UC-NRLF 
 
 SB S36 
 
 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIFT OF THE 
 
 STATE VITICULTURAL COMMISSION. 
 
 ^Received, January, 1896. 
 Accession No . ( '> Class No. 
 
 
HANDBOOK 
 
 V I CTO 
 
 (AUSTRALI 
 
 A SHOUT DESCRIPTION 01 THE COLONY, 
 
 <-. ITS PRODUCTIONS, MANUFACTURES, & CAPABILITIES, 
 ESPECIALLY WITH REGARD TO ITS NEW 
 AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES AND 
 SETTLEMENT ON THE LAND. 
 
 MELBOURNE : 
 
 intrb for t^t ^utorian Commissioners for t^c ^aris Cxbibition. 
 
 BY M'CARRON, BIRD & CO., 37 FLINDERS LANE WEST, 
 
 1877. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Chapter. Subject. Page. 
 
 I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA 5 
 
 II. CLIMATE AND SEASONS ... ... ... ... ... 8 
 
 III. SOIL AND AGRICULTURE, TAKING-UP LAND, NEW INDUS- 
 
 TRIES 13 
 
 IV. PASTORAL INTEREST, WOOL, HIDES, TALLOW, &c. ... 43 
 V. MINING AND MINERALS, GOLD, OTHER MINERALS ... 49 
 
 VI. MANUFACTURES, TRADES, AND INDUSTRIES 60 
 
 VII. TRADE, COMMERCE, AND SHIPPING 66 
 
 VIII. RAILWAYS, ROADS, COACHES, POSTAL, TELEGRAPHIC, &c. 7 1 
 
 XI. EMPLOYMENT, WAGES, RENTS, PRICES OF PROVISIONS, &c. 77 
 X. MORAL AND MENTAL CONDITION OF THE POPULATION, 
 
 EDUCATION, &c. 84 
 
 XI. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE ... 92 
 
 XII. DIVISIONS OF THE COLONY, PRINCIPAL TOWNS ... 99 
 
 XIII. GOVERNMENT, LAND FORCES, NAVY, POLICE 108 
 
 XIV. GROWTH OF THE COLONY, THE RISING RACE, NATURA- 
 
 LISATION, CONCLUSION 114 
 
 XV. THE PASSAGE OUT ... .,. J18 
 
VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 THE Colony of Victoria, formerly known as Port Phillip, is the- 
 smallest but most populous and important of the colonial divisions 
 of the Continent of Australia, occupies its south-east corner, and 
 lies between the 34th and 39th parallels of south latitude, and the- 
 141st and 150th meridian of east longitude. The shores of Port 
 Phillip Bay, which is the chief harbour of the colony, were h'rst 
 explored by Lieutenant John Murray, who entered its Heads, and 
 named the hill known as Arthur's Seat, ten weeks before Flinders 
 visited it in 1802. Later in the same year Charles Grimes, sur- 
 veyor of the parent colony (New South Wales), visited the shores 
 of Port Phillip, and finding a river running into the Bay, which 
 the natives called " Yarra-Yarra " (meaning " flowing- flowing "), 
 sailed up it a little beyond the place on which the metropolis 
 (Melbourne) now stands; but it was not until January, 1877, that 
 his original map was found in the survey office at Sydney, and that 
 the credit of being the "father of the colony" was accorded to him 
 over the claims of Batman and Fawkner to that honour. 
 
 Victoria is bounded on the north and north-east by New South 
 Wales, on the west by South Australia, and on the south by the 
 Southern Ocean and Bass's Straits, the latter of which separate it 
 from the insular colony of Tasmania. Its extreme length from east 
 to west is about 420 geographical miles, and its average width 
 from north to south about 240 miles, the coast line extending about 
 (500 miles. Its area is 88,198 square miles, or 56,446,720 acres, or 
 
 B 
 
6 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 about a thirty-fourth part of that of the entire continent, and is 
 less by 1466 square miles than that of Great Britain. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact of its being far smaller than any of 
 the sister colonies on the mainland, its population, which was esti- 
 mated in June, 1877, at 460,907 males, 388, 114 females, total 849,021, 
 is equal to about three-fourths of all the others put together. The 
 southernmost point of land in Victoria is a rocky headland known as 
 Wilson's Promontory, which is also the southernmost point of Aus- 
 tralia, and it is on this account that the colony is by English and other 
 writers not acquainted with Australian nomenclature, sometimes 
 erroneously called South Australia, the fact being that South 
 Australia lies very much further north than does Victoria. 
 
 Physically the colony is divided into two parts, north and south, 
 by a range of mountains known as the main or dividing range, which 
 runs from east to west nearly its whole length, and at an average 
 distance of about sixty or seventy miles from the sea. The eastern 
 part of this range is known as the Australian Alps, and the western 
 part as the Pyrenees. This forms the main watershed of the 
 country, the rivers rising in it flowing generally north or south 
 as the case may be, the former into the Murray River, which runs 
 along the northern boundary, the latter into the sear From the 
 main range run numerous spurs, the loftiest being the Bogong 
 llange in the eastern part, whose summit reaches an altitude of 
 6508 feet above the level of the sea, being the highest point of land 
 in the colony. With the exception of the Murray, which is the largest 
 in Australia, the Yarra, the Goulburn, and one or two of the south- 
 eastern or Gippsland streams, the rivers are uiinavigable, except 
 by boats. There are numerous lakes in the colony, some salt, some 
 fresh. Of these Korangamite (salt), has an area of seventy- six 
 square miles, and lakes Hiiidmarsh, fifty-six square miles, Colac, 
 ten square miles, and Burrumbeet, eight and a half square miles, 
 all fresh, are the largest. There are also large lakes in Gippsland, 
 but they are more in the nature of lagoons, being separated from 
 the sea only by a narrow strip of sand. Port Phillip is the largest 
 inlet from the sea into Victoria, being a sheet of water thirty miles 
 long, and thirty-five miles wide. It is entered by a rather narrow 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 7 
 
 passage, and has numerous shallows and sandbanks, the channel 
 between which is, however, well buoyed. 
 
 The head of Port Phillip is known as Hobson's Bay, and it is there 
 that most of the large foreign shipping for the port of Melbourne 
 anchors. A considerable portion of the intercolonial shipping, 
 however, steam and sailing, proceeds up the Yarra River, which falls 
 into Port Phillip, and berths alongside the wharves in the city of 
 Melbourne itself. Further down Port Phillip, on the western side 
 and nearer the entrance from the'sea. is Corio Bay, on which is situated 
 the town of Geelong. 
 
 The geological formation of Victoria has been thoroughly and 
 carefully investigated, the prevailing rocks being found to be granite, 
 syenite, quartz, mica, schists, sandstone, clay, slate, and ironstone. 
 
 UHI7BRSIT7 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 THE geographical position of Victoria, which is between the 34th and 
 39th parallel of south latitude, and the 141st and 150th meridian of 
 east longitude, gives it the mildest and most equable climate of any 
 of the Australian colonies. It is warmer in summer than Tasmania, 
 and colder in winter than New South Wales, Queensland, or South 
 Australia, but does not suffer from the cold, foggy winter weather of 
 the first, nor the intense summer heat and scorching winds of the 
 other three. 
 
 It is true that there are occasional hot Avinds which blow from the 
 north, and which, bringing with them clouds of dust, parch up 
 vegetation, shrivel the fruit 011 the trees, and create a feeling of 
 extreme lassitude in both human beings and animals. But much as 
 these hot winds are dreaded by new-comers, they are by no 
 means so frequent and certainly by no means so severe as is 
 generally supposed. The average of hot wind days for the 
 colony amounts, according to Professor Neumayer, to about 8*4 
 in the year, but of these it must be remembered the major portion 
 are rather warm, than hot, wind days. Even at their worst, they 
 rarely last longer than a day (three days is the maximum duration), 
 when in the evening a strong south wind, with thunder, lightning and 
 rain sets in, and rapidly clears the oppressive atmosphere. 
 
 These hot winds produce temporary inconvenience to young 
 children and invalids, yet they are not dangerous. They destroy 
 organic germs, whether of animal or vegetable origin, which are 
 generally admitted to be the sources of epidemic diseases. They are 
 therefore healthy in character. 
 
 A popular error with regard to the climate of Victoria is that it is 
 a land of long and severe droughts, during which the soil is burnt up 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 for months, vegetation ceases, and the country is decimated of cattle 
 .and sheep for want of water. Nothing was ever further from the 
 truth. It is not denied that there have been and are occasional 
 seasons of drought, but these, like the hot winds, are greatly over- 
 rated, and are not nearly so frequent, so severe, or so disastrous as 
 has been stated. The truth is that Victoria, while not having so great 
 a rainfall as that portion of New South Wales which lies between 
 the coast range and the sea, has a greater one than South 
 Australia, as is shown by the valuable work of Sir G. S. Kingston, in 
 which the number of inches of rain for the year in Sydney, Melbourne, 
 and Adelaide are stated at 49.95 in., 27.58 in., and 21.36 in. respec- 
 tively. The mean of the rainfall in Melbourne for fourteen years 
 during the various seasons is set down as follows : Spring 40 '3 days, 
 summer 24*4 days, autumn 28 '9 days, winter 41 '9 days, a total 
 average of 135 '5 days. In Sandhurst, as representing the northern 
 part of the colony, the number of wet days averaged 164*82, and in 
 Portland, as representing the south-western portion, 108*08 days. 
 The year of greatest rainfall was 1849, when 44*25 in. of rain fell, ami 
 that of least 1845, when it was only 15'94 in. both these years 
 may, however, be looked on as exceptional ones. The balance of the 
 year, omitting occasional unpleasantly hot days, may be characterised 
 as consisting of tine, clear, genial weather. The mean temperature 
 of the air at Melbourne is shown, as based 011 observations extending 
 over fourteen years, as in spring 57 "0, summer 65 '3, autumn 58 '7, 
 winter 49^*2. In summer 80 in the shade may be looked upon as 
 extreme heat, and yet such is the purity and elasticity of the air, 
 that even with this exceptional temperature, little or no inconvenience is 
 felt. The hottest day on record during the last eighteen years, was the 
 14th January, 1872, when the thermometer in the shade showed 
 lll-2; it has risen to or above 100 sixty-one times during the same 
 period. During the same eighteen years the thermometer has fallen 
 to or below the freezing point fifty-two times, the extreme cold being 
 in 1865, when 30 were registered. All this goes a long way to prove 
 the assertion that has been made over and over again, both by 
 colonists and visitors who have travelled much, that the climate of 
 Victoria is one of the finest in the world. 
 
10 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 As compared with other places, Melbourne, the capital of the 
 colony, has a climate corresponding with that of Maffra, a small 
 township eighteen miles N.W. of Lisbon, situated in 38 55' N. lat. 
 and 700 feet above sea level. The chart shows the isothermal line 
 on which Melbourne is situated to correspond to that on which, in 
 the northern hemisphere, are placed Marseilles, Bordeaux, Bologna, 
 Nice, Verona, and Madrid, the climate of Melbourne, however, 
 having the advantage of being more equable than that of any of 
 those places. 
 
 The Victorian spring commences on the 23rd of September, the 
 weather throughout being generally mild, pleasant, moderately warm 
 and having about the average rainfall. Summer commences on the 
 22nd of December, the longest day, and usually opens with change- 
 able weather, occasional high winds, and heavy rain. December is 
 the wettest, and January the hottest summer month, although hot 
 winds are frequently experienced in Februaiy. Autumn begins on the 
 20th of March, when, alternating with refreshing showers, occurs the 
 pleasantest time of the year. The summer heats have passed, and 
 the soft airs from the north and north-west temper the atmosphere 
 to a delicious mildness. Winter commences on the 21st of June, the 
 shortest day, and brings with it stormy and boisterous, but not very- 
 wet weather, although there are occasional heavy falls of rain. 
 
 With regard to the climate, in reference to the growth of vege- 
 table products, it may be said that Victoria, within its comparatively 
 limited area, will grow and bring to perfection the products of three 
 of the seven vegetable zones into which each hemisphere is divided. 
 Speaking generally, it assimilates to Southern Europe, and especially 
 to that part of it bordering on the western part of the Mediterranean 
 Sea, for although the latitude of Victoria is several degrees higher 
 than that of the countries indicated, still, the fact that a lower mean 
 temperature, varying from 4 to 7, and even to 10, prevails in the 
 southern over the northern hemisphere in corresponding latitudes 
 outside the equator, fully accounts for the difference. This difference 
 is caused mainly by the greater area of ocean surface. 
 
 But it is necessary to seek further for a reason why within an 
 extent of barely 240 miles, or something over 3 of latitude, there 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTOR I A. 11 
 
 should be as great a range of climate as exists within a range of from 
 10 to 1 1 in the most favoured parts of Europe. This reason is to be 
 found in the fact that there are certain local causes constantly at 
 work, which on the one hand correct the true southern hemisphere 
 tendency to lowered temperature in one part of the colony, and on 
 the other retain it in its normal state in another. 
 
 These causes are due to the influence of the low coast mountain 
 range which divides the country into two nearly equal parts, north 
 and south. In his treatise on the subject published in the " Official 
 Record of the Melbourne Exhibition, 1872," Mr. O'HEA, M.L.A., 
 thus accurately traces the operation of these causes: "The rise of 
 the land upwards from the sea is so gradual as to be scarcely per- 
 ceptible, yet it is sufficiently marked to cause the entire coast region 
 to present a decided slope facing the great Southern Ocean, and 
 directly exposed to the cooling influence of the winds that blow from 
 the water upon the land. This gives, for the latitude, a compara- 
 tively cool summer climate to the coast region, though the value of 
 the mean temperature reading of the season is generally made to 
 appear high by reason of the periodically recurring hot winds of 
 December, January, and February, from the north. The coast 
 district is thus, on the whole, exceedingly mild in its climate. On 
 the other hand the country inland, from the summit level of the 
 Dividing Range to the Murray, descends with an equally gradual but 
 decisive slope facing the north an aspect which secures to it an 
 enhanced degree of solar heat, which heightens the mean tempera- 
 ture in the north of the colony to the same extent as the opposite 
 conditions lower it in the south. The periodical hot winds have 
 also their distinctive effect in this direction, and the greater or less 
 prevalence of very decided drought throughout the year lends its aid 
 to give to the northern division of Victoria a mean summer tempera- 
 ture of comparatively high value. " 
 
 Thus the coast range, shutting in that corner of Victoria known as 
 Gippsland, and producing there a moist climate, turns off to the 
 westward, and practically divides the colony into a northern and 
 a southern half. In the southern is the wheat-growing, and, owing 
 to its mildness, the grape-producing region. It is in the northern 
 
12 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 half of the colony that is found the temperature representing the 
 zone of the olive, fig, and orange. 
 
 Will these products, with all these advantages of climate, grow in 
 Victoria, can they be brought to perfection, and if so, can they 
 be practically utilised? Unquestionably; and it needs only energy, 
 enterprise, patience, and knowledge of the subject to grow all 
 the vegetable products of the temperate parts of Southern Europe 
 in profusion. Already there is the corn and the wine, soon, let 
 it be hoped, there will be the oil. Cereals and root crops, fruits, 
 from the hardy apple to the luscious peach, grow in abundance. 
 The wines of Victoria are known and appreciated even in the wine 
 countries of Europe, and that too "in mouths of wisest censure.'' 
 Much has been done, more "remains behind." It has been shown, 
 proved to demonstration, that the colony will produce the olive, the 
 orange, the fig, the mulberry, the almond, the raisin and currant grape, 
 &c., &c., and skill and capital are now only waiting to produce in 
 Victoria the crops of the most favoured countries of Southern Europe-. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 , m 
 
 SOIL AND AGRICULTURE, LAND-LAWS, ETC. 
 
 UP to quite recently an idea prevailed, even amongst the better 
 informed in England, and 011 the Continent of Europe, that the interior 
 of Australia was a vast wilderness, an arid waterless desert of sand 
 and stones, where nothing grew or could grow, and where it was 
 impossible for human or animal life to exist; notwithstanding that 
 so many works have been written on Australia stating the total 
 falsity of such an idea, yet it cannot be denied that in the minds 
 of nine-tenths of those Avho ever think about the colony at all, that 
 impression still remains. This erroneous idea is now so widely spread 
 as to deter many of those who might and would become good an 
 successful colonists from trusting their future in a land concerning 
 which they are so lamentably misinformed. 
 
 Much of this misconception as to the character of the interior 
 has been caused by the reports of ignorant writers, many of whom 
 having probably never left Melbourne, have come to a conclusion 
 on mere hearsay evidence. 
 
 But few persons take the trouble to wade through the voluminous 
 mass of statistical information issued yearly by the Government, 
 although those who do not would probably be surprised at the extent 
 of land under cultivation, and the amount and value of the crops 
 produced. Nor is the land so under cultivation restricted to any 
 one district. On the contrary, blocks of land are opened up, and 
 are continually being opened up for agricultural settlement in all 
 parts of the colony, and the great work of placing an industrious 
 population on the soil is rapidly and steadily going on. 
 
 It is not contended, of course, that all the land in the colony pos- 
 sesses soil of equal richness, or of similar quality, and there are large 
 areas of country unsuitable, either from position, or from the nature 
 
14 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 of the ground, for the cultivation of wheat or potatoes, or even for 
 dairy purposes, but admirably for other valuable industries common in 
 Southern Europe. And it must be remembered that the present race 
 of colonists in Victoria devote almost all their energies to growing the 
 cereals or root-crops of Great Britain, or to the production of milk, 
 butter, cheese, and other dairy produce. For these purposes special 
 qualities of soil and situation are required, and hitherto, all country 
 imsuited to them has been practically ignored, or if utilised, only so 
 in a perfunctory and experimental manner. An Englishman must 
 have land that will carry grass. He is accustomed to green fields 
 and deep meadow land, and ignores the dry volcanic soil that pro- 
 duces the semi-tropical fruits of Southern Europe, the home of the 
 vine, the mulberry, and the olive. 
 
 So it is that there are millions of acres of land, the finest and 
 ttest in the world for the growth of those valuable products, lying 
 uiitenanted in the immediate neighbourhood, or within easy distance- 
 of large centres of population. As has been shown in a previous 
 chapter, the climate is suitable for these products, and experiments- 
 have satisfactorily proved that the soil is of the proper character and 
 quality. It now remains only for intelligence and energy to carry 
 out the enterprise to its full fruition, and to cover the sunny slopes, 
 spreading plains, and sheltered valleys of northern Victoria, with a 
 race of hardy vignerons, olive dressers, and sericulturists. 
 
 In dealing with the question of agriculture, it is proposed, first of 
 all, to treat on the extraordinary facilities offered by the Government 
 of Victoria for taking up land in freehold. These facilities are not 
 the growth of a day. In former years the colony was, except 
 in a few cases, a territory composed of vast holdings, utilised 
 mainly for sheepwalks, and so held by the squatters, as these large 
 stockowners are called, as to preclude ownership, or even occupa- 
 tion, by small farmers. As time progressed, and the desire of 
 colonists to settle on the land increased, it became the policy of the 
 Government to throw open the land for general occupation. 
 
 After a considerable amount of tentative legislation the first success- 
 ful measure was the Land Act of 1869. Previous to its passage the Hon. 
 J. M. Grant had by his administration of the Land Act of 1865, and 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTOKIA. 15 
 
 especially by his interpretation of the powers entrusted to him 
 under the 42nd clause, done much to settle the people upon the lands, 
 Imt the area which they could occupy was too small, the terms too 
 high, and the tenure insecure. The Land Act of 1869, introduced 
 by Mr. Grant and the Hon. J. J. Casey, President of the Paris 
 Commission, and subsequently administered by the latter, intro- 
 duced free selection before survey, continued the fixed price at 1 
 per acre, to be paid by ten instalments of 2s. each, reduced the area 
 'capable of being selected to 320 acres, insisted upon personal 
 residence after the first six months for two years and a half, culti- 
 vation of one tenth during the first three years, enclosing with a 
 fence, and effecting improvements to the value of 1 per acre. The 
 choice of selection was thrown on the Department of Lands, as also 
 the power to determine whether the conditions had or had not been 
 complied with. This act is now in force, and it is to it that the 
 rise and extension of agriculture in Victoria may be fairly said to be 
 due, as under its liberal provisions vast tracts of territory com- 
 paratively waste until then have been taken up, notably in the 
 districts of the Goulburn Valley, the Wimmera, Avoca, Campaspe, 
 Terricks, Thunder, Loddon, and Ovens Plains, Gippsland, and the 
 Upper Yarra. 
 
 Any man can hold land, and can become the proprietor thereof 
 by paying for it at the rate of 2s. per acre for ten years; nor 
 does a foreigner need to become naturalised in order to enjoy the 
 privilege. Shortly, the provisions are as follows : 
 
 1. Any person has the right of free selection of any land in 
 the colony which may not have been sold or disposed of, under 
 certain conditions. 
 
 2. He may apply personally to the land officer for the district 
 in which he wishes to select for a licence to occupy an area of 
 Crown lands not exceeding 320 acres in extent. 
 
 3. The term for which the application must be made must be 
 three years, the occupation fee or rent being at the rate of 2s. 
 per acre, paid half-yearly in advance. 
 
 4. The license is not transferable, nor has the licensee power 
 to sublet. 
 
16 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 5. The licensee must fence the land within two years, must reside 
 upon it, and during the three years' term of his license must cultivate 
 at least one out of every ten acres, and must make a total of improve- 
 ments to the value" of 1 per acre of the allotment, the value of 
 the fencing being included in the improvements. 
 
 6. Within thirty days of the termination of his three years' 
 license, and having fulfilled the conditions of occupancy, the 
 licensee may, on payment of 14s. per acre, obtain a Crown grant 
 in fee simple of his land, or should he not be in a position to 
 pay the 14s. per acre, he may obtain a lease of his allotment for 
 seven years, at a rental of 2s. per acre per annum. 
 
 7. At the expiration of the seven years' lease (ten years in all), 
 and having fulfilled the conditions, he will have paid 1 per acre 
 for his land, namely, 2s. per annum for ten years seven years 
 of lease and three of previous license and will then be entitled 
 to a Crown grant in fee simple of his allotment without any 
 further payment. 
 
 8. The lessee may at any time during the currency of his lease 
 purchase the freehold by paying in advance the balance between 
 what he has already paid, and the total sum of 1 per acre. 
 
 This easy method of becoming proprietors of the land they 
 settled on has been productive of a wonderful change in the 
 material of the colonists of Victoria. Thus, in 1861, there were 
 17,343 farmers, farmers' wives, market gardeners, &c., and 23,875 
 farm labourers, farm servants, and garden labourers, a total of 
 41,218 persons; while in March, 1876, there were no fewer than 
 88,719 persons employed on the 40,872 farms and agricultural 
 holdings of the colony, being 61,273 males and 27,446 females. 
 
 The facilities offered to the middle classes and agricultural 
 labourers for the acquisition of homesteads have produced this 
 remarkable change, since the opportunities of becoming their own 
 masters have induced thousands of industrious men, who could save 
 enough of their wages to build a hut, fence in a piece of land, and 
 provide food for their families until they could get in their first 
 crops, to settle on the land. There has thus arisen a large body of 
 small farmers, who, while improving their own positions, have also 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 17 
 
 materially added to the wealth and substantial good and advance- 
 ment of the colony. Many other industrious men too, not having 
 more money than was necessary to pay the first half-year's rent, and 
 to build a hut for their families, have boldly ventured on settlement 
 on their own account, trusting to the work they could obtain during 
 the three or four busy months of shearing and harvest time for funds 
 to supply their needs, and to fence and crop their own holdings. 
 
 The modus operandl for obtaining an allotment under the Amending 
 Land Act of 1869 is at once simple and expeditious. The applicant 
 selects a suitable piece of ground, and having pegged it out, that is 
 to say, placed a wooden peg not less than three feet above the ground 
 at each of the four corners of his selection, on one of which pegs he 
 has placed a notice of his intention to apply to the Crown Lands 
 Office for the land so marked out, gives notice to the Government 
 Surveyor for the district, and advertises in the local paper the fact, 
 of his application. The land is thereupon surveyed and reported on, 
 opportunities being afforded to other parties to object to the land 
 applied for being granted. Such objections are very rarely raised, 
 and only for cogent reasons will be entertained. The application 
 being recommended by the district land officer, and approved by the 
 Board of Land and Works, the license for occupation is issued forth- 
 with. 
 
