Isthmus of Darien will bring it within the list of places easily approached both from the United States and" Britain. There are supposed to be from 40,000 to 60,000 Indians in the territory, who were lately powerful and independent ; but though not, properly speaking, subdued, they are scarcely nume- rous enough to render the place dangerous to the white settler. The country is divided into three valleys or regions by two ranges of hills, between the Rocky Mountains and the coast. *The distance from the coast to the nearest chain is, in some places, 100 miles ; in others much less. The interv^ening country is crossed in various directions by low ridges connected with the prin- cipal chain, some of them parallel to it, and others stretching toward the ocean. From this region the TVallamette River comes more than 200 miles, in a direction nearly due north, and enters the Columbia on its south side. The valley through which it passes is said to be the most delightfid and fertile in north-western America. The climate of the region between the ocean and the first range, though not unhealthy, is not very favourable to agriculture. The summer is warm and dry. From April to October, while the westerly winds prevail, rain seldom falls in any part of Oregon ; during the other months, when the south wind blows constantly, the rains are almost incessant in the lower region, though sometimes the dry season con- tinues there longer. Further from the Pacific, the rains are less frequent and abundant; and near the Rocky Mountains they are 111 AMERICA. reduced to a few showers in the spring. In the valleys of the low country snow is rarely seen, and the ground is so little frozen that ploughing may generally he done during the whole winter. Most of tlie productions of the northern states, excepting Indian com, suc- ceed tolerably well. Horses and neat cattle will subsist without fodder through the winter. The second bottoms of the rivers, being above inundation, are extremely fertile, and prairies are considerably numerous and extensive. The forests on the uplands, although the soil is tolerably good, abound with such enormous trees as almost to defy cultivation. A fir-tree growing near Astoria, on the Columbia, eight miles from the sea, was 46 feet in circumference, ten feet from the ground, and 153 feet in length before giving off a single branch, and not less than 300 feet in its whole height. Another tree of the same species, on the banks of the Umqua, was 57 feet in circum- ference, and 216 feet in length below its branches; and sound pines from 200 to 280 feet in height, and from 20 to 40 feet in circum- ference, are not uncommon. * The middle region of Oregon, between the mountains nearest the coast and the Blue Mountains on the east, is more elevated and dry, and less fertile than the low countiy. It consists chiefly of plains, between ridges of mountains, the soil of which is generally a yellow sandy clay, covered with grass, small shrubs, and prickly peara. Timber is very scarce ; the trees are of soft and useless woods, such as cotton-wood, sumach, and willow, which are found only in the neighbourhood of streams. * The climate is salubrious, the air is dry in summer, the days warm, and'the nights cool. The rain begins later and ends sooner tlian in the lower country. This country is poorly adapted to culti- vation, but is well suited to grazing, the grass being abimdant in a green or dry state through the year. Horses are here reared in abundance by the Indians, some of whom own hundreds of them. The Blue Mountains on the east of this region extend through the whole teiTitory of the Columbia, though frequently broken into several ridges. These mountains are steep, with a volcanic appear- ance, and their highest peaks are covered with perpetual snow. ' The third and last division of Oregon lies between the Blue Mountains on the west and the Rocky Mountains on the east. The southern part of this region is a desert of steep rocky mountains, deep narrow valleys, and wide plains, covered with sand and gi-avel. There is little snow in the valleys in the winter, but much on the mountains. It rarely rains, and no dew falls. The difference between the temperature at sunrise and at noon in summer is often forty degrees:-{U.S.Gaz.) SOUTHERN STATES. The reasons have been already given for not considering these states — rich, fertile, and important though they be — as a suitable 112 THE UNITED STATES. cmig^ration field for British agriculturists or mechanics (see p. 80.) The old southern states have been in some measure laid open for new settlers by the adventurers who have wandered to California, or the other western settlements. If English capitalists should think fit to invest in the cleared farms and estates which are thus brought to market, the state of Maryland might be suggested as the most suitable. It is the farthest north of the slave states ; and though on the lower banks of the Chesapeake there is much unhealthy swamp, the upper districts are comparatively salu- brious. The social condition of the country is subject to the moral influence of the northern states, and slavery has been decreasing. A perusal of the works of Kennedy and others, who have examined the resources of the new province of Texas, can leave no doubt that it possesses great capabilties for agricultural pro- duction. It is maintamed, too, by the American political econo- mists, that the stain of slavery cannot be permanently attached to it, as its agricultural character marks it as a district suited only for free labour. With so many other fields open to him, however, the cautious British emigrant will avoid Texas, until its character as a country for settlement be better cleared up. Choosing a settlement is not like joining a speculation, where the chances of success consist in being first in the field. The adaptability of this territory is so doubtful, that the Emigration Commissioners, going out of their usual path, thought it necessary, in their cir- cular for 1850, to issue the following caution : — ' Emigrants are warned that the statements recently circulated respecting the salubrity of climate, the fertility of soil, and the richness of the mineral productions of Texas, are reported by authority to be greatly exaggerated, and that the commissioners have received information that some British subjects, who were recently induced by an association in this country to emigrate to Texas, have fallen inio great distress.' It may be expected that something should be said of California. This is, however, a work intended for the quiet settler seeking a new home, where health, freedom, and legal protection are to accompany the prospect of his finding a comfortable subsistence for his family. Califomia is, by the admission even of its best supporters, as yet a place for adventurous men to flock to and make fortunes ; departmg as soon as they can, and bringing with them their gains, if they have made any. The disinterested adviser must add to this, that, with aU the hardships and risks to be encountered, the harvest is by no means certain : it is an affair of desperate gambling chances. Some fortunes — not many — have no doubt been made in the scramble, while multitudes H 113 AMERICA. have fled from the scene disappointed and mined men. But in time, even the rapid gains of the lucky few will cease, and the gold-mining will be, as it is elsewhere, a hard business, requiring much capital, and making a steady but poor return. If gold "were long found in lumps, it would soon cease to be the universal representative of value. It has acquired that position just be- cause, more than any other commodity, it is the representative of value given by labour in its production. There are great fluc- tuations in other commodities, but the supply of gold is always, with only minute occasional oscillations, steady, and incapable of increase, without the continued application of capital and labour to its extraction. In a place like California, where its existence has been newly discovered by an active, impatient, energetic people, all the surface capabilities are immediately attacked. Nature has been mining away for some time, disintegrating the metal from the rock, and scattering it about ; and all this produce is pounced upon ; and it is supposed that gold will be as easily obtained in the district for ever. The peculiarity of this metal, however, is — that it runs in thin tortuous veins through hard quartz rocks; and when the superficial scatterings have been removed, and the metal is got by mining, it will, to all appear- ance, be as little profitable a pursuit in California as in the old mines. PUECHASE AND EMPLOYMENT OF LAND. The emigrant to any of the British possessions is greatly per- plexed by the complex systems for the disposal of land. There are scarcely two colonies where it is alike. It is in almost all of them full of minute rules and restrictions, and these are fre- quently altered and readjusted. In some of them, the high uniform- price system has been adopted ; and then, as this proved virtually inoperative, from people squatting in the out-districts instead of buying land, it became necessary to form a distinct system of tenures to apply to them. In some colonies, the arrangements are fixed by the home government ; in others, they are variable, according to the views of the colonial authorities. The advan- tages of a uniform and simple system have been well illustrated in the United States. The system for the survey and sale of the public lands was adopted by act of Congress in 1785, and has virtually remained unaltered in its general features. Before being ofiered for sale, all unoccupied lands are surveyed in ranges of townships, each six miles square. The township is subdivided into thirty-six lU THE UNITED STATES. sections, each one mile square, and containing about 640. acres. The subdivision is made by lines crossing each other from east to west, and north to south. The sections are numbered from 1 to 36. The enumeration commences at the north-east comer, and runs west ; the next row being counted from west to east, and so on alternately. The sections are. farther subdivided into quarters of 160 acres, eighths of eighty, and sixteenths of forty. The surveyors put up distinct marks in the field for indicating the comers of the townships, the sections, and the quarter sections. When lands have been surveyed, they are proclaimed by the president as for sale by public auction. The upset price per acre is 1 dollar 25 cents, or 1^ dollar, equal to about 5s. 3d. When the land is not sold at the auction sale, it is ' subject to private entry,' as it is termed, and may be claimed by any one paying the upset price. It would appear that not much of the land sells for more than the upset price, or what does sell brings little more, as the whole pro- duce of the land-sales seldom greatly exceeds an average of a dollar and a quarter per acre during the year. Thus in 1848 the lands disposed of amounted in acres to 1,887,553. At the upset price, the whole would have brought 2,359,441 dollars. The actual pro- duce-money was 2,621,615 dollars. The annual quantity of land sold can hardly be said to increase progressively like the immigra- tion. It must be subject to peculiar influences, occasionally con- tracting as well as enlarging it. The rush on California might perhaps have an influence on it. The acres of land sold in 1847 exceeded 2,500,000. The previous year shews a smaller amount; it does not much exceed 2,250,000. In 1845 the amount comes down to the level it had descended to in 1848, and is even slightly under it. In going backwards there are four years in which it vibrates between 1,250,000 and 2,000,000. In 1840 the level of 2,250,000 had been slightly exceeded. But this was in the course of descent from a sort of climax in land-sales reached in 1836. In 1839 the amount was close on 5,000,000, and the sum realised equal to £1,346,782 sterling. The previous year it had been under 3,500,000, but in 1837 it was more than 5,500,000, and realised £1,459,900 sterling. In the wonderful year 1836, however, the quantity of land sold was 20,074,870 acres, reaHsing £5,063,297 sterling. In the preceding year the land-sales were a little more than 12,500,000. In 1834 they had been nearer the point to which they have since descended, and were considerably under 6,000,000. In the North American Almanac for 1850 there is a document instructive as to the proportional rate at which the lands after they are surveyed find purchasers. It appears to go over a space 115 AMERICA. of thirty years, and applies to each individual state. The result of the whole is this : at the commencement of the period, the lands offered for sale in the manner mentioned above amounted in acres to 154,680,234. Of these it appears that there were sold within ten years 44,133,590. After the expiry of the ten, but before that of a farther five years, there were sold in addition 17,706,023 acres. In the next period the sales were 8,730,823. In the next quinquennial period — between twenty and twenty-iive years — the sales were 3,691,067. In the concluding qumquennial period of the thirty years the sales were 2,371,757. There remained at tiie end of the thirty years of the lands surveyed at the commence- ment — without reference of course to the sale of lands surveyed before or after — 78,046,074 acres. In the papers presented to the British parliament for 1849, on the revenue and statistics of the various countries of the world, there is a statement of the public lands remaining unsold in the several states on 30th June 1845. It may be remarked, that though the statement be upwards of five years old the sales that have since taken place would not very materially reduce the total amount ; and there is no doubt that the great accessions of terri- tory have caused a vast extent of new surv^eys. The acres in the market, and unsold, were then 133,307,457 — equal to about four times the area of England, not counting "Wales. Of this territory there had stood over for more than thirty years 2,625,732 acres — nearly half of them in the Mississippi. For between twenty-five and thirty years there had stood over 15,178,825 acres, and for more than twenty, and not more than twenty-five years, there had stood over 21,185,596. These results are not to be confounded with those of the previous calculations from the tables in the Ame- rican Almanac, since these refer to all existing surveys at the time — the others gave the history of the progress of purchase on the survey presented for sale in one particular year. A conception may be formed, from these numbers, how vastly and infinitely available are the fresh lands of this great empire. There stands at one time surveyed, and ready for sale, as much land as, were it peopled as thickly as England, would contain a population equal to double that of the United Kingdom ; and these lands are independent of the unoccupied tracts in the hands of individuals. Yet surveying is a costly operation, not to be need- lessly undertaken : and, as we shall presently see, only a small proportion of the lands ultimately available are brought within it. It may be interesting to observe the proportions in which the un- sold area is dispersed over the several states. The enumeration does not include the new territories, nor the following old territo- ries — Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode U6 THE UNITED STATES. Islaud, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- ware, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. It contains, however, tlie southern states, which are not recommended as suitable emigration fields. In the several states where there were public lands for disposal, the acres were respectively — Ohio, 885,767; Indiana, 3,729,859; Illinois, 15,830,348; Missouri, 20,798,089; Alabama, 16,970,927; Missis- sippi, 10,409,034; Louisiana, 12,412,029; Michigan, 14,611,524; Arkansas, 19,046,589; Florida, 10,317,954; Iowa, 2,558,252; Wis- consin, 5,737,085. In looking from the amount of surveyed land to the new territo- ries lately opened up to the progress of immigi-ation north and west of the organised states of the Union, we come to still broader and more comprehensive masses of figures. It may here be remarked, that in their statistics the Americans carefully separate the dis- tricts naturally to be counted among the northern states, and the more fit places for the British emigrant, from those appertaining to the south— the line being at 36"" 30' north latitude. In the first place, then, there is the north-west territory, bounded on the north by the British-American dominions, or by the 49th parallel ; on the east by the Mississippi ; on the south by the state of Iowa and the Platte River ; and on the west by the Rocky Mountains. It contains 462,878,720 acres, equal to 723,248 square miles — nearly six times the area of the United Kingdom. The next is the "Wisconsin territory — not that of the old state, but the newly- acquired territory lying between it and the Mississippi, and on tlie east of that river. This ' balance of the old north-western terri- tory,' as the Americans call it, contains 22,336 square miles — equal to 14,295,040 acres. These are all in the districts consti- tuting extensions of the old territory, and in the northern depart- ment available for emigi-ation. There is, besides, in the extension districts, a tract of nearly 200 square miles — partly in the northern, partly in the southern division, called the Indian Terri- tory, ' situated west of the states of Missouri and Ai-kansas, and south of the Platte or Nebraska River, held and apportioned ia part for Indian purposes.' We now come to the newly -ceded or acquired districts. The area of Oregon is 341,463 square miles, or 218,536,320 acres — not much less than three times the area of the United Kingdom. All this is of course in the northern division. The next territory is Upper California and New Mexico, bounded on the north by the 42d parallel ; on the east by the Rio Grande, and by a meridian line from its source to the 42d parallel; on the south by the middle of the Gila River, from the source to the mouth, and thence by a line to a point one marine league south from the 117 AMERICA. southernmost point of the port of San Diego, and west by the Pacific Ocean. Tliis territory is divided between the north and south department. In the former there are 321,695 square miles, or 205,884,800 acres; in the latter, 204,383 square miles, or 130,805,120 acres. The state of Texas is generally considered in three divisions. The first is Texas Proper, between the Sabine and Nueces Rivers, and south of the Ensenada. This is eutu*ely in the southern department, covermg 148,569 square miles. The mean division is described as bounded ' between the Nueces and Eio Grande Eivers, up to a line drawn from a point a short dis- tance north of the town of Paso, to the source of the Ensenada Eiver, and along the river to its mouth.' The whole of this also, covering 52,018 square miles, is in the southern department. The third division, or Santa F^ Country, is that situated north of Paso and Ensenada River, and stretching to latitude 42° north. This is partly in the northern and partly in the southern department. In the former there are 43,537 square miles, or 27,863,680 acres ; in the latter, 81,396 square miles. The great stretches of country which we have now gone over are, it will be observed, those available beyond the boundary of the regularly organised states — the quantity of land surveyed and available in which was previously noticed. The uniform price of the dollar and quarter applies of course to the territories actually admitted within the Union, or provided by act of Congress with a temporary government. But if the adven- turous settler, proposing to take up liis position in a new district which is not, though it is likely to be marked out as a state, it is important to him to know what position he acquires, and what land-title he holds. It is clear that, on the one hand, it would be incompatible that these squatters should be entitled to hold in property all the land they may claim as theirs before the estab- lishment of a regular government ; and, on the other hand, that it would be unjust to deprive them of aU title unless they paid the States price of a doUar and quarter per acre. Hence on the incor- poration of any state with the Union, careful provision is made for an equitable settlement of the land-claims of the squatters, which are adjusted by an important ofiicer called the Surveyor-general of Public Lands, Such a measure was passed by Congress in 1850, called, ' An Act to create the Ofiice of Surveyor-general of the Public Lands in Oregon, and to provide for the Siu^-ey, and to make donations to the Settlers of the said Public Lands,' It does not require actual citizenship of the States, but extends to all who will make a declaration, before 1st December 1851, of an intention to become citizens. It includes those residing in the temtoiy at the passing of the act, or who have gone to it before Ist December 118 THE UNITED STATES. 1850. The title to fixity of tenure is four years' settlement and cultivation. To each person having such an equitable claim, upwards of eighteen years of age there is awarded one -half section of 320 acres, if he be a single man ; and if he be man-ied, a section of 640 acres — one-half becoming the absolute property of his wife. If an alien make the declaration of intention to become a citizen, but die before he is actually naturalised, his representatives succeed to his allotment. Persons settling between 1st December 1860 and 1st December 1853, acquire rights to half as much as those who have settled earher, under the like conditions. To prevent land -jobbing, an oath is taken by the settler that the land claimed by him is for his own use and cul- tivation — that he is not acting as agent for another in making the claim — and that he has made no bargain for disposing of the land to a purchaser. Taking this oath falsely is a punishable offence ; but how far the law would be enforced must depend on circumstances. The claims of representatives, whether by law or settlement, are admitted from the beginning ; but no sale is held valid anterior to the issuing of the patent. The waste lands held in property by the United States by no means comprise the whole of the uncleared or waste lands within the States. In those states where there are no public lands at all, there are abundant tracts of waste land in the possession of indi- viduals or companies ; but a question of great importance to the agricultural emigrant must necessarily be, whether he will reclaim waste land, or invest in land already cleared and cultivated? The British emigrant, if he resolve to turn himself to waste land, should choose the dry roUmg prahie. The life of the backwoodsman is one of peculiar danger and hardship. It is not necessarily unhealthy ; but the causes of \ disease are so peculiar and subtle, that the stranger wiU not readily understand or discover them ; while the American is to a certain extent acclimated to their influence, and can bear them better. The first steps towards clearing the forest may be consi- dered as already described in the account of British America (see p. 31.) Of the farther steps after the felling and burning, Mr Macgregor, with peculiar reference to the United States, gives, in his ' Progress of America,' the following account : — / The surface of the ground and the remaining wood is all black and charred ; and working on it, and preparing the soil for seed, is as disagreeable at first as any labour in which a man can be engaged. Men, women, and children, must however employ themselves in gathering and burning the rubbish, and in such parts of labour as their respective strengths adapt them for. If the gi'ound be intended for grain, it is generally sown without tillage over the surface, and the seed covered in with a hoe. By some a triangular harrow, 119 AMERICA. -wliich shortens labour, is used instead of the hoe, and drairn by oxen. Others break up the earth with a one-handled plough— the old Dutch plough — which has the share and coulter locked into each other drawn also by oxen, while a man attends with an axe to cut tlie roots in its way. Little regard is paid in tlus case to mako straight furrows, the object being no more than to break up tlic ground. "With such rude preparation, however, three successive good crops are raised on fertile uplands without any manure ; inter- vale lands, being fertilised by irrigation, never require any. Potatoes are planted (in new lands) in round hollows, scooped with the hoe four or five inches deep, and about forty in circumference, in wliich three or five sets are planted and covered over with a hoe. Indian com, pumpkins, cucumbers, peas and beans, are cultivated in new- lands, in the same manner as potatoes. Grain of all kinds, turnips, hemp, flax, and grass-seeds, are sown over tlie surface, and covered by means of a hoe, rake, or triangular harrow; wheat is usually sown on the same ground the year after potatoes, without any tillage, but merely covering the seed with a rake or harrow, and followed the third year by oats. Some farmers, and it is certainly a prudent phm, sow timothy and clover seed the second year along with the wheat, and afterwards let the ground remain under grass until the stumps of the trees can be easily got out, which usually requires three or four years. AVith a little additional labour these obstructions to ploughing might be removed the second year, and there appears little difficulty in constructing a machine on the lever principle, that would readily remove them at once. The roots of beech, birch, and spruce, decay the soonest : those of pine and hemlock seem to require an age. After the stumps are removed fi-om the soil, and those small natural hillocks, called " cradle hills," caused by the ground swelling neai* the roots of trees in consequence of their growth, are levelled, the plough may always be used, and the system of husbandry followed that is most approved of in England or Scotland.' The subsequent steps are of a more cheerful character — * "Wherever a settlement is formed amidst the woodlands, and some progress is made in the clearing and cultivation of the soil, it begins gradually to develop the usual features of an American village. First, a saw-mill, a grist-mill, and a blacksmith's shop, appear ; then a school-house and a place of worship ; and in a little time the village doctor and pedlar with his wares introduce them- selves. * A saw-mill of itself soon forms a settlement, for attached to it must be a blacksmith's forge, dwellings for carpenters, millwright^ and labourei-s, stables, and ox-houses. A shop and tavern are also sure to spring up close to it; tailors and shoemakers are also required.' But notwithstanding the wonderful rapidity with which the untrodden wilderness is converted into smiling fields, orchards, villages, and even cities, the British emigrant, before he joins in 120 THE UNITED STATES. the task, should consider whether he is well fitted for it. To the American citizen, clearing the wilderness is the occupation wliich nature seems to have assigned to him. Even if he have not actually been trained to it, it is a lot which has become familiar to him in his thoughts. The American farmer sells his holding, goes off into the forest, and says to his brawny sons, * Now, lads, clear away!' as coolly as the English shopkeeper moves to a better street and more roomy premises. An insatiable restless- ness pervades the class, and many of them feel an irresistible propensity to dispose of their lands when they have cleared them, and begin the work again. It is said to be rare to find an American Avho will not part with his farm or estate if a sufficient consideration be put in his option. This restlessness affords good opportunities for the British emigrant investing in cleared land. There are always lots in abundance to be obtained, of every variety of class and extent. ' The partially cleared ground,' says Mr Prentice in his Tour in the United States, * may be had at a comparatively cheap rate. The current of population flows towards the prairie land of Indiana and Illinois ; and numbers of men there are who will abandon their improvements if they can sell an acre of land at a price which would purchase four or five acres of the tempting prairies of the west. This affords an excel- lent opportunity to the agricultural immigi-ant from the old country. He can buy cleared land cheaper than he can clear it : he can have a house and cattle-sheds ready for use : fields ready to yield him produce; and he will escape the fever and ague which pertinaciously follow the breaker of fresh ground' (p. 31.) The price of cleared land is infinitely varied, according to the situation and productiveness of the soil. Some areas of cleared land may be bought out and out at £2 an acre ; while there are others that would not be obtained on lease for double that amount of rent. It is only in general close to the cities, or in peculiarly rich bottoms, as they are called, that field after field in succession is cleared. When a property is for sale, a large part of it is generally uncultivated. Very often the cleared land is exhausted by overcropping and the want of artificial manuring. The American plan is rather to go to new land than to improve and foster the old. It is remarked that both his propensity and his qualification is for clearing and bringing in, while that of the Englishman is for cultivating and enriching ; and hence it is often considered a wise division of labour for each to follow his particular bent. The British farmer almost invariably censures the slovenliness of the American, and holds up his scanty produce per acre as a lasting reproach. But there are reasons for the one pushing the 121 AMEKICA. resources of the land to the utmost which do not exist with tlie other ; and the agriculturist of Norfolk or the Lothians will need to pause before he follow up his high-farming system in the Atlantic states because he has found that it pays best at home. The controversy between the systems of farming has been c(Xi- ducted with a kind of professional pedantry. On one side, as if agricultm-e were one of the fine arts, and its object were to pro- duce clean fields and follow a learned rotation of cropping. The object of agricultm-e is to raise the greatest quantity of produce with the least expenditure of capital and labour, and it is quite natural that the farmer in the old country should find it most economical to manure, irrigate, or eat ofi" with turnips, while the American finds it best to move on to fresh fields. There are other elements which make the agriculture of Britain in a great measure inapplicable to the United States, and render it necessary tliat the agricultural emigrant should abandon all prepossessions, and adapt himself to the different character of his materials. In a work of great authority on the spot, called * American Hus- bandry,' by Willis Gaylor and George Tucker, New York — who think that American farmers are only too apt to follow the prece- dents of established British culture — there are the following explanations of the American peculiarities, particularly of climate : — * Population, by justifying, or rather compelling English farmers to adopt peculiar systems of farming, may be said to create a wider difference between the agriculture of the two countries than any arising from the soil. ' But it is to climate that the principal points of difference in the agriculture of the two countries must be traced ; and this is what should be kept most distinctly in view when comparisons between Enghsh agriculture and our ovm are instituted. England, though in the latitude, and most of it north of Quebec, has a milder climate than our middle states ; and this fact should not be lost sight of in adapting the agriculture of that countrj' to this. In the United States (we speak particularly now of the northern and middle states, as it is these that are more influenced by English agriculture than the south), the summers are much hotter and the winters much colder than in England : hence some plants that require a great degree of heat will succeed better here than there ; while many plants will bear the winters of England in the open air, that perish when exposed without protection to the intense cold of our winter months. A great number of thermometrical observations shew that the average temperature of the three months of January, Feb- ruary, and March in England, is about 37', 42% and 47% and that of the three months of June, July, and August, about 63% 66\ and 65°. The average difference between the highest and the lowest tempera- ture per month will not exceed more than 6 or S% tlicse sudden and 122 THE UNITED STATES. extreme changes to which our climate is subject being unknown there. In the valley of the Genessee, near Lake Ontario, the average for the three winter months gives about 24 , 26% and 36', and for the three summer months, 71^, 73% and 72^ ; the mean average of several years is 49% and the range of the thermometer about 100% In this country we have changes of from 30" to 40' in twenty -four hours : there the greatest rarely exceeds 6" or 8°. There, also, the thermometer seldom descends but a few degrees below the freezing-point, while here it is below for weeks or months together. Indeed it is probable that, in the colder parts of the United States, the thermometer falls below zero as often as it does in England below 32% * This statement will shew that there must be a material difference between the agricultural operations proper to two countries so situa- ted, as far as those operations can be affected by climate. To give a single instance : Indian corn, it is ascertained, cannot be grown in any country where the thermometer, for more than one month, is not above 70 ; and that in a temperature of 75% or 80% it arrives at its greatest perfection. This is the reason why, notwithstanding all the efforts made to introduce [Indian] corn into Great Britain, it has proved a complete failure. It is not killed with the frost there as here ; but the degree of heat will not bring it to maturity during the summer months. Mr Cobbctt was confident he should succeed, and did grow some tolerable crops of early Canadian ; but, like some trees which flourish and mature their seeds here, but will not ripen in Eng- land, the corn would not in all cases mature so as to vegetate, and, in spite of his boastings, he was compelled to abandon the culture. On the contrary, wheat is a crop that requires a lower temperature than maize, and is not adapted to a hot, dry climate. Great Britain is, therefore, one of the best wheat countries on the globe, and perhaps produces, in proportion to the land in tillage, a greater amount than any other. The low temperature and moist chmate of England is found to agree with this plant perfectly. Scotland is too cold ; but no part of the island is too hot, as is the case with a considerable portion of our southern states. * To this difference of climate must be attributed the difficulty we have found in the United States in growing hedges from such shnibs or trees as are used in England for this purpose. From witnessing their excellent effect and beautiful appearance there, it was perfectly natural that we should adopt the same plants for the same object here ; but after the repeated and persevering efforts of fifty years, it may be questioned whether there are five miles of tolerable hedge, from imported varieties of thorn or holly plants, in the United States. The difference between the moist, temperate, and equable climate of England, and the hot, dry, variable climate of this country, seems to have been overlooked, when a recollection of this fact would have convinced any one acquainted with the physiology of plants that our seasons must be fatal to English hedges. "Whether there are any of our native plants that will supply tins desideratum remains to be seen.' 123 A5IERICA. It will be seen already in our notices of Mr Johnston's recent "work on North America, tliat along with other British agricultu- rists he censures the wastefulness of the American system under which ' the land has been in many places ploughed fifty years without any manure.' Still there is no answering the native farmer or the settler who, in exhausting one tract of land and then passing on to crop another either in liis immediate vicinity or on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, finds that it is the most remunerative system. Mr Johnston's remarks on the subject are, liowever, of the highest unportance, when we look from the imme- diate prospects of the settler or agriculturist to the future pros- pects of the great western empire, and their influence on tliis country. He seems to think — and he is perhaps correct — that the peculiar restlessness of the States' citizens, prompting them ever to change their place of residence, makes them sometimes miscalculate their real interest, just as the English husbandman does by obstinately stickmg to one spot. He looks upon this propensity as likely to interrupt the ultimate productive progress of the States, deeming that their prospects for future productive- ness would be better if the error were on the other side, and people made sacrifices in improving their holdings instead of shifting to new ground. Observing that many old exporting dis- tricts in North America require to import wheat, he says very emphatically. * The same consummation is preparing for the more newly settled parts, unless a change of system take place. The new wlicat- exporting — so called — granary districts and states will by and by gradually lessen in number and extent, and probably lose altogether the ability to export, unless when imusual hancsts occur. And if the population of North America continue to advance at its present rapid rate — especially in the older states of the Union — if large uiinmg and manufacturing populations spring up, the ability to export wheat to Europe will lessen still more rapidly. This dimi- nution may be delayed for a time by the rapid settling of new western states, wliich, from their virgin soils, will draw easy returns of grain ; but every step westward adds to the cost of transporting produce to the Atlantic border, while it brings it nearer to that far western California, which, as some predict, will in a few years afford an ample market for all the com and cattle Avhich the western states can send it.' He adds, *in their relation to English markets, there- fore, and the prospects and profits of the British farmer, my per- suasion is, that, year by year, our transatlantic cousins will become less and less able — except in extraordinary seasons— to send large supplies of wheat to our island ports ; and that, when the virgin freshness shall have been rubbed off their new lands, they will be unable, with their present knoicledge and methods, to send wheat to 124 THE UNITED STATES. the British market so cheap as the more skilful fanners of Great Britain and Ireland can do. If any one less familiar with practical agriculture doubts tliat such must be the final effect of the exhausting system now followed on all the lauds of North America, I need only inform him that the celebrated Lothian farmers, in the immediate neighbourhood of Edinburgh, who carry all their crops off the land — as the North American farmers now do — return, on an average, ten tons of well-rotted manure every year to every acre, while the American fanner returns nothing. If the Edinburgh farmer finds this quantity necessary to keep his land in condition, that of the American farmer must go out of condition, and produce inferior crops in a time which will bear a relation to the original richness of the soil, and to tlie weight of crop it has been in the habit of producing. And when this exhaustion has come, a more costly system of gene- rous husbandry must be introduced, if the crops are to be kept up ; and in this more genei'ous system my belief is that the British farmers will have the victory.' EMIGRANTS. It will naturally be expected that the emigi-ant who throws himself on a foreign state will be left more to his own resources, and receive less protection and attention than the colonial settler, who merely passes from one department of the empire to another, still remaining within the circuit of its laws. It was but lately, however, that our colonial governments took any pains to smootli the wanderer's path ; and the arrangements made for the recep- tion of emigrants in New York, and other great reception-ports in the United States, are not much inferior to those which our own colonial government has made. Partly the stranger is aided by the several societies for the protection of emigrants — generally consist- ing of citizens who have been natives of the British Empire. The governments of the States, however, have acted on the sound prin- ciple, thac tliey have a great interest in the matter. Able-bodied, Jhealthy immigrants are an infusion of new blood to them. Helpless wrecks of humanity are a corresponding encumbrance, since no civilised community can sy^stematically permit human beings to die on their streets. At the entrance of the port of New York there is an immigrant hospital with more than a thousand beds, airing-grounds exceed- ing thirty acres, and a suitable medical staff. There the sick, chiefly from ship-fever, are at once landed, without entering the city. The excellence of the treatment is attested by the circum- etance, that in 1847 the deaths among 6932 patients admitted 125 AMERICA. amounted to 847, or 12J per cent.* The medical institutions for the reception of immigrants have been from time to time lately enlarged. The system is in some measure supported by the pay- ment of the tax on passengers, to be immediately mentioned, which gives them a title to admission. But this is insufficient to meet all the expense of the system, part of which is borne by the state. Before the year 1847, the masters of vessels required to give bond tliat their immigrants should not become chargeable on the charitable institutions of the country for two years after their arrival. This was found ineffective, however, as the parties could not always be reached with responsibility, and in 1847 the plan of laying a tax on immigrants was adopted. This was again altered by a law of the state in 1849, and an alternative principle adopted. By tliis act, within twenty-four hours after the landing, the master of the vessel must make a report of his passengers, stating their age, occupation, and other particulars. He is liable to severe pe^ialties for any omission- He is then subjected to the alternative of becoming bound with sufficient securities to the amount of 300 dollars for each pas- senger to relieve the charitable institutions of the country, during five years, from any burthen arising from the passengers. This would be a very serious undertaking, if it were likely to be en- forced ; but it appears to be merely enacted as an alternative for a real tax on immigrants ; since the shipowners are relieved from it by payment of a dollar and a half per head on their passengers to the health commissioner. It is provided, however, that the state is not, under this commutation, to be burthened with per- manent imbeciles ; and there is a separate provision, that if any lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blind, or infirm person, or any person who had been taken away in a state of permanent disease, is found in the vessel by the Commissioners of Emigration when making their inspection, the shipowners must come under security to the extent of 500 dollars to guarantee the state and all its institutions from liability for such passengers. By a similar law of the state of Massachusetts, a tax of two dollars per head is laid on all healthy immigrants ; and for each imbecile, bond must be given to the extent of 1000 dollars. Free as are the institutions of our transatlantic brethren, they appear to be strong enough to protect the helpless emigrant from those to whom he is natural prey. Mr Minturin, an emigration commissioner of New York, astonished the Committee of the House of Lords on Emigration by his account of the extraordi- * Of these 6932, six thousand three hundred and seventv-nine, or ninetA'-two per cent., were from Ireland— Evidence of R. B. Minturin before the Committee of 1847-48. 126 THE UNITED STATES. nary powers vested in the magistrates to punish boarding-house keepers and ' forwarders,' as those are termed who contract to pass emigrants to the interior, for frauds. ' Is not that,' he was asked, * a very large exercise of authority granted exclusively for the benefit of emigrants ? ' And he answered : ' It is an extraordinary power granted from the necessity of the case, as those people cannot wait the slow process of ordinary legal proceedings. They land at New York, and wish to pass immediately into the interior. The landlords took advantage of them, and exacted exorbitant rates from them during the short time they were in New York, and held their baggage till they paid them. The parties who had made their arrangements for passing into the country could not encounter this delay. The ordinary process of law would of course be naturally too tedious for them, and therefore the legis- lature has given the authorities this summary process. The keeper of the hotel is brought before the mayor or police magis- trate, and, upon conviction, is fined, and an officer is authorised to take immediate charge of the baggage.' Legal defects were, however, found to the operation of this simple and summary measure ; for it is very difficult in America to enforce any law which a class of the citizens dislike. The state legislature grappled with the matter, however, and in 1848 passed ' An act for the protection of emigrants arriving in the state of New York ' — establishing minute and strict regulations. By this act, enclosed docks are set apart for the exclusive landing of emigrant alien passengers. The passengers are to be conveyed, with their effects, from the emigrant vessels to these docks by lightermen, who are licensed, and who find security for their good conduct. Captains of vessels are bound, under a penalty of not less than 100 dollars, to take care that all steerage or second-cabin passengers — who are presumed to include the helpless emigrant class needing protec- tion — shall be landed at these docks. Persons keeping boarding- houses for emigrants require to take out a licence, paying for it ten dollar's a year, and finding security for good conduct. The keeper must hang up a list of prices for board and lodging, or for separate meals, in the English, German, Dutch, French, and "Welsh languages. The boarding-house keeper is not entitled to detain the luggage of an emigrant, as his security ; and if he attempt to do so, he becomes liable to penalties. It is probable that the keepers of these establishments, being thus deprived of a security which ordinary innkeepers enjoy, will insist on prepayment, or, at all events, on seeing that the persons they admit are able and willing to pay them. No one is entitled to solicit emigrants, whether for lodging- houses or conveyances, without having a licence, for which he 127 AMERICA. pays twenty dollars a year, and gives security. Every licensed person roust wear a badge or plate, conspicuously displayed, with the number of his licence, and the words 'licensed emigrant runner.' This is in conformity with a very useful American prac- tice. It is enacted that ' every person who shall solicit alien emi- grant passengers or others for the beneht of boarding-houses, passenger - offices, or forwarding - lines, upon any street, lane, alley, or upon any dock, pier, or public highway, or any other place within the corporate bounds of any city in this state, or upon any waters adjacent thereto, over which said cities may have jurisdiction, without such licence, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- demeanour, and shall be punished by imprisonment.' There is even an arrangement in the act for authorising a person appointed by the Emigration Commission to go on board of the vessel, and offer warnmgs and advice to the emigrants, before any other person is permitted to have access to them. No one is entitled to book emigrant passengers, or take money from them, who does not keep a public office, paying a licence- duty of twenty-five dollars a year, and finding security. He must have a bill of rates conspicuously posted in the English, Dutch, French, German, and "Welsh languages, and applicable as well to persons as to luggage per hundredweight. The Commissioners of Emigration are to see to the enforcement of the act ; and by a regulation which is peculiarly American, each commissioner requires to make affidavit annually that he has had no concern, as a private speculation, with the boardmg or conveying of any emigrants. The manner in which emigrant families usually make their way from the landing port to their final destination is by contracting with a forwarder for the distance at least to which there are means of public conveyance. How far the above regulations have been effective for the protection of the class it would be perhaps difficult to discover ; but it is clear that they must, if they are cautious and forewarned, have the matter much in their own power. They must forbear from dealing with persons who do not appear with the outward badges of their functions and privileges. The evils formerly complained of were, that the forwarder con- tracted with his dupe to convey him to a certain destination, and received the money, when he had no more right to get him admis- sion to the public vehicles in the line than any other person. In short, he took the money imder the pretence of being the agent or owner of the steamboat, railway, or whatever it might be, when he had no concern with it ; and ere the poor dupe discovered it, he was at a distance, and friendless. Frequently contracts were taken to convey people to destinations to which there was no public conveyance at all ; and so the helpless wanderer was set 128 THE UNITED STATES. down on the outskirts of civilisation, with hundreds of miles of prairie or forest between him and the place of his ultimate des- tination. From the large features of the American geography, tliis is a difficulty to which the emigrant will still be liable, and which it will require his utmost care and vigilance to avoid. He goes to the town, or the port, or the railway or steamboat terminus nearest to his destination ; but the nearness is something very different from what he is accustomed to in England, and may involve a weary pilgrimage beyond. It is impossible to obtain precise knowledge of the number of immigrants who settle annually in the United States. The record of land sales is evidently no criterion, since many American citi- zens buy land, and many immigrants do not. The entries at the ports do not comprehend the large body who pass through the British dependencies in the north. Mr Chickering of Boston, who made an elaborate inquiry into the subject, iillujg up the blanks in the procurable returns with approximate estimates, gave as his belief that, down to 1847, the numbers, reckoning from June to June, were— 1842. 151,660; 1843, 112,738; 1844, 111,910; 1845, 153,622; 1846, 220,576; and 1847, 300,000. Mr Chickermg believed that the whole increase of the States by immigration from 1790 to 1840 exceeded the population of the States at the fonner period. But Germany and France of course have borne their share in this supply — a share small in comparison with Britain, though in late years there has been a considerable amount of systematic migration from Germany. Of the arrivals of passengers in the States, lists are professed to be kept and published annually; but their completeness is very doubtful. The American Almanac for 1851 contains the lists for the year ending 30th September 1849. The general results are the following — Maine, 4775; New Hampshire, 142; Massachu- setts, 29.780; Rhode Island, 110; New York, 213,736 ; Pennsyl- vania, 15,511; Maryland, 8072; Virginia, 372; South Carolina, 1008 ; Georgia, 209 ; Alabama, 172 ; Florida, 75 ; Louisiana, 25,209 ; Texas, 439— Total, 299,610. Of these it was known that 179,253 were males, and 119,915 were females, the sex of the others not being recorded. It will be seen that the arrivals in the southern states are comparatively few. The considerable number who are mentioned as entering Louisiana doubtless land at New Orleans, for the purpose of proceeding by steam up the Mississippi. 129 AMERICA. LABOUR. In this country the trained artisan and the mere labourer "who exercises his unintelligent strength are known to be distinct classes. It is popularly supposed that in the United States they are all mixed up together in a general easy prosperity ; but this is a gi-eat mistake. The chief distinctions in the States are made by men's capacities for working and producing — the able, indus- trious, active, and ingenious man being well paid, while his inferior is ill paid, and has narrower chances of success. This is a primary principle which the members of the working-classes, when think- ing of emigration, must not forget. The prospects of the artisan or skilled worker will depend much on the question whether he intends to follow his tradei, or, having realised a small sum by economy at home, crosses the Atlantic to find a better investment for it. If he propose to follow the tide of emigration westward, and observe the opportunities that turn up, he may perhaps hit on some profitable occupation, in coimection with the villages increasing into towns, which accompany the perpetual progress of new settlements. A man who has a little money, and that free use of his hands which an artisan must possess, may, in such a case, go on prospering until he become an important authority in the new state. He may do the same if he have funds enough, along with patience and capa- city, to purchase and work an. allotment near the centre of some youthful state, just supplied with a temporary government, and likely to be represented in Congress. Such and infinitely varied are the opportunities of the artisan class when they go to the States with a saved capital, however small. If they go without it, unless they are able workmen, they must contemplate a descent into the mere labour class. There is generally sufiicient employ- ment for aU the members of this class in the States. None of them starve, and their wages are high. But they are not among the classes who go voluntarily abroad : they are helped over, and trust to those who have helped them away to smooth their path onwards. The times when there is an impulse to send them over are those of commercial depression and want of emplojTnent, and the suddenness of their transference finds the place they are sent to so unprepared to receive them, that it might sometimes be a question whether it would not be better to keep them at home, waiting for better times, than to shovel them out upon the shores of another country. In time, however, they become absorbed in the population, and get work. The artisan would not generally wish to be huddled into this class ; but if he go out with insuffi- 130 THE UNITED STATES. cient capacities to compete with American •workmen, it wU] be hi» necessary fate. The position of the skilled artisan is the important one in the transference of labour from Britain to the United States. It is a common belief, that if a man does not receive the wages of a supe- rior workman here, he had better go to America, where the people are less fastidious. He is dreadfully mistaken ; and it is a mistake which has been the ruin of many tolerable workmen, of sober, saving habits, who have laid by enough to carry them over to the States, and have there found that they were nearly useless, and that they must sink into a subsidiary grade or come back. The artisan who goes to America with the expectation of being employed in his own trade, should be a firstrate workman. If he be so, and if his trade be followed there, he is sure of employment and high wages. A good skilled artisan, however, is valuable here as well as in America ; and before he leave the old country, he will do well to consider whether his trade, if it be a failing one on this side of the Atlantic, may not be utterly useless on the other. It is unsatisfactory to take lists of wages, since they shift rapidly, and are different in the several towns. An intelli- gent artisan will generally have some brother of the trade who has gone before him, and can give him information. If he has not some such means of acquiring distinct knowledge of the remuneration of his profession before emigrating to the States, he had better stay at home, as he may find that his occupation is overdone, or that he is far excelled by the local workers, and wiU be obliged to descend to the rank of the unskilled labourer. The American cities have communication with all the world ; and the newest shapes of workmanship, whether they may be called fashions or improvements, reach them much more rapidly than they do the secondary English towns. A bootmaker goes out to America from an English market-town — he finds that the merchants and the neighbouring farmers have got the Parisian fashions which had not been heard of in his native town, and will wear nothing else. A clockmaker becomes discontented with his fate, and goes to the States, where he finds that the reason why he has been slack of work at home is because the American clocks undersell the British. The advice is repeated — that the workman should take no general statements, but only go to the United States on ascertaining from good authority that he is wanted — that he can get employment at a high remuneration. A high remuneration, speaking in a pecuniary sense, is necessary to the workman in the States. Unless he can make at least 40 per cent, more than he can in this country, he is not substantially better off. All natural productions are cheaper than they are at 131 AMERICA. home ; but as to everything that obtams its value from industry — • he must recollect that the inducement to his proceeding thither is the high remuneration of industry, and so he must be prepared to pay highly every one who works for him, in keeping house, in preparing his victuals, in making his clothes, and in keeping them clean. In fact, in the cities of the United States, all people who work are well paid, and therefore all who desire to participate in the general advantage must work hard and effectually themselves, and must be ready to afford a satisfactory proportion of what they so gain to those who minister in any shape to their wants. It would scarcely serve any useful purpose on this occasion to go over the various trades, and endeavour to describe those mof't wanted. There are general rules, however, that seem to apply in the States, thus : that first-class workers in all the departments connected with dress and the furnishing of houses — as tailors, finishing hatters, French polishers, cabinetmakers, carvers and gilders, looking-glass framers, and the like — are sure of work if they he firstrate hands ; but they may have persuaded themselves on this side of the Atlantic that they will be so on the other, and may find themselves wanting. When they are disappointed, they either find some inferior occupation in the States, from which, if they take heart and are prudent, they may rise to follow out some more lucrative calling — or they get disheartened, and either spend a miserable existence in some of the Atlantic cities, or, coming home, rail against democracy, and become turbulent and trouble- some. The rapidity with which they work and do everything else is a characteristic of the inhabitants of the States, The artisan must be prepared, if he be better off there, to put more work through his hand. The number of hours given to the employers has been long a matter of dispute there. In fact, hours of labour are so impor- tant in America that either party fights about tiiem as a very valu- able commodity. The employer wanting the hours increased— the workman wishing them decreased. For highly-skilled artisans, indefinite remimeration would be given if they could indefinitely prolong their hours of work. Unfortunately tlie employers, in the spirit of cupidity, sought to fix the remuneration while they pro- longed the hours, and a wretched conflict between the ' workies,' as they were called, and the capitalists was the consequence. Both parties had the same interests, and it would have been better for them to have found out a means of mutual aggrandise- ment than of mutual injury. The rapidity with which everything is done in the States Is a feature that it will be fatal in the artisan to overlook. If he can- not work fast he need not go there. An intelligent artisan, who 132 THE UNITED STATES. had been some years in the States, and published in 1840 ' The British Mechanics''and Labourers' Handbook,' speaks descriptively of the rapid and ' ridding ' way in which the American mechanic gets through his work. He acts, not like a man who wants em- ployment, but like one who wants to get tlu-ough with what he is at. The Englishman makes the best immigrant mechanic ; the Irishman the worst. In fact the Irish, who are almost all from the south, and sent across the Atlantic to be got rid of, are sub- jected to the humblest labours, or to the menial occupation of the domestic servant. The Irishman is now the Swiss of the States. The situation of the Scottish artisan is peculiar — he is not so rapid a workman as the Englishman, but liis knowledge beyond his merely handwork, and his adaptability to the habits of strangers, generally tempt him out of his ti;adc mto higher occupations. There is one essential question to be kept in view by the artisan before he proceeds to the States — Can he trust to liimself absolutely in the matter of sobriety? If he camiot, he is a gone man there. The temptations to excess are great and cejiseless, the finest spirits being procurable for less than half the price of the most wretched English gin. At the same time drunkards are not so calmly tolerated as they are at home. The tone and habits of the artisan order are against tbem ; and instead of being supported by their fellow-workmen, they are trampled under foot. The American is not always utterly abstemious, but lie is in general moderate ; and he despises tlie sot who cannot preserve his week's pay. He himself preserves it not only for tlie wants of the next week, but for the savings' bank. America is the home of the industrious, the enterprising, tlie temperate, the steady. Nowhere is intelli- gence or good conduct more highly prized. Idleness, pride of birth, and depravity, meet no countenance. In a word, no one need cross the Atlantic unless possessmg hands and a will to Avork, along with an earnest determination to achieve respecta- bility of cliaracter. ; biuotv u, 133 THE EMIGRANT'S MANUAL AUSTRALIA CONTENTS. Pagr General Accottstt of Australia — ^ Physical Greographj, - - . _ - i Political Constitution, _ . _ . g Arrangements for Disposal of Lands, - ' - - 12 Arrangements for Settlers, - - - - 13 Voyage to Australia, - . - - - - 15 Arrangements for Assisted Emigration, - - 16 Wages in the several Colonies, - - - - 18 Prices in the Colonies, - - - - 20 General Statistics of the Colonies, and their Progress, 22 Government Regulations for Emigration, - - 26 The Colony of New South Wales, - - - 32 Geographical Accoimt, ----- 32 Settled and Unsettled Districts, - - - 35 The Northern Districts, - - - - - 36 Sydney and the other Towns, - _ _ 42 District Councils, - . - - - - 44 History and Social State, - - - - 45 Settlement, - - - - - - 46 Public Works, - - - - - 51 Convict and Assignment System, and their Effect on the present state of the Colony, - - - - 52 Modification of the System, - - - - 60 Eush-Eangers, ------ 62 The various Classes of Settlers, and their Habits, - 62 Sale and Occupation of Land, - - - - 65 The Sufficient-Price System, . _ . qj The Squatting-System, - - - - - 69 Statistics of Land, . _ _ _ . 71 Productions of the Colony, - - - - 71 Productions of the Pasture and Old-Settled Districts, 72 . CONTENT!?, Page The Northern Districts and their Productions— Woods, Grain, Sugar, Coffee, Silk, Cotton, &c. Minerals, - - " " . ' Demand for Labour— Agricultural and Artisan, - Peculiar Character of the Labour demanded, and Induce- ments held out, - - - " Prospects in the Northern Districts, Female Emigrants, - - " " " Amount of Emigration, - - " " " Order in Council, with Regulations as to Squatting and Occupation of Waste Land, - - " Statistics of Manufactories, Statistics of Land in Cultivation, Productions, and Stock, 117 Mortgages on Land, - - ~ " " Exports, - - - ' . ' ' 102 103 104 105 116 120 Victoria, OR Port Philip, History, - - " " Speculative Mania, - - General Account of the District, Land Regulations, Productions and Capabilities for Settlers, Amoimt of Emigration, - - 121 121 - 122 126 - 134 134 - 139 ^ ^ .... 140 Exports, - - - Stock and Wool secured for Debt, - - - i*^ 142 South ArsTRALiA, - - " , ,.o Geography, Alluvial Soil, Water, Climate, and Temperature, 143 Adelaide and the Towns, - - " - lo2 Settlements, ---""" Bistory and Social State, - - " Effects of Land Speculation, - ' ' ' H, Religion and Education, - - - " Trade and Taxation, - - " " ' Produce, ---*"' Grain, --■""' Cattle and Sheep, - " " " Emit, ----"'■ Mineralogy, - - " " " History and Progress of the Mines, - - - Aach white man was a skinned black man in a state of meterapsjchosis. He further informed Mr Russel, that if a white man could persuade a native that he was one of his own relations in a new shape — that is, had been skinned in the flesh — he was sure of a good reception, and, at aU events, of being, like Ulysses, the last m.orscl to be eaten. There are such accounts, jocular or serious, of all sava^re tribes. But it may safely be held, that the person who penetrates into those parts of the country where the natives are powerful, has to incur other dangers so genuine and immediate, from privation and exhausting hardship, tliat his risks from any cannibal propensities are not worth considering. GENERAL ACCOXJNT OF AUSTRALIA. 9 considered among these general prefatory remarks. In 1850, after long-protracted discussion, an act of parliament was passed for the government of these colonies. The problem of a proper system of colonial legislation which shall preserve the supre- macy of the home government without prejudice to the interests of the dependency, or the individual independence of its inha- bitants, was one of more than usual difficulty in the case of the Australian colonies, from their distance from the mother country. After a protracted discussion, to the particulars of which there is no occasion here to aUude, and the collection of a vast quan- tity of documents laid before parliament, which are a very alarming object for an investigator to grapple with, the act of 1850 was passed for the general government of the Australian colonies,* The chief objects of dispute were — the proper limits of local colonial legislation, and the question whether there should be in each colony a single legislative chamber, or two houses, like om- Lords and Commons. The alternative adopted was to preserve the established plan of single legislative councils, but to give the colonies power to change the system, and adopt a double legislative body. The act partitioned off from New South Wales the district of Port PhUip, converting it into the separate colony of Victoria. The several colonies for which it provided a constitution were therefore New South Wales, Victoria, Van Diemen's Land or Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia. It was pro- vided at the same time that the crown might erect the territories north of the 30th degree of south latitude into a separate colony ou the petition of the inhabitants. A material feature of the act, making provision for an alteration in the constitution of any of the colonies, and the substitution of a council and house of representatives, has hereafter to be noticed. The basis of the constitution provided by this act for aU the colonies was, that the elective franchise should be in every male having a/reehold estate in possession within his district of the clear value of £100 free of encumbrances, or occupying a dwelling-house worth £10 a-year, or holdmg a pasture license from the governor of New South Wales, or having a leasehold estate of the value of £10 annually, with not less than three years to nm. There is provision for six months' residence in the first and second kind of qualification, and in all the usual exceptional provisions against persons convicted of crimes, or who have not paid taxes, enjo}'ing the franchise. The admission of persons holding pasture licenses is peculiarly important as embracing the squatters. * 13 and U Vict. c. 59. 10 AUSTRALIA.. The governor and council of New South Wales were required, in connection with the separation of the colony of Victoria, to fix the respective numbers of the two councils, and to divide the territories into electoral districts. The legislatures of Van Diemen's Land and South Australia were empowered to create legislative councils, the number not to exceed twenty-four, and to lay out electoral districts. In Western Australia, the existing government was empowered to create a like constitution on the petition of a third of the inhabitants. The constitution of the councils is, that a third is nominated by the crown — the other two-thirds are electoral. An act having been passed in 1842, appointing a constitution for New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land,* its main operative provisions were by the general act extended to all the colonies. Among these is the qualification of the elected members — a free- hold state of the yearly value of £100, or worth £2000. The nominated members were to be named either as individuals or as holders of any office, and the nomination might either be direct by the home government, or provisionally by the governor with authority of the home government. Their seats were to be held for five years. The meetings of council are fixed by the governor, but must be once a year. The duration of each council is five years. A speaker is elected, subject to the disallowance of the governor, and the council may make standing orders for the trans- action of business, subject to confirmation or disallowance by the governor. The governor may make proposals of laws to be passed ])y the council, and offer amendments on biUs before them. On the passing of a bill, the governor is to refuse or adhibit the royal assent, or to reserve the question of assent for the home government. There are certain cases in which this must always be done — as where the bill alters the division and extent of dis- tricts and towns, and the local allocation of members of councils, or alters the customs' duties. Within two years Her Majesty may disallow any royal assent adhibited by the governor. Such were the general regulations originaUy in the New South Wales Act, but extended by the act of 1850 to the other colonies. By this latter act, the governors and coimcils are authorised to make laws * for the peace, welfare, and good government ' of the colonies, and to appropriate the revenue from taxes and rates. There is to be no appropriation of revenue for any purpose, however, unless in pursuance of a special recommendation by the governor ; and no money is to be issued by the treasurer unless on warrants from the governor. The most important restriction, however, is, that * 5 and 6 Vict. c. 76. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 11 the colonial legislatures are not to ' interfere in any manner with the sale or other appropriation of the lands belonging to the crown within any of the said colonies, or with the revenue thence arising.' By a special clause of the act, the salaries of certain depart- ments — including the government offices and the administration of justice — are made permanent charges on the revenues of the colonies according to a schedule attached to the act. A limited power of altering these schedules is given to the legislative councils and governors. By a very important provision of the act, each legislature is empowered (Ist), to alter the above provisions as to elections and the qualifications of electors and elected members ; or (2d), to alter the constitution entirely, so that the legislature shall consist of two chambers — a council, and house of representatives. Every bill making either of these constitutional changes must be reserved for the royal pleasure, and must have been before both Houses of parliament for thirty days before this can be signified. It is now part of the constitution of the Australian colonies that district councils may be established under certain conditions and with certain statutory powers. They were authorised by the act of 1842,* which applied solely to New South Wales, but by the act of 1850 the system was modified and extended to the other colonies. The history of the working of the system in New South Wales will fall under the department of the work applicable to that colony. The authority of measuring out the district, and establishing the council, is in the governor, who exercises it by conferring a charter of incorporation. The statutory conditions attached to the system are these r — The councils, after the first nomination, were appointed to be elective according to districts. The number of councillors must bear a ratio to the population, but is never to exceed twenty-one, and not to be more than fifteen imless the population have reached 20,000. The tenure of office is three years. Each council must be presided over by a warden, ap- pointed and removable by the governor. A district surveyor to superintend roads and other works is appointable and removable by the district council, subject to the approval of the governor ; and the annual accounts of the district are appointed to be published. By the act of 1850 it was provided that where districts were so incorporated, but no election had taken place before the pro- clamation of the act, the incorporation should be void. On the * 5 and 6 Vict. c. 76. 12 AUSTRALIA. petition of the district council itself, or, when there is none exist- ing, on that of the householders, .the governor may cancel the charter. The powers of the district councils extend generally to the making and supporting of roads, streets, bridges, public buildings, and all sorts of public works ; the purchase and tenure of public property; and providing the means for the local administra- tion of justice. They are empowered to provide for the estab- lishment and support of schools. They have powers of local taxation for these purposes, to be levied either as tolls or duties, or in the form of assessment on income or property. They may levy penalties to enforce the by-laws made for these objects; l)ut they are not authorised to imprison or to exact a fine above £10. The by-laws are subject to disallowance by the governor. The persons who are qualified to elect and be elected are gene- rally the voters for the general council ; but the governor has authority to modify the qualifications. Disposal of Lands. — The method of disposing of the unappro- priated lands of the Australian colonies was adjusted by act of parliament in 1842.