The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-17 00:00:00

COLONISATION OF AUSTRALIA

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SlR,—Will you permit me, through the medium of your
columns, to offer a few remarks on an article I met with the
other day in the Liverpool Mercury of April 29, headed
`• Colonisation without Cost," treating upon Australia and
New Zealand?

I have spent eleven years at the settlement of Swan River,
Western Australia—have witnessed its progress nearly from
its commencement—have had a personal acquaintance with
most of the early settlers—and shall, therefore, write from
my own knowledge of its state and the condition of its in-
habitants. The settlement was commenced about the mid-
dle of the year 1829. 1 arrived there in the early part of
February 1830.

Before entering on particulars, 1 eti,
general remarks on the article in question.
I would observe that the idea of sending out labourers by
means of a fund raised from the sale of land in the colonies,
is not new; it has been acted upon for some time. Num-
bers of free emigrants have been sent to New South Wales
and Van Dieman's Land on that very principle.
Will the editor of the Liverpool Mercury inform his read-
ers at what time in the history of colonisation any number
of free emigrants were sent to Australia at the expense of
the British public ? I can answer for it that none were ever
sent to Western Australia on that principle.
May I be allowed to ask, by the way, why the labouring
man should not have a portion of land given to him in the
wilderness, where there are tens of millions of acres that
have no occupier? Labour is the capital of the working
man, and I cannot see why government should not allow
him a boon for embarking with that capital, especially as the
surplus land is of no value to the government till the increase
of population requires it.

to offer two or three

The figure employed by the editor of the Liverpool Mer-
cury, representing one man with !` two spades, and the
other digging his land with a " stake," may serve to amuse
children who wish to play at colonisation ; but I can assure
your readers that the capitalists at Swan River have too
much regard for their own interest, and the general welfare
of the colony, to allow their spades to " rot " for want of
use ; and the labouring classes possess too much common
sense to dig their land with stakes, or to refuse to work for
the capitalist when they have not the means of supporting
themselves and their families on their own freehold property.
Part of the labourers have worked for hire till they have
saved a sufficient capital to enable them to commence for
themselves, and they are now in a condition to employ others.
Part are continuing to work for hire. Some of the indus-
trious classes with small means, who have been settled on
their sections of land adjoining the capitalist who possessed
more ample means, have been enabled to borrow the cap'
talist's " spade." what answered thP;-

.Ar purpose on z
inure extensive scale—his piougn ann norses, for which the
borrower repaid the capitalist with his own manual labour,
Several of the capitalists have placed their most trustworthy
servants as tenants upon portions of their land; and have
entrusted them with the care of their breeding cattle and
sheep, from which the tenant receives part of the increase
for his care and attention.
As a system, " squatting " has never prevailed at Swan
River; and from what I beard from persons who have vi-
sited the other colonies, I sincerely believe it is less followed
at Swan RiVer than in any other Australian colony.
The most extravagant part of the article in the Liverpool
Mercury is the following:—
" The last colony deliberately formed on the principle of
giving land away was the Swan River colony. One man
took 800,000 acres, another 500,000; some were more mo-
derate in their desires, and took only 100,000 acres. The
emigrants who were conveyed out refused to labour for hire,
although they had bound themselves to the capitalists. They
found a country without bounds open to them, and they re-
fused to comply with a contract in which they believed they
had been cheated ; so they squatted on the land ; and the
goods, and the 'seeds, and the tools, which the capitalists
took out, perished on the beach, for there was no man to
carry them to a place of shelter. At length these indepen •
dent occupiers of the soil were almost starved (some did
starve); they returned to their masters, whom they had
deserted and ruined, and said, Let us stand to our bar-
gain' ; but the masters were unable to do so, as the capital,
which can alone set labour in operation, had utterly perished.
This is by no means an overcharged picture."
Let us now see how far these most grave and deliberate
charges are correct. (If your readers cannot rely upon my
statements, I would beg to refer them to a work written on
Western Australia by Nathaniel Ogle, F.G.S., &c. In that
work they will find a number of tables, furnishing a statis-
tical account of the condition of the colonists, of imports
and exports, of the increase of stock, &c., and also of all
land's assigned by the government from the commencement
of the colony to the 30th June, 1837.)
The four individuals who have had the privilege of having
the largest quantity of land assigned them, were allowed to
take up the following quantities, viz., 250,216-113,100-
100,000—and 81,413 acres (riot quite so much as quoted
above). A considerable portion of the quantities here quoted
have been forfeited, the conditions never having been ful-
filled. Three of the four individuals have not been much
benefited by their high favours. Two of the cases especially
may be considered as complete failures. The reason was,
because the parties who held the land, and engaged to employ
and support the men, were not in possession of the " spades"
—or, in other words, could not raise the wind to carry on
their intended operations, and to supply their dependants
with the necessaries of life. Numbers of these men, after
languishing for some time without any prospect of continued
support, were at length, by legal authority, freed from their
obligations to their master, and allowed to shift for them-
selves; and several of them, after they had acquired a little
property, were afterwards prosecuted for repayment of their
passage money.

Really, if two or three individuals will make wildgoose
speculations, they ought to bear the consequences of their
own folly, and not let a thriving community be stigmatised
for their blunders.

