The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-29 00:00:00

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TO CORREFPONDENTS.

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LONDOY. SATCRDAY, OCTOBER 29.

-- • - -

Tut impression produced by a leisurcl) and deli.
berate perusal of the letters and juurnals we have
received from Australia, by the Argo, is most satis.
factory. The indotaitab.c energy, the decided pro-
gress of habits of ortb r and legality, and the gene-
rally happy and content. el tone which characterises
the sturdy inhabitants of t!.e four provisos of New
South Wa:e., Vietwis, Van Diemen's Land, and
South Australia, is a ,nest gratifying subject of con-
templation. A truly strange and stirring see do the
transactions of these young communities present.
'l'h.re is a gaud deal that may jar on the nerves ot the
fastidious,) et all this is lags acral so irresistibly comic.
and the ci st turbid stream of human life is these settle-
ments is so evidently " running itself pure "(as A DM-
sos phrases it), that the spectacle is an agreeable relief
to the humdrum monotony of &el estahlithed societies.
It is obvious enough that no one mad brtake him-
self to Australia who expects, as Bailie:
would have said, h. "tarry all the comforts of the
lialt-market at his tail." But for any man of sense
and energy—who can rough it for a few mouths,
endure slovenly !endgame on the part of servants (or
the necessity of being at times his own servant),
disregard the obtrusiveness of rude and vulgar
minds elated with sudden prosperity,—who has, in
short, resources witbiu himself, and a skin not pre-
ternaturally thin and str.sitive, the attractions ulAus-
trails are almost irresistible.

In the first place there is, and is likely:to be, ample
provision of fwd fur all in Australia. Curtain hal-
gefy himself could start no objections either to the
quantity or the quality of the " provant." And the
thronging towards the gold regions of eager, and
sometimes sadly disappointed, gold•hunters, does not
appear to have interfered materially with the
agricultural pursuits of the colonies. The
Sydney Nur/tiny Herald announces a great
extension iu the breadth of cereal•sown land in New
South Walt., and increasing care in the breeding of
cattle for market. There are evidently many long-
headed fellows in Australia who know that the
surest way to obtain a fair share of the gold is not to
scamper off to the " diggins," but to remain quietly
on their farina storing up beef and corn,—the magnets
which draw to them the gold out of the pockets of
those who first find it.

Food being sun., the other two indispensable* of
existence in Australia are clothing and house-shelter.
With regard to the first, there are iu Sydney exqui-
site* of the first water; but, luckily, the reign of
fashion is, at the antipodes, far from arbitrary.
Jackets and slops of the most rough-and-ready cha-
racter, with red night-caps above, and high-lows
beneath them, may be worn with perfect impunity
when a man is at a distance from shops, or till his
pockets are sufficiently well filled to admit of
his indulging in a more cultivated appearance.
House-rents, certainly, are astoundingly high; but
this very tact leads to the rapid multiplication of
houses, and, in the meantime, the climate is such
as to render much frailer sheds sufficient
than would be required for Canadian winters. Man
(or woman either) in Australia may put up safely
with huts which would be positively unwholesome in
Loudon. One has elbow-room out there—is not
obliged to breathe an atmosphere de-oxygenised and
polluted by the breath and sweat of thick shoulder-
ing swarms of fellow-beings, clean and unclean.
And moreover pecuniary interest, quite as much
as regard to health, leads men is Australia to
live the greater part of their time in the open air.
And all the minor inconveniences to which we
have alluded are amply compensated by the reflec-
tion that every individual of average health and
strength, who is steady, sober, and industrious, and
who does not scorn to make himself (or her-
self) useful in any honest way that society may re-
quire, cannot fail of attaining rapidly to a compe-
tency, or something mote. Large families afford no
cause fir anxiety in Australia. No one need dream
there of " coming on the parish" in his old age, un-
less be, pig-headedly, resolve to lead a life which
would infallibly conduct him thither, or to some
similar terminus, anywhere. The necessaries of
life are poured out with an unsparing hand to
the denizens of Australia. It is cut-and-
oome-again for all, with ample room at the board
for thousands—for millions more. The inconve-
niences will every day grow less. The honest and
industrious population are daily coming to bear a
larger and a larger ratio to the reckless and dissi-
pated. The tales of plunder and violence which
reach us from time to time are laughed at by the
resolute, and the privations and the odd shifts to
which people are driven are made food for laughter
by the wise.

Australia is the land for the labourer. Married
couples (without family) can have at Melbourne, by
the last advice', from 701. to 1001. per annum with
rations. Shepherds and hut-keepers stand lowest of
the labouring classes in point of remuneration ; their
callings requiring less athletic bodies or less intel-
ligent minds than any others. They receive—the
former from 331. to 401. per annum, the latter from
321. to 331. Generally useful servants can earn from
701. to 73/. per annum, with rations. Bul-
lock•drivers have from 21. 10s. to :it per
week on farms—for there goes reason to bullock
driving as well as to the roa►ting of eggs. Bullock-
drivers may be considered as belonging to the aria-
tocracy of labour, and so may cooks—who receive
(males) from 21. to 41. a week. All these rates of
wages are with rations superadded, and an Australian
ration is ample—weekly 10lbs. of flour, 101hs. meat,
21bs. sugar, and Ob. tea, with salt col /.4,tt.i/..
The state of trade in the colonies at the date of
the Argo's departure was satisfactory. The markets
were glutted it is true, fur the time, with British
goods; but the merchants were in a condition to
hold oa till prices rose again, and the rapid in-
crease of store-buildings had removed the danger
once attendant on such a process. Fro& January to
July inclusive the gold received in Melbourne per
wood was 1,10.5,138 oz. in quantity, valued at
4,144,2671. 10s. The shipments during the same
period were valued at 4,589,2721. One fact speaks
volumes for the progress of Australia. Twenty years
have not yet elapsed since the first foundations of Mel-
bourne were laid; yet the shipping entered inwards
and outwards at that port during the first six months
of 1853 amounted to one-third of the sbipping of
London during, the same months in 1830 ; was ex-
ceeded by that of no other ports in England except
Liverpool and Newcastle ; and is more than double
the tonnage of the Clyde shipping for the first six
months of 18.50. Are we not warranted in saying
that Australia—the infant Hercules—is of more con-
sequence to Great Britain than a round dozen of
European States!