The cotton-tree will grow well in Moreton Bay, though the plantation in the Bot. garden at Brisbane was any thing but promising. But no care had been taken with it for several years, and the Indian couch-grass is a dangerous enemy. Some specimens which I saw at the Mission, grew very well, and gave a good cotton. England could soon make itself independent from America in opening a settlement at Port Essington, though Malay labour would be required in a climate like that of the north coast of Australia; the cotton obtained in Port Essington, has been sent home, and the first judges have pronounced it to be of the first quality. It grows even wild on the Islands of Endeavour Straight, (at Entrance island.)*

When I was in Moreton Bay, I witnessed several cases of ague, though of no malignant character, and readily yielding to some few doses of Quinine; rheumatic complaints were frequent. The fact is that everybody is so careless, so spoilt by the fine climate, that he thinks it almost impossible his body could suffer by any exposure, particularly at the commencement of the rainy season. The master as well as the servant, think it not worth while to change their clothes, when they are drenched with rain, or to have a cloak or a poncho to prevent it. The consequence is, that they are punished by rheumatism, or occasionally by an attack of ague, when their stomach was filled with a greater quantity of vegetables than was good to them. It is a curious fact, that Stations which have no gardens, the people living exclusively on damper and tea or milk and meat, have less illness than those which have gardens and grow abundance of vegetables. I think that the people are liable of eating too much, and I know that frequent cases of diarrhæa are almost always traced to that source, though the water has often been accused to be the cause of it A garden is, however, such a comfort, and accustoms the people to a regular and pleasing occupation during_their_idle hours, that I am a great advocate for gardening. I speak of course only of the sheep and cattle stations far off the Settlement, where gardening could not be turned into farther profit.

I never had an instance of working men suffering by heat in

* A specimen of Port Essington cotton has recently been pronounced to be equal in point of quality to the produce of Pernambuco; but the produce of Moreton Bay has been found to be not inferior to that of Georgia. In fact cotton does not appear to require so hot a climate as that of Port Essington or Pernambuco to bring it to maturity. Besides, the practicability of applying European labour to its cultivation at Moreton Bay, is the circumstance of paramount importance in the matter; for I do not suppose that Malay labour on the north coast of Australia would be at all superior, if even equal to Hindoo labour in India. Dr. Leichhardt did not see the specimens of cotton I saw in Dr. Ballow's garden.

this colony. I myself, not accustomed to hard work, have been occupied for days and weeks in felling trees, in making fatiguing excursions, carrying heavy loads, without any bad effect. In the contrary, working people generally improve in health after leaving the Settlement; for the publican is the real ague of this colony. I felt the heat much more at the Settlement, at Limestone, and under Cunningham's Gap, (Cameron's Station,) than at the Stations to the Northward, which probably depends from the freer access of the sea breeze.

The finest part of the district for extent and quality is perhaps Limestone and its neighbourhood. The richness of its black It is besides at the

plains in grasses and herbs is wonderful. head of navigation, and more in the reach of the Squatters than Brisbane.

In the event of an extensive emigration of persons of the agricultural classes being directed to the territory of Cooksland, a great variety of other branches of business, besides agriculture, would there find a highly eligible field and be vigorously pursued, as soon as the circumstances of the country, or the views of enterprising individuals should direct the growing energies of the community into particular channels. The timbertrade, for instance, would receive an immediate impulse, both in the way of supplying an article of exportation, that would serve as dead-weight in the wool ships, and in the working up of that article in the various processes of ship-building, house-carpentery, agricultural implements, and cabinet-making. The Bay, as I have already observed, would present an attractive field for the establishment of a fishery, as also for that of a Soap manufactory, while the sand of Moreton Island, being of the description required for the glasses of achromatic telescopes, would afford the requisite material for the manufacture of glass. The culture of indigo, of cotton, and of sugar, would call into existence the manufactures necessary for the preparation of the raw article for exportation, while a woollen-manufacture, to work up the coarse wool of the country into Colonial tweed, could be established as easily and with equal success at Moreton Bay as at Hunter's River. In the meantime, the supply of coal and lime, both procurable at Ipswich, on the banks of a navigable river, whether for agricul

*

* Excellent freestone for building is procurable in the same

ture, for building, or for manufactures, would afford employment to many industrious families, while the curing of meat, and the rearing of hogs, would not only give employment to labour, but supply an important addition to the exports of the district. In such circumstances, "the schoolmaster" would require to be "abroad," and so also would the minister of religion, the medical man and the lawyer. In short, the whole framework of European society could be reproduced in the territory of Cooksland in a period of time remarkably short, and with probably far greater facility than in any other locality in the British Colonial Empire.

The following are extracts of the evidence given before the Immigration Committee of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, in the year 1845, by various highly competent witnesses connected with the Moreton Bay District of the Colony, in regard to the physical character and capabilities of that District :

THURSDAY, 28TH August 1845.

Present.