* The adjustment forms a sort of landing- place in a great dispute about the proper system of disposing of colonial lands, some account of which it will be necessary to give in connection with the colony of New South Wales. By the 8 and 9 Vict., c. 95, Tasmania or Van Diemen's Land was removed from the operation of these clauses. They authorised a division of the surface of the soil into three difierent classes of lands. The first was into town lots — comprising all lands within the limits of any existing town specially named and described by the governor, or within any locality specified by the governor as the site of an intended town. The second class were to be called suburban lots ; and were to comprise the land within five miles of the nearest point of the town lands, unless in any instances where tlie gover- nor might think fit especially to exclude land from this class, on the ground that it will not derive any increased value from being near the town. The third class were to be called country lots, and were to comprise all the land not included within the other two. Before being sold, the lands were appointed to be surveyed, and to be delineated in the public charts of the colony in the lots in wliich they are to be ofiered for sale, each containing an area of a superficial mile. The public sales were appomted to be held quarterly, or at any other times which the governor might think fit. The times and places of sale were to be announced by pro- * 5 and 6 Vict. c. 35, called 'An Act for regulating the Sale of Waste Lands belonging to the Crown in the Australian Colonies.' GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 13 clamation three months beforehand, describing the lands, and mentioning the upset prices. • The lowest upset price was fixed at £1 per acre. The governor was authorised to raise, but not to lower the upset price ; and the Queen hi council might either raise the amount or reduce any raising by the governor, but so as not to bring the price below the minimum of £1. An indefinite power was given to the governor to raise the upset price of town and suburban lots, even when sold with other lots. In the sale of country lots the governor was authorised in relation to a tenth part of any lot, to fix a higher upset price, and designate it a ' special country lot.' No town suburban lots could be sold otherwise than by auction ; but it was made competent to dispose of country lots if not bought at the auction by private bargain, but not under the upset price. In these sales by private bargain the price must be paid down ; in sales by auction there must be a deposit not less than 10 per cent, forfeited if the full price be not paid within a month. There was a pro\ision for special surveys of blocks of 20,000 acres in parallelograms. Such a survey might be obtained on payment of the lowest upset price — that is, in the general case, on payment of £20,000. The survey to which such a purchaser is entitled only embraces the external boundary. To facilitate purchases in this country, it was provided that a certificate of pa}Tnent by the emigration i commissioners might be employed as so much cash in the purchase of lands in the colonies. The produce of the land sales was appointed to go to the public revenue, one half bemg employed for emigration purposes. Power was given to the governor by proclamation to divide a colony into four parts for the purpose of the land sales. It was speciaJly provided that the act should not interfere with the granting of licences for one year for pasture and felling timber. Settlers. — ^In treatmg of each colony, the most important object to be kept in view in this work will be of course the opportu- nities of all kinds which the emigrant from this country there enjoys of becoming a successful settler. In particular, the chances in his favour on his immediate arrival wiU have to be considered. But this is the right place for noticing a system generally estab- lished throughout the Australian colonies for protecting the emigrants, or at least those who have no capital but theur labour on their arrival. It is well known that the founder of this benevolent system was a courageous and kind-hearted woman, Mrs Chisholm — ^whose excellent and expressive evidence before the House of Lords' Committee of 1847 on emigration, caused the creation on a public basis of a system which she had kept at work with great 14 AUSTRALIA. ' effect, so far as private funds and individual exertion could go. Since that time, arrangements have been made under the super- intendence of Mr Merewether, the emigration agent at Sydney, and have been adopted in the other colonies, for the protection of newly-arrived working emigrants from attempts to mislead them, and defraud them of their chief property, their labour ; for giving them information as to the places and other circumstances in which the work they are suited for is required ; the remuneration it should bring, and even the eligibility of proposing employers.* It has unfortunately been observed that, rendered suspicious by what they have heard of former practices, the working emigrants have shown a disposition to distrust the information so received, and to demand higher terms than they are recommended to be content with — ^thus often overreaching themselves, and missing the more eligible employers ; but this is a defect likely in the end to right itself. A stUl more important branch of the system is the extension of care, regulation, and protection to unmarried females arriving without parents or natural guardians, until they are taken into respectable service, or otherwise placed in a posi- tion of safety. In New South Wales, and, to a certain extent, in the other colonies, there are at the same time committees, of which leading clergy of the various denominations are members, so that the emigrants on arriving may have the advice of clergy of their own faith, and may partake in the offices of religion. A very valuable practice has for some time prevailed of pro- curing from the emigration agents in the Australian colonies quarterly returns of the prices of the necessaries and comforts of life, and the wages of the different kinds of labour in the respec- tive colonies. From the latest of these which are available while this goes to press, the emigration commissioners have compiled certain tables, the value of which induces us to give them in an entire state at the conclusion of the chapter. There is considerable uniformity from time to time in these quarterly returns in the department of provisions. In drapery there is more variety, owing probably to the greater effect of rapid changes of population on the supply. The intention of the compiler of the present work is rather to extract from statistical materials such matters as may immediately influence the intending emigrant or affect his fortunes, than to offer full statistical information regarding all the places which have to be mentioned. It is therefore deemed unnecessary to , fill the work with great statistical tables taken from parliamentary * See a full account of the system in Commons' papers, • Emigration to Aus- tralia,' 1850, p. 61. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 15 documents. There is, however, one paper so comprehensive, and so completely supplying a view comparative both as to places and to times of the material progress of the colonies, that it is considered expedient to present it entire in the Appendix to this chapter, with the exception merely of some portions which were of importance only to the official persons to whom the tables were addressed. The matters of which it contains the mere outlines will generally be found more fully considered in connection with each colony successively. Transit. — The cost of conveyance thither must often be a mate- rial element in the grounds of the selection of a place of settle- ment. According to the last circular of the emigration com- missioners, the fares or freights to the several colonies of Australia were as follows : — Intermediate. Cabin. Including Steerage. With Provi- Provisions. With Provisions. sions. £ £ £ £ £ £ j London, ( 45* to 60 1 \ 65 ... 80 \ 47, 5s. to 50 21 to 35 15 to 20 Sydney, - - LiTcrpool, - 18, 18s. to 20 15 ... 16 Ports in the ayde. 55 to 60 30 to 35 15 ... 20 .Cork, - Same as in London. London, J 45* to 60 » 165 ... 80/ 47, 5s. to 50 21 to 35 15 ... 20 Port Philip, - - Liverpool, 18, 188. to 20 15 ... 16 Ports in the Qyde, 55 to 60 30 to 35 15 ... 20 .Cork, - - ' Same as in London. ["London, 65 to 90 35 to 40 20 VanDiemen's Land, J Liverpool, 1 Ports in the Clyde, 50 20 50 ... 55 30 ... 35 16 15 ... 20 Icork, - Same as in London. "Western Australia, f London, \ Cork, - 60 to 90 1 30 to 40 Same as in London. 18 ... 20 I London, 45 to 60 1 21 to 35 15 ... 20 South Australia, \ Liverpool, 47, 5s. to 50 1 18, 18s. to 20 15 ... 16 ( Cork, Same as in I^ondon. 1 It is usual to classify children by the division in the passengers* act : to charge nothing for those under one year, and half price for those under fourteen. That the conditions on which the steerage passengers even are carried out infer something a little above what is absolutely necessary for purposes of health and decency, may be inferred from the lolver average price in the following * Eetum of the Average Cost of Passage of Emigrants from England to South Australia, in Ships chartered by Her Majesty's Colonial * This mark intimates that the provisions are to be according to the usual victualling of the ship. 16 AUSTRALIA. Land and Emigration Commissioners, from the 1st of January 1846 to the present time. Total number of statute adults embarked in fifteen ships, ) including estimated numbere for two ships shortly about > 3,021 to sail, .---.-) Computed freight. £37,401 £12 7 7\ Average cost of passage, per statute adult. In the same document there is the following statement, which may serve to give an impression of the length of time occupied in the voyage : — Return of the Number of Days occupied on the Passage from England by Vessels bringing Commissioners' Emigrants, which have arrived at Port Adelaide between the 1st January and the 29th October 1847, inclusive. Date of Number of Name of Vesael. Days on the Sailing. I Arrival. Passage. 1846. 1 1847. David Malcolm, 13 Oct. i 23 Jan. 102 Princess Royal, - 15 Nov. 16 Mar. 121 Phoebe, - - - - 22 Dec. 1847 27 Mar. 95 Theresa, 19 Jan. 3 May 104 Belle Alliance, 4 April 2 July 89 Trafalgar, - 18 Mar. 106 British Sovereign, - 13 April 17 July 91 Cressy, 18 May 19 Aug. 92 Aboukir, . . . 31 May 4 Sept. 96 Mariner, 10 June 25 Sept. 92 Rajah, . - - - 28 May 24 Sept. 119 Lady M'Naghton, 1 July 12 Oct. 104 Duchess of Northumberland, 20 July 29 Oct. 101 i 1 Avera 1312 ge* - -' - 101 Assisted Emigration. — ^It is well known that for some years past aid has been given by the government in facilitating the emigra- tion of certain classes of the community. It would be out of place on the present occasion to examine critically the policy of such a principle, or of the method in which it has been in force. In the meantime it is only necessary to explain the terms on which the government interposes, and this can be best accom- plished by presenting in the Appendix to this chapter the docu- ments issued by the emigration commissioners. Besides the self - exporting emigrants, and those who are re- GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 17 moved entirely, or almost entirely, at the expense of the nation or the colony, it was natural that a class intermediate should be thought of, consisting of persons able to pay a considerable portion of the expense of removing themselves, whom it yet might be ju- dicious to assist from public fimds. On this subject Earl Grey, in a despatch to Governor Fitzroy of 16th June 1849, says : — 'I have always been extremely favourable to the principle of demanding some contribution from those who are assisted to emigrate. The benefits held out by the Australian colonies having of late years become so much better known, and more competition having been excited to gain that advantage, it has appeared to me reasonable to hope that some payment could now be collected from those who are enabled to reach that destination. I am favourable to demanding contributions, not merely because they would increase the efficiency of the colonial resources available to the same purpose, although this is an object which I by no means under- value, but also because their amount appears to me to afford a good and natural regulator of the extent of the applications preferred to the commissioners, and to determine in the fairest manner what persons shall be admitted to a benefit which there are not the means of granting to all by whom it would be desired. For these reasons I entirely approved of an attempt made by the commissioners in the middle of last year to increase the payment of £1 per head, which they had been accustomed to demand from all emigrants. But they had not long adopted this measure before they received such urgent representations from then- most ex- perienced agents of the difficulty of getting eligible emigrants upon these terms, that they were induced to believe it necessary to relinquish the demand. Having recently, however, heard that they were much burthened with the great number of applications which they have received beyond the number that they are able to satisfy, I have given them instructions to increase the sum, which must be contributed by each intending emigrant, and they have accordingly raised that demand considerably, as I shall presently explain in detail. It appears to me that by judiciously raising or lowering this required contribution, according to the extent of the demand on the commissioners for assistance to emigrate, they might regulate impartially, and without du-ect interference, the number of applications which would reach them, and might elicit for the colonies the greatest amount of advan- tage which the existing state of circumstances in this country v.'ould allow.'* Further on will be seen some notices of expe- rience in the colony of New South Wales, which suggest a doubt as to the extent to which this system should be carried. In the meantime the conditions applicable to this class of emi- grants will be found in the schedule in the Appendix. * Papers relative to Emigration— Commons' Papers, 1849. B 18 AUSTRALIA. 1 It »=■« to5;sooo«=o :» : : : :«<» : : :co«!so : ! 53 3 -< P4 IS O OO ::::::: :2 : :o ::: i^ = :::: : = 3e> f- i titttttt :ii :SS :S : .iUtt § ^5^"" c s-g o •=*'-)*' oT! O 60 ^ o J*^ o cS -< a; c) 'i-S £ 5 S "5: ^'43 p" — 5 e -^3 ^ S ai P o •-1 = 1 AUSTRALIA. "m <^ ff. : « i-^ 2-x 3 .• s • ^.^ .OCO S r .s ^o Si-> S22 s . $ <555i-S 4M^ Ui^A%A Ult . « ir. • o . « O X C ?4 ■»& CMC* .cc c^ ^ .aOi-« _ 2 2g=22 S22*:S iJ The price of clothing', &-c. is nearly the same as in New South 2« ::!!; :!:::. S. . sS. . . . S. . rt d , . 05 , . : : : 2 ** tJ : : ^*^ : : O CO ■* "H ;s^ 1 .')«. each. 10ft. per pair 9s. ditto. 8d. ditto. ftd. each, ditto, ditto, per yard, each, ditto. Gd. ditto. Gd. ditto, ditto. 6d. per pt 6d. ditto, each. 1. ditto. lOid. per 5\^4SS5555««4;iS5 C Cr - o o •-5 §a;3; .•3 . . fci .^ o .cs cr C.C3^ "T -3 -3 "3 "S o "3 « l-HOO 05 .S5 X . ! X X 00 « 9: I— X • O rH .-H «« 52 f-l i-< !^ • »- • ' • ' x~ • .= •„-' ' i.- 'I .X- • • .5 '1-7 1 • ..-■^z- ?::-■> ^ p-^ «= X t: , x; w :- x o < X y. r. ^ . GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 21 -. 22 S S ■So 2 ^ O 5 .55 55 cw- *"^ . S a 2 2 •3 n n n CD'S to CO rH 1-1 rt i-t -< eo : ^ d = a-: :^ 2 S -" 5-" 1< f ^ e* 1-1 »o «■*• o c» 2 : t^ d- ^ ** 2 2 2 -2 • • : 1-1 eotss^eo -n as m O'S-w CS C^ •<}< r-l 1-H CS •^ O • 222 .S-2 .:§ .2 2 " ;^^c5 .= i.5'S 6c^o.-t:c5:5'r-ir''r'"55.^d2'^"'S^ tc— > 5 d ^ d eo OD »:• xi ^:r: "3 tJ « t; CO 1 ii-(c««r5eoo-m»'«f -3 o2 2 . . 2 2 2 .S'-* •^ r-~2 tJ atas-j- & I X 3D C<|— i-3J? S-«i!i;-d rr' a-'J? S >0»-«'MOt-ir^-; P3 ■< » '^a PI O £ H 2s ^ H O O ^ tf ?: P5 fe 2 r/j 1^ 5 •^ >^ s « < H » t^ .a Eh ;?; ^ B 2 « g H o ^ <; fe s«: [X4 O Iz; o f^ O 03 a o H « E-t Q §§ T 6 12; ^ ^ §^ 1 1 1 1 1 •aan^ipnadxa BSOJO '"gll g ^1 I'll i i 1 i III ^IP. Iiip.il 1 1 III £ *76,588 325.481 475,018 618,515 408,863 410,032 373,218 .^50,782 410,110 447,962 "'- i 3g| ^"1 siiiieilii ""sgs s !?ssaa| !- t|. ^ililiip.P. i. o S ' H 1 1 ""ssS i SSi:||| 1 i i IbB. 7,213,584 8,610,776 8,890,540 9,428,036 12,704,899 13,842,173 17,864,7.34 16.479,520 22,.T79,722 22,969,711 1 1 ! 1 1 s 5 ii 1 n li £ 2,2.'36..37l 3,014.189 2,527,988 1,455,059 1,550,544 931,260 1,233,854 1,6.30,622 1,982,023 1,55<;,550 1 2 00 •c too^i Sranni flit Stills i ll g 3 2 1? g SkV|| 1 1 i : * 1 r- r- ^-^ i-i r^ l-H rl 0» : 1 liiYililsi 1 H GENERAL ACCOUNT OP AUSTRALIA. 23 iliili 1839 1840 1841 1042 >< E S3* ^gJ2]§jg|^ ? 1 1=1 Ifl 1 M CI J^ »o - : : •■pi in i 3 5 5 f 1 'iiliii 1 1! 1 ib II ^ S a lis s 1 ii 1 tb i 1 11*311 1 1 IH 2 a 9 4 1 2 t s S 1 to S'^ -^ i til 1 1 p. l-s fl i'ii'ill SiiiSS ? f 5 1 1 1 i ?b 5= r E |- 1 3 i mi K 1 :i C5~b K> o *- >- fb s p g 1 -^ 11 II Hi fc i 1 1 X> C -O - W M fe 1 s 24 AUSTRALIA. 2 5 1 s 1 'aon^ipuadxa «A |i,||||||| ~l ' Gross Gross Ordinary Local Revenue. Revenue. «.» 11,141 16,827 17.032 17,791 14,352 14,79(5 16,327 16,139 18,188 51 «*? 10,467 13,837 16,150 17,217 14,230 14,.572 14,943 15,887 17,725 1 i 1 «« 674 2,990 1841. 882 674 122 224 384 252 463 1 4 «« Bay 440 say 682 -0 return for say 115 say 19 say 27 say 114 say 259 i P > J 1 36,450 50,000 84,640 122,495 140,155 145,254 £91,368 229,247 301,965 1 1 9 c c No return : say 10,805 No return No return No return 9,652 No return 6,454 6,195 13,957 1 s §1 sKl^aSII 3 u ■sS i! <« 6,448 No return jturn for thia No retvirn 7,089 13,3t)4 13,354 20,223 24,535 29,598 k r It c > •uo^Bindoa: • 1 Q O -• Ol « ■* L^ -- t^ 05 1 sssssssss 1 .H GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 25 cccoeocococoeoo '■—OS C5'03-5 O 00 *. ■«»■ I?- I'^M S: V! " ra S ! '■«». 0''H- ' «5 Ot to ec t>o © w & cs cn ^ 2 ^g _:jf32§gg2g 00 "so Vi 'to Vo w lo o 00 i«? ;o50Cioa!>-co i I igliiisll o o ^ tn W C»5 tC to I 5; S- It Is "w lo'" " 5J- 53 -^ ;o X> to to • p rt ti to O -M W < r C; KJ ^J O 03 05 CJ I ^ 05 -fc^I C« C: *- 1^ 5C C5 00 W^'^l 2 "^ M^??- rr-S O o o o: gi§, ^3 O 2^1 cc'ct ".u *co "— Ci o "b "-; c*» tr !*,i K*^ ?!-( ft. .Ik. r^-1 cs en £"" n wS "■-' ^tOlOC5^JJ S.o-"-^c.?? OsOOOSOC^Ol — ^ &t0^005H-lOUT ClOCTH-tOlOtOjO ^ «^^j=^>-__>- C5 S ^5, 'tc "a: '^ *to --J -~J to -~l C0CCW"^tOM>-'C5 o — 3; — -Twsoo § § '1o w"tO^ CO ^ *■ W O. ^ CO O 05 to r? Expenditure. 26 AUSTRALIA. NO. 5. — RECAPITULATION. Total of the Australian Group, showing the Progress made in the course of the Ten Years included in the preceding Returns. 1839, 1848, - Increase, Decrease, Pc^nlatioD. Imporu. Exports. Shipping Inward*. Shipping Outwards. 170,676 333,764 3,376,673 2,578,442 1,845.428 2,854,315 Tons. 267,353 353,321 Tons. 267,133 341,583 163,088 7»',«31 1,008.887 85,968 74,450 IV.— ASSISTED EMIGRATION. 1. REGULATIONS TO BE OBSERVED IK THE SELECTION OF LABOURERS FOR A PASSAGE TO THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES ; AND ALSO THE CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE PASSAGE, WHEN GRANTED, MUST BE UNTDERSTOOD TO BE ACCEPTED. Description of Emigrants. October, 1850. 1. The emigrants must consist principally of married couples, not above forty years of age. The candidates most acceptable are young married couples without children. All the adults must be capable of labour, and must be going out to work for wages ; and if the emigrants quit the colony within four years after landing, they must repay to the colonial government a proportionate part of their passage-money, at the rate of £3 per adult, for each year wanting to complete four years' residence. 2. The separation of husbands and wives, and of parents from children under eighteen will in no case be allowed. 3. Single women cannot be taken without their parents, unless they go under the immediate care of some near relatives. 4. Single men cannot be taken except in a number not exceeding that of the single women by the same ship. 5. No emigrants, whether adults or children, can be accepted unless they have been vaccinated, or have had the small-pox. 6. Persons intending to buy land, or to invest capital in trade in the colony — and persons in the habitual receipt of parish relief, cannot be taken. 7. No applicant will be accepted without decisive certificates of good character, and of efficiency in his professed trade or calling. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 27 Application and Approval. 8. Applications must be made in the form annexed,* which must be duly filled up and attested, as explained in the form itself, and then forwarded to this office, with certificates of birth and marriage of the applicants. It must, however, be distinctly understood, that the filling up of the form confers no claim to a passage ; and that the commissioners do not pledge themselves to accept any candi- dates, though apparently within the regulations, unless they are deemed desirable for the colony, and can be accepted consistently with the Board's arrangements, at the time the application is under consideration. 9. If approved of, the emigrants will receive a passage as soon as the arrangements of the commissioners will admit. But no prepara- tion must on any account be made by the applicants, either by with- drawing from employment or otherwise, until the decision of the Board has been communicated to them. Those who fail to attend to this warning will do so at their own risk, and will have no claim whatever on the commissioners. 10. After the applicants have received their * Approval Circulars,' and made the payments required by Article 12, they will, as soon as practicable, receive notice of the ship in which they are to embark, and of the time and place of joining her. The selecting agents of the Board have no authority to promise passages in any case. 11. Should it be found that any of the signatures attached to the certificates are not genuine, or that any other deception is attempted, the application will be rejected ; or should any emigrant, on per- sonal examination at the port of embarkation, in dep6t, or on board, be discovered to have made any mis-statement whatever with regard to age, trade, or calling, health, &c. such person will not be allowed to proceed in the ship. To prevent disappointment, there- fore, applicants should be very careful to have their trade or calling and ages correctly stated in their application form.f Payments towards Passages. 12. Before an embarkation order is issued, the following payments will be required : — * It is considered unnecessary to print the form. It is presumed that a copy of it may be obtained by application at the Emigration OflBce. t NoTB.— A penalty not exceeding £50 is, by the ' passengers' act, 1849 ' (12 and 13 Vict. cap. 33), imposed on any person making a false representation, or forging or fraudulently altering any signature in these forms, or in the certificates of baptism, marriage, or otherwise, in support of the application. 28 AUSTRALIA. Classes. Scale of Payments. Age. Under Forty. Forty, and under Fifty. Fifty, and Upwards. I. Married agricultural labourers, ^ shepherds, herdsmen, and their families ; also female r £2 £6 domestic and farm servants — per head, . - J II. Married coimtry mechanics,' such as blacksmiths, brick- layers, carpenters, masons, sawyers, wheelwrights, and [ £5 £8 gardeners, and their families ; also females of the working- class, not being domestic or farm servants — per head, - J III. Single men of eighteen years and upwards, of any of the callings specified above, £1 additional. £15 £15 If any family contains, at the time of embarkation, more than two children under fourteen years of age, for each such child £5 additional must be paid. 13. Out of the above payments, the bedding and mess utensils, referred to in Article 17, for the use of the emigrants during the voyage, will be provided by the commissioners. 14. The mode of making these payments to the commissioners will be pointed out in the * Approval Circular.' The commissioners' selecting agents are not employed by the commissioners to receive money. If, therefore, applicants should desire to make their pay- ments through the agents, instead of in the manner pointed out in the ' Approval Circular,' they must understand that they do so at tlieir own risk, and that the commissioners will be in no way responsible. Subsequent Proceedings. 15. The expense of reaching the port of embarkation must be paid by the emigrants. If after arrival they, or any of their family, are found not to be in a fit state of health to embark, or to have any mental or bodily defect likely to impair their usefulness as labourers, or to have left any of their young children behind, or to have brought with them more children than are mentioned in their application form, or expressly sanctioned by the commissionei's, they will be refused admission on board the ship, or if embarked, will be landed again, without having any claim on the commissioners. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 29 16. If any emigrants fail to attend at the appointed time and place for embarkation, or to proceed in the ship, or are rejected for any of the reasons specified in the preceding article, they will forfeit ont of any money that may have been paid, the sum of £2 for each person, unless they give to the commissioners timely notice, and a satisfactory explanation of their inability to proceed. Emigrants thus making default wiU not be eligible a second time for a passage. 17. Provisions, medical attendance, and cooking utensils at the commissioners' depOt and on board the ship, will be provided by the commissioners ; also ncAv mattresses, bolsters, blankets, and counter- panes, canvas bags to contain linen, &c. knives and forks, spoons, metal plates and drinking mugs; which articles will be given to the emigrants after arrival in the colony, provided they behave well on the voyage. 18. The emigrants must bring their own clothing, which will be inspected at the port by an officer of the commissioners ; and all parties are particularly desired to observe, that they will not be allowed to embark unless they provide themselves wath a sufficient supply for the voyage. The lowest quantity that can be admitted for each person is as follows : — For males : six shirts, six pairs stockings, two pairs shoes, two complete suits of exterior clothing. 'For females: six shifts, tAvo flannel petticoats, six pairs stockings, two pairs shoes, two gowns. They must also bring their own sheets and towels, and a supply of marine soap. As a general male, it may be stated, that the more abundant the stock of clothing, the better for health and comfort during the passage. The usual length of the voyage to Australia is about four months ; and at whatever season of the year it may be made, the emigrants have to pass through very hot and very cold weather, and should therefore be prepared for both. 19. It is desirable that emigrants should take out with them the necessary tools of their trades : bulky agricultural implements, however, cannot be admitted, on account of their inconvenient size and weight ; neither can furniture be received on board. Mattresses and feather-beds are especially prohibited. 20. The whole quantity of baggage for each adult emigrant must not measure more than twenty cubic or solid feet, nor exceed half a ton in weight. It must be closely packed in one or more boxes, but no box must exceed in size ten cubic feet. Large packages and extra baggage will not be taken unless paid for, and then only in case there be room in the ship. 21. Each family will be allowed to take only its own luggage. Any violation of this rule will subject the party to a forfeiture of his passage. 22. On arrival in the colony, the emigrants Avill be at perfect liberty to engage themselves to any one willing to employ them, and to make their own bargain for wages. 23. All applications should be addressed, post-paid, to S. Waicott, Esq., No 9 Park Street, Westminster. By order of the Board, Stephen "Walcott, Secretai-y. 30 AUSTRALIA. 2. KEGCIATIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE SELECTION OF LAEOTTREKS FOE AN ASSISTED PASSAGE TO NEW SOUTH WALES (INCLUDING BOTH THE SYDNEY AND PORT PHILIP DISTRICTS) AND SOUTH AUSTRALIA ; AND ALSO THE CONT)ITIONS ON WHICH THE PASSAGE, WHEN GRANTED, MUST BE UNDERSTOOD TO BE ACCEPTED. Qaalifications. August, 1848. 1. The emigrants must be healthy and able-bodied, capable of field labour, and of the labouring-class, and must be going out to work for wages in the colony. 2. Decisive certificates will be required as to moral character. Terms. 3. The following payments, in addition to the deposits mentioned in Article 4, will be required from persons receiving assistance to emigrate under the present rules : — From adults — that is, from persons above fourteen years of age — From 14 to 40 years of age, - . . £5 40to50 .... 7 50 to 60 - - - ' 9 60 and upwards, - - - - 14 From children — that is, from persons under fourteen years of age — The children of persons assisted to emigi-ate on the above terms will be conveyed free, unless the family contains more than two children imder seven years of age, or than three under fourteen ; £7 will be required for each child in excess of these numbers. 4. In addition to the sum payable under the preceding Article, a deposit of £1 must be paid for every person above fourteen, and lOs. for every child above one and under fourteen, which will be retained to meet the expense of bedding and mess utensils supplied by the commissioners, and as some security that the people will come for- ward to embark. 5. If any emigrants fail to attend at the appointed time and place for embarkation, they will never again be allowed a passage, and will forfeit their deposit, unless they give to the commissioners timely notice and a satisfactory reason of their inability to pro- ceed. Form of Application. 6. All applications must be made in the form annexed,* which * Of which, it is presumed, a copy will be obtained on application to the commis- sioners. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF AUSTRALIA. 31 must be duly filled up and attested, as explained in the form itself, and chen transmitted to this office, with baptismal and marriage certificates. 7. Should it be found that the signatures attached to the certi- ficates are not genuine, or that any other deception is attempted, the application will be rejected; or should any emigrant, on personal examination at the port of embarkation, be discovered to have made any mis-statement whatever with regard to age, calling, &c. or not to correspond with the certificate of the surgeon as to health and physical ability, such person will not be allowed to proceed in. the ship. Subsequent Proceedings. 8. The commissioners do not pledge themselves to accept appli- cants whom they may consider as ineligible emigrants, or to accept a greater number than can be dispatched with advantage to the colony. If approved, the emigrants will be so informed, and will receive a passage as soon as the arrangements of the commis- sioners will admit. 9. Until called on to pay the deposit mentioned in Article 4, appli- cants must on no account withdraw from employment, or make any preparation for departure. Those who fail to attend to this warning will do so at their own risk, and will have no claim whatever on the commissioners. Due notice will be given to accepted candidates of the ship in which they are to proceed, and of the time and place for joining her. 10. Provisions, medical attendance, and cooking utensils will be provided by the commissioners; also new mattresses, bolsters, blankets, and counterpanes, canvas bags to contain linen, &c. knives and forks, spoons, metal plates, and drinking mugs; which articles may be kept by the emigrants after arrival in the colony, provided they behave well on the voyage. 11. The expense of reachmg the port of embarkation must be paid by the emigrants. 12. The emigrants must bring their own clothing, which will be inspected at the port by an officer of the commissioners ; and all parties are particularly desired to observe that they will not be allowed to embark unless they provide themselves with a sufficient supply for their health during the voyage. The lowest quantity that can be admitted for each person is as follows : — For males : six shirts, six pairs stockings, two pairs shoes, two complete suits of exterior clothing. For females : six shifts, two flannel petticoats, six pairs stockings, two pairs shoes, two gowns. They must also bring their own sheets and towels, and a supply of soap. As a general rule, it may be stated, that the more abundant the stock of clothing the better for health and comfort during the passage. The usual length of the voyage to the Australian colonies is about four months ; and at whatever season of the year it may be 32 AUSTRALIA. made, the emigrants have to pass through very hot and very cold weather, and should therefore be prepared for both. 13. It is desirable that emigrants should take out with them the necessary tools of their trades if they have them : bulky agricultural implements, however, cannot be admitted, on account of their incon- venient size and weight ; neither can furniture be received on board: mattresses especially, and feather-beds, are strictly pro- hibited. 14. The whole quantity of bao^ge for each adult emigrant must not measure more than twenty cubic or solid feet, nor exceed half a ton weight. It must be divided into two or three boxes, the con- tents of which must be closely packed, so as to save space in the ship. Large packages and extra baggage will not be taken unless paid for, and then only in case there be room in the ship. 15. Only the lug^^age really belonging to each family of passengers can be taken. If any one should attempt to impose on the com- missioners by letting the baggage of other persons, not members of his family, go under his name, he will forfeit his passage, and not be suffered to proceed. 16. On arrival in the colony, the emigrants will be at perfect liberty to engage themselves to any one willing to employ them, and to make their own bargain for wages. No repayment in ser^-ice or otherwise is required from them of the sum advanced towards their passage out of the public funds. The only return expected by Government is a strict observance on board of the regulations, framed with a view to their health and comfort during the voyage, and general good conduct and industrious habits in the colony. By order of the Board, (Signed) Stephen Walcott, Secretary. THE COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. New South Wales — ^so called by Captain Cook on account of some resemblance which he thought he could trace between the scenery of Botany Bay and that of South Wales — is the parent colony of Australia. It is scarcely more than sixty years since it was first colonised, yet it has much of the character of an old-established country, having its capital, its provincial towns, and its rural districts. Its extent is not measured off by nature, like Tasmania, or artificially, like the later Australian colonies. NEW SOUTH WALES. 33 It included Victoria, or the Port Philip district ; but by the act of 1850 supplying a legislative system for the Australian colonies, that territory is separated from it ; and thus the southern boundary of New South Wales is fixed by statute at ' a straight line from Cape Howe to the nearest source of the Murray, and thence by the course of that river to the east boundary of South Australia.'* By the same act, power is given to the crown to erect the terri- tories north of the 30th degree of south latitude into a separate colony. It may thus be considered tliat the districts about the Clarence, the Macleay, Moreton Bay, &c. of which an account will have to be given in the following pages, wUl, if they continue to prosper, come under a separate government. In the meantime, the colony includes the district east of longitude 141 E., and stretching from 26 S. latitude to the above boundary. Its popu- lation now amounts to about 200,000. In a work like the present, the less that is known about any place fit for an emigrant to settle in, the more useful is it to col- lect all that is known ; because the places we are best acquainted with are those which, like the home country, are most fully filled, JOT, as it is commonly termed, exhausted, and ofier the least open field to the emigrant seeking a place where he will find, for little more than the taking of it, land productive either in grain or food for useful animals. Hence any accounts beyond a very general ■description, which are found in the following pages of the cha- racter and resources of the colony, wiU be found to refer much more to the thinly-peopled outlying districts than to the central parts of the colony, which are nearly as well known through the ordinary geographical and statistical sources as the counties of England, after which many of them are named — as Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, and Gloucester. With the sea-coast on the east, what is called the settled part of the colony has also a sort of natural boundary westward in the range of the Blue ^lountains, rising from 3000 to 4000 feet above the level of the sea. The principal rivers are in that northern district which will be afterwards more fully de- scribed. The Murray, connected with the southern extremity of the colony, has to be more fully spoken of in connection with South Australia. The principal streams falling into the sea in the old part of the colony are the Hawkesbury, the Hunter, the Nepean, the Macdonald, and the Manning. None of these rivers are very large, and they are all subject to droughts. The land in the first-occupied, and still most densely- inhabited district beside Port Jackson is not the most valuable. The * 13 and 14 Vict., c. 39. c 34 AUSTRALIA. Hunter is navigable for a considerable distance with small vessels, or rather boats ; and as it has a pretty full supply of water, and is bordered by rich alluvial land, some of the finest farms in the western world skirt its banks. There are abundant testimonies to the excellence of the climate and the general pleasantness of the country. The following account by Dr Lang, given in 1834, is perhaps among the most accurate, while it is in a sufficiently laudatory tone : — * For eight months during the year — namely, from the 1st of March to the 1st of November — the climate of New South Wales — which, throughout the whole year, indeed, is at least equal, if not superior to that of any other country on the face of the globe — is peculiarly delightful. The sky is seldom clouded ; and day after day, for whole weeks together, the sun looks down in unveiled beauty from the northern heavens. In ordinary seasons, refreshing showers are not nnfrequent ; but although there are no periodical rains in the colony, as in the torrid zone, it sometimes rains as heavily as it does within the tropics. It seldom freezes in Sydney, and never snows ; but fires are requisite during the day in the winter months, and for a consider- able time longer in the mornings and evenings. *The Australian summer extends from the Ist of November to the 1st of March. During this period the heat is considerable, but very rarely oppressive, the thermometer seldom rising higher than 75 degrees of Fahrenheit. There is generally a sea-breeze during the day in the summer months, commencing about ten o'clock in the forenoon, and dying away about four in the afternoon. This breeze, which usually blows pretty fresh, and the immediate vicinity of the ocean, have so powerful an influence on the temperature of the coast, that it is generally ten degrees hotter at Parramatta during the summer months, and ten degrees colder in winter, than it is in Sydney. But although it is occasionally hotter in summer than the average temperature I have just mentioned, the mornings and evenings are uniformly delightfully cool * With the exception of the large open plains which occasionally occur in the interior of the country, and which, like the plain of Bathurst, are naturally destitute of timber, the territory of New South Wales is, in its natural state, one vast interminable forest. In many parts of the colony, and especially in the interior, the land is but thinly timbered; there being not more than three or four trees, of moderate height and of rather interesting appearance, to the acre. In such places, the country resembles the park scenery around a nobleman's seat in England, and you gaUop along with a feeling of indescribable pleasure. In general, however, the forest- land is more thickly timbered — sufficiently so to form an agreeable shade in a hot Australian summer-day, without preventing the tra- veller from proceeding in any direction at a rapid trot or canter. On the banks of rivers, and especially on the alluvial land within the reach of their inundations, the forest becomes what the colonists call NEW SOUTH WALES. 35 a tlikh brush or jungle. Immense trees of the genus eucalyptus tower upwards in every direction to a height of 150 to 200 feet, while the elegant cedar, and the rosewood of inferior elevation, and innu- merable wild vines or parasitical plants, fill up the interstices. In sterile regions, however, on rocky mountain-tracts, or on sandy plains, the forest degenerates into a miserable scrub, as the colonists term it; the trees are stunted in their growth, and of most forbidding aspect, the fruit they bear being literally pieces of hard wood simi- lar in appearance to a pear, and their shapeless trunks being not unfrequently blackened from the action of fire. In such regions, the more social animals of the country entirely disappear. The agile kangaroo is no longer seen bounding across the footpath, nor the gaily-plumaged parroquet heard chattering among the branches. If anything with the breath of life is visible at all, it is either the timid gray lizard hiding itself in the crevices of the rocks, or the solitary black snake stretched at full length on the white sand, or the busy ant rearing his slender pyramid of yellowish clay. * There is a much greater extent of forest than of alluvial land in a state of cultivation throughout the colony ; and, what is exceed- ingly anomalous, the best land is in many instances on the sides and sunmiits of the hills.' To the eastward of the Blue Mountains are the agricultural and peopled districts — westward are the wide pastures of the squatters and other depasturers. The progress of good roads has made the distinction less marked ; but it was formerly useless for the agri- culturist to cultivate behind the Blue Mountains, from the diffi- culty of conveying his produce to any available market ; and it was the natural sphere of the Bushman, who required but once a year to send his produce to the market, receiving in return the year's supplies for home consumption. The arrangements for the occupation of waste lands have, as we shall presently see, been charged with having a strong tendency to increase this class, to the prejudice of the regular permanent settlement of colonists. The southern geographical division of the country for the pur- poses of the tenure and disposal of land, foUows, as nearly as has been practicable, the natural. In the central old inhabited district are the nineteen counties proclaimed in 1838. On 29th Decem- ber 1848, thirty-one new counties were proclaimed as intermediate districts. A portion of them lie south-east of the original nineteen counties, and are in the colony of Victoria, but the greater portion of them stretch northward as far as Wide Bay beyond the twenty- sixth parallel. The accessible squatting fields are called Commis- sioners' Districts ; and these were increased by the addition of three new districts in the north, at the time when the additional counties were proclaimed. They are named Wide Bay, Burnett, and Waranoa, and stretch westward as far as the banks of the 36 AUSTRALIA, Waranoa River. Sir George Gipps, in a letter to Lord Stanley in 1844, enclosing the regulations as to squatters, thus described the vast country even then occupied by them : — ' A glance will suffice to shew the immense extent to which the squatting, as it is called, has grown : — From Wilson's Promontory on the south, to Harvey's Bay on the north, it extends through fourteen degrees of lati- tude, with an average width of four degrees of longitude ; and a straight line passing througli the centre of it, from the bottom of Harvey's Bay (in latitude 25 degrees south, longitude 152 degrees east, to the mouth of the Glenelg, on the southern confine of South Australia), measures 1100 English statute miles.' To lay down accurate and precise geographical statistics for the outlying districts of such a colony, as one may do towards the counties, parishes, and towns of Britain, with its fixed, or slightly- varying population, would be a vain task. Divisions are in a great measure merely nominal, so that to describe them would not convey an accurate impression of the nature of the country; and the variations are so rapid, that an account corresponding with the latest information from the colony, and therefore six months' old, might, when the emigrant who reads it reaches the spot after a farther period of six months has elapsed, be quite inapplicable, from the changes produced in a year. Some curious instances have occurred of the extreme liability to make mistakes where it has been necessary to specify boundaries, and precisely to desig- nate and distinguish places. It appears that there were many such mistakes in the orders in council on the division of lands in New- South Wales ; some of which are pointed out in the examination before a select committee of the legislative council of the colony, on the minimum price of land, by Mr Thomson, the principal draughtsman in tlie surveyor-general's department.* The variety of climates, soils, and physical aspects which may yet be developed within the vast circumference of the huge Australian island is indicated in the prevailing features of tlie new northern counties. Everything here is diflerent from the dry sheep-walks of the south. The character of the scenery encountered by the traveller is precipice, mountain, torrent, and lagoon, with rich tropical vegetation clothing the moun- tain-sides. The Australian settler who finds the other more im- portant elements of the district suitable to his views, may here indulge in the fullest luxury of fine scenery. It is a country of considerable rivers. The Macleay enters the sea at Trial Bay, iu latitude 30" 40' south; and its feeders may be traced far up through the mountains to the table-land of New England. Thero * Papers relative to occupation of Crown lands, 1847, p. 105. NEW SOUTH WALES. 37 is R considerable bar at its mouth, yet it is navigable for vessels of fifty or sixty tons for a distance of thirty-four miles. After passing several secondary streams, the valleys, separated from that of the ^lacleay by great ranges of hills, are watered by the Odalberree and the Bellengen. After a considerable interval comes the Clarence, entering Shoal Bay in 29 J south latitude, and rising in the same range of mountains with the Macleay- It would appear that this — the finest river yet discovered in Australia — is destined to be some day or other one of those great waters which people speak of throughout the world, on account of the civilised luxuriance on its banks, and the riches which it is the means of concentrating. ' The Clarence,' says the gentleman who surveyed it, ' is remarkable for its great breadth and large volume of water compared with other Australian rivers, when the short distance of its source from the coast is considered. In common with all other rivers north of the Hunter, its entrance is obstructed by a bar having about eleven feet of water on it; its reaches are longer and wider than those of any other river on the coast of Australia, and are navigable for large steamers from Sydney to a considerable distance up the river : some craft can ascend the Clarence as far as ninety miles from its mouth The country available for grazing at this river is of excellent quality, and much more extensive than that of the Macleay ; for the country bordering on the Clarence and its tributaries is gene- rally level, and the mountains do not attain any great elevation, except at the sources of the streams. A great number of squatters have formed stations at the Clarence river. The communication between the table-land along the main range and the navigable estuary of the Clarence, is naturally much less difficult than at Port Macquarrie. Wool drays can descend from the fine district called Beardy Plains (that portion of table-land opposite the sources of the Clarence) with comparative ease, to that part of the river where the vessels take in cargo for Sydney.' * The next river to the northward is the Richmond, the sources of which were not known when Mr Hodgkinson wrote. But of the known portion he says — ' Mangrove scrubs, tea-tree, and. swamp oak-thickets cover the low flats near its mouth ; and the alluvial land higher up the river is diversified by brush abounding in cedar and pine, clumps of bangolo palms, reedy swamps, small rich plains, and lightly-wooded forest flats of great richness. The- rest of the country is very slightly wooded grassy forest of the greatest fertility; in fact there are few rivers where so much good available land exists unbroken by densely- wooded ranges and * Hodgkinson'B Australia, p. 98. 38 AUSTRALIA. ravines.* Immediately north of the Richmond, but at long intervals, we have successively the Tweed, the Logan, and the Brisbane — a long broad river which, with several smaller streams, flaUs into Moreton Bay at 27 J degrees south. The banks of these rivers, so far as they are known, are of the same character with those of the Clarence and Richmond. Mr Oxley, the surveyor- general who discovered the Brisbane in 1823, said in his official report, after having ascended it for twenty miles — ' The scenery was peculiarly beautiful ; the country along the banks alternately hilly and level, but not flooded ; the soil of the finest description of brushwood land, on which grew timber of great magnitude and of various species, some of which were quite unknown to us. Among others a magnificent species of pine was in great abun- dance.' Proceeding thirty miles farther up, he had to report that the river continuing of uniform size, ' the country on either side is of very superior description, and equally well adapted for cultiva- tion or grazing, the timber being abundant, and fit for all the purposes of domestic use or exportation.' f These anticipations have been more than verified. The country round Moreton Bay, by the united testimony of all who have made themselves practically acquainted with it, is eminently pro- ductive in almost everything that can be found serviceable to the settler in such a latitude. Besides the vegetable and animal pro- ductions, and capabilities to be afterwards noticed, there is abun- dant building-stone, along with lime, coal, and iron. The district received the name of Stanley County; and Moreton Bay being at first used as a penal settlement for convicts under colonial sentence, free emigrants were consequently excluded ; but its destiny was subsequently changed ; and it contains many thriving settlers, with small towns — Moreton Bay, Brisbane town, Lime- stone, &c. To this port will be brought the wool from Peel Plains, Darling Downs, Byron's Plains, &c. the descent being described as peculiarly easy and gradual, and the cargoes will be shipped either for Sydney or for England direct. Having more abundant food tlian their neighbours, the natives of this northern district appear to be more active and enterprising. They are more formidable in war, and not so brutal to their women. Their wars seem to be conducted more on the principle of prize- fights, or the duels of the German students, than deadly feuds. They meet, try their skill, draw a little blood, and then sit down amicably together. There is no treachery in their warfare, and they are described as an open, candid people. Their enmity or friendliness towards the settlers seems to depend chiefly on their * Hodgkinson's Australia, p. 9dL f Ibid. NEW SOUTH WALES. 39 own quarrels, those who take the members of a tribe as their pioneers being liable to be attacked by its enemies. But of course here, as elsewhere, all danger from the aborigines fast decreases before the progress of colonisation. The productiveness of this district will afterwards have to be noticed ; but it may be mentioned here that some of its indications are not of so agreeable a kind. Sharks from the neighbouring sea penetrate the rivers, and render it dangerous sometimes to cross near the coast. But a more remarkable source of danger in the same circumstances is found in venomous sea-snakes, which, if one can believe the many accounts given by those who should be well informed on the subject, sometimes frequent the estuaries in shoals. The thickets abound in serpents, nearly all of them venomous, if not deadly. r Lang's Cooksland, p. 55. 42 AUSTRALIA. unhealthy climates — ^to the West Indies, to South America, even to Sierra Leone — they do not go to settle, but to make sudden fortunes, and come home. They cast their life upon a die — they run the risk for its reward ; but they do not run the additional risk of founding an unhealthy degenerate family — their unselfish care of those who are to follow them has, on the other hand, probably been their motive. The colonist has no such induce- ment or excuse. Nor can we leave this subject without notice of the indications, in Mr Hodgkinson's own glowing account, of some deleterious eflfects arising even in this happy climate from those marshes, mangrove thickets, and mud swamps, which in Africa .and America are believed to be the nurseries of the most deadly *When I informed,' he says, *some people in Sydney, a few years ago, that ague was prevalent at the lower part of the Macleay river, I was listened to with great incredulity, it seemed to them so totally incompatible with the climate of the colony ; yet the reader will not wonder that cases of ague should occur at the Macleay, for besides the mangrove mud-flats at its mouth, there are, on its banks, at least 60,000 acres of stagnant swamps, covered with high reeds and water ; and the decomposition constantly going on in the dense mass of vegetation in the alluvial lands, must also evolve a great quantity of noxious gases. 'Notwithstanding these obvious causes of impure exhalations, and the greater heat of the climate, the ague at the Macleay river is much milder than in the fenny counties of England ; the cold fit occurs every other day, but is seldom so severe as to prevent a man from attending to his daily avocations. Change of air and sulphate of quinine remove the ague directly, but it is liable to return by fresh exposure to the causes which produced it.' * Most people would probably entirely dispense with it, rather than accept it even in this modified form. But it must be remem- bered that these statements refer only to the low swamps near the mouths of the rivers. The Towns. — The capital of New South "Wales, Sydney, has risen more rapidly than any other colonial town — its history has resembled that of some of the western American cities. Fifty years ago it was merely a few hovels ; now it has a population probably of fifty thousand. And such a population is not to be compared with that of an English town of the same size, which has taken a thousand years to grow, and has consequently a quiet vegetating community, increasing both in numbers and in tran- sactions at the rate of about one per cent, per annum. The * Hodgkinson's Australia, p. 110. NEW SOUTH WALES. 43 extreme rapidity of its growth shews that it is a city of people in progress and action, and hence its city peculiarities are not those of the quiet mansion and the indolent back street, but those of intense activity and enterprise, accompanied by their charac- teristics both good and bad. These characteristics, however, all tend to make Sydney more metropolitan than a town of the same size in this country. There is a magnificent government-house, and there has long been a theatre, with abundance of handsome taverns, and places of indulgence of a less reputable character. But, for- tunately, it may now be said that there is abundant church accom- modation, and many schools. There is a well-endowed school for the higher branches of education, called Sydney College. It was founded by a convict, but not one of the class counted infa- mous. He had been transported for his share in a tragic duel, and being a skilful physician, he appears to have devoted the remainder of his days, with wonderful success, to giving the world more than a full-measured compensation for all the injury he had done it. Another similar institution is called the Australian Col- lege. The parent who desires to give his children as good an edu- cation as thej^ can obtain in any of the middle-sized commercial or maritime towns of Britain, need not shrink from taking them to Sydney, if other things should happen to attract him thither. In this city, drafted from all classes and kinds of the community, the members of every considerable religious body find their feUows, and fortunately of late years the means of worship and instruc- tion. A town where religious feuds or combinations have not had time to grow up and strengthen themselves, or divide the com- munity, has naturally exhibited a pretty fair proportion of each of the religious bodies of the old country. Perhaps the Roman Catholics slightly predominate, as they do in all the colonies, owing to the multitudinous expatriation of the Irish. An Angli- can bishop has his cathedral at Sydney, and as there is a Roman Catholic hierarchy in the colony, some arrangements as to matters of precedence called out a perfect hurricane of parliamentary papers last year. The legislative council-house, court-house, the building formerly used as a convict barrack, the custom-house, and other central public institutions, contribute to the metropolitan air of the place, assisted by a handsome theatre, and a public pleasure-ground called Hyde Park. There are many suburban villages — such as Balmain, Camperdown, Newton, Paddington, Redfem, &c. ; and a rapid communication is kept up throughout the populous neigh- bourhood by stage-coaches and omnibuses — or omnibi, as Mr Montgomery Martm is pleased to call them. The spot on which the moral filth of a great empire was emptied 44 AUSTRALIA. out, was naturally viewed with dread, as a scene of fraud and violence; and one wonders not at the simplicity with which Count Strzlecki says he left his watch carefully locked up on board a ship, ere he ventured to perambulate the streets of Sydney. Crime, it is true, was rife, but it was necessarily counteracted by a stringent and vigilant police. Since the changes in the convict system, the social character of Sydney has undergone a material alteration. The vast convict barrack has had to be applied to other uses; and the cruel-looking rigidity of the police system has gradually died a natural death. The arrangements for the removal and allocation of emigrants have contributed to this, as well as the gradual drying up of the stream of fresh criminals. When there was so horrible a mass of criminality receiving daily additions, and at the same time cargoes of destitute emigrants were shovelled out upon the streets, it was necessary for the protection of life and property to have a potent, even if it were an unscrupulous police. Paramatta, only fifteen miles from Sydney, and in the same county of Cumberland, is a considerable and agreeable town, with a street upwards of a mile long. It contains about 5000 inhabi- tants ; and being in the point of junction between some of the most important parts of the colony, is full of inns and traffic. Among other considerable towns are Windsor, Maitland, New- castle, Bathurst, and Goulbum. District Couneils. — In the general account of Australia the parliamentary provisions for the appointment of district councils, and for their disuse when this is expedient, are mentioned, because by the legislation of the year 1850, the system, modified as it then was, was extended to all the Australian colonies. The history, however, of all experience in the working of these insti- tutions belongs entirely to New South Wales, and it is a curious and instructive chapter in colonial economy. The grounds on wliich the local councils were appointed were repeatedly explained in Earl Grey's dispatches to be, * that the purely local affairs of different districts should be intrusted to the management of some local authority distinct from the general legislature ; ' but it has been found that the state of society in the colonies was not fa? enough advanced to admit of the sort of social hierarchy by means of which such institutions could work. They infer the existence of persons or families in whom their neighbours have reliance — who hold a social rank, as it were, above them — and such distinctions require time for their development ; they do not sprout at once among a newly-planted population. ' Our acquaintance with the physical details of the country even,' says M. LaTrobe, in a report on the subject presented to parliament in 1847, ' is too slight, the KEW SOUTH WAI^S. 45 value of property too fluctuating and too undetermined ; the dis- tinction between points of general and local interest not sufficiently- recognised. Where everything has to be done, the character and relative value of different public improvements, and the order in which they ought to be undertaken, are points not easily decided.' Sir George Gipps immediately exercised the power committed to him by issuing charters to twenty-eight districts, measured out generally with reference to the existing police divisions,* But in a very few places only have the councils come into actual exist- ence ; and m these few they began to drop off, in so far that, while in 1845 the elected members of the councils were fifty- one in number, and those nominated by the governor fourteen, in the foUo^ving year thirty- two were nominated, and but thirty- eight elected. The colonial secretary had in 1847 to report that these institutions had ' entirely failed to answer the object contemplated in their establishment.' And he states in the same docmnent — ' It appears that (with the solitary exception of £170 raised by the district council of Grant) in none of the districts was any revenue whatever raised by assessment Almost the only excep- tion to the total inactivity which has characterised these bodies, is to be found in the district coimcil of Paramatta ; but even here the necessary expenditure is not met by assessment in the manner contemplated by the imperial act, but by the sums received for tolls on the public roads in the district, which are levied and col- lected by the government, and then handed over to the district •council to be expended exclusively in the repair of the roads.f raSTORY AND SOCIAL STATE. The origin and progress of the colony of New South Wales possess an interest of a universal character, from the courage and adventure called forth in the early efforts of the settlers who were the first to plant civilisation in that barbarous territory, and who laid the foundation of an empire in the western ocean of which no one can assign the probable boundaries. In this work there is no intention to enter on any matters of history, philosophy, or science, however interesting they may be in themselves, unless they impart something tliat is of immediate practical importance * The districts were — Maitland, Windsor, Goulbum, Yass, Patrick's Plains, Scone and Munrunde, Macquarrie, Hartlpy, Bathurst and Careen, Penrith, Berrima, Paramatta, Sydney, Illawarra, Braidwood and Broulee, Queanbeyan, Merton and Muswellbrook, Cambellto>*'n, Paterson, Raymond Terrace and Dungoy, Rourke Port Philip), Grant (Port Philip), Liveri>ool, Wollombi and Macdonald, Brisbane Water, Cassilis, Newcastle. t Dispatches and papers rehitive to the colony of New South Wales. Commons' P^wrs, 1847. 46 AUSTRALIA. to the intending emigrant. An outline of the progress of this colony is however of more importance to him than in the instance of other European possessions. In the first place, the difficulties, hard- ships, dangers, and calamities, undergone by the early settlers, are but an example of what the emigrant may experience at any time, if he rashly throw himself upon a new expanse of country without having assured himself that proper arrangements have been made for his reception. But it contains a more important and pecu- liar element still in its history as a penal colony, since this ordeal has entered so deeply into the constitution of its society, that, though the practice of transportation be now disused, the colony is in many respects a different kind of place, socially and morally, from other settlements where the same element never appeared. Of old, the system of transportation, or deportation to the plantations, as it was termed, consisted in sending criminals as slaves to be the property of certain masters — chiefly in America. It was a system productive of gross injustice, losing sight of all the proper ends of penal law. The convict's punishment de- pended not upon the extent of his crime, but the humours and caprices of his master. To possess men of his own country and class was still more brutalising to the colonist than the slavery of the negro; and the influence of the system in hardening and demoralising the native was shewn in the fact, that many young people in the smaller towns of Britain were kidnapped, and sold as slaves in the colonies. The system was in some measure mitigated, but a celebrated event called for a total revolution of it. The United States were the great convict deposit ; and when they were separated from Britain, it was necessary to find some other resource either at home or abroad. The jails were crowded to excess, and society became alarmed at the mass of crime within its bosom. Systems of prison - discipline had not then been matured ; and it was felt that there was no other means of safety but in spreadmg as broad a surface as possible of the ocean between Britaiu and her criminals. The accounts given in Cook's voyages of the great southern world which he had been exploring, suggested that there the proper place would be found where the disposal of the criminals and the creation of a colony might be jointly accomplished. Thither a smaU fleet sailed in the spring of 1787, under the com- mand of Captain Charles Philip, subsequently the governor of the colony. There were on board 565 male and 192 female convicts. The floral carpet which had given its name to Botany Bay sug- gested it as a naturally fruitful district, suitable for a settlement. It was found, however, to be stony and swampy, and though rich in botanical specimens, ill calculated for useful cultivation. The NEW SOUTH WALES. 47 bay itself was wide, and exposed to the swell of heavy winds* Thus doubting the suitability of the destined station, the com- mander resolved to sail northwards, and examine other portions of the coast mentioned by Cook. He had not gone far when, coming to the mouth of what was laid down in his chart as a boat-haven — called Port Jackson, after the man who was on the look-out when it was discovered — Captain Philip entered between its headlands, and found it to be a bay with fifteen miles' length of deep water, completely protected, and capacious enough to let the largest fleets ride at anchor within it. It is said to be the finest harbour in the world ; and its incidental discovery is often adduced to support the view that there may be features of immense value, such as the mouths of great rivers, still to be discovered along the vast Australian coast. At Sydney, on one of the small estuaries branching from Port Jackson, the seeds of the future capital were thus planted in January 1788. Eather more than a thousand human beings in all, with a few farm animals, there established themselves. Their difficulties began almost immediately. The few cattle were neglected and lost, and the returns of tillage did not come fast enough to replace the decreasing stores. The convicts, anticipating vague chances in their own favour out of the novelty, confusion, and difficulties around them, became turbulent, and several of them set off to walk to China, perishing miserably by famine, or by the hands of the natives, whose indiscriminate hostility to the settlers was another feature of great difficulty. It was impossible to check the lavish waste of the settlers, who could not be driven out of the popular notion, that an emigration field is a land of immediate plenty, instead of being a barren wilderness, whose new inhabitants must husband all their avail- able means that they may take advantage of its resources. At length provisions decreased — an expected store-ship was long behind its time ; it was at last discovered to have been lost, and famine stared all alike, from the highest to the lowest, in the face. After intense hardships and privations had been suffered, however, temporary relief came, and the internal industrial resources of the colony soon became sufficient for its support. At the conclusion of the eighteenth century, the number of British inhabitants of Australia was about 8000, and of these about 2500 were inha- bitants of Sydney. Almost from the very commencement of the colony, we find it kept in view, not only as a place of disposal for criminals, and a sphere for the exertions of adventurers, but also as a drain for what is called surplus population. So early as 1796 several families of ' free emigrants,' as they were termed, were conveyed to New South Wales ; but instead of being set down as labourers, 48 AUSTRALIA. to balance capital and land, they immediately received allotments. Aftenvards, in the year 1802, a free -emigrant settlement was made at Portland Head, on the banks of the Hawksbur}-. There is no doubt that the cruelties exercised against the aborigines by the early settlers must have been such as Europe p.nd civilisation may well blush for. With the concentration of the British ruffianism of the eighteenth century let loose on them, we may imaghie what their fate must have been when people of British race can, even in the middle of the nineteenth century, keep slaves. But there is ever an antagonism among industrious settlers towards barbarous idle aborigines, who seem to cumber the ground, which it is difficult for persons living in the midst of civilisation to conceive. It grows on the settler day by day, and from father to son. There is the Anglo-Saxon family turning everything to account — the hours of the day, the land, the elements, the domestic or domesticable animals around him, his own health and muscular strength, which he exerts to its utmost pitch, and sometimes till it gives -way ; and there is the native — indolent, useless, dirty, consummg wliat he can, sometimes steal- ing, never to be trusted, incorrigible and uncivilisable. The feelings against him, beginning in impatience, rose to remorseless and ferocious cruelty. The subsequent establishment of stipendiary protectors of the aborigines was a grand and humane project, whether it shall be successful or not. It is difficult to believe in this country the extent of the prejudice, or, more properly speak- ing, hatred, which it becomes natural for the industrious settler to entertain against them, or the depth to which it penetrates in social life. The aborigines' protectors are still almost invariably abused in the books writtfn by colonists. Dr Lang says in the year 1837 — ' There is blacK blood at this moment on the hands of individuals of good repute in the colony of New South Wales, of which all the waters of New Holland woidd be insufficient to wipe out the deep and indelible stains.'* In the new colony of Victoria it seems to be placed beyond a doubt, that men who have passed thither from the centre of British civilisation have hunted and shot the natives as if they were wolves. From a pretty early period — almost, indeed, from the foundation of the colony — it became the practice to emancipate convicts reformed, or supposed to be so, and permit them to have the privi- leges of free settlers. In a community containing such an element it would have been impossible, with the utmost skill and vigi- lance, to prevent great social evils ; but in the absence of the superior knowledge now possessed, both on colonisation and con- * New South Wales, i. 37. NEW SOUTH WALES. 49 vict discipline, many serious abuses were committed. Prominent among these was the reckless or partial distribution of large land allotments, many of them to persons in the public service. But to official persons and their friends there were communicated many jobbing privileges and profitable monopolies. Among others, the privilege of selling rum was very profitable, and much coveted ; and during Governor King's administration, Dr Lang tells us that ' the population of Ncnv South Wales consisted chiefly of those who sold rum and of those who drank it.' Officers in the army, and in other departments of the public service, were tempted to barter the dignity of their position, and its respectability too, for the dirty profits of the dram-shop. At the outset, a military corps had been raised in England for the service of the colony. It received the title of ' The New South Wales Corps,' and was afterwards embodied in the 102d regiment. If all the statements regarding this body be true, it would appear that their state and conduct had been gi-ossly overlooked by the War - office, until their proceedings threatened to sever the colony, infant and miserable as it was, from the mother country. Dr I^ang tells us tliat ' the officers of that corps, from being buyers and sellers in general, gi-adually conceived the idea of establishing themselves as the only buyers and sellers in the country. When a merchant- ship arrived in the harbour, the officers of the corps got the first sight of her manifest and the choice of her cargo ; and they had ways and means of allowing the free or emancipated convict- merchant to follow only at a humble distance in their wake.' — (P. 67). The sequel of these discreditable transactions is found in the lamentable aflair of Governor Bligh in 1818. A circumstance occurred then unprecedented in colonial liistory, and such as it is to be sincerely hoped may never occur again — the governor was seized and imprisoned by his subordinates, and the colony was ruled by a self- constituted authority in defiance of the law. This governor was the too-celebrated Captain Bligh, to whose capricious tyranny many people have attributed the mutiny of the Bounty. Some writers on Australian history and politics give an atrocious account of his conduct.* Even Dr Lang's attempt to vindicate him, places his conduct in a very suspicious condition. It is maintained that his efibrts were du-ected towards the refor- mation of the colony, and his arbitrary acts were chiefly com- mitted in the laudable cause of suppressing drunkenness. But there are no circumstances in which people of t}Tannical temper become more unreasonable than when they believe that they are * See "Wentworth's Historical and Political Description, p. 203. D 50 AUSTRALIA. aiding virtue. Those in authority cannot always safely resort to the violent suppression of vice. The colonist who headed the opposition to the governor was a ^Mr Macarthur, a gentleman of wealth and great colonial importance, and one of the chief sources of discussion was the seizure of some distUling utensils which he had brought into the colony. It is admitted that the manner in which his property and his person were treated was illegal. It is at the same time rather an odd testimony in Bligh's favour to say — * Mr Macarthur's speech before the bench and in open court was, under aU the circumstances, uncalled for, and calculated to give great offence to a person of so exceedingly irascible a disposition as Governor Bligh.' And it is another of Dr Lang's extenuations relative to a dispute about the abandonment of a schooner, that * the master of the schooner provoked the governor exceedingly (insomuch that his Excellency actually swore at him), by dunning him on the subject personally at Government-House.' — (Pp. 132-3.) By means of the New South Wales corps the desperate act of seizing and superseding the governor was accomplished with com- plete peace and unanimity, as if it had been a legitimate official proceeding. The military, obeying the orders they received, marched on Government-House with their music and thebr colours. The conduct of Bligh on the occasion coincided too well with the worst view of his character. He could not at first be found, but at length was discovered lurking behind a bed, and endeavouring to destroy his papers. This was more like the conduct of a deposed Eastern despot, than of an officer strong in the feeling of duty, and conscious of being backed by the whole power of the British empire. Office has everything on its side, and the case is desperate indeed where its holder is afraid to found upon the strength of his position. If he had felt the conscious strength of innocence, Bligh would have boldly met and defied the mutineers, and they would have been wild and desperate men indeed had they determinedly carried out their purpose. Major Johnston, who had led the insurrection, now assumed the command as lieutenant-governor of the province. It was of course necessary for government to investigate so alarming an event. Major Johnston was tried by court-martial, and cashiered. The leniency of this sentence was a virtual condenmation of Bligh, when applied to an offence the most formidable which a military man and a subject can commit — one that in almost every ordinary case it is deemed necessary to punish with death. Major Jolmston went back to the colony, where he continued to be much re- spected. This incident startlingly awoke the government to the serious responsibility of colonial management. That an act of resistance to the supreme authority of the mother country should NEW SOUTH WALES. 