144 
Statistics 
[ 1838 — 
hastened to increase the catalogue of evils. In short, 
there is no doubt that, had it not been for the large Go¬ 
vernment expenditure consequent on transportation, the 
state of this Colony would have been as bad, if not worse, 
than that of its neighbours. The decrease, however, in 
our importations is not so much actual as nominal; since 
quantities of goods imported in 1840 were not consumed 
until the two following years, as I have been kindly 
informed by the Collector of Customs. In that year the 
value of our imports reached the enormous and incredible 
amount of little short of a million sterling; that is, at 
the rate of £21 a head for every soul on the Island, while 
that of the Mother-Country only reaches £2 10s. The 
apparent falling off of our exports is owing, not to a 
decrease in the quantity of our Colonial produce, but to 
the great depreciation in the price of our staple commo¬ 
dity—wool. 
The expenditure for the same year (1842) was rather 
less than that of the preceding, amounting to £159,000. 
Of this, the very large sum of £43,000 appears under the 
head of Miscellaneous, including the sums paid for the 
purposes of Immigration, &c. 
It will be seen that the greatest increase has been in 
the trade with British Colonies; and there is no doubt 
but that, had this trade been prosecuted witli more 
caution, it would have been the source of much more 
profit than has been derived in proportion to the extent 
of the intercourse. The average value of our imports 
from Great Britain during the three years was £665,535, 
for less than 50,000 souls, of whom one third at least 
were convicts. This is three times as much as is taken by 
either Denmark or Russia, and one half as much again as 
is taken by Spain; clearly proving the immense advantage 
even this small Colony is to the Mother-Country, espe¬ 
cially when we consider that the shipping employed is 
also much larger in proportion. 
