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prospects. It became a question then as to whether we 

 should institute a poHcy of improvement at home, or make 

 the people feel that they must seek to satisfy their higher 

 aspirations abroad. The Government thereupon decided 

 upon the only course which a consideration of all the cir- 

 cumstances rationally warranted. The fisheries always 

 left at some portions of the year a time of enforced idle- 

 ness, and, with a population chafing under " the laborious 

 lassitude of having nothing to do," it became an im- 

 perative demand that this evil should be terminated as 

 speedily as possible. The benefits of new industries had 

 been felt to some extent, but the growing requirements 

 of an increasing population claimed the application of a 

 vigorous and well-directed policy, which would bring the 

 resources of the island into fuller and more adequate 

 development. From scientific reports no doubt remains 

 that copper and lead are present in large quantities in 

 several parts of the island. In these products a large field 

 of labour is to be found, while, without claiming the highest 

 place for our agricultural capabilities, we possess large 

 stretches of country, where operations may be carried 

 on with remunerative results. 



The island has an area of forty-five thousand square 

 miles, many parts being well wooded, and much inter- 

 sected with water. We do not regard the soil as adaptable 

 to the successful growth of wheat ; but for pasture purposes 

 it offers advantages of no mean order, whilst all root 

 vegetables attain a high degree of perfection, and we have 

 had our experience only on the coast, where climate and 

 soil are both less favourable than what exists in the interior 

 of the island. It is an error to suppose that we are wrapped 

 in perpetual fogs. No doubt we have these unpleasant 

 visitations, but they are the exception, and not the rule ; 

 [39] C 