5t ever be tolerated — that people should for one moment believe themselves safe in subverting the authority of the crown — would be immediate destruction to the colonial system. Yet it was felt that the circumstances created by the misconduct of the man they had sent over rendered rebellion even necessary ; and the lesson was taught, that since absolute obedience is required on the one hand, fitness for government and checks against misrule must be seen to on the other. Bligh was succeeded by Governor Macquarrie, to whose exer- tions a sort of resuscitation of the colony is attributed. It was necessary that he should denounce the late mutinous acts, and that he should pronounce the proceedings of the provisional government illegal. But though Ulegal, they were found to be wise ; and in most instances the new governor had to confirm them or repeat them. To Governor Macquarrie the colony owed many useful services, especially in the construction of roads. He liad a large amount of convict labour at his disposal, and perhaps road-making was about the best use he could make of it. Among other lines of way, he made the road from Sydney over the Blue Mountains west to Bathurst, thus forming a means of communication across a barrier which was considered the natural boundary of the colony, into large available regions beyond it. The extreme points of this road are about 130 miles' distant from each other, and for about fifty miles it traverses a wild, stony, desolate tract of mountain. It was necessary to bring the road over this wilderness, that two fertile districts might be joined together; but unless when a colony becomes wealthy, or receives substantial aid from the mother country, it must be admitted that such works cannot be accomplished except through the aid of what has in other respects been the curse of this colony — the convict population. Governor Macquarrie obtained large sums from the British treasury, a great portion of which were expended in the decoration of Sydney, the capital of the province ; and he believed, and those who were about him believed, that they were used in a manner advantageous in the highest degree to the colony, and even to the home coimtry. But — so diflficult is it to draw the true line in such matters — the expenditiu*e did so much harm to the colony in which it was spent, that the mere loss to Britain in having to pay the money was a trifle. To see how this occurred, it must be remembered that while this money was spent in the colony, a great number of convicts were emancipated, and received grants of land. This was done with the best possible intention. The worthy governor looked to the com-icts by whom he was surrounded only, and wished to give them inducements to reform. He did not see the 52 AUSTRALIA. ultimate influence of his system in the dens of iniquity in Britain, or calculate how many became callous to transportation as a punishment. The convicts got rural allotments, but unfortunately they did not imbibe rural tastes with them. They were expected to sit down every man beneath his vine and his tig-tree ; but the rising extent and luxury of Sydney made it too good a substitute for their old haunts. They sold their allotments, and joined the vicious throng of the city, which they made more vicious still. It was impossible for virtue to be preserved among the other portions of the society in which such a disease was ingrafted, even had there been all possible means for iuoral »nd religious instruction; but there were scarcely any. /;,,,,. ., From the year 1810 downwards, the prosperity of the emanci- pated convicts became the besetting evil of the colony, and it was aided by the reckless distribution of land in other sluii)es. People who were not to live there and cultivate the soil, yet received large grants; and the practice just had the effect of throwing deserts between the cultivated spots. The owners of these tracts exem- plified the dog in the manger — they could not make a right use of what they had obtamed ; but then* possession of it effectually prevented others from doing so. Grants of from 10,000 to 20,000 acres would thus be recklessly made to persons in office or pos- sessing political importance ; and though Governor Macquarrie limited the number of acres of each grant to no more than 2000, imless there were express instructions from the secretary of state to exceed it, yet this privilege seems to have been often conferred. At the conclusion of the year 1834, the number of acres granted in all exceeded 4,000,000. The methods of award and tenure were altered from time to time, and after 1842 tlie plan of public sale was established. Up to this date, the practice with regard to convicts appears to have been, that on emancipation or pardon, each man would receive 20 acres ; other 20 for his wife, if he were married ; and if he had children in the settlement, 10 acres for each of them. Although New South Wales has now ceased to be, in the strict sense of the term, a penal colony, its desirableness as a place of settlement is materially influenced by the cii-cumstance of its having once been one ; and, as we shall presently find, it is still used as a place of exile for criminals partially pardoned, and kept under restraint. Nor must it be forgotten that many of the colonists desire the restoration of the system — a desire not likely, however, to be gratified. It has been seen that the penal were the earliest purposes to which this colony was applied. From the begmning, a continued stream of the darkest moral pollution was thus directed into the NEW SOUTH WALES. 53 colony. Jeremy Bentham was the first to draw attention to the evils of the system in his book called 'Panopticon versus New South Wales,' published in 1802 ; and the same line of argument was sub- sequently followed up by Archbishop "What ely. The main objec- tions to transportation, as compared with a system of prison discipline, are, that it is uncertain, sometimes involving excessive punishment, sometimes operating as no punishment at all ; while, unequal as it really is, it seems still more so to the criminal class, who know little or nothing about its working, and therefore cannot feel its full influence in deterring them from crime. The proper application of punishment, so as to make it serve its proper purpose, not merely in keeping the criminal out of mischief, and reforming him, if that be practicable, is one of the most delicate of all operations, requiring great attention and skill, and should take place under the immediate eye of the government. Lastly, and what is of most importance to the emigrant, a population of convicts is bad seed to plant a colony with, and such as must exercise a poisonous moral influence on its progress. The following pictm-e is taken from the pages of Dr Lang, who is a strenuous supporter of transportation. It exhibits how imper- fectly the system has acted as a punishment, and how effectively as a corrupter of the colony. To a certain extent, but of course not so strongly, the description will be applicable to the assigned exiles of the present day and their masters : — * The condition of a convict in New South "Wales depends greatly on the character of his master. It is in the power of tlie latter to render his yoke easy and his burden light ; it is equally in his power, however, to make him superlatively miserable. In general, the lot of a convict in the colony is by no means a hard one ; for the most part he is better clothed, better fed, and better lodged, than three- fourths of the labouring agricultural population of Great Britain and Ireland ; while, at the same time, his labour is beyond all compari- son much less oppressive. In a great many instances, indeed, the object of the convict evidently is to get as much, in the shape of al- lowances, and to do as little, in the sliape of hard labour, as possible. * The grand secret in the management of convict servants is, to treat them with kindness, and at the same time with firmness — to speak to them always in a conciliating manner, and at the same time to keep them constantly employed ; and it is nothing less than abso- lute blindness to his own interest, and a Avant of common sense amounting to downright infatuation, that can lead any master to treat them otherwise. It must be acknowledged, however, that such infatuation has prevailed in Xew South AVales to a lamentable extent, and has greatly retarded the advancement of the colony on the one hand, and occasioned much misery on the other. * A free emigrant settler, who has perhaps been riding about the 64 AUSTRALIA. country for a fortnight, neglecting his own affairs, and troubling his neighbours, returns to his farm, and finds that his convict-servants have been very idle during his absence. He talks to them on the subject, and his choler rises as he talks ; and he cui-ses and swears at them as if he had taken his degree at Billingsgate, instead of being a free-landed proprietor in His Majesty's colony of New South Wales. One of the convicts — a man who has perhaps seen better days — replies in no measured terms; and the master immediately exclaims, with the highest indignation, " You convict scoundrel, do you speak to me at this rate?" And taking the overseer to witness that the man has spoken insolently to his master, he forthwith hies both overseer and man to the nearest magistrate, who perhaps resides ten miles off, and gallops after them himself an hour or two afterwards. On arriving at the magistrate's, the settler, who is a remarkably good Protestant, kisses the book, and swears that the man spoke to him insolently. The overseer, who is a staunch Roman Catholic, confirms his master's deposition by kissing the same book on the other side, on which the worthy magistrate — who knows that the Bible was sent him for kissing, and not for reading — has reli- giously pasted a bit of whitey-brown paper, cut with a pair of scissors in the form of a cross. When this religious ceremony has been gone through, the magistrate, assuming a very grave aspect, sentences the convict to receive twenty-five lashes for insolence to his master, and he is accordingly delivered over to the scourger of the district. In the meantime the farm is deprived of the superintendence of the master, the exertions of the overseer, and the labour of the convict ; while the other convicts, disheartened and disgusted at the obvious injustice with which their fellow-labourer has been treated, do just as little as possible. * As soon as the man who has been flogged is fit for labour, he is ordered to the plough; but perceiving that a thick strong root crosses the furrow at a particular point, he contrives, the next time the bullocks reach that point, to run the plough right against the root, and snap it asunder. " You did it on purpose, you scoundrel ! " says the infuriated settler, who has indeed good reason to be angry, for the season for ploughing is perhaps nearly over, and two or three days must elapse before the plough can be repaired, as there is no blacksmith within fifteen miles. The man, to whose corrupt nature revenge is so delicious that he does not deny the charge, but who is perhaps the best ploughman on the farm, is accordingly hied off immediately to his worship again, and, after the same pious cere- mony of kissing the calf 's-skin binding of the desecrated book, and the whitey - brown paper cross, has been reacted, is sentenced to "three months'" hard labour on the roads, to be returned to his master at the expiration of that period. * The man returns accordingly at the expiration of his sentence ; but being addicted, as most convicts are, to the use of colonial tobacco, he allows a spark to fall from his tobacco-pipe, on his way to his laboui', very near his master's largest wheat-stack, at a time NEW SOUTH WALES. 55 when the latter happens to be off the farm ; and in less than a quarter of an hour thereafter the stack is observed to be on fire. One would naturally suppose that in such a case of emergency all the men on the farm would immediately run to extinguish the flames. Such a supposition, however, would be very far from the truth. The con- victs are so conscientious, forsooth, that they will not do anything which their master has not particularly told them to do ; and he has never told them to extinguish the flames when any of his stacks should accidentally catch fire. Besides, they have a task assigned them which they must not leave. In short, nothing gives them greater pleasure than to see their master's stack burning ; for they know he must give them the regular ration, procxire it where they may, or send them back to government, in which case they will have a chance of being assigned to a better master. By and by the master returns at full gallop, in time enough to see where his stack stood. He has reason to suspect that a conspiracy has been formed against him by his men ; but, to save him the trouble of bringing any of them to justice, four of them immediately take to the hush — that is, become bush-rangers, subsisting on plunder. In a month or two thereafter, two of them are apprehended for robbing a settler's cart on the highway, and tried, and convicted, and condemned to death ; and the wretched men assure the minister who may happen to visit them in the gaol, or attend them on the scaffold — (I have received such information in such circumstances myself when it was too late to falsify) — that it was the arbitrary and unfeeling conduct of their master alone that brought them to an untimely end.' * Nor do the pictures of comfort, outward respectability, or even wealth, which the same author draws in a very attractive manner, when describing the history of what a reformed convict may- expect to achieve, conduce to the purposes of punishment. It may be quite true, as Dr Lang argues, that if the same men had been punished at home instead of being transported, they would have been aU their lives degraded outcasts of society, instead of worshipful colonists ; but the interest and prospects of the crimi- nal are not the only ones to be kept in view in punishment. It was not likely to deter from crime in this country to meet with such a passage as the following, extracted from the Australian Journal : — * We were last week walking abroad, and seeing a carriage coming towards us, we were struck by the magnitude of the horses, and came to a full stop to notice them, pointing out their beauty to a lady we were walking with at the time. The carriage passed on, and, as it passed, we took our eyes off the horses, and raised them into the carriage, just to see if we knew the owners. A lady sat in it whom we knew well. She was a prisoner on board the ship in Lang's Xew South "Wales, ii, 11-1 J. 56 AUSTRALIA. -which we came to the colony. Her husband once worked for us when he held a ticket of exemption.* The following account of the assignment-system, which has not only left its shadow on the colony, but is to a certain extent still in operation, is taken from an article io tfeCuBdijiburgh Keview' for July 1847: — ,-:i.i(../, *The system, in brief, was this. As soon as a cargo of convicts arrived at the colony, a report was sent to the governor, and a day appointed for an otficer to muster them ; the males were sent to the convict barracks, and the females to the penitentiaries. Of these, the great majority were * assigned" (as it was called) among the free settlers by a "commissioner," who was guided iu his distribution of them by cert.ain government regulations. •These" assigned servants" were comprehended, for the most part, under the classes of domestics, mechanics, and field- labourers. The first were well fed and clothed, and received from £10 to £15 a year in wages. The second were still better off'. Tlie last, though in a condition less enviable than tliat of the other two, were better fed than the agricultural labourers of our own countrj' ; and though not strictly entitled to receive wages, yet did, in fac^ generally receive them, in the shape of tea, tobacco, sugar, spirits, and other such reforming luxuries. Of course the principle which rules in any other market immediately came into operation here also, and at once obliterated every trace of equity in the administration of this singular species of penal retribution. "What sort of a commodity do I want? What sort of thews, sinews, and dexterity will be profitable to me::" was the question which every master naturally put to himself; and, therefore, as befitted an infant colony, skilled la])0ur artizans and mechanics were at a premium. The rustic lout, fit only for field drudgery, and the gentleman thief, as he is paradoxically called, whose delicate fingers had learnt no other craft than tliat of picking pockets, were at a discount. * Without discrimination, therefore, of guilt or offences, the one class obtained easy and profitable situations, and in several instances rose, after a few years, even to opulence. The other were subjected to the least profitable and most laborious drudgery ; and remained, in fact, serfs of a very low order. Thus a felon of the very worst description, merely by the accident of his greater skill, would at; once be placed not merely iu a better position than at home, but might even vaidt from his present degradation to station and afflu- ence in a few years; while a man who had been convicted of some comparatively trifling offence, and had been anything but hardened in crime, might be doomed to a life of rigorous servitude. It was a whimsical perversion of the declaration, " Many of the first shall be last, and many of the last shall be first." This inequality was ren- dered still more glaring by the fact, that though the worst might be the best off, and the best the worst off, even a large portion of the worat off were, in the hands of indulgent masters, better off than if NEW SOUTH WALES. 6t they had maintained their innocence in a corresponding situation at home. They had plenty of wholesome food and warm clothing. Being, for the most part, " fruges consumere nati," they had plenty of the said " fruges " to consume ; and when they became ticket-of- leave men, they received higher wages than they could have pro- cured in the land of their nativity — that is, their punishment was promotion in the world ; they were condemned to — improved cir- cumstances ! " The wages of sin," in their case, so far from being " death," was physical wellbeing. " They that had humbled them- selves, were exalted " in a sense never intended in the sacred text ; and they might have said with Satan, " Evil, be thou my good." *But this was only one source of extreme inequality in the lot of these men, though of itself it was sufficient to render the system, as a penal one, an outrage on common sense. The chances of failure in the allotment of punishment to crime w§re ^o^bled by another circumstance. ' The system was essentially one of slavery, and therefore the happiness of the slave depended on the character of the master. There were to be all sorts of uncertainties and contingencies to complicate the result of this inimitable lottery. As the master was of a good temper or a bad, patient or irascible, equable or capricious, the condition of his assigned convicts was com- paratively happy or miserable. In the latter case, the law gave the slave-owner great and all but irresponsible power over the serf. ' The consequence was, that in virtue of the combination of these two sources of extreme inequality, an artizan felon of the very worst description might, in the hands of a kind master, be absolutely worthy of the envy of half our artizans at home ; while a country clown, who had never perhaps in his life done anything worse than poach for a half-starving family, and never done that but twice or thrice, might, by falling into the bauds of a revengeful or capricious master, be doomed to a condition which even a negro slave would be entitled to regard with compassion. No Avonder that, under such circumstances, transportation was regarded as a mere lottery, in which a man might be a great gainer by his having been a criminal, or incur a loss far more severe than he had merited. Hence, the different accounts the convicts themselves gave of it; some assert- ing, and asserting with truth, that their conviction was a happy epoch in their lives ; others complaining that the punishment was severe, without reason, and beyond desert. But the greatest incon- gruity of all, as already intimated, was this : — not the relative supe- riority or inferiority of some criminals to their fellows without respect to guilt, but the relative superiority of a large portion even of those who did not carry off the prizes in this wheel of fortune, to the majority of the innocent fools at home, who had never put into it. Hence, authentic cases of convicts having recom- mended their friends at home to commit the miniimim of crime which might entitle them to the rare privilege of transportation, and 68 AUSTRALIA. of those friends having eagerly inquired what was the quantum of crime which would qualify them for so much happiness!* If we look at tlie free part of the community in which sucii odd scenes were taking place, it does not require the gift of divination to see that the effects could not but be most disastrous. Not merely was the system, as the Parliamentary Report truly remarked, essentially a system of slavery, and therefore necessarily producing all the evils which attend that social anomaly, both on the master and the slave ; but all those evils in an aggravated form — from the fact, that the slaves were not merely slaves, but criminals ; many of them of that worst of all possible types of degraded humanity — educated and intelligent villains. Nor, putting out of sight the condition of slavery, does it require any great sagacity to see that such a state of things must be attended with the most fearful consequences. Can a country, in which the larger part of all menial duties, and many that ai-e not menial, are discharged by criminals — by men guilty of theft, forgery, or murder, and marked by all the related vices which have usually led to crime, and which inevitably accompany it? — can a country in which profligates of all descriptions, and in each descrip- tion the worst, form a third or even half the population, be any other than on the frontiers of hell ? *In order to aid the imagination of the reader, let him suppose that in some town and parish of liis own country the inhabitants, by some dreadful fatality, were compelled to take their servants, ■and many other species of dependents, from criminals just convicted; and that, naturally acting on the principle of seeking persons capable of performing the duties assigned, and having, in fact, little other ground of selection, they made their selection with reference to their capacity alone. For example, let a convicted forger be the cashier of the provincial bank ; let a profligate and seditious mis- creant be the editor of the provincial newspapet ; let a spendthrift debauchee, who has ended his career of vice by crime, become the instructor of the daughters of some of the first inhabitants in French and music ; suppose that the nursery-maids are harlots in the same category ; that the worthy mayor's butler is a drunken scoundrel, whose drunkenness has led on to peculations; that the domestic * Potter Macqueen, Esq., gave some curious evidence on this subject before a Committee of the House of Commons in 1831. After citing from a letter, in which the signal prosperity of some too happy convicts was set forth, he says — ' This letter was read among the agricultural labourers of Bedfordshire ; the eflfect of it was only this— ^.y tcere anxious to know what they would commit to axtitle them to he transported.' It was not without reason, therefore, that the Irish convict said, * Many a Mac in your town, if he only knew what the situation of a convict was, would not be long in following my example ! Thank God for the same, I was never better oflF in my life.' This expression of devout gratitude is almost as edifying as that of the cicerone mentioned in one of Horace Walpole's letters, who had been so accustomed to speak of his relics as the ' blessed this,' or the ' blessed that,' that he at last shewed his visitors ' a part of the blessed fig-tree that Christ had cm^ed.' Cases of persons who have committed crime to secure transportation have been notoriously frequent. Some instances will be found recorded in the Appendix to Archbishop Whately's Work on Transportation, No. ii. p. lio. NEW SOUTH WALES. 59 servants in every household * are swindlers, pilferers, burglars, licen- tious in their lives, and uncontrollable in their passions; that the very police are themselves often thieves, and the guardians of the law- its violators! Is it possible to conceive a state of society more hideous than this, or one which must be more surely summed up at last in general demoralisation ? Yet these anomalies are not greater than what actually characterised for many years the society of New South Wales, where, in a thousand cases, functions similar to those we have just mentioned, and many others, were performed by people neither better nor worse than the individuals whom we have imagined to be discharging them in our doomed parish.f But the most ter- rible feature in the picture is yet to be disclosed. 'Let us, then, further suppose the society to have become so familiar with these grotesquely - hideous anomalies — this moral masquerade — that when it is proposed to abolish the system of ** assignment," it is found that a universal outcry is raised against its abolition as a cruelty and a wrong ; that a vested interest in crime is pleaded ; that it is asserted that the diversion of this supply of perfectly unique servants will be attended with the most remediless evUs. Let us further suppose that loud protestations are made of the virtue and good order of a society which consists half of convicts and half of their employers. The reader would probably imagine that in this circumstance he will have received the strongest of all possible proofs of the dreadful effects of such a system — a system which, it appears, could induce a community to put the means of material wealth and physical enjoyment in competition with the continuance of such horrors. And he would conceive rightly. Yet was this the very outcry made both at Sydney and in Yan Diemen's Land when it was first proposed to cut off the " waters of bitterness," and relieve these colonies of the further curse — or, as they were pleased to think, to deny them the special boon — of a yearly importation of some thousands of ruffians and miscreants. It was ** Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted." 'J * In 1836, the number of assigned convicts in Yan Diemen's Land was 6475 ; in New South Wales, in 1835, the number was 20,207.— Report of Select Com- mittee, p. 5. f * At one time even the clerk of the Attorney- General was a convict, and per- formed all the legal business of his master.' — Report of Select Committee, p. 10. * It can be easily imagined what a pernicious effect must be produced upon the rising generation of the Australian colonies, in consequence of the children of settlers being too frequently in their tenderest years under the charge of such per- sons' — [profligate female convicts] — p. 9. 'The emploj-ment of convicts as clerks in the various departments of government, where they have had means of acquiring knowledge, of which the most corrupt and dangerous use has been made; the employment of convicts as clerks to attorneys, with free access to the jails, which has given rise in the colony to an unparalleled system of briberj' and connivance at crime ; the intrusting to convicts the education of youth in the various public seminaries ; the connection of convicts with the press — these, and other abuses, of which mention is to be found in every page of the evidence, appear in a greater or less degree inherent in the system of assignment.'— P. 10. ± At Sydney, a memorial was instantly addressed to the governor. Sir George Gipps, signed by ' C7 vwgUtrates, and 500 persons of great respectability ;' July 18, 60 AUSTRALIA. Other and more reformatory modes of punishment havmg been substituted to transportation, arrangements were made in 1847 for the reduction of the vast convict establishment in this colony ; Lord Grey remarking, in his correspondence with the governor, that ' It will now be necessar}* to adopt some system of punish- ment within New South Wales for those colonial convicts who formerly would have been sentenced to transportation ; and with reference also to the number of convictions which may, for some time to come, be anticipated in a society which contains to so great an extent the remains of the convict population.'* But the change was no sooner made, than, in harmony with the remonstrances above alluded to, an outcry was raised for the re- sumption of transportation. The parliamentary papers, from 1847 downwards, are filled with angry olyurgations on the subject, gleaned here and there throughout the colony. Many of the settlers maintained that this was an unworthy yielding to the outcries of a party in {Sydney, who were no doubt shocked and annoyed by the quantity of criminals which the system concentrated there, but did not keep in view the vast advantage of assigned labourers to the distant settlers. In short, these settlers felt tlie advantage of having slaves, and were loth to lose them, even under all the evils arising from having men of profligate habits and infamous character about them. Very many of the influential inhabitants of Sydney itself prayed for a restoration, at least in part, of the system ; and when public meetings were held on the other side, the advocates for the return of the convicts characterised those who attended them as idlers, and men who had no stake in the colony. A sort of medium arrangement was afterwards entered on, which, though it does not make New South Wales a convict colony, yet will continue to make it the recipient of a consider- able portion of our criminal population. In a dispatch of the 3d September 1847, the secretary of the colonies said : — * The system of assignment, though no doubt of great pecuniary advantage to those of the settlers in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land — to whom it was the means of affording a supply of gratui- tous, or, at all events, of very cheap labour — is one which has been condemned on grounds so conclusive, that I cannot anticipate the possibility of its ever being resumed.' In this dispatch the arrangement subsequently adopted was explained, which was that of sendmg out convicts, after they had been sul^ject to refor- 1838. InVata^ieWen'sta^da'pubiic meeting was called to summon the governor to vindicate the colony firom the aspersions of the Committee ; and when the aboli- tion of assignment was found to be probable, a memorial was addressed to the Crown, earnestly praying for its contitiuance.— Oct. 6, 1838. * Correspondence on Convict Discipline, Commons' Papers. NEW SOUTH WALES. 61 matory punishment at home, to the colonies, either with condi- tional pardons or tickets of leave. By the former they were simply prohibited from returning to Britain ; by the latter they were bound to a district. In the words of the dispatch : — ' Those who have conditional pardons are, on their arrival in Australia, in precisely the same condition as free emigrants of the working- class, except in the single condition of not being at liberty to return to their own country; and the situation of holders of tickets of leave is practically but little diflerent, since, while they reside in the districts appointed for them, and maintain them- selves by honest industry, conforming to certain rules by no means of a severe character, they are not interfered with.' Thus the convict is subject to his punishment under the im- mediate and vigilant eye of the government where he has com- mitted his offence, and where his character and past history are kno^vn. It is made refonnatory where that is practical, and when the ordeal has been gone through, care is taken that he shall not be immediately exposed to his old temptations, and driven among his old associates, by coming, a tainted and avoided man, into the home- labour market, but he is sent at once into a new world, with a fan- start in the road of honest industry. The system adopted by the executive, wliich may be altered from time to time, as the ex- perience of its working may suggest, is to keep the convicts in prison for periods varying from six to eighteen months, and then to employ them on public works — chietly in Gibraltar or Bermuda. It is a general rule that they are not to be permitted to go at large in Britain at any time before the expiry of the period of bondage to which they have been sentenced, but when the imprisonment and labour processes have been gone through with satisfactory effect, on the expiry of half the period, the convict may be sent as an ' exile ' to the colony.* The plan has been in some measure carried out, of taxing the partially emancipated convicts out of their earliest earnings for the cost of their removal to the colony, and the money thus raised has gone in aid of a fund for carrying out free labourers to relieve the moral balance of the colony from the preponderance of penal society. The necessity of supporting tliis balance mduced parliament to vote a sum of L. 30,000 to meet the expense of exporting free emigrants to the places to which the exiles were sent. It was an unfortunate concomitant of the penal system, that in a place where churches, schools, and every mstitution which might aid m filtering the colony of its moral pollution were peculiarly needed, they were peculiarly neglected. The convicts were bad men, and * Dispatch of Earl Grey to Sir W. Denison, 27th April l2iS. 62 AUSTRALIA. they -were thrust thither to be out of the way, as far removed as possible from all hopes and consolations, except those which, as we have already seen, circumstances cast up for them on the spot; and no pains were to be taken to provide them with those higher and purer influences which it is the function of religion and knowledge to provide. The consequences, as exhibited in the moral nature of the colony, were of the most appalling character. It seemed at one time like a place where the powers of good and evil had chosen their battle-ground, and it was to be a question which should get the mastery. The bush-rangers, like the English highwaymen of old, are still a name of dread in New South Wales. These men, ever liable to be seized as escaped convicts, were a terrific scourge to the outer settlers, among whom they marauded with all the energy and determination of the Briton, and all the recklessness of the savage. It would be difficult to find in any part of the world men more ready for deeds of darkness and des- peration than these, the most adventurous and desperate among the con\Tict population of Britain; and often has the remote settler had to congratulate himself with the reflection, that if they were desperate and ferocious, he himself was strong of arm and steady of heart, and to trust that if he met any of the ruffian bush-rangers, these qualities, joined to his good cause, would bring him through. New South Wales country life used to be as rife with bush-ranger stories as any other country with its robber legends. Some of them had even a wild and romantic turn ; such as the history of Jackey Jackey, who was said to have desired to attend a ball at Government-House, and to have requested a safe-conduct from the governor, along with an invitation. Jackey's name — which would not be counted a formidable one for a robber of the Mrs Radclifie school — was transferred to him after it liad been dedicated to a native of some importance, who afterwards, to prevent his being accidentally confounded with the bush-ranger, was called Big Bob Jackey. In all classes, and not least in a class with an admix- ture of convict ancestry, there is a disposition to take the deeds of predatory and violent criminals out of the furtive and brutal, into the dismterested, adventurous, and heroic ; and it is a remarkable instance of this spirit, that a convict who had turned bush-ranger should be made a sort of l}Tical hero in the colony. The towns of New South Wales have more than their legitimate local amount of dissipation, since they are the arenas where the bushmen hold those fierce debauches in which they make up for long periods of enforced sobriety. In the bush, tea is the uni- versal beverage ; tobacco is plentifully used ; but intoxicating liquors are little known. Considering the character of a large part of the population, one would expect to find peculiar reasons NEW SOUTH WALES. 63 for this phenomenon; and those given by Mr Murray, in hi& ' Summer at Port Philip,' are more amusing than flattering. Strong liquors have such powerful attractions, that, according to- his theory, they never find their way to the interior, but, by a sort of bacchanalian gravitation, are absorbed on the road. No power, either of reward or punishment, will, it seems, induce the class who form the wagoners or teamsters to abstain from consuming strong drink when it is physically within their reach, and no ingenuity in concealing it is sufficient to baffle their practised acuteness. Thus it is that the bushmen are kept sober, and that the interior is one of the best places to which men with a diseased propensity for liquor can be sent. When the bushman goes to Sydney or Paramatta, however, on business — or, as sometimes happens, for the mere sake of getting a satisfactory booze — he makes amends for lost time. Sometimes on these sad occasions the fruits of a whole year's sobriety and industry are scattered, and instances are told of men, after they had exhausted all other available means, making over their land for more liquor. "V^^lere such things occur, it is not wonderful that keeping a whisky shop should be the surest road to wealth. The northern district, beyond the bounds of the Macleay, was unoccupied until very lately, except by some cedar-rangers and a few squatters, who could take up their position there as beyond the bounds and regulations of the colony. The cedar -cutters, generally liberated convicts, formed a wild and brutal community, addicted to intemperance when they could procure its means, and subject to hardship and disease. The timbered swamps in which they lived exposed them to ague, the tormenting attacks of insects, and all the many forms of misery which haunt the centres of hot and damp vegeta,tion. Their position is described as even less civilised than that of the logwood - cutters of Honduras, Their pursuit involves perpetual change of place, and they live in temporary huts of bark. On the subject of their habits Mr Hodgkinson says : — ' The cedar-dealers furnish them from time to time with salt provisions, flour, tea, and sugar ; and every three or four months the sawyers travel down to the cedar-dealers, who live at the mouths of the rivers, for a settlement of their accounts. As these latter individuals are not remarkable for delicate scruples of conscience, they generally settle the balance due to the sawyers in a very summary way. They take care to have a good assort- ment of clothing, tobacco, &c. in their huts, with which they fmnish the sawyers at an advance of about 300 per cent, on the Sydney prices. This, with a cask or so of rum and wine, to enable the sawyers to have a fortnight's drinking-bout, generally balances their accounts. The scenes I have witnessed at the Q4: AUSTRALIA. Macleay river on these occasions surpass all description. Men and women (for many of the sawyers have wives), lying day and night on the hare grass in a state of intoxication, and only recovering to renew their orgies ; casks broken in, and the con- tents passed round in buckets ; men fightmg ; native blacks who have been supplied with liquor screecliing like demons under the influence of alcohol,' &c. Among the squatters and other settlers in the pastoral districts, there is a very considerable difference between the habits of the flockmasters and their assistants employed in the production of wool, and the stockmen, whose concern is with cattle and horses. The former have the greatest risks and the greatest gains, while in other respects their occupation is a more peaceful one. The Litter is a sort of wild exciting life, which some men, especially those of a sporting temperament, love for its own sake. A very animated little book, called ' How to Settle and Succeed in Aus- tralia, by Samuel and John Sidney,' gives some characteristic and striking sketches of life in the bush. The following is the bushman's feast when the cattle are driven in to be sorted and branded : — *When it is determined to have a grand muster, it is usual to invite all your neighbours for thirty or forty miles round. They generally assemble at the station the night before with their horses and dogs. You provide shakedowns, kill a heifer or two for fresh meat, and set an unlimited quantity of tea before them. No grog — that is too dear in the bush, beside other reasons on the score of temperance. Jolly circles are formed, all smoking short black dodeens round the fires, drinking tea, telling tales of cattle (not sheep — all stockmen abhor the name) and bush-rangers. At day- break, after a most substantial breakfast, the horses being got up and saddled, the whole party, often twenty or thirty horsemen, and about one hundred dogs, start into the bush. All the cattle they can find are driven into the camping-ground by twelve o'clock. In a good season (if the herd is quiet), when feed is plentiful, every head will be swept off the run by that hour ; but when cattle are wild, and grass scarce, they must be got in by degrees, some of the party tailing them all the time, and tliis will occasionally occupy weeks. ' All the cattle being on the camp, the tug of war commences. They resist being driven into the yard, knowing, by experience, how they are knocked about wlieu they get there. The horsemen ride at them with their formidable stock-whips, the dogs bite their heels and hang on to their tails, and what with the bellowing, barking, hallooing, and sweai-ing, the riot may be heard miles off by any stray traveller riding over the silent plains and through the open forests. Every now and then a beast or calf bursts out of the herd, and tries to head back to the bush. One or two horsemen are after them as quick as thought — their dogs follow. Many bullocks are so quick in NEW SOUTH WALES. 65 this country, that if they get a little stare, it will take a good horse- jnan to overtake them. The men ride like madmen, taking the fallen logs and great creeks in the gromid in their stride ; their hats oflf, lianging by ihe string on their backs ; their long hair and beards strewn on their shoulders, mixed with the gaudy fluttering liandker- chiefs in which a stockman delights. ' As soon as the beast is pressed, he doubles sliarp like a hare ; but a good stockman and a good stockhorse double just as quick, round like a top. Some horses seem to spin at will on their hind or fore-legs, like the loose leg of a compass round the fixed one. Crack goes the horseman's Avhip, as loud as a pocket-pistol, drawing blood at every -stroke. The beast doubles and doubles again, never turning until the horse is close alongside. Wild cattle will often gore a horse in these encounters. I knew a man Avho had two horses killed under liim in this way by Blackman's cattle, near the Barwen. At last, tired out, the bullock is glad to make the best of his way back to the fold, his hide all covered with foam and blood, his eyes glaring, and his tongue lianging out. Some cattle break out like this fifty times botween tlie camp and the yard ; and to see a dozen horsemen after half a score of beasts at best pace is a very lively scene.' SALE AND OCCrPATION OF LAND. Some account has already necessarily been given of the irre- gular and reckless disposal of lands m the earlier periods of the colony's existence, and it now becomes necessary to describe the more systematic arrangements made for the purpose of distribut- ing population and property over the available surface of the country in later times. In 1824 the Australian Agricultural Company was constituted for distributing a million of acres at the rate of a quit -rent of Is. 6d. per acre, after five years, ^vith a power of redemption at twenty years' purchase, or by the employ- ment of a certain number of convicts. At the same time general regulations were made for the sale of land ; and the central district was distributed into counties, hundreds, and parishes. A valuation of the land was appointed, so that an average might be fixed for all the land in each parish. In the practice of sale which liad been adopted, there was the exception of cases where the party had given satisfactory assurance that he would spend half the estimated value of the land on its cultivation within seven years. New arrangements were made in 1831, when the experience of America prompted the idea, tliat a revenue should be obtamed by the sale of land, and that it might be profitably used in send- ing out free labouring emigrants. The rule adopted was — that the crown land should be put up at auction at the upset price of os. per acre after public advertisement. An arrangement was at the same time adopted for letting on lease unoccupied lands. They E 60 AUSTRALIA. were to be let, by auction, in lots of a square mile, at an upset rent of 20s. a year. In 1836, when a select conunittee made their inquiries into the disposal of waste lands in the colonies, Mr Gibbon Wakefield had been promulgating his views about a * sufficient price,' and had obtained some sympathy and attention. Colonel Torrens insisted that the sufficient fixed price for land in Australia should be 4:0s. an acre. Some official persons at once perceived a fallacy in the system, and gave a warning against it. They agreed to the propriety of selling the land, and raising money, to be used in exporting labour to it, but represented that in a thinly-peopled country, with a feeble executive, on such a vital matter as land arbitrary rules made at home could not be enforced. The arrangement should, it was said, be flexible, adjusting itself to the views of the settlers, and their sense of justice. If an arbitrary sum were exacted in any particular place, it would just drive settlers elsewhere. ' In the remoter part,' says a paper by the Emigration Commission, * of the vast regions comprised within the range of the Australian colonies, the power of the law is unavoidably feeble when opposed to the predominant inclinations of any large body of the people. In such a country unpopular regulations, imless supported by a force either of police or soldiery irresistible and overwhelming, must become little more than a dead letter. * Thus in New South Wales the squatters (to employ a signifi- cant local term) find in the high upset price of land some of those advantages which a smuggler in other countries derives from a high rate of duty. Their proceedings, instead of being con- demned and opposed, are countenanced and supported by the society to which they belong ; consequently an extensive territory at a distance from the seat of government has been occupied by unauthorised settlers of all classes — by the wealthy not less ihan. by the poor — and in this systematic violation of the law each class finds support and encouragement in the example and com- mon interest of its various members.' These views were ably followed up by Sir Richard Burke, the governor of New South Wales, who explained that the lands at the immediate disposal of the crown in settled districts are neces- sarily those which purchasers have declined to take in competition with other lands offered at the old rate of 5s. ; that they are, in fact, a sort of refuse. In the course of years, and with the pressure of population, some of them are always reaching a point at which they are worth about 5s., and thus settling goes on in a con- nected chain. But let a much higher sum be set on the remaining lands, and then there is necessarily a gap ; and if it should not check settling altogether, yet it will create a break or interval ere NEW SOUTH WALES. 67 it can match the increased price. The settlers would be tempted to spread over distant unapproachable districts, where they might act as they chose. ' A facility,' said Sir Richard, ' in acquhing the actual property of land at a low price is the safest check to this practice ; and it may here be observed, that the unauthorised occupiers of remote crown lands do not wholly consist of small flock owners of slender means, but of the agents and shepherds of the wealthiest colonists within the limits of location.' " The effect of the restless and vehement reiteration of the suffi- cient-price principle, however, was, that it was at last carried. Having been established in South Australia, it was maintained that if land were much easier obtained in New South Wales, the former colony would not have a fair start — in fact, people would not pay a high price for land there when the same kind was to be had in the immediately neighbouring settlement cheap. la 1840 the home government divided New South Wales into three districts — the northern, the middle, and the southern — and the system of a considerable price for land was partially introduced. After much discussion on the matter, in 1843 the decided ar- rangement was adopted of fixing that land should not be sold for less than 20s. an acre. The imiform price, however, was not adopted — what it might rise to above that sum was left to com- petition. As the act for the establishment of the uniform mini- mum price applies to all the Australian colonies, an abridgment of its provisions has been given in the first section. — (See page 12.) These changes came upon the colony soon after an excess of wild speculation, and were accompanied by other causes of pros- tration. The sale of land in the colony came to a dead halt. The friends of a sufficient price attributed this to the secondary causes at work ; but other people, and among them the Colonial Legislative Council, attributed it directly to the action of the price. It was believed that land was a matter of supply and demand like other things, and that the emigrant would not pay 20s. in New South Wales when he could buy the commodity four times as pro- ductive for less than 5s. in the United States. It at the same time came into competition with the other British settlements ; and, as had been predicted, with the squatting system; the latter of course gaining the Victory which cheapness gains over deamess. It was stated that the picked lands had been given away for nothing ; the next in point of excellence had been sold at 5s. an acre: a quality still more depreciated had been forced off at 12s.; and now for the dregs of all £1 was demanded. These grievances were fully set forth m 1847, in a Report by a Committee of the Members of the Legislative Council, who maintained that, instead of increasing the land fund for bringing out labourers, the system G8 AUSTRALIA. bad nearly annihilated it ; and instead of concentrating the colonists, it had dispersed them farther than ever over wide sheep- ■\vaiks. In fact, the system of temporary possession was adopted, and, as in other interferences with natural arrangements, nature tried in this way to right herself. From upwards of £300,000 paid for lands in 1840, the amount sunk next year to £138,253; in 1842 to £16,508; m 1843 to £11,297; and in 1844 to £7403.* But there were certainly other causes at work both in the elevation and depression. The former occurred in the crisis of the mischievous speculation of the time, and, it must be kept in mind, also when the r2s. price was exigible — this amount being insufficient to counteract the current. The descent in 1844 to less than £8000 was aided by the ebbing of the tide. The actual effect of the price might perhaps be better tested by the ensuing years — 1845, which produced £16,693, and 1846, £27,061; the amount of revenue from land sales in 1847 was £59,112, and in 1848, £46,674. These sums may be again fairly contrasted with 1837 and 1838, when the amounts realised at 5s. an acre were respectively £121,962, and £128,865. A select Committee of the Legislative Council had, in 1847, to report on immigration, especially in connec- tion with a supply of labourers to the colohy ; and alluding to the effect of the land-sale system on the supply, they maintained that instead of increasing, it had almost annihilated the land fund, for the nominal benefit of which it was enforced. After many other colonial complaints had been made in the same tone, a select Com- mittee of the Legislative Coimcil, appointed on the 12th June 1849, ' to inquire into the management of the waste lands of the crown, the appropriation of the revenue derived therefrom, and the influence of such management and appropriation upon the colon- isation of the tei-ritory,' stated their views on the subject in the following strong terms : — * The commissioners observe tliat the subject of the report; involves some of the most difficult problems of political science ; and therefore, while some regard the high price as ruinous, others regard it as indispensable to the prosperity of new colonies, and the only guarantee against a ruinous waste of the lands of the crown. This may be true of England, where there is no practical experience to correct the aberrations of theor}-, but it is not so with regard to the colony of New South Wales. Here at least there is but one opinion upon the subject — an opinion entirely ad- A'erse to the price of twenty shillings per acre, which is not merely high, but prohibitory. The colonial minister must not deceive him- self by supposing that he is siding with a party in the colony who hold opinions identical with his own. Those who approve of a high * Pariiamentarj- Return?, 1S50.— No. oU. NEW SOUTH WALES. 69 price in the colony are generally advocates for a return to the price of five shillings an acre; those who approve of a low price would put up the land at a farthing an acre, and allow its value to be deter- mined by competition. There are no advocates of a prohibitory price. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon him that this price has been forced upon the colonists in defiance of their unanimous opinion, and is retained in total disregard of their imaltered con- viction. It is well observed by the Land and Emigration Commis- sioners, in their letter to Mr James Stephen, dated the I7tli July 1841, "that the extent to which the price can be raised has limits beyond which no authority will avail." "Just as the smuggler places a limit beyond which the duties of customs cannot be in- creased, so that the squatter woidd defeat an indefinite increase of the price of laud ; for as soon as the consideration demanded by government for granting a title becomes extravagant, persons will prefer the course of taking land without title, and bearing the risk." To use the metaphor of the commissioner, the only persons who wish to pei*petuate the present price, are those who have the same interest in it as the smuggler has in a high rate of duty. Free trade ruins the smuggler; cheap land destroys squatting. Your committee are quite willing to try the arguments of the present commissioners by the test of their predecessors — that is, if they would know whether the price is extravagant or not, let them see whether people prefer occupation without, or title with payment, and judge accordingly.' The great difficulty in dealing with the subject arose from the vested interests which the system had created. The squatters held their runs by a mere temporary tenure, and under an obli- gation to abandon the land if it should be sold. Becoming a large and important body, their steadiness of position — in fact, tlieir absolute possession of the land for little or nothing — depended on its not being sold. They were not entitled to culti- vate it, except to the extent of supplying theu' own wants : this drove them enthely to pasture-farming, but did not tempt them to pay a pound an acre or upwards for the privilege of turning grain farmers. At the same time, if in remote places there should be much inducement to till, it would certainly be difficult to pre- vent a settler from ploughing and reaping on land virtually his. OAvn. Thus has the price of land extended the pasture system,, and dispersed the population. In the meantime, it was necessaiy to take some order with th& system of squatting, a*id to apply to those w^ho occupied the wide pastoral regions some principle of laAv to tie tlieir allegiance to the government, and some rule by which they must exercise their right of occupancy. In 1844 a system of licensing was applied to the squatters, which created among them a lively excitement, being maintained by them to be an interference with 70 AUSTRALIA. their vested rights. Subsequently the system was reorganized, and set forth in an order in council in 1847. The division of territory which this order created — into settled, mtermediate, and unsettled — has already been mentioned — (See p. 12). This document, which applies chiefly to the imsettled districts, is so important to the emigrant that its main provisions must be given in full, and will be found appended to this section. At the end of same section will be found an abridgment of the regulations authorised to be made by this order in council, for the occupation of crown lands within the settled districts of New South Wales (includmg Port Philip), the more important clauses being given at length. They bear date 28th March 1848. Of the extent to which the available lands of New South Wales have been disposed of, and the breadth of territory still remain- ing, there is the following notice in the Report for 1850 of the Emigration Commissioners : the statement includes Port Philip : — * The whole extent of land alienated in New South Wales amounted, on 31st December 1848, to 5,526,395 acres, 2 roods, and 18 perches, leaving about 300,000,000 acres still in the hands of the crown. Of this immense extent of land it is said that about two- thirds are occupied by grazing establishments, which are also rapidly extending beyond the limits of the colony, and that millions of acres of the richest land within the range of the temperate zone are available for every description of cultivation. In Port Philip alone nearly 900,000 acres have been surveyed, and not bid for, and are consequently available for immediate purchase. * On the 30th December 1848, thirty-one new counties were pro- claimed, which will accordingly fall within the class of intermediate lands, as defined by the order in council, 7th March 1847. The effect of this proclamation is to bring within the settled or intermediate districts the Avhole seacoast of the colony and the adjoining land to a depth varying from 50 to 150 miles. In the northern parts of the colony, between 26 and 31 degrees north latitude, the depth does not appear to be more than 50 miles. From 31 degrees north latitude, southward to the boundary of Port Philip (including the greater part of the settled districts), it ranges apparently from 100 to 150 miles. In the Port Philip district it would be on the average considerably under 100 miles.' PRODUCTIONS. Mere statistical tables do not often give a very distinct notion of the availability of a country as a desirable or profitable place of abode ; but the following portion of a parliamentary document is so very comprehensive, and exhibits the progress of the colony in so distinct a manner, that it is not liable to the general objection : it of course includes the Port Philip district : — NEW SOUTH WALES. 71 Table of the Land in Cultivation, the Exported Produce, the Produce of Land Sales, and Receipts for Pasture Land, relatively to the Popula- tion, for each year from 1838 to 1849. Year. Popula- tion. Land in Cultiva- tion. Value of E^xports of Wool. Value of Exports of TaUow. Produces of Land Sales. Receipts on Account of Pasture Land. Acres. £ £ £ *. d. £ g. d. 1839 114.386 95,312 442,504 ... 152,962 16 4 6,345 1840 129,463 126,116 566,112 ... 316,626 7 5 12,735 1841 149,669 115,130 517,537 ... 90,387 16 10 13,300 1842 159,889 126,874 595,175 14,574 10 4 15,831 4 6 1843 165,541 145,653 685,647 9,639 11,297 3 9 16,185 1844 173,377 144,095 645,344 83,.511 7,402 18 6 19,710 15 6 1845 181,556 163,331 1,009,242 102,746 18,451 5 6 31,790 2 6 1846 196,704 182,533 1,019,985 28,107 27,060 15 7 34,599 1847* 205,t;»09 164,784 1,272,118 *108,186 62,801 4 1 40,176 10 1848 220,474 163,669 1,240,144 140,579 47,262 3 47,478 * 1847. There was an error in the quantity, which has been corrected in 1848. The following valuable table, presented in the Report of the Emigration Commissioners for 1850, when considered along with the preceding document, affords an estimate of the material pro- ductiveness of the colony in some important particulars : it will be seen that it includes the Port Philip district : — Table shewing the Number of Acres planted with the Grape Vine, and the Amount of Lire Stock, within the Colony of New South Wales. Sydney district, ") within the boun- > daries, - ) Beyond the boun- 1 daries, - / Port Philip dis-1 trict, within the > boundarj-, ) Beyond the boun- ) daries, - J Total, 1848, Total, 1847, Land Planted with the Grape Vine. Live Stock. Acres. Produce. Horses. Homed Cattle. Pi^ Sheep. Brandy.' Wine. 876 11 108 1,163 100 GaUons. 97,040 260 6,306 64,817 32,583 4,192 12,303 387,283 978,881 71,100 315,588 59,537 5,679 3,759 1,900 2,139,243 4,391,299 610,963 4,519,314 995 1,263 103,606 113,895 1,752,852 70,875 11,660,819 1000 1,423 55,335j 103,915 1,596,914 62,646 10,053,641 72 AUSTRALIA. General Sununary of Live Stock. Number, Total. In Svdnej- district, - - • 8,(»59,322 In Port PhQip district, - - 5,539,119 Within boundaries of location, - - 3,340,894 Beyond boundaries of location, - 10,i57,547 13,5 13,598,441 A Committee of the Legislative Council in 1847, on immigration, spoke thus of the general resources of the colony ; — * With a population not exceeding 200,000 souls, the colony already contains a number of sheep equal to one-fourth, and of cattle a pro- portion equal to one-seventh, of the whole number contained in Fi-ance. The whole of the Port Philip coimtry, and various districts in the older and settled parts of the colony, as well as in its northern divisions, and in the country recently discovered by Leichhardt and Mitchell, are capable of yielding sustenance to millions of human beings. Unlike the dense and impervious forests of Canada, or the western settlements of the United States, the richest and finest land in Australia consists of open and undulating plains, which are capable of at once receiving the plough. Minend treasures, which promise to be of considerable value, have been recently discovered in various districts, particularly at Wellington Valley and Yass. The riches which they contain cannot be realised from the one great social and all-pervading want — that of labom*.' In the papers on emigration to the Australian Colonies laid before parliament on 31st January 1850, there is an elaborate table of a kind which, if repeated from time to time, and accessible to the emigrant when he an-ives, might be of considerable service to him in fixing on his settlement. It contains the 'name of each district in one column, the principal agricultural and other pro- ductions in another, and the extent and character of the demand for labour in a third. It is dated 25th ^lay 1849. In Sydney, it is stated that ' the chief productions are vegetables and fruits ; ' and it is stated that the necessary supply of mechanics is kept up by the sons of the citizens. The staple productions of the "western districts are generally stated as wheat, barley, oats, and hay. Maize is mentioned in several districts, as in Paramatta, Windsor, Penrith, Binalong, Wellington, and kludge e. Tobacco and grapes occur occasionally, and oranges are mentioned in Para- matta. Wool and butcher-meat are mentioned only in the district of Molong, but animals do not appear to have been rated among productions by those who have provided most of the information for these tables. The districts in the southern division shew the same staple grain produce, while potatoes are more frequently mentioned, NEW SOUTH WALES. 73 and maize in almost every instance where there is other grain. Dairy produce is occasionally mentioned, while Eden and Moula- mein are set down as grazing districts with scarcely any agri- cultural produce. The northern districts still exhibiting tjie same staple agricultural productions, shew a greater mingling of the produce of sunny climes — tobacco, grapes, oranges, &c. The productions of Raymond Terrace are set down as ' maize, wheat, barley, oaten hay, and lucerne, potatoes, beef, pork, poultry, butter, cheese, salt, cloth, leather, fruit, and wine.' It strikes one as re- markable that peas and beans are not mentioned in the lists. The column on labour is a repetition of one almost unvarying theme. Agricultural labour, and that only, is urgently wanted, while there is room for domestic servants. There are exceptions, but very few. At Dubbo, for instance, the wants enumerated are — ' carpenters, stone - masons, stockmen, hut - keepers, shepherds, sawy^ers, fencers, and farm-labourers.' And at Marulan the enu- meration is, ' carpenters, wheelwrights, stone-cutters, watchmen, and cooks, shepherds, labourers, house - servants — especially females.' Although it wiU be seen from these statements that there are other sources of wealth, the sheepowners, or flockmasters as they are called, are the staple aristocratic ' interest ' of the colony. "We are not accustomed in Britain to associate dignity with the term squatter. It is quite otherwise in Australia. One is perpetually reminded of ' the great squatting preponderance ' — the danger of injuring or offending ' the squatting interest ' — the * overbearing presumption of the squatters ; ' or ' the highly-respectable and influential squatters.' The waste-land system, which we liave just been considering, has been alleged to be the cause why the pasture interest has been forced into growth; so that he who is nominally the mere temporary occupant of land, is in reality pos- sessed of so much power over its wide range, that he can look doNvn with placid contempt on the humble purchaser of an allot- ment. Of the extent of these sheep-runs, and the position in which the flockmasters and their servants respectively stand, one of the best notions may perhaps be formed from the following extracts from the evidence given before the select Committee of the House of Lords on emigration in 1847, by Mr Bradley: — 'What do you consider to be the state of the colony in relation to the demand and supply of labour ? — The colony at present is in a very distressed state ; for want of labour, wages are getting up very high indeed. ' Do you think that the high rate of wages is felt as a considerable 74 AUSTRALIA. impediment to the development of the resources of the colony? — lHo doubt it is. * "What were the wages given to shepherds in New South Wales at the time you left the colony i — When I left, twenty poimds was about the average rate of wages. * Was that with rations ! — With rations ; but the accounts which 1 have recently received from the colony state that wages are fast rising, and were then up to twenty-five and thirty pounds a year, and in some districts even more than that. * What is the largest number of sheep you have known one pro- prietor to possess ? — I am not one of the largest stockholders myself, but I have forty thousand sheep. Mr Boyd, who is, I believe, one of the largest stockholders in the colony, I think must have from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand sheep. * Over what extent of land are they depastured t — My stock, I should think, pasture over about three hundred thousand acres. * How many shepherds are there to your forty thousand sheep ? — There ought tb be three men to every two flocks ; the flocks vary from about seven hundred to one thousand. •What extent of land would you assign to one of those flocks? — In good tracts of country three acres will support a sheep, but it will not do so generally. It requires more, because there is a great deal of land interspersed that is not very useful. * How do you manage about shearing I — Men are employed for the purpose, and paid by the score. * Where do you get your shearers from ? — There are a great many who employ themselves during a great part of the year as agri- cultural servants, and at shearing time they go to that particular business. ^ * Is there any great difficulty in getting them ? — I understand that there was great difficulty in procuring them last shearing, but np to that time there was no great difficulty. * What is the general weight of the fleece ?— I should think about two and a half pounds is the average weight; some flocks will average three pounds. ' * What are the wages that you pay to the extra men whom you employ as shearers? — From two-and-sixpence to three shillings a score. * What do you do with the carcass in general ? Is there a good market for the carcass ?— No ; a very bad market. The carcasses are boiled down for tallow in great numbers. * Has not the fact been, that the pressure upon the stockmasters by reason of the high price of labour for the shepherds and shearers has been so great, that there has been a considerable increase in the boiling-down of sheep? — There have been a great number boiled down in consequence of the high price of wages and the difficulty of getting shepherds. * For the mere purpose of reducing the flocks ! — For the purpose of reducing the flocks. NEW SOUTH WALES. 7o *How far into the country do the flocks extend? "\Miat is the greatest distance in a straight line ? — In some places, I think, they are nearly four hundred mUes from the coast. ' At the extremity of the four hundred miles what kind of hahi- tations have the shepherds ? — They are huts formed of timber ; the walls are built of slabs — that is, trees spUt up into slabs something similar to boards — and the roof is generally covered with bark stripped from the trees, or with thatch. 'Is there any cultivation carried on in those remote parts? — Generally every station produces as much grain as will supply its own wants. ' Is that cultivation extended, or is it confined to the immediate wants of the station ? — In those remote districts it is confined to the wants of the station, because there is no market for a surplus. * What is the quality of the grain you produce in the colony ? — Yery good, generally. *I)o you conceive that the production of grain and agricultural produce could be carried considerably further if the labouring popu- lation were more dense, and the wages lower ? — It could be carried to any extent. There are vast quantities of land fit for agricultural purposes.' The history of the flockmasters of New South Wales is one of those which shew that any trade can be overdone, and that no tide of prosperity wiU justify reckless and unbounded speculation. Tlie effect of the bad tunes in Britain in 1841 was to limit the demand for wool, and the flockmasters having been in various shapes ex- travagant, depended on realising every farthing that the best of times could have brought to them. They were thus left with the surplus sheep, which used to be greedUy purchased, on their hands. Sheep sunk from £2 a head to half-a-crown, and cattle from £9 to £1. Then came one of those frightful droughts which are the characteristic calamity of the Australian continent. People heard in this country with commiseration of whole flocks being boiled down for their tallow, but this was not such an indication of ruin as it was supposed to be. It was suggested by i\Ir Ebsworth of Sydney as, in the circumstances, a really profitable investment of sheep property. Loud outcries were made about the wastefulness of destroying what would produce so much valuable wool ; but the sheep produced five shillings' worth of taUow, and it was useless to bid the owner let it be worth only half-a-crowTi for the sake of a principle. Sheep-boiling became a profession, and it was not im- usual to see the boiler's terms advertised in the Sydney news- papers. A shilling per sheep appears to have been the usual price of extracting, purifying, and packing the tallow — thus leaving in general a net profit of 4s. The liind-legs were the only part of the animal preserved as butcher-meat. AUSTRALIA. It appears from the following return, presented to parliament at the commencement of the session of 1851, that, as times im- proved, the boiling-down system increased, and tallow appears to have become a staple produce of the colony : — Year. Number of eh«.Ti rrlstabUrhments. Slaughtered. Homed Cattle Slaughtered. Tallow Produced. In 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 47 56 37 53 62 95 Number. 217,797 96,327 40,545 181,178 286,392 743,513 Number. 20,148 39,145 10,420 34,659 38,642 45,050 Cwt. 48,758 51,198 18,796 72,168 88,567 160,699 Totals, . 350 1,565,752 188,064 440,186 In the same parliamentary paper there is an instructive docu- ment on the pecuniary condition and progress of tlie colony. It is called a ' Return of the Number and Amount of Preferable Liens on Wool and of Mortgages on Live Stock,' according to a law for securing money on live stock and attaching wool. It may, in fact, be termed a return of the quantity of those commodities held in security for debt, and in pawn for advances from the beginning of 1843 to the end of 1849. In this general view, it is considered unnecessary to insert the mmutia? of the table — the number of separate securities and the quantities of live stock, &c. annually pledged. The amount of money in each year is considered the important item. It will be seen that after rising to a great height in 1847 and 1848, the amount of money thus secured diminishes in 1849:— Year. Preferable Liens Mortgages on Live on Wool. Stock. £ S. d. £ S. d. 1843 30,664 18 5 178,567 6 10 1844 57,733 1 10 241,727 6 11 1845 55,865 18 7 132,355 7 7 1846 71,351 5 150,733 8 1847 107,447 16 10 137,856 15 1 1848 108,892 2 11 219,756 15 8 1849 84,692 18 3 161,553 5 11 The Northern Districts.— Leaxing the established pasture-fields, NEW SOUTH WALES. 77 unci coming nearer the coast, while we pass northwards — equi- valent to going south in this hemisphere — ^we find the coun- try distinguished by the beauty and richness of the brush, as it is termed, which generally fringes the rivers, and is other- wise to be found where alluvial deposits come from the hills. There are granitic ranges of considerable height — some of them upwards of 6000 feet— near the coast, and their influence on the productiveness of the soil is, that the sudden torrents sent down from them after rain deposit a quantity of organic mat- ter which makes a thick rich mould. Instances are mentioned of fourteen successive crops of wheat having been raised on such lands. Of the brush, the luxuriance of which is the in- dex to this valuable coating of soil, Mr Hodgkinson gives the following description : — ' It grows on the richest alluvial land, and consists of trees of almost endless variety and very large dimensions, totally differing in appearance from the ordinary eucalypti and casuaracea?, which grow in the common open forests of Australia, for the brush-trees in general possess a rich umbra- geous foliage of bright shining green. The popular names of the most remarkable brush-trees are as follow: — red cedar, white cedar, mahogany, tulipwood, rosewood, ironwood, lightwood, sassafras, corkwood, the Australian tamarind, box, the numerous and elegant varieties of trees of the myrtle genus, the Australian palms, and the brush fig-tree; which, from being originally a mere creeper, requiring the support of another tree, gradually envelops it, and attains occasionally such a size, as to cause it to rank among the largest vegetable productions in the w^orld. But the peculiar appearance of the hriish is principally caused by the countless species of creepers, wild vines, and parasitical plants of singular conformation, which, interlaced and entwined in inextri- cable confusion, bind and weave together the trees almost to their summits, and hang in rich and elegant flowering festoons from the highest branches. The luxm-iant and vigorous character of the brush on alluvial land in the northern part of the territory of New South AYales cannot be surpassed in any tropical region.'