530 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Jan. 1836. 



There are many serious drawbacks to the comforts of 

 famihes ; the chief of which^ perhaps, is being surrounded 

 by convict servants. How thoroughly odious to every feeling 

 to be waited on by a man, who the day before, perhaps, was 

 flogged, from your representation, for some trifling misde- 

 meanor. The female servants are of course much worse ; 

 hence children learn the vilest expressions, and it is fortu- 

 nate if not equally vile ideas. 



On the other hand, the capital of a person without any 

 trouble on his part, produces him treble interest to what it 

 will in England ; and with care he is sure to grow rich. The 

 luxuries oi life are in abundance and very little dearer, and 

 most articles of food cheaper, than in England. The climate 

 is splendid and quite healthy; but to my mind its charms 

 are lost by the uninviting aspect of the country. Settlers 

 possess a great advantage in finding their sons of service, 

 when very young. At the age of from sixteen to twenty 

 they frequently take charge of distant farming stations ; this, 

 however, must happen at the expense of their boys associ- 

 ating entirely with convict servants. I am not aware that 

 the tone of society has assumed any peculiar character ; but 

 with such habits, and without intellectual pursuits, it can 

 hardly fail to deteriorate. My opinion is such, that nothing 

 but rather severe necessity should compel me to emigrate. 



The rapid prosperity and future prospects of this colony 

 are to me, not understanding these subjects, very puzzling. 

 The two main exports are wool and whale-oil ; and to both 

 of these productions there is a limit. The country is totally 

 unfit for canals ; therefore there is a line not very distant, 

 beyond which the land carriage of wool will not repay the 

 expense of shearing and tending sheep. Pasture every where 

 is so thin, that settlers have already pushed far into the 

 interior : moreover the country further inland becomes ex- 

 tremely poor. I have before said that agriculture can never 

 succeed on a very extended scale ; therefore so far as I can 

 see, Australia must ultimately depend upon being the centre 

 of commerce for the southern hemisphere, and perhaps on 



