other of the endless regulations of a Military Governor -a class of functionaries, who, to judge from recent examples, seem to have none of the common sympathies of human nature, and to belong to a different race of mankind altogether-would, in all likelihood, intervene, and the men would be driven to the public-house from the mere impracticability of finding that species. of investment for their money, which is perhaps the most agreeable to the feelings of men generally, and the likeliest to exert a salutary influence on the character of men in the humbler walks of life. Now such a Company as I have suggested would avail itself, on the one hand, of the aristocratic privilege of the Duke or the Earl, by purchasing blocks of 20,000 acres of land, wherever it could be done with safety from the quality and the situation of the land, while it would do, on the other, what a paternal Government would have done all along, but what no Government we have ever had in New South Wales has even attempted to do, by enabling the comparatively humble individual to purchase his eighty-acre farm at once, and by giving him a free-passage out to the Colony, by allowing him to select and settle on his land immediately on his arrival, and by constructing roads and bridges, or establishing such other means of communication in his vicinity as would tend materially to lessen the difficulties, and to multiply and increase the comforts and advantages of his new course of life.

Dr. Dorsey is in error, however, in supposing that the Legislative Council of New South Wales has it in its power to apply any remedy to any of the various abuses in the system of disposing of the waste land of the colony; for, incredible as it may appear to people at home, the entire administration of these lands is claimed and exercised by the Representative of her Majesty, the Local Governor, as a prerogative of the Crown with the exercise of which the Representatives of the people have nothing to do! Agreeably to this theory of Government-the simplicity of which is as remarkable as that of the people who suppose that British subjects

at the extremity of the globe, especially with the example of America before their eyes, will continue to submit either tamely or long to so monstrous an injustice the great Robinson Crusoe of Downing Street is "monarch of all he surveys " in the vast Colonial Empire of Britain, and "his man Friday," the Local Governor, is merely his subordinate agent, a sort of Irish middle-man between the Lord-paramount and the colonial serfs!

I also addressed the following queries to Robert Dixon, Esq., the author of the map appended to this volume, who had been for upwards of two years the resident Government Surveyor in the Moreton Bay district, and on whose opinion and judgment, in reference to the qualities of the soil in New South Wales, from his long residence and great experience in the colony, the greatest reliance can be placed. I append Mr. Dixon's answers in their order.

1. What is your opinion of the suitableness of the Moreton Bay district, (supposing it to extend so far south as the Solitary Isles, or 30° S.,) for the settlement of an agricultural population from the mother-country, to derive their subsistence chiefly from the cultivation of the soil ?

That Moreton Bay (or the northern district from Clarence River, or the parallel of latitude 30° south, to the parallel of 27°) is capable of maintaining an immense population of agricultural immigrants from the mother-country. This portion of the colony is particularly adapted for settlers of this description; land to any extent could be selected on the navigable rivers, and of the richest description.

2. Do you think the constitution of British practical farmers, or farm-labourers, could stand the out-of-door labour that would be required for carrying on agricultural operations of any kind in the climate of Moreton Bay?

3. Are you aware that field-labour has been carried on in that district for many years past without prejudice to the health of the Europeans, chiefly convicts, engaged in it?

During upwards of two years' residence at Moreton Bay, I am convinced the climate is such as is quite suitable to the constitution of British labourers. I carried on my field-surveying operations the same as in other parts of the colony, without the least injury to the men's health. The convicts employed there in field labour had two hours at dinner-time in midsummer, and one in win

ter, and were all strong and healthy; and the twenty-one men attached to the Survey department, who had just arrived from England, and landed from a convict-ship, all kept in good health.

4. What are the principal localities with which you are acquainted in the district, which it would be advisable for a company formed in England for the settlement of small farmers, on farms of eighty acres, or thereby, at Moreton Bay, to purchase for the purpose, and what may be the probable extent of available land in each locality?

The principal localities which I am acquainted with are in the Moreton Bay district, and a company could purchase land in different locations to any extent-on the rivers Brisbane and Bremer, and their tributaries, the Logan, Albert, Cabulture, and Pine Rivers, all navigable for boats; on the banks of which are extensive tracts of rich alluvial land, with timber fit for all purposes, and coal and iron abounding, with limestone at Ipswich.

5. As the Act of Parliament allows blocks of 20,000 acres of land to be purchased in any locality without subjecting the land to competition by public auction, are there any tracts of really superior land for agriculture, of that extent, which a company would be safe to purchase in this way, with a view to its being re-sold, at a small advance on the cost price to bona-fide emigrant farmers in farms of eighty acres each?

Blocks of 20,000 acres of land could be selected at various places, where the principal portion would be of the richest description of alluvial soil, which no doubt could be sold to bona-fide emigrant farmers at a considerable advance upon the purchasemoney, according to the richness of the soil, and whether clear or covered with heavy brush timber, and the advantages of water carriage.

6. In other localities, where the good land is only found in smaller patches, as on the banks of rivers and creeks, and where it would therefore have to be put up to auction, agreeably to the Act of Parliament, what extent of land might be put up, to be bought at the minimum price, by such a company-I mean what extent of really good land for such a purpose is there, on the principal rivers and creeks of the district with which you are acquainted?