* Along the banks of the ]\Iacleay River this luxuriant vegetation is described as prevailing to an extent which makes it monotonous. Besides the pines and other ordinary timber, Dr Lang enumerates the following as peculiar to this district : — * The Eed Cedar of Xew South "Wales.— This valuable timber, the finer specimens of which are equal in richness and beauty to any mahogany, is found on the alluvial land along all the rivers of this * Australia from Port Macqiiarrie to 3Ioretoa-Bay, p. 5. 78 AUSTRALIA. portion of the territory, and it is principally from these rivers that the supply for New South "Wales is now procured. * Iron-Bark. — This tree grows plentifully in the forest, and is suit- able for house or ship-building, and is a valuable timber. * Blue-Gum. — This is another valuable hardwood timber, and is well adapted for all kinds of carpentry work. *Box. — This timber is very suitable for all agricultural imple- ments, and for many other purposes. * liose or Violet- Wood. — This is a valuable timber, and is suitable for gig-shafts, &c. being similar to our lance-wood at home. The aborigines maJce their spears of this wood, and they know the art of straightening them when crooked. ' Silk-Oak. — This is a very beautiful tree, and the timber is weU adapted for the sheating of vessels, and many other useful pur- * Forest-Oak.— Known also by the name of Beef- wood ; suitable for tool-handles, bullock-yokes, &c. It is used principally for fire- wood. * Tulip-Wood. — This wood is suitable for fancy, cabinet and turn- ing-work. It grows in the scrub. The tree appears like a cluster of Gothic columns. * There are a great many other species of valuable timber in this district, observes Mr Petrie, that I have not described, not having specimens to give you. Logwood and fustic have been procured here. The timber-trade will form one of the principal branches of commerce. I have already mentioned the cj'press-pine as an ornamental timber, peculiar to the district. Satin-wood and yellow- wood are the names of two other species of timber that are used in the same way ; but this department of the future wealth of the territory of Cooksland has as yet been but very imperfectly inves^ tigated.' The settler must not look to the vast district from Port Mac- quarrie to Moreton and eastward of the mountain range as a great succession of grazing runs. Its destiny would rather seem to be that of exchanging other kinds of produce with the wool of the great table-land of New England and the plains. But even the lower valleys are not without good grazing-grounds, interspersed with forest or other alluvial land of a tillable character. The New England district and the plains have sometimes been pronounced the finest sheep country in Australia, and many of the squatters there have been very successful men. Among these great pasture- lands behind the hiUs in the north-east are the Darling Downs, of which Dr Lang says — * The stations on the Darling Downs are principally sheep stations : to the eastward of the Coast Range, where there is a comparatively large extent of land too low, too moist, and too rich for sheep, there are generally both sheep and cattle at the stations. On the Downs, NEW SOUTH WALES. 79 where the pasture-land is quite clear of timber, from 2000 to 2500 sheep are usually seen in a single flock. This is a great saving of expense to the squatter ; for in those parts of the coimtry where the pasture-land is of the character designated by the term " open forest," not more than about 800 sheep can be run in a flock. The Downs are traversed, at moderate distances from each other, by streams, or creeks, as they are called in the colony, rising in the lofty Coast Range, and running westward to the Condamine River ; and the usual extent of a sheep-run or station is twenty miles in length by six miles in breadth, or three miles on each side of one of these creeks. The extent of the station is therefore 120 square miles. On the east side of the Range towards the coast the stations are not un- frequently quite as large.' * Of the same district his friend Mr Allan Cmmingham says — * These extensive tracts of clear pastoral country commence about the parallel of 28° south, and stretch to 152^ east. Deep ponds, sup- ported by streams from the highlands immediately to the eastward, extend along their central lower flats. The lower groimds thus per- manently watered, present flats which furnish an almost inexhaustible range of cattle pasture at all seasons of the year — the grass and her- bage generally exhibiting in the depth of winter an extreme luxuri- ance of growth. From these central groimds rise downs of a rich, black, and dry soil, and very ample surface ; and as they furnish abun- dance of grass, and are conveniently watered, yet perfectly beyond the reach of those floods which take place on the flats in a season of rain, they constitute a valuable and sound sheep pasture. We soon reached the base of some hills connected laterally with that stupen- dous chain of movmtains, the bold outline of winch we had beheld with so much interest during the three preceding days. These hills we found clothed from their foot upwards with an underwood of the densest description ; in the midst of which, and especially on the ridges, appeared a pine which I immediately discovered to be the same species as that observed in 1824 on the Brisbane River.' In the papers laid before parliament at the commencement of the session of 1851, there is a letter from the district commis- sioner containing what he calls a rough sketch of the sheep-runs outside of the Moreton-Bay district. He says — * There are about thirty stations formed outside of this and the Moreton-Bay districts, mostly taken up within the last year or two, the occupiers of which pay no licence -fees to the crown, never ha\-ing been recognised within the boundaries of a conunissioner's district. *The stock upon these runs amounts, on the nearest calculation I can make, to upwards of 200,000 sheep, besides cattle and horses, Cooksland, p. 132. 80 AUSTRALIA. aud fresh additions are daily being made to tlie number ; so that on the 1st of January 1849 I have no doubt that assessment might be made on fully 306,000 sheep, and a proportionate fund be added to the crown revenue from the leases that would be tendered for, pro- vided a district was formed and a commissioner appointed to it.' In the lower alluvial districts the most important consideration is as to the capabilities of the comitry for ordinary agricultural produce. It is stated that in 1841 and 1842, when, owing to the drought, there was so fearful a failure in the crops in the south, the squatters on the Macleay and other stations in the north drew crops of upwards of forty bushels of wheat per acre, the weight being sixty-five pounds per bushel. This, however, was even in the northern districts a dryer period tliau usual, and it seems to be the general opinion, that the very rich alluvial lands in the north are too rank for grain, which has there a tendency to run to straw. Much grain -land could be procured by clearing forest-land, but it will often be a question whether the expectations will justify the cost of the operation. Dr Lang tells us that — *In regard to the adaptation of the soil and climate for the growth of wheat, Mr Commissary Kent informed me that he had actually thrashed out thirty-four bushels an acre from a stack of wheat grown on the Government Stock Station at Limestone, although a consider- able portion of the gi-ain had been lost through mismanagement, and that tliat grain had weighed from sixty-two to sixty-three poinids per bushel. Sir John Ross, the proprietor of a squatting station about twenty-three miles from Ipswich, on the road to the Gap, told me also that he had liad a quantity of wheat grown on his station, of which the average produce was thirty bushels an acre ; and I learned from an intelligent squatter on the Darling Downs, that the produce in that district is at least equally great. * Mr Eoss, who is man-ied, and has a promising family, had been ten years in the colony. He had come from the north of Scotland as a hired servant or shepherd to one of the sons of Sir George 3I*Kenzie, Baronet, of Coll. He had had £300 in cash when the period of his engagement expired, and had entered into some specu- lation in stock, during the sheep-and-cattle mania in the colony a few years ago, but had been imsuccessful. He had commenced afresh, however, and has now 4000 sheep, besides cattle and horses, and an excellent squatting station on one of the best routes in the district, and quite close to navigation. * At Captain Griffin's station on the North Pine River, in latitude 27^, I found that the wheat crop, of which, however, I neglected to ascertain the return per acre, had been reaped by the 1st of Novem- ber, corresponding to the 1st of May in England ; the stubble-ground having been partly planted with maize at the period of my visit, and partly under the plough for more. ^Ir Grifl&n, junior, was also pre- NEW SOUTH WALES. 81 paring to plant English potatoes on a portion of the stuhble-land, to be ready by the beginning of winter. In the garden I observed bananas, pine-apples, and orange -trees, growing luxuriantly along with the common English potato, the sweet potato, cabbages, Cape gooseben-ies, strawberries, melons, cuciunbers, pumpkins, and French beans. ' Barley has also been cultivated in the Moreton-Bay country with complete success ; and Captain AVickham, R.X., the police magis- trate of Brisbane, told me that, to his own knowledge, some superior Highland whisky had been made from it — I suspect without paying the duty. * In short, it has been sufficiently ascertained that the soil and climate of Moreton Bay are admirably adapted for the production of every species of European grain, as well as of those peculiar to "warmer climates ; for as vegetation goes on without interruption all the year round, the farmer has only to select for the growth of any description of grain the pai-ticular season that will insure tlie exact temperature required to bring it to maturity : the barley harvest, as being the hardiest grain, coming immediately aft^r the colonial winter; the wheat harvest at the commencement of summer; and the maize harvest so late as to give that intertropical grain the full benefit of the heat of summer, * The maize crop is indeed a never-failing crop at Moreton Bay — the return on alluvial land, in good condition, being at the rate of eighty bushels an acre. Of the small variety of maize called Cinquantino^^ or Cobbett's corn, three successive crops liave been grown on the same ground in a year. This grain is extensively used as an article of food in the southern states of North America, and indeed all over the Union. The Americans have various modes of preparing it, both in the form of cakes and of puddings. It is a most valuable grain for all descriptions of stock, and there might very soon be a large yearly ex- portation of it to England from the ten-itory ofCooksland, were there only a numerous free immigrant agricultural population settled in that territory. It would form an excellent and cheap article of food for the humbler classes at home, either by itself, or mixed with the flour or meal of other low-priced descriptions of grain. Maize has hitherto been very httle used as an article of food in New South Wales, partly from having been given in the form of meal as part of their rations to the convicts, under the idea of its being an inferior sort of food, but chiefly from the circumstance of the very poorest classes of the community in that colony being able at all times to purchase wheaten bread, which they prefer. ' I scarcely expected to find the common English potato cultivated successfully at Moreton Bay ; but both at Brisbane and Ipswich I found them quite as good as they had been in Sydney at any time during the year 1845. They are cultivated there, however, rather because most people are accustomed to the use of them, and prefer * It is so called from the Italian word signifying ^'fy, because it is supposed to come to maturity in Mty days. F 82 AUSTRALIA. them to any other vegetable, than because they are peculiarly suited to the soil and climate ; for tlie potato of the growth of Port Philip, ten degrees further south, is greatly superior to the best I saw any- where at Moreton Bay. * The sweet potato, however, seems to be peculiarly adapted to the soil and climate of Cooksland. It is propagated either from the root, or from cuttings of the vine, as it is called, although, when propa- gated in the latter of these modes, it degenerates rapidly. Tliis tuber is astonishingly prolific. Dr Simpson had been getting some planted in his garden at Red Bank, when I had the pleasure of seeing him there ; and in accompanying me through the garden, he observed that maize and the sweet potato were the staple and never-failing agricultural productions of the district, and that many of the tubers turned out from the plants I saw in progress would in all likelihood be eleven pounds in weight each. Mr Wade had seen one that weighed eighteen pounds, and Mr Kent one of twenty-three pounds ; but I have since heard of one that had been forwarded from the district to Sydney, prior to the arrival of any of these gentlemen, that was called " the infant," from its resemblance to a child, and that weighed considerably upwards of thirty pounds. When propa- gated from the root in rich alluvial soil, the sweet potato will yield forty tons per acre. As an article of food, this tuber is very little if at all inferior to the common potato, and when mashed up with milk and pepper into a sort of pudding, it forms a most palatable article of food. The Americans are very fond of it, especially for ship stores ; and an American whaling captain, who had been wrecked on the coast to the northward, and had reached Moreton Bay in his boats, gave it as his opinion that if the port were only properly sur- veyed and made known, the facility of obtaining maize-meal and sweet potatoes, with the other supplies that are likely to bo procur- able there at a very moderate cost, would be sure to attract many of the South-Sea whalers of that nation, in preference to any other Australian port. ' But the sweet potato would be highly valuable to an industrious population settled at Moreton Bay, not so much as an article of food for man, as for the feeding of pigs and the curing of bacon. After having been reared for a certain period on these tubers, a compara- tively small quantity of maize, to be supplied daily to the animals, would bring their flesh to the requisite consistency for all economi- cal purposes ; and a most profitable branch of industry (especially for persons of the humbler classes, as it would require no capital to commence with) might thus be created, and another promising channel of colonial commerce opened up. In this observation I am happy to say I am strengthened by the concurrence of the late mayor of Sydney (Henry Macdermott, Esq.), who had also visited Moreton Bay, and to whom I found the same idea had also occurred. *When the government garden at Brisbane was kept in proper order, arrow-root was cultivated in it, by way of experiment, and with complete success ; the quality of the article being pronounced NEW SOUTH WALES. 83 by the officers of the settlement equal to any they had ever seen, and the quantity gathered being at the rate of four tons an acre.'* Indeed the soil of this district appears to be generally destined for still richer harvests. Specimens of cotton grown there have been pronounced by manufacturers in this country to be of supe- rior quality. Coffee has been produced, and so has sugar. Mr Hodgkinson said he saw the cane growing luxuriantly in a friend's garden on the Macleay. That tobacco and the other pro- duce of rich soils and warm climates will be effectively produced there, seems beyond doubt. But the great instrument for effecting the change is in the meantime wanting. As in the still more northern districts the idea has been thrown out of employing Chinese and Lascar labourers in this part of Australia. In September 1849 a select Committee of the Legislative Council of New South Wales on the application of crown lands, examined practical witnesses on the capabilities of Moreton Bay for the production of silk, sugar, coffee, and various other productions which we have not been accustomed to obtain from places where the tillers and producers are free labourers, of British origin. There are possibly many prejudices to be dispelled about the un- healthiness, and hence the slavishness, of all industrial operations connected with these kinds of produce ; but it is no doubt a grave question, whether any district of which they are the staple produc- tion will prove a satisfactory British emigration field. It has been supposed that at all events a selection of a few of the more practical passages from the examination might be interesting, as exhibiting the expectations that are formed both for the capitalist and the labourer as to this part of Australia on the rearing of the silk- worm, and the production of silk. We have the evidence of M. Beuzeville : — 'What do you think of the capabilities of this climate and country for the growth of silk ? — I think them exceedingly well suited to the production of silk, and the growth of the mulberry-tree. * Is that a mere speculative opinion, or one fortified by experience on the subject ? — Fortified by the results of the experience of last year at the Experimental Silk Institution. ' Will you state what has been the nature of the experiment, and the results which have attended it ? — The experiment commenced by making a plantation of the various sorts of niiilberry — the multi- caulis, Cape, and other sorts; and the results have been most decidedly in favour of the multicaulis * To what extent have you carried on the breeding of the worm ? — To the extent of making a sample of silk, which has been sent to * Cooksland, pp. UZ-Ui 84 AUSTRALIA. England, and preserving eggs for the following year, probably suflBl- cient to produce one or two hundred thousand worms. * "What quantity of silk have you made ? — A sample of about one pound. * Do you think the capabilities of this colony for*the production of silk are equal to those of the south of Europe, Spain, and the silk- growing parts of France ? — I think quite so ; rather superior, judging from the experiments I have made here. I think twenty per cent, more silk can be obtained here from a given quantity of cocoons than in Spain. * Will you describe the class of persons who might be most appro- priately engaged in this description of industry — the cultivation of the mulberry, the rearing of silk-worms, and the filature of the silk I — The cultivation of the mulberry, I imagine, must be attended to by men — the planting, weeding, and so forth. * Can you speak as to the amount of labour required for the culti- vation of a given quantity of land for the growth of the mulberry ? — I can hardly form a decided estimate upon that point. We calcidate that something like seven hundred and fifty trees can ])c planted to the acre ; and a certain amount of labour would be required to go over that ground, probably twice, or perhaps thrice a year. ' That would depend a good deal on the character of the soil ? — Yes. The rearing of the worm would naturally form a suitable occupa- tion for children and young females, varying from eleven years old and upwards. 'This would be done in their own houses? — The raising of the worm, but not the reeling of the silk. *By ha^'ing a few mulberry plants growing in the gardens attached to their houses ? — The leaves could be obtained from the plantation, and the silk reeled in the filature. ' Can you give any idea as to the value of the produce of the labour of a family of three or four children engaged in this occu- pation ? — The calculation is, that it would occupy a single person for thirty-six days to rear forty thousand worms, and these would produce cocoons, when 2^^operIy attended, which would be worth live poimds * Would there be employment for the men of the families? — To a certain extent ; but the men might be employed in other matters more profitable; their families could attend to the worms, and gather the leaves, having a small portion of ground attached to their houses, where the trees might be grown. * It would not be necessary to have the labour of the men for the plantation ? — Very trifling — I mean to keep it in order. * Is it necessary that the plantation should be dug and kept free from grass ? — The ground should be broken up twice, and kept free from couch-grass * You think the raising of the silk-worm miglit be made an acces- sary species of industry, by which the families of men engaged in the cultivation of small farms might increase their incomes I — Yes : NEW SOUTH WALES. 85 it is an accessary to the general business of the farmers in Spain and France, and other silk-growing countries.' Another witness, ^Mr Bowden, speaks chiefly to the cultivation of sugar, but he also speaks to coffee and other productions of warm climates. The following passages are selected from a long examination : — * You have been engaged in the cultivation of the sugar-cane ? — I have been fourteen years engaged in the cultivation of sugaf and coffee — chiefly sugar. ' What do you think of the capabilities of Moreton Bay as a sugar-growing country ? — I think it would answer well : I never saw finer soil in the West Indies. * Is the climate warm enough ? — Quite warm enough ' Is there not frost at Moreton Bay ? — Not sufficient to affect the sugar-cane, nor even the banana, which is much more tender than the sugar-cane. *Do you think, with the price of free labour here, sugar can be grown with profit ? — I am certain of it, from the advantage held out of having an estate on the bank of the river. * Has it not been proved, by the experience of the whole world, that sugar has never been able to be grown by free labour? — I have never known it grown by white labour. ' Yet you conceive it is probable that sugar may be grown with profit at Moreton Bay by European labour I — Yes : I certainly think so. *Tliere has been great improvement in the mode of cultivating the sugar-cane I — Yes : the plough has been introduced. ' A great deal is now done by machinery which was formerly done by manual labour ? — When I first went to the West Indies, the ground was opened by the hoe ; now we open it with the plough. ' What is tlie next process — Planting the cane. 'What time of the year would you open the ground? — About November. ' When do you plant the cane ? — Immediately the land is opened. * Planting the cane is done by hand ? — Yes. * How are the holes made ? — We plough the land about eight inches deep, and form a high bank on each side, similar to turnip holes, only much deeper. Yie then place the cane at the bottom of the hole. The sucker, or plant, may be about two feet long, ' What distance are the rows apart I — Four feet and a half. * And the distance between the canes ? — About eight inches. There are tv.-o plants in about four square feet. 'What is the next process: do you throw the earth into these holes ? — AYe cover the plant lightly with earth, if wet weather ; if it is dry weather, about two inches deep. In moist seasons the young cane comes up about three weeks after planting. The cane must be kept clear from grass and weeds, and the mould must be thrown in round it gradually. 86 AUSTRALIA. * That is done by the hoe? — It is weeded by children. This work is all done by children in the West Indies. *Is anything done before cutting? — It requires three cleanings before it gets the whole of the bank so as to level the ground. *At what intervals are these made? — It depends upon the weather; perhaps six weeks. They generally require three trashings after that; the cane throws out at the joints two leaves, which require to be taken off, or they throw out a root ; the taking off the leaves is called trasliing. At Mr Jones's garden at Brisbane I saw some very fine canes, and told him that the reason they did not thrive well was that he did not xmderstand the mode of cultxire ; at all the joints fresh roots were being formed. * Are those leaves useful ? — Yes ; they are put between the rows, and answer as manure; besides which, when the cane is blown down, it lodges on the leaves, and is thus prevented from rotting. *Is that trashing a laborious occupation? — I have known two negroes to trash an acre a day since their emancipation, when it has been done by task-work. •What is the next process? — The cutting; after three or four trashings, at the end of about fourteen months. ' You say about fourteen months : thus if the canes were planted in November '49, you would cut them in January '51 ? — Yes. * Then do the plants remain in the ground ? — Yes : I have known a cane to grow and not be cut up for twenty years ; but great care is required in taking these canes off. * What is the instrument used in cutting? — A bill-hook. They cut them close to the ground, or rather under the ground. * Is that a laborious process ? — Xo ; it is all done by women. * It does not require any great strength to separate the cane ? — Not at all ; it is very light work. * WTiat do you do with the canes when they are cut! — ^Take them to the mill and grind them. *Is that done by steam? — Steam or water power. * Does it require much laboiir to assist in working the miU ? — ^Not at all: we have three rollers, either vertical or otherwise; one person carries the cane, and another feeds the mill, and the juice runs by a small guttering into the boiling-house. * The boiling is the last process ? — Yes. •Is there much labour required in that department? — ^No; it would require four men in the boiling house * You have not been here during the summer ? — No. * Do you think white labourers can endure the heat at Moreton Bay better than in the West Indies? — I imderstand the labourers at Moreton Bay work all through the summer ; and there are a number of sawyers there who are occupied in cutting trees, which is much more laborious than any work connected with sugar culti- vating. •Is there greater exposure in the cultivation of maize than in sugar-growing? — Much the same; we cultivate maize with the cane. NEW SOUTH WALES. 87 * Maize is cultivated to a considerable extent at Moreton Bay ? — They have commenced its cultivation there lately. * Is the maize planted between the rows of cane ? — Yes : the maize is planted at the distance of every four feet, and by the time the cane grows to five feet high, the maize is fit to come out. ' You are of opinion that there would be employment here for a large amount of capital and labour in the growth of sugar ? — Yes ; and such labour as could not affect the tending of sheep; large families could be profitably employed, as a great deal of the labour is performed by children. We never employed men in cleansing the land or in trashing the canes. * Would not the proper means of cleansing the canes be by ploughs or scarifiers? — You cannot use machinery, because it is liable to injure the cane. * It must be done by hand ? — Yes ; we tried everything in the West Indies, with horse, hoes, and scarifiers, but they were no service whatever. * At what do you calculate the expense of clearing the land per acre ? — I have allowed four pounds per acre. *Have you a likelihood of obtaining sufficient support to enable you to form a company here ? — I think I may say that the company is formed. I believe I shall return to Moreton Bay to select the land. ' You calculate four poimds an acre for clearing the land ? — I have taken the opinion of a practical man upon the subject, Mr M'Connel, who is of opinion that that would be sufficient. * What kind of land is it : is it very thick brush ? — ^No : not very thick. * Is there not a great deal of land entirely cleared that would answer for this purpose ? — It is of very inferior quality, and would not grow canes. * I understood you to say there were many thousands of acres which would answer for this purpose ? — Yes : on the banks of the Brisbane and Bremer. ' That you have seen yourself? — Yes ; close to the river side, where there would be no expense for carriage. The land-carriage is a great tax upon sugar -planting in the West Indies; there is great wear and tear of stock, as well as the liability to a great deal of plunder. ' The land you allude to is on the banks of a navigable river, and may be approached by steamboats ? — Yes ; and that gives it an advantage over any other part of the covmtry. The cane could be grown three or four miles from the mill, and brought to the mill by boats, to be manufactured into sugar. *As to coffee, is there any opening for the cultivation of coffee? — I think it would grow in positions sheltered from the south-west ■winds ; but there is cold wind in the morning, which in blossoming season would affect it; but if sheltered from these winds, I am certain it would grow there. 88 AUSTRALIA. 'The coffee -plant is more delicate than the sugar-cane? — The coft'ee-plaut is most delicate in the time of blossoming. 'Is the cultivation of coffee a laborious occupation? — No: it is very simple ; the greatest labour is picking and clearing ; there is no labour to speak of, except hoeing the land, the same as in plant- ing maize. ' You have made no calculations with reference to coffee ? — No. 'Would cocoa grow at Moreton Bay ? — I know nothing of that. * Would the guava plant grow at Moreton Bay ? — Yes. It is quite a weed in the West Indies ; if you leave a cane-field in fallow for a few years, the guava grows all over it. * You cannot destroy the seeds ? — No : it is dropped by birds. ' You do not contemplate the growth of any other tropical plant but sugar? — I should try coffee; the yam grows beautifully, if people only knew how to plant it. One that 1 saw in 3Ir Jones's garden was stuck in tiie ground the same as potatoes, but the mould should be cast up in a hill, and the yam should be put at the top of it; unless the land is soft around it, it cannot produce.' Dr Lang proclaims the capacity of the district to produce cotton, with an enthusiasm that looks almost like intolerance of disbelief or doubt. He has, we believe, engaged in some actual attempts to get his opinions put in force. Of his strong assu- rances, the following may be taken as a specimen : — 'Of the artificial productions for which the soil and climate of Cooksland ai-e peculiarly adapted, the only other I shall mention is cotton. I Avas much struck on observing the healthy and vigorous condition of the cotton-plants I saw for the first time in the garden of Dr Ballow, the colonial surgeon, at Brisbane Town, Moreton Bay, in the month of December 1845. I had seen tlie plant in Eio de Janeiro, in the Brazils, where it is cultivated for exportation, in the year 1823, and the plants at Moreton Bay were to all appearance equally healthy and vigorous. The cotton had evidently been ready for pulling several weeks before the period I have mentioned ; for the plants having been grown merely from curiosity, and with very little attention to their fate, the pods had been left to wither on the bushes, and fall to the ground. It was evident, therefore, that the cotton -harvest at Moreton Bay would be early in November — a circumstance of the utmost importance to the future welfare and advancement of the district ; for as the periodical rains of that part of the colonial territory, which would otherwise greatly damage or destroy the cotton-crop, occur in December and January, that crop, if cultivated extensively, would in all likelihood be liarvested before the recurrence of the annual rains. In short, it was impossible for any person to see the cotton-tree so strong and healthy as it appeared in the instance I have mentioned — its branches covered with pods, and these filled with cotton of snowy whiteness, and apparently superior quality — and to doubt for one moment the adaptation of the NEW SOUTH WALES. 81> soil and climate to the growth of that important article of produce. Indeed, if it grows in Egypt and in South Carolina and Georgia, why, it might be asked, a priori^ should it not grow in a soil and climate at least equal to that of either of these countries in the correspond- ing latitudes of the soutliern hemisphere? For my own part, I have not a shadow of a doubt as to the perfect adaptation of the soil and climate of Cooksland for the growth of cotton.' * It appears to be a disputed point whether the eastern portion of the northern district will be peculiarly suited for the cultivation of the vine. On the one hand, it is said that the rains always fall at the very time for its cultivation. It is said by others that the geological formation of the country, as well as its climate and atmosphere, favour the cultivation of the grape ; and analogies have been made between the slaty elements in the soil and that of the Rhenish vineyards. All prognostications on such a matter^ however, must be made with caution. It is remarkable how- little science has done, either to affect such productions of long standing as the wine of particular places, or even to explain how it is that they possess their peculiarities. So far, however, as the mere growth of the grape is concerned, there is no doubt that it has been very successfully raised at the Macquarrie, and northward of it. There are some flourishing vineyards at Kemp- sey on the ^Macleay. In the meantime, it may be mentioned,, in continuation of the information given above,f that, according to the papers presented to parliament at the beginnmg of the session of 1851, there "svere, in April 1850, of acres growing vines in the w^iole colony, 963, the produce of w^hich for the pre- vious year had been 95,843 gallons of wine, and 1266 gallons of brandy. Natural productions fit for the food of man seem to be less scanty in the northern than in the southern part of the colony. A wild fig is spoken of as a refreshing and agreeable fruit. In the moist alluvial lands is found the edible root of a large-leaved plant called the conjeboi. The cabbage-palm and the bangolo-palm provide a spongy farinaceous-tasted substance, some- times compared to sago, sometimes to chestnut. ' A species of palm,' says Mr Hodgkinson, ' bearing an edible fruit, begins to grow to the north of ]Moreton Bay. There is a large extent of country in which it is particularly abundant, and which is the con- stant place of resort for a vast number of the aborigines, who feed on the fruit, which they call " bunya-bunya." ' — (P. 112.) There are several other edible vegetable productions in the bush, the most important of which is a sort of yam or sweet potato, and another edible root resembling parsnip. Other kinds of food not so agreeable are spoken of— such as a kind of grub, which * Cooksland, p. 162. f P. 71. 90 AUSTRALIA. is made up in a mess with the fern-root, and is said to resemble marrow. Collins, in the earliest accounts of New South Wales, made statements about the eating of worms, which were supposed to be the mere evidence of incidental famine. But there is, espe- cially in the northern district, a particular worm caUed the cob- berra, which is a standing article of food with the north-eastern natives. It is said that they use it, not because they are driven to it by necessity, but because they are fond of it. It riddles and inter- laces the rotten wood lying in the brackish swamps. It is white, of considerable length, and about half an inch thick. It is drawn out of the wood in a semi-live state only ; and the native slides it uncooked down his throat, after the manner of the lazzaroni with their macaroni. * Although,' says Mr Hodgkinson, * I have tasted from curiosity various kinds of snakes, lizards, guanos, grubs, and other animals which the blacks feed upon, I never could muster resolution to try one of these cobberra ; although, when I have been engaged in the survey of salt-water creeks, and felt hot and thirsty, I have often envied the extreme relish with which some accompanying black would stop and gorge him- self with this moist living marrow.' — (P. 55.) The natives eat lizards and snakes with great appetite ; but there are better things in the animal world of the north - east. Fish seem abundant in the waters — such as bream, mullet, and salmon. ' Fish,' says Mr Hodgkinson, 'in the numerous rivers along this part of the coast, form a never-failing article of food for the blacks, whom I have seen at the Macleay and Namlucca rivers spear in a few minutes sufficient fish for the whole tribe on the shallow sand- banks and sand-flats on that part of the river which rises and falls with the tide. The sea-beach abounds with clams, oysters, and cockles, at aU times procurable, whilst large crayfish and crabs are caught among the rocks. In the lagoons and running streams the natives obtain several kinds of fish, large eels, a small kind of lobster, and fresh-water mussels.' — (P. 223.) Dr Lang gives a far more vivid and rich description of the fishery resources of the district ; and in quoting what he says, it is necessary to premise, that whUe he is an enthusiast in many things, the speedy applica- tion of the Moreton-Bay district to the enrichment of the world is one of his most cherished enthusiasms : — * There is no place near Sydney where fish are in such abun- dance, or of such excellent quality, as at Moreton Bay ; and in the event of a large free immigrant population being settled in that part of the territory, a fishery could be established in the bay with great facility, not only for the supply of a large commercial town, but for curing and exportation. The species of fish that are most common in the bay are mullet, bream, puddinba (a native name cor- NEW SOUTH WALES. 91 rupted by the colonists into pudding-ball), kingfish, jewfish, black- fish, whiting, catfish (a fish with a large head, resembling a haddock in taste), &c. kc. The puddinba is like a mullet in shape, but larger, and very fat ; it is esteemed a great delicacy. Cod and snapper are the species most frequent at the Flat Rock outside the entrance. * Tm-tle are very numerous in their proper season, particularly at Kaneipa, the southern extremity of the bay, where small coasting vessels take in cedar for Sydney. An intelligent black native, whom I met with on the Brisbane River, about the middle of Decem- ber, when asked when the turtle would come to the bay, held up five fingers in reply, saying, " That moon ; " signifying that they would come about the middle of May. The greatest excitement prevails in hunting the turtle (for it can scarcely be called fishing), black natives being always of the party, and uniformly the prin- cipal performers. The deepest silence must prevail ; and if the slightest noise is made by any European of the party, the natives, who assume the direction of affairs, frown the offender into silence. They are constantly looking all around them for the game, and their keen eye detects the turtle in the deep water when invisible to Em-opeans. Suddenly, and without any intimation of any kind, one of them leaps over the gunwale of the boat, and dives down in the deep water between the oars, and perhaps, after an interval of three minutes, reappears on the surface with a large turtle. As soon as he appears with his prey, three or four other black fellows leap over- board to his assistance, and the helpless creature is immediately transferred into the boat. A black fellow has in this way not unfre- qaently brought up a turtle weighing five hundredweight ! Great personal courage, as well as great agility, is required in this hazar- dous emplojTnent, the black fellows being frequently woimded by the powerful stroke of the animal's flippers. * Large crabs, frequently of three pounds' weight, are plentiful in the bay. They are of a flatter form than the European species, and have an additional forceps. Shrimps are also found in great numbers. *But the fish, or rather sea-monster, peculiar to Moreton Bay, and the east coast to the northward, is a species of sea-cow or manatee, called by the black natives yungan. It frequently weighs from twelve to fourteen hundredweight ; and the skeleton of one of them that was lately forwarded to Europe measured eleven feet in length. The yimgan has a very thick skin, like that of the hog with the hair off. It resembles bacon in appearance very much (for I happened to see a flitch of it myself in the hands of a black native, although I did not taste it, which I rather regretted afterwards); and while some parts of the flesh taste like beef, other parts of it are more like pork. The natives are immoderately fond of it ; it is their greatest delicacy ; and when a yungan is caught on the coast, there is a general invitation sent to the neighbouring tribes to come and eat. The man who first spears the yungan is entitled to per- form the ceremony of cutting him up, which is esteemed an otfice of honour j and the party, whatever be their number, never leave 92 AUSTRALIA. the carcass till it is all gone, eating and disgorging successively tiH the whole is consumed.' The other animals peculiar to New South Wales — kangaroos and emus — are very abundant in the northern district ; and so are black swans, geese, ducks, and other aquatic birds. The brush turkey described as a foolish bird, very easily caught, frequents the forest lands. It is remarkable for the gigantic size of its eggs. Minerals. — With regard to mineral productions, that which is of greatest immediate value to the colonist — coal — is abundant. So is stone for building and other practical purposes ; and it is understood that porcelain clays, and other valuable earths, are to be found. The metallic mining mania in South Australia naturally suggested expectations in the same direction to the inhabitants of this colony ; but they have hitherto been realised only to a very limited extent in the Molong copper mines. In the papers, however, relative to cro^n-lands presented to parliament at the commencement of the session of 1851, there is a dispatch from the governor to the secretary for the colonies, which, in the following passages — referring in a great measure to the Port Philip district — seems to convey higher expectations of mineral riches : — * Researches have been made by a great many private individuals, and in various parts of the colony strong indications of the existence of metalliferous ores have been discovered. * Copper mines are already in operation in the neiglil)ourhood of Yass, and at Molong, near Wellington Valley. Tlie success which has attended the opening of these mines has only as yet been partial ; but the experiment has not yet proceeded fai- enough to test with any certainty their ultimate productiveness. ' It is also in contemplation, I understand, to open copper mines in the neighbourhood of Carcoar, in the county of Bathurst, and at Summer Hill, in the same county, where strong indications of the existence of lodes of sufficient richness to justify their being worked have for some time been known to exist. * A lead mine was opened during the last year in the neighbour- hood of Yass, but has been abandoned, in consequence of its not having proved sufficiently productive to defray the expenses of working it. * An iron mine has also recently been opened in the neighbourhood of Berrima, where an abundant supply of ore is found on the sur- face, said to yield from 65 to 70 per cent, of metal of the finest quality. It is also said to possess the peculiar property of running into pure steel when smelted. From specimens which were exhi- bited to me in a manufactured state, on a recent ^•isit which I made to that part of the country, I can have no hesitation in stating that NEW SOUTH WALES. 93 the steel which this mine produces appears to be of first-rate quahty. It is capable of taking the most beautiful polish and tlie highest temper, and is pronounced by competent persons to be therefore adapted for the manufacture of the best descriptions of cutlery, and other articles of hardware usually made from this material requiring these peculiar properties. 'It may not perhaps be superfluous to add, that all the mines which have been as yet opened are on lands which have been alienated by the crown without any reservation of the mineral rights. * In some parts of the colony I am informed that auriferous ores have been discovered. A specimen, weighing about three ounces and a half, was lately exhibited to me. I have not been able to learn the precise locality where it was found, except that it is on the western side of the great dividing range in Sydney or jMiddle district. * An extensive gold field is also said to have been recently dis- covered at the Pyrenees, in the Port Philip district; but I have been unable as yet to obtain any authentic information on the subject. If in the course of the visit I am about to make to that district I should obtain any particulars respecting it worthy of being com- municated, it will be my duty again to address your lordship on the subject.' DEMAND FOR LABOUR. There are two distinct views in which the emigrant not a capitalist, and having nothing but his labour to take with him, may proceed to this colony. He may go, in the first place, as a man with his wits about him, to take advantage of some of the many opportunities which a rapidly-rising rich, busy population afford to those who have the capacity to take advantage of them. The Honourable M. Murray, for instance, who lived at Port Philip, among the ' numerous bypaths to wealth only to be found in a new country,' mentions that a considerable sum had been realised by rude pumps along the banks of the Yarra, to enable water- carriers to fill their casks, the owners charging 5d. a week for the privilege of using them. But capacity is essential to the person who expects to take advantage of these miscellaneous openings ; and a person who can do nothing but throw the shuttle, or make lawyers' wigs or artificial flowers, will not have much chance of anything turning up for his advantage. And this brings us to the second prospect with which the workman may go — that of pursuing the great staple occupation of the district, and becoming a shepherd or stock-keeper. In such an occupation, however, he must not expect a large income. The shepherd is never a rich man in any part of the world ; and no scarcity will make him rich 94 AUSTRALIA. in Australia, since it is not -worth while keeping the sheep at all, if their preservation involves anything beyond a certain limited expenditure. This is a vastly -important matter for the mechanic to keep in view. If he be gaining good wages in this country as a skilled workman — ^hard as he may deem his lot, and difficult as he may find it to supply himself with what an advanced state of society has made his necessaries of life — ^he must not expect to follow the far humbler and easier occupation of an Australian shepherd, and yet be better oflf; he must have the prospect of working at his trade or some other skilled profession, if he expect to partake in the advantages of emigration. It appears that already some mistakes have been committed from overlooking this distinction. In 1849 the Emigration Commissioners reported on a system of assistance to mechanics and others of a class above those who are exported entirely, or almost entirely, by public money. The conditions on which they did so are stated in the &st section.* On 17th May 1849 the commissioners pre- pared the following CLASSIFICATION OF TRADES OF EMIGRANTS WHO HAVE RECEIVED ASSISTED PASSAGES TO THIS DATE : — 1. "Workers in Metal — Smith and Brass-workers, - - - 29 Blacksmiths, - - - - - 18 Tinmen, - - - - - - 14 — 61 2. Workers in Wood and Stone, &c. — Carpenters, - . . . . 128 Joiners, _ . . . . lo Sawyers, ------ 3 Wheelwrights, . - . . ig Coopers, ------ 7 Millwrights, ----- 3 Bricklayers, - - - - - 38 Plasterers, . . - - . 7 - 11 3. Persons employed in Agriculture — Farmers, - - - - - - 12 Agricultural labourers, - - - 156 Shepherds, - - - - - 10 Gardeners, ----- 25 Dairymen, ----- 3 — 206 Carryforward, - - - 492 * See above, p. 25. 225 NEW SOUTH WALES. 95 Brought forward, - - - 492 167 4. Servants — Domestic Servants — Male, - - - 27 Female, - - - 140 5. Clothing — Hatters, ----- 3 Boot and Shoemakers, - - - - 32 TaHors, ----- 36 — 71 6. Miscellaneous — Painters and Glaziers, - - - - 30 Engineers, ----- Q Labourers and others, - - - - 9 Printers, _ _ - - - 9 Bakers, - - - - - - 27 Butchers, ----- 13 Harness-makers, - . - - - 15 — 109 7. Others of the Labouring Class difficult to classify. 300 Total, - - - 1139 But in the Eeport for 1850, we find the commission questioning the prudence of pursuing this assisted emigration, on the ground of their hearing from Sydney an apprehension ' that a large por- tion of this class of emigrants, however strongly they may have expressed their readiness while in England to betake themselves to field-labour, on arrival in the colony, will not in reality do so.' And they say in continuation, ' Since the receipt of this intelli- gence, we have almost whoUy abstained from sending out any more mechanics to the Sydney district.' Now it must be kept in view by all who are interested in the matter, that the loud outcries made by the colony for labour are entirely for these humbler classes — for shepherds and ploughmen ; and indeed it may be noticed as a general rule, that when an outcry is made for labour, it is for something very nearly ap- proaching to slave labour. In this particular instance it is for persons to supply the place of the convicts, which have ceased to be annually drafted into the colony. There never is an outciy for men to come and make their fortunes — it is only when they are wanted to give their tacit aid in making the fortunes of others. The form in which the complaints of want of hands are made by the colonists, shew this important distinction abundantly. The great colonial chief, Mr Macarthur, in evidence before a Committee of the /legislative Council of the colony, on 7th July 1847, said — 05 AUSTRALIA. *I am of opinion that there is a great want of shepherds, and that the increased and daily increasinjj demand for persons in that capa- city, as a natural consequence, has drll^vn away many men from clearing land, fencing, ploughing, and other works of hushandry, in •which, as skilled labourers, they might have continued to iind useful and prohtable employment. Many who were last year engaged as farm-labourers in the cow-pasture districts have left that neiglvbour- hood, and I am infonned they have gone into the more distant pastoral districts as shepherds ; one effect of this is, that much land that miglit have been xmder wheat this year has been either thrown out of cultivation, or sown so late as to lessen the chances of a good crop. I would also observe that the deficiency of agricidtural labour will be much more severely felt in three months than it is at present, and that unless a supply of labour comes in from without, there will be a great want of working hands for all ordinary purposes next summer, and in all probability such a rise in the rate of wages as gi-eatly to embarrass the agriculturists and proprietors of stock throughout the colony; there is also a very great want of the class of domestic servants, both men and women, not only in the country districts, but I believe in the towns. Of mechanics, as far as I have had an opportunity of observing, there does not appear to be any deficiency — the supply is about commensurate with the demand at present ; but if the colony continue in a progressive and })rosperous state, as a natural consequence there will be an increased demand for the labour of mechanics also.' * More emphatically still, it is laid down by Mr Merewetlier, the immigration agent, in his quarterly return of wages and prices for March 1848:— *No emigrants should be sent to tlie colony but those who are strictly within the class of manual labourers. Persons accustomed to superintend others, who, by representing that they have worked, and can work, and intend to work with their own hands, may be able to advance a plausible claim to be admitted as "labourers," under the letter of the regulations, should be most rigidly excluded ; as experience has abundantly shewn that they will not, in fact, betake themselves to hard labour in the colony, but will swell the number of those who loiter unprofitably about Sydney and other large towns, in the expectation of obtaining clerkships, overseerships, or other similai* employment.' The following extracts from the Eeport of the Committee of the Legislative Council, above referred to, partake of the same tone : — * Without wishing to excite needless alarm, your committee are satisfied, as a general impression from the inquiry in which they have been engaged, that at no period since the foundation of the * Commons' Pai)ers relative to Emigration. — Australia, 1848. NEW SOUTH WALES. 97 colony has there been so great, so urgent, and so pressing a demand for labour as at the present moment — of that species of labour with ■which the most important interests of the colony are involved; namely, of shepherds and farm-servants. This want is daily in- creasing ; and in the absence of any fresh accession of labourers by means of immigration, no alternative is presented to the proprietor of stock but the partial or entire abandonment of it. In many- parts of the colony the expenses of labour are so immoderate, as to exceed all profits derivable from its application ; and establishments in the interior are carried on in some instances at a positive loss to the owner ; a state of things which is only perpetuated from the lingering hope that some change may be eflfected by the introduction of a fresh supply of immigrants 'Immigration, to be productive of permanent benefit, must be continuous. The evil complained of is cumulative, so that the actual deficiency of labour in January last will be found to be greatly augmented before the expiration of the present year. Hence it has happened that many flockmasters, influenced, as your committee believe, by a feeling of despair as to any chance of the renewal of immigration from the mother country (to such an extent, at all events, as is needed), have of late turned their attention to the proposal of introducing from India or China, or even from the neighbouring Polynesian islands, the inhabitants of those countries ; and a partial immigration has indeed been recently established from the island of Tanna. It may well become a matter for the conside- ration of the government and people of England, whether it can be regarded as accordant with the dictates of a sound national policy to sanction, or rather sustain, a state of things by which the bound- less regions of the Australian continent, capable of containing millions of our fellow-subjects, may thus be preoccupied by a semi- barbarous or even savage race. For however undesirable it may be, even as affecting the colonists themselves, to ingraft upon the population of the colony an alien and barbarous race, their exigencies are such, that with ruin on the one hand, from the deficiency of labour, and all the evils arising from the importation of Polynesian barbarians on the other, the latter alternative will be, nevertheless, partially at least, resorted to.' * This subject may be still further illustrated by the following examination, before the same committee, of Mr Mollison of Mount Macedon, Port PhUip : — *What are the wages generally given for shepherds and farm- labourers ? — Two months ago, when I left Port Philip, the lowest wages which I knew to be given near towns were twenty-five pounds, and at distant stations thirty pounds a year, always with rations. ' Will you state what are the usual rations ] — The ration usually given is twelve pounds of mutton, ten pounds of flour, a quarter of * Commons' Papers on Emigration, 1848. G 98 AUSTRALIA. a pound of tea, and two pounds of sugar weekly to each man ; some- times more, but I believe never less. * What number of sheep has a shepherd generally under his charge ? — With rare exceptions, I may say from one to two thousand. * Is it your opinion that in most parts of the district that number of sheep can be well tended by one shepherd ? — If we had more shep- herds, at a moderate rate of wages, it would be more profitable un- doubtedly to reduce the flocks. There are instances where there are four and even five thousand sheep running in one flock. * Is that entirely owing to the proprietor being unable to obtain persons to fill the situation of shepherd ? — I have heard of one in- stance in which a proprietor proposed to himself to carry on his stations by shepherding his sheep in large flocks, but in every other case I believe necessity alone induces proprietors to put so large a number of sheep together. * As far as your own experience goes, is it not better to have the sheep in smaller flocks, both for the character of the sheep, and the amount of wool they produce during the year ? — Sheep are more healthy, more productive in wool and tallow, and consequently more profitable, when they are kept in smaller flocks ; proAided, by doing so, the total wages paid on the establishment is not too greatly in- creased. * Could you state, as a general estimate, what number of sheep the Port Philip country will feed in a flock without injury to them ? — There are a great variety of sheep-runs ; the variety is so great, that I do not think I could arrive at a just conclusion. * Do you make any wide distinction between the wages of a shep- herd and of a watchman ? — Very little ; when men are scarce, one of the greatest evils of the scarcity is, that you are almost compelled to give an indifierent man as much wages as you give the best. * Do you not find that this has a most injurious effect upon the character of servants generally, by making them careless as to their behaviour ? — It does ; I would add also, that when men are procur- able at a moderate rate of wages, the employer is enabled to give his best men nearly as much wages as we now complain of being obliged to give to the indifferent and inferior men, and thereby he encourages good behaviour in his men.' Mr Merewether, in evidence before a Committee of the Legisla- tive Council of New South "Wales, made some remarks on the classes of persons who went out as assisted emigrants, which, it is feared, too clearly echo the ideas which many people entertain on the uses of emigration, while at the same time they indicate how valuable may be the opportunities opened to those who really are able to make use of them : — * Will you mention some of the trades that those persons have exercised who have obtained this assistance ; were there any watch- makers, for instance ? — There have been some watchmakers. There was a furrier, I remember, who was for a long time looking for NEW SOUTH WALES. 99 employment in business of some sort in Sydney, and who afterwards went up to Goulbuni. This man had a large family, and his case attracted my particular attention, because it occasioned a strong complaint to be made to me respecting the unsuitable description of many persons who had recently arrived in the colony, and who had applied to complainant for assistance and relief ; and also because it was evident, from the man's statements to me, that he had been sent to the colony by the assistance of relations on whom he was depen- dent, in order that he might not remain a burden upon them ; he had been in business in England on his own account, and failed. * Can you mention any others ? — Gunsmiths, printers, paperhangers, coachmakers, upholsterers, and brassfounders. A brassfotmder came out a few months since who has established an extensive shop in Sydney, which he now keeps ; this man had been in the colony before, and had kept a shop in Sydney.' At the same time, it would appear that the class who, if prizes were given in this country for misery and incapacity, would have gained them— the Dorsetshire agricultural labourers, for instance — are looked on as real prizes in New South Wales. IMr Mere- wether said — ' I may state to the committee that a large body of immigrants came in a ship from Dorsetshire lately, with reference to whom Mr Scott asked, in the House of Commons, why these emigrants should be sent in preference to the many who were candidates for passages under the assisted regulations. Now I can have no hesitation in expressing my opinion, that it is much better for the colony to have paid the whole passage-money of such people as those, than it would have been to have received an equal number of the class who have come out as " assisted emigrants," and to have saved the difference in the expenditure. If a proportion of those Dorsetshire labourers' passage-money had been paid at home, the arrangement would of course have been a beneficial one, as we should have obtained at a reduced cost the people we wanted.' Mr ]\Ierewether, writing to the colonial secretary on the 25th April 1849, expressed himself still more decidedly. Viewing the assisted emigration system as a plan for supplying the colony vdth. field-labour from those distressed workmen who had not been accustomed to that kind of work, but were physically capable of performing it, he says — ' Continued experience, however, including that derived from my own observation of the assisted emigrants who have arrived during the past two months, convinces me that this expectation will not be realised. All such persons, on their arrival here, will seek emplojnnent at the business to which they have been accustomed, or in some other as nearly as possible resembling it, and not imposing on them the necessity of " going into the bush." With this object, they will land and take lodgings 100 AUSTRALIA. in Sydney, they will submit to severe privations ratlier than quit it, and they will accordingly compete with the workmen already settled here in sufficient, if not overabundant numbers.'* Mechanics landed at the outports liave been known immediately to exert themselves to find the means of reaclung Sydney. Of the British w^orkmen who were driven from France at the Kevolu- tion, and who went out as assisted emigrants, it is noticed, as a valuable but exceptional characteristic, that they shewed a ' readi- ness to proceed at once into the country districts.' Mr Mere- wether, in his annual report for May 1849, reiterates the same views. Little encouragement is given to mechanics, less to clerks, and none to people who rely entirely on ' mental acquirements.' These sweeping condemnations must, however, be taken with the distinction with which we set out, that while there may not be a beaten track for such persons in the direction they have pur- sued at home, there are opportunities for those who have the capacity to use them. To another class the same document holds out considerable expectations. ' To the possessors of a small capital, from which they are imable to create an income sufficient to support themselves or their families in comfort at home, who are pi-actically acquainted with the details of farming business and the management of stock, or whose habits have been such as to give them an aptitude for learning them, this colony holds out at the present time great advantages, from the very low prices at which they could purchase sheep and improved landed properties.' It must, however, be remembered that the colony has fortunately recovered from the pressure which caused this cheapness. Before the Legislative Council's Committee on Immigi-ation, in 1847, the following views on the ratio of labour to the wants and capacities of the colony were delivered by a man of great expe- rience — Mr Deas Thomson, the colonial secretary : — mud-u ivonq oi * The dearth of labour acts and reacts in a variety of ways upoii the general prosperity: its consequent high price enables the labourer to remain in a state of idleness at periods of time Avhen of course the value of his labour is lost to the community. It also has this injurious effect, that it raises the man of bad character to the level of the man of good character. The great demand for labour renders it necessary tliat every disposable individual should be employed • and I have been informed in this way it is impossible for employers of labour to make the proper distinction between men of good or bad conduct. I believe also, that from the high price of labour, the improvements which would otherwise be undertaken in the country are completely at a stand-still. I think it is very material, however, Commons' Papers. Emigration. 1850. NEW SOUTH WALES. 101 that immigration, when resumed, should be cai'efully adjusted to the demand. I know of no circumstance which is more calculated to injure the interests of the colony than the too sudden influx of immigrants, not merely on account of the undue fall of wages, and the scarcity of employment which it may create, but because also it ren- ders necessary a large importation of wheat and flour for their sup- port, as was the case a few years ago, when about 60,000 immigrants were, within a comparatively short period, introduced, and when it became necessary, in addition to the large sum remitted to England for the payment of their passage, to send away, in the course of four years, L.SOO,000 to pay for the necessary supplies of food. This no doubt arose in a great measure from the unfavourable seasons which then prevailed ; but a certain time is always necessary, in a small commmiity, to bring a sufficient quantity of fresh ground into cul- tivation for the maintenance of the additional people. I fbid, for 'ihstance, that during the period above referred to, the annual quan- tity of wheat produced for each individual of the population fell from 8-62 bushels (in 1840) to 5-34 bushels (in 1842), and the quantity of land under crop of every kind from 097 of an acre (in 1S40) to 0-79 of an acre (in 1842.) The number of bushels of wheat grown per head in 1846 was 7"22, and the number of acres under crop of every kind 092. It is an undoubted fact, that in proportion to the num- bers, so will be the capability of a new countiy, as yet thinly inha- bited, to receive an increased immigration ; that is, as the number of the inhabitants increases, so will any given number added to it by immigration bear comparatively a smaller proportion to the total population, and consequently will be absorbed into it with the greater facility, and with the less likelihood of disturbing incon- veniently the ordinary and natural course of things. It is alike essential, therefore, for the interests of the colony and the immi- grants themselves, that the stream of immigration should be a gradual and continuous one, carefully adjusted to the demand for labour, rather than a sudden and excessive influx of individuals, for whom it would be difficult, if not impossible, at once satisfactorily to provide ; but all of whom, if gradually introduced, would not only And employment at remunerative wages, but become a great benefit to the community, of which they would thus become an integral part. As regards the supplies of animal food, there is no possible immigration which could not be most amply provided for by the present enoi-mous number of live-stock in the colony, consisting of not less than 8,000,000 of sheep and 1,400,000 head of cattle, with a population of only about 200,000 souls.' It is thus very plain that the kind of labour of which there is an absolute dearth is of the humblest kind ; and aU aspuring men of the working- classes should be aware of this before they set out. But even if they should not have confidence in their capacity to chalk out some new means away from the mere beaten track of a trade which may lead them to success, they may have another 1U2 AUiSTKALIA. element of hope, if they can rely on themselves. A little money here goes fax towards raising a man ; and money may be saved even in very humble grades. A cheerful and very characteristic view was given of the various capacities of the citizens of the three kingdoms thus to take advantage of their position by Mr Cun- niaghame, an eminent colonist, in his evidence before the Lords' Committee of 1847 on Emigration : — * Individuals from all parts of the United Kingdom have succeeded no doubt in different proportions. However, I should say that probably the best labourers in the colony, those that all the masters would prefer to have, are the English, the lowland Scotch, and the north of Ireland men. Of these three probably the Englishman is the most obedient and the least troublesome, and the lowland Scotch- man is probably the most successful. He gets sooner out of th^ labour-market into being himself a proprietor. The north of Ireland men apparently succeed well— many of them.' It is pretty clear that the witness did not view this quality of getting out of the labour-market with much favour. Most of the Australian capitalists, indeed, seem to look upon it as something like an oflfence for a man who is not one of themselves to be anything but a shepherd or stock-keeper ; but it is in this sort of industrial growth that the true utility of a colony consists. Dr Lang, speaking of the north-eastern district, or Cooksland, as he has chosen to call it, says, as to the higher class of workers — *I do not know a more promising speculation at the present moment for industrious families and individuals of the class of gardeners in the mother covmtry, than to settle as free emigrants on any of the rivers of Cooksland, and especially on the Brisbane, for the cultivation of the banana and the pine-apple, and other similar intertropical plants and fruits for the southern markets of New South Wales, Port Philip, and Yan Diemen's Land, wliich are now all open, and easily and constantly accessible from the northward by steam-navigation. I mention the Brisbane river more particularly, because it is at present the coal-river of the northern division of the great colony of New South Wales, and wUl therefore be, at least for some time to come, the principal stream on that part of the east coast for steam-navigation ; and also because there is a succession of alluvial flats, of limited extent, but of inexhaustible fertihty, along the whole of its course, any one of which would be a perfect fortune to an industrious family of the class I have mentioned, as their produce could be put on board the steam- vessel from the proprietor's own boat at no expense whatever, and conveyed direct to Sydney, the best market in the colony, probably every week. One of the BounjTnuir Radicals has not. more than three acres of land of this description rented from my brother, on the Paterson River, one of the tributaries of the Hunter, in latitude 32^° south, for NEW SOUTH WALES. 103 which he pays a yearly rent of one pound per acre, and from which he derives a comfortable subsistence for his family ; cultivating tobacco, potatoes, and such other crops of that description as are suited to the climate, in constant succession, and keeping his little farm, or rather large garden, in excellent order. I mention the circumstance to shew that, if really industrious, and disposed to avail himself of the advantages of his situation, wherever the soil and climate are so pre-eminently in his favour as in the case imder consideration, " Man wants but little here belo't^r," in the article of land ; for as the range of productions is much more extensive on the Brisbane river than on the Hunter, while the tropical productions that can be raised on the former of these streams are of much greater value than those that can be raised on the latter, the same extent of land in the hands of an industrious person will be of correspondingly greater value on the Brisbane than on the Hunter.' * The arrangements which have lately been made for aiding the proceedings of females, and the more helpless class of emigrants generally, have already been mentioned, f The benevolent origi- nator of that system, Mrs Chisholm, in her evidence before the Lords' Conmiittee on Emigration in 1847, gave the following account of the kind of females whose manual labour was chiefly- desired in the colony : — * Well-conducted and strong, healthy girls, that can milk cows and attend to a dairy and light work about a house and garden, because, when they are married, they must do those things or teach others how to do them. They may have the means of pajring for servants, but they must always direct ; and it is girls of this class that do the best. If 600 girls were sent now to Sydney — experienced London house-servants — smart guls — they would get immediately good wages and respectable places ; but they would not get married so quickly as the coimtry girls. The farmers and shepherds prefer girls who have never been in any service whatever ; they like girls who have been brought up to work for their own family ; and I think it is very desirable that that class should be sent, because, if you send them girls that have been servants, you give them a class who have been accustomed to many comforts which settlers' wives could not get ; and the country girls are more content to remain in the bush than the girls from a town ; so that female emigration requires to be very cautiously met in that way ; not to send too many girls to Sydney with the view of their becoming Sydney servants. There is a good demand for superior servants in the interior, but the great demand is the matrimonial demand ; and this is the demand that gives me the greatest interest, and to which I have devoted myself.' * Cooksland, pp. 148, 149. f See p. 14. 104 AUSTRALIA. One of the most difficult and delicate adjustments of the prac- tice of emigration is to make it suit the ends of gentlewomen in straitened circumstances, able to teach to a certain extent litera- ture and accomplishments, but not very capable of turning towards other profitable pursuits. The extreme delicacy in applying any sort of practical rule to such persons is, that if they find their way to a place where they are wanted, they are doubtless extremely valuable; but when they make a mistake in their destination, they are singularly helpless. Some time ago there was constituted a * National Benevolent Emigration Fund for TV'idows and Orphan Daughters of Gentlemen, Clergymen, Professional Men, Officers, Bankers, and Merchants.' The emigration commissioners ap- proved to a certain extent of the objects of the institution, if followed * under proper restrictions ; ' and indicated New South. Wales as the place where, from the rising wealth and mcrease of the community, it was likely to be most availably applied. The parliamentary papers of 1850, bringing down the emigra- tion returns to the beginning of 1849, shew that in the previous year the total number of immigrants who landed in New South Wales (exclusive of the Port Philip district) was 5027, of whom 2394 — not much less than a half — were females. The number classed as agricultural labourers was 1060 ; as shepherds, 82 ; as domestics, 33 males and 851 females ; as building mechanics, 152 ; engaged in the preparation or sale of food, 40 ; engaged in making articles of clothing, 36 males and 55 females. The num- ber who pursued mechanical employments, but did not come ■within any of these general classes, were numbered at 192 males and 12 females. A return presented to parliament in 1851 gives the number of immigrants to New South Wales, but including Port Philip down to the end of 1849, and making the sum-total for that year 19,340. This is a great increase over the sum-total of the previous year, which, including in the same manner Port Philip, is 9104. For 1847, again, the general total is 816, and for 1846 only 402. The effects of the great movement in 1847 had not told immediately on this distant field. I.