Charles Nicholson, Esq., M.D., in the Chair.

The Auditor-General.

Charles Cowper, Esq.

Robert Lowe, Esq.

The Colonial-Secretary.

Rev. Dr. Lang.

Joseph Phelps Robinson, Esq.

Robert Graham, Esquire, called in and examined :—

1. You are a merchant in Sydney? I am.

2. And are also connected with various pastoral establishments in the Colony? Yes, both as a principal and as the representative of others; the district I am more particularly connected with is Moreton Bay.

3. Have you been at Moreton Bay? I have lived there, and have been there several times since.

4. What is your opinion of that district of the Colony, as a

neighbourhood, as also chalk; and at Mr. Coulson's Station, twenty-five miles from Ipswich, towards the Gap, plumbago has been discovered. Copper ore, it is alleged, has likewise been found somewhere on the Brisbane, but the discoverer refuses to point out the locality in which it occurs, in consequence of the very illiberal manner in which the Government acts in the disposal of land containing minerals.

favourable field for immigration? think it would afford a large field for immigration from the mother-country.

5. Do you think it is capable of supporting a large population? I do; I think it much more capable of supporting a large population than the land on the Hunter, which is the only part of the Colony that I am intimately acquainted with, on account of the periodical rains; the climate is more regular there than here.

6. What is the present rate of wages in the district is it advancing upon former rates? When I was in Moreton Bay, in February last, I made a calculation with Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Balfour, and my brother, and took the average wages paid by each, from which it appeared that my brother paid twenty pounds a-year, some odd shillings, to each of his men; Mr. Balfour twenty-one pounds odd, and Mr. Mackenzie twenty-five pounds odd.

7. Was that a considerable advance upon the previous rate of wages? No, for the district has always been in want of labour, and wages have risen since that; the reason that my brother paid the lowest wages was, that I had engaged a portion of his men in Sydney.

8. Do you anticipate any advance in the rate of wages? Yes, decidedly; Mr. Balfour states in a letter to me that there is scarcely a station in the district which is not from three to four men short-handed.

9. Do you think the increase in the rate of wages is likely to be considerable? So much so that we are now giving free passages to labourers from Sydney to Moreton Bay (one hundred and twenty having been already sent), to be repaid by the settlers, by a voluntary impost upon the stock, to meet the present demand for labour.

10. By Captain Dumaresq-Is wheat grown at Moreton Bay? In some parts; the only navigable part of the River Brisbane upon which, to my knowledge, it has been tried, is at Limestone Government sheep station, and I have never heard of a failure of crops.

11. By the Chairman-What do you think of the country as an eligible field for small farmers? I think it is more likely to yield a certain return to the agriculturist than any other part of the Colony; but it is to be remembered that I am only acquainted intimately with the Hunter's River district as far as Patrick's Plains.

12. Do you think a small farmer coming from England, with say two hundred or three hundred pounds, and settling upon a farm of one hundred and fifty or two hundred acres, which he might cultivate with the assistance of his children, would have a good prospect of success in that part of the Colony? All would depend upon the price of land, the distance from market, and the convenience of water carriage.

13. Assuming that he settled on the alluvial flats of the Brisbane? I have no doubt he would make it pay.

14. Do you think he ought to give one pound an acre for the land? That of course would depend upon whether the land was thickly timbered or not; also upon the distance from water carriage; if he had to be at the expense of clearing a dense scrub, or incurring a heavy land-carriage, he could not afford to pay that price.

19. By Dr. Lang-Do you think Moreton Bay would be a favourable field for the production of those articles that are raised in warmer climates, as the vine, the olive, and other productions of the South of Europe? Very favourable; the vine, pine apples, and bananas thrive in that district.

Rev. William Schmidt, called in and examined :—

1. You are a native of Prussia, I believe? I am, of Pomerania, in Prussia.

2. And are you now engaged in the mission at Moreton Bay?

I am.

3. You have been in this Colony some years, I believe? I have, nearly eight years.

4. What do you think of the Colony generally, as a field for immigration? I think it a most eligible field.

5. Your experience is chiefly restricted to Moreton Bay? Yes; but I have been over other parts of the Colony.

6. Do you think immigrants might be introduced from Germany, with advantage to themselves and to the Colony? It would not be at all difficult to induce them to come to this part of the world.

7. What class of immigrants might we obtain from that part of Europe? Particularly agriculturists and artizans.

8. From what parts of Germany? Both from the southern and northern parts.

9. Of course, you are aware, that there are large immigrations from Germany to the United States? I am aware there are.

10. Those Germans who emigrate to the United States of America supply the funds for their passage? They do; the emigration to America has arisen partly from religious persecution, and that was also the case, with respect to those who emigrated to South Australia. The emigrants to the United States, and to South Australia, were principally from the provinces of Saxony, Silesia, and Pomerania, in Prussia.

11. Of what religion are they? Lutherans.

12. Do you conceive that the hope of improved circumstances