 Thus then, by an easy process, any man in Victoria, alien or 
 otherwise, can by the payment of two shillings per acre per annum 
 for ten years, and by complying with the simple conditions of fenc- 
 ing, cultivating, and improving his land, become the possessor of a 
 farm of from 40 to 320 acres in extent, at the nominal price of 1 
 per acre, the greater portion of such price having already been paid 
 by way of rent. 
 
 Nor is pastoral occupation allowed to impede agricultural settle- 
 ment, for except on portions of Crown Lands reserved for public 
 purposes, the selector may choose out his allotment wherever he 
 thinks fit, and may have it surveyed at once. The regulations are 
 so simple that they are easily complied with, much of the difficulty 
 with the squatters has been overcome, and the bona 'fide, settler may 
 now obtain his land almost immediately after having marked it out. 
 
18 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 With regard to the land itself, the entire area of Victoria is; 
 56,446,720 acres, of which about 13,855,003 acres have ' been 
 
 already alienated, either sold or taken up by selectors, leaving about 
 42,591,717 acres still the property of the Crown. Of this, however, 
 over 20.000.000 are not immediately available, as they consist of moun- 
 tain ranges, swamps, and mallee and tea- tree scrub, &c., and require re- 
 clamation and improvement. Even of this, however, very much, by 
 the judicious outlay of capital, may, and 110 doubt will, in future 
 years, be rendered valuable, both for agricultural and for special 
 purposes. Of the remaining land, twenty-two and a half million 
 acres, or thereabouts, which is now ready and open for settlement, 
 it may be said that it is generally suitable for agricultural purposes. 
 The very fertile, rich, black, and chocolate soils of volcanic origin 
 cover an area of nearly 8,000,000 acres, and there are about 
 23,000,000 acres of rich light loam, alluvium, and good clay. Much 
 of the forest land, although of excellent quality, is yet unoccupied, 
 some being covered with heavy timber, some with scrub, but the 
 labour of clearing this, especially the latter, is not nearly so great as 
 has been generally supposed. The character of the soil in any 
 
 ocality depends, of course, on the geological formation of the 
 district. According to the latest information the various descrip- 
 tions of soil may be thus classified. Of rich, light, loamy soil, to be 
 found on terraced flats along river valleys, and in narrow belts along 
 the sea coast, also in extensive level plains with stunted timber and 
 thinly-grassed undulating country, there are about 23,000,000 acres. 
 The flats referred to are open or lightly -timbered with redgum, 
 blackwood, &c., and their geological features are clay, sand, lime, 
 gravel, tertiary, and superficial deposits, including alluvial soil. Of 
 cold sandy clays and poor light sandy loams found in hilly and 
 undulating country, timbered with iron and stringy bark, and 
 having a geological formation of clay, slates, schists, and sandstone, 
 about 18,000,000 acres. Of rich black and chocolate soil, noted for 
 its fertility, and met with in open slightly undulating plains, 
 with isolated wooded, sometimes stony hills, belonging to the 
 tertiary period, and volcanic in origin, about 8,000,000 acres. Of 
 light and sandy soils in undulating and hilly country, with open 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTOHIA. 11) 
 
 timber and good grass, about 5,000,000 acres. These soils are also 
 found on mountain ranges, densely timbered, extending to 6000 feet 
 above sea-level, and belonging to the granite formation. Of rich 
 sandy loams, in open well-grassed downs and hilly country, with 
 dense forests, and showing geologically shales and soft sandstones, 
 about 2,000,000 acres. Of all these descriptions of soil, for agricul- 
 tural purposes the alluvial and black vegetable moulds rank first. 
 They yield very large returns to r the farmers, and are situated in 
 Gippslaud, Western Port, round Colac, and all over the Warrnam- 
 bool district. Next to these are the volcanic soils, black or choco- 
 late. Some very rich farms are found on these, and they are 
 admirably suited to the growth of the vine, the olive, the fig, the 
 mulberry, and other fruits. The poorer loams follow these in order 
 of value, being fertile, and yielding good crops. The granite soils, 
 fair, but light and sandy, come next ; and lastly, clays and adhesive 
 loams, and soils in which sand is a large constituent, although some 
 of the latter are valuable for special products. 
 
 Wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and hay, are, and always have 
 been, the standard crops of Victoria, and beyond these no great 
 extent of any one thing has yet been grown. Maize is largely used 
 for horse feed, but it is principally imported from New South Wales, 
 where it grows freely. But the small variety, or ninety-days maize, 
 will ripen anywhere, and it needs only to be better known to cause 
 it to be cultivated in Victoria. It yields abundantly, with little 
 trouble, and is good at all stages of its growth for one or other kind 
 of stock. 
 
 With regard to the standard crops, the latest statistics show that 
 for the year ending 31st March, 1876. there were under wheat, 321,401 
 acres; oats, 124,100 acres; barley, 31,568 acres; potatoes, 36,901 acres; 
 hay, 155,274 acres; and green forage, including cereal grasses (barley, 
 wheat, oats, &c.), maize, rye grass, lucerne, clover, vetches, &c., 
 sorghum, and permanent artificial grasses, 308,405 acres; the 
 returns being wheat, 4,978,914 bushels; oats, 2,719,795 bushels; 
 barley, 700,665 bushels; potatoes, 124,377 tons; and hay, 206,613 
 tons. For the year ending 31st March, 1877, the returns were 
 wheat, 401,417 acres; oats, 115,209 acres; barley, 25,034 acres; 
 
20 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 potatoes, 40,450 acres; hay, 147,408 acres; and green forage, 362,554 
 acres; yielding wheat, 5,279,730 bushels; oats, 2,294,225 bushels; 
 barley, 530,323 bushels; potatoes, 134,082 tons; hay, 180,560 tons. 
 From these figures it will be seen that there has been an increase in 
 both the average and produce of wheat and potatoes, and a decrease 
 in oats, barley, and hay. The average produce, however, is lower 
 per acre than that of the previous year, being in 1876, wheat, 15*49^ 
 bushels; oats, 21 '92 bushels; barley, 22*20 bushels; potatoes, 3*37 
 tons; hay, 1 '33 tons; and in 1877, wheat, 13*15 bushels; oats, 19*91 
 bushels; barley, 21*18 bushels; potatoes, 3*31 tons; hay, 1'22 tons. 
 
 With the quantity of wheat produced may be taken into account 
 the quantities imported and exported, and with these must alsa 
 be taken into account the manufactures of wheat, namely, flour, 
 bread, and biscuit, the whole being known to the trade as bread- 
 stuffs. The statistics of the colony taken from 1836 (assuming that 
 one bushel of wheat produces forty-five pounds of flour, bread, or 
 biscuit), show that in almost all the years Victoria has had to 
 import breadstuff's largely in order to supply the requirements of 
 her population, and in three years only has there been a residue, 
 and in those but a small one, remaining for export. The three 
 years referred to are 1870, 1873, and 1874. In the first of these the 
 exports of breadstuff's exceeded the imports by 95,654 bushels, in 
 the second by 138,088 bushels, and in the third by 40,714 bushels. 
 In 1875, although in an official report laid before Parliament it 
 Avas anticipated that there would again be a surplus of breadstuff^ 
 to the amount of about 20,000 bushels, it turned out that the 
 demand exceeded the supply, and that it was found necessary to 
 import no less a quantity than 200,369 bushels of breadstuff's over 
 and above the quantity exported. 
 
 The following are the proportions per cent, which the land under 
 each of the principal crops has borne to the total land under cultiva- 
 tion in the last two years: For 1875-6, wheat, 28 '52; oats, 11 '01; 
 barley, 2*80; potatoes, 3*27; hay, 13*78; green forage, 27*37; other 
 tillage, 13*25; total, 100*00. For 1876-7, wheat, 32*61; oats, 9*36; 
 barley, 2*03; potatoes, 3*29; hay, 11*97; green forage, 29*45; other 
 tillage, 11*29; total, 100*00. It will thus be observed that in pro- 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 21 
 
 portion wheat and green forage covered a larger area, and the other 
 crops a smaller area in proportion to the total cultivation, in the 
 latter year than in the former. 
 
 Other crops, less important than those already named, are grown 
 to a certain extent in Victoria. Some of these are raised in gardens 
 and on smaller lots than those which the collectors are called on to 
 visit, and therefore the full extent to which they are cultivated does 
 not appear. For the year 1876-7 these crops are shown as follows: 
 Beet, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage, 571 acres, 3430 tons; canary, 
 30 acres, 183 bushels; chicory, 225 acres, 980 bushels; cocksfoot, for 
 eed, 13 acres, 230 bushels; flax, 3 acres; fibre, 2^ cwt.; linseed, 
 52 bushels; hops, 225 acres, 129,136 Ibs.; maize, 1609 acres, 25,900 
 bushels; mangel-wurzel, 1285 acres, 15,386 tons; mustard (white), 
 74 acres, 185 cwt.; onions, 720 acres, 71,580 cwt.; opium poppies, 
 
 4 acres, 60 Ibs.; osiers, 5 acres; peas and beans, millet and sorghum, 
 21,235 acres, 373,857 bushels; prairie grass, for seed, 75 acres, 12 
 bushels; grown on 3 acres only, 72 acres having failed; pumpkins, 
 19 acres, 77 tons; rape, for seed, 10 acres, 20 bushels; raspberries, 
 10 acres, 51 cwt.; rye and bere, 1153 acres, 15,277 bushels; rye grass, 
 for seed, 1851 acres, 28,209 bushels; strawberries, 21 acres, 1509 
 cwt.; teazles, 3 acres, 19,000 number; tobacco, 1479 acres, 14,413 
 cwt.; turnips, 224 acres, 1769 tons; vetches and tares, for seed, 
 
 5 acres, 47 bushels; vines, 4765 acres; wine, 481,588 gallons; brandy, 
 3725 gallons. 
 
 In addition to the area under these crops, the following land was 
 returned as being comprised in gardens and orchards in the same 
 year: 18,641 acres, being an increase of 880 acres on the previous year. 
 
 Ten acres under olives, and eleven acres under mulberry trees, are 
 also returned for the year. The mulberry trees numbered 11,010, 
 and are grown for the purpose of feeding and rearing silkworms, this 
 being an industry, which, so far as it has gone, has been attended 
 with great success in Victoria. The previous year there were 23 
 acres under mulberries, with 30,650 trees. Of these, no fewer than 
 25,000 trees, brought from China, France, and Italy, were planted by 
 a company established near Castlemaine. This company exported 
 in 1875, over 100 ounces of silkworm grain to the north of Italy, 
 
22 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 where it is said to have created quite a sensation amongst the pur- 
 chasers on account of its healthy appearance. Some cocoons were 
 also sent, and were highly approved of by competent judges. No 
 particulars as to the olive crop have been given. 
 
 Mulberry and olive trees are frequently grown in gardens, and 
 there is no doubt that both are far more extensively cultivated than 
 the agricultural statistics indicate. With regard to the former, how- 
 ever, it is to be deplored that although the colony presents special 
 advantages for their cultivation, a large plantation of them 
 is reported to have been abandoned since last year, owing ta 
 there being 110 demand for their produce, which will account 
 for the discrepancy which appears in the statistics of the two years. 
 Raspberries, and strawberries too, are cultivated to a considerable 
 extent in private gardens, so that far more are produced than appear 
 in the statistics. This is also the case with oziers for basket making, 
 which are often grown in small patches, in swamps and on the banks 
 of streams, and do not come under the notice of collectors of 
 statistics. 
 
 Land in fallow is included in land in tillage. The quantity of 
 fallow land in 1876--7 is returned at 84,159 acres, as against 97,13& 
 acres in the previous year. 
 
 The number of hands employed on farms during the year ending 
 31st March, 1877, was 63,394 males; 28,747 females; total, 
 92, 141 ; being an increase of 3422 persons over the previous year. 
 These figures include the owners of holdings, and only reter to 
 alienated land of which 110 portion is subject to a squatting license. 
 The rates of wages for agricultural labour on farms for the yearl876--7, 
 average as follows, board and lodgings being given in every case in addi. 
 tion to wages, and there still being, as there has always been, a great 
 scarcity of labour, especially in the .busy season : Ploughmen, per 
 week, 21s. 3d.; farm labourers, 17s. 4d. ; married couples, 26s. 3d.; 
 females, 10s. Sd.; mowers, 31s. Id.; mowers, per acre, 5s. 9d.; 
 reapers, per week, 33s. 4d. ; reapers, per acre, 12s. lid.; Threshers, 
 per bushel, 8d. 
 
 The number of holdings of various sizes, and the extent of occupied 
 and cultivated laud embraced in them, are shown as follows. It must 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 23 
 
 be noticed, however, that these statistics, in common with all others 
 concerning agriculture, contain no account of holdings which are not 
 over one acre in extent, or of land which does not appear to be in the 
 bonafide occupation of some one living on or near the ground, or of 
 any which is occupied for other purposes than agriculture or the 
 keeping of live-stock, or of any Crown lands held under pastoral 
 licenses: Holdings of from 1 to 4 acres, 1673; land in occupation; 
 4874 acres ; land under tillage, 2836 acres. From 5 to 14 acres, 3536, 
 land in occupation, 31,138 acres; under tillage, 13.981 acres. From 
 15 to 29 acres, 3897; land in occupation, 80,309 acres; under tillage, 
 25,333 acres. From 30 to 49 acres, 3284; land in occupation, 125,895 
 acres; under tillage, 34,023 acres. From 50 to 99 acres, 5998; land in 
 occupation, 432,307 acres; under tillage, 93,693 acres. From 100 to 
 199 acres, 8103; land in occupation, 1,144,521 acres; under tillage, 
 204,474 acres. From 200 to 320 acres, 11,664; land in occupation, 
 3,315,835 acres ; under tillage, 415,308 acres. From 321 to 400 acres, 
 1132 ; land in occupation. 407,982 acres; under tillage, 62,586 acres. 
 From 401 to 500 acres, 920; land in occupation, 414,704 acres; under 
 tillage, 60,201 acres. From 500 acres upwards, 2915; land in occupa- 
 tion, 7,929,938 acres; under tillage, 322,736 acres. Being a total of 
 43,057 holdings; land in occupation, 13,855,003 acres; and land 
 under tillage, 1,231,105 acres; the average size of holdings being 322 
 acres; the average per centage of occupied land, enclosed, being 
 91*7; the average percentage of occupied land cultivated, 8 '89; and 
 the average area cultivated by each holder being 28 '6 acres. 
 
 The average prices of the agricultural produce in 1877 are : 
 Wheat, 5s. lOd. per bushel; oats, 3s. 7d. ; barley, 3s. 10d.; maize 
 4s. 4d. ; hay, 4 13s. per ton; potatoes, 2 14s.; mangel wurzel, 
 1 lls. 6d. ; showing a considerable increase in prices over the 
 previous year in all those products, except barley and maize, the for- 
 mer being at the same price as, and the latter at a slight reduction 
 from, that of 1876. 
 
 The standard weight of crops in Victoria is reckoned at 60 Ibs. per 
 bushel for wheat and maize ; 40 Ibs. for oats ; and 50 Ibs. for barley. 
 The actual weight, however, varies in different districts, wheat vary- 
 ing from 58 to 64 Ibs.; average, 61 Ibs. ; oats, from 35 to 44 Ibs. 
 
 c2 
 
24 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 average, 40 Ibs. ; barley, 45 to 56 Ibs. ; average, 51 Ibs. ; maize, 50 to 
 601bs. ; average, 55 Ibs. These averages have been the weights of 
 produce since 1863, except in the case of barley last year, when that 
 article averaged 1 Ib. lighter. 
 
 The statistics of live-stock 011 farms and lands unconnected with 
 squatting stations show that there were horses, 177,483; cattle, 
 959,146, of which 264,648 were milch cows; sheep, 6,444,786; pigs, 
 171,729. 
 
 In order to afford an idea of the extent to which farming is carried 
 on in the colony, it may be here recorded that the approximate value 
 of agricultural implements and machinery on farms, was valued, 
 on the 31st March, 1877, at 1,734,976; and of improvements, at 
 13,754,526; a total of 15,492,502. 
 
 In proceeding to the consideration of what may fairly be called 
 new agricultural industries in Victoria (inasmuch as although they, 
 or some of them, have been in existence for years, still it has been 
 merely experimental cultivation, and, with the exception, perhaps, 
 of the culture of the grape vine, and the manufacture of wine, never 
 have been gone into with the object of producing a staple com- 
 modity), it may not be out of place to mention that they have long 
 commanded the attention of the most eminent scientists of the 
 colony, and that numerous and exhaustive reports and treatises have 
 from time to time appeared in the public press with the object of 
 attracting attention to the subject. 
 
 More especially has attention been drawn to the cultivation of the 
 Vine, from the fact that the vine wouldthrive and bear fruit luxuriantly 
 in the Victorian climate and soil. Although both these are generally 
 more suitable on the north than on the south side of the Great Dividing 
 Range, yet so long back as 1846 vineyards were established in the 
 district of Geelong, and in the face of many obstacles, such as the 
 difficulty of procuring vine-cuttings suitable for the soil, the 
 ignorance of the proper management of the vine on the part of new 
 cultivators, the indiscriminate mixing of various kinds of grapes for 
 pressing, the want of proper cellarage, and the remunerative rate of 
 wages for other pursuits, vine-growing slowly but surely made 
 progress, the more that of late years a few vignerons from the 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 25 
 
 continent of Europe have planted vineyards, and so far introduced 
 the systems in use in their respective countries, while a knowledge 
 of the varieties of the grape and the best methods of cultivation 
 have been imparted through the medium of the press. The requisite 
 knowledge and experience for the cultivation of the vine are by no 
 means difficult. Climate and soil have done so much that a little 
 observation, inquiry, and natural tact, with advice or assistance 
 from properly trained vignerons, will enable a man to master a 
 sufficient knowledge of the subject to warrant him in commencing 
 operations for himself. 
 
 A large amount of capital is now invested in the culture of the 
 vine. In 1856, there were 279 acres of vineyards, yielding 11,000 
 gallons of wine, and 340 gallons of brandy. In 1869 there were 
 4950 acres, on which were grown 9,230,531 vines, yielding 577,287 
 gallons of wine, 878 gallons of brandy, and 24,980 cwt. of grapes 
 for sale, and in 1877 there were 4765 acres, on which were grown 
 7,938,512 vines, yielding 481,588 gallons of wine, and 3725 gallons of 
 brandy, a falling-off from the previous year, in extent of vineyards, 
 number of vines, and produce of wine, but a very large increase in 
 the quantity of brandy made. 
 
 Generally speaking, the Victorian wines are good in their several 
 kinds, but it must be noted that whether light or full bodied, they 
 are the produce of French or German vines. Except the Vercleilho 
 (Madeira), scarcely any other is to be found as a standard sort, 
 although in the valley of the Murray all the Spanish vines would 
 have a fine chance, for there a deep gravelly soil, heat and shelter, 
 and no hot winds, indicate their natural home. The wines from the 
 north of the Dividing Range still maintain the high standard for which 
 they have been known for many years. Owing to the great variety 
 of climate, and the abundance of fine aspects for vineyards in the 
 general contour of the country, Victoria is fortunately capable of 
 producing, and does produce, wines which can be advantageously 
 classified with many of the European kinds. In the Melbourne 
 Exhibition of 1875, she took in all 99 prizes, being 35 first- 
 class, 24 second, 29 third, and 11 fourth class, the samples being 
 as follows: White, Mixed, lliesling, Chasselas, Verdeilho, Nice, 
 
26 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Sherry, Pedro Ximenes, Ugni Blanc, and Roussette; Red, Hermi- 
 tage, Carbinet, Gamais, Mourvedre or Esparte, Mataro, Mixed 
 Burgundy, Shiraz, Black Cluster, Malvoise, Grenache, Leverdun or 
 Glory of Australia, Pineau, Malbec and Muscatel. Of the white 
 wines the Riesling, of which there were 26 samples, took 17 prizes, 
 and of the red, the Hermitage, out of 35 samples, took 29 prizes. 
 The Ararat district showed 15 samples, Beech worth 6, Castlemaine 
 14, Echuca 12, Geeloug 8, Goulburn 12, Melbourne 28, Murray 4, 
 and Sandhurst 41, making in all 140 exhibits, which took 99 prizes; 
 New South Wales, with 45 exhibits, taking 39, and South Australia 
 with 66 exhibits, 55 prizes. At the Philadelphia Exhibition, 1876, 
 prizes were awarded to Victorian wines. 
 
 In connection with Victorian wines, Mr. Lesley A. Moody, Chief 
 Inspector of Distilleries, Melbourne, reports: "The result (of 
 analysis) corroborates an opinion which I had entertained for some 
 time, that the natural wines of the northern portions of Victoria 
 develop more alcohol than natural wines have been generally con- 
 sidered to be capable of doing, and range much higher in this respect 
 than the British customs standard of 26 per cent, of proof." Again, 
 ' ' The quality of the wines tested was in general very good, and in 
 many cases might be called excellent. The speciality of most of the 
 produce of the vineyards situated in the northern portion of the 
 colonies is that it is full-bodied, rich, and fruity, caused, doubtless, 
 by the greater warmth and dryness of climate there, which ripen the 
 grape thoroughly, and give a high gravity of must. The character- 
 istics of these wines are similar to those of Spain and Portugal, while 
 those made in the southern districts resemble the wines made in 
 Germany and the Rhine, and the northern and midland districts of 
 France. The produce of the same description of grape grown in the 
 districts of the north of the Dividing Range, and that grown to the 
 southward or seaward side, makes wine of a distinctive character. 
 My experience of some years in the vineyards of the colony leads me 
 to the conclusion that the character of the wine made is improving 
 year by year; and as Victoria possesses soils and climates of such 
 variety, and so suitable for the growth of wines of so many descrip- 
 tions, and of a superior class, I am sanguine of a great future for 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 27 
 
 this produce when greater experience, knowledge, and capital, are 
 brought to bear on it, and vignerons can be induced to see the policy 
 of limiting their vines grown to those only which experience shows 
 to be suitable to the soil and climate of their vineyards. A few good 
 wines will find a readier market, be easier and more cheaply manu- 
 factured, and therefore more profitable, than a large variety of 
 medium quality." 
 
 From this undeniable testimony as to the high character of Victorian 
 wines, and from the facts that they command a ready market, and 
 that there are millions of acres of land having soil available and 
 suitable for their growth, and a climate which will bring them to 
 perfection, it cannot be, but that with the influx of vignerons from 
 France, the Rhine, and the Mediterranean coast, will come the time 
 when Victoria shall vie with the older countries of Europe, in being 
 looked upon as one of the finest wine-producing countries in the 
 world. 
 
 But not only in the direction of the cultivation of the vine is there 
 an opening for the overcrowded peasantry and small capitalists of 
 southern Europe. The soil and climate of the colony are equally 
 suitable to the growth of other southern products. And first the 
 Olive. As yet, but little has been done towards the production of 
 this valuable fruit tree, but even that little has proved unmistakably 
 that it will flourish and that its fruit will ripen in Victoria as well as 
 in its native soil, if properly planted and tended during the earlier 
 stages of its growth. 
 
 In the year 1871 a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate 
 and report on the establishment of rural industries in Victoria, and 
 the acclimatisation of the olive was one of the subjects which first 
 engaged their attention. It is due, however, to the energy dis- 
 played by the Rev. Dr. Bleasdale, that an impetus was given to the 
 industry, and that the enterprise assumed a tangible shape. That 
 gentleman, having been entrusted by the Commissioners with the 
 duty of procuring plants of the olive tree, and of superintending the 
 planting of them, procured one hundred truncheons of 5 feet in length 
 .and from two to three inches in diameter, from olive trees which had 
 
 .already borne fruit in South Australia. These he divided into two 
 
 jj^-< >* ^^*^c >^k. 
 tf*^ 0? ' 
 
 VEE3ITYJ 
 
28 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 lots of fifty each, one lot being sent to Sunbury, about a dozen to be 
 planted in the vineyard of the Hon. J. G. Francis, and the remainder 
 in the grounds of the Industrial School, this having been done mainly 
 with a view of testing the different aspects and soils. These were 
 planted under the direction of Mr. Balclini, a gentleman thoroughly 
 acquainted with olive growing as carried on in some of the cooler 
 climates of Italy, who showed the work-master at Sunbury the 
 method usually adopted in the northern parts of that country, 
 when truncheons are planted. It may, therefore, be taken for 
 granted that the Italian method of planting had a fair trial. The 
 remaining fifty, except a dozen planted at Essendon, were planted 
 in the gardens of the Acclimatisation Society at the Royal Park, 
 Melbourne, by a native of Oporto, carefully in accordance with the 
 mode of planting employed in Portugal. Besides these, several 
 hundred cuttings were planted in various parts of the colony, and 
 in various ways, and the result, up to now, has been satisfactory, 
 having done all that was desired, namely, proved that the olive will 
 thrive in Victoria. The foundation of the olive groves has been 
 established, and it only needs knowledge and enterprise to carry out 
 the profitable industry, the fabrication of olive oil, for even now, 
 from the olives grown on the few trees that have arrived at full 
 bearing, has been expressed oil which has been pronounced by com- 
 petent judges equal in quality to the best French or Italian olive 
 oil. 
 
