846- 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1886. • 



as follows, as near as can be deteimined ; 



Colonies. 



Victoria to 1885 



N. S. Wales 



Queensland 



South Australia . 



Tasmania 



New Zealand . 



Ounces. 



54,.500,000 



9,995,825 



i,529,2S0 



89,720 



2H9,151 



10,552,279* 



Value. 

 £ 

 218,000,000 

 37,112,631 

 18,117,120 

 .343,950 

 1,115 

 12,327,907t 



Total .. 79,457,024 315,932,723 



—Journal of Society of Artn. 



IN SEABGH OF A HOME IN TASMANIA. 

 (Dij "Old Colonist," F.Ii.G.I.) 



A TKIP UP THE DERWENT — THI! EARLY SETTLERS — 

 WAYSIUE TRAINS — POOR-HonSES IN TASMANIA — NEW 

 NORFOLK — HOPGROWING IN TASMANIA — SUJIMING-UP. 



" And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare, 

 And estimate the blessings which they share ; 



Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find 

 An equal portion dealt to all mankind." 



Goldsmith. 



My next trip took me once more along the banks 

 of the beautilul Derwent, one of the tew really fine 

 rivers in Australasia, and excelling our finest British 

 river, the Tay, in the length and depth of its 

 navigable portion, while its mountain scenery, and 

 evergreen glades, are not excelled by anything I 

 have ever seen, even in that land " where every 

 prospect pleases." 



My destination was Glenora, 37 miles from Hobart, 

 and I had a choice of conveyances, viz., boat, or 

 rail and coach. I chose the latter leaving the 

 tjuiet little railway terminus on one of those lovely 

 March mornings which add such a charm to life 

 in Tasmania at this season. The Botanical Gardens 

 looked their best and freshest, as we swept slowly 

 through them. On the right, the blue water 

 shimmered in the rising sun. Here and there, little 

 dots of fishing boats, with sails idly Happing, lay 

 on Uie smooth bosom of the river, while perched 

 on many a protruding rock sat the patient disciples 

 of the immortal Isaac. The first station is Ithdon, 

 — or " liest clown " as some old books have it, — 

 which I have before mentioned as the spot where 

 the first English settlers pitched their camps. 

 This was in 1803, just 30 years after Capt. Cook 

 visited the island, and sent adrift the first billy 

 goat, the skull and horns of which, in after years, 

 were found on the top of yonder hill, now known 

 as " Goats' Hill." Lieut. Bowen who came here in 

 1803, with the few settlers, soldiers and prisoners as 

 we have seen, soon fell foul of the aborigines. For 

 this act of inhumanity, he did not escape unscathed, 

 for it took them all their time to defend them- 

 selves from their exasperated neighbours, who very 

 naturally disputed the right of the white man to 

 take possession of their native land, and shoot 

 them down. 8o much so, that all cultivation had 

 to be abandoned, and when in 1804 (iovernor 

 Collins arrived from Port Philip he found the new 

 colonists starving, and engaged in a lifc-and-death 

 struggle with an enemy who outnumbered them 

 100 to 1. 



It is curious too, in glancing back at the early 

 history of this wonderful .\ustralia, to find Governor 

 Collins deliberately nhniidonin:! Port Philip, now 

 the marvel of the world. His remarks are found 

 in a Garrison Orderly hook dated 27th January, 

 1803: — "It has never," he says, "been my wish 

 to make Sabbath any other tlian a day of rest 

 aud dcYotipu, but the eoouet we arc cutiblcil to 



leave this unpromising and tmpi-oductive country 

 the sooner we shall be able to reap the advantages 

 and enjoy the comforts of a more fertile spot." 



Here, in the valley of the Derwent the settlers 

 now took firm root, gradually spreading northwards, 

 and ultimately, some of them across the Straits 

 again to Port Philip, where they found the " un- 

 promising country " of Governor Collins, so pro- 

 ductive, that they induced many hundreds to follow 

 them. In 1835, when the colony was about 30 

 years old, we find Tasmania sending over sheep to 

 stock the plains of Victoria to the value of 

 £500,000. In 1853 the gold fever broke out, and 

 the bone and sinew .of the island crossed the straits 

 in a body numbering 34,000. More than half her 

 able-bodied jjopulation left at this time, and though, 

 by this means, she got rid for ever of most of the 

 " old hands," she has not to this day, recovered 

 from the loss of labour, which rose to, and is still 

 at a prohibitory rate. Hence those half-abandoned 

 gardens, 



" I'on straggling fence that skirts the way 

 With blossomed furze unprofitably gay." 



We are now at New Town station, and it is the 

 fashion to say in passing this spot : " How home- 

 like!" "How much these lanes remind us of dear 

 old England!" But if these somewhat slovenly 

 hedge-rows were as trimly kept, and the soil as 

 well tilled, there would be few scenes in old Eng- 

 land or even in Scotland to compare with the 

 valley of the Derwent. As it is, it is a strange 

 struggle tor the ascendency, between the Watttle, 

 Hawthorn, Furze, Thistle, Scarlet Geranium and 

 Sicccl-briar. The Geranium pluckily pushes its 

 way to the top, and crowns the fence with its 

 magnificent clusters of brilliant flowers, and even 

 when rudely hacked down and thrown into the 

 ditch or quarry hole, will take root again and 

 throw up such spikes as would carry off the prize 

 at any flower show I ever saw. But it is evident 

 the sweet-briar is gaining ; its hops so abundant 

 and sweet, seem to be the favourite food of horses 

 and cattle at this season, and by this means its 

 innumerable seeds get distributed all over the 

 ground, where its roots take a very firm hold. 

 It is quite evident indeed, that, unless labour be- 

 comes more reasonable and plentiful, the sweet-briar 

 will soon take possession of this locality. 



Yonder palatial building on the brow of the hill 

 — commanding a view which any rich English lord 

 might well envy — is, we are told, 2'lic Institution. 

 A building for a similar purpose at Launceston is 

 pointed out as TItf Depot, and it takes some little 

 time for a puzzled stranger to discover that these 

 are simply Poor-Iimiscs. The building we have 

 just seen contains some 700 paupers, costing the 

 public between £8,000 and £9,000 a year. Paupers ! 

 There are no paupers in Australasia, the guide- 

 books say and popular lecturers repeat the state- 

 ment, but the truth seems to be that the poor 

 workingman in this colony is so pampered and 

 protected, that he very often becomes demoralized 

 and useless. I have come a long way to sec the 

 conservative working-man, but here he is at last 

 and I am not enamoured. 



There is evidently something wrong here, fat as 

 •lohii Ruskin says, "The world is so regulated 

 by tlie laws of Providence, that a man's labour, 

 well applied, is always amply snllicient to provide 

 him during his life with all things needful to him. 

 * * * But by those same laws of Nature and 

 Providence, it the labour of the nation or of the 

 individual be misapplied, and much more it it 

 be insullicicnt, — if the nation or man he indolent 

 and unwise, — sutTi>riiig and want result, exactly in 

 proportion to the indolence and improvidence, to the 

 rcfuiial of labour ot the uiieapplicatiou ol it. 