— ORDEK IN COUNCIL, WITH REGULATIONS AS TO SQUATTING. CAP. I. — AS TO THE DIVISIONS OF THE LANDS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. Sect. 1. — The lands in the colony of New South Wales shall, for the purposes of the present order, be considered as divided into three classes, and be dealt with accordingly as they may be situated in districts, to be denominated respectively as the Settled, the Inter- mediate, and the Unsettled Districts. Sect. 2. — The Settled Districts of the colony shall comprehend — I. The nineteen contiguous counties, the boundaries of wliich were settled and proclaimed before the 1st January 1838. II. The counties or reputed counties of ilacquarrie and Stanley. III. The lands which may be within a distance of twenty-five miles, to be measured or reckoned from any point of the corporate limits of the town of Melbourne, in the county of Bourke. IV. The lands which may lie within the distance of fifteen miles from any point of the outward limits of the town of Geelong, in the county of Grant. V. The lands which may lie witliin the distance of ten miles from any point of the outward limits of each of the following towns or townships — namely, Portland, in the county of Normanby ; Alberton, in the district of Gipps' Land ; Eden, in the county of Auckland ; Bathurst, in the county of Roxburgh ; Wellington, in the county of the same name ; The town wliich has been established at the head of the naviga- tion of the river Clarence. The town of Macquarrie, in the county of Macquarrie ; The town of Ipswich, in the county of Stanley. VI. The lands wdiich may lie witliin the distance of three miles from any part of the sea, throughout the extent of the colony, mea- sured in a straight line. VII. The lands w-hich may lie within the distance of two miles from either of the two opposite banks of any of the following rivers — namely, The Glenelg, from a point to be fixed by the governor, not lower than where the Glenelg receives the waters of the Crawford, nor higher than where it receives the waters of the Wanuow ; 106 AUSTRALIA. The Clarence, from a point to be fixed by the governor, at a distance not less than ten niiles above the government town- ship at the head of the navigation, and not less than fifty miles from the sea, measured in a straight line ; The river, now known by the name of the Richmond, from a point to be fixed by the governor, at a distance not less than twenty miles from the sea, measured along the course of the river. , Sect. 3. — As to the Intermediate Districts. The Intermediate Districts shall comprehend the lands lying with- in the counties or reputed counties of Bourke, Grant, and Normanby, in the district of Port Philip, which are not hereinbefore directed to be included in the Settled Lands ; also, all the lands in the county or reputed county of Auckland, which arc not included in the settled lands as hereinbefore mentioned ; also, the entire district of Gipps' Land, except the parts included in the Settled Lands as hereinbefore mentioned ; also, the counties either already formed or intended to be formed between the county of Auckland and the county of St Vincent ; also, any county or counties of which the boundaries may be fixed and proclaimed on or before the 31st December 1848. — (See above, p. 35.) Sect. 4. — As to the Unsettled Districts. The Unsettled Districts shall comprehend all the lands of New South Wales, excepting such lands as are now, or hereafter lawfully may be, comprehended within the limits of the Settled and Inter- mediate Lands within the said colony. CAP. II.— RULES TO BE ENFORCED WITHIN THE UNSETTLED DISTRICTS. Sect. 1. — It shall be lawful for the governor for the time being of the said colony, or the oflScer for the time being administering the government of the said colony, and he is hereby empowered to grant leases of runs of land within the Unsettled Districts to such person or persons as he shall think fit, for any term or terms of years, not exceeding fourteen years in duration, for pastoral pur- poses, with permission, nevertheless, for the lessee to cultivate so much of the lands respectively comprised in the said runs as may be necessary to provide such grain, hay, vegetables, or fruit, for the use and supply of the family and establishment of such lessee, but not for the purposes of sale or barter ; and so, nevertheless, that such leases shall in no case prejudice, interrupt, or interfere with the right of the governor or other officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony, to enter upon any of the lands com- prised in the said leases for any purpose of public defence, safety, improvement, convenience, utility, or enjoyment, agreeably to the 2sEW SOUTH WALES. 107 provisions for those purposes contained in the ninth section of the second chapter of this order in council, or otherwise. Sect. 2. — The rent to be paid for each several run of land shall be proportioned to the number of sheep, or equivalent number of cattle, which the run shall be estimated as capable of carrying, according to a scale to be established for the purpose by authority of the governor. Each run shall be capable of carrying at least 4000 sheep, or equivalent number of cattle, according to the scale afore- said ; and not in any case be let at a lower rent than £10 per annum, to which £2, 10s. per annum shall be added for every additional 1000 sheep, or equivalent number of cattle, which the run shall be esti- mated as capable of carrjdng. Sect. 3. — In order to estimate the number of sheep or cattle wljich each run will carry, before the granting of the said lease as herein- before mentioned, the intended lessee or occupier shall name a valuer, and the Commissioner of Crown Lands shall either act as valuer, or name one to act for him, and these two valuers shall have power to choose, if necessary, an umpire ; but if they cannot agree in the choice of an umpire, he shall be appointed by the governor or the officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony. Sect, 4. — The rents to be paid according to the scale above-men- tioned are to be reserved exclusively of any existing assessments of taxes or rates on sheep and cattle, and are to be paid, without abate- ment, on account of the existing or any future assessments of taxes or rates on sheep and cattle, and in noway to interfere with the right of the colonial legislature to impose from time to time such assessments as may be deemed advisable. Sect. 5. — The rent for each rim shall be payable yearly, in advance, at such time and place as shall be respectively specified in the lease of the said run of land. In the event of default being made in payment of the rent, the lease shall be forfeited, but the lessee shall be permitted to defeat the forfeiture, and prevent its becoming absolute and indefeasible, by payment, within sixty days from the date of the original rent-day, of the full annual rent, with the addi- tion of a sum equal to one equal fourth part of the yearly rent so due from him by way of penalty ; but unless the whole of the said yearly rent, with such penalty as aforesaid, shall be duly paid within the term of sixty days, counting from the original rent-day inclusive, the lease shall be absolutely and indefeasibly forfeited ; and it shall be competent to any individual to demand of the governor, or of the officer for the time being administering the government of the colony, or of any officer or officers acting by his authority for the present purpose, that a fresh lease of the run so forfeited be offered to SEile, imder the general rule hereinafter provided for that pur- pose in section 12 of this chapter. Sect. 6. — During the continuance of any lease of lands occupied as a run, the same shall not be open to purchase by any other per- son or persons except the lessee thereof ; but it shall be lawful for 108 AUSTRALIA. the governor, or officer for the time being administering the govern- ment of the said colony, to sell to such lessee any of the lands comprised in the lease granted to such lessee, provided that tho quantity of the lands sold to such lessee shall not be less than 160 acres, and that the price to be paid for the same shall not be below the general minimum price of £l for each acre : provided also, that if the portion or lot of any such run sold to such lessee be less in extent than 320 acres, the expenses of the survey of the portion so sold shall be paid by the purchaser. Sect. 7. — Every lot to be sold under the provisions before men- tioned shall be subject to the following conditions : — I. Each lot must be rectangular, unless the features of the country, or the course of any river or sti'eam, render a de- viation from the rectangular form necessary ; and in every case two sides at least of the lot must be directed to tho cardinal points of the compass. II. The two opposite sides of any stream or watercourse, wliich, according to the practice of the department of the surveyor- general, ought to form a boundary between difterent sec- tions or lots, sliall iu no case be included in the same lot. III. No single lot shall liave more than 440 yards of water fron- tage for 160 acres, or more than a like proportion of water- frontage for any quantity greater tlian 160 aci*es; but the water-frontage shall be reckoned according to the distance from one extreme point thereof to the other, in a right line, and not according to the bondings of the watercourse or river ; and tlie governor or officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony, shall have the right of refusing to sell any lot or lots in every case where it may appear to him that the sale of such lot or lots respectively might give an undue command over water required for the beneficial occupation and cultiva- tion of the lands adjoining either side of any stream or watercourse. . Sect. 8. — It shall be lawful for the governor or officer for tJbe timo being administering the government of the said colony, to except out of any such sale or sales as aforesaid, all such lands as it may appear to him expedient to reserve for any of the public uses for which it is enacted by the third clause of the Act passed in the fifth and sixth years of Her Majesty, c. 36, intituled, ' An Act for regu- lating the Sale of Waste Lands belonging to the Ci-own in tJie Aus- traliaji Colonies;' that lands required for public uses may be ex- cepted from sales authorised by that act ; and if there be reason to suppose that any of the lands applied for under tlie regulations hereby expressed possess peculiar advantages, whether of water-frontage or otherwise, which would render it fit that a higher price should be paid for such lands, the governor or the officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony, or any officer autho- rised by him for the purpose, may require the said lands to be assessed NEW SOUTH WALES. 109 by valuers appointed in manner provided in section 3 of the 2d chap- ter of this order in council, in order that if the value be estimated by them or their umpire at more than £l per acre, the higher amount may be paid for such lands accordingly. Sect. 9. — That nothing in these regulations, or in any lease to be granted under the powers hereby vested in the governor, shall pre- vent the said governor or officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony, from making grants or sales of any lands within the limits of the run or lands comprised in such lease, for public purposes, or disposing of in such other manner as for the public interest may seem jjest, such lands as may be required for the sites of churches, schools, or parsonages, or for the construction of highroads or railways, and railway stations, or other internal com- munications, whether Iby land or water, or for the use or benefit of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, or for public buildings, or as places for the interment of the dead, or places for the recreation and amusement of the inhabitants of any town or village, or as the sites of public quays or landing-places on the sea-coast or shores of navigable streams, or for the purpose of sinking shafts, and digging for coal, iron, copper, lead, or other minerals, and effectually working coal or iron, copper, lead, or other minerals, or for any other purpose of public defence, safety, utility, convenience, or enjoyment, or for otherwise facilitating the improvement and settlement of the colony; but so that the quantity of land which may be granted or sold to any railway company shall not exceed m iali th6 I'ate 6f 1000 acres for every mile thereof in length. '^ j^i.h/iujjj; Joit Inn. , - Sect. 10. — That if at any future period a railroad be made through or near to the districts comprising unsettled lands, all lands within the distance of two miles from that railroad shall, notwithstanding any lease of the run within which such lands shall be situated, be liable to be sold at the end of each successive year from the date of the said lease, provided that at least sixty days' previous notice shall have been given to the lessee, and so that such lessee shall be entitled to all the same conditions, reserving to the previous lessee the right of pre-emption, and the value of improvements, as are hereinafter mentioned with reference to tite cosfeof a sale a* tite" expiration of the full term of such lease. ^ • '^ ■'■■-■ - ^^ - <• '-i.- u Sect. 11. — All occupants of crown lands who shall have been in licensed occupation of the same for at least one year at the time when this order in council shall come into effect, are to be entitled to demand leases of their respective nms under the present regula- tions, within six months from the date of the publication of this order in council by the governor or other officer administering the government of the said colony, but not afterwards; and all occu- pants who have been in licensed occupation of their lands for a shorter period than the term of one year, shall be entitled, upon the expiration of the same term of one year, without having forfeited their respective licences, to demand leases of their respective runs, under the regulations herein contained, provided such lease shall be 110 AUSTRALIA. lawfully demanded within six months after the expiration of the said term of one year, but not afterwards. Sect. 12. — When any run of lands, after being occupied, shall be forfeited or become vacant, without the previous occupant's having exercised his right of renewal hereinafter reserved, it shall be com- petent for any person desirous of acquiring a lease of such run of lands, to give notice to the governor or officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony, of his, her, or their desire to purchase anew the lease of such run of lands ; and imme- diately after such notice, the governor or officer administering the government of the said colony shall direct sealed tenders to be sent in, at such time and place, and in such form, as he shall think fit, by the person giving such notice as aforesaid, and also by such other person (if any) as may be disposed to enter into competition for the said lease ; and every tender so to be made shall state the term of years for which it is proposed to take the said run, and whether, in addition to the minimum rents required, agreeably to the provisions contained in sections 2 and 3 of the 2d chapter of this order in council, it is proposed to offer any, and, if any, what amount of pre- mium for the lease ; and the said tender or tenders shall be opened in the presence of two or more persons authorised by the governor or officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony for that purpose ; and if there shall be more than one tender, the tenders shall be opened at the same time ; and if there shall be only one tender, the lease of the run shall be given to the person making such tender, provided the rent offered shall be ad- missible under the provisions contained in sections 2 and 3 of this chapter of this order in council ; but if there shall be more com- petitors than one, the lease of the run shall be given to such person or persons as shall tender the highest amount of premium for the same ; but if two or more tenders shall be made for the same run, and no one of them be higher than all the rest, a future day shaU be announced by the persons who open the tenders, on which day it shall again be competent to all persons to offer fresh tenders, in the same manner as hereinbefore provided in regard to the first tenders. Sect. 13. — If any individual be desirous to acquire a new run of land wliich has never been occupied before, he shall be at liberty to send in a sealed tender at such time and place, and in such form, as may be appointed by the governor or officer administering the government of the said colony for receiving tenders for new runs, and shall set forth in his tender a clear description of the run for which he applies, and of the boundaries of the same, and shall state whether, beyond the amount of rent to be ascertained as herein- before pro\aded, he is willing to offer any, and if any, what amount of premium for the lease ; and such tenders shall be in all respects dealt with as hereinbefore provided in section 12 of this chapter of this order in council for tenders for runs which have been for- feited or fallen vacant, save and except that if it shall occur that two or more persons have thus applied for different nms, of which NEW SOUTH WALES . Ill part of one run would include part or the whole of another run, the governor or officer for the tune being administering the govern- ment of the said colony, or the person or persons authorised by him to act in this behalf, shall declare what shall be the several runs for which it shall be competent to parties to tender, and another day shall then be named, at which the previous applicants and all other persons shall be at liberty to offer fresh tenders for the runs so declared. Sect. 14. — A lease shall be liable to forfeitures in three modes : — I. It shall be forfeited for non-pajTnent of rent, as provided in section 5 of the 2d chapter of this order in council ; n. It shall be forfeited absolutely immediately upon any convic- tion for felony against the lessee ; and III. In the event of his conviction by a justice of the district for any offence against the law, the case may be inquired into within three months after the conviction by two or more justices, who, if they think fit, may adjudge the lease to be forfeited, with or without compensation for the value of the improvements, according to the nature of the offence. Provided always, that no such adjudication of forfeiture pro- nounced by the justices shall take effect until confirmed by the governor or officer administering the government of the said colony. Sect 15. — Upon the expiration of a lease, it shall be competent for the governor or officer for the time being administering the government of the said colony, to put up all or any part of the lands included in a run for sale, subject to the following conditions : — L The previous lessee shall have the option of purchasing the land for its fair value in an imimproved state, which shall never be estimated at less than £1 per acre. II. If declined by the previous lessee, the value of any improve- ments on the land offered for sale shall be ascertained by valuers appointed under the provisions contained in section 3 of the 2d chapter of this order in council : pro- vided, nevertheless, that the sum so to be estimated and allowed for is in no case to exceed the amoiuit of the actual outlay made by the lessee. , in. The upset price shall then consist of the joint value of the land and the improvements ; and if the land be sold, the amount of the improvement shall be paid over to the previous lessee, and only the balance be retained by the government. Sect. 16. — If no part of the run be sold, the previous lessee shall be entitled to a renewal of the lease of the whole : or if any part of the nm, not amounting in all to one equal fourth thereof, be sold, such lessee shall be entitled to a renewal of the lease for the re- maining parts of the lands comprised in his run, subject to the reservation of an increased rent, described in the next hereinafter following section of these rules and regulations; and provided, nevertheless, that the boundaries of the different classes of land 112 AUSTRALIA. in the colony shall not, in the meanwhile, have been so far extended as to bring the said run witliin the class of Settled Lands ; and pro- vided also, that if brought within the class of Intermediate Lands, the lessee shall only obtain a renewed lease of the said run, under the rules hereinafter laid down as applicable to that class of lands. Sect. 18. — The rent of every lease of a run of lands, after the expiration of the first lease granted under this order in council, is to be paid by any new lessee on the number of sheep and cattle which the run shall be estimated to carry in its improved instead of its unimproved state, in the same manner as provided for in section 3 of the 2d chapter of this order in council ; but as an encouragement to improve, the lessee whose lease shall be renewed is to be exempt from paying any increase beyond 50 per cent, upon the amount of rent reserved under the expired lease. CAP. TII. — RULES APPLICABLE TO INTERMEDIATE LANDS. , Sect. 1. — ^Within lands coming under the description of Inter- mediate Lands, the interest in runs shall be acquired, hold, and determined upon the same terms and conditions as above laid down for Unsettled Lands, excepting that the leases sliall not be made for more than eight years in duration ; and tliat at the end of each successive year from the date of the lease, it shall be competent for the governor or officer for the time being administering the govern- ment of the said colony, provided he shall have given sixty days' previous notice, to offer for sale all, or any part of the lands within any such run, subject to the same conditions in favour of the lessee as are above laid down in case of a sale at the expiration of the full term of a lease oi^nsettJiedLands^ -< O !0 i»» S3 t» » OS lO- c3 t« S CO K>^3*^ < :i;y r 'H'.7 W S'i'S Ot [ t ~T tBj:,-«j;» ot c» c» o» jt>- ko j c: ~* tx ~- o a: -^ -^ w -o 1 ^^ J3^^_"_^ ec Otto ;^ cs "b« '»- lo 'f --J-^- tT lo ^ ;; ,t- CT >- t* Ct C5 =-. O Oj «0 (J - f'- ■■;■ 10 , >J0r d)^i fr -,aLeg ■; ti j i/q oi /fi >liij io« Imi fisgiJiilf /sijf) b-y. iio'il^yslqqn \ iiaeanl 118 AUSTRALIA. I U •* « »• to'— eooT «■* iiiiisEiis^ i§5^^2iiii "S X5 = ea o 5< •fTcc'r^xi cT .a «o of •«i>'2"or— "— 'jCao i>C C— CqM'l'>f5»t>.COC3 CO * "2 II 1 = c3 a II •s-s •ii 1 5,056,337 {,604,644 J,202,031 r,906,811 ),071,625 ,660,819 »,102,640 •,784,494 -"-=== 1 57.767 56,242 60.008 45,000 62,670 70,875 58,074 62,902 i 1,017,310 1,159,432 1,348,022 1,430,736 1,614,967 1,752,852 1,810,213 1,463,651 1 » 62.017 71,169 82,303 88,126 104,271 113,895 121,859 105,126 1 mm 22li52iil1f:4 ^'EW SOUTH WALES. 119 >_ii^l-i|->hStOt«>-> o> 5 »0 C5 00 H- ox tn to =» KO . SSi KO to CO 1^ hO G ec io I-" OD res 00 o x"-! COt*.IOK)OtOO»o^to— *». I t,-> Si J., tn 00 *. c;^ 00^, >f^ »o f to"'aM»'^350occc C< fc»N)K)t«^&i^*C3tnOO OOJOOOOOCOO?' 05"v»SC0CS*>-10CtOO :g4}g2§£::2:2 S 4»- Jv I en 3 120 AUSTRALIA. Retubn of the Quantity and Value of Articles Exported from New South Wales (not including Port Philip) during the Year 1849. Articles Exported. Erti. j| Article. Exported. E«U. mated 1 mated Value. Description. Quantity. ^'^'^ 11 De^ripdcn. Quantity. Ambergris 45 1bP. £200 .Plants and Seeds 19» , Potatoes - 48 packages 12 tons. £162 37 Apparel 14 cases. Bare8erv-cd Meats - 370 cases. 1252 Beer and Ale 44,57* gal. »64 1 ProvUions, Salt- Blacking 17 casks. 81 ;| Beef 127 t^ns. 2500 BoneDii3t - 2ton8»cwt 40 1 Pork - 65ton3c*-t. 1000 Bran 2S5 bnshelfi. 12 1 Tongues - 151 k«^ 327 Bricks 266,351 No. 404 Hams and Bacon 284 cwt. 367 Butter and Cheese 81)2 cwt. 17«)! Saddlery dc Harness 136 pack. 515 ^-"- {l^ 147.022 lbs. 2151 8kin»- 25 boxes. 30 Neat Cattle - 25,871 cwt. 13,946 Carts and Wagons 136 Na 1119 ' Calf - - 10 packages. 97 Coals and Coke 10.423 tons. 45JB, Sheep - 14.760 No. 413 Coal-Tar Copper * Copper ) Regulus - / 117 barrels. 3l5ton8cwt 117 797S Kangaroo and > Opossum - / Seal . 3 packages. 5 No. S40ton«. 101 5 9084 Confection & Pre- \ _^ senes - J =» caaes. m Soap - Soda-Water - 5 casks. 8 Earthenware 45 crates. 212 5897 1179 Specimens of Na- > tural History 19 cases. 172 Flour and Bread 529 tons. Fruit - - - 1030 pack. Spirits - 2611 gallons. 773 Furniture - 217 pack. 7W Simdrics - 13padcage8. 74 (Maize - 1240busluls 91 i Grind 213 No. 136 Grain { Barky '34fi busheb?. 74 Stones/ Tomb 3ca6es. 21 ( Oats - *747 bushels. 63 ( Building 206 tons. 3SB Gum 8 casks. 14 Sugar, Redned - 116 ton 1 cwt 3616 Hardware - 264 pack. 891 TaUow - 4222 t. 14 ct. 149,671 Hats and Caps 43 cases. 626 Timber- Hay - - 26 tons. 95 Cedar - 1,263;321 ft. 9023 Honey 4952 lbs. 78 Pine - - 20,000 feet. 60 Hoofs, Horns, & \t 1266 Hardwood - 434,155 feet. S952 Bones - j IKMfBH ^0. Shingles - 511,140 Na 397 Lard - 2042 lbs. 46 Paling 3765 No. 30 Leather- Laths - 65,150 No. 41 Unmanufactured 152^ tons. 6246 Trenails & Spokes 154,717 No. 442 Boots and Shoes 30 trunks. 550 Another - 2826 feet. 43 Lire Stock- Tinware 10 packages. ' 38 Horses 1135 Xa 12,249 Tobacco - W71b8. 5 Homed Cattle - 763 Na 1943 Tortoise-Shell - 2ca8e8. 30 Sheep - 13,271 No. 3100 Turnery - 226 pack. £83 Lucifer-Matches 38 cases. 185 (Vinegar - - 62 gallons. 32 Machinerj- - 61 packages 68 ; Whalebone - 2^ tons. 246 Molasses 26tonllcwt 311 ! Whaling Gear - 291 pack. 194 Oatmeal - - iStonsScwt 91 iWine - 1335 gallons. 374 »" {1^ - . 877 tons. 43,117 Wooden Ware - 96 packages. 340 57 tons. 1626 Wool - 13,396,525 lb 663,965 Oilnum's Stores 463 cases. 789 Woollen Manufec- } 55 bales. 913 Pipes, Tobacco - 17 boxes. 23 tures (.Tweeds) VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILIP. The existence of this territory as a separate colony is no older than the year 1850. It was separated from New South Wales by the act of tliat year for establishing the constitution of the Australian colonies. It had generally received the name of Port Philip, or of the Port Philip District of New South Wales ; and its present name of Victoria was conferred on it by the statute. By the same act it was measured oflF as the territory bounded on the north and north-east by a straight line from Cape Howe to the nearest source of the Murray, and thence, by the course of that river, to the east boundary of South Australia.* It covers an area of about 80,000 square miles, or rather more than 50,000,000 acres. It is about 500 miles in direct length east and west, with a coast-line of 600 miles. The present section must be a short and merely supplementary one, as the general sources of information relating to New South Wales, and the statistical tables of the colony, down to those of the past year, embrace the province of Port Phihp. It is only necessary, therefore, to put together a few notices of the geo- graphical character of the country, and the nature of its soil — the other departments of the preceding section being considered as repeated, so far as they are consistent with the local character of the district. Scarcely fifteen years have passed since the first faint whispers began to be heard of adventurous owners of flocks and herds having crossed a strait on the north coast of Van Diemen's Land, and found an endless undulating tract of sweet, abundant pas- tures, spread out for their use beneath a cloudless, sunny sky, and watered by pleasant streams. Su- Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor- general, in the course of his exploring expeditions, passed through this territory in 1836, and became its discoverer, in as far as he first made its character and resources known to the world. It afforded so striking and delightful a contrast to the arid deserts of salt and stone over which he had so long tracked his weary way, that he gave it the name of Australia Felix. Custom, however, gave it the name of Port Philip, from its principal harbour. A clever clergyman, who meddled with many things, and could never * 13 and U Vict., c. 59 122 AUSTRALIA. speak without dictating, demanded that it should be named Philip's Land ; but demanded in vain ; and parliament, trying whether its authority will be more powerful, has du-ected the name founded on custom to be revoked, and that of her Majesty substituted for it. Sir Thomas Mitchell found a few adventurers already occupying this paradise with their flocks ; and when the governor of New South Wales paid it a visit in the ensuing year, he found nearly 600 colonists, with 150,000 sheep. After the experience of Swan River, the government was not very anxious to have another Australian colony on its hands. But the rumour had spread rapidly through all the southern territories ; it was operating on the parent country, and the new territory was fast receiving flocks and herds. Since the crown seemed to leave the place alone, some of the adventurers professed to make bargains with the scanty natives; and by a document actually in the form of a regular deed, bought a sort of principality for so many tomaliawks, knives, scissors, looking-glasses, &c. The question now came to be — whether the crown was to undertake the government of a new colony, or was to prevent the land, by armed force, from being inhabited, or was to permit a separate independent territory to arise, where might would make right, and the law would be dumb. The second plan was cruel, if it were practicable ; and between the other two alternatives, the certainty that the last would come to pass of itself, drove the government to adopt the first. The shep- herd princes found that a stronger hand than their own was to adopt their bargains ; but in taking possession of the territory, the government wisely gave them some compensatory privileges in the distribution of the land. This fine territory speedily became the scene of the wildest of all colonising manias. The usual mistake was made of taking the flying money created by overspeculation for realised wealth, and spending it. Men who should have been rougliing it in the bush with their flocks and herds, and living economically, rushed immediately into expenses supported by a false credit, and bought hunters, vehicles, and fowlingpieces. Enormous quantities of costly wines found their way to the province before the wool that was to pay for them was grown. It was facetiously remarked, that the road from Sydney to Melbourne could be traced by champagne bottles ! In the rapid construction of houses and other operations, workmen of all kinds reaped a golden harvest ; it seemed as if they had at last found their paradise, and it was not to be expected that they should exhibit a prudence not exemplified by their employers. They, too, had their wines ; and stories are told of a few of then'^^ sitting round a tub, emptying a few dozens of champagne into it. VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILIP. 123 and wallowing like pigs in tlie costly mire. Of tlie system by which this extravagance was supported, Mr Verner gave the following account to the Lords' Committee on Emigration in 1847:— * It is just the same as if a rouge et noir table upon a very exten- sive scale had been established there. I will quote an instance which came before me ia my official capacity afterwards, of the trans- actions of an individual merchant, who came into my court for liabilities amounting to, I think, £80,000. I do not think the man began with £500 ; and I do not think that when I knew him first, in real assets he possessed anything whatever to signify over and above his liabilities, but he was called the first merchant of Melbourne ; his debts amounted to £80,000. The house of Montefiore & Company here in London lost very heavily by him. I think he paid no divi- dend in the pound whatever ; but he was one of the first that exposed to me the system that was carried on throughout the colony in dis- counting, and facilitated by the banks. A drew a bill in the first instance, B accepted it ; the biQ was discounted, and of course the proceeds are put to the credit of B. They changed places : B became the drawer of another bill, A the acceptor in another bank, the proceeds of which were put to B's credit. By having recourse to a system of transactions similar to those before mentioned, they were always m funds, and possessed a fictitious and extensive credit, by which means they were enabled to compete with the capitalist to any extent, and put an extravagant and fictitious value on all property, whether in land or in stock. In fact, in the colony such was the case with him and with many others. I quote this case out of a large number, as £80,000 deficiency was a very large sum in a small com- mimity like that of Port Philip, and of course involved many other persons.' The reaction to this reckless spirit of gambling was of course terrible. Less able to bear a pressure than the older colony, it had speculated more wildly, and of course suffered a still more threatening collapse. But though individuals suffered — many of them being swept into ruin — the natural capabilities of the district could not be annihilated. The grass grew, and the herds and flocks fattened for some one ; and though often the master changed places with the servant, the colony revived, and rose in material prosperity. Thus the place which, fifteen years ago, fed a few black savages, kangaroos, and bustards, is now occupied by above 60,000 inhabitants of British origin, and feeds 400,000 homed cattle, and upwards of five millions of sheep, producing annually upwards of twelve milHons of pounds of wool for exportation.* All who have spoken from experience of the land of Victoria, * See the statistics above, p. 71 d seq. 124 AUSTRALIA. confirm each other in pronouncing it to be more uniformly rich than that of the older colony, especially throughout a border stretching about fifty miles from the coast. The easternmost portion, called Gippsland, is separated from Port Pliilip Proper by the Waragong Mountains, or Australian Alps. Along the west run the mountain-ranges called the Pyrenees and Grampians, and there are many isolated hills of great elevation, among Avhicli is Mount Cosciuszko, rising to the height of 6500 feet above the level of the sea. It has several rivers. The Yarra Yarra — on which stands Melbourne, the capital — the Glenclg, the Taylor, the Barwon, the Moorabool, the Glengary, the Thomson, &c. These flow from the mountain - ranges into the sea, and are not of course of 'very large volume of water, nor of great length; but they appear to keep the territory well watered, and so far as experience liitherto has gone, they are not liable to the parching droughts which convert the rivers of the East into stony highways. Besides the streams already mentioned which flow into the sea, the great interior rivers — the Murray, the Murrumbidgee, the Severn, and the Hovell — touch the borders of the district. The scenery is by all accounts beautiful and diversified. Sometimes continued successions of rolling downs, covered with soft beautiful grass, and diversified with majestic trees, to which travellers pay the poor compliment of sometimes saying that they are as picturesquely and eficctively placed as if they were in a gentleman's park. In other places — but away from the more fertile and frequented districts — are precipices, torrents, and shattered peaks. Even Mr Richard Howitt, whose misfortune it was to be one of the victims of the wild early history of the colony, could not help admiring the scenerj-, though observed imder the vexatious circumstances of a search after his stray stock. He said — ' This country had its delights as well as vexations : I saw a great deal of very dehghtful country, when on my return I could look about me and enjoy it. I was about ten or twelve miles from Mount ^lacedon, and a more picturesque and beautiful region was never looked upon. Water there was none, and the trees were all of one kind, but the whole coimtry had a delicately smooth, lawn-like surface, without scrub or stones. Around me spread a spacious plain, the she-oaks, a rich silky brown, scattered thinly and in clumps ; further ofi", bounding the plain, knolls, slopes, and glens, all of the smoothest outline, crowned or sprinkled with the same trees ; and beyond, mountains and moimtaiu-ranges, on which rested deliciously the blue of the summer heavens. Some of these mountains were wooded to the summits ; others revealed, through openings, im- measurable plains, where sheep were whitely dotting the landscape, the golden sunshine seen at intervals betwixt the long shadows of VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILIP. 125 the she-oaks. There only wanted a good stately river — American or English — to make the scene magnificent A more splendid and extensive country there is not in the world for sheep and cattle than Australia Felix. How fat and sleek are its immense herds! I speak not here of the immediate neighbourhood of the town, but of the country generally." * Melbourne, the capital, at the upper end of the land-locked ])ay of Port Philip, was twelve years ago a collection of huts, and is now a city, with somewhere betw^een twenty and thirty thousand inhabitants, possessing many public buildings, sending forth its mail-coaches and its steamboats daily to the neighbouring ports, and, at stated intervals, to Sydney and Hobart Town. It is partly built of brick from an excellent clay found in the vicinity, and partly of stone. The handsome granite fronts of some of the houses hsL\e recalled recollections of Dublin and Aberdeen. It is liable to one serious evil, which engineering will erelong be able to protect it from — the inundations of the Yarra Yarra. The bay on which Melbourne is built is one of the finest in the world — broad and capacious, it ofiers an admirable haven for shipping. The view of the town from the water is striking and beautiful. In Melbourne there are extensive stores, where every necessary and luxury may be procured ; and so excellent are these stores, that emigrants have little need to take with them large stocks of clothing or other articles. The town is rapidly increasing by the settlement of a respectable population. Across the bay, on the west, is Geelong, a rising town, between which and Mel- bourne a steamboat plies regularly. The country behind Geelong is now in the course of settlement for sheep-runs, on license from government, and is extremely well spoken of, and we believe with justice. Few parts of Australia can be so well recommended. The principal natural divisions of the settled part of the colony towards the coast are Gippsland, and the three counties, Bourke, Grant, and Normanby ; but in 1848 several additional counties were proclaimed to meet the wants and uses of a future population. Of a country about the size of Great Britain, so recently and thinly inhabited, we can only expect to get from those who are even best acquainted with it scraps of information about particular patches here and there. Mr Grifiith, in his ' Present State and Prospects of the Port Philip District,' divides the flat country into two classes : — * The one, rich alluvial plots of deep-brown loam, formed of de- composed trap, generally destitute of timber, but occasionally wooded ; and the second, of plains entu'ely free from timber, or else thinly * Impressions of Australia Felix, pp. 108, 115. 126 AUSTBAUA. sprinkled over with she-oaks or stunted honeysuckle-trees; the latter being sometimes of a light-reddish clay soil, mixed with sand, and at others of a brown loam, but producing everywhere excellent food for sheep. A great part of the country, from Geelong to the river Grange, on the way to Portland Bay, going the southern road by the lakes Colac, Poorumbeet, and Corangamite, and more to the southward still, towards Port Fairy — a tract of probably one hundred and fifty miles long, and varying from ten to thirty miles in breadth — consists of the first description. This description of plains is admirably adapted for cattle or tillage, but not so well calculated for sheep, which on this rich soil are apt to suffer from foot-rot, unless very well looked after. The second comprises the plains stretching from Melbourne westward forty miles to the Brisbane Range ; from the ranges northward of the Saltwater River towards Geelong, forty miles ; from the River Hopkins eastward by Mount Elephant, forty miles ; and from the PjTenees in the north to the lakes Colac, Cor- angamite, &c. probably a hundred miles.' — (Page 9.) Dr Lang, who perambulated the territory at his leisure, and, with an observant eye in all matters where he was not blinded by liis violent prejudices, has given the best general account of the district which we yet possess, with the title ' Phillipsland ; or the Country hitherto designated Port Philip: its Present Condition and Prospects, as a highly eligible Field for Emigration.'* Of the district of Western Port, immediately eastward of the harbour of Port Philip, and between it and Gippsland, he says, partly from his own observation, and partly, as it wiU be seen, on the authority of another — * Western Port consists of a large circular basin, of about eighteen miles across, with an island, called Frenchman's Island, of about twelve miles in length and six in breadth, in its centre, which thus divides it into an eastern and western arm. There is another island, how- ever, called Phillip Island, of about fifteen miles long, stretching across the mouth of the Port, a few miles to seaward from French- man's Island, which effectually shelters the entrance of the harbour, and renders it easily accessible for sailing-vessels in any wind * " Western Port," according to Mr Hovell, ** affords safe anchorage for vessels of any draught of water." The government settlement was situated on the east side of the bay, and the country from this spot to Bass's River, which enters the Port from the northward, " consists principally," Mr Hovell informs us, " of a rich alluvial soil, interspersed here and there with patches of heath." * The district of Western Port undoubtedly presents superior capabilities. It contains an abimdance of land of the first quality for cultivation ; althougli, in general, the arable land in the immediate ^^cinity of the port is covered with timber. The extent of excellent * London. 12mo. 1S47. VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILIP. 127 grazing land in the district is much greater; although, from the general moistness of the soil and climate, it is better adapted for cattle than for sheep. The bay aboimds with fish of the finest description ; and fullers' earth, and various other mineral products, are found in the vicinity. But the circumstance that will unques- tionably render tliis district of the first importance in Phillipsland, is the inexhaustible supply of coal which it contains. In a compara- tively thinly- wooded coimtry, like a large portion of the best part of the territory of Phillipsland, especially in a climate considerably colder than that of New South "Wales, this valuable mineral will necessarily be in great request, and the coal trade will consequently be of the utmost importance to the future inhabitants of this district. * " From "Wilson's Promontory to "Western Port," observes Mr Cun- ningham, during whose residence in New South "Wales this district attracted more attention than it has done till very recently, from the circumstance of the abortive attempt to form a settlement in "Western Port having taken place about that period, " the coast stretches along in a westerly direction round Cape Liptrap, about sixty or seventy miles, bounding an extent of country described as the finest ever be- held, and reaching apparently about forty miles to the foot of a very lofty range of mountains running parallel with the coast. In part it resembles the park of a coimtry-seat in England — the trees standing in picturesque groups, to ornament the Imidscape. The timber is mostly the same as in Van Diemen's Land, but some of the species in that genial climate attain greater size and beauty. In other parts the eye wanders over tracts of meadow land, waving with a heavy crop of grass, which, being annually burnt down by the natives, is reproduced every season. In these situations large farms might be cultivated, without a tree to interrupt the plough. Various fresh- water lagoons He scattered on the surface, and about eight miles up the "Western River a branch stream intersects it. A second tributary stream falls by a cascade into this latter, about five or six miles up, navigable for small vessels, where there is an eligible situation for a town. The mouth of the port is about thu-ty nules wide.* An island, called Phillip's Island, occupies the centre, stretching about thirteen miles, leaving an entrance at each extremity. From the headland of the eastern main a reef runs towards the island, leaving a narrow entrance for sliips, but hazardous to one unacquainted with the passage. The western entrance is, however, safe and commodious for vessels of any burden." f ' " I have no doubt," continues Dr Lang, " from all I have heard from persons who have either visited Western Port, or are now residing- in the district in the capacity of squatters, that this is a fair and imexaggerated description of the locality, the capabilities of which, whether in an agricultural and pastoral, or in a commercial point of view, are imquestionably great. The present population of * lie means the exterior mouth, from Cape Shanck to Cape Wollamai. t Two Years in New South Wales, &c. By P. Cimningham, Esq., Surgeon, R.X. 128 AUSTRALIA. Western Port, as a squatting district, is 35*25 persons, of both sexes and of all ages." '—(Pp. 216, 217.) Of Gippsland, trhich, however, he professes to know only by report, he says — * Gippsland is situated at the south-eastern extremity of the Aus- tralian land, and extends from Wilson's Promontory to Cape Howe, being bounded towards the south by the coast-line between these two headlands, towards the north-east by the boundary of New South Wales Proper, by the Snowy Mountains or Australian Alps to the north-westward, and by the Dividing Range terminating in Wil- son's Promontory to the west * There are three descriptions of land in this district — the first con- sisting of poor sandy soil, and miserable scrub ; the second of open forest, forming good pasture-land ; and the third of land of the first quality for cultivation- Of the first description consists the country extending from Lake King towards Cape Howe, and the land gene- rally along the sea-coast. The higher mountains are also to be included in the same category, being for the most part covered with a dense scrub, growing on masses of disintegrated granite or sand. Of the second description consists the back country generally, towards the base of tlie mountains that hem in the district ; while the third description comprises the rich alluvial land within two or three miles of the rivers, and a belt of country generally along the lakes, varying from five to twenty miles in breadth, from the Tan- bean river, at the northern extremity of Lake King, to l*ort Albert. Of this third description a large portion consists of beautiful rich alluvial flats, unencumbered with timber, and ready for the plough. The whole extent of this description of land cannot be less than 500 square miles, or 320,000 acres, and it probably exceeds that quantity very considerably. The whole of this land possesses, moreover, the singular quality, at least for Australia, of being quite close to navi- gable water. In short, the district of Gippsland is unquestionably one of the finest fields for an agricultural population in the colony. From its vicinity to the Snowy Mountains and the southern coast, it is blessed with abundance of rain ; and the climate, although mild and genial for a European constitution, is considerably colder tlian that of New South AVales. " The climate," says my informant, «* I find rather severe in winter, ajler a residence of nearly forty years in warmer countries ; but I think it milder than that of Van Diemen's Land." " The lakes," adds the same gentleman, " are quite fresh in winter, and the rivers are always so ; but in the months of February and March [corresponding to August and September in Europe] the lakes have been observed to be brackish ; but the water is always fit for stock, and good water can be got at any place by sinking for it." * ** The country between the lake and Alberton, or Port Albert, is level, or so gently undulating that you can hardly observe any change VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILIP. 129 of level : ifc is chiefly covered with timber ; and on tlie sandy ground stringy bark of large size abounds, with a great deal of wattle and lightwood, and some gum. I would say no part of the colony is better adapted for railways, were the country settled, than from the lake to Alberton ; and the harbour tltcre is safe and good for vessels di-awing not more than thirteen feet water. There are many safe harboui-s in Comer Inlet, but they are of no avail, the country around it being totally useless, and likely to remain so for many generations to come — being chiefly salt marshes covered with samphire, and with 110 other sign of vegetation. ' " The present population is about 900 souls — I mean Em*opeans — iind about three times that number of aborigines. The latter are extremely sliy, strong, and active. The greater proportion of the '^ettl^rs are,Scoktch,.a few JEJugUsh, and ojiiy tWoJrUi}*" ' Thi^ corresponds with the account of ' its extensive riches as a pastoral country; its open forests, its inland navigation, rivers, timber, climate, proximity to the sea-coast, probable outlets, and more than probable boat and small-craft harbours ; its easy land communication, the neighbourhood of Corner Inlet and Western Port, the gradual eleA-ation, more hilly than mountainous,' vouched for by Count Strzelecki, who professed to be the discoverer of the district of Geelong towards the west. Dr Lang says — * Mr Gibb was thoroughly acquainted wKJi the character and capabilities of the country we had been traversing, as also with those of the region still further to the westward, as far, indeed, as the present boundary of the colony ; and, as a practical farmer of sound judgment and great experience, I could place the utnrost confidence in his opinion. He stated it, therefore, as his belief and conviction, that from Geelong to the Glenelg river, and for fifty miles beyond it, or to the present boundary of the colony — an extent of 200 miles in length — there is a tract of land, of the first quality for agi'icultural purposes, of an average breadth of twenty-five miles ; that is, 5000 square miiesj or 3,200,000 acres altogether. In some places the breadth of this tract is not so great as twenty-five miles, but in others, as in the Port Fairy district, and on the Glenelg, it is much greater. In corroboration of the latter part of this statement, Mr John 3rPhei"son, whom I have already referred to as a successful colonist and a highly- experienced practical farmer, stated that on the Glenelg and the Wannon rivers, where he has a station himself, there is a tract of land of fifty miles square, the finest, wliether for pasture or for agri- culture, he had ever seeji. He did not believe that a single acre of bad land could be found in it. ' And so lightly timbered is this magnificent tract of country, that Mr Gibb gave it as his opinion that two men, with a team of six bidlocks, could put in fifty acres of wheat the first year, and that one man and a pair of horses could do the same afterwards — the I 130 AUSTRALIA. land being much more easily ploughed when it has been once turned up.'— (P. 181.) Quoted in Dr Lang's book we find the following account of a still less-known district, forming the southmost promontory on the west side of Port Philip, from the ' Geelong Advertiser : ' — . *The neighbourhood of Cape Otway has hitherto been in a great measure a terra incognita; for although a few individuals have pene- trated in various directions, yet, from the land being densely timbered, and covered with rank vegetation, and intersected with ravines and ranges, the only descriptions hitherto given have been mere enume- rations of the difiiculties which beset the immediate track of the various explorers. The Cape itself is the southern extremity of the curved coast-line, extending from the mouth of the Barwon to the mouth of the Hopkins, which are 100 miles apart, or 150 miles fol- lowing the coast-line. The chord of this arc is formed by a series of almost impenetrable wooded ranges, enclosing a tract of country containing an area of 3000 square miles, or nearly 2,000,000 acres, the whole of wliich is absolutely waste. The whole appears to be a vast "jungle," covered ^vith an almost tropical vegetation — the trees attaining dimensions quite unknown in other parts of the colony, and the undergrowth of vines and brushwood flourishing with an equally extraordinary degree of luxuriance ; the vines especially forming a trellis-work from tree to tree, which has to be cut througli with a tomahawk before a passage can be effected. Various attempts have been made to form stations witliin this territory, but without success ; for even in the more open parts it is impossible to prevent flocks from separating, and the wild-dogs make an easy prey of all stragglers. It was in these intricate forests that Jlr Gellibrand met with his fate, his remains having been discovered about two years ago by Mr Allan of Port Fairy. This latter gentleman has been the most successful in attempting to explore the western shores of the Cape, while Mr Bell of Lake Colac succeeded in reaching the centre of the forest, and Mr Roadknight penetrated in various directions towards the eastern shore. The country is described as being every- where plentifully watered by nmning streams. His honour the superintendent has made two excursions into this wilderness ; in both instances starting from the westward, in the last of which he succeeded in reaching the southern promontory. The route he pur- sued, however, was utterly impracticable as a dray -road; but it appears that he saw sufficient to excite his curiosity, and to induce him to follow up his own discoveries by the despatch of two govern- ment expeditions, starting from different points. * The sea-coast was traversed in the year 1843 by some seamen, who were wrecked in the Joanna near Moonlight Head, which is situated between Port Fairy and Cape Otway. On reference to the " Geelong Advertiser" of the 1st October 1843, we find that the Joanna was wrecked on the 22d of September ; and that the captain, two seamen, and a passenger, whose lives were saved, determined to VICTORIA, OR PORT PHTLIP. 131 proceed eastward towards Geelonof. They accordingly started on the 23d ; and after proceeding a short distance, found great difficulty in crossing a river, which the captain of the Joanna and many others had often supposed to be a port, but found now to be unap- proachable even by boats. After travelling upwards of five miles, they effected a crossing at a flat where the water was about four feet deep. That evening they arrived at Cape Otway with much diffi- culty. No fresh water was found the first day. On the third day their stock of provisions failed. They then lived during the space of two days upon such shell-fish as they could knock off the rocks. On the fifth and sixth days their route lay along sandy beaches and cliffs, where they could find no shell-fish. On the afternoon of the sixth day they came to a dead whale, the blubber of which had not been taken off, and upon which they were glad to satisfy their hunger. On the same evening they fell in with a party of natives, who did not, however, shew any hostility, except in taking some of their clothes. In passing along the cliffs, the tide was making very fast, so that they were compelled to swim round some parts of it, and received some very severe wounds against the rocks in doing so. When they again came to a sandy beach, they halted to dry their clothes ; and when one of their number went up the bank, he saw a hut, which proved to belong to an out-station of Mr Willis's, to the west of the Barwon Heads, where they were very kindly treated, and next day, tHe 30th, they arrived at Geelong in a state of great exliaustion. * As the route of this party lay along the sea-beach, outside the cliffs and sand-hills by which the coast is lined, they saw but little of the country. One thing is certain, that no river of any magnitude debouches into the sea between the Barwon and Cape Otway. As, however, this part of the coast is sheltered from the north-west and westerly winds, there is a probability that many safe roadsteads may exist ; and, from many concurrent circumstances, there seems to be a probability of more useful results being arrived at from completing the survey of the eastern side of the Cape, than from following up Mr Latrobe's track on the weather-beaten shores around 3Ioonlight Head. WQd and impracticable though this territory may at present be considered, we feel convinced that the day is not far distant when it will be profitably occupied by small settlers. The timber is every- where of the most valuable description, including a description of cedar not found in any other part of the colony. Indeed the whole country around the Cape is of a character so totally different, and possessing resources so peculiar, when compared with the pastoral plains of the interior, that we consider it a far more promising field for the non-stockholding yeomanry than even the lands which are at present taken up.' Dr Lang quotes also an account of the result of Mr Smythe's expedition from the * Port Philip Patriot,' under the head of Im- portant Mineral Discoveries : — 132 AUSTRALIA. * The return of Mr Surveyor Smythe from 'his recent survey of that portion of tlie south-east coast of this continent — stretchin*; from Point Urquhart to about fifteen miles past Cape Otway — haa put us in possession of some important information relative to the existence of coal and other minerals on the above-surveyed section. Extensive veins of coal commence at a point thirty miles from the Port Philip Heads (or eight miles from Point Urquhart), and extend to a distance of ten miles beyond Cape Otway. The veins dip in every direction, tlie general bearing being north-north-west and south-south-east. This mineral appeai-s to abound to a great extent, and in large seams of four feet in thickness, extending from 400 to 600 feet in length; it bums well, leaving a fine white ash, and little or no smoke — resembling the purest description of cannel-coal. Indications of copper-ore, lead, and manganese, discover themselves from Point Urquliart to Moonlight Head : the ore runs in horizontal veins of four miles in breadtli, and varies from east-north-east and west-south-west. The most satisfavctory and conclusive result of Sir Smythe's expedition relates to the undeniable discovery of coal, and tlie immense extent to wiiich it abounds: the other minerals, though adjudged by competent judges to be valuable specimens of copper, lead, &c. have not yet been sufficiently tested to warrant our speak- ing with indisputable autliority upon the point. Witii resjiect to the primary object of Mr Smythe's recent pi-ogress of discovery, we find that an arduous and successful survey of coast-line from Point Urquhart to about fifteen miles beyond Cape Otway, embracing a dis- tance of about seventy miles, has been completed by this gentleman ; and this, too, within the space of one month (the term of his absence from Melbourne), during the most inclement season of the year — wind and rain incessantly prevailing, with but two days' intermission, throughout the whole period of his expedition. The country ovor which he passed was, in tlie aggregate, decidedly indifferent for eitlier pastoral or agricultural purposes, although generally well watered. Mr Sniythe reports that no available country is discoverable within eighteen miles of the coast— the prevailing features being dense scrub, high sandy mountains, and volcanic disintegrations. The coast-line is bold, and skirted by perpendicular cliffs of from 500 to 1000 feet above the level of the sea; it has numerous bays, affording excellent anchorage, being well protected from all but due easterly winds. We leave the public to 'droW::iheir own conclusions from this exhilarating intelligewce.' - l»ncl'4fi3 'A more recent Port Philip paper, s^s PrJ-ang, ' co: notice to the following effect :' — . ;. * The specimens of copper ore coll6cted by Mr P.urvcyor Smythc during his recent expedition have been found to yield an average of 45 per cent, of copper. Specimens of lead and copper ore« had also been discovered in the county of Grant,* This statement, and the passage quoted from a late paiiiamen- VICTORIA, OB POKT PHILIP. 133 tary report referring to New South Wales (see p. 92), contain all the information vre happen to have alighted on about probable mineral resources in Victoria- There has as yet been no mining mania there ; and in fact the value of the soil for stock and sheep, as well as for agricultural purposes, seems hitherto to have supplied the energies of the settlers. In relation to neighbouring districts further inland, ^fr Malcolm, a squatter and settler, gave the following evidence before a select Committee of the Legislative Council of New South Wales on Immigration in 1845:— * Ttie district from Lake Colach, for about 2G0 miles, is very rich ; I do not tliink there is richer land in any part of the world ; it is as good land as ever plough was put into. •And already cleared ? — Yes ; there are thousands of acres adjoining Lake Colach clear of timber, and the richest land I ever walked or rode over; it is about forty-five miles from Geelong, between Geelong and Portland. *Is it well supplied with water? — Yes; witli streams and lakes, one of which is aliout twenty miles in circumference. ' You are of opinion, then, tliat the field is almost unlimited for the eligible settlement of immigrants? — I should say so; all the way to Port Fairy, on the Glenelg River, is as good as tlie part I liave spoken of, taking the south side of the lakes; the other side is not so good, but is a good grazing country. * Do you know the country on the banks of the Groulbum ? — Yes ; I have been on the Goidbum. * Do you think that is a country which would support a large agricultural population? — I do not: from what I have seen of it, I should say it is more a sheep country. I have been over a tract of country extending from Lake Colach to Portland Bay, which I never saw the like of; a great part of it is too rich for sheep.' Another experienced settler, Mr HoUand, gave this evidence: — * Would you state your opinion as to the capability of the colony for immigration generally ? — The district of Port Philip is a splendid field for immigration ; I think the soil able to maintain a dense population, and the climate highly favourable. ' Are you acquainted with England generally ? — I have travelled a great deal in England. ' Would you compare the province of Australia Felix, in point of apparent fertility, with any district in England, or with England generally I — I am of opinion that the western district of Port Philip is capable of supporting as dense a population as any part of England. * Do you think the climate favourable ? — Highly. * By the auditor-general — Have you experienced any inconvenience from the dryness of the climate I — Xot the least. 134 AUSTRALIA. *By tho cliairman — Do you r^' »'•-•: -t \rouId bo jl»>sirablo to in- troduce a class of persona, such »U yeomanry of England, who would cultivate farms of pc...., — . hundred aero.-*" extent, by the labour of their own hands and thai of their familie;} i — It would be a splendid field for them. * From what you know of the capabilities of this country, of its soil and climate, do you think there would bo any doubt of tbo ultimate success of a former with a small capital, and a farm of say one hundred and fifty or two hundred acres, cultivated by himself and his family? — I think such a person irould do well — that his position would bo materially improv^ by en^grating to Port Philip. * Would yon look upon the present low value of agricultural produce as calculated to Interfere with the prosperity of small farmers t — No. * By the auditor-general— Do you think they could nuse wheat at such a price as to make it pay to send to Ki^and !— I feel certain they could.' The regulations as to the sale of land, and the occnpation of the waste lands as cattle-runs or sheep-walks, are of course the same which apply, under the general statute, to New South Wales. The effect of the dear -land scheme, and the corresponding squatting-system, does not here appear to have been so marked in driving the community into two classes — ^the great capitalist owners of sheep and cattle, and the himible shepherds and herds. In the first place, the colony not being old enough to have a race of mechanics of its own, there appears to be more room for that class of workers, even in follo\ving their own special and legitimate trades. Probably also the greater fertility of the soil has given more encouragement to a middle agricultural class to rise out of the humbler grade, or to come otherwise in between them and the shepherd lords. Upon the whole, the district appears to hold out more hope to the man who has little money, but much intelligence, skill, and industry, than the old settled portions of New South Wales. PRODUCTIONS AND CAPABILmES FOR SETTLERS. The fertility of the soil is very great. The gentleman whose evidence is cited above stated that his average produce of wheat was thirty bushels an acre; and Dr Lang mentions an instance — a sort of prize case, where a great effort was made — iu whicli sixty-five bushels were raised. The following views with regard to the applicability of this soil to the objects of the middle classes, and of the humbler, who emigrate not merely to live, but to rise, are taken from the very best authority — the Eeport of the VICTORIA, OE POET PHILIP. 135 Committee of the Legislative Coimcil of New South Wales on Immigration, issued in 1845 : — 'Emigrants arriving in the colony, bringing with them a small capital and habits of industry, would constitute a social grade in colonial society, of which it is at the present moment to a great extent deficient. A boundless extent of land available for cidture exists in various divisions of the colony. Australia Felix, generally, may be said to be eminently adapted for the settlement of an agricultural population ; the evidence on this point is so ample and conclusive, and is furnished by such a multitude of witnesses, tliat it would be quite supererogatory to dwell upon it in this report : it may, however, be remarked, as a peculiar feature in the Australian lands, that tracts best adapted for the plough are naturally clear of timber and brushwood. * It is stated by an intelligent witness, Mr Malcolm, tliat " he believes any given area in the Port Philip district is capable of supporting as large an average population as any part of England or Scotland ;" that " he believes that there is no part of the world where small farmers, arriring with their families and with a small capital, could do better than in PortPhUip;" that "he is himself an agent for several gentlemen who have lands in that district let out in small farms ; that many of the shepherds, after they have been a few years in service, have saved perhaps £100 or £200, and turned farmers on their own account ; " that " all the lands around Melbourne and Geelong were as rich as any lands he had seen; that a district extending from Lake Colach, about two hundred miles to the westward, was capable of supporting the densest agricultural population." * Mr "Walker, whose long experience and extended observation in all matters relating to the colony give to his evidence the highest value, confirms the testimony of Mr Malcolm as to the great capa- bilities of the colony for all agricidtural purposes. Mr Walker observes, " I could not think of finishing my enumeration of agri- cultural tracts without including Australia Felix, in which district there is an immense extent of country suitable for agricultural pur- poses, and for the maintenance of a dense population ; and which has been so well described by Sir Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor-gene- ral of the colony, as ' a region more extensive than Great Britain, equally rich in point of soil, wliich now lies ready for the plough in many parts, as if specially prepared by the Creator for the indus- trious hands of Englishmen.' There is, besides, the whole of Gipps- land of a similar character.'* * In reply to the arguments adduced for the settlement of a class of small agricultural farmers, your committee are prepared to find it alleged, as an obstacle against the adoption of such a system, that the small farmer has no market for his produce when raised; that tiie consumption of wheat in the colony is small, and is to a great extent met by the growth on the gazing stations in the inferior, 136 AUSTRALIA. whilst the market of Britain is closed to us by the imposition of a Jii^^h duty * In reply to these objections, your committee would observe : — ' That were a class of agriculturists established generally in the colony, a subdivision of lalx)ur would to a great extent be created ; that the sheep-farmer would limit his pursuits to grazing, and would abandon tillage, if once he could depend upon an adequate supply of grain for the use of his establishment * The Australian climate and soil arc peculiarly adapted for tlio growtli of all Mediterranean productions: in the southern divi- sions, for the vine, the olive, tlie niulben-y, and tlie tobacco-plaut; in the northern, for the cotton-tree, the sugar-cane, the coffee and indigo plants, rice, and all the indigenous productions of tropical and semi-tropical climates. Numerous and inexhaustible sources of wealth and prosperity remain in abeyance, and wholly undeveloped for want of labour and capital; these, if brought to bear in due proportion, could not 'fail to elicit results alike productive of pro- sperity to the individual colonist, the social advantage of the colony at large, and the interests of British commerce generally. * Some of the branches of industry above referred to have already engaged the attention of the colonists, and the most conspicuous amongst them is the culture of the vine. During the year 1845, 566 acres of land were in cultivation as vineyards, jnelding 50,666 gallons of wine, and 1018 gallons of brandy. * With the view of encouraging the growth of the vine, a wish has been very generally expressed that the immigration of a limited number of vine-growei-s from the south of France and Germany into the colony should be encouraged. Tlie knowledge necessary for the successful cultivation of the grape, and the manufacture of wine, is only to be found amongst the inliabitants of the wine-growing parts of Europe ; and as the advantages that would accrue to the colony by the introduction of such a class of persons would be of the most serviceable kind, the committee conceive that equal faci- lities should be afforded to them as to British immigrants, either in affording them a free passage under a bounty -system, or in tho granting a remission in the purchase-money on land, as an equm»4 lent for the outlay incurred iu their passage.' , .. , br.d Dr Lang giv^s the following pleasing atCCountoCjwhfl^ jaay l^ accomplished out of the smallest means by perseverance and prudence, in the history of one of his own Scottish countrymen: — *0n his arrival in Melbourne, he had only from five to ten shillings in the world, and this small sum he had earned by some petty ser- vice rendered ou board sliip to one of the cabin passengere ; but he had nine sons and a daughter, of whom tlie eldest was about twenty years of age, and the youngest in infancy. Labour was high priced at the time, as everything else was; and having no mechanical * It is rawJarac well mown tiiat this olijcction is now removed. VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILIP. 137 employment, he hired himself as a stone-mason's labourer at £2 a week. Those of his sons who were fit for service of any kind were also hired at different rates of wages to different employei-s. Tiie earnings of the family appear to have been all placed in a com- mon pm'se, and with their first savings a milch-cow was purchased at £12 ; another and another being added successively thereafter at a somewhat similar rate. Pasture for these cattle, on the waste land quite close to the town, cost nothing, and there were always children enough, otherwise imemployed, to tend them ; while the active and industiious wife and mother lent her valuable services to the com- mon stock by forming a dairy. In this way, from the natural increase of the cattle, and from successive purchases, the herd had increased so amazingly, that in the month of February 1846 it amounted to 400 head ; and as this was much too lai'ge a herd to be grazed any longer on the waste land near Melbourne, a squatting- station had been sought for and obtained by some of the young men on the Murray River, about 200 miles distant; and as I happened to be spending an afternoon in that month at the house of my worthy friend John M'Pherson, Esq., of the Moonee Ponds, near 3Ielbourne — another remarkably successful colonist from the Highlands of Scotland, whose eldest son is now a student of divinity in the Free* Church College at Edinburgh — the herd was actually pointed out to me by Mr M-Pherson as it was passing his house at some distance, under charge of the young men, to their station in the interior. For sucli a station the temporary occupant has merely to pay £10 a year to the government, which insures him an exclusive right of pas- turage, for the time being, over .peiiiapS) irem ^f^jio a* hundred square miles of land.' — (p. 88.) Jj'j^tvnjoDiit,' o«f blt-,oili vnoi ^,'iiliicli to the same purpose is the following statement : — ''Mr Malcolm observed that he had had various families of Scotch Highlanders and others in his service as shepherds, w ho liad saved the whole of their wages, and invested them in cattle, and taken farms on lease. One of these has a cattle-farm of 800 acres rented from him for £60 a year. Mr Malcohn added, that he had an excel- lent shepherd — ^an expiree convict — still in his service, to whom he had paid in money-wages upwards of .£400, at the rate of £40 a year sometimes ; but the man has not a sixpence saved, as he drinks all he earns as regularly as he receives his wages. Mr Aitken confirmed this statement, by observing that the rest of his men had had pre- cisely the same opportunities as the Camerons and the two Mowats [men v.ho had raised their jjosition] ; but they had regularly spent ;3ft'they earned, and were shepherds still.' — (p. 101.) The following instructive pas8ag<&' is taft^' from ^ ^flifr same source:— ■■, -'^ '''"''" ■'• -^ "'^^'^«t) j; bn.,: ^i-or- ^a. • l.^.r. *Many of the squatting-stations of Phillipsland are held in this joint-stock-partnership way ; tv.o young men find, perhaps, on their arrival in the colony, that the amount of capital they can each invest 138 AUSTBALIA. in stock is insufficient to bear the expenses of a separate establish- ment, and they therefore unite their capital, and make a joint-stock concern. In tiiis way their individual expenses are diminished one- half to each of them, while a more effectual superintendence is secured for both ; for the one can always be present on the station ■while the other is necessarily absent, disposing of produce, purchas- ing supplies, or transacting other business for the station. It often happens also tliat even when these partnerships are well assorted, ^ne of the partners is much better fitted for the one class of duties tlian the other ; so tlmt each contributes in the most effectual manner his quota of service or exertion for the common benefit of both. And when the concern becomes sufficiently extensive to bear divi- sion, and when each is able perhaps to keep an overseer of liis own, the stock and other property are divided accordingly ; and then when Lot goes to the right baud, Abraham goes to the left. From a list of the payers of squatting-licences in Phillipsland, which the reader will find at the close of this volume, he will see how very large a proportion of the squatting- stations of that country have hitlierto been held on this joint- stock principle. It is true the partnerships are not always well assorted : the partners, it may be, do not draw well together ; they are not of congenial disposi- tions ; and a dieruptioji takes place, as occasionally happens else- where in other partnerships of a more extensive character and a more intimate connection: but these are the exceptions — self- interest and common sense preventing them from becoming the ^neral rule.' — (p. 178.) The vine has been extensively cultivated, as wQl appear from the report of the Legislative Council and the statistics already quoted ; and a considerable quantity of wine and brandy have been already made from it. By a parliamentary report presented in 1851, it appears that in 1849 there were laid out in vineyards 164 acres, producing 5220 gallons of wine, and 515 gallons of brandy. Along with the paper containing statistical returns of the produce and the demand for labour* in the various districts in New South Wales already mentioned (see p. 72), there is a separate set of returns from Port Philip, divided into the districts of Melbourne, Western Port, Portland, Geelong, Murray, and Gippsland. The staple agricultiu-al productions are generally the same as in tliat return — wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and maize, with no mention of peas or beans. The productions of Portland are set down as ' wheat, oats, hay, vegetables, wool, hides, tallow, black-oil, black- cattle, and sheep.' The labour column shews that commodity to be everywhere in demand, but does not press so steadily on purely field-labour as the corresponding document relating to the old colony. Of Melbourne it is said — ' Most parts of the district are still requiring labourers ; the city and vicinity a little better sup- VICTORIA, OR POET PHILIP. 