The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-11-05

~ sWPe'SiaAy empioJments. Ordinary occupar
to tho .diggings from the distance Of hun
dreds OF miles, not ~ before to be shorn for
shetr wool or killed for their talow, tho rest being
throws away, but to be killed for their meat the
skins and wool being now the indspossble refuse,
and being accordingly burnt on the spot. Wages
for all kinds Of labor had risen, to keep pace with
the profits Of gold hunting, and carriage from Mel.
bourne to the diggiDgs wm 9lO0 ton, or even
higher, Of course, very great induoemeots were
required to prevent sailors from DESERVING and to
get ships out of port The population of Melbourne
had already increased to such an extent that thou
sands were living in tents in the surrounding fields,
and the cry was " Still they come . How fer that
expectation was likely to be further fulfilled, We in
this country have some means Of judging. II is ss-
tmated that in the of this year 100 900 per-
will have left the British isles for tho different
Australian colonies nearly oil these, first or last,
destined to REACH if not the dggiDgs at least the
neghboring dependent cities. The greater part Of
these 100000 are already on their way, in md sea,
and in the southern hemisphere The rest are GER
tain to follow.
The above are not probabilities, but facts and
what do they come to They come to this, that
the population Of all Australian colonies, which
previous to this discovery was considerably under
half million, will be increased by next spring
that is, by next Australian &utumu-to some where
about $50 900, Of which 100 900 must be set down
es the abnormal increase over and above the ma
tural Increase and the ordinary inning ation. Now,
the question which We beg to ask, and to which
the above remarks are introductory, is
there to be about enough for $50 600, there would
remain great deficiency to be filed up FROM some
quarter other. Everybody knows that def-
cheney that appears small compared with the total
amount of the supply, and the whole number Of
mouths to be filed, may easily produce an actual
famine, for large proportion of the people and
viii get enough, leaving the deficiency to be borne
by those who carnot. The deficiency which caused
dreadful famine in 1916 Z, which cost 200,-
COO deaths, and Gl0 0OO, 900, was not larger COM
pared with the whole British population and
sources, than what We have just described as likely
to occur between this and the next harvest, if it il
not already felt in Australian colonies To many
the idea Of famine in Australia. except by some
failure Of the crops will seem the height Of absur
dity; because people have been accustomed to think
itscapabilities nexhautible. Its capabilities, how
ever, are nothing to the purpose just now, seeing
that men cannot live on capabilties Bread in esse
not IN posse, is what we want to day. and in fact
till next harvest, whenever that may be. So we
must put the fertility of the soil, the regularity Of
the seasons, and other such future considerations,
wholly out of tho question: and conne ourselves to
the actual supply. In the absence of information
as to the produce of the last Australian harvest or
the quantity Of land under wheat and other white
crops for the next, We have to ask whether it is
likely to be much larger than usual. Not at all
likely we should think. Sixty thousand Gble bedied
men can't be digging for gold in one place, and
some twenty thirty thousand in other places, b.
sides many thousands pioyed in building houses,
carrying stores and materials, without draining the
labor market and suspending many ordinary opera
tions. If focks of sheep have gone unshorn, and
even INTENDED, for want OF hands. tillage, which
demands much more labor, must have suffered IN
that the aggregate yield Of the last harvest and Of
the next would not be above the average but rather
below. Australia, az a whole. has only produced
enough for its own purposes What it might have
done, as we have already observed, is q question
quite beside the purpose A few thousand quarters
all that it has exported to othor countries
If it has hitherto only produced enough for half
million, it will not, during its approaching summer,
prCduce enough for G50 600
But Chill, we are told, is within reach, and can
supply an unlimited quantity OF corn, as does Al
ready to California. Here are three distfno: CON.
siderations. From Melbourne to Valparaiso and
back is about IL 900 miles, being right across the
Pacific, and cannot be done in much less than three
months, under the most favorable circumstances.
lees they customary and expected, which this is
not; but when the remedy takes near three months
to operate, it will be of little when the famine
has already set in. Then there appears to BIO great
difficulty in getting ships out Of the Australian ports
even when they are under engagement TO return to
port of their own. Much greater difficulty will there
be to get of ships on anew voyage altogether. The
difficulty as indicated and by the wages de-
manded by sailors, is much greater in the case Of
ships bound to the ports of the Pacific. than in the
case Of those bound to the United States. or the
British Isles even to India. Yet, in the face Of
these difficulties, forty ships, each of 500 tons bur
den, would be necessary to bring from Chill the
quantity Of corn required to make up the
probable deficiency Of the next Australian harvest
Dut SuppO5lpE iii tuese got tnete
remain two other rather adverse considerations
the limits to production in Chilli aud the fact that
its redundant produce is already engaged in Cahor-
mia. At the last date from Valparaiso, September
2, vessel had arrived from Port Philip. which il
left on July 2S in quest Of -four and provisions and
was disappointed to find them so high, in conse
quence Of the Californian demand. The price Of
/ flour at Port Philip, at the above date, only six
months after the last harvest was e25 ton price
| that would amply rtmunerate any importer from
| the shores Of the Atlantic These adviccs, there
fore, present US with the fact Of short supply at
Port Philip, On attempt to recruit it from Chill,
/ and certain amount Of disappointment caused by
the effect Of the large Californian demand on the
Gillian market. We are justified, then, III feeling
apprehensions to the possible state Of things
before the next Australian harvest is got in. with
more than 100, coo mouths added to the demand,
with the regular operations Of industry much inter-
rupted and with the population much displaced and
I disorganiZed.
The only practical object to which these remarks
can tend is, that while we send out additional
mouths to Australia we ought also to send out ad-
ditional foed II for every five emigrants there
were also shipped ton OF -four, or even half q ton,
that would save each new cargo Of omigrants from
being, perhaps sereu infection on the port it ar
rives ut. 1t is true, that by the time the vessels
now about to sail arrive at Port Philip, new har
vest will have been got in, and there will be no i'm
mediate danger; but, under tho circumstances we
have described, the produce of that harvest may
not suffice for more than nine months consumption,
and the deficiency may not be discovered till it is too
late to make it up Last year, it is true, flour was
sent from England. and proved loss to the mer-
chant, as by the time it had arrived at Port Philip
the price had declined to ES or go per ton
As it has since risen, however, to Fps, at the
same place. it is evident that with proper COM
mercial arrangements, and with due patience, the
speculation would not have been failure. But
at that timo there had not been any thing like the
immigration We now witness from the mother
country. Our people at home were very slow to
take the hint even with the success Of California
before their eyes, and long after tho most astonsh-
! mr. paU a rana RI
that were exporting thither moro goods than
men. II is quito the reverse now. There can be
no doubt as to the immense number Of mouths we
a.e sending out, but We do not hear Of correspond
! ing export of food. The pinch of course, must
\ come during the two or three months before tho
1 Australian harvest, that is, between this and
February. If there be anything of the kind already
harn inn 10 IT, All,