STATE AND PROSPECTS OF VICTORIA. [From the Melbourne Argus, September 7.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 851, 28 September 1853, Page 4

STATE AND PROSPECTS OF VICTORIA. [From the Melbourne Argus, September 7.]

In a recent article we presented to our readers so astonishing a review of the amount of shipping employed in the trade of this port, and so startling a comparison of the imparts into Melbourne with those of firbt class English cities, that we were not surprised when an intelligent correspondent wrote to ask whether this could all be real, and whether such an enormous trade could be a healthy one. It is indeed a serious question, and one which cannot too carefully be di.-cusbed, that we may draw a line of moderation and intelligence between the wild speculation of some ol our more excitable spirits, and the dis.mal croakings of gentlemen of the Harnett and Hopkins genus. For ourselves, while confidently anticipating a continuance of a brilliant and progressive career, we confess that v.c should like to see much of this, perhaps temporary wealth, reduced to a solid and substantial form. We should like to find evdry step that we giin made good upon the firmest basis. We should be g'.ad that even in tbe very brightest sunshine of our prosperity, care miglit be taken so to guard against the effects of a future storm that, when it comes, it may pass ever us, without leaving desolation and ruin in its track. To this end we look with seme jealousy upon imports and shipping lists equal to Hull, the fClyde, or Liverpool. We look with doubt upon a city, sprung within a year from numbering thirty thousand inhabitants to upwards of eighty thousand, and now spreading out with unexampled rapidity on all sides. These things are well enough in their way, but the foundation upon which they rest is a rotten one, if tbe country does not equally advance too. What do we, with 250,000 people, want v-ith shipping double that of the Clyde, and one-third that of such a port as Liverpool 1 The imports of Great Britain retained for consumption will not much exceed fifty millions per annum. Our own imports, if continued till tbe end of the year at the rale of the first two quarters, will amount to eleven millions ! What do we want with imported goods to the extent of more than afiflh of those of such an enormons country as Great Britain, with more than a hundred fold our population ? It is evident to all that we want nothing of tbe sort. Let us see, then, what we do want ; and estimating our requirements accordingly, let us teach ourselves to make the best and wisest use of such superfluity as may now be showered upon us ; that if in His infinite wisdom it should please the Almighty one; day to withdraw it, we may not sink from the exhaustion of the sudden, loss of riches ill applied. ■* We appeal to old residents of this colony, who recollect it before tbe discovery of gold, and we ask them whether they were not essentially more comfortable than they are now ; whether all the necessaries of life, and many of its luxuries, were not more readily attainable; whether the calm

steady progress in which every one was prospering, though none might be making fortunes in * year, was not more consonant with the views of a soher, intelligent people, than the whir] of excitement in which they now live? In those days no one was in want : the merchant was prosperous and not overworked ; the shopkeeper paid moderate rents, and had manageable assistants ; the workman was well fed and comfortable in every respect, and able weekly to lay by something to lift him along ia the world. In those days the people annually consumed about twelve pounds' worth of imported goods per head. All else they either made, or grew, or purchased of their neighbours. It consisted of colonial produce. The imports, according to Customs returns, for the six months ending 31st July, 1853, amounted to .£5,602,210, which, divided amongst 250,000 inhabitants, would show an annual consumption of nearly forty-five pounds per head, instead of the twelve pounds which they used to be satisfied with. It will be urged that all our imports are not consumed as fast as they arrive, and that this calculation therefore is excessive. This we graut; but though the figures are not put forth as perfectly correct, they are near enough for our present purpose. What we wish to impress is, that the people were happier and more comfortable with the^^ pounds per head, than they are now wiih the £45 per head ; and that this difference, being utterly unnecessary, could be very well dispensed with, without injuring that gentle, continuous prosperity which constitutes the calm health of nations. We accustom ourselves to a condition of " high pressure." We encouiage »ne another in extravagance ; and become unconsciously habituattd to an exaggerated scale of rates for everything. But they are none of them essential to our welfare. A complete reconstruction of the whole system might take place, without actual loss to any one, and our pulse might learn to beat more calmly, without passing through any very severe course of remedy. Rents of houses and of land, wages of labor, interest on capital, profits of trade, prices of produce, might all be adapted relatively to one another, upon a moderate scale, as they now are upon an extravagant one ; and no man amongst us need be any poorer in reality, though he might be placed in a much more comfortable position in tvery respoct. If two hundred and fifty thousand people could be satisfied with the old rate per head of imported goods, and would manage to produce amongst them all else that they require, it follows that an amount of exports of three millions of money would be ample to pay for all the foreign goods we should require. Or, if some extravagant dogs would use more than their share, and the average should rise as high as twenty pounds per head, five millions would still suffice ; and surely, even Mr. Hopkins himself, will not try to persuade us that the yield of our gold-mines is likely, for some years, to fall below that ; even if we still had not our wool, and were not likely to have other exportable produce to add lo it, as tr-e country beco-nes properly settled. The great object is for us to tearh ourselves to produce for ourselves everything that the colony -is capable of producing. Great Britain does not import and consume goods to the amount of two pounds per head of htr population ; partly, probably, because a large proportion of that population is poor, and cannot afford to jay for imported luxuries ; but mainly because she is frugal and industrious, and grows and makes almost pveryihing she requires for herself. Now we look to the diggings ; to Bendigo, where all this excitement has existed, and where bloodshed was long threatened ; and we ask why a population so constituted of hard-working men should produce nothing for themselves but a little gold. We asked one of the delegates who has played a conspicuous part in this most unprecedented movement, how n^ar to Bendigo was the nearest land for agricultural purposes. It was with a sort of thrill of horror that we heard, that he did not believe there was any sold within thirty miles. "Is there land fit for agriculture in the immediate neighbourhood Vwe asked. " Thousands of acres of as fine land as ever a man put a spade in." We asked no more. We did not wonder at the scenes that were then talcing place. The men had no homes ; no employment at a time when digging is impossible ; nothing to own ; nothing to protect; nothing to love! Who could wonder if they were violent and disaffected? Who could augur aught but frightful evils from so outrageous a violation of the laws of nature ? We look at Brighton, at the Moonee Ponds, at the special survey at Kilmore, at those on the Yarra, at those at Port Fairy : and we ask why cannot a similar population be planted in the neighbourhood of the diggings ; working in their gardens, or on their little farms, at seasons when gold-digging is interrupted by the want or superfluity of water ; furnishing themselves and one another with garden-stuff and dairy produce; and supplying themselves with food for their horses at less rates than some pounds per bushel for oats and bran ? To raise tbe squatter tenure as a difficulty, is little better than sheer falsehood. The squatters buy and sell a station to one another ! Can anything be more monstrous, then, than to fancy that tbe Government which most wants it, and can bes: use it, is to be the only party excluded from the right of purchase ? Shame on such transparent folly ! Shame on such gross misgovernment ! The land ought to have been sold in thousands of allotments months ago ; and the withholding it, cramming the diggers together — a mass of reckless adventurers — and leading them to spend their money in drunkenness and debauchery, is not only a political mistake ; it is a horrible sin. One portion of the retribution is seen already; a further portion looms gloomily in the future ! Let those who have brought themselves to this, now do what they can to repair the misfortunes they have brought upon us ; and let them now take the step which they should have taken many a long month ago ! Let them really introduce the working man to the soil which he inhabits, and make him a good citizen, by giving him something to protect. The only peace-maker for the diggings is the Surveyor- General.