NEW SOUTH WALES.
ELEMENTS OF PROSPERITY STILL EXISTING--HINTS TO
THE COLONISTS--FUTURE PROSPECTS.
Notwithstanding the terrible shock from which Australia has been
suffering ever since 1839, I still retain a high opinion of the Colony
as an advantageous field for the employment of the spare capital of the
mother country. The elements of prosperity still exist, and require only
a little nursing in order to effect its recovery from the recent
depression. The emigrant with a capital of three or four thousand
pounds, must not, indeed, expect to make a fortune in a few years; but
he may with perfect confidence look to make himself an independent man,
at a much more rapid rate than he could by means of double that sum in
England. If he is prudent, nurses his capital, sticks to his business as
a settler, avoids _tempting_ bargains of things he has no use for, and,
above all, refrains from obliging his neighbours with the occasional
loan of his name to a bill, I see not what can by possibility prevent
his succeeding in such a country, even allowing that every third season
should prove one of drought. To the industrious farmer with a small
capital of 500l. or 1000l., New South Wales offers a fine field: he can
obtain a hundred acres of the finest arable land in the world on a
clearing-lease, with two years free for the clearing, and three or five
years more on a moderate rent. A capital even of 500l. will enable him
to fence his land, build himself a _bush_-house and out-offices, and
maintain his family for two years; by which time it will be hard indeed,
if he has not land enough under crop to return him something handsome. I
have known many settlers of this kind thrive, and many others "go to the
wall:" the former had a small capital to start with, while the latter
commenced upon credit for the very bread required for their families; a
plan I never knew to succeed.
Let but the settler stick to his business; the merchant be content with
smaller profits than used to satisfy him, and cease giving long credit
to all and everybody; let the banker be less grasping, and not quite so
hard a creditor when he finds one of his customers in difficulties or
reverses; let every one avoid speculations out of his strict line of
business, and beware of accommodation-paper; and let the lower and
middle classes avoid the public-house; and there is nothing to fear for
Australia. It has had a severe lesson administered to it, that ought to
be a warning to all its inhabitants for the future. I have no hesitation
in saying, that nine-tenths of the evils from which the Colonists have
suffered of late, have arisen from their own imprudence, and that these
may be avoided in future by common caution, in spite of dry seasons and
occasional failures of crops.
Now that colonization is extending up the coast from Sydney northwards,
and the inhabited parts of the Colony already approach the tropic of
Capricorn, New South Wales ought, in a few years, to be a rice and
sugar-growing country. The soil on the banks of the rivers in the
neighbourhood of Moreton Bay, is, from all accounts, equal to any thing
hitherto known in the Colony; and the climate is very highly spoken of.
Should the winter there prove too long or too severe for sugar-growing,
(I do not see why it should be so,) parties anxious to try the culture
of the cane as a means of making money, must in that case just move a
little further north. There is an extensive field to explore, before
they reach Torres' Straits.
That New South Wales will become an extensive wine-growing country, I
conceive there is no room to doubt. Its vineyards are magnificent, in
every sense of the word. I have visited several of them, and was struck
with the abundance and variety of their produce. Two proprietors of my
acquaintance have been for years in the practice of making wine of
different sorts, but principally of the lighter kinds resembling the
Rhenish. I can vouch for their being very palatable, particularly during
the summer months. One of the gentlemen alluded to has also made very
good port wine and brandy.
The greatest drawback on the commerce of New South Wales, is the
deficiency of exports, the balance of trade being greatly against the
Colony. Its wool and oil are what merchants have hitherto principally
depended upon, though other exports are now coming into play; viz.
cedar-timber, hides, tallow, and salt provisions. Still, I do not think
that, even with these additions, the merchants of the Colony can manage
to make their exports equal in value to their imports; and were it not
for the very considerable sums drawn for on the Home Government, by the
military department, for the pay and provisions of the troops, necessity
would compel the merchants of England to reduce their shipments to
Australia. The great fall in the price of the principal colonial staple,
wool, has added very materially to the difficulties arising out of this
state of affairs, by reducing the value of remittances made in that
article to one half of what it used to be. The quantity of wool
increases, it is true, from year to year, but not to such an extent as
to counterbalance the fall in price; and it must be borne in mind,
that, as fast as the wool increases, so does the population, and
consequently the amount of imports in the shape of supplies, which have
all to be remitted for. Since the opening of the coast of China to the
commerce of the world, (the result of our late struggle with that
country,--a struggle so much condemned by those who were ignorant of the
merits of the case,) the merchants of Sydney seem to have entertained
the idea, that their trade will benefit by the change. No one would
rejoice more than myself at their anticipations proving correct; but I
confess my judgment differs from theirs; and if we may judge by the
result of their trial shipments, which arrived prior to my leaving
China, it is to be feared they will find, to their cost, that they have
reckoned without their host. The Sydney merchants, from what I have
heard, expect to find in China a market for horses, cattle, and sheep,
coarse woollens, wine, and salt provisions. The first three have been
tried, and the experiment has proved an utter failure: the horses were
sent to Calcutta, not a purchaser being found for one of them in Hong
Kong. Cattle are out of the question: they cannot be transported five
thousand miles to undersell the Chinese butcher, who gives fifteen
pounds of good beef for a dollar--about 3-1/2d. per pound. This price,
the Sydney speculator cannot compete with, particularly as his beasts
would certainly land in poor condition after so long a voyage, and
either put him to the expense of fattening them, or compel him to sell
at the low price of lean cattle. Sheep have also been tried by several
ship-masters, and did not answer: the last lot that came, were
slaughtered and sold in the market, the only way in which they could be
got rid of, and which would not answer the purpose of a large importer.
