The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-05 00:00:00

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Melbott , Geelong, and another to u I-
bourne ._ t'ie gold fields of the interior, __ at a
of five per cent. on the capital advanced for a
period of 21 years. We may remark, in passing, that
the town of Melbourne, which in 1851 contained 23,000
13itanto, had increased by the end of 1852 to a popu•
lation`of 80,000, an amount probably much kept down
jp by the i ossibility of finding house accommodation,
and that he population of Geelong had increased in the
same pe 'od from 8,000 to 20,000. Of the prospects of
r ' • s some estimate may be formed from the fact,
that the carriage of supplies to Bendigo and Mount
Alexander last year was at the rate of 1/. per ton per
mile, and it is estimated that the cost of the carriage of
supplies during the last Australian winter from Mel.
bourne to these two places would have defrayed the ex-
pense of constructing a railway. The fluctuation of
prices has been as extraordinary as the increase in wealth
and population. Hay is dearer, weight for weight, than
the best quality of flour, and oats are twice the price of
the best imported oatmeal. Cabbages are ls. 6d.
a piece ; pears, lettuces, and turnips are 6s. a-dozen ;
potatoes, 245. a hundredweight ; ducks, 12s. a-pair ;
geese and turkeys; 14s. each ; and this in a country
which until the discovery of gold had some claims to be
considered.the cheapest in the world.
The account of this sudden and incredible prosperity
suggests a consideration as to the wants of the colony,
which parents and guardians in England would do well
to bear in mind. What the country wants is neither cul-
tivated intelligence nor in-door employes ; the effort of
the colony is, and for many years will be, to bring the
amount of its fixed capital into some proportion with the
angregate of its treasures. The inhabitants of Melbourne,
infinitely the richest town of its size in the world, are
worse lodged and cared for, in all matters of physiral
comfort, than the denizens of the poorest and most
decay( d citio of S?ain or Germany. El-ads they have
none, and the tracks which lead to the spots where
nature squanders her treasure with so lavish a hand aro
difficult in summer, and barely passable in winter. What
they want is masons and carpenters to build them houses,
and "navvies" to make them docks and railroads. Till
these wants are supplied it is vain for young men of
talent and knowledge to seek their fortunes in a land want-
ing nothing which they have to give, and appreciating far
more highly the coarsest manual than the finest intellec-
tual labour. This is the tendency of every new country.
Physical material wants must be first supplied, and only
when men have gained leisure from the struggle will they
turn their minds to the cultivation of the intellect or the
taste. What cruelty can be greater, what misconcep-
tio'n more lamentable, what betrayal of a trust more re-
prlthensible, than to send a boy from schcol or a student
tidal college, with a few pounds in his vicket, to seek
his fortune in a land which wants nothing that he can
contribute, and will contribute nothing that he wants ?
To send such a person to Australia is, in fact, to sentence
him to work on the roads at ten shillings a-day—good
pay, certainly, but a miserable avocation for one
brought up with the feelings and aspirations of a gentle-
man.

[ PRICE SD.

Even with the goods which othei countries can con-
tribute Victoria has, as appears from the scale of prices,
been but scantily supplied ; but there is a marked dis-
tinction between those things which she can procure from
abroad and those which she must, from necessity, pro-
duce for herself. Till this inequality is reduced every-
body's mind will be absorbed in mere material progress.
The owner of thousands who cannot get a house, until
he is released from the necessity of living in a tent or a
bark hut, will scarcely think of a tutor fcr his sons or a
governess for his daughters. We feel it right to couple
the account of this unprecedented prosperity with this
warning, because we are well aware that every ship
carries out to Australia its cont.ibution of young men
and women destined to poverty and wretchedness from
a neglect of these very obvious considerations.