AUSTRALIA. 



249 



Saxon. The wool undergoes the usual process of 

 washing on the animal's back in a running stream 

 before it is shorn : it is then dried, shorn, and 

 sorted; after which it is packed into bales, and 

 forwarded on large drays drawn by oxen to Syd- 

 ney, to be there shipped for London. The freight 

 to London usually costs only from a penny to three- 

 halfpence per lb., the price in England varying 

 from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per lb. Mr Macarthur's 

 wool for the year 1833 averaged 3s. 6d. per lb., 

 the general average for that year being from Is. 

 lid. to 2s. 9d. The paramount importance of this 

 branch of colonial produce will appear from the re- '- 

 turn of the quantity of wool exported from New 

 South Wales for each successive year, from 1819 

 to 1835, inclusive ; the quantity exported in the i 

 first of these years being only 71,299 Ibs., while 

 the exportation for 1835 amounted to 3,776,191 I 

 Ibs., and the amount of this principal article of co- j 

 lonial export having more than doubled itself dur- j 

 ing the last few years. Sheep in New South | 

 Wales generally double their number every four i 

 years in many instances in less than half that pe- > 

 riod ; and as there is an unlimited extent of pas- 

 ture to the northward, as well as to the southward 

 and westward, the quantity of wool that will be 

 exported from the colony in a few years hence, 

 will be great beyond belief in England. An intel- 

 ligent merchant in Sydney has calculated that the 

 export of this principal article of colonial produce 

 will, in all likelihood, realise half a million ster- 

 ling in the year 1840. The quantity of British j 

 produce of every description, which this large in- j 

 come from a single article of colonial produce will 

 enable the colonists to purchase, and the stimulus 

 it will afford to commercial industry and enterprize 

 both at home and abroad, are considerations of 

 the highest importance to every British statesman." 

 The business of a sheep-farmer or wool-grower 

 in Nevv South Wales is much less toilsome and 

 precarious than a similar profession in this country. 

 Here the rent of land is enormous ; the diseases of 

 the sheep numerous and often fatal ; and the toil 

 of preserving the animals from starvation or from 

 destruction by snow in winter, considerable. In 

 New South Wajes, extensive tracts of land may 

 be cheaply rented or purchased for a comparatively 

 small sum ; and if a careful shepherd or overseer 

 remain beside the animals to keep them from stray- 

 ing, they require neither doctoring nor artificial 

 feeding the whole process goes on naturally under 

 the blessed canopy of heaven, and after getting 

 over the initiatory difficulties, the proprietor has 

 little else to do than pocket the profits of his spe- 

 culation. It is perfectly clear, from every pub- 

 lished statement, that sheep-farming in New South 

 Wales is every way more agreeable and profitable 

 than that of raising crops from the soil ; and as this ! 

 is well known, capital will take that direction in \ 

 spite of all representations to the contrary. It 

 should, nevertheless, be understood, that, to those 

 persons who prefer agricultural to pastoral pursuits, 

 or who may not have so much as 300 and up- 

 wards to adventure on a stock of sheep, the coun- 

 try in every direction presents facilities for settling 

 on small arable farms, which may be purchased 

 or rented either in a natural state, or partially 

 cleared and cultivated. The practice of granting 

 lands free to settlers is now abolished by govern- 

 ment, and all crown lands are sold by auction, at 

 whatever they will bring above the upset price of 

 five shillings per acre. 



The general import and export trade of New 

 South Wales has been for some years rapidly in- 

 creasing. In 1825, the total value of imports was 

 300,000, and in the year 1833 it had increased 

 to 713,972. In 1825, the total value of exports 

 (consisting of wood, hides, horns, cattle, horses, 

 wool, provisions, &c.,) was 78,908, and in 1833 

 it had increased to 394,801. The shipping be- 

 longing to the colony is likewise increasing ; and 

 already Sydney owns about a hundred vessels, 

 forty of which are engaged in the whale fishery. 



The proximity of New South Wales to the 

 most eligible southern whale fishing stations ena- 

 bles the settlers to perform three voyages while 

 the whalers from Britain and America perform two. 

 While the former reach the grounds in fifty days, 

 the latter are frequently seven months in perform- 

 ing the passage. The freight of the oil from New 

 South Wales to England is estimated at only a 

 tenth of the amount they can realize by being em- 

 ployed in the fishery, during the time they would 

 consume in going to and returning from England 

 themselves. The Australians, therefore, antici- 

 pate a monopoly of the South Sea whale fishing. 



The progressive prosperity of New South Wales 

 may be traced in the rapid increase of its revenue. 

 In 1813, the total revenue of the colony was 

 12,642; in 1817, 22,158; in 1822, 44,768; 

 in 1826, 72,220; in 1830, 104,729; in 1834, 

 205,535, and in 1836, 330,285. 



The colony, when established at Sydney cove, 

 on the 26th Jan., 1788, consisted of only 1030 in- 

 dividuals, of whom upwards of 700 were convicts. 

 Since that time four censuses have been taken, 

 which give these results: 1810,8293; 1821,29,783; 

 1828, 36,598; 1833, 71,070, the number of males 

 being to that of females about three to one. The 

 total number of white inhabitants in the colony is 

 now estimated at upwards of 100,000, of whom 

 about 25,000 are convicts, the residue of upwards of 

 90,000 who have been transported to the settle- 

 ment since its formation in 1788. The three great 

 divisions of the white population are, 1st, Those 

 who have arrived in the colony free, and their de- 

 scendants ; 2d, Those who are free by servitude, 

 or by pardon, and their descendants ; and, 3d, Those 

 who are still in bondage. The first are called 

 sterling; the second, emancipists; and the third, 

 government-men. Those born in the colony from 

 the white population are called currency. The 

 free emigrants in general refuse to hold social in- 

 tercourse with the emancipists. This treatment 

 is borne indignantly by the emancipist, who has 

 been admitted to a complete footing of political 

 equality, with the exception of not being summoned 

 upon juries at quarter sessions. The distinctions 

 and divisions which exist in the society of New 

 South Wales are necessary results of the convict 

 system, and much to be deplored. Many of the 

 emancipated convicts and their descendants are 

 now men of considerable wealth and influence. 

 " Our emancipist body, in honest truth (says Cun- 

 ningham), forms the most useful and enterprising 

 portion of our community all the distilleries, 

 nearly all the breweries, and the greater portion of 

 the mills and various manufactories, being owned 

 by them ; while they have never, so far as I can 

 learn, disgraced themselves by engaging in any of 

 the smuggling transactions, whereby many of those 

 who came out under the proud title of free men 

 have tarnished their reputation. Several of our 

 most respectable merchants have told me, that in 



