THE NEW COLONY 305 



anoe and amendment found themselves surrounded by a population 

 that helped rather than retarded their aspirations. Another 

 beneficent change was discernible in the improved relative pro- 

 portions of the sexes, the preponderance of males having been 

 reduced in the twelve years from two-thirds to three-fifths of the 

 population. 



Out of the total of 77,000 there were, in round figures, 23,000 

 domiciled in Melbourne, 8,000 in Geelong, and 46,000 were thinly 

 spread over the rest of the district. Of the latter quite one-half 

 were connected with the pastoral interest, which had developed 

 with phenomenal rapidity. The few thousands of sheep which the 

 pioneers had brought over from Tasmania, or driven across the 

 Murray from the central district of New South Wales, had multi- 

 plied into over 6,000,000 in 1851, and the cattle were returned 

 at 37,800 head. The uncertainty of tenure precluded the squatter 

 from incurring the cost of fencing, and the control of such vast 

 flocks and herds entailed the services of a large number of shepherds, 

 stockmen and store-keepers. The abundant native grasses on these 

 virgin plains, the genial climate and the absence of predatory ani- 

 mals combined to make a pastoral paradise, clouded occasionally 

 by disputes about boundaries, grumblings at the Crown Lands 

 Commissioners, and intermittent invasions of " scab ". So the 

 natural increase progressed, even beyond expectations, and the 

 export of wool, tallow and hides during 1850 had reached to close 

 upon a million sterling, while the total value of all other exports 

 outside the squatting interest was only 77,500. 



The progress of agriculture had not been equally rapid, for it 

 lacked the stimulus of a world-wide market for its produce. The 

 Government had not afforded reasonable facilities to the many 

 immigrants who had come so far in the hope of securing at a 

 moderate price a freehold which it would pay to cultivate. Never- 

 theless, the land under cultivation had increased from 2,000 acres, 

 when Mr. Latrobe arrived, to over 50,000 acres in 1850, and the 

 foundations of much solid prosperity were laid in the exacting 

 labour which follows the plough. Wheat, oats, hay and potatoes 

 were the staple products, and the ever-increasing population re- 

 quired the opening of fresh ground annually to keep them fed. 

 VOL. i. 20 



