34 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



of which there was doubtless some favouritism 

 and corruption, the young democracy had to 

 fashion its own system. For the first time there 

 was a " popular " land movement, and the cry 

 of " the land for the people " was raised by 

 politicians, and found an eager response in the 

 minds of the voters. The position of New 

 South Wales — a position typical of that of 

 Australia — then was this : The gold discoveries 

 had caused a great influx of population (it rose 

 from 189,000 for New South Wales and Victoria 

 jointly in 1846 to 889,000 in 1861), but it was 

 already clear to the most intelligent of the 

 colonists that the future of Australia rested not 

 on its fate as a mining camp, but on its pastoral 

 and agricultural possibilities. The pastoral in- 

 dustry in particular showed boundless prospects 

 of wealth. By 1860 New South Wales had 

 251,000 horses, 2,408,000 cattle, and 6,119,000 

 sheep ; and the foundations were already set 

 firm of a source of wealth which to-day brings 

 nearly £40,000,000 yearly from abroad to less 

 than five millions of Australians. 



The wise land policy of Australia in 1860 was 

 clearly to encourage this pastoral industry in 