 The Fig, that is to say the green and red fig, is already acclimatised 
 in Victoria, and has been not only brought to perfection so far as 
 the growth is concerned, but has been dried, and in the form of 
 dried figs, has been exhibited and offered in the market. But it is a 
 fact that the true Turkey white fig, the valuable fig of commerce, 
 has not been introduced into the colony. Why this is so it is 
 difficult to determine, for wherever the olive will ripen the fig will 
 flourish, and the Victorian climate appears to be especially favour- 
 able to the production of this fruit ; nor is its cultivation attended 
 with much difficulty. The figs introduced into Victoria, and pro- 
 pagated by means of seeds, suckers, or cuttings, have been very 
 prolific, are great fruit bearers, and exist to a considerable extent, 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 29 
 
 principally, if not wholly in gardens. They are generally of the 
 green or red sort, and assume the form of shrubs or spreading 
 bushes, rather than of trees. The Rev. Dr. Bleasdale, who has 
 studied the subject in Portugal, where figs are largely grown, 
 says that although it might appear ungracious and dogmatic to say 
 that there was not a true or white fig in the colony, still he believed 
 that such was the case at all events, in all his experience he had 
 never seen one. All he had met had a taint of red in their fruit r 
 and did not shape for forming trees, but only bushes. The true fig 
 tree has no business to bear other than true white or yellow fruit, as 
 its true and proper autumn crop, for there are two crops annually. 
 It remains then for those who understand the subject to cultivate, 
 not only that, but the black or dark purple fig in the colony, and 
 thus to bring to a practical issue the production and drying, which 
 latter presents no special difficulties, of this valuable and profitable 
 fruit. 
 
 Amongst the new industries introduced of late years into Victoria, 
 none perhaps, have attracted more of public attention than the 
 production of Silk. A lady, Mrs. Bladen Neill, who certainly 
 deserves well of the colony for her exertions in this direction, has 
 already done very much towards affording a knowledge of the pro- 
 cess of production of this valuable article, and in Victoria, with her 
 suitable geographical position and meteorological peculiarities, and 
 her large consumption of imported silks, much more remains, and 
 ought to be done in this direction. The white mulberry (morn* 
 alba} the best and richest aliment known for the silk-worm, grows 
 luxuriantly, and the true silk-worm (Bombyx Morus) thrives 
 well in Victoria. Mulberry trees are grown in nearly all gardens of 
 any pretensions, and in the Botanical Gardens and Royal Park, 
 Melbourne, and at Sunbury, and the breeding of the silk- worm has 
 long been a favourite amusement with the ladies and youth of the 
 colony. 
 
 The samples of silk shown at the various Exhibitions in Mel- 
 bourne and elsewhere, cannot be surpassed in fineness and strength 
 of texture by silk produced in any part of the world. As yet, how- 
 ever, few attempts have been made at the manufacture of coloiiially 
 
30 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA 
 
 produced silk, beyond reeling it off the cocoons, and making it into 
 hanks. 
 
 Although, as has been stated, mulberry trees are grown far and 
 wide, still the number of full-grown trees in any one locality is 
 limited, and there is not therefore a large and readily available 
 supply of fresh leaves for the sustenance of any very large collection 
 of silk-worms. Before, then, anything can be done in the way of 
 extensive production of new silk, the foundation must be laid by 
 the formation of numerous large plantations of the mulberry tree in 
 the neighbourhood of the centres of population. Nor is there either 
 difficulty in, nor lack of available land for its cultivation. It is a 
 hardy tree within the limits of the vine climate, and grows rapidly 
 and vigorously everywhere throughout the colony. The soil most 
 suitable is a dry sandy loam, or other moderately fertile, well 
 drained site, if possible on a gently sloping surface, a heavy alluvial 
 soil, swampy or difficult to drain, being avoided, for although the 
 tree will flourish there the leaves will supply a coarse unwhole- 
 some food for the worms, which will bring on disease, and will 
 give an inferior quality of silk. 
 
 Besides the true mulberry tree (Moms alba), the soil and climate 
 of Victoria is well adapted to growing the Manilla Mulberry Shrub 
 ( Moms multicaulis), which is valuable for supplying a copious supply 
 of tender leaves for the worms in the first stage of their growth. 
 
 Nor are the mulberry and the silkworm proper the only sources of 
 silk supply. There are numerous silkworms of different species 
 which feed on the leaves of other plants, but which are far inferior 
 in value to the true silkworm, as, although they produce a strong 
 lustrous silk of dark-yellow colour, it is open to the great objection 
 that it is almost impossible to unwind the cocoon, and notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that the French have succeeded after repeated efforts 
 in the filature or reeling off the thread of the cocoon of these, the 
 Eria or Arr'mdij worms, the trouble, delay, and expense of the 
 process puts a practical bar to it, and the arrindy cocoons are 
 now converted into Bourre de Sole, that is, the cocoons are carded 
 into a kind of wadding, which is then spun into thread like cotton 
 or wool. The Eria, Arrindi, or Pal ma Christi (Bombyx Ric'mi), 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 31 
 
 feeds oil the Rkhiu* or castor-oil plant, and this worm ought to 
 be largely produced in Victoria, for the castor-oil plant grows with 
 the ease and rapidity of a weed, and is in leaf throughout the year. 
 The castor-oil plant has the additional recommendation of its seeds 
 furnishing, by a simple process of pressing, the well-known 
 medicinal drug, castor oil. 
 
 Other descriptions of silkworms are known to the Chinese and 
 Japanese, and feed 011 the Japan varnish tree and the oak, and 
 the Island of Madagascar is remarkable for the variety of silk- 
 producing worms found there. These latter, however, belong to 
 the curiosities of silk production, and would not, perhaps, thrive 
 in Victoria. Enough has been said, however, to show that a vast 
 field of enterprise is open to skilful and energetic sericulturists 
 from France and Italy, in order to develop an industry which 
 is second to none in the world for the demand for its product, 
 and the pecuniary value of its results, if carried out in an extensive 
 and spirited manner. 
 
 Although the Orange and Lemon have for a considerable time 
 past been cultivated with some show of success in Victoria, and 
 especially in the neighbourhood of Melbourne, still it is the opinion 
 of many experienced persons that the climate is unsuitable. 
 Certain it is that the oranges produced, although hardly sweet 
 enough, and somewhat thick-skinned, have been good, but have 
 mostly been grown in well sheltered gardens and choice spots. 
 What is wanted, however, from a commercial point of view, is 
 not that this superb fruit should be cultivated with the skill and 
 care of an accomplished horticulturist, and the superior tilth and 
 fertility of a sedulously tended garden or nursery, but its growth 
 on a large scale, say in numerous orangeries of from ten to fifteen 
 acres each, with simply the ordinary care and attention devoted 
 to orchards of less important fruit, and for this purpose it is 
 questionable whether the neighbourhood of Melbourne, or indeed 
 any of the districts lying south of the Dividing Range, are well 
 adapted. True it is that the orange flourishes to perfection in 
 the same climatic belt as that which suits the olive and the fig, 
 -or even the somewhat cooler vine climate. But, at the same 
 
32 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 time, the tribe or genus Citrus, of which the orange ( Aurantium} 
 is the noblest species, advances, with respect to some of its species, 
 such as the lime and the shaddock, into the tropics, where the 
 olive will not bear fruit. 
 
 The fact is, that the mildness of the Melbourne winter and 
 spring are all that could be desired, but that the summer and 
 autumn have not the duration of a high temperature sufficiently 
 prolonged to furnish that exquisite mingling of the saccharine 
 and acid juices of the fruit in the full perfection that the orange 
 is capable of exhibiting, and that it does exhibit in the fruit grown 
 in warmer climates. The true habitat of the orange in Victoria, 
 therefore, grown for profit, is on the sunny slopes north of the 
 Dividing Range, in the direction of the Wimmera, the Murray, 
 Echuca, Sandhurst, Maryborough, Moliagul, and other correspond- 
 ing districts wherever there is rich soil, and means of copious 
 irrigation. And of spots favourable there is no lack, so that there 
 is little fear that, when the matter is taken up in earnest, and 
 by persons who know practically the requirements of the tree, 
 and the proper method of its cultivation, the growth of this 
 valuable fruit will become an important industry. 
 
 The five divisions of the Citrus tribe are the orange, the citron, 
 the lemon, the lime, and the shaddock, with their numerous 
 varieties. The orange and lemon, and perhaps the citron, are, 
 however, those only which concern Victoria, and experience has 
 proved that no part of the world has a more suitable climate and 
 soil for the production of these valuable fruits than the south- 
 eastern districts of the Australian continent, including New South 
 Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. In these colonies, especially 
 on the Hunter River, and the Parramatta River, in New South 
 Wales, trees of from twelve to fifteen years old will produce 
 from thirty to forty dozen oranges each tree, and in some cases 
 a hundred dozen have been gathered from trees forty years old. 
 The favourite varieties, all flourishing well in New South Wales, 
 are as follows : The Bahia, or Navel orange ; the Sabina, the 
 China, the Maltese, or Blood; the Siletta, the St. Michael's, the 
 Genoa, the Sorento, the Poor Man's, the Seville, the Tangierine r 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 33 
 
 the Canton Mandarin, the Emperor of China Mandarin, the Emperor 
 Mandarin, the Thorny Mandarin, and the Cumquat. Of these 
 the St. Michael's, Navel, Poor Man's, Seville, Cumquat, and the 
 various Mandarin oranges, and several kinds of lemons have been 
 and are satisfactorily brought to maturity in Victoria, and there 
 can be no reason why, with suitable soil and proper culture, the 
 colony should not compete in the production of this noble fruit 
 with her elder sister colony of New South Wales. 
 
 The Lisbon lemon and the Sweet lemon have already been accli- 
 matised and grow to perfection, the trees being hardy, easy of culti- 
 vation, free growers, and very productive. 
 
 It is somewhat unaccountable that with the advantages of climate 
 -and soil, so well adapted to the growth of the vine, there should 
 have been so much indifference displayed by Victorian vigneroiis 
 with regard to the cultivation of grapes for drying, or converting into 
 Raisins and Currants. They have been and are, it is admitted, 
 produced in the colony, but only on a very small scale, but even 
 small as it is, the fact has been proved by actual experience that 
 with a moderate amount of attention they will flourish here, and 
 may be rendered an important and prosperous undertaking by any 
 one capable of carrying it out. The grapes mostly used for drying 
 into raisins are the fleshy sort of the Muscat, the Sultana, and the 
 Black Calabrian, which latter kind is unknown in Victoria, and the 
 Sultana is not very well known. But raisins from the Muscat of 
 Alexandria grape have been successfully made, and excellent raisin 
 grapes, Lexia and Muscatel, will both come to perfection in the colony, 
 as has been proved beyond doubt. 
 
 Currants, dried from the small Zante and Corinth grape, have also 
 been produced in small quantities, the fruit growing well in the 
 warmer parts of the colony. 
 
 Almonds have been grown for years in the neighbouring colony of 
 South Australia, and their production offers a fair Held for enterprise 
 in Victoria, where some few varieties are already established. This 
 fruit is cultivated largely in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Algeria, 
 and other Mediterranean countries, whence it forms a very valuable 
 article of export. Persons from France and Spain experienced in 
 
34 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 their culture would find an opening here, for, as has been stated, both 
 the climate and soil of Victoria have been proved to be favourable to 
 its growth. 
 
 The establishment of plantations of the Sweet Chestnut (Fagus 
 castanea, Castanea vesca), on a large scale, has long been a 
 desideratum recognised among men of science in \ r ictoria. The 
 timber of the chesnut tree is exceedingly valuable for the manufac- 
 ture of wine casks, as it contains no matter which can give the wine 
 an objectionable taste or colour. Besides this the tree is highly 
 ornamental, and as it ages, becomes very large and umbrageous. Its 
 fruit too, which in Spain, Portugal, and Italy contributes very largely 
 to the luxury and sometimes- the necessity of life, is a commodity 
 which at present, in South Australia and everywhere it is grown, 
 commands a very high price in consequence of the scanty supply. 
 The tree is one that is hardy, grows freely, and is easily transplanted 
 when young, but which requires a good soil, requiring sufficient depth 
 of soil or open rock to admit of its forming a tap root. In Portugal it 
 is found to flourish best in gravelly districts, and on the slopes of 
 rotten rocky hills. As any place, however, having moderate drainage, 
 and capable of growing beech or ash, would be suitable, there seems 
 no difficulty in fixing on abundance of suitable sites in Victoria. 
 
 The varied resources of soil and climate in Victoria are proved in 
 nothing so much perhaps as in the fact of the production of Opium of 
 a superior kind, the choicest yielding ten per centum of morphia, 
 being the produce of the mountain valleys in North Gipps Land. 
 There is, however, at present a grave obstacle to its being cultivated 
 as an article of commerce, and that is the scarcity of juvenile labour, 
 the fittest and cheapest for the purpose. The crop of opium, which 
 is gathered in December or January, must be got in within six weeks 
 at the utmost, and as in a plantation of five or six acres in extent, it 
 would require a dozen hardworking youths to go over the vast 
 number of poppy heads in due time at the period of gathering the 
 milky sap from the carefully wounded capsule which forms the opium 
 without waste, and with cleanliness, the vast amount of work neces- 
 sary to gather a large harvest is easily to be seen. Where, however, 
 the grower, either by means of his own numerous family, or with the 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 35 
 
 assistance of the children of neighbours, has been able to over- 
 come the obstacle, the production of opium in Victoria has been very 
 profitable. The value of opium depends on the quantity of morphia 
 it contains. Ten per cent, of morphia is considered a high rate, and 
 Victorian opium is found to contain from 7 to 10 per cent. A fair ave- 
 rage yield is 401bs. to the acre, the price varying, according to quality, 
 from 20s. to 30s. per Ib. The profitable nature of the production of 
 this plant may be estimated from the fact that about 48, 0001 bs. 
 are imported into Victoria annually, to say nothing of the 
 importation into the other Australian colonies. Besides a large quan- 
 tity for colonial consumption, there would, in all probability, be 
 a large export demand, especially to America, where enormous quan- 
 tities of this drug are used mainly in the composition of American 
 patent medicines. 
 
 One of the most important of the new industries of the colony, 
 and one to which the special attention of farmers seems to have 
 quite recently been attracted, is the culture of the Tobacco plant. 
 The unprecedently rapid increase in the area of land under tobacco 
 this year (1876-7) as compared with previous years, shows that 
 agriculturists have at last opened their eyes to the great advantage 
 accruing from the production of this crop. In 1874-5 there were 
 733 acres under tobacco ; in 1875-6 there were 782 acres ; while this 
 year there are no fewer than 1479 acres. The crop for 1875-6 was 
 for some reason not very clearly understood a failure in most 
 districts, the quantity raised being only 501 cwt. , so that it would be 
 unfair to compare this year's crop with last year's, but the year pre- 
 vious (1874-5) there were raised from 733 acres 6839 cwt. of tobacco, 
 while this year (1876-7) from 1479 acres has been produced 14,413 
 cwt. The principal portion of this crop has, as hitherto, been grown 
 in the northern and north-eastern part of the colony, notably in the 
 Beechworth district, Avhere the cultivation of the tobacco plant has 
 long been viewed with favour. Although it is many years since the 
 attention of farmers was first directed to this plant, and since, 
 in fact, a commencement was made in its culture, and considerable 
 quantities of the leaf produced, still it was found for a long time 
 that, owing to the want of experience and skill on the part of 
 
36 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 growers, more particularly with regard to the process of curing 
 the leaf, it was impossible to produce a good quality of tobacco, and 
 that the most of that produced was only tit for " sheepwash." The 
 consequence of this was that the prices offered for it were not remu- 
 nerative, and tobacco growing fell, as a consequence, into disfavour. 
 Still, in the face of these discouraging circumstances, there were 
 found persons sufficiently confident of future success to persevere, 
 and the consequence was that with enlarged experience and practical 
 instruction on the subject, they have succeeded in producing a very 
 fair marketable article in the form of cured tobacco leaf, which, 
 mixed with American leaf, is now worked up by Melbourne manu- 
 facturers. As compared with the demand the supply of Colonial leaf 
 is very small, and there is ample room for extending the operations of 
 the growth of this article to an almost unlimited extent, inasmuch 
 as by still further improving the quality of the tobacco an export 
 trade will spring up, and thus a very large demand arise. That 
 there is a tendency to operate in this direction is clearly proved 
 by the rapid strides lately made in its culture, as shown by the 
 figures quoted. Samples shown in the leaf as well as manufactured 
 from Oxley and other places in the Beechworth district, near 
 the Murray river, which forms the division line between Victoria 
 and New South Wales, show the decided fitness of the soil and 
 climate of (at least this part of) Victoria, for the production of 
 superior tobacco. The varieties of the tobacco plant grown in the 
 colony are Virginian, Maryland, Kentucky, and Connecticut all 
 American sorts and although the climate seems favourable to the 
 much-esteemed Syrian and Persian kinds, no attempts have as yet 
 been made to experiment with their seed. 
 
 The cultivation of the Flax plant is an industry which, started 
 some years since in Victoria, seems almost to have died out in 
 the colony, the reason of its decadence being the want, of the proper 
 machinery for dressing the fibre, and the difficulty, therefore, of 
 marketing the crops, and, with the exception of a very few settlers 
 from Scotland and Ireland, the general want of practical acquaint- 
 ance with the cultivation and management of the plant on the 
 part of those who grew it. In 1868 there were thirty-one, and in 
 
HANDBOOK OF VICTORIA. 37 
 
 1869 thirty-four acres of land under flax in the neighbourhoods 
 of Melbourne and Geelong, and in the former year 1060 cwt. of 
 fibre, and in the latter 271| cwt. of fibre and 150 bushels of linseed 
 were produced, but since then there has been a gradual diminution ; 
 until this year there were only three acres under flax, producing 
 two and a-quarter cwt. of fibre and fifty-two bushels of linseed. 
 And yet the importance of the cultivation of this plant is fully 
 recognised both by the Government and the mercantile community 
 of the colony, the import of linseed oil being over 100,000 gallons 
 per annum, and there being an immense demand for the dressed 
 fibre both of flax and hemp for rope manufacture. At present 
 the colonial portion of the supply is chiefly furnished from South 
 Australia, where the industry is pretty extensively carried on. 
 In order to encourage the growth of flax in Victoria the Government 
 some time since offered to furnish seed and information regarding 
 its growth and preparation to persons desirous of engaging in its 
 cultivation, and to grant bonuses to those growers or cultivators 
 who produced the most marketable samples of fibre, but this offer 
 does not appear to have been availed of to any extent. And yet, 
 when it is known that the produce of a fair crop, cultivated with 
 care on an average soil, will be per acre at the rate of five cwt. 
 of dressed fibre, worth from 3 to 4 per cwt., with a yield of linseed 
 of from ten to twelve bushels, worth 10s. per bushel, while the 
 local demand for linseed oil and linseed cake alone is very large, 
 there ought to be no hesitation on the part of farmers engaging 
 in flax culture. 
 
 The cultivation of Beetroot in Victoria is no new thing; years 
 ago it was grown, and with such success that a distillery was 
 established for the purpose of obtaining spirit from the root, an 
 article by no means objectionable, considering the lack of both ap- 
 pliance and experience on the part of the promoters, being produced. 
 This enterprise was, however, given up after a time, and a joint 
 stock company established instead, for the purpose of extracting 
 sugar from the beet. Machinery was imported, and a considerable 
 outlay gone into for the purchase of appliances with the latest 
 and most approved improvements, and operations commenced at 
 
 D 
 
38 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Staughton Vale, near Geelong. The result was success. Sugar of 
 superior quality, and such as was sold side by side in the Melbourne 
 market, in competition with cane sugar from the Mauritius, brought 
 good prices. The first sale of the Victorian Beetroot Sugar Com- 
 pany's sugar was on Monday, 1st December, 1872, the market 
 reports of sales in the next day's newspapers stating that Mauritius 
 cane sugar realised 25s. 9d., 27s. 6d., 30s., 33s. 6d., 36s. 9d., and 
 37s. 6d. per cwt. according to quality, after which "there was a 
 considerable attendance of the trade, and much interest excited, 
 on the occasion of the disposal of the first production of the 
 Victorian-grown Beet Sugar Company (Limited), under whose 
 instructions were next sold 800 bags, representing about twenty- 
 five tons of Victorian-grown beet sugar, of qualities ranging from 
 low to good counters, which realised from 30s. 6d. to 33s. per cwt. 
 After the auction sale, a small parcel of very superior quality of 
 the company's sugar (J. W.), was sold at 37 10s. per ton," a 
 price equal to that of the best Mauritius cane sugar, as given in 
 the quotations just cited. From this it may be seen that the 
 manufacture of sugar from beetroot is not only possible, but that 
 it is actually an accomplished fact in the colony. Both soil and 
 climate are suitable for the growth, and although in the statistics no 
 record has been furnished of beet grown specifically for sugar manu- 
 facturing purposes since 1872, when 4131 tons were grown on 239 
 acres of land; still, under the head beet, carrots, parsnips, and cab- 
 bages, 543 acres are returned, producing 3251 tons of those articles, 
 of which beet, doubtless, furnishes a fair share. 
 
 Hops and Arrowroot are grown with much success in some parts 
 of Victoria, more particularly in North Gipps Land, and have 
 become staple commodities. Various other plants, such as Cotton, 
 the Cork Oak, the Chinese Tea tree, &c., have been tried with 
 varying success throughout the colony. They are all acclimatised 
 in the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne. 
 
 Victoria has well been described as a country of vast forests and 
 of treeless plains, for so strongly marked is the arboreal difference 
 between various districts, that the definition is almost warranted by 
 fact. The forest regions extend in an almost unbroken tract over 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 39 
 
 the greater part of the southern and eastern mountain districts. 
 Here it is that the eucalyptus nourishes in all its grandeur, attaining 
 enormous dimensions, and forming inexhaustible supplies of valuable 
 timber for this and succeeding generations. Of indigenous timbers, 
 the most valuable is, undoubtedly, the Red Gum (Eucalyptus 
 rostrata), a dense, hard wood, with a handsome curly grain, 
 almost entirely free from the tendency to casting and longitudinal 
 shrinkage which is the characteristic of other varieties of the 
 eucalyptus, and as it is almost indestructible in damp ground or in 
 salt or fresh water, it makes the best of all piles, being impervious 
 to attack by the teredo navalis, for engineering works, nor can it 
 be surpassed for any purpose, either engineering or building, where a 
 resistance to sheer downward pressure is wanted. It is also 
 unequalled as planking for bridges, wharves, or buildings. As 
 sleepers it is considered first-class ; red gum posts, although 
 rough, will last nearly twice as long as any other, and is the 
 favourite wood with wheelwrights for spokes and felloes of 
 heavy wheels. The failings of red gum are that it has a short 
 grain, which renders it unsuitable for horizontal bearing tim- 
 bers in any but very short lengths, it cannot _easily be obtained 
 in long lengths and of reasonable diameter, and it does not split 
 freely. Cut in the proper season, and properly protected from 
 its tendency to sun-crack, it would, after proper and thorough 
 seasoning, be eminently suitable to the requirements of the cabinet 
 maker for the heavier portions of furniture, as it takes a fine polish, 
 and cuts into good veneers. It has been used with great advantage 
 for knees and the rigid portion of ships' framing, and for the fixed 
 bearings, and even in some cases for the running bearings of 
 machinery. As firewood it is exceedingly valuable and is looked 
 upon as amongst the best sold for that purpose, as it generates a 
 fine free flame with considerable heat. 
 
