OUB COAL AXD OUR COA.L POETS. 117 



to a large foreign aud home trade, and to ships coming with 

 cargoes or in ballast, that, so far from our prominent coal ports 

 — Sydney, Newcastle, and Port Stephens — becoming injuriously 

 " rivals," we should then jointly, and in all probabilily, barely 

 keep pace with the increased demand for foreign ships, for our 

 large iron and other smelting operations, and for the manufactur- 

 ing demands which would arise in the neighbourhood of George's 

 Eiver, Cook's River, Newtown, Botany, and the general suburbs 

 of Sydney. 



Such conditions being brought about, I would ask, finally — 

 would not the realization of these proposals cause Sydney to 

 become incomparably the greatest emporium of the Southern 

 Hemisphere ? 



