322 A HISTOEY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



would have been in England, so that the aspiring Government clerk 

 and the industrious artisan were each alike able to save out of their 

 incomes. Eent and servants' wages were relatively high, but the 

 fashion of elaborate establishments did not prevail. Mr. West- 

 garth assures us that even Latrobe did not keep a carriage for some 

 years after his arrival. ' But, without ostentation, there was much 

 pleasant social intercourse, and a modest but genuine hospitality 

 was the characteristic of the town, as it was admitted by all travel- 

 lers to be eminently that of the country. Mr. Thomas A. Browne 

 (Rolf Boldrewood), in his interesting Old Melbourne Memories, has 

 borne his personal testimony to the harmonious relations of the 

 pastoral and agricultural interests, whose feuds were hereafter to be 

 so pronounced. From a lengthened experience in the Western 

 District, he says there was then no jostling or antagonism between 

 the classes who sought to make the products of the soil the medium 

 of their prosperity. When land was wanted for agricultural settle- 

 ment, it was surveyed and sold by Government, and the squatter 

 accepted the alienation of a portion of his run as an inevitable 

 necessity. The farmer sold him his flour and forage, which it was 

 found cheaper to buy than to grow, and in return the farmer bought 

 milch cows and bullocks for his teams. " From time to time," says 

 Mr. Browne, "the agricultural area was enlarged when needed. 

 To this no squatter objected, nor, to my knowledge, was any such 

 land purchased by any other than bond^fide farmers. I cannot 

 call to mind any feud or litigation between squatter and farmer 

 having its inception in the land question." 



One of the reasons that may be adduced for this era of peace 

 and good-will was the superiority of the class of immigrants who 

 had been attracted to Victoria. The very agitation for separation 

 from New South Wales had caused so much attention to be directed 

 to Port Phillip that it was really better known in England than the 

 older settlements. Until these protests and petitions and deputa- 

 tions had begun to disturb the placidity of the House of Commons, 

 the very name of Australia had only a vague significance in British 

 minds, and it was not uncommon to hear the entire continent re- 

 ferred to as Botany Bay. But with the publication of the shoal of 

 Documents poured upon the Secretary for the Colonies and the 