 The Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus) is restricted to southern 
 and eastern Victoria, and to the colony of Tasmania ; it grows to an 
 enormous size in almost any kind of soil, and is well-known, not 
 only for the value of its timber, but also for its vigorous growth 
 .and hygienic properties. It is true that all eucalypts partake 
 
 D2 
 
40 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 of this latter property, but from the exceeding vigour and pleasing 
 symmetry of the trees of this particular species, it has been denomi- 
 nated the representative type of the many kinds of the Australian 
 gum trees. The wood of the blue gum is of a yellowish-grey tint, 
 with a free, straight grain, of great strength and tenacity, and 
 to be obtained in almost any lengths with moderate equality of 
 section. Hence it is useful for piles, although, unlike the red gum, it 
 is pervious to the teredo navalis. It is especially useful, from its 
 flexible qualities, for heavy longitudinal beams, and makes excellent 
 sawn and split material. A resin is obtained from this tree of a 
 kino character, and a volatile oil from the leaves, together with 
 a bitter principle in an amorphous condition, and an acid termed 
 "eucalyptic acid." The ojl and the bitter are well spoken of by 
 the missionaries of the New Hebrides and South Sea Islands for 
 ague and dengue fever. The tree, when in full growth, gives 
 off an aroma under a genial atmosphere, which is acknowledged 
 to destroy malaria and miasmatic poison. 
 
 Stringybark (E. obliqua) although much inferior, is a wood similar 
 in appearance to E. fissilis, but having a browner tint. It supplies 
 a good deal of the second-class sawn timber in the market, and being 
 a free-splitting wood is useful for palings, shingles, posts, and rails. 
 
 Messmate (E. fissilis), is another timber, being, as its name 
 implies, "free splitting," used for posts, rails, palings, and shingles, 
 and not unfrequently for sawn stuff and wheelwright's work. It is 
 also superior to white gum, being straighter in the grain, and 
 splitting more readily. White Gum (E. goniocalyx), is found growing 
 in swampy localities, and is liable to decay early, and is scarcely 
 fit even for firewood, from its tendency to burn black without 
 producing flame. 
 
 The Ironbark (E. sideroxylon) is a very hard and heavy wood, 
 tenacious and strong, extensively employed by coachbuilders, 
 cabinetmakers, and especially by wheelwrights for shafts and 
 spokes. There are several other kinds of gum trees found growing 
 intermixed with the species already described, but are not employed 
 to any extent for mechanical purposes, chiefly for firewood ; in some 
 instances special varieties are peculiar to certain districts, as for 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 41 
 
 instance, the Peppermint Gum tree (E. Amygdalina odorata) is 
 met with on mountain sides or hilly slopes, occupying generally 
 dry and poor soil; it is from this species that the well-known 
 eucalyptus oil is obtained. The wood is but of little value ; the tree 
 bearing willow-like branches, with a leaf similar in appearance to an 
 almond tree leaf, gives a pretty effect, and when grown in open 
 ground grows evenly and with much foliage. A fine kino gum 
 exudes from the trunk of the tree, and the leaves yield the oil. The 
 nomenclature of many of our forest trees adopted by bushmen of 
 the early days still holds its own, as for instance, appletree, a 
 species of eucalyptus, honeysuckle, cherrytree, sheoak (sheick), and 
 others. 
 
 The Blackwood and the Lightwood]are usually regarded under the 
 general name lightwood. It flourishes in the rich sedimentary soil, 
 and the shelter and humidity of the ranges, where it attains large 
 proportions. The timber of this tree is exceedingly valuable, being 
 largely used for all kinds of cabinet work, as it has a rich colour, a 
 beautifully marked grain, and takes a fine polish, not surpassed even 
 by walnut, to which it bears some similarity. It has a close grain, 
 and combines strength and flexibility with lightness. 
 
 The Murray Pine, a handsomely marked, useful wood, used in the 
 northern parts of the colony for all kinds of purposes, is not much 
 employed in Melbourne. It yields abundantly a resin, like sandarac, 
 and is employed for the same purposes. During the hot summer 
 months this resin drops from the tree and can be gathered 
 up freely. The Myall, a smaller variety of the same wood, 
 is highly scented with a pleasant aroma, and is used principally 
 for stock-whip handles, wooden pipes, and other articles of turnery. 
 
 The ironbark, the hardest and heaviest of Australian timbers, 
 is very tenacious and strong, however, and is used by coachbuilders 
 and wheelwrights for shafts and spokes. Sheoak and Honeysuckle 
 wood is mostly used for firing, although it is occasionally used by 
 cabinetmakers for the sake of variety. 
 
 The Wattle, being several species of the Acacia, the timber of which 
 is used for making staves for casks, is much esteemed for the value 
 of its bark for tanning purposes, and their numerous flower branches 
 
42 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 for their grateful aroma. Ferntree and Pencilwood, although not 
 much used, are sometimes, the former especially, cut into veneers. 
 
 These may be said to constitute the list of timber woods indigenous 
 to Victoria, although from the great variety of climate and soil 
 she possesses, there seems to be no reason why numerous other kinds 
 of timber should not be grown within her borders. Thus, the coast- 
 line would, in all probability, produce forests of Mediterranean 
 firs, and pines from other countries, and might also grow the plane, 
 the cork-oak, the sycamore and others; the forest and alpine 
 regions would grow the oak, the beach, the birch, and forests 
 of Baltic deal fir, silver fir and Norway spruce, particularly 
 along mountain ridges, while in the northern parts of the colony 
 might be raised many of the valuable woods of Italy, Spain, 
 and Southern France. In fact, there might easily be acclimatised 
 timber trees from all climes, excepting perhaps those of the warmer 
 zones of tropical countries. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PASTORAL PURSUITS, WOOL, TALLOW-, &C. 
 
 THE pioneer of improvement in Australia is the squatter, and 
 especially in Victoria, where in the old old time came the venture- 
 some sheepfarmers from Tasmania and the then-known territory 
 of New South Wales, of which this colony formed a part, with their 
 flocks and herds; who, striking boldly into the unknown interior, 
 sought "fresh woods and pastures new" for their ever-increasing 
 stock. 
 
 At the outset Victoria, or Port Phillip, was only looked upon as 
 one of the natural outlets for the ever-growing demand for country 
 for pastoral purposes ; and it is probable that for many years no future 
 beyond its settlement into sheep or cattle runs was ever dreamt of even 
 by the most sanguine of those who populated it. Squatters' stations, 
 a few small townships where the runholders could, from time to 
 time, obtain their supplies ; and a port here and there, whence the 
 wool and tallow could be shipped, and stores received in return, 
 and thus from year to year the colony went on progressively, 
 it is true, but only though as a territory to be formed into vast, 
 and so far as population was concerned, uninhabited estates, 
 something like the ranches of the plains of Mexico and South 
 America. No attempt was made toward the improvement of the 
 soil, beyond the little cultivation for home use round the head 
 stations of the "tenants of the Crown," as the large landholders 
 were called. Without society, save that of his few shepherds and 
 station-hands, the squatter dwelt in the wilderness, a king in the 
 midst of his own holdings, living much as he listed, in accordance 
 with his own rule and law, and building up in many instances a 
 magnificent fortune. 
 
 But after a time there came a change. The discovery of gold 
 in Victoria, and the consequent rush of adventurers from all parts 
 of the world in search of the precious metal, first roused tke 
 
44 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 squatter from his dream of unquestioned dominancy of the land. 
 Far and wide into the heart of many a fair domain flocked tribes 
 of hardy diggers, little regarding the squatters' right of first 
 possession in their eager search for gold. Nor, after all, could the 
 squatter object, for with the opening up of the goldfields in the 
 interior came the settlement of hundreds or, it might be, thousands 
 of men. These men must be fed, and there at once was established 
 a ready cash market at a high price for his superfluous stock, and 
 thus, although he was, no doubt, deprived for a time of the 
 enjoyment of a portion of the land which he looked upon as his 
 own by right, he received an advantage which far more than 
 compensated him. 
 
 Legislation, too, from time to time, interfered with what was 
 practically his monopoly of the lands of the colony, and restricted 
 the privileges which had originally been granted him. As the thousands 
 which the fame of the Victorian goldfields had caused to cluster 
 here and there, gradually began to regard the country to which 
 they had come as the land of their adoption, and as the future home 
 of themselves and their families, instead of a mere abiding place for 
 a season, in which to make money for the mere purpose of leaving 
 it, so arose the necessity for provision being made by which they 
 could settle on the lands the more, as, in course of time, it was 
 discovered that the soil was eminently suited to agricultural pur- 
 poses, and the interior country just what was required for a 
 portion of the teeming population which overstocked Great Britain, 
 and which had no outlet except the United States of America and 
 Canada. For many years it must be admitted that the principal 
 cause which impelled emigration from Europe to Australia was 
 the auriferous nature of the country; but since gold-digging, as 
 a calling, has, compared with the number of the population, de- 
 clined, the people have to a very large extent turned their attention 
 to the occupancy of land in freehold for farm purposes, and it is 
 through this fact that the privileges of the squatting community 
 have been greatly restricted. 
 
 And this is only as it should be, and as in the very nature of 
 things it must be in all new countries which enjoy freedom and 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 45 
 
 liberal laws. First comes the adventurous flockmaster, taking up 
 vasts tracts of country for the sustenance of his stock, territory 
 which at the time is practically useless to the world. Then as 
 population increases, so his holdings must gradually become more 
 circumscribed, in order to make room for the new comers. As 
 is only natural to be imagined, this invasion of what they considered 
 their rights, was, and even now is, resolutely contested by the 
 squatters who had so long held the tenure of the vast pastoral 
 estates, and loud and bitter were their denunciations of a policy 
 which deprived them of the lands which they had hoped to have 
 held in perpetuity, regardless of the cry on every hand for the 
 opening up of the country to the agricultural population. 
 
 Various schemes of land legislation were from time to time 
 devised, but with little effect, until, in 1865, the Hon. James 
 Macpherson Grant, then Commissioner of Crown Lands, succeeded 
 in passing his comprehensive Land Act, which was further amended 
 in 1869 by the Casey Act, the object of which was the settlement of 
 the people on the lands of the colony an Act which has cut boldly at 
 the root of the difficulty, by selecting the best portions of the soil of 
 the colony, whether held under squatting lease or not, and placing 
 thereon, on farms of from 40 to 320 acres in extent, an industrious 
 agricultural population. At first this was felt to be a sad blow 
 by the squatters, who complained bitterly that they who had first 
 opened up the lands should thus be ruthlessly despoiled of them. 
 
 After all, and although it must be conceded that to the original 
 squatters a very large measure of credit is due, still it is clear 
 that the good of the many is, and must be, paramount to that of 
 the few, and that locking up the public estate in the hands of a 
 few large runholders was conducive neither to the benefit of the 
 people nor of the State. 
 
 But the depriving the squatters of their lands opens the way 
 for other considerations, the first being that as the area of land 
 held under pastoral license becomes more and more circumscribed, 
 so will increased attention be devoted to the improvement of the 
 grazing capacities of the smaller areas, and more especially to the 
 improvement of grasses, and the introduction of systems of artificial 
 irrigation. In fact, it may be said that already lias the public mind, 
 
46 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 and especially that portion of it interested in pastoral pursuits, 
 turned its attention to these important matters, with the object 
 of multiplying the depasturing capabilities of the sheep-runs. In 
 the olden days, when land was to be had for the finding, it mattered 
 little to the squatter whether the land would carry one or five 
 sheep to the acre if his run were overstocked, he had merely to take 
 up more country; but now the case is different, and improvement of 
 his grass only will enable him to hold his own against competition. 
 With this there must also be improvement in the breeds of 
 sheep, for which there is ample room, for although, to the credit 
 of some of the stockowners, they have spared no trouble or expense 
 in the importation and breeding of the best kinds of both sheep 
 and cattle, still no little advancement may yet be made in depas- 
 turing, in the prevention of disease, and in producing better qualities 
 of wool. 
 
 As the lands of Victoria gradually become absorbed into agricultu- 
 ral homesteads for the people, and the squatting areas more and 
 more restricted, so the squatters must, as did their predecessors before 
 them, look across the boundary of the colony to the widely- spreading 
 plains yet to be opened up and occupied in the Northern districts, and 
 stretching away north and west to the very verge of the continent. 
 
 But eA'en in Victoria, and within the circumscribed areas now 
 available for pastoral pursuits, the squatters of the present day enjoy 
 advantages which go a long way towards compensating them for the 
 loss of their lands, and many of these advantages owe their existence 
 to the very fact of the country having been opened up for settlement. 
 The means of communication are rapidly and steadily extending and 
 improving in all parts of the colony. With the increase of popula- 
 tion and production, railways are being constructed, roads are being 
 improved, and new ones made in all directions, and river steamers 
 ply from one end of the navigable Murray to the other. The wool 
 clips, that in the older days of bullock teams and bad roads, or no 
 roads, used to take up many weeks in transmission from the station 
 to Melbourne, or other port of shipment, can now be brought down, 
 in many cases, in a few hours. 
 
 Another advantage is that the demand for wool is a steadily 
 growing one. The increase of the wool trade from Victoria may 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 47 
 
 easily be seen by the following figures : In 1857 there were 
 15,940,S271bs. exported, valued at 1,239,166. This had, in 1865, 
 increased to 40,423,494 Ibs., valued at 3,088,343, and in 1875 
 to 85,064,952 Ibs., valued at 6,096,958. All these figures, however, 
 are inclusive of wool imported from other places, and exported 
 from Victoria ; still an export trade that in twenty years has grown 
 from one to six millions, or in forty years, from eleven thousand 
 pounds to that amount, is surely one which ought to command 
 attention, especially as the maximum in production here, or in 
 consumption at home, is by no means reached. 
 
 As shown by the statistics, the squatting runs, and the area of 
 land held under them, have steadily decreased since 1865, in conse- 
 quence, of course, of the settlement of the country into agricultural 
 holdings under the Grant Land Act. Thus, in 1866, there were 1129 
 runs in the colony, having an approximate aggregate area of 
 29,003,998 acres, while in 1876, there were only 822 runs, with an 
 approximate aggregate area of 21,906,540 acres. And this decrease has 
 been as gradual as it has been steady, and pretty much at about the 
 same rate. Thus, in 1875, there were 865 runs, with 22, 967, 639 acres ; 
 in 1874, 864 runs, with 24,230, 128 acres ; and so on. The average area 
 of the runs of the colony was 26,552 acres in 1875, and 26,772 acres 
 in 1876. The rent in 1875 amounted to 139,304, and in 1876 to 
 152,664. The number of hands employed on stations for the year 
 ending 31st March, 1877, was 4276 males; 1332 females; total, 5608. 
 The rates of wages for station hands for the same year, were : For 
 stockmen, 49 8s. per annum; boundary-riders, 43 Is.; shepherds, 
 38 Is.; hutkeepers, 32 13s.; married couples, 59 13s.; females, 
 28 16s.; station labourers, 17s. lid. per week; sheep washers, 
 22s. 7d. ; shearers, 14s. 9d. per 100 sheep shorn. All these rates of 
 wages are inclusive of rations. 
 
 The following is an estimate of the live stock on the squatting 
 stations for the last two years. It must be mentioned, however, 
 that the returns have been compiled, as far as possible, from esti- 
 mates supplied by the squatters in reply to inquiries made by 
 the Government statist. In many instances these inquiries were 
 not responded to, and in such cases it was necessary to supply 
 the particulars from the returns of former years. It will be observed 
 
48 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 that there has been a decrease in 1877 from the previous year in 
 horses and sheep, and an increase in cattle and pigs. In 1876, 
 there were 196,184 horses, 1,054,598 cattle, of which 255,137 were 
 milch cows, 11,740,532 sheep, and 140,765 pigs. In 1877, there were 
 194,768 horses, 1,128,265 cattle, of which 277,072 were milch cows, 
 and 175,578 pigs. The live stock slaughtered in the year ending 
 31st March, 1877, were as follows : For the butcher and private 
 use, sheep and lambs, 1,704,929; cattle and calves, 166,638; pigs, 
 53,855; for preserving or salting, sheep and lambs, 287,315; cattle 
 and calves, 10,525; pigs, 13,818; for boiling down for tallow, 
 sheep and lambs, 185,965; cattle and calves, 24,400; pigs, 2700. 
 Total sheep and lambs, 2,178,209; cattle and calves, 201,163; 
 pigs, 70,373; a general total of 2,449,745, against 2,073,302 in the 
 previous year. The figures quoted above will give an idea of 
 the extent and importance of the pastoral interest in Victoria, and 
 will show to what a magnitude the colony has grown during the 
 few years of its existence. They will also show that notwithstanding 
 the large quantity of land withdrawn from the squatting stations, 
 and devoted to agricultural purposes, the quantity of stock de- 
 pastured on the pastoral lands remaining intact has not diminished 
 in a corresponding degree, owing, no doubt, to the improvement in 
 the grasses and in the grazing of stock. 
 
 The sea-board and the rivers of Victoria abound with excellent 
 fish, many varieties of which are quite new to naturalists, but have 
 been studied, classified, and described by the French Consul-General, 
 the eminent naturalist, Count F. de Castelnau. Native game, 
 hares, and rabbits abound ; and many European song birds, and 
 a few from other parts of the world have already made their home 
 in the colony. 
 
 Although squatting, pure and simple, in Victoria, may not present 
 the same advantages to the new comer as it did of yore, still, with 
 a fair acquaintance with the treatment of sheep, a little capital, 
 spirit and energy, and the faculty of adapting himself to circum- 
 stances, of learning new modes of life, and working hard and 
 roughing it in the interior, there are still prizes to be won, fortunes 
 to be made by the immigrant, who, with sobriety, prudence, and 
 -economy turns his attention in that direction. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 49' 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MINING AND MINKRALS. 
 
 THE history of Victoria is intimately and inseparably connected 
 with gold mining. In fact, had there been no such thing as gold 
 mining, the probabilities are that Victoria, as Victoria is, would 
 never have existed. The discovery of gold in 1851 sent a thrill 
 throughout the whole world, and Victoria was made. 
 
 The fame of the Californian mines had gone before, and to that 
 tf.rra incognita there was a rush ; the fame of the wonderful gold- 
 finds in Victoria followed, and thither, from all parts of the world, 
 there was a stampede. Australia, before that event almost unheard 
 of, except in the large centres of population, became at once invested 
 with a strange weird romantic interest, and Melbourne, Ballarat, 
 and Bendigo, names hitherto unknown, became as household words 
 in every village and hamlet in Great Britain, and, to some extent, on 
 the Continent. 
 
 In Australia itself the effect of the discovery of gold was mar- 
 vellous. It changed, as in an instant, the whole fabric of com- 
 mercial, industrial, and social life. In the course of a few months 
 half the male population of the colony had left their legitimate occu- 
 pations, and had gone hot-footed on the popular adventure in search 
 of the dazzling metal. Workshops stood idle, business places were 
 closed, ships lay empty at the wharves, trade was at a standstill, 
 business was allowed to drift where it would ; there was but one 
 thing thought of, and that thing Gold ! 
 
 Speedily came the flood from the other colonies, and following 
 that in hot haste, the vast influx from all parts of the world, crowd 
 following crowd as fast as ships could bring them. And what 
 wonder, when the reports of wonderful finds of fabulous amounts of 
 gold, carefully propagated by the store and shanty keepers, and 
 
50 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 multiplied a hundredfold in the telling, came sharp and fast; one 
 report "did tread upon another's heels, so fast they followed." 
 
 For a time, as might only be expected under such an exceptional 
 state of things, society was disorganised. Dissipation and reckless 
 waste was the rule, and robbery and even murder were not uncommon. 
 But even in the worst times of the Victorian gold-fields, absolute 
 lawlessness never prevailed. Those were times when each man's 
 hand had to keep his head, but yet the good sense of the majority 
 prevented the scenes of bloodshed and disregard of the laws of 
 property and of human life which disgraced the earlier days of the 
 Calif ornian diggings. 
 
 Gold was known to exist in Victoria long prior to 1851, but owing 
 to the jealousy of the Government of those days, who absolutely 
 forbade its discovery being made known, and also to the little 
 attention paid to it, no particular notice was taken, although men 
 employed on some of the stations had casually picked it up and 
 even sold it, and although a report went abroad in 1849 about a 
 shepherd having found a large deposit in the neighbourhood of the 
 Pyrenees mountains. The fact is, that in those early days, the 
 attention of settlers was so concentrated on discovering new tracts of 
 country for their ever increasing stock, that they cared little for 
 aught else, even though it were picking up gold. 
 
 Although gold had been found at Clunes in March, 1850, a 
 nugget of which was shown in a shop in Collins-street, it was 
 not until August, 1851, that Mr. Hargreaves discovered it at 
 Ballarat, and those diggings were first opened. Later in the year 
 it was discovered at Mount Alexander (Castlemaine), Buninyong, 
 and Fryer's-Creek, and then gold mining became an industry, or 
 rather the industry of Victoria. 
 
 It is now estimated that at least one-third of the entire area of the 
 colony is auriferous, and yet, even now, only a small portion of that 
 area has been explored, and a still smaller portion, " exploitered ;" 
 and even with regard to the latter, science is still in doubt as to the 
 depth to which the gold-bearing rocks extend, and as to the possi- 
 bility or otherwise of discovering auriferous alluvions deposits at a 
 lower level than the deepest of the deep leads already worked. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 51 
 
 Gold has been found in veins traversing granite, and diorite, in 
 the granite itself, and detected in the planes of bedding of soft 
 yellowish and reddish brown silurian clay stone, and in sand- 
 stone. It occurs in bluish- white plastic silicates, in the veins 
 with carbonate of lime, oxide of manganese, and carbonate of 
 manganese, and, rarely, with sulphate of barytes. It has been got 
 from the silurian, the mesozoic, and the miocene rocks, as well as 
 from the pliocene deposits, and the soils derived from the breaking 
 up of slates and sandstones. And since the pick and shovel of the 
 miner have thus demolished so many of the ingenious hypotheses of 
 closet philosophers, it is difficult to lay down any authoritative data 
 as to where gold will not be found, hereafter, in a country so full 
 of anomalies, and so splendidly endowed with mineral wealth as 
 Victoria. 
 
 Gold-mining, as an industry, is divided into two well-known 
 branches, called respectively alluvial, and quartz mining, the mean- 
 ing of the two methods of obtaining gold being explained by the 
 names. Alluvial mining, which, in the earlier days of the gold- 
 fields, constituted all the workings, consists of shovelling up from 
 the surface, or from a depth below the surface, the earth supposed to 
 contain particles of gold, and washing or puddling it. The process 
 was simple, and is easily explained. The digger having put a suffi- 
 cient quantity of gold-impregnated earth into his tub, added water, 
 and stirred up the mass until it became of a mud-like consistency, 
 when it was ready for cradling, which meant that it was emptied 
 into a long box, having a sheet of iron full of small perforations at 
 one end. Through this machine the earthy matter was passed, 
 leaving the heavier particles of the gold mixed with "dirt" at the 
 bottom. The "dirt" was then washed in a tin dish, an operation 
 requiring skill and experience, until little or nothing was left in the 
 dish except the pure gold. This process, which was called "shallow 
 sinking," was followed by "sluicing," or washing the auriferous 
 clays and gravels lying in low grounds, in artificially constructed 
 channels of water. Not content with the gold fouud^on or near the 
 surface, the miners soon began to search still lower levels for gold 
 impregnated earths, and here the precious metal was found in still 
 
52 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 greater abundance, and "deep-sinking" soon became a recognised 
 and distinct form of mining. This process was carried on by 
 sinking shafts from the surface to what was technically termed a 
 "bottom," usually of pipeclay, or by tunnelling, running galleries 
 obliquely from the sides of hills or sloping ground, in search of auri- 
 ferous soils. 
 