Really good land, on the rivers and creeks, could be selected to a large extent; but without a considerable time spent in calculation, I could not name any specific quantity on each. If put up by auction, where it could be bought in sections along the banks of the navigable rivers, I am certain a very large portion could be purchased of really rich alluvial land.

7. Do you think that industrious small farmers from the mother-country, purchasing eighty acres of land each from such a

company, on the banks of the Brisbane or Logan Rivers, or on any of their tributaries, or in the adjacent alluvial plains, and getting a free passage to the colony, with the prospect of having half the purchase-money of the land expended in local improvements, such as roads and bridges,-do you think that small farmers in such circumstances would not have a fair prospect of realizing a handsome return from their capital and labour, as well as of speedily establishing themselves in comfort and comparative independence?

It is my opinion that industrious small farmers, purchasing eighty or a hundred acres of land, and getting a free passage to the colony, with half the purchase-money of the land expended in making roads and bridges, would have an excellent chance of speedily establishing themselves in comfort and comparative independence.

8. Supposing the alluvial lands along the principal rivers and creeks of the district to be settled by small farmers in the manner proposed, would it be practicable for them, generally speaking, to obtain grazing, if they required it, for a few head of cattle, on the inferior waste land adjoining, which nobody would be likely to purchase at the present minimum price for a long time to come?

Supposing the alluvial land along the principal rivers and creeks to be settled, it is quite practicable for every one of such settlers to have access to the vacant forest land in the rear, where they could feed their working oxen, a few cows, sheep, or horses, free of expense.

Two portions of the northern district I am not personally acquainted with, viz. the Clarence and Richmond Rivers; but a large proportion of the land in these districts is of the finest alluvial soil, and particularly adapted for agricultural purposes. No land on these rivers having yet been sold, leaves a fine field for a company to purchase on a large scale.

I am happy to be able to add to these favourable testimonies in regard to the capabilities of the district of Moreton Bay, as a field for the emigration of persons of the agricultural and labouring classes, the following additional notanda, drawn up, at my particular request, by my worthy friend Dr. Leichhardt, the distinguished Australian traveller. I deem it unnecessary to translate into idiomatic English the few expressions in these notanda, that have rather a foreign aspect, as they will all be sufficiently intelligible to the English reader, and as the paper will doubtless be more interesting in its original form.

There are perhaps few spots of the Colony better adapted for agricultural purposes, than those rich flats which accompany the upper part of the Brisbane, the Durrundur, Stanley's Creek, and their numerous tributaries. The soil is the detritus of basaltic rock, of Sienite and Diorite, or of sandstone and pudding or conglomerate. The basaltic soil is black, principally clay, with a good share of vegetable matter, and concretions of limestone or marl, the sienitic is generally a stiff clay, mixed more or less with sand: the same mixture exists in the soil of the sandstone and conglomerate country, which are nothing else but a regenerate rock formed by the detritus of primitive rocks. Instances of basaltic soil are considerable stretches at Mr. Bigge's, at Limestone, at Normanby Plains. At Archer's, Mackenzie's, Bigge's, Macconnel's Station, alluvial flats of a more clayey nature with a share of sand are found, and along the sea coast between the settlement and the Glass-houses, sandstone and sandy soil are prevailing. The northern part of Moreton Bay is preferable to the southern, because it has a greater share of moisture, though the whole district is highly favoured with rain. I have seen the finest crops of wheat at Archer's, Mackenzie's, Balfour's, Bigge's, Macconnel's Station, though these gentlemen just commenced to make the experiment, neither having good and equal grain, (instead of one variety 3 or 4 mixed which ripened unequally,) nor knowing exactly the best time of putting it in the ground; which is of the highest importance, in consequence of the rains.

Besides wheat and saco, the barley, the yellow and brown millet, a species of Guinea-grass, the Indian corn, the English potato, (very fine,) the sweet potato, the pumpkin, (several varieties,) the melon, (water melon, rock melon, &c. &c.,) the sugar-cane, (Archer's Station, and the Bot. garden in Brisbane,) the banana, the pine apple, the cotton tree, (in the Bot. garden defending its miserable existence against the suffocating grasp of the couch-grass,) the yam, the grape vine, the peach, orange, &c., &c. In fact it would be difficult to say, what did not grow, (as cherries, plums, rasp-berries, and similar plants, which require a colder climate.) There is one great difficulty in the culture of the vine, which will never allow Moreton Bay to become a wine-country, though the soil would be favourable for good quality. This is the setting in of the rainy season, at a time when the grape is entering into full maturity. It is of the highest importance to allow the grape to get dead ripe, aye even to dry almost on the stem, and turn into raisin. This is a secret,

which few vine growers of this country know, and when they know it, they are so much afraid of the loss by birds and thieves, that they prefer to make an early vintage and a miserable watery wine. In Moreton Bay, such a thing as a late vintage, (even an early one) is almost impossible, for the rains set in at the end of January, and last almost through the whole of February. It is therefore my belief, that the Hunter's River District, and Port Stephens will become very valuable, whenever the people will find out, that almost every inch of it is favourable for vineyards.