139 plied than heretofore, in consequence of late arrivals of immigrants. All kinds of labom* required.' The returns to parliament, bringing down the amount of emi- gration to the beginning of 1849, shew the total number of immigrants who landed in Port Philip during the preceding year to have been 4098.* Of these, 2111 were males, 1987 females. The number of agricultural labourers was 841, and of shepherds 94. The domestic ser^^ants are rated at 15 males and 704 females. The number of building mechanics was 115, and of persons employed in preparing or selling food 20. Engaged in making articles of clothing were 8 males and 25 females. The persons following mechanical pursuits not included in any of these classifications were set down at 134 males and 3 females. Port Philip has tasted but slightly of the tempting corruption of the penal -labour system. One of the first impulses of its rapid growth arose from a disgust towards the state of society in the old colony, and the unpleasantness of a life spent at war with the bushrangers. It was not, therefore, sm-prising that when government proposed to send a slight infusion of convict popula- tion to the colony in the shape of ticket-of-leave men, the pro- posal should be met by a stout protest. A public meeting was held at Melbourne on the 6th of March 1849, when the inhabi- tants expressed their ' astonishment, alarm, and indignation ' at the proposal, and it was wisely abandoned before the government and the colonists were committed to hostile feelings towards each other. At an early period of the colony's history, the applica- tions of some of the settlers for convicts to supply the enormous demand for labour had been listened to, and in the year 1845 some exiles were actually drafted into the colony ; but the exi- gency which seems to have reconciled those who immediately benefited by it to the cost has passed away. The future history of this colony will of com'se be somewliat different from its past, in as far as the colonists have obtained what they so strenuously desired — a separate legislature of tlieir own. Their central point, Melbourne, being six hundred miles distant from Sydney, they naturally complained that the sending representatives from a place where aU were busy people to such a distance was a serious bm'den, if it were not a farce. To bring this forcibly under the eyes of the colonial ofiice, they facetiously elected Earl Grey as then* representative ; and at last, in the middle of the nineteenth century — and perhaps speedily enough, when it is considered that the colony was not quite fifteen years old — the desiderated hidependence was gained. * See above, p. 104. 140 AUSTEALIA. < I « & W II IOO'*»C«0'NC0«WOO «*=l I : : «^ : «« : !3 o i: s o a 00 tC -J5 , s c 5i o . . 3 2B.y. • ■' to" u S S3 «s ^ ^ - S ; ^ ;3 ;! "^^CTORIA, OR PORT PHILIP. 141 405 10 8 17,992 20 424 90 2,035 131 13 5, 2,364 4 215 80 G3 26 100,261 109 60 574,594 737,067 13,072 721 4,466 «o 1 ~ : MS ■^ CO Ci K OC S 3_ s i : .... : : : = ; : : : 1;J5 17,497 20 292 72 1,870 125 10 5 2,355 4 '"50 60 14 2,203 109 5,421 g s s g co" o5 © --i : : : g ^ S; 5 S 1 s ^ ^ ^ — ' ■-—■ ^ 1 52 casks. CO gallons. 1 package. 1,205 tons 6 cw 4 casks. 157 ... 33 ... 9,081 No. 194 bundles. 20 dozen. 1 package. 102 tons 9 cw 2 cases. 27 ... 37 No. 3 tons 11 cw 69 packages 09,049 cwt. 1 qr 10 loads 2 pieces. 10 i)ackages 14,567,005 lbs. Total Value of Articles the Produce or Manufacture ol New South Walos, including the Fisheries, Total Value of Articles the Produce or Manufacture of the United Kingdom, . . - Total Value of Articles the Produce or Manufacture of other British Dominions, . - - - Total Value of Articles the Produce or Manufacture of Poreign States, - - - - - ' 1 1 1 f . ' 2 ' ' ' ' ' • 1 . 1 I g • < • . 1 . ' ' ' C • ' :'. ' ' ' ' -a12.|. .= .... =||t 1 iitiiilili 1 1 i 1 3 :5 1 1 1 I w 1 1 142 AUSTRALIA. PREFERABLE LIENS ON WOOL, MORTGAGES ON LIVE STOCK — PORT PHILIP. Eetdrn of the Number and Amount of Preferable Liens on Wool, and of Mortgages on Live Stock, in the Colony of New South Wales, Registered at Port Philip, since the passing of the Act of Council, 7th Victoria, No. 3 — 15th September 1843 to 31st December 1849, inclusive. Teer. Preferable Liens on Wool. Mortgages on Live Stock. | Ko.or Liens. Sheep. Amount of lieni. Kaof Mort- No. of Sheep. No. of CatUe. No. of Bortei. Amoimt Lent. £ *. d. £ 8. d. 1843 9 37,910 4,959 13 9 28 57,338 4,240 310 24,131 18 11 1844 66 275,168 23,022 12 117 345,159 19,655 629 129,008 2 8 1845 37 168.793 11,784 14 6 71 149,536 8,175 136 44,383 18 4 1846 22 133,375 11,159 17 4 85 251,402 12,506 227 100,071 7 4 1847 43 284,202 33,790 12 10 125 539,924 22,252 480 135,907 4 6 1848 102 819,823 62,532 9 10 146 600,517 34,469 510 129,808 18 2 1849 118 1,027,488 111,813 11 1 185 960,714 38,319 974 191,483 9 10 SOUTH AUSTRALIA. By the statute appointing its constitution (4 and 5 Will. IV. c. 95), the boundaries of the settlement were fixed between the 132d and 141st degrees of east longitude, and between the Southern Ocean and the 26th degree of south latitude, making an area of 300,000 square miles, or nearly 20,000,000 of acres. In the papers relating to the crown lands in the Australian pro\Tnces presented to parliament in 1851, there is a proclamation minutely setting forth a specific boundary in terms of the geographical definition. It is appointed to commence at a point about 1^ mile west of the mouth of the Glenelg, where the 141st meridian cuts the sea-coast. The distance surveyed is about 124 miles from the coast, marked with a double row of blazed trees, and mounds wliere the ground is bare. It was provided that tlie sovereign in council might authorise any body of men to make laws for the colony, constitute courts, appoint judges and other officers, and also appoint clergy of the Established Church of England or Scotland, and impose rates or taxes. It was provided that all SOUTH AUSTRALIA . 143 sucli laws and regulations be laid before tlie sovereign in council. It was under tbis act that ' The Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia ' were appointed, with certain definite functions. A portion of these comprehended the establishment and enforce- ment of what is called the self-supporting or sufficient - price system akeady referred to, and which will have to be further noticed. South Australia is not a mountainous district, though it has a sufficiency of hill and other inequality of surface to redeem it from the character of flat monotony. The highest summits rise slightly above 3000 feet from the sea-level. The general cha- racter of the scenery, unless in the great alluvial plains, which are the surface riches of the district, is that of gently - undulating ground, with forest-glades and clumps. There is a large quantity of land ready for the plough, without the necessity of clearing it either of forest or of the fem-root, which gives so much trouble in many parts of New Zealand. Mr Dutton says, that ' In many parts of this colony thousands of acres have been broken up, from which not a single tree was obliged to be removed ; and in other parts where the wood was more abundant, the process of " girdling," or destroying the sap, was found sufficient for bringing the whole field into cultivation the first year, and removing one tree after another at the farmer's leisure.' — (P. 202.) There is little natural water communication. The Mun-ay River^ however — the largest in Australia — makes a long stretch by the back of the district before it makes its great bend eastward. The facilities for internal communication are said to be peculiarly promising. The hardness and evenness of the surface not only renders the making of roads a comparatively simple operation, but affi^rds the means of transit without them. Mr Dutton indeed says — ' If you don't mind a little jolting, you may, in your gig, drive from north to south through the province without meeting with any in- surmountable obstruction of hills or creeks.' — (P. 85.) Patches of scrub in bushes from three to twenty feet high are a characteristic of great part of the country, and in some places there are large stretches of this unprofitable produce, in the midst of which, how- ever, were discovered the mineral riches of the colony. The dis- trict has a very extensive seaboard, from the peculiar shape of the coast-line, which also gives abundant harbourage and shelter. It is penetrated by two large gulfs, Spencer and St Vincent ; the pro- montory or peninsula between them, called York Peninsula, some- what resembling Italy in shape; while Kangaroo Island, which fronts and shelters the Gulf of St Vincent, bears somewhat the same relation to York Peninsula as Sicily does to Italy, only lying farther eastward in relation to the Peninsula, and approach- 144 AUSTRALIA. ing nearer to it in size. This island is about 100 miles in length by 25 in breadth at its widest part. It received its name from the multitudes of kangaroos frequenting it. So little were the true riches of the colony known, that this island, which is full of scioib and salt marshes, and in everyway inferior to the opposite main- land, was the earliest inhabited, and the remains of the huts left by its first straggling settlers are yet shewn. The water-lakes in this island are used in evaporation for the production of salt. A sufficiency of water is always the formidable consideration in every part of Australia. It may be questioned v.hether there has been yet a long enough experience of South Australia to enable us to pronounce it exempt from such di'cadful visitations of drought as those to which the other districts have been subjected. Those who have had experience of the colony speak of the water as sufficient for all practical purposes ; but it is not supplied by abundant perennial streams, as in Britain and New Zealand. Na- tural holes, ponds, or tanks, have to be greatly relied on ; and it is believed that these are not merely collections of river and surface water, but that they are supplied by springs beneath, since they are very deep, fresh, and cool. It is said that bathers find a diffe- rence of temperature in different parts of the same pool — a phen6- ' inenon quite consistent with the supposition of subterranean springs, as wann water, being lighter than cold, tends upwards, and brings the whole mass to the same temperature ; but when cold water is supplied from below, it keeps to a certain extent its dis-^ tinct temperature. One of the most enthusiastic admirers of the . district— for the good reason, that he was one of tlie most fortu- nate settlers — gives an account of the water, which, though it is intended to be laudatory, should make the emigi'ant, both with reference to his own and his family's health, and minor considera- tions, inquu'e well into the matter before he finally trusts his for- tunes to this colony. Mr Button says — ' For about five months in the year all our creeks — '•^vwoxs,''^ par excellence — are running with delicious water ; after the rainy season is over, tlie natural ponds formed in the beds of the rivers and creeks afford a never- failing and abundant supply ; and, with few exceptions, you may always rely on getting water by sinking wells at from 20 to 100 feet, at from many places under 20 feet. In some parts of the colony the water has to the new-comer a somewhat disagreeable and brackish taste, owing to the aluminous nature of the subsoiL It is, however, a well-established fact, that there is nothing un- wholesome in this ; indeed I have myself become so accustomed to the taste of it, that after a lengthened stay in the country, upon returning to Adelaide, I almost preferred the slightly brackish water I had been drinking in the country to the fresbr SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 145 spring water out of the torrent. Cattle and sheep flourish amaz- ingly on this water (that is, the water of South Australia), and are very fond of it.' * Mr M'Laren, when asked by the 1847 Com- mittee on Emigration, 'Is the colony well watered?' answered — ' There are extensive districts well watered. * Comparing it with Sydney, it is much better watered than tlie Sydney colony ? — Much better : there have been no droughts in South Australia as there have been in New South Wales. And this is not a statement made on vague grounds ; because, ever since the settlement of South Australia was formed, there have been regularly meteorological tables published ; and there has not been one calendar montli since the settlement of Europeans in South Austra- lia in which rain has not fallen.' The evidence of Mr Morphett, who had resided in the colony from its commencement, given before the same committee on this highly-important subject, was as follows : — *Is South Australia better watered than Sydney? — -Yes: our colony is not what Englishmen would call a well-watered country, inasmuch as there is not so much surface-water as Ave see in Eng- land ; there are not the rivers that we here see nmning towards the sea ; but there is, for all practical purposes, as much water for the country as we require. * Are you subject to droughts such as have occurred in Sydney? — No : we have never had droughts, and I do not think that our coun- try is subject to droughts. * Do you find any difficidty in procuring water by sinking wells ? — Not any : a great many of the sheep of the coimtry are watered by wells.' It is of course, in a colony holding out inducements to agricul- turists, a matter of vital importance to know something of the breadth and depth of the alluvial soil, as well as of its character. But these are precisely the important matters in which it is most difficult to obtain specific information, and in which the informa- tion obtained is most frequently one-sided or eiToneous. Colonel Gawler, the second governor of the colony, is said to have pro- nounced, in a general way, that one-third of the land was good for agriculture, one-third for pasture, and that the remaining third was barren. This general estimate has been coincided in by those who have had fuller means of testing its accuracy.f The fertility of the organic matter contained in the soil is largely developed by the abundant presence of decomposed limestone, though in some places the earth, from consisting of imperfectly pulverised primitive * Dutton's South Australia, p. SG. f Button, p. 200. J 146 AUSTRALIA. rock, is hard and inorganic. These interruptions are, however, according to the general accounts, comparatively rare ; and it appears that, especially wherever the streams from the upper lands have left deposits in the lower, they have been of an organic character, caused by the decay of vegetable matter, while the mineral deposits are calcareous and argilaceous. A practical authority has been quoted by Mr Button, to the eflfect tliat ' the open plains and low grounds throughout the colony consist prin- cipally of light sandy loam, of a bright-red colour, resting on a limestone rubble. Tracts of sandy and poor soU. are also met with, generally arising from the decomposition of sandstone and quartz rock, &c. On the face of many hills of moderate elevation a fine brown loam is abundant, of more or less depth; in some cases three, in others as much as five feet, and is a most admirable soil for the growth of fruit-trees. On the base of the hills, resting on the recent limestone, is generally found from six to eighteen inches of a reddish loam, the very perfection of soil for the viae.'* The principal river in the colony, the Murray, reaches the sea in the estuary called Lake Victoria, which is shallow, and is ever becoming shallower. It can scarcely be said that the mouth is practically navigable, as, from the shallowness and the heavy rolling surf, it is but on rare and special occasions that a vessel can enter it. But it is thought that when it becomes dry, as it is likely to be, the river, in a narrower channel, may be more easily entered. Tliis river is of great length, from thirteen to fifteen hundred mUes. How far it may be useful in a commercial sense is still a matter of doubt. It passes, in a great part of its course, between high cliffs of sand and clay, while in other places a broad belt of brush and forest skirts it, with occasionally great fiat plains on either side, unfortunately too arid to be used for pastoral purposes. There are along its course quantities of lagoons or small lakes — a constant attendant of the limited river districts of South Australia, as they are the natural result of a water-system, which is liable to be much reduced during the dry season. The variations of this river, answering to the dry and wet seasons, are very great. ' It receives,' says Captain Sturt, ' the first addition to its waters from the eastward in the month of July, and rises at the rate of an inch a day until December, in which month it attains a height of about seventeen feet above its lowest or winter level. As it rises, it fills in succession all its lateral creeks and lagoons, and it ultimately lays many of its flats under water. The natives look to this periodical overflow of their river with as much anxiety as did ever, or do now, the Egyptians to the over- * Dutton, p. 200. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 147 flowing of the Nile. To both they are the bountiful dispensation of a beneficent Creator : for as the sacred stream rewards the husbandman with a double harvest, so does the Murray replenish the exhausted reservoirs of the poor children of the desert with numberless fish, and resuscitates myriads of cray-fish that had long lain dormant under ground.' The 35th degree of southern latitude passmg right through it, the centre of this district is on a parallel with the northern extre- mity of New Zealand, and, independently of the causes of greater dryness, it has naturally a higher average temperature. In this respect the only element of difference between it and Sydney is the one being on the east and the other on the west side of the continent. Compared with the northern hemisphere, it lies like Malta, Algiers, and Gibraltar ; but there are now ascertained to be topical causes of influence which prevent places, in the same posi- tion of the two hemispheres, from having the same temperament ; and of these the broad arid continent itself, with the wide open sea around it, are causes sufficient to account for great differences, from the varied centre of Europe. The climate of South Australia is more temperate than that of Southern Europe — apparently more hke that of France and Northern Italy. The friends of the colony speak of its climate in unmeasured terms of praise. Mr Button says — ' It is a continued succession of spring and summer ; for although one part of the year is called winter, it is only so in name, because we have not yet discovered an appropriate word to substitute for it. Suf- fice it to say, that our so-called winter is without frost or snow ; that it clothes the country with a verdant and flowery sward, and the trees with foliage, delighting at once both man and beast. The rain which falls during this season germinates the seed which the farmer has sown into green and luxuriant growth. Winter is the season when the young lambs, calves, and foals gain strength from the tender and nutritious grass which springs up in every direc- tion, while the wool of the sheep is matured in growth.' — (P. 113.) This is fully confirmed by Mr Wilkins, who says — ' The rainy season is called the winter, but this name gives but a poor idea of that season to persons who have been accustomed to the frost and snow of a winter in England. There is no frost or snow, or, more strictly speaking, it is so rare an occurrence, that I only once remember having seen ice, and this was in a cold hilly district.' 'VVTiere there is delicacy of constitution in a family, health is the most valuable attainment which the emigrant can pursue, and we have known at least one instance where a family, pros- perous, beloved, widely -connected — possessed, indeed, of every social element which could make them adhere to home — have 148 AUSTRALIA. courageously resolved, because the children were liable to pul- monary complaints, to shift their whole race and fortunes to the warmer shore of this colony. To an act of this kind, such state- ments as the following, by ^Ir Dutton, would naturally be an inducement : — ' The medical profession is, generally speaking, an unprotitahle one (in South Australia.) There are no endemio diseases, fevers, or agues. The dry, warm, and elastic atmosphere is also peculiarly iavourable to astlimatic and pulmonary com- plaints. I have myself known cases where the early stages of these diseases have been removed, and in many others great relief aflforded where the disease was too deeply rooted for a radical cure. People who, before they left England, were for years in a debilitated state of health — some tliat were actually given over as hopeless cases — ^liave, on arriving in South Australia^ taken out an entirely " new lease," and are now as hearty, hale, and strong as they could wish, able to undergo fatigues of all sort.s, and exposure to heat, cold, and " bushing it under a gum-tree, with a saddle for a pillow," without the least inconvenience.' — (P. 101.) On the minor matters of mere agreeableness the testimonies seem to be equally favourable. The country is, like all the rest of Australia, clear of fog, anTl those who have experienced even the pleasant atmosphere of New Zealand, complain of its con- trast to the clear, dry, transparent sky of South Australia. The evenmgs are described as peculiarly serene and beautiful, with the air generally suificiently cool to be bracing and exhi- larating. According to meteorological observations in 1844 and 1845, the coldest day was in June, when the thermometer waa as low as 47^% and the warmest in January, when it was at 106i\ Tlie observations were taken at four hours of the day, ten, twelve, two, and four. Almost invariably the highest reach was at twelve o'clock, that of two o'clock sometimes reaching tlie same level, but very rarely exceeding it. The variations in the heat weie not great, seldom above 4% but they were largest when the general heat was greatest. Thus on the day of the highest heat in January, which was likewise one of the few when the thermometer was highest at two o'clock, the variations were — ten o'clock, 102.^°; twelve o'clock, 106 ; two o'clock, 106J= ; four o'clock, 101.^=. Even in that, the warmest month of the year, however, the mean temperatures and variations were, with refe- rence to the same hours respectively, the following : — 83^ % 85=", 85\ and 84i" ; the lowest, likewise at the same hours, were respectively 70', 70", 70% and 71''. In June, the cold month, the highest points were, for the same respective hours, 65% 68% 67% and 63' : the mean heights were 55% 58 % 58% and 56^°; and the lowest 47^°, 49% 49% and 49.y% In the temperate month of SOUTH AUSTEALIA. 149 April the highest heights, still in reference to the hours of ten, twelve, two, and four, were 81 i', 86°, 85°, and 82'; the mean 63f ^ 651°, 67.r, and 6AxV ; the lowest 53J^ 53J^ 55*'^ and 54'.* South Australia is not, however, entirely exempt from its atmospheric annoyances. To persons brouglit up in this country, the few days in the summer months, December, January, and February, when the thermometer is in the neighbourhood of 100', are somewhat formidable. It appears, too, that at such times a very disagreeable wind blows occasionally from the north, hot and arid, and bearing clouds of burning dust. Its peculiar cha- racter has led to the belief that it must pass over vast sandy deserts in the interior of the continent, which, lying baked m the sun, make a sort of oven where the wind heats itself in passing. Unprepared as the dweller in India is for a perpetual warfare with heat, the rougher settler in South Australia feels both annoyance and prostration from this visitation. But it appears that it is generally but of short duration, a sea-wind from the cool south stopping its career after a few days, and bringing with it freshness and pleasantness. Mr Button thus describes the change : — * All of a sudden the atmosphere becomes darker and darker; the servants rush into each room to see that the windows are fastened. You look out and perceive to the southward a dense column of dust rising perpendicularly into the air — the two winds have met ! The south wind, fresh from the sea, being many degrees colder than the north wind, is violently precipitated on to the ground, the lighter hot wind rising in proportion ; this is the cause of the column of dust being raised so high; now the two winds are engaged in fierce struggle! It lasts but a mo- ment; with gigantic strides the column of dust breasts its way northward — the hot wind is fairly vanquished, and with a blast before which the mighty gum-tree breaks, and your house quakes, the south wind proclaims its victory, and in half an hour it settles down to a steady, cool breeze ; the dust subsides, and " Richard LS himself again.^"— (P. 108.) . As the person who is going to commit his ifortilfi^ to a distant emigration field cannot know too much about the place of his adoption before he takes his final step, the works refeiTed to in the present department of this book are of course recommended to the traveller's full consideration. But in this instance it is fortimate that information may be received through the eye by an ifispection of the magnificent book called ' South Australia Illus- trated, by George Frederic Angas.' The possession of this costly series of illustrations will be the privilege of but a few; but others *See the tables at length, Button, p. 105. 160 AUSTRALIA. may see it in public libraries, or in the hands of opulent and friendly book-collectors. There are some people who, in the pur- suit of what they consider the main element of life, are completely unsusceptible to scenery and the other external features which surround them ; while others, who are keenly alive to all such influences, should, for the sake of their own contentedness and happiness, keenly examine and appreciate such external elements of wellbeing. One of the great features of nature brought out by Mr Angas cannot be called prepossessing : it is the aspect of the people. It is difficult to conceive anything more truly revolting : their possession of the features of our common humanity, so strongly impregnated as they are with elements of brute life, makes the representation all the more unlovely. Massive, wide, projecting under-features — a grin or a scowl of the least inteUec- tnal and the most animal character that can be figured as human — orang-outang -like limbs and splay feet, with the hanging abdomen even in the young — such are their unpleasant charac- teristics. They are of that lowest human grade which, instead of improving, seems gradually to disappear before the progress of civilisation. They have already been, however, cured, and fortu- nately not in a harsh manner, of their mischievous and cruel propensities, and the settler need fear little or no annoyance from the aborigines beyond that of beholding occasionally an object which it disgusts him to look at.* The other departments of nature — animal, vegetable, and mine- ral — exhibited to us by Mr Angas are a pleasing contrast to his representations of the lord of the earth. His pictures justify the statement often made by travellers in the colony, that the scenery of the better parts is very like that of a well-kept English park — trees not so numerous as to give a forest character, ground gently * The latest information we have from the colony would represent these po5 acres; at Moimt Barker, for seven settlers, they reaped 97 acres ; and at the Hutt JffiLvtr, for two settlers, 15 acres. A traveller from Adelaide to the south-east district was taken Ul on the Coorong, and had exhausted all his provi^iis^'fhe aborigines buUt him a hut, brought him. ibod and water, fed him on fish, aadl'a^r attending him several days, gave infor- mation of his helpless condition to the police, by whom he was removed to the station at 'NVellington, and thus saved his life. Between Naime and Mount Barker the aborigines were the means of extinguishing a bush fire which threatened destruc- tion to the crops of the settlers. Aroimd the lake, near the mouth of the Murray, the aborigines are employed by the sheep-farmers U> extinguish bush fires, and they have become careful to prevent their occurrence. At Encounter Bay some of the aborigines are good boatmen, and are thus employed in the whaling season. I was informed that some of the lubras, or wives, made themselves useful as washerwomen, and my informant spoke highly of the kindness of one who had been a nurse to her SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 151 swelling, and a coating of smooth sweet grass. The waters are in general tranquil, with smooth turf edges; but in some places there are torrents, and the cataracts of Glen Stewart especially, remind one of Scotland. The vestiges of volcanic operations, which liave ceased to be active at a period comparatively late, are a pecu- liarity of this colony. Mr Angas gives a representation of the crater of Mount Schank, evidently a very remarkable piece of scenery. He describes it as ' a hollow truncated cone of dark cellular lava. It is about 600 or 700 feet in altitude, and rises almost abruptly from a rich plain scattered over with luxuriant gum and wattle-trees. The view from the rim or outer edge of the crater is peculiarly striking. The neighbouring peaks of Mount Gambler (another extinct crater with volcanic lakes) rise in the distance on the one side from the wooded and park-like country surrounding them ; whilst on the other, the mouth of the Glenelg, the high land of Cape Nelson, and the indentations of Bridgewater and Discovery Bays, with the Southern Ocean beyond, appear as on a map, over the opposite edge of the crater. Look- ing below, the immense hollow or bowl is seen forming the interior, studded at the bottom with trees, which appear from the heights above to be only small bushes.' The intending emigrant who sets his eye upon this colony must remember that, notwithstanding the quantity of information hither- to received about it, it is yet a land of unknown resources — that it is impossible to prepare the settler, as if he were going to any of the old settled districts of Sydney or Tasmania, to know how he will find himself with relation to all surrounding objects. It will be for some not the least inviting feature of the expedition, that there is a wild adventurous vagueness about it. Hitherto, men with a little capital and considerable enterprise, or merely with health, industry, and some skill, have found a field here, but of what precise character it wiU in futm-e be, it is not easy to say, since every year materially alters the ratio of the population to the territory, and develops some great new resource for enterprise. While a territory which, if peopled like the United Kingdom, would contain fifty millions of people, has only had little more than fifty thousand inhabitants,* it is easy to imagine that a mere fractional and indicative part of its resources have been developed. Accordingly, on turning to a map of the province, it will be found that the settlements are nearly all comprehended in the compact and nearly rectangular district which has the gulf of St Vincent on the west, and the Murray, or rather the ridges of the hUls on the west of the Murray, as its eastern boundary, with the river * At the commencement of 1850 it was 51,904. 152 AUSTRALIA. Wakefield on the north, and Encounter Bay on the south. The Burra Burra and other mines are carrying enterprise farther north; but in tlie meantime the wide area south of the 34th degree of Sputli latitude, with the two huge peninsulas on either side of Spencer's Gulf, are, with little exception, fresh ground on which the adventurous settler has a new world all before him. Nearly in the centre of the settled portion, and with a considerable front- age to the gulf of St Vincent, is the county of Adelaide, where it was resolved to make the seat of government. Adelaide, the capital, was only founded in 183G, and few transatlantic cities have exceeded it in rapidity of gro\vth. At the commencement of the year 1850, the population was 14,000, the nnmber of houses 2922. It is six miles from the port, with which it will probably be soon united by a railway. Tlie port, the capital, and the way there, immediately strike the newly-arrived settler by their thorougldy English appearance, and make him feel, after hi& tedious sea-journey, as if he liad really arrived at a home. The author of the ' AV'orking-Man's Handbook./,£QP;SftttMi Australia' says of the road from the Port to the city-mml (il n-frsah * Tliis bustling road generally excites sui-pnse amongst ncw-coniers. They seem to tluulc that, after having left England so far behind them, they will, iu the antipodes, find nothing resembling the old country. Here, however, at first landing, everything they see puts them in mind of home. The houses and streets ; the shipping, boats, and vehicles ; the men, women, and children ; all recall similar objects in old England. Familiar -looking inns and shops, and genuine English bar-maids or shopmen, take one quite by surprise. Tlie glass of beer drawn out of the London-made engine; tlie cheese, butter and bakers' bread; the meat and vegetables; and, in f^ct, the i Jilt (n^te^iillf^ is English said coinfortahlii J From the same homely, but apparently accurate and Kbtiest pen, we may take the impression made on entering Adelaide : * After traversing the park -land; the road is up a gentle rising hill, and then turns to the right along North Terrace, in front of the Government House. This is a commodious building, surrounded by ten acres of land, part of which is laid out in tastefully-ornamented gardens, with walks and shnibberies ; and in the front of the house a high signal-mast is put up, on which the British flag is hoisted, to denote the presence of the representative of royalty. This house was built by Colonel Gawler, and is a convenient and comfortable dwelling. In front of the house, and separated from its grounds by only a large sunken ditch, is a pleasant promenade, neatly railed off from the road, and gravelled. This promenade is desei'vedly a favoured resort with the townspeople, ■v^ ho come out here after the heat of the day is over. On the other side of the road, and facing SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 155 the Government House, is North Terrace, which boasts of many neat villas, Avith handsome gardens and cool verandas ; in this terrace there are some substantial and ornamental stone-and-brick buildings — as the Australian Company's offices, the Bank of South Australia, and, farther on. Trinity Church, part of which has been lately built afresh, and the whole much improved in appearance ; on the same side as the Government House is the Legislative Council House, and other substantial edifices. A turn to tlie left, past the post-office (a small and mean-looking edifice, built in former days), takes the visitor up King William Street, lined on one side with comfortable- houses and shops, and on the other with the stock-yards and other buildings belonging to the auction-mart, which is at the comer of King William and Hindley Streets, and is a handsome building, that would be considered an ornament to any English town. Farther up King William Street are many large buildings — as Younghusband's, Montefiore's, and Stock's stores, and in the distance the government offices and commissariat stores ; and besides these many good private houses and shops of all descriptions. Hindley Street is the principal place of business, and here is to be observed all the bustle of a flourishing town, the Avay being filled with heavy drays loaded with produce, drawn by four, six, or eight bullocks, and accompanied by the drivers, shouting and cracking their long whips ; also with wagons and carts, drawn by strong English-looking horses, and mingled with gigs, carriages, and horsemen, all seemingly eager in business or pleasure, and taking little notice of the half-naked black men, armed witli spears and waddy, accompanied by their lubras (or women) and children, and followed by gaunt, lean, kangaroo dogs. Hindley Street is lined on both sides with good stone, brick, or wooden houses, some few of which are of superior build, and do credit to Australian street architecture. Many of the stores or merchants' warehouses are massive brick or stone buildings ; and altogether, the town has a much more imposing aspect than could be expected from the difficulties it has encountered, and the short time it lias been established. Most of the better kind of buildings have been but recently erected, and these are finished in such a style as to lead to the idea of no scarcity of cash at present. The principal public edifices are the two churches (Trinity and St John's), and three or four very commodious chapels belonging to diflferent sects, the Government House and offices, the Court-house (once the theatre), the Bank of South Australia, the South Australian offices, not to mention others. There are two banks in Adelaide — one the South Australian, the other tlie Bank of Australasia. This last is a branch of the Australasian Bauk, which has establishments in all these colonies. Its business has hitherto been carried on in a small but elegant cottage situated in North Terrace ; but now, I under- stand, the intention is to erect a more commodious and substantial building in the business pai-t of the town. Besides the Frorae, a large stone bridge is in the course of erection, and probably by this time completed. This, by opening a new line of way, will lessen 154 AUSTRALIA. the distance to the port, and be a saving of labour to the bullocks that are constantly at work on the road/ Small towns rise so fast in this colony, as traffic takes new directions, that any account of them from accessible materials would be sure to be obsolete. Twenty-three miles from Adelaide, and on the great thoroughfare towards the northern centres of mining as well as pastoral production, is Gawler Town, a small but very bustling place, from the quantity of traffic, for which it forms a station. A few villages, of which Hahndorf is the chief, are occupied by the German settlers of South Australia. They arrive there poor enough, and they have been burdened with a heavy draining sort of expenditure for their little holdings. But in their simple com- fort and content they are a wonderful specimen of what patience and temperance can do. Ungifted with the fiery energy of our British people, they do not attempt to rival their rapid and shifting opera- tions. But they are not afflicted by the same vices, and they liave enjojTnent in keeping themselves alive, and becoming contentedly comfortable; while of their more stirring fellow-settlers, some have striven far ahead, while others, alas! overcome by the vices of their country, have fallen as far behind. The earliest village built by them, Klemzig, about three miles from Adelaide, is de- scribed as being so purely national, that the inhabitants might have been supposed to have brought it over from Prussia. Round Adelaide, in various directions, are scattered villages, with from 50 to 200 or 300 inhabitants, and bearing names familiar enough, such as Kensington, Islington, Walkerville, Hindmarsh, Bowden, Prospect, and Thebarten. The inhabitants of the capital have ah-eady their bathing -places and marine Nillas in Glenelg and Brighton, described as beautifully situated on the shore of the gulf, with a pleasant range of sea-beach. Three small streams, the Torrens, the Sturt, and the Onkaparinga, water this favourite country. It contains a vast stretch of fine pasture, called Ade- laide Plains. The county immediately to the south is Hind- marsh. It is in the form of a cape, and has an extensive sea- board to the south and the north-west, and even to the east, where the lake Victoria is formed by the outlet of the Murray. Along the shores of this estuary the land is of a varied character : part of it is sufficiently bare and bleak, but there are rich alluvial tracts. The next county north-westward, with the Murray for its eastern boundary, is the Sturt. At the mutual boundary of the Hindmarsh and the Sturt is Mount Barker, an elevation seen from a great distance. It is the centre of a district celebrated for its rich productiveness, abounding in fruits and vegetables, in garden as weU as agricultural produce, and supplying the primi- SOUTH AUSTKALIA. 155 tive settler with the luxuries of a high state of civilisation. It is chiefly by this district that the prizes at the agricultural exhibitions in Adelaide are carried off. The county town, Mount Barker, suppUed with a pohce establishment, is a rising and important place. Near it, at a place with the native name of Kangooarinilla, has risen the village of Macclesfield, and near one of the late- discovered mines is the village of Nairn. The whole district bids fair for a com-se of rapid agricultural prosperity. Directly northward of Sturt is Eyre County, stretching along the Murray to the great bend, and bounded on the west by the Mount Torrens, Greenock, Barossa, and other ranges of hills. This district is little known, and very scantily settled. A great part of it is covered with what is called the Murray 'scrub;' a belt or forest of scrub, about twenty miles wide, which lines, as it were, the principal Australian river. It is described as monotonous and gloomy to a depressing extent, and is connected with legends of native outrage; but it has been perforated by roads, and the short-lived period of aboriginal resistance and revenge is now long past. Immediately to the north of Adelaide, and also on the coast of Gawler Coimty, and inland towards the mountain- ranges, is the Light, the reputation of which as a scrub county, and therefore of secondary agricultural importance, was materially altered by the discovery of the Kapunda mines. Fmther north is Stanley, imsettled and almost unknown till within these few years; but becoming a great focus of enterprise from the Burra mines, situated at its western extremity. These three counties are considered as the Bush, to which the adventijrous settler, discontented with the ci^ilisation and uniformity of Adelaide, goes. The grain produced in them is generally only sufficient for the settler's own consumption, and sheep and cattle-farming are the main occupations. Suitable for such purposes there are vast well -grassed plams and valleys, and unless a peculiarly strong tide of emigration should set in in these districts, proposing settlers will have an extensive choice of station for years to come. 'There is no lack,' says Mr Dutton, with special reference to these northern districts, 'of the best soil; indeed it would appear invidious to pai*ticularise any one district more than another, as they all more or less possess like advantages. The wide tract of country on the east side of Spencer's Gulf is stiU fresher than that which has just been mentioned. The accounts of it are contradic- tory ; and so far is it from being settled, that there are no means of forming any estimate of its capabiHties, It was there that, in the early history of the colony, had been established the town settle- ment of Port Lincoln. It was recommended as a suitable place for 3;56 AUSTRALIA. the capital of the country ; but a sort of prejudice lias since arisen against it, and it has dwindled away instead of increasing. The capaciousness and excellence of its harbour have elicited unani- mous admiration, and it has been stated, on pretty good authority, that there is abundance of good soil around. As stated above, the accounts of the broad peninsula on which Port Lincoln is a dot are varied and inconsistent, and in such circumstances it is the safer policy for tlie emigrant to treat the worst accounts as the most accurate. Mr Eyre, who went over the ground, has reported that ' the great mass of Port Lincoln Penmsula is barren and worthless; and although it possessed a beautil'ul, secure, and capacious harbour, with a convenient and pretty site for a town, and immediately contiguous to which there exists some extent of fine fertile soil, with several good patches of country beyond, yet it can never become a large and important place, on account of its complete isolation, except by water, from every other, and the limited nature of its own resources.' * This unfavourable \'iew is confirmed by tlie remarks of the governor, who, in a report drawn up by him in 1850, says — * Of Port Lincoln it was remarked, on its discovery in 1S02, " that the excellence of the port might seem to invite there the establish- ment of a colony ; but the little fertility of the soil offered no induce- ment." Nor has it, in my opinion, at tlie present time any other prospect of becoming a popidons or thriving settlement, than that which the recently-ascertained mineral character of the country presents. The land is for the most part poor and rocky, the trees scrub and shiack, the water g^ierally scarce and brackish. There is, however, a spring of good ^esh w^ater, below high- water mark, on the beacli, near the present township. Boston Island, where Flinders searched in vain for water, is still reputed to be destitute of it; although it is rather a marvellous fact that a flock of 1200 sheep at present thrive there. * A speculative township, extending to the preposterous length of about five miles, was originally laid out along the margin of Boston Harbom- (the adjacent bay is Port Lincoln Proper, and is uninha- bited) ; and at the farthest extremity of it, on an eminence over- looking both bays, was laid the foimdation- stone of an intended church, which, however, was never proceeded with, and is now only alluded to by the settlers as a record of the exaggerated and hitherto disappointed expectations of the early purchasers of land, many whom are resident in England.' Settlements have tended rather towards the south than the north in this colony. On the coast, 300 miles south of Adelaide, was discovered the promismg district of Port Rivoli, visited by * Button's South Anstralia, p. 92. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 157 Oovemor Grey in 1844. In a dispatch to the colonial secretary on the occasion, he said — ' I am happy to be able to assure your lordship that the resuks of our journey "were of a most satisfac- tory nature ; and that -vsc ascertained that by keeping near the sea-coast, instead of passing the line of route previously adopted, there is an almost uninterrupted tract of good country between the rivers Murray and Glenelg. In some places this line of good country thins off to a narrow belt ; but in other portions of the route it widens out to a very considerable extent, and on ap- proaching the boundary of New South Wales, it forms one of the most extensive and continuous tracts of good country which is known to exist within the limits of South Australia.' But the views of Governor Young, in his report in 1850, have a less favoui*- able appearance. Running along Encounter Bay, this new district has been divided mto two counties, the more northerly called Robe, and the other Grey County. In the former, running parallel to the coast, is the Wambat range of elevations. In the latter are Mount Muirhead, Mount Gambler, and the volcanic hill Mount Schank, elsewhere mentioned. It is not easy to give any satisfactory account of the resources of this district, w^hich indeed is not laid down at all, or at most only outlined in the usual maps, though perhaps the emi- grant who had looked at them in this country for information may find, ere he has reached the spot, that pretty full experience has been had, either for good or evil, of the district. The suspicion that haunts all parts of Australia — that of good fresh water being limited in its supply — shines through the accounts even of the most sanguine supporters of this new field. Thus ' an experienced colonist in search of sheep-runs,' quoted by ^Ir Button, says, evidently making the best of the case — ' In the lowlands of this district, and near to Rivoli Bay, water is everywhere to be found, in the tea-tree swamps (always regarded as an indication that water is near), which are very numerous and extensive. I consider there are some thousands of acres of land on which the tea-tree is to be found. In the middle of one of these swamps we dis- covered a small stream of running water, which must be perpetual, as it was in the latter end of April when I saw it, and before any rains had fallen after the summer drought.' — (P. 98.) It is an important feature of this new district that it is intersected by the overland tract from Port Philip. HISTORY ANQ SOCIAL STATE. T\Tiile the early history of many other colonies shews the evils arising from utter anarchy and want of a principle of manage- 158 AUSTRALIA. ment, that of South Australia, on the other hand, exemplifies how powerful may be the evil influence of any miscalculations on the early operations of a new body, while it is plastic and impressible. The Commission appointed in May 1835 published a very well -written and rational exposition of the system on which they proposed to act. It set down as a first principle, that the characteristic feature of the system was the securing a certain amount of free labour, and that this was to be accomplished by exacting for each grant pa}Tnent of a certain sum per acre, to form a general fund, applicable to the exportation of labourers. This fund was to be placed under the control of the commissioners, whose duty it was to apply it with a view to the interests of the colony, in reference to the number, the age and character, and all other quali- fications of the labourers exported. It was held out that while the act guaranteed the colony against convict labour, its conveniences and advantages, without its evils, would be thus supplied. As the allottee did not pay for any specific labourers coming out, but paid into a general fund, on which all the labour of the province was supplied, it was unnecessary to have recourse to the indenture system, ever productive of discussion and legal interference — of tyranny on the one side, and of hatred and insubordination on the other. It was represented in this document, that 'the contribution to tlie emigration fund being a necessary preliminary to the acqui- sition of land, labourers taken out cost free, before becoming land- owners, and thus ceasing to work for others, will furnish the means of carrying out other labourers to supply their places.' The characteristics of the method of pajment, as appointed by the act, were set forth. There was no penalty to be levied on leaving the land waste ; because the sum paid being a kind of instalment on the price of cultivation rather than the value of the land, it was believed that none would take allotments which they did not seriously intend to make use of. An incident in the very outset of the colony was not of favour- able auspices. The governorship was ofiered to Sir Charles Napier; but that shrewd officer declined to rule on the self-sup- porting system, as it was called, ' without some troops, and with- out power to draw upon the home government in case of neces- sity.' Captain Hindmarsh, a very meritorious naval officer, believed to be highly skilled in all the routine of his own profes- sion, was then appointed. He found a state of matters very diffe- rent from that on board a man-of-war, or even in a garrison settle- ment. Before he had arrived and established his government, crowds of impatient settlers were there before him, and were rush- ing in a continuous torrent. As it was no longer the rule of first SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 159 surveyed oflf for him, there was an immediate demand by each immigrant of his destined allotment, since they were fast spend- ing their capital in idleness, drawing costly supplies from the old settlements. But the surveyors had not begun to work — they did not even know where the capital of the new colony was to be. This state of matters created discussions in the colony which came to blows, and brought immediately such a torrent of com- plaint to the colonial office, that it was quite necessary to recaU Captain Hindmarsh and some other official persons. He was succeeded in the government by Colonel Gawler, under whose auspices the new system was worked in a manner which speedily shewed how dangerous it might be made, and taught a severe lesson to colonists going to places where there was tempo- rary prosperity for them caused by circumstances which were forced and fleeting, and did not arise out of the true elements of permanent colonial prosperity. Under the original act, some powers had been given to the commissioners to borrow money on the security of the funds derived from the sale of lands ; and these powers were enlarged by an act passed in 1838. The new gover- nor drew a strong description of the false position of the colony, in which, from the mass of immigrants far exceeding the immediate arrangements for allocating allotments, the people had crowded to the centre of government, and were occupying themselves in anything but the legitimate pursuits of colonisers. ' Scarcely any settlers in the country, no tillage, very little sheep or cattle pas- turing, and this only by a few enterprising individuals taking their chance as squatters. The two landing-places — Holdfast Bay and the old port — of the most indiflferent description ; the expense of transport to and from them to Adelaide the most ruinous ; the population shut up in Adelaide existing principally upon the unhealthy and uncertain profits of land-jobbing ; capital flowing out for the necessaries of life to Sydney and Van Diemen's Land almost as fast as it was brought in by passengers from England ; the colonial finances in a state of thorough confusion and defalca- tion.' The wildness of the system of land-speculation which had sprung up can only be comprehended by those who have witnessed the madness of any commercial crisis, where all are occupied in making money by advantages over each other, and the true source of wealth and increase — ^production — has ceased. While the coun- try lands were sold at a fixed price of £1 per acre, the town acres were set up to auction at an upset price of £2, 10s. each. The dealings which took place in the transfer of these allotments were an exaggeration of everything that has occurred in railway gambling. From £3 or £4, acres rose to the price of £2000 and £3000 ; and those who pocketed and spent these rapid profits, of 160 AUSTRALIA. course thought that both they and the colony were advancing. As it is every trader's object in an established city to get into a business locality, it became every town-section holder's object to make his property a centre of business. Hence came a race in building and laying out; and frantic efforts were made by each to have streets and warehouses about him earlier than his neigh- bour. The handicraftsmen connected with building sometimes got bribes which defeated the intended end, for they would then only work occasionally, and after they had exhausted the produce of their last turn of work in brandy and champagne. The mania scattered itself tlurough the country. Holders ^ideavoored to set up villages which might become towns on their allotments ; and a map of the central district, with all the projected villages laid out on it, would have made it appear as populous as Lanca- fihire. It is said that wanderers in the bush would come upon signal-posts indicating the position of streets and squares, with the most familiar aristocratic names of the West End of London. An active, energetic administration, aided by the funds advanced by the commissioners, and by drafts and other forms of credit where tliese were insufficient, rapidly changed this gambling system, and produced a temporary period of apparent pros|>erity. Public works were now undertaken on a large scale, and the settlers drew considerable incomes. But it was overlooked at the time that this is not colonisation as a new source of supply, but merely the employment of people iar off at the expense of the mother country, instead of their employment at home. Mr Dutton says, that ' South Australia was producing nothing at the time, and immense suras were obliged to be sent to the neighbour- ing colonies for the necessary articles of daily food — an expense ■which was heightened by the failure of the crops there, wliich brought the article of flour alone, in 1840, to my knowledge, up to £90 and £100 per ton. As long as the governor circulated such large sums in the colony, this dearness was not felt The working-classes scouted the idea of proceeding into the country, when they were sure of employment at large wages on the government works; and the country settler was thus pre- vented from producing those very articles of food which, by keep- ing the money in the colony, would have laid the sure foundation of future wealth. The colony, therefore, did not receive any further benefit from this large government outlay beyond the possession of a number of handsome buildings, necessary, it may be, but all the profits of whose erection went to the neighbouring colonies in exchange for food.' * * South Australia and its Mines, Pp. 24, 2i SOUTH AUSTRALIA. ICl The necessity for the buildings may be doubted, unless it were necessary tliat a man who is poor should spend all his o^vn money, with some tliat he lias borrowed, in building a large house, because some day he may become rich enough to require it. This state of matters now belongs to past history so far as South Australia is concerned ; but the conclusion is still important to settlers, as shewing them that it is not the fact of a settlement being pros- perous from money, and occupation being abundant, that makes it desirable, but the circumstance of that prosperity being well founded — the circumstance of its being founded on production. A new governor, Captain Grey, succeeded, and set his face immediately to a retrenchment, firm and stringent, but as gentle as with these necessary qualities it could be made. But the true sources of colonial wealth and income had been so completely neglected, that, to obviate the most calamitous consequences to the unhappy settlers, large advances from the home government were necessary. Notwithstanding very liberal aid, the revulsion was so great that multitudes were thrown into destitution, and dis- contents were created which threatened actual violence. In the end, however, the necessity of the settlers betaking themselves to the true objects of their mission — the means of communication with the interior, the bringing in of land, and fhe depasturing of sheep and cattle — produced their legitimate good fruits. But owing to the energetic efforts which had been made to give the colony, at its very outset, all the advantages of a home district, in a city, har- bour, and public buildings — including a large and costly prison — the authorities were not put in the right position for really start- ing the colony, without an immediate expenditure of upwards of £185,000 from the home government, with the prospect of fur- ther contingent outlay ; while the colonists themselves were sub- jected to the greatest hardships and privations. The early misfor- tunes of this colony for some time damped it ; but whether its people ought to have been brought together or not, there they were — intelligent, well-educated, well-intentioned, energetic, English and Scotsmen, and it could not be but that in the end they would right themselves. They were at first, like all bodies of men who miscalculate or are mifortunate, clamourers for government aid and the parental assistance of the mother country. But that was sternly refused, so far as it inferred future aid and artificial sup- port. The very considerable sums already referred to were spent to meet obligations and debts incurred by the representatives of government — not to give artificial assistance to the colony. It took of course some little time before the energies at work gave any visible sign. But, from the year 1840 onwards, the province was progressively prosperous ; and thus it is usual, though it was K 162 AUSTRALIA. founded in 1836, to date its real existence from the former year. The rapidity of its progress, immediately on its passing the term, is attested by the following document, laid before the Committee of 1847, by Mr T. F. ElUot :— Return shewing the General Condition of South Australia in the Years 1840 and 1845. 1840. 1815. Total Population, - 14,610 22,390 In Town, . - - - 8,489 7,413 In the Country, 6,121 14,977 Number of Public-Houses, 107 85 Convictions of Crime, 47 22 Acres in Cultivation, - 2,503 26,218 Exports of Colonial Produce, £15,650 £131,800 Revenue, ... 30,199 32,099 Expenditure, ... 169,966 36,182 N^» — Observe the extraordinary increase of every favourable element, and decrease of every one that is unfavourable. Public-houses, convic- tions, and expenditure, materially diminished ; occupation of country lands, agriculture, and production of articles of export, largely increased. This increase in the elements of wellbeing was accompanied by a dispersal of the population from the town, where they were ob- taining a false and self-consuming income, to their allotments and service in the country, in so far that Adelaide, in the early days, contained more than half of the colony's population, and had appa- rently more inhabitants than it possesses now. The South Austra- lians boast that they are, in the various grades of society, and their habits and social condition, more like the mother country than any other colony. We have seen that they had no convict population to contaminate them, and they speedily put down the faintest attempt at bush-ranging within their border. They consider them- selves fortunate in the purity of their Anglo-Saxon race, having a larger proportion of Englishmen and Lowland Scots than any other colony — at least in Australia. A proposal having been made, during the scarcity of emigrant labour, to introduce that of hill- coolies, many of the settlers have congratulated themselves on the proposal not having been adopted. They have taken with them the national amusements as well as the more important qualities of their race ; and the accounts that we have of hunting, horse-racing, cricket-playing, &c. in South Australia, at least indicate the most fervid and sincere pursuit of pleasure under all difficulties. Those who pursue these occupations, however imperfect be the meana SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 163 — and they must, in so raw a country, be imperfect — seem, how- ever, to enjoy their sport with much zest ; and perhaps they have there, as well as at home, the essential element in the enjoy- ment — a competition with each other, tending to the accomplish- ment of feats which are remarkable, if not for their absolute perfection, at least for the difficulties overcome in accomplishing them. But in a country where the whole occupation of man is in combating with, and overcoming, the difficulties of natm*e — where there is a race with time — and huntmg out the savageness of the land, and bringing it into civilisation, are the daUy exciting pur- suit of the inhabitant — one would reaUy think that open-au: exer- cises could not obtain the same importance as they do in a country where the momentous labours are in the crowded senate or court- house, or at the dusty desk. Yet it is evident, from Mr Button's account, that the races are a very important affair. He says — * The annual races are vG?ry popular, and well attended — causing, for the time they last (usually three days), almost a total stagnation of business. Adelaide boasts of as fine a race-course, in the imme- diate neighbourhood of the town, as any in the world. Perfectly level, and without a single stump of a ta"ee or stone, it presents a fair field for equestrian feats. The beginning of January is the time set apart for these truly national sports, and then the settler comes in to Adelaide from far and near : toi)-boots and cut-aways are the order of the day ; and the steady old nag, which has been accus- tomed for months before to jog through the bush at his own pace, gets extra allowances of com, and a double application of currycomb and brush, to be able to shew off on the race-course in galiopping from one point to another — for everj^body is on horseback No greater and more convincing proof can be given of the very orderly nature of the South Australian population, when I say, that out of the thousands assembled in January 1845 to witness the races, at a time, too, when most of the labouring-classes had plenty of money, and means of becoming intoxicated and riotous, not one case of disorderly behaviour occurred which caUed for the active inter- ference of the police.' — (Pp. 144-147.) Every country, old or new, has its peculiar form of the victim class. It is the advantage of the distant colony that the indolent, spiritless child of selfishness, whether of high or low origin, who leans upon others instead of exerting himself for self-support, is driven to his shifts. This is very natm*aUy and amusingly shewn in ]\Ir WUkins's description of the South Australian victim — * Some persons are ruined by fanning ; but these belong to the class who leave others to act for them, and spend their time and money in training horses for the race, di-iving tandem, and living at 164 AUSTRALIA. hotels ; fond of what they call a quiet game of cards, and going home in the morning -vvitliout hat or boots, whicli have been as quietly- staked and lost ; and so on, until they tui'n unfortunate, and become acquainted with Ashton^s Hotel, as the jail is called. Such are not uncommon cases, even in so small a community as South Austz-alia; and it is curious that you may generally tell the habitation of these characters by observing their dwellings surrounded with the remains of expensive furniture, broken shafts of gigs, tools in abundance, and. much broken, expensive clothing, and piles of empty bottles ; which last are the only articles that make any return to the poor creditors, for the land has been already staked and lost to some brother chip. These are the men who lose by farming, and would lose by the richest mine that was ever discovered; but even they afterwards find employment ; and their good seat on horseback, and d'jvil-moy- care hunting propensities, render them valuable servants to the cattle-owner, who engages them as stock-keepers, where they vege- tate until a fresh supply of money comes out, and enables them to pursue the old game. However, there is no fear that their case will discourage the hard-working sober man from ev.gaging in the pur- suit in which th.ev have failed.' * . The inns in the towns and villages' of Stills'* c'oJony' ai-e described as numerous and good. The peculiarly English character of the population would at once prepare us to expect this ; but tlie traveller penetrating the bush to look out for a pasture location, or for employment, is not to expect an inn at every stage. A imiversal system of hospitality, however, seems to have been established throughout the district; and while the absence of bush-rangers has rendered it safer than in New South AVales, it has been found that, for the general interests of the colony, the system is as prudent as it is neighbourly and humane. The searcher after employment is recommended to burden himself with nothing but clean linen, a couple of towels, a razor, brush, and a piece of soap. He has of course learned to dispense with heated water, and he will have had the prudence, before lea^'ing Britain, to procure such articles as he may need in their most portable shape. Mr Wilkinson recommends the addition of negrohead tobacco, with a flint and steel ; but this must be as the workman's tastes and habits lie. Thus proceeding on his journey, be is wel- come at every door, and he receives not only such plain substan- tial hospitality as the emigrants' store aifords, but probably instruction and advice as to the best direction to follow, or tlie best means of accomplishing the object of his Avishes. Mr Wil- kinson gives this emphatic assurance on the subject — ' I have travelled in all parts of the country, and been entertained * Working-Man's ITand-Book. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 165 by all classes : at one time by the owners of large stations, who covered tlieir hospitable boards with delicacies ; at another by the shepherd or bullock-driver, whose humble meal I have shared. I liave remained a visitor for days together with persons whom I had not seen before ; but in all my experience, I found only one person who did not offer me food and lodging. Let all working-men bear this in mmd, and themselves raaiatain thi^, hospitality towards |andering fellow-colonists.' .fa'ao^Io-ij'oir/iunrA '^Perfect religious toleration lias been all along a fundamental principle in this colony, and, what must be in all respects gratifying to reflect on, it is accompanied apparently by zealous efforts on the part of each body amply to supply the means of worship and religious teaching to its own people. In Adelaide tbere are two churches of the English establishment, two Pres- byterian places of worship, nine edifices devoted to the worship of other Protestants, a lioman Catholic chapel, and a meeting- house of the Society of Friends. There are throughout the whole territory seventy-six places of worsliip. It is not un- likely that the emigrant, ere he reach liis destination, may find this number increased, to meet the increasing wants of the growing colony. In one part or other of the colony there will be found places of worship for the Wesleyan Metliodists, tlie Primitive jNIethodists, the United Presbyterians, the Indepen- dents, the Baptists, and 'immersed believers' — tlie 'Christian Brethren,' the Unionists, and the Swedenborgians ; wliile the Germans have their Lutheran Church.* An ordinance of the year 1847 appointed aid from the public funds to be given in supplement to voluntary contributions. It proceeds on tlie prin- ciple of giving £50 when there is a population of fifty persons who have themselves raised £50, and of larger aid, not exceeding £150, corresponding with the amount locally raised. The stipends of the ministers are also aided from the same source. The education of his children is one of the most formidable obstacles to the enlightened citizen emigrating. lie cannot but remember how frightfully this great source of civilisation and wellbeing has been neglected in other colonies. It was natural to expect South Australia to profit by the sad experience, and it must be admitted that her government has employed the moderate means at its disposal in this field of usefulness in a manner which somewhat shames the old country. In 1847 an arrangement was made for paying to each schoolmaster who had twenty scholars, or more, £1 a year for each, up to £40, when the allowance ascends no higher. In Adelaide munificent aid has been given to the schools •^ Sec Tables and Particalars, Jlaitin's British Colonies, i. 690. 166 AUSTRALIA. on the supply and demand system, by some of the fortunate indi- viduals who profited by the tide of success in the colony — among others which have more or less connection with the various reli- gious bodies, there is a great collegiate institution on the principles, and to a certain extent imder the authority of the Church of Eng- land. The educational operations embrace the somewhat upliill task of teaching the children of the aborigines. Almost next to instruction itself is the supply of its daily food from the newspaper press. It is especially valuable to the colonist who can take few books with him, and to whom the current his- tory of that European world which he has left at a distance is the most interesting object of study. Several newspapers have been established in the colony ; but it would be useless to name or number what is so very fluctuating in its character. That powerful measure of the state of society, the extent of criminality, shews here a favourable aspect in comparison with the penal settlements, or those which have been penal. Yet some formidable oflfences have been committed. Between 1840 and 1847 there were seven murders, and, what is rather singular, only two cases of violence, with mtent to kill or do some bodily harm. Of that species of assault on females which marks an intensity of sensual savageness there were three, and of ordinary assaults nine — a small number for a new society; of sheep-stealing, a very formidable offence in a colony, there were eight instances ; of cattle- stealing eight, and of horse-stealing three. TRADE AND REVENUE. ThQ history of the colony's export and import trade keeps unison with that of its social health, or disease arising from mis- taken management. In 1841 the imports from Great Britain exceeded £150,000. In the ensuing year they were considerably less than £93,500; in 1843 less than £58,500, rismg in 1844 to nearly £64,000 ; and in 1845 exceedmg £103,000, while in the ensuing year they rose above the level from which they had smik. In exports from the colonies there was a like depression. They were upwards of £123,000 in 1841, and less than £70,000 in 1842, while they became but a small fraction more than £47,000 in 1843, and were more than £54,000 in 1844. The same malady struck at the exports, though not in so marked a manner. They amounted to more than £53,500 in 1841, were in 1842 under £40,000, and in the year following rose to a point slightly above their former level. In the feature of importation, the preponderance of increase is decidedly in favour of British exports. In the earlier periods of the colony, when the inhabitants were spending SOUTH AUSTKALIA. 167 their money, were exporting little, and so were not put into the channel of interchange vdth the home country, they bought from the colonies and from foreign countries to a large proportional extent. Thus in 1839, when the exports were trifling — to Britain about £9500, and to the colonies about £6500 — the im- ports from the colonies were upwards of £200,000, while those from Britain were less than £123,500. In 1849 the imports from Britain had increased to £177,428, while those from the colonies had decreased, being £196,236. The imports from foreign countries had been upwards of £23,000 in 1839, and in 1849 they had fallen off so as to be less than £11,000. In the same time the exports to Great Britaui had increased from the small sum already mentioned — about £9500 — to exceed £300,000. The exports to the colonies had at the same time increased from about £6500 to upwards of £165,000 — a result which, when compared with the decrease of imports from the colonies, shews that the circle of the colonial trade must right itself through Great Britaui; in other words, that the other colonies must export to Great Britain, to enable them to pay the excess of their imports from, over their exports to, South Australia. The exports to foreign countries have ever been trifling. In 1845, by an unusual leap, they reached £9783 ; but in 1849 they were down to what appears nearer their usual level, £1875. The quantity of wool exported has in more than one year risen above 2,000,000 pounds, worth about £100,000. The value of the corn exported iu 1848, however, was more than three times that amount. In the latest information contained in the governor's report laid before parliament in February 1851, it is stated that — * The exports for the year ending 5th April 1850, contrasted with those of the previous corresponding year, are decreased one-half per cent. ; namely, from £485,951 to £483,475. The decrease has been chiefly owing to a smaller amount of the produce of the mines. The expectations of the miners and smelters of the Burra Bun-a ore, as mentioned in my last annual blue-book report, were not realised to their full extent. ' The export, as above, of wheat, meal, and flour to Great Britain and elsewhere was 14,4974 quarters of wheat, and 1924 tons of meal and flour. * The export of taUow was 5571 cwt. against 3867 cwt. of the previous corresponding year. * The export of wool for the year ended 5th April 1850 was 2,841,131 lbs. against 2,243,086 lbs. of the previous corresponding year. * The tonnage inwards and outwards has increased for the year ended 5th Apnl 1S50, as compared with the previous corresponding years, forty-three per cent.; namely, from 112,338 tons to 160,497 tons.