 But deep-sinking was expensive, and hence arose the formation of 
 companies with large capital, and gold-mining, instead of being a 
 kind of desultory employment, to be put aside or resumed, at the will 
 of the individual digger, became an institution, and a recognised and 
 permanent branch of employment, involving capital and paid labour. 
 Quartz-mining soon followed. It was discovered that quartz was 
 the matrix of gold, and that the gold which had been found lying 
 loose in the earth, under the roots of trees, in the beds of creeks, and 
 so on, was merely that which had been disintegrated from its parent 
 rock and washed away by storms, &c. Quartz-mining consisted of 
 boring into and blasting the solid quartz itself, taking out that 
 portion which promised to be auriferous, and crushing it by means of 
 machinery. The machinery necessary for the successful prosecution 
 of this branch of gold-mining is of a simple yet ponderous and 
 expensive character. The quartz brought up from the bowels of the 
 earth is subjected in many cases to a process of roasting or burning, 
 and then broken up into small pieces a little larger than ordinary 
 road metal, is conveyed to the crushing-machine, which machine 
 consists of a battery of four, six, eight, or more stampers, driven by 
 steam-power. The stampers consist of upright iron rods, shod with 
 heavy shoes, and rising and falling with regular motion, pounding 
 the hardest quartz rock into powder. The stamp-heads or shoes 
 work in an iron box, into which the quartz is shot, and which is kept 
 supplied with a stream of water, so that the slush or quartz mud is 
 carried off through a grating in front, while the gold, being heavier, 
 sinks to the bottom. But gold in atomic particles is carried off in the 
 muddy water, and to prevent the loss of this the water is caused to 
 flow over a sloping board or platform, covered with a "blanket" of 
 green baize or some other coarse material, which holds much of the 
 gold, while its escape is further prevented by small grooves or ledges 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 53 
 
 across the platform, charged with mercury, which lays hold of the 
 particles of gold as they are washed down. The whole of the debris 
 from the bottom of the box, from the blanket, which is rinsed in hot 
 water, and from the gutters, is then placed in a vessel containing a 
 quantity of mercury, and by a rotary or shaking motion, an 
 amalgam of gold and mercury is formed. The amalgam is then 
 placed in a chamois leather, which is squeezed until a considerable 
 portion of the mercury oozes through it, and the remaining amalgam 
 is put in a retort, when powerful heat causes the mercury to fly off 
 through a pipe provided, while the pure gold remains in a cake at 
 the bottom. 
 
 Other kinds of machinery have from time to time been invented 
 for crushing the quartz, but the battery seems to have kept the field 
 against all comers. 
 
 Bendigo, or Sandhurst, and Ballarat, were long known and 
 celebrated as the head centres of the quartz reefs, but of late years 
 they have had a formidable rival in Pleasant Creek, or Stawell, the 
 head-quarters of deep sinking. For a long time the workings were 
 comparatively shallow, that is to say they did not greatly exceed 
 300 or 400 feet in depth, and it is only about fourteen years since 
 that attention was first called by Mr. E. B. Smyth, then 
 Secretary for Mines for Victoria, to the fact that the yield of 
 gold from parcels of quartz got from depths as great as 400 
 feet, was, on the average, 12 dwts. 8 grs. per ton, and not 
 less than the average yield from depths ranging from 50 to 
 300 feet. Although he made this statement and bore it out by 
 statistics, it was for a long time regarded with doubt and incre- 
 dulity, and it was broadly stated more than once that the samples 
 from the greater depths had been picked, and that deep sinking 
 must result in loss. 
 
 As in the case when they declared that gold could only exist 
 under such and such conditions, so the theorists were at fault with 
 regard to the depths to which auriferous quartz extended. Their 
 prognostications were, however, disregarded, and miners were not 
 deterred from difficult and costly explorations, and the consequence 
 has been that shafts have been sunk, and are still being sunk, 
 
 E 
 
54 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 and rich stone found at depths which, in the earlier days of gold- 
 miiiing, were never contemplated, nor is there any diminution in 
 the yield of gold in the deeper levels. There is one prospecting shaft 
 at Stawell, at the Magdala mine, over 1700 feet in depth, but this 
 has not yet struck gold-bearing quartz. In other claims which are 
 being profitably worked in the same district, there are shafts 
 one 1420 feet, one 1260 feet, and two others more than 1000 feet. 
 From the deep levels in some mines the quartz has yielded 
 as much as 3 ozs. per ton. At Clunes, the New North Clunes 
 pumping shaft is over 1200 feet deep, with a level in the working 
 shaft at 1012 feet, which has produced excellent golden quartz equal 
 to the average obtained from the mine generally. At Sandhurst, 
 one shaft is 900 feet deep, and there are four exceeding 800 feet, 
 and one exceeding 700 feet. The yield from some of these deep 
 mines, at the deepest levels, varies from 12 dwts. to 1 oz. per ton. 
 The fact that rich quartz is raised every day from depths considerably 
 below the level of the sea, is of great importance as regards our 
 material interests, and of high scientific interest. 
 
 The colony is divided into seven mining districts, namely, Ballarat, 
 Beechworth, Sandhurst, Maryborough, Castlemaine, Ararat, and 
 Gipps Land. The number of distinct quartz reefs proved to be 
 auriferous in 1876, was 3307, from which were raised 587,291 ozs. of 
 gold, an average yield of 10 dwts. 13 '48 grs. to the ton of quartz. 
 The extent of auriferous alluvial and quartz ground worked on was 
 1134 square miles, and the estimated value of gold-mining claims 
 and lands held under gold, mining leases, 5,745,590. The estimated 
 quantity of gold taken from alluvial workings was 346,933 ozs.; the 
 total yield, alluvial and quartz, being 934,224 ozs. the smallest 
 return for the last eleven' years, that of 1865 being 1,095,787 ozs. 
 The largest return for anyone year was for 1868, when 1,657, 498 ozs. 
 were raised. The mining population showed a total of 41,010 miners, 
 being a falling-off of 707 from the previous year. The largest num- 
 ber of miners employed was in 1866, when there were 70,794 on the 
 various gold-fields of the coloi^. Of the 41,010 miners employed in 
 1876, 29,843 were Europeans, 11,167 Chinese; 14,446 being engaged 
 in quartz, and 26,558 in alluvial mining. The machinery employed 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 55 
 
 on the gold-fields in 1876, was as follows : Alluvial steam engines, 
 289, having an aggregate horse-power of 7858; puddling machines, 
 1143; buddies, 7; whims, 210; whips or pulleys, 245; sluices, toms, 
 and sluice-boxes, 15,321; hydraulic hoses, 36; pumps, 591; water- 
 wheels, 216; quicksilver and compound cradles, 166; stamp-heads 
 (crushing cement), 448; boring machines, 16. Quartz mining 
 steam engines, 792, of an aggregate of 16,089 horse-power; crushing 
 machines, driven by other power than steam, 66; stamp-heads 
 (crushing quartz or other vein-stuff), 6356; buddies, 54; winding, 
 washing, pumping, and other machines, moved by water power, 8; 
 whims, 560; whips or pulleys, 489; boring machines, used in 
 blasting, 5. The approximate value of all mining plant (alluvial and 
 -quartz), for the year was 1,989,500, as against 2,033,629 of the 
 previous year. 
 
 In fact, the statistics for the last few years show conclusively that 
 both with regard to the number of claims worked on, the area of 
 mining country, the gold obtained, the miners employed, and the 
 machinery used, there has been a gradual diminution, inconsequence, 
 perhaps, of the large number of men formerly engaged on the gold- 
 fields who have taken up homesteads tinder the Land Act of 1869. 
 Still, it is estimated that a considerable increase has taken place in 
 the quantity of gold raised in proportion to the number of hands 
 employed in getting it, for while in 1873 the average per man was 
 93 16s. 2d., and 1874, 99 8s. 3d., it was in 1875, 104 4s. 4d. ; 
 and, in 1876, as is estimated, a little less than that. The 
 quantity of Victorian gold received at the Royal Mint, Melbourne, 
 for 1876, was 427,879 ozs. being 1,312, 732 ozs. since the opening of 
 the mint. 
 
 Although, as a rule, gold is found in small particles, still there 
 liave been numerous examples of large pieces (nuggets) being 
 picked up by lucky miners. Of these, the "Welcome," found at 
 Bakery Hill, Ballarat, r was the largest. It weighed 2195 ozs., and was 
 sold in Melbourne for 9325. The "Welcome Stranger" was found 
 near Dunolly, and. when melted, yielded gold to the value of 
 9534; the "Blanche Barkly," found at Kingower, was of the value 
 of 6905 12s. 9cl. A nugget, unnamed, found in Canadian Gully, 
 
 E2 
 
56 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 was of the value of 5532 7s. 4d. The "Heron," found near Mount 
 Alexander, was sold in England for 4080. The "Lady Hotham," 
 found near Canadian Gully, was valued at 3000; the "Victoria" 
 and the "Dascombe," found at Bendigo, were respectively valued at 
 1650 and 1500; the "Nil Desperandum, " found at Ballarat, was 
 sold for 1050; the "Precious," found at Berlin, weighed 1621 oz. ; 
 the "Viscount Canterbury" and the "Viscountess Canterbury," 
 also found at Berlin, weighed respectively 1105 ozs. and 884 ozs., and 
 many others ; nearly 200 nuggets of the value of from 60 to 2000 
 each having been known to have been found in the district of 
 Dunolly, and about 350 of the value of from 4 to 1500 each at the 
 Berlin diggings near Kingower. 
 
 What are the prospects of miners in Victoria? Notwithstanding 
 the undoubted falling-off in the industry of late years, they are as 
 bright as ever they were. Gold-mining is no longer the wild un- 
 settled pursuit it was in the olden days, when it might more aptly 
 have been called gold-hunting. It has become a defined calling, 
 and men now embark in it as they would in any other settled 
 business. There is now little of the fevered excitement of the 
 early time, large and lucky finds are not so common, and men look 
 forward, not to those brilliant coups by which fortunes were made at 
 once, but to a permanent and steady income to be derived from their 
 labour. It may be worth while for those who have an inclination to 
 try Victoria as a field for their future exertions, and who think of 
 gold-mining as a calling, to consider that, in a country of such wide 
 extent, it is hardly possible that the principal beds of gold should 
 have been all discovered within a few years from the date of gold- 
 mining. It is an admitted fact that the presence of gold is traceable 
 in small quantities throughout a large portion of the colony. Predic- 
 tions of the failure of the goldfields seem as far from verification as 
 when they were made with regard to the giving out of the superficial 
 alluvial deposits twenty-five years since. It was prophesied, at the 
 time that the working in quartz veins commenced, that the}*- could 
 never be payable at a greater depth than sixty or seventy feet, and 
 yet the deep sinkings at Stawell, Clunes, Bendigo, Ballarat, and 
 other places, have abundantly proved the fallacy of such statements. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 57 
 
 In short, capital, labour, and perseverance will make many a mine 
 yield gold which has hitherto been profitless, and will open many 
 and many a wide area of country that has never yet been fairly 
 tested country that, for aught we know, may contain as richer 
 richer ore, waiting for the enterprising digger, as any that ever 
 yielded treasure in the halcyon days of gold-mining 
 
 The rates of wages paid for different descriptions of mining labour 
 are as follows: General manager, 3 to 12 per week, without 
 rations; legal manager, 1 to 6; mining manager, 2 10s. to 5; 
 engineer, 2 5s. to 5 ; engine-driver, 2 2s. to 3 10s. ; pitman, 2 
 to 2 15s. ; blacksmith, 2 2s. to 3 10s. ; carpenter, 2 2s. to 3 12s. ; 
 foreman of shaft, 2 2s. to 3 10s. ; miner, 2 to 3 ; surface man 
 (labourers), 1 10s. to 3; boy, 10s. to 2; Chinese, 12s. 6d. to 2. 
 
 But Victoria contains other minerals as well as gold. On the 31st 
 December, 1876, the following leases, and the areas of land occupied 
 by them, were in force: For antimony, 18 leases, 351a. Ir. 27p. ; 
 argentiferous galena, 1 lease, 154a. Ir. 32p.; coal, 10 leases, 4956a. 
 3r. 7p. ; coal, shale, or lignite, 1 lease, 640a. ; copper and ores of 
 copper, 2 leases, 872a. 3r. 13p. ; flagging, 1 lease, 9a. 2r. 30p. ; 
 lignite, 1 lease, 475a. 2r. 10p.; silver, 2 leases, 370a. Ir. 16p.; silver, 
 lead, and copper, 1 lease, 561a. 2r. 21p. ; slate, 1 lease, 49a. 3r. 39p. ; 
 slate and flagging, 2 leases, 19a. 2r. 25p.; ironstone, 1 lease, 320a. 
 Ir. 35p. ; red ochre clay, 1 lease, 2a. Or. 14p. ; tin and iron, 1 lease, 
 51a. Ir. 39p. ; tin and the ores of tin, 8 leases, 1076a. Or. 6p. ; total, 
 51 leases, covering an area of 9912a. Ir. 34p. According to the 
 estimate of the Mining Department, the values of the minerals, other 
 than gold, raised in Victoria from 1851 to the end of 1875 were 
 Silver, 14,617; tin, 333,870; copper, 8331; antimony, 104,865; 
 lead, 4700; iron, 2101 ; coal, 8233; lignite, 2172; kaolin, 7444; 
 flagging, 37,961; slates, 940; magnesite, 12; diamonds, 107; 
 sapphires, 575; total, 525,928, of which 35,452 was the value of 
 those raised in 1875. Thus, it seems that there are other mineral 
 industries in the colony waiting only for development, for the truth 
 is, that none of those named have been much more than experiments, 
 and certainly have not been carried on with that amount of enter- 
 prise which the magnitude of the interests deserved. 
 
58 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 In 1860, the casual discovery of a crystal of sapphire, in the gizzard 
 of a wild duck, turned the attention of the Rev. Dr. Bleasdale, a 
 well-known mineralogist, to the subject of precious stones; and since 
 then he has successfuly prosecuted his investigations in this branch 
 of mineralogy ; and his discoveries have amply rewarded his studies. 
 At first it was thought rare to find a crystal of corundum, but, after 
 a while, it became quite common. In at least five different localities, 
 a long way asunder, fine specimens of this class of gems have been 
 unearthed. In three of these the original matrix of the precious 
 corundum (sapphires), has been discovered the old red basalt at its 
 overlap on the granite at Gembrook, 45 miles east from Melbourne ; 
 Comaidai, 40 west, and near Glen Lyon, in the Jim Crow ranges, 
 about 75 miles. 
 
 In each of these localities the crystals were perfect, and utterly 
 free from abrasion, or water-wearing, and in that at Gembrook, a 
 very considerable quantity were found as free from abrasion as if 
 crystals had been broken into splinters by the hand. The collection 
 from Gembrook comprises the following, all being gems of fine quality 
 and many of fair size which have been wrought for ring and pin 
 stones, viz : sapphires, asterias, blue, dark-red, and greenish, 
 oriental aquamarine, oriental amethyst, oriental topaz and beautiful 
 small crystals of ruby. In addition to the above, two of the mines, 
 Donnelly's Creek (Gippsland) and Glen Lyon, have yielded specimens 
 of green corundum (the oriental emerald) of good size, and great 
 beauty. Two have been wrought, one now being of 6 carats, and 
 the other 5^, both faultless gems. Diamonds of more than 4 carats 
 weight and good colour have been found near Beechworth, associated 
 with stream tin and the pale blue topaz, in streams running through 
 granite gullies, notably the Woolshed Creek. Spinels of good colour 
 but small ; topazes, blue, white, and of a pinkish colour, are 
 common on gold workings near granite and old-basalt-hills ; as also 
 are zircons, and hyacinths. Of each of these kinds many superb 
 specimens have been wrought. Opals, both the noble and the fire- 
 opal, occur at Beechworth. Garnets of the almondine tint alone have 
 been reported in Victoria, and are plentiful, though generally small 
 in the granite regions. Beryls, whether emerald or aquamarine, 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 59 
 
 have not yet occurred, but some good chrysoberyls came from near 
 Donnelly's Creek, Gippsland. Sard, and sardonyx, chalcedony, 
 chrysoprase, and agates in great variety, have been discovered on 
 most of the alluvial diggings. Rock-crystal, cairngorms, amethysts, 
 and all descriptions of jaspers of the finest quality, being in the 
 estimation of seal-cutters quite equal to Egyptian, with quartzites 
 and plum-pudding stones, are common about Beechworth, Mount 
 Blackwood and the Blue Mountain diggings. 
 
60 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, TRADES, AND INDUSTRIES. 
 
 UNTIL the last few years little was known or thought of the 
 manufactures of Victoria, and in the face of the importations of 
 manufactured goods of all kinds from England, America, and other 
 countries, where the manufactories of those goods were established, 
 and where the goods could be produced at the minimum rate, much 
 cheaper, as it was thought, than they could possibly be in the colony, 
 in consequence of the difference in the price of labour, it was accepted 
 as a conclusion that, although certain trades, such as carpentry, 
 painting, smith's work, masonry, building, &c. , which were absolutely 
 necessary to be carried on in the colony, as well as those providing 
 the necessaries of life, such as baking, butchering, &c., might and 
 would flourish so long as the colony were prosperous, still, that 
 manufactories, strictly such, of goods which could be exported from 
 other countries, could not possibly pay. Time has, however, shown 
 that not only can goods be manufactured here to compete with those 
 from home, but that actually, in many cases, the colonially made 
 goods have to a large extent driven the imported ones from the 
 market. It does not come within the scope or purpose of a work like 
 this to follow the question out in its political aspect, which would 
 involve entering into the vexed question of protection versus free 
 trade, further than to say that the system under which the Govern- 
 ment is now carried on is a moderate protectionist one, customs 
 duties being levied on such goods as can be produced in the colonies, 
 and on articles of luxury, while other goods and the necessaries of 
 life are practically free. The highest duty levied in any case, except 
 upon wines, spirits, and tobacco, is 20 per cent, on the declared 
 value at the place from which it is exported. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 61 
 
 The numerous industries which now exist in Victoria, and which 
 are firmly established in almost all her large towns, had very small 
 beginnings, and had many difficulties to contend with at starting, 
 not the least being the prejudice against them in the public mind; in 
 fact, for a long time it was looked upon as a kind of reproach to 
 say that any article was of colonial make, even as now, amongst a 
 certain class, it is deemed unfashionable to admire, or even to 
 acknowledge the merit of anything that does not bear, as they say, 
 the London Hall mark. Yet, with the drawback of having to 
 contend with these difficulties, nay, in spite of them, they have made 
 such head way that the colony is now no longer dependent on foreign 
 markets for any of her articles of everyday use. Capital is exten- 
 sively invested at satisfactorily remunerative interest, and artizans 
 who are willing to work can find abundance of employment at good 
 wages ; in fact, a great hindrance to the further development of these 
 industries is the difficulty of getting a sufficiency of competent hands. 
 
 The principal industries which afford employment for large 
 numbers of workpeople, are as follows : 
 
 Boot and Shoe Factories. These establishments have rapidly 
 sprung into a most important position, and are carried on in most 
 of the large towns of the colony. They employ large numbers of 
 hands, men, women, and boys, and machinery of the latest designs 
 is used extensively in the various operations of cutting, rivetting, 
 pegging, and sewing. The employment is healthy, as by the use of 
 machinery the consequent stooping and consequent compression 
 of the chest attendant on the making of hand-made goods is 
 avoided. Against forty-six of these establishments at work on the 
 31st March, 1876, there were on the same date in 1877 no fewer 
 than sixty-seven, employing 1831 males and 433 females, and using 
 eight steam-engines of an aggregate of fifty-one horse-power, and fifty- 
 nine hand machines, the value of the plant and machinery being 
 22,727; of the lands, 33,810; and of the buildings, 36,835. 
 Wages are Wellingtons, 10s. ; elastics, 7s. 6d. ; closing, 8s. 
 
 Clothing factories employ a still greater number of hands, princi- 
 pally females, the numbers being 788 males and 3029 females. Of 
 these factories there are fifty-three in the colony, using one steam- 
 
62 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 engine of eight-horse power, and fifty-two hand machines not 
 including sewing-machines; the machinery and plant is valued at 
 13,977, the lands at 58,925, and the buildings at 67,385. In 
 these establishments the various articles of male and female clothing 
 are made up, and as there is a continual demand for labour the 
 wages of the employes are good. (For rates of wages of tradesmen, 
 &c., see article on "Employment, Wages, &c.," Chapter IX.) 
 The rapidity with which these establishments are springing up of late 
 warrants the assumption that ere long the inferior class of shoddy 
 goods from the home factories will be entirely driven from the market. 
 
 Saddlery and harness making is an industry of comparatively 
 recent formation in the colony, inasmuch as until lately nearly all 
 the goods of this class were imported. There are now, however, 
 twenty-nine saddlery and harness manufactories in the colony, 
 employing 323 males and 14 females, besides two saddle-tree, three 
 saddlers' ironmongery and coach-spring, and five whip manufactories, 
 which employ seventy-six males and five females. All kinds of 
 goods appertaining to this line of business are now made in the 
 colony, and while quite equal to the imported can be purchased at a 
 lower price, so that it is not unlikely that ere long importation, 
 except of certain special articles, will practically cease. 
 
 Of hat and cap manufactories there are twenty-two as against 
 fifteen of last year, emploing 145 males and 97 females. 
 
 Coach, waggon, &c., manufactories are also on the increase, 
 there being 116 against 105 of last year. These employ nine steam- 
 engines and 105 hand-engines, of an aggregate of 105 horse-power, 
 and 1358 males and 14 female hands, the value of the machinery 
 and plant being 52,896, of the land 68,605, and of the buildings 
 58,415. All classes of work, from the most elaborately finished 
 and handsomely decorated carriages to the strongest drays and 
 lorries, are turned out. Besides the factories themselves, there 
 are separate establishments for the making of carriage materials, 
 such as springs, patent axles and hubs, spokes, felloes, and shafts. 
 Many of the vehicles manufactured in Victoria, shown at the various 
 Exhibitions, have been greatly admired, and could not be excelled 
 for workmanship and finish by anything ever imported. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 63 
 
 Cabinet works number twenty-six, employing 438 males and 
 twelve females; and bedding and upholstery manufactories, of which 
 there are eleven more, employing 177 males and thirty- two females, 
 are divided into various branches, all of which are prospering. 
 
 Of saw-mills, including moulding, framing, and turning mills, 
 there are 159, with 152 steam-engines of an aggregate of 840 horse- 
 power. These are kept in constant work ; and carpentry, which 
 has extended to making doors, sashes, weatherboards, and the 
 like, formerly imported from England and America, has made rapid 
 strides. 
 
 Iron and tin works number 53, employing 677 males and 7 females, 
 and iron, brass, and copper foundries, of which there are 77, employ 
 1556 males. The value of plant and machinery used in these indus- 
 tries amounts to 166, 141, and of the lands and buildings is very large. 
 Rolling mills are doing well, and boiler making has rapidly extended, 
 and has altogether stopped importation. 
 
 Agricultural implement manufactories number 46, employing 838 
 males, and 3 females. This industry is rapidly increasing, as the 
 machines made in Victoria are far better adapted to the require- 
 ments of the local farmers than anything which can be obtained 
 from abroad. 
 
 Of fellmongeries and woolwashing establishments there are 52, 
 employing 900 males and 13 females. 
 
 Other manufactories are numerous, and may be thus classified : 
 Account-book manufactories, and manufacturing stationers, 16; 
 hands employed, 607. Printing establishments, 33 ; males, 1424 ; 
 females, 42 ; hands employed, 1468. Organ building establishments, 
 2; hands, 16. Pianoforte manufacturers, 7; hands, 21. Picture- 
 frame makers, 6 ; hands, 25. Carving and gilding establishments, 5 ; 
 hands, 28. India-rubber stamp manufactories, 3 ; hands, 8. Model- 
 ling works, 3 ; hands, 9. Statuary works, 1 ; hands, 3. Wood 
 carving works, 1. Wooden pipe manufactories, 2; hands, 6. Die- 
 sinkers, engravers, medallists, trade-mark makers, 5; hands, 25. 
 Philosophical instrument makers, 2 ; hands, 6. Surgical instrument 
 and truss manufactories, 5; hands, 12. Blasting-powder, dynamite, 
 &c., manufactories, 3; hands, 51. Fuze manufactories, 1; hands, 16. 
 