For coarse woollens, a market may certainly be found in China; but
whether a profitable one, or not, to the Australian manufacturer, is, in
my opinion, somewhat doubtful. Labour is so much cheaper in Britain than
it is in Australia, that, I fear, the Sydney manufacturer would have but
a poor chance, when his goods came into competition with those of
Manchester, either in the Chinese or in any other market. Whatever kinds
of goods may be required on the coast of China, will soon be supplied
from Manchester and Glasgow at the lowest possible figure, the object of
the manufacturers of those places being, I presume, a large trade with
moderate profits; so moderate, indeed, as to leave the Sydney
manufacturer no chance of competing with the means at the command of the
British manufacturer. Australian wool, like Indian cotton, may be taken
to England, be manufactured there, and sent out and sold in China, or
anywhere else, for less money than it would cost the Sydney capitalist
to produce the manufactured article. As to wine, it will be a long time
before New South Wales has much to export; and the limited European
population of China will not consume a sufficient quantity to be of
importance to the Australian vine-grower. The Chinese cannot be counted
upon as purchasers: they are not wine-drinkers, generally speaking; and
the little they do consume, is manufactured to suit their own palates,
in China.
For salt provisions, there is a considerable demand in China, among the
European shipping that visit its ports: they must, however, be cheaper
in Sydney than they were in my time, to answer the purpose of even a
remittance. The Americans bring to China excellent beef and pork, which
they sell at ten and twelve dollars (about 42s. to 54s.) per barrel of
two hundred pounds weight. If these prices will remunerate the Sydney
shipper, he may try his luck as soon as he likes; but he must not send
an inferior article: if he does, he will sink his capital. Cedar-timber
has been tried recently, and has answered very well to a small extent:
this, however, will last only till the town of Victoria on the island of
Hong-Kong is completely built.
By every fresh outlet for surplus stock that can be pointed out to the
Australian grazier, we shall be rendering him a substantial service. Sir
Robert Peel's new tariff will enable him to dispose of many a spare fat
bullock. Of this opening he has already taken advantage, by sending
trial shipments of salt beef to England.
It appears to me, that the imports and exports of Australia ought to be
much nearer a balance than they are. To bring about this desirable state
of things, it will be requisite to reduce the amount of the imports,
which may be effected by giving up the importation of hams, bacon,
cheese, butter, tobacco, and, in a great measure, grain. To see a
pastoral country like New South Wales importing butter and cheese, is an
anomaly, and only proves the waste and carelessness of the owners of
herds numerous enough to supply all Europe with dairy produce. The
importation of hams and bacon is another absurdity and evidence of
wasteful husbandry. I have seen fruit, barn-sweepings, butter-milk,
bran, &c. &c. wasted about a farm in Australia, in quantities sufficient
to feed and fatten a hundred pigs, which would have kept the
establishment in meat for half the year. Indeed, it is a common saying
in the Colony, that the waste on one of its farms, would make an English
farmer's fortune. These may seem minor articles, but vast sums of money
are annually paid for them to London dealers. Besides these, are
imported, pickles, preserved fruits, sweetmeats, shoes, clothing, and a
thousand other articles, every one of which might be as well and as
economically made in the Colony, thereby saving thousands per annum. A
coat or other article of dress can be made in Sydney as well and as
cheap as in London; and though the cloth must be obtained from England,
there is no reason that the London tailor should benefit by the making,
when the Sydney one is in want of work, and is willing to work as cheap
as his London brother. Employing colonial workmen would keep vast sums
of money in the country, that now go out of it.
Tobacco and snuff ought never to be imported, the Colony being quite
equal to producing more than sufficient for its own consumption. The
quality of colonial tobacco used to be complained of; but that objection
no longer exists. Moreover, people who cannot complete their remittances
for necessaries, have no right to be nice in their choice of luxuries. I
am confident that I am within the mark, when I say, that 50,000l.
sterling per annum are paid to Americans and others who import snuff and
tobacco! This is a sum assuredly worth saving, and which the Colonists
could easily save, by encouraging the growth and consumption of their
own produce.
