THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



305 



there is no part of the world where early colonization was carried out with so little 

 difficulty and with such good financial results as on the western slopes of New South 

 Wales. The country was accessible, the- native population offered but little or no resistance, 

 and the natural herbage was immediately available. But though wealth was rapidly 



accumulated, this sort of 

 occupation did not lead to 

 any large settlement of popu- 

 lation. Few forms of indus- 

 try demand comparatively so 

 small an amount of labour 

 as that of pastoral hus- 

 bandry. Shepherds, hut- 

 keepers and shearers, with a 

 few drovers and overseers, 

 constitute the industrial 

 staff ; while a few townships 

 on the main highways, with 

 their public -houses, stores, 

 blacksmiths' forges, and a 

 small official staff to carry 

 on the business of Govern- 

 ment, do not materially add 



^^^^^^{^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^S^^^^^HC^^SC 



to the population. The first THE RAILWAY STATION AT ALBURY. 



invasion of the pastoral soli- 

 tudes was made by the miners. Wherever a gold-field was discovered there was a rush of 

 population. Diggers are an exacting class which pushes every other aside, and the grazing- 

 right of the squatter had to retire before the demands of the invading miner, except in 

 those few cases in which the grazier had been beforehand, and had secured a freehold. 

 Where the gold-field was at all durable a township was established, and though these 

 roughly-improvised settlements have often failed to realize first expectations, still no mining 

 township once established has ever altogether disappeared. A farming population, too, always 

 clusters round a gold-field as an immediate market for vegetables, hay and dairy-produce, 

 and the demand for these commodities is sure to create the supply. Mining, although a 

 fascinating pursuit, is very uncertain in its rewards, and considerable experience has 

 shown that in the long run it pays better to supply the miners with food than to dig 

 for the precious metal. 



The next great cause of increase in the rural population has been the extension of 

 railways, and they have promoted settlement by furnishing an outlet for the produce of 

 the soil. The immediate local market is the best the farmer can have, but whenever 

 in any good season that market is over-provided, the only available outlet is the 

 metropolis. Many small trades, too, have sprung up on the lines of railway, and 

 the demand for labour for the improvement of freehold properties has been greatly 

 stimulated by the cheap carriage of material and appliances of all kinds. Without 

 facilities for transit, extensive settlement in the interior is impossible ; wool it is said 