64 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Gunmakers, 4; hands, 13. Cutlery, machine tool manufactories, 7; 
 hands, 21. Engine, machine manufactories, 53; employing 1064 
 males. Graving docks, 3; hands, 94. Patent slips, 4; hands, 90. 
 Lime works, 24; hands, 152. Looking-glass manufactories, 5; 
 hands, 42. Chemical works, 5 ; hands, 52. Die works, 14 ; hands, 
 80. Essential oil manufactories, 5 ; hands, 26. Ink, blacking, &c. , 
 manufactories, 8; hands, 103. Paint, varnish manufactories, 2; 
 hands, 16. Saltworks, 5; hands, 27. Tar distilling, asphalte works, 
 3; hands, 24. Fur manufactories, 3; hands, 11. Waterproof manu- 
 factories, 2; hands, 20. Umbrella and parasol manufactories, 7; 
 hands, 25. Jute factories, 1; hands, 166. Rope, twine works, 13; 
 hands, 336. Cheese factories, 25; hands, 117. Meat curing estab- 
 lishments, 15; hands, 402. Biscuit manufactories, 7; hands, 286. 
 Confectionary works, 8; hands, 170. Jam manufactories, 8; hands. 
 167. Maizena, starch, &c., manufactories, 3; hands, 16. yErated 
 waters, &c., works, 114 ; employing 579 males and 30 females. Coffee, 
 chocolate, spice, &c., works, 10; hands, 108. Distilleries, 6; hands, 
 49. Malthouses, 13; hands, 50. Sauce, pickle, &e. , manufactories, 3 ; 
 hands, 30. Sugar refineries, 2; hands, 190. Tobacco, cigar, snuff 
 manufactories, 13; hands, 653. Vinegar works, 5; hands, 34. 
 Boiling-down establishments, 19; hands, 89. Bone-cutting mills, 
 and bone manure manufactories, 16; hands, 91. Brush manufac- 
 tories, 6; hands, 138. Curled hair manufactories, 3; hands, 16. 
 Flock manufactories, 3; hands, 17. Glue, oil manufactories, 8; 
 hands, 36. Morocco, fancy leather manufactories, 2; hands, 6. 
 Portmanteau, trunk manufactories, 7; hands, 38. Soap, candle, 
 tallow works, 42 ; employing 440 males and 1 1 females. Bark mills, 
 4; hands, 21. Basket making works, 9; hands, 40. Window-blind 
 manufactories, 10; hands, 86. Broom manufactories, 2; hands, 25. 
 Chaff-cutting, corn-crushing works, 187 ; employing 582 males and 
 16 females. Cooperages, 19; hands, 102. Fancy box manufactories, 
 2; hands, 27. Hat-box manufactories, 2; hands, 8. Paper manu- 
 factories, 1 ; hands, 131. Paper-bag manufactories, 6 ; hands, 142. 
 Gasworks, 15; hands, 377. Glass manufactories, 4 ; hands, 55. Glass 
 works, 4; hands, 21. Filter manufactories, 2; hands, 6. Marble 
 works, 19; hands, 164. Stone-breaking works, 5; hands, 76. Stone- 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 65- 
 
 sawing, polishing works, 4 ; hands, 90. Ice manufactories, 3 ; hands, 
 19. Electro-plating and gilding works, 4; hands, 35. Goldsmiths 
 and Jewellers (manufacturing), 19; hands, 370. Lapidaries, 1; 
 hands, 2. Antimony smelting works, 5 ; hands, 95. Lead works, 1 ; 
 hands, 12. Tin smelting works, 1 ; hands, 3. Wire-working estab- 
 lishments, 6; hands, 35. Ship and boat-builders, 19; hands, 88. 
 
 Besides these there are numerous other industries too small in 
 their number to call for special notice, all those mentioned being 
 works of an extensive character, and places being merely shops, or 
 being on a limited scale, not being included. The totals are Manu- 
 factories, 2302, including flour mills, breweries, tanneries, brick 
 yards, and potteries, against 2241 of the previous year. Of these 
 latter there are flour mills and mills for dressing grain, 152, with 
 138 steam and 13 water engines of an aggregate of 2811 horsepower, 
 which operated 011 5,159,850 bushels of wheat and 309,839 bushels 
 of other grain during the year ; hands employed, 707. Breweries, 
 102, employing 902 hands and 633 horses; beer made during the 
 year, 14,236,529 gallons. Woollen mills, 8, employing 428 males and 
 145 females, and making 719,887 yards of tweed, cloth and flannel,. 
 2816 pairs blankets, and 2941 shawls during the year. Tanneries, 
 96, employing 1140 hands, and tanning 1,310,229 skins and 323,693 
 hides during the year. Brick yards and potteries, 241, employing 
 1194 hands, and making 75,081,000 bricks during the year; and 
 stone quarries, 155, employing 808 hands. Total employed in 
 manufactories, works, &c., 22,033 males and 4792 females. 
 
 From these statistics it will be seen that Victoria, as a manufac- 
 turing colony, is in a flourishing condition, and it is also to be 
 noticed that there is ample room for an extension of the existing 
 and an opening up of new industries. No artisan need fear that he 
 will not obtain employment at remunerative wages, and as an out- 
 let for the overcrowded cities of Europe, where men are suffering 
 from the keen competition which ensues on too little work for the 
 many workers, she opens a vast and comparatively untrodden field 
 of enterprise as a land where there is indeed "bread and work for 
 all." 
 
<66 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TRADE AND COMMERCE, SHIPPING, ETC. 
 
 FROM a very small beginning the trade and commerce of Victoria has, 
 during the comparatively short existence of the colony, grown into 
 .gigantic proportions, and the importance of the interchange, inter- 
 colonial and international, may be easily understood by the elaborate 
 and exhaustive statistics and customs returns regularly pub- 
 lished for the information of the public. The port of Melbourne is 
 continually crowded with shipping of every class and tonnage, 
 steamers and sailing vessels, from the small coaster to the huge 
 cargo, passenger, and mail-carrying ocean-going steamers of 3000 
 to 4000 tons burthen. Besides the port named there are also the 
 smaller sea ports of Geelong, Portland, Port Fairy, Port Albert, 
 and Warrnambool, and the Murray river ports of Echuca, Swan Hill, 
 Tocumwal, Wahgunyah, Wodonga, and Howlong, all of which are 
 regularly visited by vessels of larger and smaller size. 
 
 At first, and for many years after the settlement of the colony, 
 the entire commerce of Victoria was transacted by way of Great 
 Britain, but as the imports and .exports grew in magnitude and 
 importance, so the merchants and shipowners laid on their vessels 
 direct to the foreign ports with which they were transacting business. 
 Thus, in addition to the enormous English trade, there are vessels 
 continually sailing between the Victorian ports and India, China, 
 Mauritius, America, France, Germany, Sweden, and other places, 
 wherever the requirements or exigencies of traffic demand. 
 
 The principal port of Victoria is the metropolis, Melbourne, or 
 rather Melbourne, Sandridge, and Williamstown, which may be 
 generally classified under the one term. At this port the imports for 
 1875 amounted to 13,015,552, or 78 per cent, of the total imports for 
 the year, and the exports to 13,126,292, or 88 "89 per cent. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 67 
 
 The port at which, after Melbourne, the value of the goods 
 imported is greatest, is Echuca, the principal port on the Murray, 
 and customs port for the overland trade with New South Wales. 
 At this place the value of the imports was 2,189,562, or 13 '12 per 
 cent., and here and at the other ports on the Murray, nearly one- 
 fifth of the total imports for the year were delivered. Except 
 Melbourne, the only very important sea port for foreign trade is 
 Geelong, which imported during 1875 goods to the value of 211,029, 
 exporting to the value of 1,192,750 in the same year. Besides the 
 foreign trade, however, there exists a coastwise traffic, by means of 
 which the outports receive goods of which the duty has been paid in 
 Melbourne, and send away goods to Melbourne for ultimate shipping 
 there. The principal items of these coastwise exports is wool, of 
 which Warrnambool sent away 1,390,330 Ibs., valued at 140,884; 
 Port Fairy and Belfast, 2,289,207 Ibs., valued at 229, 258; and Port- 
 land, 2, 440, 661 Ibs., valued at 196,325 a total value of 566,467 
 for wool exported. The other articles shipped in these ports are 
 principally grain, cheese, leather, live stock, potatoes, bark and skins, 
 of which the total value for the year was 189,615, bringing up the 
 total export value from the south-west coast to 756.082. 
 
 The total value of the imports and exports for the year 1875 was 
 as follows : Imports, 16,685,874; exports, 14,766,974 ; the excess 
 of imports over exports being 1,918,900; and the total value 
 of the external trade thus being 31,452,848; being 268,111 less 
 imports, and 674,135 less exports than the previous year. 
 
 Of the imports, the quantity of breadstuff's (wheat, flour, bread, 
 and biscuits), was 284,605 bushels, valued at 71,137; and of 
 the exports wool, 85,064,952 Ibs., valued at 6,096,958; tallow, 
 13,910,736 Ibs., valued at 203,243; hides and skins, valued at 
 50,454 ; and breadstuff's, 84,236 bushels, valued at 36,076. 
 
 The value of the imports and exports per head of the population 
 (815,034), was imports, 20 9s. 6d.; exports, 18 2s. 4d.; or both, 
 38 11s. lOd. 
 
 The value of the imports of articles, entered as being the produce or 
 manufacture of the United Kingdom, of other British dominions, and 
 of Foreign states, and the value of the exports of articles entered as 
 
68 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 being the produce or manufacture of the same countries and of Vic- 
 toria, will be found as under : Articles, the produce or manufacture 
 of Victoria exports, 10,571,806 ; the United Kingdom imports, 
 7,528,092; exports, 1,349,032; other British possessions imports, 
 6,324,571 ; exports, 2, 108, 328; Foreign states imports, 2, 833, 211; 
 exports, 737,808. The exports of the articles of produce or manu- 
 facture of Victoria are set down at about 71 per cent, of the whole. 
 
 The country from which, next to Great Britain, Victoria imports 
 most largely, is the neighbouring colony of New South Wales, the prin- 
 cipal articles being, in 1875 wool, 2,264,676; horned cattle, 
 573,224; sheep, 473,044; coal, 258,645; and maize, 113,675. 
 The imports from "other Foreign states," consisted principally of tea 
 from China, 630,922, and sugar from Java, 258,553. 
 
 The external trade of Victoria, as shown by the imports and 
 exports, is larger than New South Wales and Queensland combined, 
 or is larger than Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, 
 Tasmania, and New Zealand combined. It must, however, not 
 be forgotten that in the Victorian imports from the other colonies 
 wool is represented by a value of 2,310,477, and gold by a value of 
 869,416, and there is 110 doubt that most of this is afterwards 
 included in the Victorian exports. 
 
 The Customs revenue for 1875, as compared with 1874, shows a 
 falling-off of 84,003, the receipts being 1,764,209 in 1875 and 
 1,848,212 in 1874. Pilotage rates, not included in the customs 
 revenue, amounted to 21,463 in 1875. 
 
 The shipping interest of Victoria is represented by a fleet of vessels 
 of all tonnages, from the small lime and firewood ketches trading 
 between Melbourne, Geeloiig, Western Port, and other short 
 distances, to sailing vessels of considerable tonnage brig, barque, 
 and even ship rigged, and the numerous fleet of fine coasting and 
 intercolonial steamers. The latter vessels especially are of a high 
 class, and those trading with New South Wales and New Zealand 
 especially are mostly splendid specimens of naval architecture well 
 manned, kept in excellent order, well found, roomy, and comfortable, 
 swift, and fit for any weather. Those trading to the other colonies 
 are generally smaller vessels, but are equally comfortable, while the 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 69 
 
 coasting steamers are eminently suited to the requirements of the 
 trade. In brief, the mercantile navy of Victoria is such an one as 
 might reflect credit on any of the older states of Europe, no expense 
 having been spared to obtain vessels of the best class that science 
 could design and skill create. 
 
 The tonnage of vessels entering and leaving Victorian ports, and 
 the number of men employed to navigate such vessels, were greater 
 in the year 1875 than in three previous years. The number of 
 vessels inwards, however, was slightly exceeded in one, and the 
 number outwards in two, of those years. 
 
 The vessels inward in 1875 numbered 2171 ; the tonnage, 840,386, 
 and the number of men was 38,681. The vessels outward, 2223; 
 tonnage, 833,499; and number of men, 38,454. Of these inward 
 vessels, 1781, with a tonnage of 483,880 and 25,679 men, were 
 colonial; 296, with a tonnage of 297,127 and 11,708 men, British; 
 and 94, tonnage 59,379 and 1294 men, foreign. Of the outward, 1869 
 vessels, tonnage 505,691, men 26,442, were colonial; 268, tonnage 
 274,245, men 10,856, British; and 86, tonnage 53,563 and 1153 men, 
 foreign. The foreign vessels were of the following nationalities, in 
 the order of their number, visiting the ports: American, French, 
 German, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Hawaiian, Russian, Danish, 
 Spanish, and Nicaraguaii. 
 
 The colonial vessels had 1 man to 19 tons, the British 1 to 21 tons, 
 and the foreign 1 to 46 tons. By this it is seen that the colonial 
 vessels are, numerically, the best manned, and foreign vessels the 
 worst. It must be remembered, however, that most of the colonial 
 vessels, and many of the British vessels, are steamers, whilst nearly 
 all the foreign vessels are sailing vessels ; and as steamers must have 
 one crew to attend to the engines and another to the sails and cargo , 
 they necessarily carry more hands in the aggregate than sailing 
 vessels. 
 
 In 1875 the vessels arriving in ballast numbered 64, with an 
 aggregate tonnage of 6379 tons. Those outward numbered 728, with 
 an aggregate of 234,172 tons. 
 
 Owing to the large amount of shipping engaged in the coal trade of 
 New South Wales, the number and tonnage of vessels entered and 
 
 F 
 
70 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 cleared in that colony are in excess of the number and tonnage of 
 those entered and cleared in Victoria. With this exception, how- 
 ever, the shipping coming in and departing from Victorian ports is 
 much greater, both in regard to numbers and tonnage, than that of 
 any other colony in the group. 
 
 The only vessels built in Victoria have, as yet, been small craft. 
 In the year 1875, of such were launched 24, comprising 9 steamers 
 and 15 sailing vessels, viz., 1 barge, 8 cutters, and 6 schooners. 
 The aggregate tonnage of the steamers was 1406, or an average of 156 
 to each vessel. The vessels on the register at the end of 1875 
 numbered 458, viz. , 61 steamers and 397 sailing vessels. The former, 
 in the aggregate, measured 12,656 tons, and carried 865 men; the 
 latter measured 61,228 tons, and carried 2564 men. The number of 
 lighters licensed to carry goods was 133. The number of licensed 
 boats was 323, of which 2 were to be employed in whaling, 9 in 
 oyster fishing, and 312 in the conveyance of passengers, &c. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RAILWAYS, ROADS, COACHES, POSTAL, 
 TELEGRAPHIC, etc. 
 
 NOT many years ago the means of communication between one part 
 of the colony and another, were of the most primitive description. 
 The roads were, for the most part, little more than bush tracks, cut 
 through the timber, and made to the extent that they were made 
 by rocks and fallen trees being shot into the bad places, and the rest 
 left to take its chance. Deep beds of thick choking dust in summer, 
 and horrible quagmires of thick mud and slush in winter, travelling 
 over them was an undertaking not lightly to be entered upon, and 
 only performed at risk of life and limb. That they were traversed it 
 is true, either by the lumbering bullock drays of the period, when 
 main strength was the only means of overcoming the difficulties, or 
 by the world-renowned "Cobb's coaches," whose drivers, reckless of 
 danger, and regardless of horseflesh, forced their way, sometimes on 
 the road, sometimes off it, from one point to another. No sooner 
 did a new diggings break out, no sooner did a new township spring 
 up, than the ubiquitous Cobb was there with his teams of half-broken 
 horses, and his leathern-hung waggon-coaches. And so for years 
 the country was opened up for traffic, and traversed from end to 
 end, while cabs and omnibuses became general in the city and towns 
 of the interior. 
 
 But the change soon came. The advantages of railway communi- 
 cation were too well known, and too much appreciated by the 
 enterprising colonists for them to be long satisfied without them, and 
 .railways soon wound their way over hill and plain from the metropolis, 
 north, east, and west. The number of miles of railway now open in the 
 colony is about 950 namely, the Melbourne, Sandhurst, and Echuca 
 line, which taps the Murray River at the latter place, 156 miles; 
 
 F2 
 
72 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Melbourne and Williamstown, 9| miles ; Melbourne, Geelong, and 
 Ballarat, 100J miles; Ballarat and Ararat, 57 miles; Ararat and 
 Stawell, 18f miles; Ararat and Hamilton, 66J miles; Hamilton and 
 Portland, 55 miles; North-Eastern line, from Melbourne to the 
 Murray at Wodonga (Albury), 187 miles ; Ballarat and Maryborough, 
 42| miles; Castlemaine and Dunolly, 47^ miles; Wangaratta and 
 Beechworth, 26^ miles ; Sandhurst and Inglewood, 30| miles ; Mary- 
 borough and Avoca, 15 miles; and Geelong and Colac, 51 miles. 
 These are Government railways, and besides them the Government 
 has also in progress the Melbourne and Gipps Land line (120 
 miles), and some others under consideration. There are also 
 the following private lines belonging to a company known as 
 the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company: Melbourne 
 and St Kilda, 3f miles; Melbourne and Saiidridge, 2^ miles; 
 Melbourne and Windsor, 3| miles ; Windsor and Brighton, 5| miles ; 
 and Richmond and Hawthorn, 2 miles. It will thus be seen that 
 the colony is partially covered with a network of railway which, 
 with the improvements which have been made in the roads, render 
 modern travelling not only easy, but pleasant to any part of the 
 country. The total cost of the Government lines, as stated at the 
 end of 1876, for 1875 was 12,223,100, or an average of 21,540 per 
 mile, the average distance travelled during the year 1875 being 
 2,051,910 miles. The total coast of the private lines was 865,412, 
 or 50,907 per mile, the distance travelled being 451,128 miles. 
 
 The whole of the lines are constructed on a gauge of 5 feet 3 inches,, 
 which is also the national guage of South Australia, but not of any 
 of the other colonies, where a narrower gauge has been adopted. 
 The permanent way on the whole of the railways is of the best 
 description, the ballast consisting principally of blue-metal (basalt) 
 spalls, bound together with sand, loam and gravel, and making a 
 roadway practically devoid of shrinkage and sinking. Unlike the 
 railways of other colonies, those of Victoria have had no very great 
 engineering difficulties to overcome, they run for the most part over 
 tolerably level country, and with a few exceptions there are no 
 marked ascents or descents. The gradients too are easy and gradual, 
 and the curves have a long radius, so that with common care and 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTOKIA. 73 
 
 attention, travelling by rail is unattended with the slightest danger. 
 In fact, accidents from running on the lines are so uncommon as to 
 be almost unknown, and the baton system having been introduced 
 on the Government railways, is an additional safeguard. The rails 
 are of the best quality, arid are firmly fixed to red-gum sleepers, the 
 very best timber that can be obtained for the purpose. 
 
 The rolling stock on the Government lines consists of 121 locomo- 
 tives, 96 first-class and composite carriages, 87 second-class car- 
 riages, 175 sheep and cattle trucks, 1678 goods trucks, wagons, &c., 
 and 149 guards' vans and other vehicles, the total cost being 
 948,206. On the private lines the rolling stock consists of 16 
 locomotives, 77 first-class and composite carriages, 15 second-class 
 carriages, 202 goods trucks, wagons, &c., and 12 guards' vans and 
 other vehicles, the total cost being 137,830, a grand total for the 
 two classes of railway of 1,086,036 for rolling stock. It may be 
 added that the carriages are roomy and comfortable, and that on the 
 Government lines a number of saloon carriages have been intro- 
 duced, and appear to have given much satisfaction to travellers. 
 The main terminus of the Government line is in Spencer-street, at 
 the west end of Melbourne, and is an extensive range of wooden 
 buildings, containing all conveniences for passengers and for the 
 large goods traffic carried on. The other termini and the interme- 
 diate stations are also roomy, and fitted with all requirements. The 
 same may also be said of the termini and stations on the private 
 lines. 
 
 Passenger rates for travelling on the Government lines are First- 
 class, 2d. per mile; second-class, l^d. ; and on the private lines 
 First-class, l^d. ; second-class, ld. ; there being a slight reduction 
 on the latter lines for return tickets, the rates being still further re- 
 duced on them to regular travellers by means of monthly tickets. 
 The number of passengers carried on the Government lines for 1S75 
 was 2,699,519, and on the private lines 3,465,557i, a total of 
 6,165,076^, and an increase of 790,235 over the previous year. The 
 goods carried amounted, on the Government lines, to 732,772 tons, 
 and on the private lines to 206,674 tons a total of 939,446 tons, 
 being an increase on the Government lines of 51,062 tons, and a de- 
 
74 
 
 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 crease on the private lines of 16,286 tons, as compared with the pre- 
 vious year. 
 
 The receipts for the year were on the Government lines, 
 920,008, and the working expenses 481,717; on the private lines 
 the receipts were 171,930, and the working expenses 89,761. 
 
 The main roads and bridges of the colony are constructed by the 
 general Government out of a fund voted by Parliament for the pro- 
 secution of public works. The construction and repair of the 
 streets and roads in the towns and municipalities devolve on the 
 corporations of those places, and on what are called road boards, 
 who have the power of levying local taxation for those purposes. 
 The amount expended during the year on roads and bridges was 
 99,451 ; a total of 6,773,817 since the year 1851. As a rule, the 
 principal roads are well made and kept in good order, although 
 many of the cross roads are rugged and uneven, and difficult and 
 dangerous, if not altogether impassable, in bad weather. This 
 arises, in many cases, from the character of the country through 
 which they pass ; and although very much has been and is being 
 done to them, much more remains to be done. Still, such as they are, 
 they are largely used for traffic, though some of the main lines of 
 road have been to a great extent deserted from the fact of railways 
 touching the principal towns and villages they connect. Communi- 
 cation by rail or coach is, however, easy between every part of the 
 colony, for at each of the principal centres of population coaches 
 running daily or twice or thrice a week branch off in every direction, 
 and there is no difficulty in reaching the most remote part of 
 Victoria by coach or mail car, or even the smallest and most unfre- 
 quented hamlet, station, or settlement by means of the coach and a 
 short drive by hired conveyance or ride on horseback. 
 
 The postal arrangements in the colony are very complete, and the 
 facilities for communication by letter are as perfect as they can be 
 made, neither trouble nor expense being spared for the safe and 
 prompt conveyance of letters, not only to all parts of the colony, but 
 to all parts of the world. The rates of postage are low, the charge 
 for a single letter (half-ounce) to any part of the colony, or any part 
 of the other Australian colonies, being 2d. prepaid by stamp and not 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 75 
 
 otherwise. Letters are forwarded by the earliest and quickest 
 means, rail as far as possible, and coach or horse otherwise, as fre- 
 quently as is necessary or convenient, and even the most remote 
 corners of the colony are rarely outside of two days' communication. 
 Post-offices, of which there are no fewer than 900, are established in 
 every township, village, diggings, and agricultural settlement, and 
 in the large towns post-pillars for the reception of letters and news- 
 papers are established in convenient places, and cleared several times 
 each day. In Melbourne, Ballarat, and other important towns, 
 there are three or four deliveries per day, with occasional additional 
 deliveries when rendered necessary by the arrival of the English 
 mail. An additional facility is offered to the public by the adoption 
 of the postal card system, by which short messages, not intended to 
 be private, can be forwarded by the usual post delivery in all parts of 
 the colony for Id. These must, however, be written only on one 
 side of a card, sold ready stamped for the purpose, the address being 
 written on the other side. 
 
 During the year 1875, no fewer than 17,134,101 letters, 7,552,912 
 newspapers, on which the postage is ^d., and 1,528,493 packets 
 (postage within the colony Id. for each two ounces), a total of 
 20,215,506, were passed through the various post-offices of the colony, 
 but of these 129,824 were irregularly posted, having no addresses, 
 or being imperfectly addressed, and of these 117,599 were returned or 
 delivered, the owners being eventually found, and 12,225 destroyed, or 
 kept 011 hand. 1136 of these were registered letters, containing valu- 
 ables to the amount of 13,462. but 94 per cent, of them were delivered. 
 The number of letters, &c., posted shows a total increase of 2,339,878 
 over the previous year. There was also an increase of 8698 in the 
 number of registered letters. About a fourth of the post-offices are 
 also money order offices, and through these the following money 
 orders were passed during the year: Orders issued, 121,094; 
 amount, 373,436; orders paid, 121,924; amount, 393,383. The 
 money order offices transmit or pay orders to or from any part of the 
 colonies or Great Britain, and are very largely used for the trans- 
 mission of small sums. The rate of postage to Great Britain is 6d. for 
 single letters, Id. per oz. for packets, and Id. for newspapers. 
 
76 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Allied to the postal department of the colony is the electric tele- 
 graph, whose wires stretch far and wide in every direction, and flash 
 instantaneous messages over land or under sea to the remotest parts 
 of the earth. Like the postal, the telegraph arrangements are very 
 extensive, and amply sufficient for the requirements of the colony, 
 extending, as they do, in every direction, and having stations in every 
 important township and centre of population. The telegraph lines in 
 Victoria extend over 2629 miles, the wires measuring 4510 miles. 
 They are connected with the lines of New South Wales, and by 
 means of them, with those of Queensland and New Zealand. They 
 are also connected with the lines of South Australia, and through 
 them, with those of the Eastern Archipelago, Asia, and Europe, and 
 will be shortly connected with those of West Australia. They are 
 likewise connected with those of Tasmania, by means of a submarine 
 cable, reaching from Port Phillip Heads to Low Head, at the mouth 
 of the Tamar River. The number of telegraph stations in Victoria is 
 over 164; the number of telegrams for the year 1875 being, paid, 
 623,514; unpaid, 109,355; total, 732,899. The rate for telegraph 
 messages within the colony is an uniform one of Is. for ten words, 
 exclusive of the address, and Id. per word additional. The rates for 
 the other colonies are somewhat higher, and a special charge is made 
 for cablegrams. 
 
