1841 .] 
of Tasmania . 
147 
distance, stand Norfolk Plains (8826 acres) and Morven 
(8288 acres). The greatest quantity of potatoes is grown 
in the district of Hobart, which includes Brown's River 
and the Huon. Norfolk Plains possesses the greatest 
number of horses; Westbury, of horned cattle ; and 
Campbell Town of sheep. 
The great stimulating cause of the over-trading of 1840 
will be seen when we find that the average price of wheat 
per bushel rose from 85 . 9 d. in 1838 to £1 65 . in 1839 ; 
and we find the same rise to have taken place in the 
prices of all kinds of produce except that of turnips, 
which, on the contrary, were rather lower: this is owing to 
the fact that turnips were 11011 -exportable, otherwise there 
is no doubt that they would not have proved an exception. 
The increase in the number of letters received in Ho¬ 
bart has exactly kept pace with the increase of the popu¬ 
lation, or 13 percent.; though the number of newspapers 
despatched had risen from 132,284 to 214,877*, or 62 
per cent.; and the revenue of the Post Office, as before 
observed, had increased at the rate of 34 per cent. From 
a calculation which I have made, I find that the number 
of letters per head during the year 1841 was the same as 
the number of letters per head of the inhabitants of the 
United Kingdom, which passed through the general and 
country post offices under the full operation of the penny 
postage in the same year, or 7 for each person. When 
we consider that more than half of our population, exclu¬ 
sive of Port Arthur, reside in the two towns of Hobart 
and Launceston, this tells greatly in favour of Tas¬ 
mania, and would be scarcely credible did we not 
know that at least one-fourth of the letters passing 
through the Post Office in this Colony is connected with 
* Ono reason for this astonishing increase is the fact that the 
postage on newspapers was discontinued from the 1st of October, 
1841. 