After what I have written upon the subject of Australian agriculture, I
may be thought to be making a bold assertion in saying, that the
necessity for the importation of grain might, in a great measure, be
done away with in Australia. Nevertheless, such is my opinion; and I
will proceed to give my reasons. In the first place, there is a great
waste of wheat, as well as of every thing else, on every farm in the
Colony. There is no gleaning; and what with the bad and careless
threshing and the ill-thatched and worse-built stacks, which admit the
rain, whereby thousands of bushels of wheat are destroyed, the waste is
beyond any one's conception who has not actually witnessed it. In the
second place, there is not nearly so much wheat grown in Australia as
there might and ought to be. A simple process of irrigation, such as the
Chinese or the Javanese, the machinery for which would not cost 5l., and
would employ only two men when in operation, applied to the wheat-fields
in dry seasons once a month, would save many a crop. All, or nearly all
the wheat in the Colony, is grown on the banks of rivers, which, though
they cease to flow in a season of drought, have always water in the deep
parts of the channel or "water-holes." It requires no argument to prove,
that irrigation, in such situations, is a very simple matter. Two
Javanese, by means of a long lever attached to a tall tree on the bank
of a river, with a large bucket and string at one end, and a string to
hoist up by at the other end, will keep a small stream of water running
over and fertilizing the neighbouring paddy-fields all day long, without
fatiguing themselves. The Chinese water-wheel is also a simple and cheap
contrivance, and would throw up water enough, in two hours, to
irrigate, or even to inundate a tobacco or wheat-field. All that is
wanted, besides the labour of two men, is a series of wooden troughs to
convey the water from the river bank to the highest part of the field,
whence it is easily guided over the other parts. A little attention to
irrigation might, in my humble opinion, very soon make New South Wales
independent of imported wheat.
Another means of doing away with the importation of grain and flour, may
be found in paying more attention to the cultivation of maize. Large
quantities of it are grown at present, but they might easily be
doubled.[20] And here, irrigation would answer splendidly, the drills
forming such convenient water-courses. Large as is the quantity of maize
grown in Australia, it is not used as food for man;--why, I know not,
but such is the fact;--and I have known a convict turn up his nose when
offered corn-meal. Every one knows how extensively this article is used
in America, and how wholesome a food it is. Were the Australian farmers
firmly and unanimously to determine upon making their dependents take at
least half their weekly allowance in maize-meal, in place of wheaten
flour, the latter would soon become fond of it. There would then be an
inducement to extend its cultivation; and the large sums of money
annually remitted to Van Diemen's Land, Valparaiso, and Bengal, for
wheat, would very shortly be reduced to a small cipher.
[Footnote 20: I do not mean to say, that irrigating an acre of
wheat or maize would double the yield of grain, but that double
the number of acres now under the plough would in a few years,
after the irrigating system had been fairly tried and found to
answer, be brought under cultivation. In the neighbourhood of
Bathurst, and in many other parts of the Colony where rain is
very uncertain, there are thousands of acres of alluvial land
lying waste, which, upon my plan, would yield tens of thousands
of bushels of wheat and maize.]
To urge this most desirable object any further upon the Colonists of New
South Wales, would be to insult their good sense. I will only express a
wish that they may at once adopt measures to equalize their imports and
exports, and that the few hints here thrown out to them, may be of use.
The supply of tea and sugar to the Australian Colonies, has, on the
whole, been a profitable trade to the parties engaged in it; but it has,
of late, been overdone. The quality of the tea and sugar now sent to
Sydney, is far superior to what it used to be; and the coarser sorts of
both are going out of use; a clear proof that the population are
improving in respectability. Formerly, nothing in the shape of either
article was too bad to send out to Australia. Things have changed,
however, and several speculators have been serious losers within the
last three years, by sending goods that would have suited admirably six
years ago. When I first went into the Bush, you might visit a dozen of
the most respectable houses without being able to get any thing better
than the most common hyson-skin tea and very dark moist sugar. A cup or
two of the liquid made from these, would poison an old Indian; and I
never ventured to drink it. A friend of mine, who absolutely dreaded
being compelled to drink this stuff, used always to carry a paper of
good black tea in his pocket, whenever he left his own house. He was in
the right, though often laughed at. Mauritius sugar used to be the
favourite at the time I speak of; but now, Manilla, Singapore, and
Batavia are looked to for the supply of a better and cheaper article.
From Manilla the Colonists import small supplies of coffee, chocolate,
reed hats, and cheroots. Singapore and Batavia send them, in addition to
sugar, quantities of rice, spices, Dutch gin, tea brought thither by
Chinese junks, planks, &c. &c. Singapore sends also a ship or two
annually to South Australia, Port Philip, and Van Diemen's Land.