* 168 AUSTRALIA. The receipts of the general revenue, according to the same authority, were for 1849, £108,301. The revenue has more than tripled in five years, that for 1844 having been less than £28,000. The chief item is of course the customs-duties. But to speak of sources of revenue, unless they materially affect the means of settling and obtaining land, and otherwise embarking his means in the colony, is generally to refer to a matter of comparatively small moment to the emigrant. He may feel pretty sure that once over the grand impediments before him — the voyage, tlie selection of a district, the choice of an investment, and the purchase of his loca- tion — the article of taxation will not seriously unpede him. It will not therefore be of great service to offer him the tariff' of Western Australia. He will forget its items before he get there, and they will not be sufficiently unportaut to influence him in the clioice of the particular emigration field which he sliould adopt, as people used to be influenced in this country in the choice of a trade under the old system of duties. Moreover, the latest table of tiny kind accessible while tliis goes to press, might be useless to the emigrant after he has reached the country. It may be useful, however, tliat he should have a general idea of the tone and charactei*, as it were, of the taxes in South Australia. litiii ..^ Previous to the year 1849, there was a differential tariff in favour of imports from the United Kingdom. Since the summer of tliat year, the duties liave been indiscriminate on the produce of all countries. The most important are of course those on ai'ticles of manufacture, whether in metals or in textile fabrics. On these there is a universal ad-valorcni duty of 5 per cent. Besides the principal articles of our cotton, silk, woollen, linen, and hardware manufactory, it applies to clocks and watches, stationery, glass manufactures (other than bottles), saddlery and harness, carriages, brushes, miscellaneous machinery, mats, imple- ments and tools, haberdashery and millinery, hats and caps, musical instruments, drugs, miscellaneous groceries, oilmen's stores, &c. The duty on books was fixed, at Gs. per hundredweight: it would be of little importance that bacon and hams were 2s. 6d., and beef and pork Is. Gd. per hundredweight, or that wheat-meal was fixed at Is. Gd., and barley and oat-meal at Is. 3d. per quarter. But it would be of more consequence to the settler to find that boots are only charged Gd. per pair, half boots 3d., and shoes 2d. The tax on beer, porter, ale, and cider, is 3d. per gallon, on wine Is. per gallon. There is a much higher proportional duty on spirits — for every description of the strength of proof it is 10s. per gallon. This must lead to an extensive home production, and is thus an impolitic tax, vrhich will probably counteract its object. Its policy, was to make the settler pay as much as he v.-ould be con- SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 1G9 tent to pay, -without attempting to distil. But if grain spirits cost a guinea a gallon, and he can make it for 5s., he will do so, and the practice will become temptingly easy. The growth of the gi'ape will probably make the finer kinds of spirits almost as easily pro- curable. Coals are charged 9d. per ton, and coke 2s. Among the minor miscellaneous duties are — bottles, Id. per dozen; ordi- nary bricks, 2s,, and fire and bath-bricks, 5s. per 1000. Twine, 5s. per hundredweight ; fish, dry and pickled, Is. per hundredweight. Common Avindow-glass is included in the 5 per cent, ad valorem, but for plate-glass there is a separate charge, of which it will im- port little to the intending emigrant to know the minutiae : when it is in squares exceeding 600 inches, it is charged 4d. per pound. Dressed hides, os. ; mw salt and dried, Is. ; soap, Is. per hundred- weight ; macaroni and vermicelli. Id. per pound. Living animals are imported free, so are bullion and coin; plants and trees, garden-seeds and roots, unmanufactured w^ool, and, most important of all to the intending emigrant, his luggage. The other sources of income are in general of too trifling a nature to have much influence on the new settler's position. There are some local rates connected with Adelaide and its harbour which are applicable to their special improvement. After the customs, the next most important item in the general taxation is a licence-duty, by far the greater part of which is laid on the sellers of liquor. A genei*al publican's licence costs £25, and a licence to sell wine and malt liquor £12. This high scale has probably, like the import duties on liquors, been adopted as a negative restraint on intemperance, and so long as it acts in that du-ection, it is of course an unexcep- tionable source of revenue. In 1847 the receipts from 135 general publicans' licences amoimted to £3375 ; but this is a source of revenue which would require to be carefully watched, lest it over stretch itself. Store-keepers pay a Ikenee-duty of £6. (rJ'amv^'SDuth Australia now produces fine and heavy Crops of wheat. In 1845 it was stated that in the Mount Barker district from thirty to thirty-five bushels an acre was a low average there, and that from forty to forty-five had been repeatedly grown. ;Mr M'Laren, when asked by the 1847 Committee on Emigration, ' Is the quality of the grain produced good ? ' answered — * According to Lord Lyttelton's statement in the House of Lords, the finest in the world; and I believe that statement was fully justi- fied. The South Australian Company sold 450 quarters of wheat in the month of November 1845 at 76s. a quarter in the London mar- 170 AUSTRALIA. .ket, when the cnrrent price of good English wheat was about 60s. ; and at the same time there were three or four quarters of South Australian wheat which had been sent home for seed sold at 96s., when English wheat was selling generally at about 60s. They had an agricultural show some time ago in Adelaide ; and the weight of the prize wheat for the first and second prizes exceeded sixty-six pounds the bushel ; and when the South Australian Company weighed out that 450 quarters, they paid freight for it at the rate of sixty-four poimds' weight per bushel for the whole cargo ; I paid it myself.' The average depth of ploughing is about eight inches. The time of sowing wheat is from the middle of April to the middle of June ; and it is thought expedient, by not having it later, to avoid the hot winds of December and January. Barley, however, may be sown at a later period. As is usual in fresh agricultural colonies, it has generally been found more economical to let por- tions of sections stand fallow than to be at the trouble of collect- ing and distributing manure ; but the time of course will come ■when the artificial enrichment of the soil wiU. be worth the settler's while. The ploughing is by oxen, whose steady, powerful pull is found more convenient in the circumstances than the more rapid operation by horses. A strong rough plough is made in the colony suited to the character of the soU. For this and other instruments it is thus of more value to an emigrant who is not a capitalist, to be able to do some carpentry and smithy w^ork for himself, than to possess some choice tools from the manufactory of accomplished makers at home. It is not the object of the present work to supersede the inquiries which the intending emigrant must make upon the spot, before he embarks his capital or labour, but rather to give such general \'iews of the several emigration fields as may help him to a choice, by giv- ing him a general notion of their several adaptabilities and charac- teristics. No attempt, therefore, will be here made to indicate the best investments that the capitalist may make with his money, or to recommend how the settler should proceed after he has landed. IVIr Dutton, who lived long in the colony, and had every practical advantage, sensibly remarks — ' It has always been the fashion in publications on the colonies, to give tables of calculations as to the profits realised from the breeding of sheep or cattle I, however, have a strong objection to this, as it cannot be done with sufficient accuracy to serve as a guide for those who would wish to embark their fimds in it, and I should be sorry to mislead any one into following pursuits which a variety of contingent causes might, after all, disappoint him in. The price of the sheep, in the first place, is very various, according to their quality, and whether they are clean or " scabby ;" the nature and extent of the run, its being SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 171 well watered or badly watered ; the distance from town, and cor- responding facility of access for the transport of wool and stores ; the great or small demand of wedders by the butchers ; the price of wool obtained in England — all combine to make the task of compiling correct calculations as to profits one which I have no ambition to undertake.'— (Pp. 249, 250.) Between the two great staple occupations of the monied settler — cattle pastm-age and sheep-walks — it seems to be the under- standing in South Australia, as in the other provinces, that the former is the safer speculation, more suited for the medium capi- talist not inclined to make daring adventures for chances of large profit. A very practical-looking little book, called ' The Working- Man's Hand-Book to South Australia,' by George Blackiston Wilson, gives the following business-like counsel to the settler who has cattle in his eye. It is cited here rather as giving a general notion of what a settler's prospects in that department might be, than as containing a specific rule which he is to hold by from the moment when he has made up his mind to emigrate. Mr Wilson observes that — * After farming, cattle -keeping is the easiest and most certain method of gaining a living ; but cattle require a large run of pasture- gromid to feed upon, for they are not enclosed in fields, or house- fed, during any pai't of the year. This is the difficulty of the case. It will not be advisable to purchase land for the pui-pose ; and therefore, after the intending purchaser of stock has, by actual inspection, become acquainted with the price of cattle throughout the colony, he will do well to buy his herd from some respectable man who is willing to allow him to live at the station, and, acting as overseer without pay, look after his cattle on the run that they have been accustomed to, until he knows each beast, and has found a good run or station which he can rent for himself. This is a pretty sure way of going to work without needless expense, and will amply compensate for loss of time and comfort. When once on his own run, his days will pass pleasantly ; and all the labourers he requires will be two men — one as stock-keeper, who is answerable for the cattle ; the other as hut-keeper, who cooks, cleans the hut, and attends to the garden : 700 head of cattle, valued at £3000, will give a good return in a couple of years (about 25 per cent.), and, with very little attention on the part of the master, after the first year, will become a source of considerable profit, iilany of the South Australian stock- owners live almost entirely in or near the town, and leave their stations to the care of an overseer, they themselves only visiting their flock two or tlu-ee times a year. * Two or three persons, with £400 or £500 capital, may join toge- ther (although this is dangerous, unless they are previously well acquainted) ; but no individual with only £500 should lay it out on cattle with the object of taking a run for that number. Other 172 AUSTKAHA. methods, however, there are for parties who prefer cattle ; as — First making an agreement with a respectable cattle-owner to take your cattle on either one-half or two-iiftlis of the increase ; which means, that he keeps the cattle for you, pays all expenses of stock- keeper, kc. and at the end of the year hands over to your account either one-half or two-fifths of the calves ; and if he keep a dairy, three-fifths of the profits on butter or cheese. This is very fair for both parties, and enables the owner of the cattle to employ himself in any way that suits him best, while at the same time he knows that his herds are increasing. Second, if the cattle are quiet, and of a good breed, many parties will keep them for their milk once a day, taking tiiis as an equivalent for all expenses. I prefer the fii-st of these two plans, because thereby the calves ai-e more likely to have full justice done them, and not to be stinted in their milk, which, when they are young, would be sure to spoil their growth. Aaiother plan is — to pay about 7d. or 8d. a month for each head to some party owning a good run ; he agreeing to find and pay for all necessary labour. The breeding of hoi-scs should be combined on a small scale with cattle-keeping.'— (Pp. 47, 48.) ' '■'■^'^' '*'''. '"' ''^^• The South Australian settler witJi capital has thus several means of investment at his disposal, and is not, as in other Australiau settlements, driven absolutely to tlie adventui'ous occupation of sheep-farming. Still, like cotton in Manchester, and cutlery in Sheffield, this, until mining greatly superseded it, was the chief pursuit of the district — that which stamped the man as of the highest order of settlers. It is said that here the tlocks are not subject to that mysterious catarrh or influenza which in other places sweep them ofi by thousiinds. Yet it is the doom of this gentle quadruped to be ever environed by enemies which render necessary the most vigilant attention of man, to whose wants he ministers. They are liable to scab and foot -rot. Mr Dutton says it is only in marshy runs that they fall victuns to the latter ; and that there is an immediate remedy — in driving the flocks to the hUls. The scab is not a deadly disease, and its evil is its injury to tlie quality of the wool. From carelessness or poverty in a few holders, this disease has sometimes been very rife in South Australia, and many vain efforts have been made by regulation to interrupt its spreading. The great sheep-owners complain of the runs being broken in upon by the demand for small sections. They consider that this circumstance both limits the extent of their operations, and exposes their stock to infection. The dingoe or wild dog is a formidable enemy of the tlock. Its extreme cunning, both in preserving itself from attacks, and in choosing the defenceless moment for pouncing on its prey, is a cause of endless provocation to the flock-master. The effect of the seasons on the stock lias to be cai'efiilly SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 173 studied ; and even those who are most laudatory of eveiytliing in the provhice, cannot conceal that the drought is at some seasons very prejudicial. ' The appearance of the sheep-runs,' says iSIr Dutton, ' during the rainy months is very beautiful ; and the growth of the grass is so rapid and so abundant, that during July, August, and September, one acre would feed four sheep, whilst in summer it would take four acres or more to feed one sheep- This is. the reason why the settlers require such large tracts of countr}- to feed their stock upon.' The dryness is formidable in another way — from affording a rapid spread to bush fires, which sometimes destroy buildings as well as grass. They run lightly along the soil, not destroying the roots ; so that the fresh grass which rises up through the accidental top-dressing is described as very beautiful and tender. It is one result of the system of selling the land at a uniform and comparatively high price, that its acquisition in pro- perty for sheep-farming purposes is not thought of. The pastures are on the waste lands of the crown, held at a merely nominal rent, with a licence-duty, under the conditions set forth in the document afterwards given. As the land may at any time be sold, there is no inducement to the sheep-owner to improve it, or raise buildings on it. , ' Mr Dutton complains ttiat'there has been a prejudice against South Australian wool in the British market. ' The same wool,' he says, ' which, had it come direct from Adelaide, would have fetched say Is. 6d. per pound by being first shipped to Sydney, and from thence home to London, sold for 3d. and 4d. per pound higher.' A neglect in cleaning the wool has been attributed as the cause of the inequality ; and it may be attributed to the want of labouring hands, of which this colony had so long to complain. Fruit. — Horticulture, especially the frugiferous department, is a secondary matter to the emigrant seeking only rude abundance, or even to him who has no other object before him but the mere realisation of wealth. But to every one looking at home-comforts, and the expectation of a simple and refined life for his offspring, the prospects of the garden will not be wholly overlooked. Tree fruits were not an abundant j^roduce of the district, and of course in the early stages of settling they were not profusely introduced. From the first, however, that luxury of the tropics, the water- melon, was abundant. Its price has been about half-a-cro"vvn per hundredweight, and it has been abundantly consumed by all classes. As the colony advanced, however, apples, pears, citrons, figs, plums, peaches, almonds, oranges, medlars, pine-apples, bananas, and guavas, were produced. The displays of these productions read brilliantly in the accounts of ' The South Australian Horti- 174 AUSTRALIA. cultural and Agricultural Societies' shows.' But the most impor- tant of fruits in this, as in some other parts of Austraha, is the grape, cultivated specially for the manufacture of wine, which requires qualities quite different from those which make the fruit suitable for the table. These have appeared with the others at the exhibitions, and gained then* prizes; but how far the colony is to be a wine-producing one, it will yet take time to shew. In enumerating the vegetable productions which figure in the same exhibitions, we would be but repeating the names of all the familiar pot-herbs of our own country. The onions were said to be in many instances equal in size and excellence to the gigantic produce of Portugal. The gourds, including vegetable marrows, are represented as large and full. Owing to the greater warmth of the climate, many plants of a medicinal natiu-e, imknown at home, have been got to gi*ow; but the colonists appear to have had too many other objects in view to make many experiments in such kinds of produce. It is more important to know that the most valuable to the comfort of the middle classes of all garden produce, the potato, grows satisfactorily. It can never be wished, however, after the experience of Irel^d, that any country should have to look on this root as a staple, or as anything fai-ther than a useful and agreeable addition to other crops and sources of subsistence. There have, at the same time, been reported as successfully pro- duced in this colony two herbs, which in other places are the source of great staple trade and riches — the tobacco-plant and the sugar- cane. It has been maintained that the country is quite capable of producing them ; but their cultivation is not known to have been carried to any great extent. At one of the exhibitions of the Horticultural Society, it is, however, announced that one gentle- man's sample of tobacco ' consisted of sis. stalks of Virginia tobacco partly ciu-ed; six ditto ditto from the same plant; six stalks of negrohead ; a small parcel of cut tobacco ; 100 cigars ; and three pounds of leaves made ready for packing.' * It is of consequence, too, to know that hops have been successfully raised. In the examinations before the Committee of 1847, it was stated that no attempts had been made to introduce the cultivation of flax and hemp in the colony ' to any extent.' The native gum had afforded remuneration as an export at the commencement of the colony, but the trade had ceased to be worth pursuing. Some mulberry-trees had been grown, sufficient to attest the capacity of the province to rear silk -worms should it be an object to produce silk in the colony. It was remarked, however, in reference both to silk and wine, that the scarcity and deamess of labour stood in * Button, p. 225. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 175 the way of attempts to make them a staple production. Thougii the country is timbered, it does not appear that, especially in com- petition with New Zealand, the export from it of wood will ever be pursued. The trees are generally of the same hard gummy kind as those of the rest of Australia. As to those productions which shew rather how the people live than how rich they may become, the accounts given of this colony at least sound weU. The butter, salt and powdered, the cheese, hams and bacon, meet with approval. Good ale is spoken of at 2s. a gallon, which is about its price m Britain. Ikir Morphett, when examined before the Committee of 1847, being asked what are the great sources of industry in the colony, included some branches which certainly would not have been expected in an infant settlement : * Agriculture, horticulture, pastoral pursuits, such as sheep-farm- ing, dairy-farming, and breeding stock, and mining. There are also spi-inging up a great many manufactories. I think the manufac- tories in South Australia, accorduig to the last statistics, amounted to eighty-three, and I daresay there are now more than one hundred. There are tanneries, breweries, malting-houses, candle-manufactories, snuff and tobacco manufactories, starch-manufactories, iron and brass foundries, and, in fact, manufactories for a great many of those necessaries and comforts of hfe which are at present, to some extent, and were formerly entirely, imported from England.' But Sir Morphett thus qualified his statement — ^ Our manufactures in the colony are of a very simple kind, and do not interfere with the general manufactories of England, more especially the cotton, woollen, and iron manufactures. I should observe that wooUen manufacture has been recently commenced in the colony. But the whole of the amoimt which we raise by our various industrial pursuits is expended in Great Britain in its manufactured articles — articles of necessity and articles of luxury.' Mines and Mineralogy. — The most remarkable feature, as weU m the past history as the future prospects of South Australia, is its mineral wealth. The general geological character of the district is much varied, from the primitive granite and porph}Ty upheaved in the hills, to the later formations containing organic remains. There are abundant marks of great volcanic convul- sions. In the settled localities building stone, chiefly lime- stone, is abundant. In the mountains east of Cape St Vincent the primitive limestone is said to assume the character of a pure white marble. Ornamental stones — a secondary matter to metals and building materials, but stiU of some possible impor- tance — are abundant. Among the copper mines have been found some specimens of that beautiful mamilated ore, the malachite, 176 AUSTRALIA. ■with which the Russians make their costly ornaments. The stones which make our secondary jewellery, and which, found in abundance, and cut by machinery, might make an endless variety of trinkets, are apparently very abundant, especially in the Barossa range. There are the several varieties of siliceous stones, of the jasper and agate kmd, which blend so into each other, and present so intinite a variety of deep rich tints. They are here to be found not merely in nodules, but in rocky masses and veins. Opal is abundant in all its forms — white, fire opal, wax opal, and precious opal. From the general accounts, it would seem tliat the agate frequently runs in those bands of contrasted colours which give it the name of onyx, and suit it for the cutting of cameos, and other ornaments demanding variety of colour. The pure translucent white or red agate called cornelian is also said to be abundant. ^Ir Monge, the geologist, says — 'The homstone within the Barossa range has nothing similar to it in Europe, where it is usually a combination of quartz and felspar; while the South Australian homstone combine? quartz, magnesia, and lime, which produce a variety of siliceous minerals, of which I have never seen anything alike. The rock itself turns not merely round its own character, in different shapes and colours, but it includes at the same place jasper, cornelian, chalcedony, opal, woodstone, and siliceous tuffa, altogether more or less varied by accidental ingredients of iron, magnesia, and lime.' ■■:.■'■ -.^,n-i .' •.- j-.h In 1842-3, the mineral riches of the coloiiy were discovered by the accidental breaking down of a piece of rock, which disclosed the appearance of copper ore. The parties concerned in the discovery were Mr Button and Captam Bagot. Maintaining secrecy on the subject, these gentlemen got eighty acres of land surveyed accordmg to the regulations. The section had to be advertised for a month in the government Gazette. There were many holders of eighty-^acre orders who might have claimed the section, and then the avidity of the dis- coverers to possess this particular laud-section would doubtles- have roused speculation and suspicion. But it was not coveted, and they bought their eighty acres for the iixed upset price of £1 per acre. They afterwards refused £27,000 for it. Tliis was a curious and rather severe test of the plan of a nnifonn price for aU colonial lands. Such was the origin of the Kapunda Copper Mine, now a gi-eat establishment. The purchasers thought they had secured the whole breadth of land impregnated with the mineral in that neighbourhood, but they found themselves mis- taken. Application was made for the survey of another 100 acre?. close to their eighty-acre section. It was of course of great impor SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 177 tance to Messrs Button and Bagot to possess this section ; but instead of £1 an acre, tbey had to pay for the lot £2210, ' The description of ore,' says Mr Button, ' found in the Kapunda mines is principally composed of the carbonets and sulphurets. A large number of specimens of every variety were, as soon as we began working, transmitted to England for analysis, we keeping half of the specimens at the mines for subsequent reference. The aver- age produce gave a result of 29 1 per cent, of copper, for 39 specimens good, bad, and indifferent taken from every part of the property.' In 1845 the Kapunda ores sold at Swansea brought, at an average price of £24, Ss. 6d. per ton, upwards of £6000. Kapunda is in the Light County, between the River Murray and the Gulf of St Vincent. It is about the farthest removed from the means of water communication of any of the settled districts. Great difficulty was found in procm-ing water for the workers and their families. But the wealthy produce has forced for itself a means of transit which wUl ever be increasing. The land was looked on as the least valuable of any in the colony, being of the kmd called scrub, where a hard unprolific sail,, ja. covered with stunted and comparatively useless wood. = , - Soon after Mr Button's discover}', Mr Henderson, when in search of a lost buUock on the Mount Lofty range of hills near Adelaide, observed the green colour of the rock, and communi- cated his observation to his employer, Mr Fortnmn. These two gentlemen were not so fortunate as Messrs Button and Bagot. Probably those who set their heart on particular sections were more narrowly watched — at all events, the secret of the new dis- covery was not kept. By this time the new regulations for the sale of land by auction had come in force, and when the Monta- cute section was brought to the hammer on 16th February 1844, a company had been formed who were prepared to bid £4000 — being £50 instead of £1 an acre — but they obtained it for £1500. TMien, in 1845, Mr Button was leaving South Australia, a rumour was creating much excitement that in the far north, where settlers had scarcely penetrated, indications had been found of a monster mine. The rumour turned out to be true. A spe- cial sm-vey of 20,000 acres was demanded — the necessary deposit of £20,000 having been made, in the district of the Razorback Mountains — and the celebrated Brnxa Burra mines were established a hundred miles from Adelaide. Here the richest ores were found in large masses, before there was any necessity for sinking shafts. The operation has been described as more like quarrying in copper tlian mining. In 1848 upwards of 16,000 tons of ore were raised from this mine by the South Australian Mining Company, who had then nearly six hundred operatives in their employment. This L 178 AUSTRALIA. joint-stock company, with a capital divided into 2464 shares of £5 each, has had a run of prosperity which may fonn an mifor- tmiate precedent for wild mining midertakings. It began by declaring a dividend of 50 per cent. ; but this was found to be child's play, and it has year by year declared 200 per cent. What is remarkable, too, about this spot is, that its iron appears to rival the richness and excellence of its copper. ' The deposits of iron,' says Captain Sturt, * are greater than those of copper, and it is impossible to describe the appearance of the huge clean masses of which they are composed. They look, indeed, like immense blocks that had only just passed from the forge.' But this is a matter for speculation, scarcely for the consideration of the immediate emigrant, since the want of coal or of sufficient wood for smelting has prevented the working of iron in the colony. A highly-coloured description of this great establishment, which appeared in an Australian newspaper, and found its way to the press in this country, contains the following passage: — * We now attempt to relate our labours in threading the mazes of the vast souterain. We can assure those who read this that it is not every one who can do it. The man who attempts such a great enterprise should be young and active, should be sound and lithe in limb, and should possess good lungs, and no little perseverance. Above all, he should not be stout, for some of the holes are so narrow that not more than thirteen stone can squeeze through, unless it belongs to a practical miner. You descend, and find it only twenty fathoms ; you follow on through galleries dotted with copper, down little shafts, and into great vaults, and chambers, and caverns like Vulcan's forge, where men are seen with candles in their hats, or stuck on the rocks, hewing away at the most splendid copper ores that eyes ever beheld. Ever and anon we came to beautifid little malachite arbours, which the miners called their gardens, every side of which being a bright green, formed delightful spots in which to rest. A few of the miners grumbled because they had only Is. 3d. per pound of tribute (from which sum the tribute ranges to 2s. 6d.), and protested that they did not make quite £10 per month ; but an old Cornish and Columbian captain, unconnected with the mines, who was present, told us that the miners were habitual gnmiblers ; and we learned afterwards that some of them made as high as £40 or £50 per month, and that the superintendent sends as much as £200 or £300 in a week into Adelaide, to invest for the fortunate and industrious. We must, however, mention, for the honour of the men, that the grumblers were a small exception. In some of the vast caverns, thirty, forty, and fifty feet wide, when surroimded on every side with malachite, red oxide, green and blue carbonates, mingled in rich confusion, the miners asked our expe- rienced friend if he had ever seen or heard of anything like the Burra, and evidently were far from surprised at his most energetic negative. SOUTH AUSTKALIA. 179 After four or five hours' hard travel through this Iab}-rmth, we at last reascended, leaving, for want of time, a great part of the mine unexamined.' It was necessary, for various obvious reasons, and, among others, that the revenue might obtam some share in the new source of wealth, to make some land regulations specially applicable to mines. In 1847 the governor and council formed a set of short rules on the subject, which will be found in the Appendix to the Report of the Emigration Commissioners for that year. Their most important features are — ' 1. A royalty is named, to consist of one-fifteenth of the whole produce. * 2. The general rule is to be sale by auction in fee-simple, with the reservation above stated, and such other reservations as may^ be necessary for the collection and recovery of the crown dues. * 3. Leases, however, may also be granted of lands, with mining rights, for periods not exceeding twenty-one years, in which leases the same royalties are to be reserved, as upon lands sold in fee- simple, but the price paid for the lease to be subject to competition at pubhc auction. ' 4. No right of renewal or eventual purchase is to be secured to such leaseholders ; but, on the other hand, the reversionary interest is not to be sold during their occupancy without their written consent. *5. A right is conferred of commuting, from time to time, for periods not exceeding twelve calendar months, the Queen's fifteenth in kind, for payments in money. ' 6. The proceeds of mines are to be applied in the same manner as those of land sales.' But copper and iron are not the only mineral riches of this favoured province. Lead has been found and worked, especially at Glen Ormond and Rapid Bay, and a Victoria Gold Mine Com- pany was formed in 1844. In feet mining, especially in the richer metals, is the very last species of enterprise to which people re- quu-e to be stirred up. It is only apt to create, by its glittering produce, too great a fervour of speculation. Mr Button's discovery set the sheepowners, like treasure-seekers, to the examination of every rock and stone in their allotments. There was a wild hunt after the green or blue indications of copper. Companies were formed with immense rapidity, and British capital was imme- diately embarked in the new metallic harvest. The operations have increased so rapidly, that any attempt to give a fuU statistical account of them would probably be found to be antiquated when the reader of it reaches the spot. In so large a country, peopled by little more than the contents of a middle-sized town in Britain, 180 AUSTRALIA. it is quite impossible to form any conception of tiie mineral wealth that may yet be disclosed. The vastness of the area over which it has already been found to be scattered is shewn by the circum- stance, that the White Station Copper and Lead Mines are three degi'ees distant from those of Yattagolingay, close to the cape of Hindmarsh county. Yet notwithstanding all this prolific pro- mise, let not the ordinary emigi'ant too eagerly snatch at the glittering prize. We should be sorry if even the modified picture which we have drawn of Australian mineral wealth should tempt the moderately-endowed emigrant to go to the colony to make his fortune in mining, like Messrs Dutton and Bagot, or the fortunate stockholders in the Bun-a Burra Company. If he should stumble on a lode of copper in his allotment, it is well to take advantage of the windfall, just as if some relation had died and left him a good coal-mine or cotton-mill at home. He may take the prizes that come, but don't let him peril his little all in the lottery. The capitalist may invest in the Burra Burra mine. He may even, if he be a man of large fortune and enter- prise, prefer a great undertaking in the copper mines of Australia to the like in the manufacturing or mining districts at home. This is quite another affair. But as to the emigrant of the middle classes, with his few hundreds, which he goes to invest in such a manner that it may purchase a free area for him to exercise his hidustry, caution, and skill in — let him look to pasture and agriculture as his main staple steady sources of progress, and avoid the glittering and dangerous bait. Metallic mining is the occupation that produces the least average profit — nay, it would not be unsafe to say that, take it all in all, in every part of the world it is generally conducted at a loss. All the gambling spirits are tempted into a pursuit where chance some- times tosses up instantaneous riches. They go like the buyers of lotteiy -tickets. A lottery is always a losing concern to the public. If you were to buy up all the tickets, you would to a certainty lose, because the owner of the lottery must have his profit on the whole ; yet people crowd to the venture — and so it is with mining. Indeed the general limit of the supply, and the absence of a large profit, is the very reason why the precious metals keep their position so steadily, and form a standard of value. These observations are not of course to prevent the min- ing-engineer or workman to look to South Australia as a place for following his pursuit; and it will be of importance to the working emigrant to know that efforts have been making to set up smelting establishments in the colony, so that it may have the advantage of the smaller stowage occupied by the refined ore. The exportation of melted copper for the Indian market pro- SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 181 mises to be a great branch of commerce in this colony. The possibility of its being aided by the discovery of seams of coal has of course been a matter of anxious consideration. We have not yet heard that coal has been actually discovered. A large part of the country consists of ranges of hills of the old formation, where it would be useless to search for carboniferous deposits; but on the plains, the slate, clay, and sandstone strata, which con- stitute the coal-measures of other countries, give a fair promise of success : indeed the geological structure of this vast territory has hitherto necessarily only received a veiy superficial inspection. * Several times,' says Mr Button, ' have reports been current that coal had been discovered: if it really is the case, the discoverers are obviously keeping the locality secret, with a view to purchasing the ground at a fitting tune.' And he says farther — ' But we have no reason to lose courage, when we consider the unbomided extent of our forests, containing as they do a description of wood which will produce a large proportion of charcoal. The wood itself, when billeted and dried, burns with intense heat and steady blaze, owing to the quantity of resinous matter it contains. Smelting with wood and charcoal produces the finest metal ; and there is no reason why we should not be able to effect, by means of our virgin and now unprofitable forests, that which for centm*ies has been adopted m Crermany, Russia, and other countries, where there exists no coal in the mining districts.' — (P. 309.) But it must be remembered that if coal should not be found in this colony, it exists abundantly in Sydney and other parts of Australia ; so that if the smelting process should not be performed at Adelaide, it need not mvolve so distant a transit as to Swansea. On the subject of the lead ore, we are told by Mr Dutton that it is ' so easily run into pigs, that, as regards this branch, the success of smelting ia the colony cannot for a moment be questioned.' — (P. 310.) rh It might have been almost a question for some time whether the mines were to be a benefit or the reverse to the colony. So alarm- ingly were the usual and safe means of competency deserted, that in 1844 the number of acres imder wheat cultivation was lessened by upwards of twenty-six thousand. Yet there was much diffi- culty in getting hands to bring in the reduced crop ; and the upper classes, including ladies, came forward to save the crop, and the police were devoted to that useful labour. It was in these circum- stances that, as elsewhere mentioned, the reaping-macliine was dis^ covered. , ' Fortunately, the dreams of the colonists respecting the produc- tiveness of the mines have not been ultimately disappointed; and it may be said that prosperity has ensued from causes not contem- plated at the outset of the settlement. The primary elements of 182 AUSTRALIA. success, however, have been the firmness and indomitable industry of the people. LABOUR. Returns from distant colonies of the price of labour cannot, as has been often stated in these pages, be absolutely relied on in this country to induce the workman to go as if he were going to a new employer at an estimate. The very circumstance of the statement on which he relies having reached tliis country, may have revolutionised his trade in the settlement before he arrives. A workman who is to emigrate should be ready to turn his hand to many things, looking of course for his main chance to that occupation which he best knows. The following notes of the position in wages and other matters of the chief working trades in the colony are derived from the works of the practical observers, and especially those of Mr Dutton and Mr Wilkinson. They may be compared with the general table furnished by the Emigration Commissioners for this, along with the other Aus- tralian colonies.* Bricklayers must be ever in demand according to the proportion of new emigrants ; their wages are stated as from 6s. to 7s. a day without rations, and from 5s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. with rations; the latter arrangement is generally made in the country. Brick and stone are both employed ; and as the latter more seemly material appears to be abundant, stone-masons will find employment as well as those who know merely the routine occupation of bricklaying; and they should be better paid, for the mere, bricklayer will be unable to dress and set stones, but the mason oan always lay bricks. Plasterers are not so urgently in demand. Brickmaking is necessarily a considerable employ- ment wherever English people settle in numbers, and clay is to be had, as it is in ; ^uth Australia. The payment is generally by the number made, the employer supplying food and some facilities for the manufacture. As it has, however, been conducted on the single-mould principle,/ the past will hardly form a ground to judge from, when superipf facilities for production are introduced. Blacksmiths are described as being in more demand than in the other colonies, on account of the mining operations, and their wages are rated at much the same as those set down for brick- layers. The mines also give a peculiar kind of employment to carpenters ; and the superiority of finish of the houses and farm- buildings of South Australia wiU give more proportional employ- ment than the other Australian colonies to the fuU-trained car- penter, in comparison yrith the rough worker capable of turning * See above, p. 18. \ SOUTH AUSTRATJA. 183 his hand m a plam -way to many thmgs, who is in general the most valuable sort of man in a new settlement. A cabinetmaker can generally do rough carpentry work, if he chooses to apply himself to it; otherwise it would not be wise in the first-rate veneerer or finisher of mahogany and rosewood work, or French polisher, to trust even to this the most genteel of the new colonies. A good deal of the furniture of the South Australians is brought from Singapore and other eastern settlements, where the natives are ingenious. Coopers can also turn their hand to carpentry ; but they have here a plentiful source of employment in their own profession in connection with the whale fisheries. It is said to be one of the surest trades which an emigrant can carry with him to South Australia, with wages from 6s. to 7s. a day. The mining operations, which will certainly, when the colony can afibrd it, bring railway locomotion into operation, must give employment not only to the mining, but to the machine-making enghieers. lilr Wilkiuson sets down the wages of journeymen engineers at from 6s. to 7s. a day. Those above the qualification of the mere journey- man, in the coUapse of engineering enterprise ia this country, might possibly do worse than try their fortune in this new field. Jliners are well paid : they have from 33s. to 42s. per week ; but they have also their chances from the arrangements caUed tribute or tut work, in which they make according to the produce of their exertions. In the first chances of the discoveries large sums have been talked of as thus realised by the fortunate Cornish and other miners, who were tempted from their wheat-fields and sheep-runs back to their old cavernous trade, which stiU had charms for them when it was accompanied with gain. Boot and shoemakers are of course in requisition, their wages ranging from 25s. to 45s. per week. Homely coarse work is valuable in the bush, almost more so than that of the firet-rate hand; and thus the mere village cobbler, who is on the verge of pauperism at home, if he have youth and health, may be a valuable member of society there, being able probably to pursue some of the more routine duties of the sheep-walk along with his profession. The leather is tanned in the colony from the native cattle. Almost the same may be said of tailors as of shoemakers ; but it may be observed that, as the cloth comes from Britain, there is more opportunity for the ready-made article, attractive, from its cheapness, getting the com- mand of the market. Sawyers are a class of men who have a large field of occupation iu boarding the native timber for mines, as well as buUdings or fences. They are paid in a great measure according to their work, and sometimes realise considerable sums — so much, for instance, as £3 a week. They must not go with the notion of 184 AUSTRALIA. finding the 'work on the springy and gummy timber of Australia the same as in that of their own country. It is singular that dissipation becomes a sort of distinction and unfailing etiquette in some trades. Just as in Hull and Dublin, the sawyer in South Australia is notorious as a hard drinker. Akin to these are the * splitters,' sca,rcely known by name in this country, but important in a land where the limited household accommodation is dependant on very rough woodwork. ' These men are the hut-builders at the out-stations, and the makers of hurdles and watch-boxes for sheep-owners, and of hea\-y stockyards for the cattle.' We are told by Mr Wilkinson that ' the demand for splitters has been very great ; and in consequence of the difficulty of obtaining tiiem, quantities of timber have been imported from Van Diemen's Land at a heavy expense. Branching off from carpenters and saw}'ers, there is here another well-employed class called 'shinglers,' who cover roofs with shingle- Taking analogy with the progress of house-building at home, after that rude and solid workmanship which serves for strength and protection, the nearer we approach decoration and finery, the less do we find the capacity to produce it a desideratum in the colony. Plasterers and cornice-makers have, we are told, but a limited amount of employment in to^vn, and painters are still less essential ; since the colonist, having often spare neuks of time, and not caring much for elegance or finish, covers the woodwork of his house, his palings, or whatever he wishes to protect from the weather, with such a rough coat of colour as he can himself lay on. These classes of men, therefore, are not to leave a decent amount of employment at home with the notion that they will find it increased in South Australia. But if they found their trade overstocked, and a necessity to turn their' hand to somethmg else, that something else will come much more readily to hand in Australia than at home. So it may be said as to those who minister in other shapes to the luxuries of densely- peopled Britain. Watchmakers, jewellers, silver-chasers, carvers and gilders, and the like, will not find a ready market at the anti- podes. But the followers of these skilled trades are generally men of some education — at least with an education in the use of their hands. They can turn themselves from one pursuit to another better than the handloom weaver, who has been jerking a stick from side to side year after year ; and if they find little or no room for their skill at home, a transition to another occupation will most suitably be made along with a transition to another and roomier hemisphere. The respectability of the class who colonised this district, and the wealth extracted from the mines, have made house service more valuable than in other new settlements. This of course SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 185 cliiefly absorbs the class of respectable females. So many of these have lately found their way to the other hemisphere, imder the inducements of the arrangements for watching over their comfort and respectability, that probably there is now less opportunity for males employing themselves in that capacity. A few years ago, however, there was considerable employment for male servants. Not exactly, perhaps, for valets, footmen, and pages, but for those who could assist in the house, and do rough outwork of an agri- cultural or horticultural kind. This, however, is not one of the legitimate aims of emigration. Wherever many man-servants are required, the Irish, who are less ambitious and more servile than their neighbours, will absorb the market- As to the high-kept retamers of the aristocracy, with their distmct lines of duty and programmes of functions, all applicable solely to a complex old semi-feudal state of society, their capacities and knowledge of their business would be utterly thrown away in Australia. No doubt late changes have materially affected their profession. The tendency of late legislation, and the commercial panics, acting together, have had a tendency to level incomes ; and while the middle class has been increasing in wealth and prosperity, the overgrown fortmies which, in their superfluity, support herds of useless retainers, have been dwindling and dropping off. South Australia, however, would not be a suitable sphere for the foot- man out of place, imless he have formed the magnanimous reso- lution of casting his livery, and coming forth an independent man. With such an object, and especially if he had saved one or two hundred pounds to accomplish it. this — and the same may be said of any other good emigration field — would be the true place for satisfactorily accomplishing his object. If he make rich in Aus- tralia, he is not apt to feel that his fellow-guests are remembering how he once stood behind their chairs. How much more solid and satisfactory would such efforts be than that universal resource of the retiring male domestic — the keeping a public-house ! But it is difficult to change fijxed habits ; and in fact, if the race had enterprise and independence, they would not be what they are. It is rather surprising that gardeners should be found a very successful class of emigrants to South Australia, even when keep- ing to then- own profession ; and perhaps the spirit of rivalry, in the display of horticultural produce elsewhere mentioned,* may account for the circumstance. But in truth, to such a colony, where there is much agriculture as well as pasture, the gardener is always a safe colonist. If he be not too much wedded to the minute and complete operations of the parterre, he has the rudi- * See above, p. 173. 186 AUSTRALIA. ments of all capacity for operations on the soil, and can turn him- self to that which is most profitable. Notwithstanding the use of the reaping-machine, there is employment at the season for those who can reap; and the agricultural labourer, capable both of reaping and of sheep-shearing, may pocket a double harvest. Here, however, as in the other Australian colonies — ^but not to so great an extent as in the great sheep-districts — the staple revenue of those who have no trade, or who cannot follow it in the colony, is that of the shepherd, with the subordinate function of hut-keeping. The latter is the resource of the old or feeble — often of boys ; and the shepherd's proper hut-keeper is of course his wife, when he has one. The shepherd's wages are from £25 to £30 a year, with victuals. Should the colony, however, receive a large influx of the very humble class who are fit to do nothing in the Ime of labour, it will be less. Mr Wilkinson gives the following picturesque account of the utility of this occupation in draining ofi" the useless surplusage of society : — * In the bush the shepherd class consists of the most heterogeneous materials. Within ten miles of the place where I lived, I remember as shepherds one apothecary ; one lawyer's clerk ; one counting- house clerk ; three sailors ; one tailor ; one Jew ; one Portuguese sailor ; one native of Ceylon ; one Australian black ; one barman ; one gentleman's son, brought up to no business ; one New Zealand merchant, who had been burnt out ; and a second Portuguese, who could not understand a word of English ; one person, late a lieute- nant in the Honourable East India Company's service ; and one gipsy. These parties were all either shepherding or hut-keeping ; and the gentleman's son, the Jew, and the barman, made the best shepherds of the lot. A few miles farther off, at a friend's station, there were a black fiddler and a dancing-master. A large sheep-owner told me that he would sooner take a sailor who hardly knew the head from the stern of a sheep, or a clerk who had been in an office all his life, than an English-bred shepherd. The one class, he said, would obey orders, and be afraid of losing the sheep ; the other always thought they knew better than their master.' The same writer gives a not unattractive picture of shepherd life. He describes the evening meal — * If a garden be cultivated — for they are allowed as much ground as they like to crop — this meal is composed of potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and other vegetables, and roast, boiled, or stewed mutton ; and singing, near the wooden fire, is what is called the hilly, or tea- kettle. A neighbouring shepherd will perhaps drop in to spin a yarn, and pipes are filled, and finished again and again, until the smoke issuing from the door, walls, and roof, would make one fancy that the place was on fire. Large quantities of the beverage that cheers, but not inebriates, pass round in tin mugs, and the jovial SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 187 song and merry laugh sounds happily in comparison to the drunken frolics in our workmen's homes, the gin -palace, or the public- house. The hut-keeper sallies off to his watch-box, which, unlike those of our old " Charlies," is horizontal instead of perpendicular, and there ensconcing himself in his blanket, he sleeps the calm sleep of health, untU perhaps roused by the bark of his dogs ; then he pops out his head from his box, and halloos to the trusty guards, which tear away and give chase to their enemy — the dingoe^ In his quarterly return of the prices of commodities, and the wages of labour at the commencement of the year 1848, the colonial secretary had the following announcement to make on the demand for labour — an announcement which every friend of the working-classes must consider cheering, though by the colonial capitalist it was urged much in the form of a grievance : — *The inconvenience felt in this province from the scarcity of labour imported from the mother country was formerly relieved by immigration to some considerable extent from the neighbouring colonies ; but now labourers are equally as scarce, and wages equally as high in those portions of Austraha as they are here. We can therefore no longer expect to derive any assistance from those sources ; but for a supply of labour at all adequate to the demand, we are dependent upon the means provided for emigration by the Land Fund, upon the extent to which that fund is applied, and upon the expedition with which the service in connection with it is conducted. * I would not, indeed, attempt to specify very minutely the descrip- tion of labour most in request, all my remarks in previous returns, in reference to that point, being applicable at the present time ; but looking to the present aspect of affairs in this colony, and to the gener^ prosperity which now prevails, I do not think that any num- ber of immigrants that could be sent here by the appropriation of the Land Fimd could, even were the whole amount of that fund to be expended in that service within the next twelve months, exceed or even satisfy the present and daUy-increasing demand for labour, or cause any very sensible and permanent reduction in the rate of wages. The extension of agriculture, which is encouraged by the rapidly-increasing consumption of grain and other fai-m pro- duce at home, and the demand for them in tlie markets abroad — the natural annual increase of the flocks and herds, and the more general development of the mineral resources of the colony, will sufficiently account for the continually-increasing demand for labour in connection with agricultural, pastoral, and mining pursuits. ' It might be observed also, that of those of the labouring-classes who immigrate to this colony from Great Britain or elsewhere, a very large proportion are enabled, by the present high rate of wages, to satisfy a very laudable ambition by the early purchase of sections . 188 AUSTRALIA. of land, and thus not only to cease to require employment from others, but at once to become the employers of labourers themselves. Instances of this kind are at this time of very common, I may almost say of daily occurrence. ^ ,, , r . ' These remarks apply perhaps mqre especially to miners and mechanics ; but the working-classes generally, if sober and indus- trious, all more or less pai'ticipate in the advantages to be derived from the excess of their wages over their expenditure for the neces- saries of life ; and from the savings thus effected arises a continual demand for labour, wliich no probable amount of immigration which we can hope to receive could well satisfy. 'la endeavouring to account for the necessity now felt for a more liberal importation of immigi*ants into this province, it has also to lie borne in mind, that the wealth acquired by mining proprietors must be employed in profitable pursuits, which affect to an immense extent our labour-market. The means are thereby afforded them of improving their properties, their dwellings; are p&tei^de^ an4ithei£ domestic establishments increased.* -. i rr-The following remarks in the South Australian Gazette news- paper of 12th April 1849, have au important and very expressive reference to the proper materials for the supply of the labour- market of this coloog^ i-t^j - ilL illOit -t— ,. •■::!(- T ! ' ^?? •^■J ^P ^f^ <' ' We want labour certainly ; but no more than we possess capital profitably and legitimately to employ. We do not want the coimtry swamped, as it was in the time of the magnificent Colonel Gawler, by an influx of emigrants far beyond the demand ; and we therefore entreat Earl Grey's strict attention to the state of the emigration fund, and beseech him to regard that as the only true index to our wants. So long as there is money in hand, expend it by all means ; but make South Anstndia at least no presents of labour — let her have no outpourings of paupers, no Parkhurst or Pentonville pets gtatis. New South Wales and Port Philip have more capacious digestion, and, with Van Diemen's Land and Swan River, may afford room for any amount of persons sent from England at its own ex- pense and for its freer breathing. But Soutli Australia desires ^ither the labour she provides money for, or, what is stiU more welcome, that which possesses the means to reach its shores free and independent of all extraneous aid. We hold out in- ducements superior to those of any other possession of the crown in these seas ; and we therefore reasonably look to have the best class of ecdonists to 'participate with us in the advantages we. enjoy. - '' t • ' "■ - -.. ' We perfectly adopt the proposition, that the quality of labour, ratiier than its quantity, is the paramount consideration. Very ex- cellent persons in theii* way, such as gentlemen who don't know jmy- tliiug but how to spend money, and possessing, withal, a marvellous lack of that commodity ; expurgated clerks from lawyers' ofiices or SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 189 merchants' desks, or from behind coimtors, who have their wits onl y to depend upon, are the most useless, helpless, worthless, wretched beings in a new colony that can be imagined. We want none of them. Our good men are sturdy farmers with large families, and small or large capitals ; steady, sober mechanics, artisans, plough- men, shepherds, domestic servants. These are the sheet-anchors of successful colonization ; and for them every fair prospect can be honestly held out. To others — to gentlemen (not gents), officers of eitlier service, we say also come and welcome — provided always you bring with you the needful. With a fixed income, or a reasonable credit upon the bank, you can learn farming and gain experience in an incredibly short space of time ; and, what is more, you can dis- cover that prudence and economy here bring with them the certain means of maintaining yourself at a fifth of the cost, in the rank you have held in your native country, and providing, besides, indepen- dence and comfort, and respectable settlement for your children, far beyond anvthing that your means at home coiild have assured.* Very great difficulties having been experienced in getting grain reaped, the colonists were induced to make great efforts to invent a reaping-machine, and one of them, Mr Ridley, appears, from Mr Dutton's account, to have succeeded — at least so far as to invent an instrument suited to the nature of the district. It is both a reaping and a thrashing machine ; and from this happy combination of accomplishments, we may infer how little it would be welcomed in this country, since what is accomplished is, neatly and cleanly to peel the grain away, and leave the straw prostrated by the wheels of the machine — it is decided that until artificial manures become more necessary in the colony, it will not be good husbandry to look after the straw. This is not the only circumstance which makes the machine of peculiarly local application. The extreme dryness of the grain, and its uni- form ripeness, make it peel a\vay clean and easy from the straw. In fact, this makes the union of reaping and thrashing, by the peeling off rather than the cutting do^^^l and conveying to the thrashing-mill a peculiar advantage, since it has been observed that in cutting in the usual way, and in removing to the tlirashing- floor, much more than the usual proportion is scattered in South Australia. Of this thrashing-machine it will be sufficient to say, that it is set in motion by the turning of one of the wheels ; and that what it peculiarly accomplishes is, by means of the geering to set in motion a parcel of prongs bristling out in front, which, moving with a rapidity according to the rate at which the machine goes forward, catch the ears of corn, and pass them through a sort of comb, which holds them by the neck till the grain is removed by 190 AUSTRALIA. beaters, and the end slips back. The machine is moved by a pole from behind, urged on by two horses or oxen. Mr Dutton gives this lively account of its first public use : — ' By the time we reached the farm, a large " field " had mustered to witness the proceedings ; and there, sure enough, was the machine at work, with the agency of two horses and two men — one to guide the horses, the other the machine. There was no mistake about it ; the heads of the com were thrashed off perfectly clean, and a winnowing-machine being at hand, the com was transferred out of the reapmg into the latter machine, and carts were ready to con- vey the cleaned wheat to the mill, two miles off, where the wheat, which an hour before was waving in the fields in all the lustre of golden tints, was, by Mr Ridley's steam-mill, ground into flour. Never before was perhaps such a revolution in the appliances of agriculture caused as was done by this machine ; success attended the very first trial of it, and during seven days, it reaped and thrashed the seventy acres of wheat, of which the paddock we all went to see was composed.' — (Pp. 209, 210.) SALE AND OCCUPATION OF LAND. So early as the establishment of this colony, the minimum price system was by statute applied to it, for the purpose of forming an emigration fund. The minimum was then 12s. an acre; it was subsequently raised to 20s. by the general land-sales act for the Australian colonies, an account of which is given above — (See p. 12.) The regulations for the sale of land are thus the same as those extending over the whole continent. Here, however, as elsewhere, the squatting-system began to pre- dominate. It was necessary to regulate it ; and in December 1848 certain ' regulations for the occupation of crown lands ' were pro- claimed, which will be foimd at length at the close of this section. In the papers laid before parliament at the commencement of the session of 1851, it is stated in the governor's report, that *The extent of enclosed land has been increased in 1849, as com- pared with 1848, from 125,643 acres to 138,710 acres. *The crown -land sales in 1S49 comprised 56,607 acres, at an average of £1, 2s. 7|d. per acre ; 72,106 acres were surveyed in 1849; the average cost of the field-work for surveys was 4d.j§efths per acre; the total cost of the survey establishment, and of the works performed by it in 1849, was 12id. per acre, ' Three hundred miles of country, nearly due east of Port Wake- field twenty-eight miles, and north eleven miles, have been trian- gulated in 1849. SOUTH AUSTEALTA. 191 * The stock depastured on crown lands, under licence, was in 1849^ 1781 horses, 51,540 homed cattle, 885,918 sheep; and on the crown common lands of the various hundreds there were either 33,717 more homed cattle, or 202,482 sheep; certificates of licences be- ing taken out in the proportion of one great cattle to six small cattle. The licences to occupy the waste lands of the crown for the year ended March 1850, were 267; the licences extended over 12,522 square miles. The licences to cut timber on crown land were 238.' It may be mentioned that, apart from the purchaser of land, and the labourer on it, there is in this colony a separate class, whose position is a sort of tenantship, with a capacity to advance to proprietorship. Thus it was stated to the Committee of 1847,. by the manager of the South Australian Company, that that body possessed about 60,000 acres. He thus described the method in which this land was made available : — . ' "Will you describe how the land is managed generally ? — ^By leasing the land to agricultural tenants, and by keeping sheep and cattle, sales of which are effected in the colony, and the wool from the sheep is sent home to this country. 'Are those sales effected on account of the company itself? — Solely. * Does the company imdertake the agricultural management of such portion of the land as are in their own possession? — Not on their own accoimt: they lease their lands to the tenants, giving those tenants, generally, the right of purchase of the freehold during the currency of the leases. ' Is that power of pre-emption, which is vested in the tenant, a power of pre-emption at a fixed rate, ascertained at the time he commences his lease ?— It is. ' Therefore, under that system, a tenant acquires all the interest in his improvements ? — He does. ' The value is fixed upon the lands in an unimproved state, and the purchase may be completed at a time when they are improved without any increase of charge ? — Substantially. The mode of ope- rating is, however, this: the leases are generally for a period of twenty-one years, in three series of seven years ; both the rate of rental and the pre-emption price are fixed at the commencement of the lease ; both vary ; both lise during the currency of the lease. For instance, if we let our lands the first seven years at 4s. per acre, which is the common rate, generally speaking, the pre-emption price is £4 per acre; the next series of seven years it is five shillings per acre, and with £5 the pre-emption price ; and the next series of seven years six shillings per acre, with the pre-emption price £6. Those rates vary both as to the rent and as to the pre- emption price; but that is the principle upon which they are regulated.' 192 AUSTRALIA. He gave the following rather attractive account of the career of one of these tenants : — ' There was one of the company's tenants who wrote to us, giving a particular detail of the circumstances in which he was : when he landed he had about £500 with him, and by the end of the second year he considered that he had more than doubled his capital ; he enjoyed all the conveniences that he could desire, and had a fair prospect of continuing to add to his capital hereafter.' ORDER IN COUNCIL FOR OCCUPATION OF WASTE LANDS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. {From the Report of the Emigration CommUtionen for 1830.) Division of Lands — Definition of Terms, and General Powers of the Governor. Section 1. — The lands in the colony of South Australia shall, for the purposes of the present order, be considered as dix-ided into two classes — namely, lands within and lands without the hundreds, accordingly as they may be situated within or without the boun- daries of any hundred now or hereafter to be proclaimed by the said governor. Sect. 2. — For the purposes of the present Order in Council, the following terms, whenever they occur, shall respectively have the following significations: — The term * governor' shall signify the person who for the time being shall be lawfully administering the government of the colony of South Australia. The term * lessee ' shall also include the executors, administrators, and assigns of a lessee ; and, unless there be something in the subject-matter or con- text repugnant thereto, every word importing the singular number, or the masculine gender only, shall include several persons, matters, or things, as well as one person, matter, or thing, and females as well as males respectively ; and every word importing the plural number shall include one person or thing, as well as several persons or things. Sect. 3. — And for more effectually carrying out the objects of this Order in Council, the said governor shall have power, from time to time, to make general rules respecting the due preparation and ser- vice of any notice hereinafter mentioned, and respecting all ether matters and things not herein provided for, but requisite for carry- ing into more complete effect the objects of this Order in Council : Provided always that no such general rule shall be in anywise repugnant hereto. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 191 Rules applicable to Lands within the Hundreds. Sect. 1. — It shall be lawful for the said governor, and lie is hereby empowered, to make general rules under which the holders of pur- chased land, within any hundred, may depasture, in common, the unappropriated waste lands of the crown situate therein. Sect. 2. — It shall be lawful for the said governor, if he deem it expedient, to grant leases not exceeding one year in duration for tlie ■occupation, for pastoral purposes, of any such lands as aforesaid, not being required for the use of the commoners within the hundred. Provided that no such lease or common of pasturage shall in any- way interfere with the existing or future right of tlie said governor at any time to sell, reserve, or otherwise dispose of the whole or any part of such land so depastured. Rules applicable to Lands without the Hundreds. Sect. 1. — It shall be lawful for the said governor, and he is hereby empowered, to grant to such persons as he shall think fit leases of any waste land of the crown not situate within the boundaries of any himdred, for any tenn or terms of years not exceeding fourteen years in duration, for pastoral purposes ; with permission, neverthe- less, for the lessee to cultivate so much only of the land comprised in any lease as may be necessary to provide such grain, hay, vege- tables, or fruit, as may be required for the use ?Jid supply of the family and establishment of such lessee, but not for the purposes of sale or barter,;.;.),, t.j -mi >.: ij-'u^.,i..i ■■> -'i-i- .v.^.i-;-. Provided always, that such leases shall be subject to such conditionis, as the said governor shall tliink necessary to Insert therein, for the protection of the aborigines, or for securing to the public the right of passing over any part of the said lands, and to the government the right of searching therein for minerals, or for any other purpose of public defence, safety, improvement, convenience, or utility. Sect. 2. — It shall be lawful for the commissioners of crown lands, subject to the revision and control of the said governor, to deter- mine the boundaries of the land to be comprised in any such lease as aforesaid, and to determine, in a summary way, all disputes and differences respecting such boundaries, and if necessary, to view and take evidence upon such land, touching any such dispute or diffe- rence. :jo i-; -:-V/ <-j; t^;' i VJ •' ; Sect. 3. — The rent to be reserved in every lease shall be at the following rate per square mile:— For land of the first quality, £1 ; for land of the second quality, 15s. ; for land of the third quality, 10s. Sect. 4. — In order to estimate the quality of the land before the granting of any such lease, the intended lessee or occupier shall name a valuer, and the commissioner of crown land shall either act as valuer, or name one to act for him ; and these two valuers shall have power to choose, if necessary, an umpire ; but if they M 194 AUSTRALIA. cannot agree in the choice of an mnpire, he shall be appointed by the said governor. Sect. 5. — Nothing in this Order in Council shall be construed in anyway to interfere with the right of the colonial legislature to impose, from time to time, such assessments as may be deemed advisable for local purposes upon the lands, or upon the cattle grazing thereon, under and by virtue of any lease. Sect. 6. — The rent shall be payable yearly in advance, at such time and place as shall be respectively specified in the lease. In the event of default being made in payment of the rent, the lease shall be forfeited; but the lessee shall be permitted to defeat the forfeiture, and prevent its becoming absolute and indefeasible, by payment, within sixty days from the date of the original rent-day, of the full annual rent, with the addition of a sum equal to one-fourth part of the yearly rent so due from him by way of penalty ; but unless the whole of the said yearly rent, with such penalty as afore- said, shall be duly paid within the terra of sixty days, counting from the original rent-day inclusive, the lease shall be absolutely and indefeasibly forfeited. Sect. 7. — ^Nothing in these regulations, or in any lease to be granted under the powers hereby vested in the governor, shall prevent the said governor from selling any land comprised in such lease, or from resuming such lands for any purpose of public defence, safety, im- provement, convenience, or utility. Provided always, except the land be required for purposes of public defence, that six calendar months' notice should be given of such intended sale or resumption. Sect. 8. — And whenever any land shall become part of any such hundred, every lease of such land shall thereupon cease to have effect. Sect. 9. — If any land comprised in any such lease as aforesaid shall at any time during the existence of such lease be sold or resumed for public purposes, or shall become part of any such hun- dred as aforesaid, payment shall be made by the government to the lessee of the value of any substantial and useful improvements existing upon the land when it shall be so sold or resumed, or shall become part of such hundred as aforesaid, but no such payment shall be made to the lessee upon the termination of the lease by forfeiture or efBuxion of time. Provided always, that if a portion only of the land comprised in any lease be sold, or resumed, or become part of such hundred as aforesaid, the lessee, at his option, may either retain imtil the end of the term the residue of the land, paying for the same a reduced rent, proportionate to the value of the land retained by him, or may surrender to government the residue of such land ; and in case of such surrender, but not otherwise, he shall receive the value of all such improvements as aforesaid existing upon the land so sur- rendered. Provided also, that the value of such improvements (which shall SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 195 not exceed the actual outlay thereupon of the lessee), and the amount of such reduced rent, shall be determined by valuers appointed in the manner prescribed by section 4 of the third chapter of this Order in Council. Sect. 10. — Every occupant of any crown land not within the hun- dreds, who, when this Order in Council shall come into effect, shall have been in hcensed occupation of such land for one year, shall, within six months from the date of the proclamation by the said governor of this Order in Council, but not afterwards, be entitled to demand a lease of the land so previously occupied ; and every such licensed occupant as aforesaid, who shall have occupied his land for less than one year, shall be entitled, upon the completion of a licensed occupation of one year, and within six months thereafter, but no longer, to demand a similar lease. Provided always, that he shall not in the meantime have done any act or thing whereby his licence shall have become forfeited. Sect. 11. — When any land, after being occupied, shall be forfeited, or otherwise become vacant, it shall be lawful for the said governor to direct, if he thinks fit, that the land shall be relet, and to prescribe the manner of reletting the same. Pro^-ided always, that in ever}- such case the land be relet by public auction. Sect. 12. — It sliall be lawful for the said governor to make gene- ral rules under which the first occupier or discoverer of land^ not previously occupied under lawful authority, may be entitled to demand a lease of the land so occupied or discovered by him, of the same duration, and generally upon the same terms, as in the case of leases granted under section 10 of the 3d chapter of this Order in CouncU. Sect. 13. — Any lease made under this Order in Council of land without the hundreds shall be liable to forfeiture in three modes: I. It shall be forfeited for non-payment of rent, as provided in section 6 of the third chapter of this Order in Council. II. It shall be forfeited absolutely immediately upon any con- viction for felony against the lessee ; and III. In the event of his conviction by a justice of the district for any offence against the law, the case may be inquired into within three months after the conviction by two or more justices, who, if they think fit, may adjudge the lease to be forfeited, with or without compensation for the value of the improvements, according to the nature of the offence. Provided always, that no such adjudication of forfeiture pro- nounced by the justices shall take effect until confirmed by the said governor. 