The liberated servants of whom I have last spoken, (and
who are said to have " squatted on the land,") were placed
by the local government on what is denominated the con-
centration system, and had three acres ,of land each allotted
them ; but in a few years their empty cottages and partly-
cultivated plots of land were proofs of the failure of the sys-
tem, whilst the men were more profitably employed—some
as labourers, others as bailiffs, to the capitalists.
A comparison is made in one part of the article which
forms the subject of these remarks, placing South Australia
and New Zealand in contradistinction with the other kus-
tralian colonies. On this subject I must confess that I can-
not divest myself of the idea that the agents employed by the
two companies, particularly interested in the first-named
colonies, with their paid lecturers and bookmakers, materi-
ally assist them in selling their land—in the same manner as
a puff advertisement assists a tradesman in selling his wares.
But, as I prefer dwelling principally on practical effects,
let us now see what is doing on the other side of the water.
Of New Zealand I know but little : it has not vet arrived at
the turning point which naturally succeeds the sifting time
to which all new colonies are subject.
On referring to Lord Stanley's speech, delivered in the
House of Commons on Tuesday, April 19, it will be found
that in South Australia (of which so much has been said
and written) there were 1200 persons living as paupers, being
maintained out of the public funds, for want of employment.
So much for " completeness " of principle. Also on this
subject see Quarterly Review for April 1842.
The Swan River settlement has steadily progressed from
its commencement. The first four or five years were seasons
of difficulties, but those have been overcome principally by
individual enterprise, assisted and encouraged by the activity
of Sir James Stirling, who was the first governor.
In a little more than two years from its commencement, a
road was opened across the range of hills into the interior,
and a farm commenced at a distance of sixty miles from the
seat of government. Others followed the same track, and
the principal sheep-farmers are now in that district. It is
to the interior that the settlers look as the source of their
future wealth, where their sheep can have an unbounded
pasture. Wool being the staple produce, they look to it for
an article of export.

When I left the colony last year, it was in a healthy and
prosperous state. All classes were profitably employed. The
chief drawback was want of labourers. The flocks and-herds
were rapidly increasing. Very passable roads had been
opened through the different districts, and inns established.
The towns were advancing in improvement. Two printing
presses were in operation. A discounting bank had been
established, which returned a good profit to the shareholders,
and was a great convenience to the public. Whaling esta-
blishments had been commenced. An agricultural society
had been in operation for ten years. A. reading society and
benefit club had been established. Five churces and two
Wesleyan chapels had been erected, or were in course of
erection. A subscription had been made, amounting to
upwards of £BOO, towards the erection of the Wesleyan
chapel in the town of Perth, which contained between GOO
and 700 inhabitants. Sabbath and day schools had been
established, and likewise a school for the native children,
which promised fair for success. Instead of the colony being
a failure, the first difficulties of colonisation may be said to
be overcome, and business to have assumed a settled form.
Mr. Ogle, in his work on Western Australia, after fur-
nishing a table shewing the average amount of property pos-
sessed by each adult male in the colony in 1837, (and like-
wise sbewing the per tentage of mortality,) makes the fol-
lowing observations :

" On an inspection of the preceding table, it will be seen
that each colonist, on an average, possesses a considerable
amount of property in land, buildings, and cultivation; that
after providing for his own subsistence, he exports in wool
and oil to the amount of £8 19s. 2d., and contributes to
the local revenue the sum of £6 2s. 3d. per annum ; that
the comparative mortality is very small, while the births and
marriages are unusually numerous. In recapitulating these
facts, it is not out of place to advert to certain rumours
which have been assiduously propagated as to the failure of
colonisation in this quarter. So far is this from the truth,
that it may be fairly asked, with reference to the table above,
in what other colony are the colonists, on an average, in a
more prosperous condition than this, or in the possession of
larger means for future welfare."

The above quotation shews the state of the colony in the
year 1837, when It had only been in existence eight years;
since that period it has made very considerable advancement.
In conclusion, I have only to add, (and I think your read-
ers will agree with me,) that the portion of the article I have
quoted from the Liverpool Mercury—backed by " This is
by no means an overcharged picture "—is as unfounded as
it is unjust ; and it shews that the source from which the
writer has obtained his information, is by no means respec-
table.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,
Manchester, May 11, 1842

VERITAS

THE HAMBURGH SUBSCRIPTION

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIR,—I see by placards on the walls of this town, that the
mayor has called a meeting for next Wednesday, to sympa-
thise with, and grant pecuniary relief to, the citizens of
Hamburgh. Now lam quite inclined to sympathise with
them, and deplore as much as any one the awful calamity
that has so recently visited that city ; but, considering the
many and urgent calls that are made, or ought to be made,
on the community for claimants nearer home, I think that
charity should begin at home. We have thousands—aye, I
fear even millions—in this country who are in a far more
destitute condition than the citizens of Hamburgh at this
time. A return recently made to parliament shews that
upwards of two millions of persons—our own countrymen
and women—have received parish relief, exclusive of many
thousands who are relieved under local acts, which do not
come under the commissioners' notice, and exclusive of dis-
trict relief funds, which have administered greatly to the
wants of the suffering poor, and many are eking out a mise-
rable existence rather than apply to their parish. Such
being the state of things at home, I think it not right to ask
our people to relieve those of other nations, when all their
philanthropy might be so justly exercised at home. Besides,
there are other reasons why we should not be called upon.
I never yet heard of the Hamburghers, or any other foreign
nation, ever affording us any relief; and lam sure the treat-
ment the English received in Hamburgh during and subse-
quent to the conflagration, was not such as to enlist our
sympathies. lam a poor, hard-working man myself, hut I
trust I have always, as far as has lain in my power, been
willing to assist my fellow-man in distress ; and if our coun-
try was in a prosperous state, I would be the last man in it
amendment, to the effect
to object to pecuniary relief to the citizens of Hamburgh ;--
but the country being in such a.deplorable state, I hope
some gentleman of influence in this town will come forward
on Wednesday, and
state " that, in the present country, it is not desirable
to recommend the legislature, to any pecuniary grant
ov
move
of an
th eam
to the citizens of Hamburgh. ' Private individuals can, of
course, do as they please.
Trusting you will give space for these remarks, I remain
A SUFFERING MECHANIC.
Liverpool, May 16, 1842.