THE CONFUSION OF 1852, 1853, 1854 381 



because men could earn better wages at almost any other occupa- 

 tion than agriculture. But the Government did sell during 1853-54 

 no less than 690,000 acres, realising over 2,900,000, and meeting 

 the wants of nearly 20,000 separate purchasers. True, much of it 

 was no doubt bought for speculative purposes, but that would have 

 been so in any case ; such a rate of alienation of the colony's prin- 

 cipal asset was surely sufficient for the purposes of bond-fide settle- 

 ment. It cannot be denied that the Argus only echoed the spirit 

 of the times. It was the dominant feeling of the people that every- 

 thing ought to be done at once. There was such a dazzling belief 

 in the " marvellous future " of Victoria that the whole community 

 was exasperatingly impatient and resented deliberation. Hence 

 the colonists had always some quarrel on hand with the Adminis- 

 tration, and the Government, goaded by the press and by popular 

 clamour, drifted into an expenditure which alarmed the more sober 

 colonists of the old regime ; formed a ground for journalistic fault- 

 finding ; and, despite Victoria's noble dowry, laid the foundations of 

 a debt that was to touch 50,000,000 before the end of the century. 

 It was the Melbourne City Corporation, however, that was to take 

 the lead in the initiation of that system of free borrowing which 

 has been a marked Australian characteristic alike of the Govern- 

 ments and the various public bodies created under them. The 

 demands upon the Corporation owing to the rapid growth of the city 

 were enormous. The increasing rates, rapid as was their growth, 

 could not overtake the necessary expenditure, even with many 

 liberal grants from the Government. In the justifiable belief that 

 the income would continue to improve, it was resolved to anticipate 

 it to a certain extent, and to push on the important work of street- 

 making, lighting and draining, which the citizens imperatively 

 demanded. A travelling financial agent, named GabrielM, who was 

 reputed to be accredited by the Eothschilds, was in Melbourne 

 early in 1854, and was brought into confidential relations with the 

 Mayor, whose limited financial horizon was dazzled by an off-hand 

 offer to lend half a million on the security of the rates, then about 

 50,000 a year, plus the guarantee of the Government for the prin- 

 cipal. Public bodies, as well as individuals, were free-handed in 

 those days, and there was no higgling, though 6 per cent, for a 