19G AUSTRALIA. COMPARATITE PROGRESS OF THE COLOKY. (Extracted from the Governor's Report, contained in Papers laid before Parliament at commencement of Session 1851.) Before closinjj this Report, it may be interesting to contrast South Australia in 1850, the fifteenth year of its age, with New Soutii Wales in 1803, when it had attained the same age. It will of course be remembered that South Australia, from its proximity to other colonies, and especially to New South Wales, enjoyed many advan- tages to accelerate its progress. New South Wales, 1803. the I5th SwUh Australia, 1850, the \5th Year of its Settlement. Year of its Settlement. Acres. Acres. Land granted, - - 125,476 Land granted, - - 655,589 Cleared of Wood, - 16,624 Fenced Land, - 138,710 In Wheat, - - 7,118 In Wheat, - - 35,183 In Barley and Maize, - 5,279 In Barley and Oafs, - 7,220 Homed Cattle, - 2,447 Homed Cattle, - - 51,540 Sheep, - - 11,232 Sheep, - - 885,918 Horses, - - 352 Horses, - - - 1,781 Europeans of ever}- descrip- Europeans, - - 54,175 tion, - - 7,134 WESTERN AUSTRALIA. In a work directed to practical emigration, it is neither a veiy agreeable nor a very useful task to give an account of a colony •which has always been held up as a gross instance of mismanage- ment, failure, and calamity — which has been made the laughing- stock and scorn of all experimentalists in colonismg, who have pointed to it as a reason for adopting plans in every way the very reverse of the system there pursued — maintaining, from the extreme wretchedness of the results in this instance, that any system which is the reverse of the Swan River project must of necessity be a sound, practical, and effective one. The Swan River settlement is not so hideous a laughing-stock as it used to be, because many of its deriders are now its companions in adversity ; but beyond doubt it was a failure, and did serious injury to the cause of emi- gration. Western Australia nominally consists of that vast territory which, projecting southwards into the ocean, passes the 35th degree of south latitude, while its northern extremity touches the 28th, and its longitude ranges from the lloth to the 120th degree. Marked off, as it frequently is, mto its intended quadrangular counties, it gives an air of occupancy to the desolate map of Aus- tralia, where it seems to revive the populousness of the southern provinces after the dreary sweep of the great Australian Bight. In fact, this giant skeleton of a colony, with its less than five thousand inhabitants, covers an area of about a million of square miles — about eight times that of the United Kingdom ! The principle on which this colony was projected was, that the land should be allowed to support and protect itself. That the mother country was to make no advances of any kind to the colonists for emigration, government, military protection, or any other purpose ; but that the projectors, on bringing forward a feasible scheme, were to be intrusted with the land deemed valu- able, or at least the source of value if properly managed, and were from that source to make, as it were, their new state. The official persons, from the governor down to the humblest officers, were to be paid in land — were, in fact, like the followers of the old feudal conquerors, to receive a territorial investment for the support of their official dignity. Thus the governor had 100,000 acres set apart for him, while the humbler officers generally obtained about 5000 each. Tlie colonists in general were to obtain land accord- ing to the means of emigration which they furnished, it being 198 AUSTRALIA. quite overlooked that those who took out free labourers could not compel them to work for their exporters, or even to remain in the colony. The leviathan victim of the scheme was Mr Thomas Peel. He was to commence with a grant of a quarter of a million of acres, on condition of his taking out 400 emigrants ; and before the year 1840, he was to be at liberty to extend his operations to a million of acres, filling them with human beings as Jie acquired them. Few who do not remember the occasion can conceive the extent of the sanguine excitement created by this scheme. It appeared that the great difficulty of colonisation was now settled — and settled so simply. Instead of the cumbrous, costly machine of our colonial policy, let the valuable fresh soil taken possession of by the colonists support everything. People spoke not only of the grazing and the grain, but of the minerals and metals, the fruit and wine, the tobacco, and other valuable produce to be raised in that land of promise. Its v^ry name seemed to be derived from a token of plenty — the multitude of swans, chiefly black, which were seen sailing on its river. It was observed that it lay straight in the course from India to South America, and from Britain to the Australian colonies ; and the ' Quarterly Review,' in a laudatory article, congratulated the country on the prospect of widening its means of producing gram, and. continuing inde- pendent of foreigners. In 1829 the stream of emigration began to set in upon the settlement. The first settlers arrived in June and July, the mid- winter of the antipodes. Many of them were people of consider- able substance, and they brought with them, besides herds, flocks, and agricultural implements, sundry articles of furniture, dresses, and jewellery. The ships landed them with their property on the barren shore. There were no towns or dwellings, no storehouses ; no one responsible for assistii^ the helpless emigrants, who landed like fugitives before a pursuing enemy. The allotments could not be found, for the land had not been surveyed ; and those who had so many thousands of acres assigned to them, might find their pro- perty where they could. Before the end of the year, twenty-five ships had reached the shore, with nearly a thousand immigrants and property worth about fifty thousand pounds. Early in the ensuing year the number of settlers and the quantity of property landed were more than doubled. The tide poured in, until there was time to communicate at home the disastrous reception of the settlers. Then, indeed, it of necessity subsided, and people awaited with uneasy expectation for farther news from the land of promise. The intelligence was distinct enough. The colony was just as if so many people had been shipwrecked, had been able to get ashore, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 199 and then depended on the chances of finding food or being picked up. In an address presented to the governor so lately as the year 1849, to which some reference will have to be made further on, a picture was drawn of the misery and helplessness of these people, such as few narratives of disasters can equal. The follow- ing is one passage: — 'The ghastly spectacle of the town-site of Clarence — its sole edifices crowded, hurried, and neglected tombs — its only inhabitants corpses, the victims of disease, starvation, and despair. The sea-beach strewed with wrecks — the hills and borders of the rivers studded with deserted and half-finished build- ings, bear witness to these consequences, and speak of brave men, delicate females, and helpless children, perishing by hundreds on a desert coast from want of food, of shelter, and even of water, and surrounded by armed hordes of angry savages.' ' Can we wonder, then,' it is subsequently remarked in this document, ' that thou- sands rushed from such a scene with the relics of their capital to people other colonies; or even that numbers sat down in the frenzy of despair beside the spirit-cask, never to rise from it alive? Can we wonder that the name of Swan River should, throughout the civilised world, become identified with failure and ruin, and that the survivors of such carnage should be left alone by their fellow-men to carry on an enterprise so dreadfully begun ? ' The foundation of this unhappy colony was no self-interested speculation, for accomplishing mercenary objects at the expense of confiding dupes. Those who were most deeply engaged in the project sufiered most — at least in a pecuniary sense. The result of Mr Peel's land speculations have afibrded the source of many accoimts more picturesque than statistical. It is generally said that the portion of his four hundred emigrants, whom he had taken out to balance his corresponding portion of his quarter of a million acres, snapped their fingers at him when he professed to exercise control over them, and went off in aU directions — some of them seeking employment under other masters, others de- b'ghted with the idea that they had managed to find their way to the wilderness, where there is nothing but happiness and abun- dance, because there is little competition among workmen, and no police. Some of these people died of starvation and exhaus- tion ; others were kUled by the natives. But a portion of them, it is said, having come to the conclusion that though they were not bound to sers^e ]\Ir Peel, or even inhabit his territory, he was bound to support them^ returned on him, hungry, exhausted, dis- contented, and savage, and threatened to hang him for not making them comfortable against their will. Apart altogether from its effect in breaking up concentration and mutual communication, the large grants of land were inju- 200 AUSTKALIA. rious, by requiring sheep and oxen to be sent to their pasture at a great distance, and at much risk, cost, and loss. Mr Lefroy, when examined before the House of Lords' Committee of 1847-48, said — ' Two years before I arrived at the colony, a friend of mine sent his sheep to a grant in a district which was more than two hundred miles by land carriage from Perth, through more tlian half of which distance there was no road, and scarcely a cart- track. His wool for the first year was not got to market at all. In tlie second or third year lie withdrew his sheep from that great and unnecessary distance, after suffering immense loss from the experiment. I suppose there is pasture for ten times the number of sheep then in the colony within one hundred and fifty miles of Perth.' But it must be remembered that there are considerable barren districts, which must naturally separate the pasturages. It is almost unnecessary, were it possible, to give a specific account of a district so unpopular, and likely to be so little colo- nised, unless some new impulse to southern adventure drive eirllgi-ants thither. The slightness, indeed, of our knowledge about the real productiveness of this vast territory is connected with the causes of the colonising failure. It had never been properly surveyed and examined ; almost all was guess - work. Travellers spoke of grassy plains and mounds, alluvial deposits and fertile forest -land, as seen from hills; and explorers talked of mineral indications — but they rested on mere conjecture, and in reality the portion of this great country really known, has been known from being literally worked by the gallant remnant of the colony, resolving to make the best of the position in which they were cast, and the few friends who have joined them. Perth is the name given to the village on the Swan River, which has been necessarily called the capital of the settlement. It is described as prettily situated, and pleasantly surrounded by the gardens of its inhabitants, abounding in the ordinary fruits of warm climates. Freemantle, the nearest seaport, is a place of more real business as a whaling station ; and another collection of houses in the same district as Perth is called the town of Guild- ford. It is an unfortunate peculiarity of the little rising com- munities in a colony established under such circumstances, that they have received important names at the time when they were designed, and almost before they have obtained a social existence. The total population of the Perth district or county is about 2500 — more, however, than half the population of the colony. There are, however, adventurous settlers, who have moved over tiie ranges of hiUs, and occupied in the most primitive manner large pasture-grounds, on which, it may be fairly hoped, that they WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 201 will be the patriarchs of a future race of useful agriculturists, and rearers of flocks — such are the occupants of the district next in populousness to Perth, and called York County. Discouraging as the whole history of this colony has been, it would probably be a good place of settlement for a man with a small capital, not dependent on society, and prepared to trust greatly to his own resources. It would seem, from the general accounts of its state, to suit such a settler ; but no one in his senses, and with the means of making inquiry, will of course proceed thither without knowing all he can discover from every approach- able quarter about the resources of the district. No one will discover anything of a very definite character about them ; but still we cannot lielp thinking, from the general tenor of the reports which have come over — and especially from the circumstance of the miserable remnant of the colonists having in the end thriven — that there are fine resources in Western Australia. Labour has become so valuable there, that the restless versatile native?: have been occasionally tempted to work requiring great endurance from their employers ; nay, there are aborignial postmen in this curious colony ! The capitalists make it an object of complaint that the labourers have been rising out of their condition, and becoming landowners ; and this is, in truth, one of the causes which induce us to commend this settlement to the notice of men of moderate means, with industrious habits, energ}', and ability. In February 1848 there was transmitted to the Colonial Office a document called the ' Report of a Committee of the Legislative Council of Western Australia, appointed to Inquire into and Report upon the Means to Procure a Supply of Labour.' Though bearing so pompous a title, this paper can only be considered as the representation of a few owners of property put to inconvenience from not finding workmen on what they think fair terms; but even in this point of view it is perhaps more valuable than if it were drawn up by an impartial legislative body. It commences thus — ' Your Committee having examined the subject of the supply of labour, have unanimously agreed to the following report : — * There exists in this colony a great and increasing demand for labour, resulting chiefly from the following causes : — ' Labourers establishing themselves, as tenants or landowners, upon new farms. * Shepherds having invested their wages in stock, and having thus become flock-owners. (Both the above not only withdraw the old, but themselves require an additional supply of labour.) * The increase of flocks and herds.— This is much retarded by the scarcity of labour, and consequent losses from want of sufiicient attendance. Such losses are, in proportion, as injurious to imperial as to colonial interests. 202 AUSTRALIA. ' The increasing cultivation of the vine, olive, &c. — The remarkable fitness of this colony for this object, and for " Mediterranean pro- duce " in general (a soil and climate suited to which lias hitherto been a desideratum among the resources of the empire), renders it particularly painful that such efforts should be, as at present, para- lysed for want of labour. * The new and increasing export trade in sandal-wood, which, althougli a most important benefit to the colony, especially as afford- ing emploj-ment at a time of year when tillage is suspended, yet necessarily, from its considerable and immediate profits, and the facility of midertaking it without capital, withdraws many persons, even for the whole year, from labour on the farms, while it causes a demand for labour to supply food to these persons in their new pur- suit. ' To these causes for increased demand for labour may be added several minor ones — as the increase of enterprise in fisheries, both whaling and otherwise ; such as the new company for preparing cured fish, turtle, and trepang, as well as sealing, at the Abrolhos^ &c. &c. * Several new enterprises are also on the eve of commencement, and only await a supply of labour. Among the chief of these pro- mise to be — * Timber for exportation, especially, it is to be hoped, for the use of Her Majesty's navj- and the merchant service — a trade which may be said to have commenced by the shipment of 150 loads to the order of the Lords of the Admiralty ; as well as by the building of several vessels here, which have been eagerly purchased in the neighbouring colonies. The vast importance of this trade can only be estimated by those acquainted with our immense forests of timber, probably unparalleled as to a combination of length, strength, and durability; forests which may be truly said to contain boimdless supplies, and varieties suited for every possible purpose — from beams of 100 feet without a knot, setting at defiance dry-rot, white ant, and sea- worm, down to the most beautiful furniture woods ; as well as blocks and sheaves equal to box, trenails, mill and wheelwright timber, shingles, kc. in some of which the trade has already begun, and for which no timber before known seems equally qualified. ' Coal. — The great seams of coal recently discovered, from five to seven feet in thiclcness, of first-rate quality, and requiring neither sinking nor drainage, will doubtless soon draw both capital and labour to work them for supply of steamers, engines, &c. * Mines. — Vast quantities of the richest possible iron — pronounced hy an experienced geologist to be the finest he had ever seen, and containing in the ore a natural flux, which renders it easy to smelt — are to be found in various parts of the colony. Zinc of rich quality has been found, though the quantity, expense of working, kc. are not yet ascertained ; and several other ores — as copper, lead, quicksilver, &c. — appear to exist, scattered over a large extent of country. To these may be added slate — abundant, and of superior quality. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 203 * The quantity and variety of valuable gums will, it is to be expected, soon attract a large share of labour to their collection ; a work at present committed chiefly to the aborigines, and almost in embryo, no attention having been paid to it until very lately. * The peculiar adaptation of this country for breeding large herds of horses and mules has already attracted much attention both at the Mauritius and in India, where the importance of forming in our vast horse-pastures extensive studs for the supply of the Indian cavalry and artillery has repeatedly been discussed: a project rendered particularly desirable by the peculiar characteristics of the Western Australian horses — gentleness, endurance, and fleetness, the two first of which they possess to a degree perhaps without parallel. The high prices realised by some exported hence to Mauritius, and now favourites there on the turf, have already directed some portion of labour to this object, and one establishment has also been sent from India for the purpose. ' To these may be added a variety of other valuable resoni'ces, for the supply of which Great Britain is now in a great degree de- pendent on foreign nations, and which could more abundantly be pro- duced in this colony by the present inmates of English workhouses. Among these may be reckoned cotton, hemp, hides, tallow, bark, the indigenous " phonnium " for cordage of the strongest texture, and many other products, by which England would not only render her empire more independent of foreign powers, but would obtain for her own shipping the carrying- trade enjoyed by theirs.' A still more comprehensive document, called 'Address of the Magistrates, Landowners, Merchants, Farmers, Shopkeepers, Tradesmen, and other Holders of Property in the Colony of "Western Australia,'* was transmitted to the Colonial Office by Governor Fitzgerald in February 1849. It shewed that whatever might be the deficiencies of the colony, it counted among its people one able writer. It is from this document that the pic- turesque passage about the first settlement, printed above, has been taken. The document takes the following view of the natural resources of the territory : — ' Our boundless forests contain timber fitted for almost every pur- pose ; -while the greater portion is not only of superior quality to any other in the world for many of the main uses of timber, but possesses alone the special and invaluable properties of resisting dry-rot, sea- worm, and white ant. The trade in sandal-wood is already a great element of prosperity, and with a sufiicient supply of labour, and common attention to the protection and propagation of the tree, may be counted upon as a permanent source of wealth. To this may be added a probable trade in jam-wood, which, if once established, would be more extensive, and, at the same price, more profitable than the former. * lletum, Emigration Australian Colonies, 31st July 1849. 20-i AUSTRALIA. * Iron ore in immense masses, of the richest quality, easily worked, and with fuel on the spot, abounds in the colony ; while the presence of some of the more valuable metals is ascertained, and there is every reason to suppose the existence of others. ' Coal-fields have been recently discovered of surpassing extent and size of seams. * Live-stock are eminently free from disease. The quality of our wool, the temper and endurance of our hoi-ses, and the size, symmetry, and breeding of our horned cattle, are remarkable even among the Australian colonies. ' The fisheries of our coast would alone afford ample employment for a numerous population. The whale and other great fislieries have long been Known ; and the minor ones have already afforded most encouraging returns by the sale of cried fish in the neighbour- ing markets, where they obtain the highest prices.' The governor, in transmitting the address, thought it necessary to convey a modification of this estimate of the capabilities of the territory ; and probably this modified statement affords as just a view of the facts as we can obtain. On the general features he says — ' These have been, I conceive, much overrated in the address, as for one acre of good land we have hundreds of bad. It is true wo grow wheat and other grain-crops with very fair returns, considering our manner of cultivation ; nor do I doubt that portion of land lying between the Darling Range and the sea-coast, so euphoniously styled the Plains of Quartania, to be capable of producing Mediterranean products, especially the fig, vine, and olive, in the utmost luxuriance ; yet, my lord, it must be borne in mind, that however good and encouraging our soil, when made available by the hand of man, it is, in a state of nature, one dense forest or thick scrub, and that a considerable outlay is required before it will yield to the husband- man the slightest return : this, in itself, is a great drawback to extending cultivation, with a small pojmlation and enonnously high rate of wages. In South Australia, on the contrary, the farmer finds all ready to his hand, and able to plough without hindrance, a vast extent of virgin soil situated near the sea-coast, while we have large tracts unfit for cultivation between the settled districts. * In the adaptation of our soil and climate to the breed of live- stock, including horses, horned cattle, and sheep, we yield to none ; yet are we not without room for the improvement of the former, our horses wanting, in my opinion, that compact symmetry so desirable as proof of great power and endurance. ' As to fisherieSj usually so profitable in giving food and employ- ment in new countries to the coast population, they have not as yet been found so in Western Australia, except some occasional success in whaling. ' On the other hand, however, could we obtain a market, we have an inexhaustible source of prosperity in our magnificent timber, so WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 205 ■v\ell adapted for all the purposes of ship-building. Nor must I omit mention of our mineral discoveries, which are for the present con- fined to lead-ore or galena, of an excellent kind, yielding 75 per cent, of lead, lately discovered on the banlvs of the Murchison, thirty miles from the sea-coast ; also coal on the Irwin, forty miles from the coast, but more recently discovered on the banks of the Fitzgerald, within seven or eight miles of the shore, and giving reasonable hope that it will be found to crop out on the coast not many miles from the anchorage in Doubtful Island Bay, where ships and steamers can lie in security, to take in cargoes or other supplies necessary to prolong their voyage east or west.' The authors of the memorial, after giving their own view of the materials on which the colony had to work, afford a sketch in the same rapid manner of its actual progress during five years : — * "Within this period, sir, the following changes have occurred : — * The colony has paid off five-sixths of its foreign debts. ' The imports have diminished by above one-third, ' The exports have multiplied sixfold, already equal to imports, and are hourly increasing ; while at the same time the imports consist almost entirely of luxuries, and the exports of raw material and produce noway requii-ed by ourselves. The details of this altered relation of imports and exports are even more encouraging; for while the latter have steadily increased, the former exhibit a rapid diminution until the mass of debt was paid off, since which period they have been gradually increasing. The connection of these sta- tistics Avith each other, and with an exactly corresponding return of fall and subsequent rise of deposits at the bank, proves (what is also supported by dally observation) that the people have been able not only to maintain themselves, but to accumulate. ' Population has increased one-fourth. * All sorts of live-stock have, on an average, doubled ; and it is to be remeAbered, in all comparisons between this and other colonies, that the whole of our live-stock had to be imported by voyages of from 2000 to 15,000 miles, not only enormously expensive, but causing immense and ruinous losses. 'Several fine ships, a number of coasting vessels, and a multi- tude of boats of all sizes, have been built by ourselves, of our own timber. 'The entire appearance and construction of the dwelling?, not only in the towns but in the country, has been changed from the tempo- rary edifices of former days to substantial buildings. ' Tillage has nearly doubled. 'Instead of a stray vine cultivated in a garden, our vineyards may now be counted by the acre ; olives are propagated by the thousand, and our own wine is beginning to compete with the imported. 'The shipping of the sister colonies, Avhich used to shun our shores, unless driven in by weather, now consequently, and as a matter of course, frequent our ports, bringing and receiving valuable cargoes, 20G AUSTRALIA. aiid maintaining a continual intercourse with the Indian and Chinese Archipelagoes. ' In fine, not only have the colonists paid oflF nearly the whole of their foreign, as well as a large proportion of their local debts ; and this not by a mere nominal dividend under an insolvent law, nor by the force of imprisonment for debt, or even legal process of any sort, and at a time when all Australasia was involved in panic, when one of our banks was being withdrawn, all credit suddenly stopped, creditors pressing, and no new capital arriving — not only have they eftected all that progress to which we have just alluded, but they have, within three years, nearly doubled their amount of deposits in the bank, independent of the large sums carried away to other colonies, and those known to be now hoarded in private hands for tlie same purpose.' This looks like prosperity; but the completion of the picture develops an internal unhealthiness, to the symptoms of wliich every man who sets his eye practically on this colony would re- quire carefully to look. * Live-stock have nearly doubled in five years, but formerly they used to quadruple in that time ; and further, within the last year there has been almost no increase of sheep — the staple wealth of the country. Were this the result of accident, it were not so alarming ; but far otherwise is the fact: The flock-owners have begun to abandon in despair the attempt to struggle against ruinous wages and the total neglect by government of all attempt to extend the knowledge of the country, or explore the interior ; the runs have become overstocked ; many flock-owners have not allowed their flocks to increase; and so trifling and precarious has the profit become, that no care is taken of Iambs ; if the least difiiculty rises in rearing them, they are at once knocked on the head, and the ewes turned into the dry flock ; great numbers are lost every year for want of persons to look after them ; and, strictly speakingf although the numbers have not yet actually begun to diminish (as may soon be expected), sheep-farming in Western Australia is now on the wane ; and this, sir, when our sheep are of the purest breed, and our wool obtains so high a price among the Australian colonies. * Tillage is nearly double in extent what it was five years ago ; but is it now increasing ? It is less than it was last year. Land is aban- doned again to the forest; and even the farmers farthest inland declare that it is cheaper to import than to produce. Soon our im- ports will be of necessaries instead of luxuries, and the community will be reduced to its former dependence on foreign seasons, and on winds and waves, for its subsistence. ' Money has been accumulated ; but by whom, and for what pur- pose ? The capitalist has been ruined, and no permanent benefit has been produced to others. Is the accumulation invested ? The re- peated scene of every day is the abandonment, not the increase of enterprise. Nothing is now considered safe. Not one investment V.'ESTERN AUSTRALIA. 207 can rouse speculation, Whether it be the breeding of sheep or of horses, the formation of a timber company or a vineyard company, the answer is still the same : " Admirable is the project in itself, but nothing is safe in a country without labour, and whose rulers make no attempt to encourage or direct the energies of the people." What becomes of the profits of the elements of prosperity? The answer v.ill be found in the emigration to England and Adelaide, and the deposits in the bank. Every one who can save the means has left, or is preparing to leave the colony in despair ; and this, sir, not in one single instance, we may say, from dislike to the place, or a dis- ';elief of its capabilities, but uniformly with regret, and from the experience of the folly of contending, by the isolated efforts of indivi- duals, against evils which, from their very nature, it is the province of government to overcome. * All these indications are trifling, however, compared with the statistics of population. Those who, depending on official salaries, are nnwilling to open their eyes to anything unpleasant or alarm- ing, may insist that these are favourable. Let us examine their details. * Population has increased, it is said, within five years by one- third. There is reason to tliink even this incorrect, and that much of the emigration from the southern parts has been omitted in the calculation. But were it even as stated ; in little more than half ihat period formerly it had nearly doubled. The absolute poll returns, however, give not even the faintest idea of the truth of the case. Our own danger and our duty to your excellency and the public, compel us to lay before you the following painful facts : — * Within the above period of five years, as nearly as possible, 50 per cent, of the gentry, landed proprietors, and other capitalists (exclusive, of course, of salaried ofiicials), have abandoned the colony, or have died without representatives to fill their station. ' Every ship to the eastern colonies carries away numbers of the labouring-classes, while the few arrivals of this class are chiefly Asiatics or juvenile convicts. ' While, therefore, the actual number of the population remains nearly stationary, instead of the natural rapid increase of young communities, the components of that population are being ruinously changed by the substitution of infants, Asiatics, and convict boys, in the books of registration, for gentlemen of education and fortune, and British artisans and labourers. But the evil is actually increas- ing ; for of the remainder, many have been reduced to labour for others, several have actually made arrangements to leave the colony by the first convenient opportunity ; and there is scarcely one who would not do so if he could obtain for his property even a small proportion of the money it has cost him. At the same time labour is daily rising in cost, and becoming more careless in performance. * Such a contrast between the presence of elements apparently sufficient to insure prosperity, and a result so precisely the opposite, would be a useful study to a politician; but, to your excellency 208 AUSTRALIA. assuming the helm, and to us whose fate depends upon your course, it becomes a subject of grave emergency.' In hunting out the causes of their depression, and suggesting remedies, these gentlemen alluded to many intrinsic detects of the territory; such as the vast regions of scrub, the deficiency of natural harbour, and the abundance among the pasture of ' poison plants ' — the precise effects of which, though they had occasioned great losses, did not seem to be understood, but de- manded experiment and investigation. They are described as *most luxurious, tempting, and deadly, at the driest season, when other vegetation fails.' ' Another obstacle,' they say, ' to the flock- owner consists in the constantly-varying character of the countiy, no large extent of good land together being now open for occu- pation; hence almost every flock requires a separate establish- ment.' Among the administrative causes of the depression, Mr Wakefield's land-system is, as in every other Australian colony, adduced as the most formidable. General neglect on the part of the government, which had done for other colonies what it liad failed to do for Western Australia, is another source of suffering, which of course suggests a rigorous intervention as the proper remedy. The chief demand, however, is for labour ; and it is observable that it is made on this occasion in a more enlightened w^ay than is generally evinced by the colonial complamers, who too often, as in the instance quoted above, desire to keep labour permanently at its level, and complain that the workman rises to be a landowner. ' But the great and only effectual remedy, the only policy which can preserve this or any of the Australian colonies from approach- ing ruin — the only measure that can induce the present settlers to remain in, or strangers to come to this country — must be an imme- diate supply of abundant labour at the expense of that country at present burdened by its excess. \Ye are not speaking now, sir, of a " boon " of two or three hundred paupers from St Giles' or Cockaigne ; we speak of a system of national cmigi-ation, not only commenced, but maintained. We do not demand labourers to caiTy on our work for a year, and then to merge into the general ebb-tide of a failing colony — we wish to see, not a number of labourers sent here on a " system" designed to prevent their bettering their cour dition, but we may seek, nay, we demand, as equally for tlie inte- rests of England and the colonies, the adoption of a national system for conveying, at British expense, to all the colonies, the surplus labour of the United Kingdom * We have said " abundant labour," because we do not mean a mere supply of labour sufficient to meet demand at existing rates ; for on such a foundation we will not again adventure enterprise, nor undertake to elaborate resources ; we mean such an abundant supply ss enables the industrious workman not only to rise into a farmer, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 209 but to continue such, by securing both to him and to his late em- ployer a fresh relay of labour ; and while it guards against pauperism, maintains abundant motives for exertion and character. "We do not mean such a meagre supply of labour as would enable us to carry on the exhausting struggle of the past, but so ample and sustained, as will at length place us in a position to attain the objects for which we emigrated, and to bring into action, one by one, all the immense variety of resources by which we are surrounded.' A gentleman of considerable experience examined by the Lords* Committee on Emigration in 1847, gave his evidence thus, on the effect of the large disposals of territor}', and on the amoimt of late emigration to the colony : — * Has it (the system of large grants) not been equally prejudicial to the social state of the colony, by preventing the concentration of the population, and by thus increasing the difficulty of providing labour ? — Yes ; it has had both those effects to a remarkable degree. It has both dispersed the inhabitants, and also deprived the colony of labour. Remarkable instances of that have been mentioned : men in high station have been compelled to attend to the most menial offices. 'Are there considerable means for the production of food within tlie colony ? is the soil fertile ? — In some situations it is good. I should be sorry to say anything discouraging of "WeStern Australia, because I think that its misfortunes, as I have already said, are in Tuuch the greatest degree owing to the errors in the early settle- ment. "We have lately, I am happy to say, heard that they have hop«s of having found metallic ores; and they have certainly found coal. ' There are no physical impediments to colonisation in Western Australia on account of badness of soil ? — Xo. [This will be found scarcely to agree with the statements quoted above.] ' Can you state the amount of emigration which has taken place for some vears into "Western Australia ? — It has been as follows : — In 1839, 268; 1840, 224; 1841, 3."57; 1842, 563. None since. ' Has the emigration to AYestern Australia been carried on under your superintendence in the same manner as the emigration to South Australia ? — When funds have been forthcoming, we have sent people ; but one misfortune in the nature of the settlement is, that we very seldom have any land revenue. ' Is there any unaided emigration going on to Western Australia I — .Scarcely any. ' Do you think that there is a capacity in Y»''estem Australia to receive more European emigrants ? — I should view with great uneasi- ness any large attempt of that kind, considering how much of the land is already appropriated, and the doubt, therefore, whether we should obtain any laud fund, or whether capital would be likely to flow in. Any great discovery of minerals would of course alter the case.' The last remark was inspired by the mineral discoveries in 210 AUSTRALIA. South Australia, which exercise an influence scarcely benign on colonial expectations. The latest authoritative accounts of the progress of tliis country, in the shape of a report by the governor, laid before parliament while this is at press, are only too much in unison with those which have preceded them. The document was despatched in March 1850. It states that the population in 1849 was 4654, be- ing an increase of 194 over the previous year. The governor says — 'Referring to the general trade and comraerce during the last year, I find a considerable falling off in the imports. This is to be attributed in the first place to a partial cessation of the sandal-wood trade, from which we derive such large imports in return cargoes in the previous years. Secondly, to the non- importation of bread- stuffs from South Australia ; and although affecting materially our import returns, it has its counterbalancing advantage, in giving some hope of our future capability of self-sustaining. The third and last cause to which I attribute this falling off in the imports, is the superabundant supply of every kind of merchandise brought into the colony in the year 1848, to an extent sufficient almost to meet the wants of the community in the year 1849 ; fluctuations of this kind are, I fear, the unavoidable results of our small population, and great distance from Europe — Impo*rts m 1848, - - £45,411 11 6 1849, - - 28,534 3 4 Decrease in 1849, - - £16,877 8 2 * Our exports, I lament to think, are also below those of the pre- vious year, but to an amount only equal to the diminution in the export of sandal-wood. They, however, more nearly approximate to the imports than on the previous year, and shew a large increase in the export of horses and stock — Exports in 1848, - - £29,598 9 1849, - - 26,156 17 Decrease in 1849, - - £3,441 12 0* In another department of this Report it is said — * Agriculture has not extended its surface beyond that of last year ; nor have I much hope that it will, until circumstances favour us with a further supply of labour, so long and anxiously called for. The colonists hope much from your lordship's knowledge of their wants, and the kind sympathy you have expressed for their difii- culties. Stock of every kind shews a very considerable increase. ' Fisheries have not been over-successful this year ; but the fault is not with the fishermen, as they were in everyway prepared with well-ordered arrangements along our shore, liad our waters been WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 211 visited ; but such was not the case : few in this part of the world remember a year when the fish were so few in number. * Minerals. — In mmes our discoveries have been limited, if I except indication of copper discovered within three miles in a south- south-west direction from the lead mine on the Murchison. These indications are so unmistakable, that already have applications been made by parties for its purchase. * In the shipment of our magnificent timber, more especially of the eucalyptus kind, I am happy to say exertions far beyond those of any year are now in active progress for the supply of private houses in England. Our land-sales have amounted to £645, 13s.' A hope of future improvement is expressed from the construc- tion of a road ninety miles long from Victoria Plains to the head of the Swan River, opening an access to the probable seat of mining operations north of Champion Bay. It must be mentioned that this colony, established on the principle of entire self-support from the value of the land, cost the empire £232,622— upwards of a quarter of a million. In fact, in this, as in other instances, though the conceit or care- lessness of individuals had occasioned the mischief, the govern- ment, which faUed to restrain the proceedings, felt itself so far implicated, that it was bound to avert, at some expense, the more prominent and otherwise inevitable calamities. The regulations for the sale of lands in the colony are of course the same as those provided by statute for the whole of Australia. But the regulations for the occupation of waste lands, which wiU be found at the close of this section, have, from the pecu- liarities of the district, necessarily differed from those of other colonies. In fact, the sale of lands at the minimum upset govern- ment price was out of the question when there was no emigration, a very small population, and individuals impoverished, and pos- sessed of large tracts which they were ready to dispose of for almost anything. It will be seen, then, that instead of mere licences of departure, the privy-councU, under the powers as to waste lands in the lands-sale act, give tillage -leases as well as pastoral-leases, with inducements to improvement. ORDER IN COUNCIL FOR THE OCCUPATION OF WASTE LANDS. (From the Report for 1850 of the Emigration Commissioners.) Regulations as to the Division of Lands. 1 . For the purposes of the present Order in Council, the lands in ths colony of Western Australia shall be considered as divided into two classes, denominated respectively Class A and Class B. 2. Class A shall comprehend — 212 AUSTRALIA. First, All lands which may be within the distance of three miles from the outer boundary of any occupied town site, or of one mile from any land granted in fee-simple at the time when these regulations shall come into force. ^Secondlj/, Land which may be within the distance of two miles of any part of the sea-coast. TMrdhj, Land which may be within the distance of two miles from either of the two opposite banks of any of the folio win"- rivers or inlets : — Aio. ^ The Swan, from Freemantle to Toodyay town site. lon-r >v The Avon, from Toodyay to Beverley town site. liBii? -^ The Toodyay, from Toodyay to Bijoording. The Canning, from Melville AYater to the Darling Range. The Murray, from Peel's Inlet to the Darling Range. The Collie, ft-om Leschenault Inlet to the Darling Range. The Fitzgerald, from the sea to twenty-five miles inland in a straight line. The Philip's River and Culham Inlet, twenty -five miles b^ from the sea in a straight line. ■rc?3. Class B shall comprehend all other lands of the colony open for location. Regulations as tttTg^jixe-Leascs. 1. It shall be competent for the go.emor to grant tillage-leases to such persons as he may think fit, for any term or terms of years not exceeding eight years. 2. The annual rent reserved in any such lease shall not be less than £10 in all, nor less than 2s. per acre on the land comprised in any such lease, which shall in no case exceed 320 acres. 3. It shall be competent for the governor to sell to any person ■who shall be in actual occupation of lands under any tillage-lease, any part of such lands for their fair value in an unimproved state : provided, nevertheless, that the size of the lot sold shall not be less than ten acres, nor the price less than the general minimum price for the time being. If the governor shall think that a higher price ought to be demanded, the value shall be determined by valuation. 4. It shall be competent for the governor to insert in any tillage- lease a clause, entitling the lessee, subject to such conditions as to the said governor shall seem tit, to claim at the expiration of such lease a renewal of the same for a further period not exceeding eight years. 5. On the determination of any tillage -lease, the lands comprised therein, and all improvements thereon, shall, in the absence of any right of renewal, or in case the lessee shall not avail himself thereof, revert unconditionally to the crown. 6. Tillage -leases of land, not also comprised within any pastoral lease, shall be disposed of by public auction. Regulations as to Lands within the Limits of Class A. Within the limits of Class A it shall be competent for the governor to grant pastoral - leases to such persons as he may tliink fit, for terms not exceeding one vear. WESTJEPvN AUSTRALIA. 213 Regulations as to Lands within the Limits of Class B. 1. Within the limits of Class B it shall be competent for the gover- nor to grant pastoral-leases for terms not exceeding eight years, and to insert therein such clauses of renewal as hereinbefore pro\dded for with respect to tillage-leases. 2. It shall be competent for the governor to sell to any person who shall be in actual occupation of a run under any pastoral -lease any part of such run, at its fair value in an unimproved state : pro- vided, nevertheless, that the price of the land sold shall not be less than the general minimum price for the time being. If the governor shall think that a iiigher price ought to be demanded, the price shall be determined by valuation. 3. It shall be competent for the governor, at the end of each suc- cessive year from the dat<3 of any pastoral-lease, to offer for sale aU or any part of the land comprised therein (not being also comprised in any tillage -leasfe), subject, nevertheless, to the following con- ditions : — First, The governor shall give sixty days' notice of any intended sale, either by advertisement in the Government Gazette, or by some other sufficient method. Secondly, The lessee s^^' have the option of purchasing the land offered for sale, o»« che terms prescribed in the last pre- ceding section. Thirdly, If the lessee declines to purchase, the value of any improvements effected on the land (which, however, shall in no case be estimated at more than the actual outlay made by the lessee) shall be ascertained by valuation. Fourthly, The upset price of the land shall then consist of the joint value of the land and of the improvements. If the land be sold, the value of the improvements shall be paid over to the lessee, and only the balance be retained by the government. 4. The rent to be paid for each run shall never be less than the following: namely, £5 per annum, with an addition of 10s. per annum for every 1000 acres comprised in the lease. But in com- puting the acreage of any run, the governor may exclude from, the computation any tract of land which is reported to him by the proper officer to be unavailable for pastoral purposes. 5. All persons who shall be in licensed occupation of crown land when these regulations shall come into force, and shall, within three calendar months thereafter, apply to the governor for pastoral-leases of the lands respectively held by them, shall be entitled to a pre- ference in obtaining such leases. 6. Any persons desiring to obtain a pastoral-lease of land which has never been occupied before, shall send in an application for the same, at such time and place, and in such form as may be appointed by the governor in respect to such applications ; and shall set forth in his application a clear description of the boundaries of the nm 214 AUSTRALIA. for which he applies ; and it shall be competent for the governor to grant to the person so applying a pastoral-lease of such run, on the terms hereinbefore prescribed. 7. If the boundaries of any run applied for under either of the two last preceding sections shall not be in conformity with any colonial regulations then in force, or if any part of such run shall be within Class A, or shall be applied for by any other person, the governor, or other officer authorised by him, may declare what shall be the boundaries of such run. 8. Pastoral-leases of lands which have been occupied, and have become vacant by forfeiture, or other determination of a previous pastoral-lease, shall be disposed of by public auction. 9. It shall be competent for the governor, with the advice of his executive council, at any time within three months after the deter- mination of any pastoral-lease, and notwithstanding such right of renewal as aforesaid, to declare, by proclamation in the Government Gazette, that all or any of the lands comprised in such lease, which may be within one mile of any lands which have been granted in fee by the crown, shall thereafter be deemed to be within Class A. Miscellaneous Regulations. 1. The rents reserved under the provisions of the Order in Council are to be reserved and paid without abatement, on account of the existing or any future assessments of taxes or rates on sheep and cattle, and are in noway to interfere with the right of the Colonial Legislature to impose from time to time such assessments as may be deemed advisable. 2. Every such rent shall ba paid yearly in advance, at such time and place as shall be specified in the lease. If the rent be not paid on the prescribed rent-day, the lease shall be absolutely and inde- feasibly forfeited, unless within sixty days of such rent-day the lessee shall duly pay the full amount of the annual rent, together with an additional sum equal to one-fourth part of the same. 3. All leases made under authority of this Order in Council shall be transferable under such conditions, and in such manner, as shall be prescribed by the governor. ' 4. It shall be competent to the governor to insert in any such lease such conditions and clauses of forfeiture as may seem to him to be required by the public interest. 5. Nothing in this Order in Council shall prevent the governor from excepting out of any sale or lease all such lands as it may appear to him expedient to reserve for any of the public uses, for which it is enacted by the 3d clause of an act passed in the 6th year of her present Majesty, intituled * An Act for Eegulating the Sale of Waste Lands belonging to the Crown in the Australian Colonies;' that lands required for public uses may be excepted from sales authorised by that act, or which in his opinion would, if sold, give the purchaser an undue command over water required for the bene- ficial occupation or cultivation of other lands. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 215 6. Nothing in this Order in Council, or in any pastoral lease to be granted under the provisions thereof, shall prevent the said governor from making grants or sales of any lands comprised in such lease for public purposes, nor from entering upon and disposing of, in such manner as for the public interest may seem best, such lands as may be required for the sites of churches, schools, or parsonages, or for the construction of high-roads, or railways and railway stations, or other internal communications, whether by land or water, or for the use or benefit of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, or for public buildings, or as places for the interment of the dead, or places for the recreation and amusement of the inhabitants of any town or village, or as the sites of public quays or landing-places on the sea- coast or shores of navigable streams, or for the purpose of sinking shafts and digging for coal, iron, copper, lead, or other minerals, or for any other purpose of public defence, safety, utility, convenience, or enjoyment, or for otherwise facilitating the improvement and settlement of the colony, but so that the quantity of land which may be granted or sold to any railway company shall not exceed in all the rate of 100 acres for every mile thereof in length. 7. Nothing contained in any pastoral-lease shall prevent the aboriginal natives of this colony from entering upon the lands com- prised therein, and seeking their subsistence therefrom, in their accustomed manner, or shall prevent any inhabitants of the colony from passing over the said lands, or from examining the mineral and other capabilities of the same, or from doing all things necessary for the purpose of such examination — ^paying, nevertheless, to the lessee, full compensation for any damage accruing to him therefrom. 8. A lease shall be liable to forfeiture in three modes : — 1st, It shall be forfeited for non-payment of rent, as hereinbefore provided ; 2d, It shall be forfeited absolutely, immediately upon any con- viction for felony against the lessee ; and 3d, In the event of his conviction by a justice of the peace for any offence against the law, the case may, witliin tliree months after such conviction, be inquired into by two or more justices, who, if they think fit, may adjudge the lease to be forfeited, with or without compensation for the value of the improvements, according to the nature of the offence. Provided always, that no such adjudication of forfeiture pro- nounced by the justices shall take effect until confirmed by the governor. 9. For the purpose of making any valuation required under the provisions of this Order in Council, one competent valuer shall be appointed by the governor, and another by the lessee. Any differ- ence of opinion between such valuers shall be determined by an umpire, to be appointed by themselves, or, in case they shall not agree in such appointment, by the governor. TASMANIA, OR VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. This island, in the maps of the world published down to the end of the eighteenth century, was always represented, so far as it appeared in them at all, as a promontory of Australia. It was not until the year 1798, when Bass explored the strait called by his name, that it Avas known to be an island. Separated from Australia by this arm of the sea, which averages a hundred miles in width, the southern extremity of the island reaches the latitude 43° 40'. The island is of an irregular but compact shape, so lying in the direction of the Australian continent that the northern coast bends towards it, and the southern projects into what might natu- rally be set down as the southern cape of Australia by geographers unacquainted with the intervening strait. It was discovered in 1642 by the Dutch navigator Tasman, who of course knew not that it was an island. He conferred on it the name of Van Diemen's Land, after the surname of the governor of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, It seems to have been thought that the name Van Diemen called up associations only too appropriate to the social condition of the colony, from its simi- larity to the word demon, and the name Tasmania has been sub- stituted for it. This island, about half the size of Ireland, is mountainous and woody, broken into creeks and harbours round its edge, and watered by several streams of considerable volume. The mountain -ranges occupy great part of its surface, and the agricultural lands are dis- persed in the interstices between them. Of these mountains there are at least two — Mount Humboldt and Ben Lomond — which rise above 5000 feet above the level of the sea, while there are several which, like the highest points in Great Britain, rise a little above the level of 4000 feet. The mean height, indeed, of the depressions in the ranges where the waters fall into the sea on either side is about 3700 feet. It will thus be seen, on comparison with the British islands, that Tasmania is very mountainous, and it will readily be inferred that its agricultural districts are of limited extent. Some of the pasture-stations are at an elevation above the sea of 3000 feet. There are many precipices and steep declivities among these mountains, which rise range after range. They are dark and gloomy, from the natural hue of the Australian verdure, and contain much majestic and striking scenery, associated, though the colony has had so brief a history, with many scenes of tragic horror. The rivers are considerable for so small an area. The TASMANIA, OR VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 217 principal stream, called the Derwent, which enters the sea at Hobart Town, is there twenty miles from its source, and its wind- ings are said to double its actual running length as a stream. Two other rivers, the Tamar and the Macquarrie, with their feeders, drain great districts of valuable land. There are several lakes, and some impenetrable marshes. The rivers are, in a modified degree, liable to the pulsations which characterise the Australian streams ; but it does not appear that the severe droughts of the mainland are known here. From the narrowness of Bass's Straits, the island is naturally not entirely free from the influence of the hot north winds, sup- posed to be caused by the burning plains in the vast interior of the continent. But they are here more closely encountered by the currents of air from the snowy south pole, and the climate seems to have some of the shifting characteristics of our own, but with a temperature generally higher, since the southern extremity of the island is no nearer to the south pole than the warmest parts of France to the north. Rain is pretty frequent, and the atmosphere is described as humid. Tasmania has the character of being a healthy country, notwithstanding the unpromising nature of a portion of its population — diseased in body as well as in mind. In a return of 3475 cases of disease in the hospitals in 1848, there appear 357 cases of diseases of the lungs. This pro- portion is perhaps below what would generally appear in this country, and yet its extent is deserving of consideration, since the southern colonies are often looked upon as almost exempt from these dreaded inflictions. The liver diseases, a peculiarity of hot climates, amount only to 31. There are just two other classes of disease more numerous than those of the lungs. ]3iseases of the eyes are numbered as 553. Eye complaints have been noticed as a peculiarity of the continent, supposed to arise from the hot winds. Abscesses and ulcers are another large item, amounting to 439. Their prevalence may in some measure be accounted for by the habits of the Australian convict population. The deaths among these 439 are, however, only 6. In fact, it is worthy of remark that the most mortal diseases are here, as at home, those of the lungs ; for the deaths are a larger per-centage on the attacks than those in any other of the enumerated diseases — making 47 out of 166 deaths from all causes. A census of the population of Tasmania was taken on 31st December 1847. The total amount was found to be 70,164, consisting of 47,828 males, and 22,336 females, the former more than doubling the latter. This population was classified thus — free emigrants, 13,818 ; persons bom in the colony, 18,355; persons who have been prisoners, 11,519; ticket- of-leave holders, 5714 ; convicts in government emplojnnent, 9758 ; 218 AUSTRALIA. convicts in private service, 8716 ; troops, with their families, 2246 ; aborigines, 38. LAND AND PRODUCE. Tasmania, being the most thickly-peopled and extensively- cultivated of the southern colonies, is one of the most important of them all in a geographical and economical point of view, but it is of secondary importance for the purposes of the intending emigrant, and will not call on the present occasion for so full an account as its neighbours. It is not among the mountain- ranges comprised within its narrow cincture that new tracts of wide- spreading down or plain can be expected to be discovered, oflPering inexhaustible grazing districts for countless herds and flocks. Yet it would appear that towards the western part of the island new districts have been opened up, and others are still unexplored. The areas of some of the former tracts are thus estimated : — 'King WiUiam's Plains, 40,000 acres; Guelph Plains, 20,000 acres; Vale of Gordon, 120,000 acres; Pedder and Huon Plains, 12,000; forest openings, 8000 acres. Total, 280,000 acres.' — (Montgomery Martin's British Colonies, ii. 53.) Between Woolnorth, the north-western town of the island, and Mac- quarrie Harbour, a deep estuary about the centre of the western coast, there is still a considerable district unexplored, the cha- racter of which, as seen from the neighbom-ing mountains, is said to be of the same promising description, opening the prospect of a considerable addition to the grazing-grounds. The most thickly- settled districts of the island are, however, on the other side, in the rich alluvial valleys of the rivers. The natiu-e of these tracts naturally recommended them for agricultural rather than grazing purposes. The state of the labour market of the colony, involv- ing so much convict service, has had an important effect on the outward aspect of the country. Wherever slavery has been in any shape in operation, the place is materially changed in its character for the emigrant. It is more like an old countiy, in which capital has been expended. Capital is employed in pro- curing work ; but if the work is produced by compulsion, it will have more or less the same effect. To say that slave labour is unprofitable to the slaveholder is an arrant fallacy, which only prevents people from looking the criminality of slavery fairly in the face. To compel a man who would work for himself to work for a master, or to compel a man to work who otherwise would be idle, is in either case a profit to the master; and if it were not so, he would not be a slaveholder. Whatever evils may have attended the penal system, there is always one local result of it — that where TASMANIA, OR VAN DIEMEN^S LAND. 219 it was set down, it produced the effect of the expenditure of capital. That convict labour is thus an ultimate benefit to the world, out- balancing any evils of the convict system, no more follows this than would a belief that anldle criminal, convicted and transported to a place where he is made to work, is as valuable a member of society as he would have been had he been virtuous, sober, and industrious at home. All we have to do at this moment with the question is, that the operation of the penal system has altered the face of the country where it has been set down, just as manure may have altered the character of a field. These cliaracteristics are thus described by Mr Wakefield in his ' Art of Colonisation : ' — 'In Tasmania, which is fast losing its ugly name of Tan Diemen's Land, there are farms, being single properties, consisting of seven or eight hundred acres each, under cultivation, besides extensive sheep and cattle-runs, the farming of which is not inferior to that of Norfolk and the Lothians. A description of one of these farms is before me. The 800 acres are divided into fields of from 30 to 50 acres each. The fences are as good as can be. The land is kept thoroughly clear of weeds ; a strict course of husbandry is pursued ; and the crops, especially of turnips, are very large. The garden and orchards are extensive, kept in apple-pie order, and very productive. The house is of stone, large, and commodious. The farm-buildings are ample in extent, and built of stone, with solid roofs. The imple- ments are all of the best kind, and kept in perfect order. The live- stock, for the most part bred upon the spot, is visited as a show, on account of its excellence, and would be admired in the best farmed parts of England : it consists of 30 cart-horses, 50 working bullocks, 100 pigs, 20 brood mares, 1000 head of horned cattle, and 25,000 fine-wooUed sheep. In this single establishment, by one master, 70 labourers have been employed at the same time. They were nearly all convicts. By convict labour, and that alone, this fine establish- ment was founded and maintained. Nothing of the sort could have existed in the island if convicts had not been transmitted thither, and assigned, on their landing, to settlers authorised to make slaves of them.'— (Pp. 176, 177.) All strangers in Van Diemen's Land are in fact struck with the home appearance of the farms — the neat, clean agriculture, the fences, the well-constructed, comfortable, even elegant and stately houses, and the good roads. AU these are the produce of those peculiar industrial facilities which have unfortunately been paid for by formidable social evils. It is stated, on the other hand, by some authorities, that the colonists have been far from taking advantage, to then- fuU extent, of their industrial opportunities ; that the indolence and unenlightened carelessness which generaUy attend the command of slave labour are conspicuous here; and that there would be great room for enlightened, well-economised 220 AUSTRALIA. industry in the colony. The excellence of their wheat is a great object of pride with the Tasraanian agriculturists. They have generally found an excellent and lucrative market in the various new colonies rising around them in the south, where the means of subsistence have been sought by the first settlers in the nearest source of supply; and the impulse thus given has been aided by the convict system. The parliamentary papers shew the amounts of land cultivated, and of produce to have been, at the commence- ment of the year 1849 (calculated from the crop of 1848,) 64,700 acres of wheat, producing 1,153,303 bushels; 14,042 acres of bar- ley, producing 331,184 bushels; 29,463 acres of oats, producing 756,762 bushels ; 3916 acres of potatoes, producing 18,231 tons ; and 49,315 acres, on which 43,195 tons of hay were raised. To these have to be added 674 acres laid out in peas, 132 in beans, 8836 in turnips, and 458 in tares. The quantity of farm animals in the districts in which their numbers had been ascertained were —horses, 17,196; homed cattle, 85,485; sheep, 1,752,963; goats, 2902 ; and pigs, 29,967.* It will be found, however, from the above details, that the quantity of land in cultivation does not yet much exceed 170,000 acres, while about two and a half millions of appropriated lands are said to remain uncultivated, and nearly a million and a half are held under depasturing licences. It is said that more than eleven millions of acres remain ungranted. This would appear to open a wide field for future settlers ; but on the other hand, many practical men are of opinion that colonisation has nearly reached the limits to which it can be profitably carried in the present state of colonial demand and supply, and until a new impulse shall have created inducements for settling on less productive lands, and for the renovation of the powers of the older lands by artificial manures. AVe hear of old settled estates being sold for from £2 to £3 per acre. It is observed that the large landowners have found it profitable to let farms at money or grain rent, and thus to create a middle half-working half-capitalist class, quite distinct from the great capitalists of New South "Wales and their semi-slavish servants. Agricultural and pastoral produce are not the only exports of this island. It has a variety of timber-trees, chiefly different kinds of eucah^ti, hard, durable, and of great value m ship-building, and other practical applications. The value of the timber exported exceeds £20,000; and there has been a considerable amount of ship-building at Hobart Town and the banks of the Huon. Fruits and other secondary vegetable productions are raised, and even exported, but not to the extent of being important. Some wine * See Reports made for the year 1849, o Hobart Town, 688,160 4,915^ 94,283^ 99,199 1 Horton, - - - - 2,674,009 5,548 344,45^ 350,000 Launceston, 437,760 9,532 127,140 136,672 o Longford, 590,72) 28,586 172,633 201,219 1 Morven, 260,480 16,146 130,247 146,393 g New Norfolk, 125,440 5,854 62,524 68,378 ** f 1^ i Oatlands, - 448,000 14,484A 234,361f 248,846 i PortSorell, - 561,920 2,064 9,846 11,910 cd J Richmond, 153,600 16,574^ 136,342J 152,917 i 1 Sorell and Prosser's Plains, 440,320 13,195i 52,79-2J 65,988 Southport, - 1,304,800 1,169 5,410 6,579 Westbury, - 571,520 18,633 150,907 169,540 Not yet marked off into \ Police Districts, - / Total, - - 1,707,932 ... 5 14,482,892 171,540 2,549,906 2,721,446 LIVE- STOCK. The following was the quanti ty of li ve-stock in the colony on 31st December 1848 :— Horses ,, 17,19 6 ; home d cattle, 85,485 ; sheep, 1,752,963 ; goat s, 2902 ; pigs, 2 },967. PRICES PAID FOR FRESH MEAT AND VEGETABLES BY THE COMMISSARIAT DEPARTMENT IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND DURING THE TEAR 1848. FRESH MEAT, At Hobart Town, from l|d. to 4d. per lb. Average, 2^d. per lb. At Laimceston, ... l^d. ... 4d. ... Average, 2^d. ... Average about 2^d. i)er lb. VEGETABLES. At Hobart Town, from 2s. 5^d. to 7s. Od. per 100 lbs. Average, 4s. lOd. per lOO lbs. At Laimceston, ... 3s. lOd. ... 8s. 6d. ... Average, 6s. 5d. Average about 5s. 7d. per 100 lbs. TASMANIA, OR VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 233 MANUFACTORIES, &C. The following manufactories and trades were in operation in the colony on 31st December 1848, as ascertained from returns fur- nished by the several police magistrates : — Agricultural -implement makers, 47; auctioneers, 9; black- smiths, 125 ; breweries, 40 ; butchers, 147 ; cabinet-makers and turners, 32 ; candle-manufactories, 10 ; carvers and gilders, 4 ; chemists, 16 ; coachmakers, 7 ; cooperages, 17 ; corn and ship- chandlers, 12 ; dyers, 2 ; engineers, 7 ; feUmongers, 17 ; foundries, 7 ; furriers, 3 ; general dealers, 360 ; grocers, 44 ; ironmongers, 15 ; mast and block manufactories, 3 ; mills, 80 ; painters and glaziers, 11; pastry-cooks, 29 ; potteries, 4; printing-offices, 9; publicans, 376 ; rope-makers, 3 ; sail-makers, 6 ; saw-miUs, 3 ; shipwrights and boat-builders, 51 ; shoemakers, 246 ; soap-boilers, 2 ; tailors, 87; tanners, 40; tin-workers, 32; tobacconists, 11; wine-mer- chants, 30 ; wool-staplers, 4. EXPORTS FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. The following were the articles, with their value, exported in 1848 to aU parts of the world: — ^Apothecary articles, £184; apparel and slops, £4085 ; arms and ammunition, £147 ; bags and canvas, £3425 ; bark, £902 ; beef and pork, £1255 ; books and stationery, £1210; boots and shoes, £2005; bran, £862; biscuit, £660; butter and cheese, £1043; carriages and carts, £1684; coals, £81 ; coffee, £487; cottons and linens, £13,984; curiosities, £91; copper, £148; copper ore, £2100 ; currants and raisins, £630 ; earthemvare and glass, £180; flour, £32,038; furniture, £2309; fruit and pre- serves, £4917; grain— barley, £4255, malt, £702, oats, £6084, wheat, £50,863; haberdashery, £2529; hay, £3232; hardware, £7330 ; hides, skins, and leather, £9629 ; hops, £788 ; iron and lead, £1062; Uve- stock— horses, £7500, sheep, £1530; malt liquor, £4265; musical instruments, £195; oil — ^black, £6235, sperm, £41,074; oilman's stores, £4064; potatoes, £6124; rope and twine, £1090 ; salt, £374 ; soap, £129 ; spirits— brandy, £5656, Geneva, £1490, rum, £5215; staves, £165; sugar, £3897; tea, £3104; tallow and candles, £2230; timber, £20,464; tobacco, £4181; whalebone, £1960; wine, £3744; wool, £195,143 ; wool- lens. £881; unenumerated, £8670. Total, £490,281. Of this, £252,027 were to Great Britain, £232,718 to the British colonies, and £2536 to foreign ports. The imports for the same year were estimated at £594,154. I