The last two items certainly would not occupy a place in the list of our exports to Australia if that fine agricultural country had even a moderate supply of labour. The anomaly is monstrous that butter and cheese, soap and candles, should be wanting in a country whose live stock are so abundant that they have actually to be boiled down for their tallow and hides! Our imports from Australia, however, exhibit most strongly its deficient supply of labour. We select a few items:—
| 1851. | 1852. | 1853. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulus of Copper, tons, | 1,115 | 660 | 41 |
| Unwrought Copper, „ | 773 | 632 | 473 |
| Flax, undressed, cwt. | 1,259 | 904 | 664 |
| Hides, tanned or dressed, lb. | 931,600 | 642,198 | 9,842 |
| Oil, Spermaceti, tuns, | 1,911 | 1,609 | 940 |
| Tallow, cwt. | 174,471 | 159,333 | 125,206 |
The above articles the colony can supply to almost any extent; yet it will be observed that their export is falling off every year. Its mines of copper, especially, are amongst the richest in the world; yet they are comparatively unworked for the want of hands, whilst the world holds so many human beings who would gladly toil for one-fourth of the remuneration which Australia could so well afford them. To the people of Great Britain it is a very material object that the agricultural and mineral resources of the colony should be more largely developed than at present; for if, almost exclusively by the produce of her gold-fields, her population of little, if at all, over half a million souls can afford to import our productions to the amount of above fourteen millions sterling per annum, what may be expected when it becomes enabled to export freely the raw material, the agricultural products, and the valuable minerals—copper, tin, &c.—which its soil will yield to an extent almost beyond the power of calculation?
We have already stated that the increase of the population of Australia is self-creative; and we can very briefly show how that principle is likely to operate. We have a large amount of tonnage at present employed in the passenger trade from Great Britain to that colony; but we have not as yet sufficient homeward freight to employ one-fourth of that tonnage. Since the discovery of the gold-fields the ordinary agricultural and other pursuits of the colonists have been neglected; and, as we might have expected, the exports of bulky raw materials and produce, which constitute freight, have diminished in quantity. Hence our emigrant ships, except in the case of those of the established lines from Liverpool and London, which now return direct from that colony, have had to go in ballast to the Eastern Seas, or to the guano islands of Peru, to seek cargoes. Where such a course has to be pursued, the passage-money outwards must range high—far above the means of the most valuable emigrants, who are agricultural labourers, practical miners, and artisans. But this state of things cannot continue to exist long. The gold-fields are sufficiently tempting, no doubt; yet there are blanks there as well as prizes. The disappointed must resort to agricultural and other walks of industry. The flocks and herds of the squatters in the bush are increasing at a most rapid rate—far beyond the consumptive demand of the colony—and the supplies for export of hides, tallow, oil, and wool must very largely increase. Of the latter most important raw material the following were the shipments to this country during the past three years:—
| Wool—Sheep and Lambs’ | 1851, | 41,810,117 lb. |
| 1852, | 43,197,301 „ | |
| 1853, | 47,075,963 „ |
In bales the total exports of last year were 153,000, of an average of about 300 lb. weight each. This article alone would afford return cargoes for from thirty to forty thousand tons of shipping. The yield both of wool and tallow must increase enormously in a few years; and when an ample supply of homeward freight is afforded, our emigration houses will be enabled to reduce considerably the outward passage-money for emigrants to the colony, and thus add to the numbers of its population.
But we cannot regard the discoveries which have been made in the countries of the Pacific as merely tending to give an impulse to our commerce, and to afford increased employment to our shipping and to industry at home. We must regard them in a much more extended light. The important change which is taking place may fairly be termed the opening out of a new quarter of the globe, rich beyond measure in all the products which are valuable and useful to man, and the establishment, in its centre, of an Anglo-Saxon empire, whose future destiny and greatness it is almost impossible to predict rightly. A glance at the position of Australia will be sufficient to show its great commercial importance. To the north-westward it has the fertile islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Ceylon, with the vast continent containing China and Hindostan. The extreme portions of these are at less than half the distance which lies between them and Great Britain. From Melbourne to Madras is little more than 5700 miles, whilst the nearer islands in the Indian Ocean are only distant from 3000 to 3500 miles. From Melbourne to any portion of the west coast of North and South America the distance, by the eastward Pacific route, is 8000 miles, or little over that from Great Britain to Cape Horn. It is thus in closer proximity than the mother country to San Francisco, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and La Plata. There can no want occur of any of the products of the tropics, at all events, to a country occupying a central position as regards such markets as we have named, rich in all that conduces to the comfort and the luxuries of life; whilst of those products which are raised in the temperate zone, Australia has soils of her own capable of providing her with food in abundance, and raw materials amply sufficient to pay for all that she will require to import, without drawing upon her vast stores of the precious metals. These must rapidly become available to create for her population a capital for the purposes of commerce, a mercantile marine, railways, and other improved communications, well-built towns, substantial public works, and the usual accompaniments enjoyed by settled and prosperous communities. There can be no doubt that the absence of these are amongst the main causes which retard emigration to the colony of families belonging to the middle and superior classes, and the absence there so generally regretted of what may be called a “home circle.” Such a want keeps back the influx of a female population, especially of the class required to make a home comfortable; but it will be supplied in time, and, in fact, is being rapidly supplied now. Not much more than six months ago, Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, and the seat of the government of the colony, was in a most deplorable state, and without anything like the accommodation required for its population or its commerce. Stores and warehouses there were almost none; and we heard, by every arrival, of merchandise being sacrificed on this account. But more recent advices report that—