 The accounts of the post and telegraph offices are kept together, 
 and show for the year 1875, an income of 206,388, with an expen- 
 diture of 291,945. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 77 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EMPLOYMENT, WAGES, RENTS, PRICE OF 
 PROVISIONS, etc. 
 
 EMPLOYMENT is plentiful in Victoria. There is no lack of work for 
 the man, or the woman either, who will and can work. The colony 
 is undoubtedly the home for the industrious working man, who 
 may, with common steadiness, application, and prudence, not only 
 live in comfort, or in fact, as compared with the condition of 
 many working men in the overcrowded cities of Europe, in affluence, 
 but who may easily save enough to enable him soon to become a 
 freeholder and his own landlord, and it may be, to start in business 
 on his own account. Hundreds who have landed on these shores in 
 poverty have done so, and there is ample room and verge enough for 
 hundreds, aye, thousands more to do the same thing. The country 
 is not half populated, and it is by workers, not dreamers, that it 
 must be populated. 
 
 But there is the right sort of population, even of working 
 population, and the wrong sort. There is scarcely a handicraftsman 
 of any kind who cannot at once, and for good wages, secure 
 permanent employment, and most are sought after with avidity by 
 employers whose jobs are being delayed for sheer want of skilled 
 labour. The carpenter, the builder, the plasterer, the stonemason, 
 the painter, the worker in wood, or in iron, the makers of articles of 
 clothing, of use, of luxury, the purveyor of what we eat, drink, 
 wear, use, with all their concurrent and connected artizans, are 
 needed, are absolutely wanted, not only in Melbourne, the capital, 
 but all over the country. The farmer, the ploughman, the farm 
 labourer, all whose interests are connected with agricultural pursuits, 
 have millions of acres waiting to their hand, and nothing but 
 patience, pluck, and perseverance, are wanted to enable them to go 
 
 ^ 0? TOT "^CS^ 
 
78 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 forward upon it, and prosper. These, men of energy and courage to 
 face and overcome the first difficulty, are those who will and must 
 succeed in any new country, most of all in this. 
 
 But the lazy, the improvident, those who are too poor to be 
 independent, too proud or unable to put their hands forth to manual 
 labour, had better stay away, for they must inevitably go to the 
 wall. The race here is to the swift, the battle to the strong. 
 Clerks, men wanting light genteel employment, et hoc yemts omne, 
 there is little or no room for. 
 
 For the honest, industrious, prudent man, whether artizan or 
 agriculturalist, whether earning his bread in the smoke and turmoil of 
 cities, or tilling the grateful virgin earth in the fresh free air, there is a 
 certain hope of ultimate success, and a steady improvement in his 
 worldly good. This all may hope for, this all, who try con- 
 scientiously, may attain. Therefore is it that, as was said at the 
 beginning of this chapter, the colony is undoubtedly the home for 
 the industrious working man. 
 
 Wages are good. Let us see what wages are here, as compared 
 with those in Europe. From the current rates of wages actually 
 paid for various kinds of labour, and published monthly in the 
 Melbourne newspapers, we cull the following statement made in the 
 Melbourne Age of 3rd September, 1877 : 
 
 Bakers : Foremen and first-class workmen, 2 5s. to 3 10s. per 
 week ; second hands, 35s. to 40s. In small shops lower rates pre- 
 vail. Building trades: Stonemasons, 10s. to 11s. per day ; brick- 
 layers, plasterers, slaters, 10s. ; carpenters, 10s. ; labourers, 7s. ; pick 
 and shovel men, 6s. Butchers : Shopmen, 35s. to 40s. per week ; 
 boys, 15s. to 20s. ; slaughtermen, 40s. to 50s. ; small-goodsmen, 30s. 
 to 40s. with rations. Cabinetmakers : Wages vary greatly with the 
 class of shop and ability of the men. In the superior shops in the 
 city the amounts earned are from 3 to 4 per week, and in 
 others from 2 10s. to 3 10s. In country towns lower rates prevail. 
 Coachbuilders : Smiths, 2 10s. to 3 15s. per week, a few very 
 superior men receiving 4. Bodymakers are mostly paid by the 
 piece, and good hands can earn from 2 10s. to 3 10s. Wheelers also 
 work by the piece, and earn from 2 10s. to 3 10s. Painters, 9s. to 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 79 1 
 
 10s. per day. Trimmers, 2 10s. to 3 per week. Vycemen, from 
 80s. to 40s. Coopers : Mostly paid by piece-work, but day-work is 
 9s. for the day of ten hours. The rates for tallow casks are 5s. for 
 thirds, and 4s. 6d. for fourths. Drapers : In first-class shops drapers' 
 assistants and carpet salesmen have from 3 to 4 per week ; first- 
 class milliners, 3 to 3 10s.; second-class, 35s. to 50s. Farriers : 
 Firemen, 55s. per week ; doormen, 45s.; inferior hands, 30s. to 40s. 
 Gardeners : Best men near town, 30s. to 42s. per week. In the 
 country, 20s. to 25s. with rations. Inferior hands, 15s. with rations. 
 Hatters : Bodymakers Low crown, 12s. and 14s. per doz. ; regulars, 
 18s. and 20s. do. Finishers Low crown, 12s. and 14s. per doz.; silk 
 hats, 22s. and 24s. do.; pullovers, 20s. do. Shapers Regulars 
 plain shape, 6s. per doz. ; over fths, 9s. do. ; Anglesea. 12s. do. Low 
 crowns under fths, 4s. per doz.; over fths, 6s. do.; Anglesea, 8s. 
 do. Crown sewers, average 3s. 6d. to 5s.; trimmers, 6s. Jewellers: 
 Manufacturing jewellers, average workmen, 55s. to 65s. per week; 
 finer workmen, 5 to 6 per week. Seal engravers and enamellers 
 are wanted, and can obtain from 6 to 8 per week. Miners : For 
 surface work, 40s. per week ; underground, 45s. ; specially deep wet 
 mines, 50s. Painters and glaziers: Average rate 9s. per day. 
 Plumbers and gasfitters: Average 3 per week. Printers, &c. : 
 Compositors, Is. per 1000; lithographers, 2 10s. to 3 15s. per week; 
 binders, 2 to 3; paper-rulers, 3 to 3 10s. Sailors: In sailing 
 ships, 5 per month ; steam vessels, 6 per month. Ship carpenters : 
 employment very irregular, average rate, 13s. per day. Stevedores: 
 Lumpers get 12s. per day. Drivers of donkey engines, 18 per month. 
 Tailors: The rate by the log is Is. per hour, but in second-class shops 
 the men earn from 2 10s. to 3 per week. Tanners and curriers: 
 Beamsmen, 40s. to 50s. per week ; shedsmen, 42s. to 45s. ; tanners, 
 38s. to 45s. ; curriers (piecework), from 50s. to 70s. Tinsmiths, from 
 2 to 3 per week (piecework), Watchmakers: Average rate, 4 per 
 week ; superior workmen as high as 6. Grooms in livery stables, 
 30s. to 40s. per week; coachmen, 40s. to 50s.; navvies, on railways, 
 9d. per hour. 
 
 The following are the wages ruling for domestic servants, c. : 
 For town : Housemaids, 25 to 30 per annum ; female cooks, first- 
 
SO HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 class, 40 to 75 ; others from 26 to 36 per annum; male do. 30s. 
 to 80s. per week ; nursemaids, 25 to 35 per annum ; nursegirls, 8s. 
 to 10s. per week ; laundresses, 35 to 45. For hotels: Cooks (male 
 and female), 50 to 150 per annum ; housemaids, 35 to 40. For 
 stations: First-class married couples, for home stations, 70 to 90 
 per annum ; second-class do. , with children, 40 to 50 ; cooks, 45 
 to 55 ; housemaids, 35 to 40. For farms: Men cooks, 50 per 
 annum ; married couples, 60 to 70 ; women servants, 30 to 35 ; 
 farming men, 15s. to 20s. per week ; milkmen, 15s. to 25s. ; plough- 
 men, 18s. to 22s. 6d. ; waiters for hotels, 20s. to 35s. per week ; 
 grocers' assistants, 15s. to 30s.; general store do., 20s. to 40s.; 
 nursery governesses, 30 to 40 per annum ; finishing do., 60 
 to 80. 
 
 Station hands' wages are as follows: Stockmen, 60 to 75 
 per annum ; shepherds, 15s. to 20s. per week ; ordinary working 
 men, 15s. to 20s.; drovers, 25s. to 40s.; gardeners, 15s. to 20s. 
 
 So much for tradesmen and handicraftsmen. Can they, could they 
 ver hope, working such hours, generally eight hours per diem, 
 to earn such wages at home ? We trow not. 
 
 But, it may be said, and often has been said by those who wished 
 to throw cold water on emigration, and to keep the working man for 
 ever with his nose to the grindstone: "Although we grant you that 
 labour is plentiful and that wages are high, still the cost of living is 
 so great that you are better off where you are earning less than half 
 the money, than in the colonies, earning the high wages, but having 
 to pay four times the price for everything you eat, drink, and wear." 
 An excellent argument, certainly, if it were true. 
 
 The following may be quoted as the average prices in Melbourne, in 
 March, 1877, of the chief articles of consumption for the year 1876--7. 
 The cost of groceries, wines, spirits, &c., is generally somewhat 
 higher, and of agricultural and grazing produce somewhat lower, in 
 country districts : Agricultural Produce Wheat, per bushel, 5s. to 
 6s. 6d.; oats, 3s. to 4s.; barley, 3s. to 5s.; Maize, 3s. 6d. to 6s.; 
 bran, Is, 3d. to Is. 8d.; hay, per ton, 3 10s. to 6; potatoes, 3 to 
 8; flour, 14 5s. to 14 10s.; bread, per 4-lb. loaf, 6d. to 7d. 
 Grazing produce Horses, draught, 10 to 40; saddle, 5 to 50; 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 81 
 
 fat cattle, 6 10s. to 16 2s.; milch cows, 4 to 12 10s.; fat calves, 
 1 10s. to 3; fat sheep, 7s. to 22s.; fat lambs, 6s. to 10s. 6d. 
 Butcher' 1 s meat Beef, retail, per lb., 4d. to 8d.; mutton, 2|d. to 4d. ; 
 veal, 6d. to 8d.; pork, 7d. to 9d.; lamb, per quarter, Is. 6d. to 3s. 6d. 
 Dairy produce Fresh butter, per lb., Is. to Is. 6d. ; salt butter, 8d. 
 to Is.; colonial cheese, lOd. to Is. 2d.; imported, Is. 6d. to Is. 10d.; 
 milk, per quart, 4d. Farm yard produce Geese, per couple, 8s. to 
 12s.; ducks, 5s. to 8s.; fowls, 5s. to 7s.; rabbits, Is. to 2s.; pigeons, 
 Is. 3d. to 5s.; turkeys, each, 6s. to 12s.; sucking pigs, 8s. to 14s.; 
 bacon, per lb., lOd. to Is. 2d. ; ham, Is. to Is. 3d.; eggs, perdoz., Is. 
 to 2s. 6d. Garden produce Potatoes, wholesale, per ton, 3 to 6 ; 
 retail, perlb., fd. to Id.; onions, per cwt., 6s. to 12s.; carrots, per 
 dozen bunches, 6d. to Is. ; turnips, 6d. to Is. ; radishes, 6d. to Is. ; 
 cabbages, per dozen, 6d. to 2s. ; cauliflowers, Is. to 4s. ; lettuces, 4d. 
 to Is.; green peas, perlb., Id. to 3d. Miscellaneous articles Tea, 
 per lb., Is. to 3s. 6d. ; coffee, Is. to Is. 6d. ; sugar, 3d. to 6d. ; lump, 
 7d.; rice, 2d. to 4d.; tobacco, Is. to 6s.; soap, 3d. to 4d.; sperm 
 candles, 9d. to Is.; tallow candles, 4d. to 6d.; salt, Id.; coal, per 
 ton, 20s. to 35s.; firewood, 12s. to 18s. Wines, Spirits, <fcc. Ale, 
 per hhd., 4 to. 9 5s.; per doz., 6s. to 11s.; porter, per hhd., 5 to 
 7; per doz., 7s. 6d. to lls.; brandy, per gal., 4s. lOd. to 31s.; rum, 
 3s. to 3s. 6cl.; whisky, 4s. to 10s.; hollands, 2s. 9d. to 4s.; port 
 wine, per doz., 25s. to 55s. ; sherry, 25s. to 85s. ; claret, 10s. 9d. to 
 80s.; champagne, 26s. 9d. to 100s.; colonial wine, per gallon, Is. up- 
 wards. 
 
 These prices, which may be relied on as being the correct prices 
 ruling, subject, of course, to variations n some of the articles, as 
 they are in or out of season, constitute all the necessaries, and some 
 of the luxuries of life, and are, as will be seen, very little different 
 to home rates, some a little higher, perhaps, others lower. Fruit, 
 comprising grapes, peaches, nectarines, apricots, oranges, bananas, 
 passion fruit, apples, pears, cherries, plums, damsons, red, white and 
 black currants, Cape gooseberries, loquats, strawberries, raspberries, 
 mulberries, gooseberries, pine-apples, and other fruits, are plentiful 
 in their respective seasons, and may be had quite as cheaply, and in 
 most cases far more cheaply than in Great Britain. 
 
; 82 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Wearing apparel, slops, soft goods, boots, &c., are reasonable, 
 the imported articles being subject to a duty, in no case higher than 
 20 per cent, ad valorem, but the colonial-made goods, consisting of 
 boots, hats, tweeds, shawls, blankets, and male and female clothing 
 of all kinds, can be purchased of excellent quality and at low prices. 
 
 From these prices it is clearly shown that the ignorant or wilfully- 
 erroneous statements made in the old country regarding the high 
 price of living in Victoria are totally devoid of foundation, and that, 
 taking into consideration the higher rate of wages, living is far-and- 
 away less costly than it is in the cheapest parts of Europe. Certainly 
 house rents are higher, but it must be remembered that the working 
 men of Australia are not content to dwell in the close narrow streets 
 and crowded alleys of older Britain. Every working man, with any 
 pretension to decency, must have his neat cottage in a wide, open 
 thoroughfare, with probably his little patch of flower garden railed 
 in before the door. His rent will thus range from 5s. to 10s., or, 
 perhaps 12s. per week, according to the neighbourhood, the distance 
 from town, and the class of house, but for the latter sum he may 
 easily obtain, within easy distance of the centre of the city, a 
 verandah-cottage, with a small garden and a roomy yard behind, con- 
 taining four, or perhaps five rooms; a bathroom, with plunge and 
 shower bath (an unspeakable luxury in the summer season) ; gas and 
 water laid on ; and the cottage handsomely finished, and furnished 
 with grates, ovens, gasfittiiigs, chiffonniere cupboards, shelving, and 
 all other appliances for use and comfort he can wish for himself and 
 family. 
 
 But he does not need, if he be moderately careful and steady, to 
 pay even that rent long, for, with or without the aid of one or other 
 of the numerous excellent and liberal building societies, he can easily 
 acquire a small allotment of ground, and build thereon his own brick, 
 stone, or weatherboard house, and so, after a time, live with the ex- 
 ception of the local taxation, which is light rent free, a man having 
 a stake in the country, a citizen, and a freeholder. 
 
 Although much of this article may seem to commend itself more 
 especially to artisans whose interests are connected with the large 
 towns, still it bears with equal truth on those whose avocations 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 83 
 
 lead them into the country, for although outside the towns they may 
 not be able to rent houses of such pretensions as in them, still there 
 is no difficulty in obtaining comfortable residences, and as the rents 
 are lower, and the facilities for becoming possessed of land greater, 
 so the inducement to become freeholders is stronger, and the means 
 of doing so still easier. 
 
 The small capitalist farmer, however, and the agricultural labourer 
 who reads this chapter, and in conjunction therewith, chapter III. , 
 which deals with the agricultural interest, will see embodied therein 
 .a simple, ready, and cheap means of settling on the land, a purpose 
 not altogether connected with the subject on which this chapter 
 purports to deal. 
 
84 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MORAL AND MENTAL CONDITION OF THE 
 POPULATION, EDUCATION, etc. 
 
 ONE of the proudest boasts of Victoria, as a free country, is that 
 there is no such thing as religious intolerance within her borders. 
 Every man is perfectly at liberty to enjoy his own religious opinions 
 and to follow the tenets and practices of his own creed, so long as 
 he does not break the law, outrage propriety, or interfere with his 
 neighbour. There is no State Church, nor does any one religious 
 denomination enjoy privileges denied to any other. Whether a man 
 professes religion or no religion there is no interference with his civil 
 rights, nor is the line of demarcation between one creed and another so 
 marked as in other countries, where one particular religion is looked 
 upon as, par excellence, that of the people. Religions are, to some 
 extent, blended, and even the clergy, generally the most conservative 
 body in existence, frequently meet on a common platform when 
 questions of public good are to be considered. 
 
 It might be thought that such a free and easy system might lead 
 to irreligion, or to neglect of public worship on the part of the 
 people, and yet so far from such being the case, there is perhaps no 
 part of the world where religious ordinances are more conscientiously 
 attended to, or are held in greater respect by non-professors, than in 
 Victoria. More, it would be hard to find a place where more 
 opportunities are afforded to the public to meet in religious com- 
 munion, or where larger, more orderly, and more respectable 
 congregations gather together, sabbath after sabbath, to "the sound 
 of the church-going bell." The clergy of all denominations throughout 
 Victoria, registered for the celebration of marriages, numbered 669 
 at the end of the year 1875. The total number of buildings used 
 for public worship was 2519. The approximate number of services 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 85 
 
 during the year was 206,883; the number of persons for whom 
 accommodation was provided was 421,377, and the numbers usually 
 attending at the principal service on. the sabbath averaged 296,262. 
 
 The religions professed by the people of Victoria at the date of the 
 last census were as follows : Episcopalian Protestants, 257,835; 
 Presbyterians, 112,983; Methodists, 94,220; Independents, 18,191; 
 Baptists, 16,311; Lutherans, 10,559; Church of Christ, 3540; Mo- 
 ravians, 93; Calvinists, 1432; Friends, 333; Unitarians, 1016; 
 other Protestants, 1028; Roman Catholics, 170,620; Apostolic 
 Church, 278; Greek Church, 332; Christian Israelites, 285; Mor- 
 mons, 97; Jews, 3571 ; other sects, including Pagans, mostly Chinese, 
 18,392; no denomination, 2737; no religion, 2150; unspecified, 
 5560; objecting to state their religion, 9965. 
 
 In connection with the churches are 1430 sabbath schools, with 
 12,055 teachers, and 108,388 scholars. Of these schools, 270 are 
 Church of England, 208 Roman Catholic, 315 Presbyterians, and 
 478 Wesley an. It may be stated here that 1875 was the last year 
 of the reservation of 50,000 annually from the revenue for the 
 purposes of public worship, therefore since December, 1875, State 
 aid to religion has been abolished. 
 
 The state of education in Victoria, taking all things into account, 
 may be said to have reached a high standard, and for the future there 
 can be no reason why that standard should not be still higher. Of 
 one thing there can be no doubt, namely, that while the existing 
 system lasts, and it seems to have become the recognised law of the 
 land, education in the colony will be virtually universal. That 
 system, which was not passed through the Legislature without 
 strenuous opposition on the part of the clergy, is one of free, 
 compulsory, and secular education, the religious element, or the 
 slightest approach to teaching the tenets of any creed or sect, being 
 strictly forbidden in the public schools. At first this measure was 
 viewed with distrust by many worthy but short-sighted persons, 
 such distrust being incited by the hostility of the clergy, who 
 viewed with alarm the prospect of so much power passing from their 
 hands, and who denounced the system as godless and atheistic. 
 With the exception of a few ill-advised pastors of one or two 
 
 G 
 
86 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 denominations, they, the clergy, have however now accepted the 
 position, finding it better to direct their energies towards giving 
 religious instruction to the children out of school hours, than to 
 waste their time in fruitless efforts to overturn a system which has 
 received the cordial approval of the public voice, and which promises 
 to conduce so much to the public weal. 
 
 Prior to 1862 two systems of education, named respectively the 
 Denominational and the National, were supported by the State in 
 Victoria ; but in September of that year they were blended into one 
 system under the Common School Act (25 Viet., No. 140). That 
 Act, however, was repealed by the present Education Act (36 Viet., 
 No. 447), which came into force on the 1st January, 1873. 
 
 The present Act provides that the Department of Education shall 
 be presided over by a responsible Minister of the Crown, styled the 
 Minister of Public Instruction, and also provides for what are called 
 boards of advice, elected in the various school districts. The subjects 
 taught free are reading, writing, spelling, writing from dictation, 
 arithmetic as far as vulgar and decimal fractions, grammar, geography, 
 and disciplinary exercises, also needlework for girls. Drill and 
 gymnastics are taught when practicable. Extra subjects, such as 
 Latin, French, or any other language, Euclid, trigonometry, algebra, 
 the elements of natural science, mensuration, bookkeeping, sing- 
 ing and drawing, are also allowed to be taught at certain pre- 
 scribed low rates, to be charged for to the parents. The com- 
 pulsory clause of the Act applies to children between six and fifteen 
 years of age, each of whom is required to attend at a State-school for 
 a period of sixty days in each half-year, unless the child has been 
 educated up to a certain standard, is educated elsewhere, or is 
 prevented from attending by sickness, distance, or other unavoidable 
 cause, and parents are liable to penalties for non-fulfilment of the 
 requirements of the Act. 
 
 During 1875 the number of public schools, including State day and 
 night schools, and capitation schools, was 1320, the number of 
 instructors 3826, the number on the rolls 220,533, and the number 
 in average attendance 101,495. The average attendance in 1874 was 
 104,375, but the diminished attendance is accounted for by the fact 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 87 
 
 that during 1875, some of the schools were closed at various periods 
 on account of the prevalence of the epidemics of scarlatina and 
 measles. 
 
 Of private schools there were 565, having 1511 teachers, and 27,481 
 scholars, but five of these schools are colleges or grammar schools, 
 which at a former period received sums of money and grants of land 
 from the Government for the erection of school buildingsj although 
 no State assistance is now given them. They are all connected with 
 some religious denomination, and in connection with some of them 
 there are exhibitions, chiefly with the view of assisting the ablest 
 pupils to complete their education at the university. These colleges 
 are known as the Melbourne Grammar School (Church of England), 
 which in former years received 13,784 towards building, 7 masters, 
 149 scholars ; Geelong Grammar School (Church of England), 7000, 
 8 masters, 124 scholars; Scotch College (Presbyterian) 6445, 14 
 masters, 340 scholars ; Wesley College (Wesleyan) 2769, 12 masters, 
 230 scholars ; St. Patrick's College (Roman Catholic) 2500, 9 masters, 
 166 scholars. Total grant in aid of building, 32,498, 50 masters, 
 1009 scholars. 
 
 The Melbourne University for the higher branches of education 
 was established under a special Act in January, 1853, and was opened 
 in October, 1855. The Act provides for a council of twenty members, 
 of whom sixteen must be laymen, and who shall elect from their 
 body a Chancellor and Vice- Chancellor, also for the constitution of a 
 senate, to be presided over by a warden, and for the endowment of 
 the university by the payment of not less than 9000 per annum .out 
 of the general revenue. It further provides that no religious test 
 shall be administered to any one to enable him to be admitted to the 
 privileges and advantages of the university. By Royal letters patent, 
 issued in March, 1859, it was declared that all degrees granted, or to 
 be granted by the Melbourne University, should be recognised as 
 academic distinctions and rewards of merit as fully as if they had 
 been granted by any university in the United Kingdom. 
 
 The students who matriculated in 1875, numbered 93 as against 
 118 in the previous year. From the opening of the University in 
 1855, to the end of the year, the students who matriculated amounted 
 
 G-2 
 
88 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 to 923. The undergraduates who attended lectures during the year 
 were as follow : Arts 56, laws 60, engineering 27, medicine 52 total 
 195. The number of graduates was 34, of whom 29 took direct, and 
 5 ad eundem degrees. Of the former 10 graduated B.A., 6 M.A., 
 3 M.B., 1 M.D., and 9 LL.B. ; of the ad eundem degrees, 3 were 
 B.A., 1 M.A., and 1 LL.B. 
 
