The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-11-14 00:00:00

Nov. 14, 1848.

VALUABLE INFORMATION ABOUT SOUTH
AUSTRALIA, AS A NEW LAND OF PROMISE
FOREUROPEAN SETTLERS.

The committee appointed for the Diffusion of Informa-
tion on the State and Prospects of South Australia have
just published an interesting circular, on the capabilities
and growth of the rising commonwealths of that immense
and prolific country—a subject which interests all classes
of the community, and especially those who have formed
an idea of emigrating. The statements thus proposed are
full of valuable facts and suggestions. The Australian
colonies comprise New South Wales, Port Philip, South
Australia, Western Australia, Van Dieman's Land, and
New Zealand. The first four are in the island originally
called New Holland, which is the largest in the world,
being about 2,500 miles long, and 2,000 broad.
South Australia alone contains 300,000 square miles of
average, and the settlements as yet form but a small por-
tion of it. The capital is Adelaide, and it contains many
fine naluyal ports. All waste lands are offered quarterly
for sale by public auction, at the upset price of £1 an
acre, one-tenth payable down, and the rest within a
month.

By the end of 1847. £500,000 have been received for
land then sold, under the British crown, and all of which
was but twelve years ago altogether unknown, and tra•
versed only by the kangaroo, and a few pitiable aboriginal
inhabitants. In 1847, the quantity of land under culti-
vation was 36,440 acres, and the quantity enclosed was
94,684. The committee state, "The price of Australian
wheat regularly exceeds the average of English wheat, by
10s. or 12s. per quarter. The quality will at once be un-
derstood by farmers, from the fact, that freight to Eng-
land, has been paid, on some parcels, at the rate of sixty-
four pounds per bushel. An agricultural and horticul-
tural society has been established, and the last exhibition
in February of the present year was visited by upwards of
2,000 persons, each paying Is. Numerous prizes were
awarded for wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, onions, grapes,
oranges, citrons, lemons, nectarines, apricots, peaches,
apples, pears, plums, green figs, melons, raisins, dried
figs, Jordan almonds, and other dried fruits ; vegetables,
vegetable seeds, bouquets, wine, butter, cheese, honey,
silk, and various other articles, including woollen cloths,
&c. Specimens of copper ore were also shown.
The population in March 1846 was upwards of 33,000.
The wages of workpeople are good. Active boys can
even earn from ss. to Bs. a-week, with rations, and pro-
visions are very cheap and of excellent quality. The
rates of passage to South Australia, charged by merchant
vessels, are from £l5 to £2O for steerage ; £3O to £35
for intermediate, and £5O to £7O for first cabin. It is
deserving of special notice, that no serious accident, or
shipwreck attended with loss of life, has occurred to any
vessel bound from Great Britain or Ireland to Port Ade-
laide.

During a series of 7 years, ending 1845, the mean tem-
perature was 67 degrees, and the climate is altogether
delightful. The rain that fell during these seven years
averaged in fall 110 days, and to the extent annually of
19 inches. No one month during these years passed
without rain. The report states:—" We have no droughts,
no seasons in which grain is not brought to maturity.
The rains are more frequent, and more certain as to sea-
sons, than in the more eastern parts of New Holland.
In Adelaide we have never known the want of abundant
water."

In conclusion, we quote the following extracts from
the interesting document under notice:—

" Eight or ten copper mines are being wrought, and
two or three lead mines ; the value of-the ores exported
during the year 1847, as estimated in the Colony, having
been upwards of £170,000. During the year 1847, the
Burra Burra Company, or rather The South Australian
Mining Association, expended £30,000 in cartage alone,
and so very remarkable has been their success, that al-
though only established in April, 1845, the Directors, by
the Ist March, 1848, had paid the Shareholders 606 per
cent. on the amount of the paid up capital ; and in their
Annual Report, (14th April, 1848), they announce their
intention ' while the present prospects of the mine con-
tinue, to pay dividends of 200 per cent. on the capital
stock on the first day of every third month.'
" The government debentures issued several years ago,
have been wholly paid off, and not only so, but the in-
terest on the debt of £85,000 contracted at the founding
of the colony, which was for some time charged on the
Consolidated Fund of Great Britain, is now paid from the
Colonial Revenue, and further, the money advanced from
the Consolidated Fund in payment of that interest, either
has been repaid, or is in the course of repayment.
" Thus, notwithstanding the ridicule in which many
indulged, and the misgivings which others experienced,
the noble conception of the founders of the colony has
been realised, and South Australia stands alone in her
proud pre-eminence, a self-surporting colony.