“Melbourne is branching out upon every side. Townships spring up in localities where a short time ago there was not a single dwelling of any description; houses seem, in fact, to swarm like mushrooms from the ground in a single night. A little more than twelve months since, and North Melbourne was merely the site of a few scattered tents; it now contains a population of several thousands, with comfortable homes, shops, hotels, and schools to meet the wants of its inhabitants. The suburbs, that are being formed in the opposite direction, offer a still stronger proof of the growth of a taste that has always been peculiarly English, and one that will do more than anything else to place the prosperity of this colony upon a secure foundation—namely, a desire for home comfort. In former times the pursuit of money was the whole, the engrossing passion of the community; so long as this object was attained, the feverish seeker cast not a thought upon the manner in which he lived; he appeared to have an utter disregard of the comforts of home. If he happened to have a run of luck, and was successful, what benefit did he reap from his success! He would run riot for a time, and spend the hard earnings of a month in the dearly-bought pleasure of a few hours’ debauchery. The principal reason for this, next to our abominable land-system, was, that the colony could not offer the swarming mass of new-comers any domestic comforts. Now, however, the case is becoming far different: at Richmond, Prahran, St Kilda, and Brighton, the passer-by can gaze everywhere with pleasure upon pretty cottages enclosed in their own little gardens, cheerful, trim-built English-looking villas, and some dwelling-houses that may fairly lay claim to the high-sounding appellation of mansions. Each of these suburbs, hemming Melbourne in on every side, constitutes a town of some size; and we have no doubt that, in a very short space of time, they will form part of Melbourne itself, much in the same manner that Chelsea and Putney do of London; indeed, St Kilda, Windsor, and Prahran are already connected by a line of houses almost the whole of the way with the town.”
A similar state of progressive improvement exists at Sydney, Geelong, Adelaide, and other towns. The population in them is becoming a more settled one; business goes on in more regular channels, and domestic comforts are more studied. Substantial stores for merchandise are also rising up on every side; and importers are now enabled to hold back their goods for a more profitable market than the previous system of selling them on landing, whatever might be the state of the demand, would admit of.
The colony, too, is assuming more and more the character, which it is destined to possess, of an important mercantile community; and its commercial firms are actively preparing for extensive transactions with the rich countries with which they have communication in every direction. The first step towards forwarding such object has naturally been to connect with each other the various ports along the coast, and the towns on the principal rivers; and accordingly we find established lines of steamers running from Sydney to the leading ports in the other provinces, and to the interior at every point where river navigation is practicable, and a working community and trade exist. The same accommodation is provided from Melbourne, Geelong, and Adelaide, to other ports and towns. Several lines of sailing packets also offer themselves to the public between the principal ports. In fact, a large coasting-trade is carried on, both in passengers and merchandise, the route by sea being preferred to travelling by land over badly-formed, and frequently unsafe, roads. In the first instance, some difficulty existed in procuring vessels, especially for the navigation of the rivers, where a light draught of water was necessary, as such vessels could not be trusted to make the voyage out from Europe or America. They are now, however, being gradually supplied by builders in the colony. A somewhat larger class of vessels is regularly employed in the trade between New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, and New Zealand, Van Diemen’s Land, and the government settlement in West Australia, with a few for San Francisco, Callao, Manilla, and the near East Indian ports. The enterprise of the mercantile community in the colony is being gradually drawn towards this trade; and shipping of the class suitable for it is in active demand, both for purchase and charter. Attention is also being re-directed to the staple business of the colony—the export of its wool, tallow, hides, &c., which will be more cultivated as the fever for dealing in gold abates. At present, indeed, gold, as an article of merchandise, scarcely yields a profit, so numerous are the buyers of it, competing with each other, belonging to the Jewish persuasion. Employment for capital must be sought for in another direction, and it is to be hoped a legitimate one, otherwise the large sums now lying idle in the colony may be squandered in rash speculations. At the close of the last quarter, the Bank of Australia held deposits, not bearing interest, to the amount of £1,998,730 sterling; the Bank of Australasia held at the same period £2,358,390; the Victoria Branch of the Bank of New South Wales held £760,731; the Bank of Victoria, £988,244; and the London Chartered Bank of Australia £133,200, making an aggregate of deposits, not bearing interest, of £6,239,297 sterling. As might have been expected, these establishments are dividing amongst their shareholders, forty, fifteen, and twenty per cent respectively. The last mentioned has only been established nine months, and as yet has made no dividend. A large portion of this money must be employed either in commerce or in improvements, as the colonists begin to see their way more clearly. It can never be allowed to lie thus unproductively; yet from the habits of the diggers, and their want of opportunities for investment, there must always be a large amount at their credit in the banks.