 The total graduates since 1855 have been 430. The total receipts 
 of the University during 1875 amounted to 15,179, of which 9000 
 was obtained from Government, 5947 from college fees, and 232 
 from other sources. 
 
 It will thus be seen that with regard to the two important matters, 
 the religious and mental culture of the population, Victoria may 
 compare favourably with any part of the world. With regard to the 
 former, eminent and talented preachers are warmly welcomed and 
 liberally paid by their congregations, and the .prizes to be won by 
 men who have made or can make their mark in the clerical world, 
 are neither few nor, in a pecuniary point of view, lightly to be 
 despised. Regarding the latter, it may be fairly said that the 
 Government has set an example which might be profitably followed 
 anywhere, inasmuch as while providing liberally for the higher 
 branches of education, they have devoted most of their energies 
 to the compulsory training of the young in the more rudimentary 
 branches, and, education being free, there is not the slightest excuse 
 even for the poorest parents, in not giving to their offspring that 
 boon, more priceless than all others, a good education. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that in the earlier days of the colony, 
 and especially during the first of the gold rush, it was visited by so 
 many new comers, many of whom were desperadoes and scoundrels 
 the riff-raff and off-scouring of society from all parts of the world, 
 and, notwithstanding that, to some degree, the taint of that ruffian 
 element remains still in our midst, yet Victoria can compare favour- 
 ably in point of morality and immunity from crime with most parts 
 of the world. Of the children born during 1876, which numbered 
 26,769, there were 975 registered as illegitimate, being one in every 
 27 5. Supposing all the children born out of wedlock to have been 
 registered as such, illegitimacy is much more common in England and 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 89 
 
 Wales than in Victoria the illegitimate births there during the 
 eleven years ending with 1873 having been 1 in every 17 registered. 
 The gradual diminution of crime generally is marked by the circum- 
 stance that, notwithstanding the increase in the population of the 
 colony, fewer and fewer arrests have been made during the past ten 
 years, and the diminution in the number of serious offences is 
 indicated by the fact that the number of persons committed for trial 
 follows the same rule. Diminished numbers are observed in respect 
 to all the more serious crimes, especially murder, wounding or 
 poisoning, rape, unnatural offences, robbery with violence, and 
 horse, sheep, and cattle stealing. The numbers arrested for drunken- 
 ness show a steady decrease during the period named. 
 
 The charities of Victoria are noble and large. Hospitals for the 
 sick, asylums for the afflicted and bereaved, shelters for the poor, 
 and refuges for penitents, are numerous and liberally supported, 
 partially by Government subsidy, partially by voluntary con- 
 tributions. Of hospitals there are 32, having 232 wards or rooms, 
 with beds for 1987 patients, and having afforded assistance to 14,477 
 inmates during the past year ; 1 lying-in hospital, with 65 beds, 799 
 inmates; 1 blind asylum, 102 inmates; 1 deaf and dumb asylum, 84 
 inmates; 1 eye and ear hospital, 171 inmates; 1 children's hospital, 
 88 inmates ; 5 benevolent asylums for the aged poor, 1683 inmates ; 1 
 immigrants' home, for the relief of the homeless poor, 10,229 relieved ; 
 7 orphan asylums, 1262 inmates ; 9 industrial and reformatory schools, 
 2682 inmates ; 4 hospitals for the insane, 3089 inmates ; 4 female 
 refiTges, 338 inmates: total, 69 institutions, having afforded aid in a 
 year to 34,984 persons, or 8 '507 on an average at one time, a goodly 
 show for charity, and one which speaks volumes for the general 
 prosperity of the colony and the generosity of the colonists. 
 
 The mental condition of the population of Victoria, too, may 
 compare favourably with that of other places, as evidenced by the 
 numbers of public libraries, mechanics' institutes, and other similar 
 institutions, which are broadcast throughout the length and breadth 
 of the land. The principal of these, and the one which is the pride 
 of Victoria, is the unequalled Public Library in Melbourne. This 
 building was opened in February, 1856, and, although important 
 
90 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 additions have been made to it since then, it is yet unfinished. The 
 buildings have cost 110,190, the funds being provided by Govern- 
 ment, and the total number of volumes in the library at the end of 
 last year was nearly 90,000, the private contributions of books, 
 pamphlets, maps, &c., having amounted in all to about 67,000, of 
 which about 44,000 were presented to the institution, and the 
 remainder deposited under the copyright statute. The Library is open 
 to the public free on week days (an energetic movement has 
 lately been made to have it opened on Sundays as well), between 
 the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., and was visited during the year by 
 about 240,000 persons. 
 
 The National Gallery, which is attached to the Library, contained, 
 at the end of 1875, 5919 works of art, viz., 73 oil paintings, 159 
 objects of statuary, and 5687 drawings, engravings, and photographs 
 and all these have been largely added to partly by purchase, partly 
 by loan, during last year. It is opened at noon daily (Sundays and 
 certain holidays excepted), and is closed at 4 p.m. in winter and 
 5 p.'m. in summer. The school of painting was attended in 1875 by 
 7 male and 34 female students, and the school of design by 45 males 
 and 107 female students. The Industrial and Technological Museum, 
 also attached to the Library, contained 17,982 objects, principally 
 specimens of art, industry, and natural products. Class lectures are 
 given at this institution on chemistry, mining, mineralogy, telegraphy, 
 &c., and are fairly attended. This institution receives students 
 in all branches of chemical science, both theoretical and applied : 
 in mineralogy, assaying, and geology applied to mining. The fee 
 payable for this course of education and practical training is but four 
 guineas per term (4 4s.), of which there are four in the year, but 
 pupils may enter at any time. There are two exhibitions of 50 a 
 year, to be holden for one or two years by the two most advanced 
 pupils. All requisite appliances and apparatus, &c., are supplied, 
 and the pupil is charged only for such as are lost or seriously injured. 
 The two latter institutions were visited last year by about 200,000 
 persons. 
 
 Attached to the Melbourne University is the National Museum, 
 an institution containing valuable specimens of minerals, stuffed 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 91 
 
 animals, insects, and other specimens of natural history. It is open 
 free to the public, on week days, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and was 
 visited last year by about 100,000 persons. 
 
 Besides these places of public resort and instruction in the 
 metropolis, nearly every township in Victoria has its free library, 
 athenaeum, or scientific, literary, or mechanics' institute the number 
 in 1875 being 138 ; and it is estimated that during that* year they 
 were visited by nearly two and a-half millions of persons. The total 
 number of volumes in these institutions was 184,428. 
 
 Besides the public institutions named, every place of importance 
 has its place or places of public resort and entertainment theatres, 
 concert-rooms, and the like. Of these, Melbourne has four fine 
 theatres, three public concert-halls, a town-hall for concerts, balls, 
 &c., having a magnificent organ, an athenseum-hall (to which is 
 attached, or, rather, which is attached to) a reading-room and cir- 
 culating library, and other places of amusement or recreation of 
 greater or less importance. Ballarat has two theatres and a music- 
 hall; Sandhurst the same; Geelong, one hall, fitted as a theatre; 
 and in nearly every township of any pretension is a room fitted 
 with the appliances for musical or dramatic representations. 
 
 In connection with the mental condition of the population, it may 
 be mentioned, too, that schools of art and design exist in Melbourne, 
 Ballarat West (where is also a school of mines), Ballarat East, 
 Brunswick, Clunes, Creswick, East Collingwood, Fitzroy, Geelong, 
 Northcote, Prahran, Preston, Richmond, Sandhurst (where is also 
 a school of mines), Sebastopol, South Melbourne, South Richmond, 
 and St. Kilda, so that, whether for educational or merely recreative 
 purposes, Victoria may fairly vie, not only with her neighbours of 
 something like her own age, but with those of the older countries of 
 Europe who have enjoyed for ages past the advantages she has only 
 just commenced to enjoy, but which she has, in the exuberance of 
 her youth and energy, grasped at and paid for with so liberal a hand. 
 
92 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE 
 PEOPLE. 
 
 CLOSELY allied to the moral and mental status of a people, is their 
 political and social condition. Where the moral and mental condition 
 is low, the people will be found politically and socially abject 
 and debased; where, on the contrary, the moral and mental status is 
 of a high standard, so too will they occupy, socially and politically, a 
 high position in the State. 
 
 Victoria is, in a word, essentially politically free. The very nature 
 of her political institutions is such that she must be free, for with 
 certain necessary restrictions, the law places no bar to any man rising 
 to the very highest office under the Crown. 
 
 The affairs of the colony are under the control of a Governor 
 appointed by the British Government, whose term of office is usually 
 six years, the present one being Sir George Ferguson Bowen, K.M.G., 
 and of an Executive Council, consisting of the Governor and the 
 Ministry for the time being, and of two Houses of Legislature. The 
 Legislative Council consists of 30 members, representing the six 
 provinces into which the colony is divided, namely, the Central, North- 
 western, North-eastern, Southern, Eastern and Western, which contain 
 29,110 electors. The qualification for a vote is a leasehold of 50 a 
 year, or a freehold property of the same value. The candidate's 
 qualification is 2500 freehold, or property of the value of 250 an- 
 nually, the tenure of office being ten years, one of the five members 
 of Council for each province retiring in rotation at the expiration of 
 every two years. The Legislative Assembly consists of 86 members, 
 representing 55 electoral districts, and is triennial in its duration. 
 The members of the Assembly need no special qualification, and 
 members of both Houses are paid 300 per annum for re-imbursing 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 93 
 
 their expenses. The number of electors for the Assembly on the 
 roll on the 21st March, 1877, was 181,228, and the qualifications of 
 a voter are so small that the system may be practically considered 
 as one of universal suffrage. The voter must be a male person 
 of twenty-one years of age (not subject to any legal incapacity), a 
 naturalised or denizen subject of the Queen, and have resided 
 in Victoria one year previous to the 1st day of January or July in 
 any year, or have been naturalised at least three years. All voting 
 is done by ballot. 
 
 The aspect of Victoria socially is one on which she may with 
 reason pride herself. Out of the chaos of disorder and misrule of 
 the old digging days, the sterling good sense of her people has 
 evolved a social system which is second to none in the world. 
 Victorians are a law-loving, a law-abiding, and an orderly race, and 
 although unquestionably, amongst a certain class, rowdyism exists, 
 still there is 110 defined body anything like the roughs of London or 
 the hoodlums of San Francisco. Life and property are comparatively 
 safe, and robbery with violence is of rare occurrence. Certainly 
 nothing like "garotting," the crime that rendered London streets 
 so dangerous after nightfall, is practised, and even " bushranging, " 
 once a reign of terror in New South Wales, never obtained a footing 
 in Victoria, and when tried was speedily stamped out. The great 
 social failing in the colony is indulgence in strong drink drunken- 
 ness, in fact; but even this, which at one time was looked upon 
 -as a venial fault if not a manly attribute, is now regarded rather as 
 a disgrace and a disability, and publicly, at all events, has wonder- 
 fully decreased of late, the more as the wines native to the soil 
 are growing in favour with the masses, and dram-drinking, or, as 
 it is colonially termed, "nobblerising," is gradually giving way to 
 the partaking of sound and pure juice of the grape. 
 
 The character of a nation has been said by an original thinker 
 to be determined by its songs. Equally well may it be said that 
 the character of a nation is shown by its amusements. Victorians 
 are pre-eminently a people of amusements. Nor do they, as 
 Continental nations say the English do, take their pleasures sadly. 
 Holidays are frequent, and are largely availed of by all classes of 
 
94 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 people. And really a Victorian holiday is something to see, for in 
 no part of the world perhaps can so orderly, so well dressed, and 
 so evidently well-to-do a body of people be found as may be seen, 
 hurrying by road, rail or steamer to pic-nic, review, racecourse, 
 cricket ground, or what not, at holiday time. The outdoor amuse- 
 ments most affected are horse-racing and cricket, and after them foot- 
 ball, bowls, rifle-shooting, boating, hunting, and the newly imported 
 games of Polo and La Crosse. Roller skating is also a fashionable 
 amusement, there being numerous rinks in the colony, and Mel- 
 bourne has a fine hand-ball coiirt, which is extensively patronised. 
 
 Every town of any pretension has its racecourse, the metropolitan 
 one at Flemington. being the best in Australia, and hardly to be 
 matched in any part of the world. The principal event of the 
 year is the Cup race, which is run for at Flemington in the summer 
 season. The Cup day is the fashionable day of the year, and on that 
 occasion the Flemingtoii Grand Stand (an excellent and commodious 
 building), and "the hill" are crowded with a vast assemblage of 
 visitors from all parts of this and other colonies, and show such a 
 spectacle of well-dressed people as cannot be seen elsewhere. Goodwood 
 in England, and Chantilly and Longchamps in France perhaps 
 excepted. On that day every one turns out to do honour to the 
 occasion, which is looked on as a kind of festival. High and low, 
 rich and poor, alike congregate on the racecourse in tens of thou- 
 sands, and for the time busy and crowded Melbourne appears 
 deserted. Among the wealthier classes, the ladies especially, it is 
 looked upon as a point of honour to appear arrayed in the gayest 
 and richest apparel that can be obtained, and as a gathering of 
 female beauty and dazzling toilettes, the Melbourne course on a 
 Cup day has long been generally celebrated all over the colonies. 
 The racing is excellent, much attention having been paid to, and 
 large sums of money expended in, the breeding of racehorses. 
 
 Every township has, too, its cricket ground, Melbourne having 
 a large number, of which the principal are the Melbourne, East 
 Melbourne, and South Melbourne grounds, on the first-named of 
 which the intercolonial and All-England matches are played. Foot- 
 ball is the favourite game in winter, and numerous matches are 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 95 
 
 played on the grounds of the various clubs during the season. There 
 are also two or three regattas during the year, but aquatics are not 
 so extensively patronised as in the sister colony of New South Wales. 
 The other sports named, too, have their numerous votaries, and it is 
 but few of the young men of the colony who are not attached to one 
 or more clubs for the prosecution of games of some kind, or who do 
 not belong to one of the numerous volunteer corps, amongst which 
 rifle-shooting is a favourite recreation (butts being provided by 
 Government in suitable places), and which mass together once a year 
 for an encampment in the country, which lasts several days, and 
 comprises a review and a sham fight. 
 
 As has been said, Victorians are a people of amusements, but it 
 may also be said that Victorians are a people of work. They do not 
 allow one thing to interfere with the other. There are no half 
 measures. When they work, they mean work, and when they play 
 they go at it with a will. Indeed, it would be hard to find a place 
 where the distinction between labour and recreation is so distinctly 
 understood and carried out, and it would be equally hard to find one 
 where, in proportion to the population, a public holiday can turn out 
 such well-dressed, well-conducted, respectable, and evidently well- 
 to-do crowds of people as are to be seen in Victoria. 
 
 In connection with the social condition of the population, it may 
 be mentioned that a laudable desire exists amongst all ranks in 
 Victoria, and especially amongst the labouring population, to possess 
 dwellings of their own. This subject has been touched upon in 
 chapter III. , but there the occupancy and purchase of agricultural 
 freeholds is more particularly referred to. The same feeling exists 
 with regard to the purchase of dwelling-houses by the artisans and 
 others employed in the towns of the colony, and to aid in this object' 
 building societies have been established in most parts, and have met 
 with a large amount of success. At present there are in Victoria no 
 fewer than fifty-eight of such societies, having 21,750 members, 
 holding 56,988^ borrowing and 140,695^ investing shares. The 
 amount advanced in the year 1876 was 870,203, the income being 
 1,011,397, the working expenses 28,571, the assets 2,750,660, 
 the liabilities 2,352,282, and the moneys on deposit 611,598. 
 
96 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 The friendly societies of Victoria numbered twenty-eight in 1875. 
 These had 754 branches in various parts of the colony, and an average 
 number of members of 45,924. The number of cases of sickness 
 relieved during the year was 10,359, aliment being allowed for 53,453 
 weeks. There were 426 deaths, the average number of wives regis- 
 tered under the Friendly Societies Act being 27,021, and the deaths 
 of the same being 169. 
 
 There are also numerous insurance offices all over the colony, which 
 do a very extensive business in life and fire insurance, the necessity 
 for making a provision for their families in case of death being a duty 
 strongly impressed on the public mind, and being very largely carried 
 out. 
 
 In addition to these, which are established by private enterprise, 
 the Government, in order to foster habits of frugality and thrift 
 amongst the people, has established what are known as savings 
 banks and post-office savings banks all over Victoria. The savings 
 banks are under the control of five commissioners, in whom are 
 vested all deposits and securities. These savings banks are eleven 
 in number, and are established at Melbourne, Geelong, Portland, 
 Belfast, Castlemaine, Sandhurst, Ballarat, Maryborough, Warrnam- 
 bool, Kyneton, and Hamilton. The rate of interest on deposits is 
 fixed by the commissioners, but by the Savings Banks Statute 
 (28 Vic., No. 263), it must not exceed 4 per cent, per annum. On 
 the 30th June, 1876, the end of the savings banks financial year, the 
 number of depositors was 27,506, of whom 15,834 were males, and 
 11,672 females. The total amount of depositors' balances was 
 889,958, an average amount of 32 7s. Id. for each depositor. It 
 was found, however, that of the depositors 16,686 had accounts less 
 than 20 to their credit; 4653, less than 50; 3160, less than 100; 
 1723, less than 150; 1024, less than 200; and 260 had more than 
 200. 
 
 By the Post-office Statute of 1865 (29 Vic., No. 277), post-office 
 savings banks were established, and interest allowed on deposits not 
 exceeding 4 per cent. (The rate of interest has since been reduced 
 to 3 per cent.) On the llth September, 1865, post-office savings 
 banks were opened at Melbourne, Williamstown, Geelong, Ballarat, 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 97 
 
 Sandhurst, Castlemaine, Maryborough, and Beechworth, and between 
 that date and the 30th June, 1876, at 159 towns in all. The number 
 of depositors was 41,521, the amount of depositors' balances 617,277, 
 and the average amount of each depositor 14 17s. 4d. 
 
 Besides these banks there are several deposit banks founded by 
 private enterprise, and largely patronised by persons who prefer the 
 higher rate of interest given at them than at the savings banks to the 
 perfect security offered by Government institutions. The principal of 
 these are the Melbourne Banking Corporation, the Land Mortgage 
 Bank, and the Victoria Savings Institute. All these have influential 
 proprietaries, and appear to be in a prosperous condition. Many of 
 the building societies also receive deposits for fixed periods, and the 
 security offered by them is probably equal to that held out by the 
 deposit banks. 
 
 Connected to a certain extent with the social condition of the 
 people, although more nearly perhaps with the commercial interest, 
 are the banks of issue in Victoria. Of these there are twelve, viz. : 
 The Australian and European Bank, Bank of Australasia, Bank of New 
 South Wales, Bank of Victoria, City of Melbourne Bank, Colonial 
 Bank of Australasia, Commercial Bank of Australia ; English, Scottish, 
 and Australian Chartered Bank, London Chartered Bank of Australia, 
 National Bank of Australasia, Oriental Bank, and Union Bank of 
 Australia. Of these five are local institutions, and the remaining 
 seven have proprietaries outside the colony. These banks are 
 regulated under the Banks and Currency Statute (27 Vic., No. 194). 
 By this Act each bank is compelled, under heavy penalties, to 
 compile and publish quarterly in the Government Gazette a general 
 statement of its business, so that the public is made aquainted with 
 the exact financial position of the bank, four times a year. 
 
 The number of branches or agencies, &c., in Victoria, is 293. 
 Their total liabilities are Notes in circulation, 1,335,478; bills in 
 circulation, 54,472; balances due to other banks, 287,179; de- 
 posits not bearing interest, 4,722,549; deposits bearing interest, 
 10,127,599. Total, 16,527,277. The assets are Coined gold, 
 silver, and other metals, 3,162,188; gold and silver in bullion and 
 bars, 357,189; landed property, 790,129; notes and biUs of other 
 
"98 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 banks, 129,000; balances due from other banks, 341,156; all 
 debts due to the banks except notes, bills and balances due from 
 other banks, 19,138,461. Total, 23,918,123. The capital and 
 profits accounts show Capital stock paid up, 8,630,745; average 
 per annum of last dividend declared, 10J per cent. ; average per 
 annum of interest paid to shareholders, 11*757 per cent. ; total 
 amount of last dividend, 507,340; amount pf reserve profits, 
 2,650,096. 
 
 These large figures, which, while they show the firm basis on which 
 the banks are established, also denote the extent to which commercial 
 transactions are carried on, go far to prove the substantial and 
 satisfactory state of the colony in a financial point of view, and, as 
 the greater includes the lesser, so it may be argued that what is true 
 of the colony as a State, is also true of its population with regard to 
 their material wealth, and through that, to their social condition. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DIVISION OF THE COLONY, PRINCIPAL 
 TOWNS, &C. 
 
 VICTORIA is divided into seven mining, six Council (electoral), and 
 fifty-five Assembly (electoral) districts, thirty-seven counties, fifty- 
 nine municipalities, and 110 shires; also into parishes, and police 
 and other districts for special purposes. The five original divisions 
 are the districts of Gipps Land, the Murray, Wimmera, Loddon, and 
 the settled districts. 
 
 Gipps Land, so called after Governor Gipps, one of the early 
 Governors of New South Wales, occupies the south-eastern part of 
 the colony, and is shut in on the north and north-east by ranges of 
 lofty mountains, and on the west by a heavily timbered, swampy, 
 and broken tract of country. It occupies about one-fifth of the 
 entire territory, and owing to the rugged character of its northern 
 and eastern parts, much of that portion is unavailable for agri- 
 cultural purposes. Still, it contains large tracts of fertile country 
 suitable either for agricultural or pastoral pursuits, there being, 
 especially in the south and south-west (where considerable areas 
 have lately been taken up under Grant's Land Act see 
 chapter III.), rich deposits of alluvial soil. The heavy but 
 valuable timber with which a large portion of it is covered, causes 
 clearing to be attended with considerable expense, although large 
 returns amply repay the trouble and cost of cultivation, and a 
 large proportion of the fat cattle for the Melbourne market are 
 received from it during the winter months. Gipps Land is very 
 rich in minerals, yielding gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, coal, 
 marble, and limestone. Auriferous quartz reefs are worked with 
 considerable success in the hilly north-west portion of the district. 
 The climate and soil of the lower country is suited to the growth of 
 
100 HANDBOOK. TO VICTOKIA. 
 
 oranges, lemons, hops, tobacco, and opium, and the south-west 
 for almost all kinds of agricultural produce. In fact, when properly 
 developed, this district promises to become what the late Henry 
 Kingsley prophesied it would one day be, "the brightest jewel 
 in the British Crown." It is splendidly watered by large rivers 
 and lakes, the former being the Avon, Thompson, Tambo, Snowy, 
 La Trobe, and many others; and the latter, lakes Victoria, Wel- 
 lington, and King, with numerous lagoons. The fishing and 
 shooting are unsurpassed in the colony, and form a great attraction 
 to sportsmen. The principal towns are Sale, Stratford, Bruthen, 
 Alberton, Rosedale, Tarraville, Palmerston, Bairnsdale, and Jericho. 
 The population of the district is about 20,000, but the opening of 
 the railway now in progress from Melbourne to Sale, will probably 
 soon quadruple that number. The geological formation is chiefly 
 volcanic, with outcropping beds of granite and trap to the north- 
 east. In the south it is carbonaceous, and auriferous country has 
 been found over almost all the explored parts of the district. 
 
 The Murray district, comprising the Omeo, Ovens, and Goulburn 
 subdivision, is a vast tract of country forming the north-eastern 
 part of the colony, and is separated from Gipps Land by the 
 Dividing Range. It is generally a mountainous country, and is 
 very rich in auriferous wealth. It contains several fine rivers, the 
 Kiewa, Ovens, Mitta Mitta, Broken, Goulburn, and others, and is 
 bounded on the north by the Murray river. In the north-east 
 are extensive grassy plains, and there are tracts of rich agricultural 
 land eminently suited to the culture of the vine, olive, tobacco, and 
 wheat. In fact, some of the best wine and tobacco produced in the 
 colony come from this district. The principal towns are Avenel, 
 Euroa, Benalla, Wangaratta, Chiltern, Beechworth, Belvoir (Wo- 
 donga), Yackandandah, Tarrawingee (all on the North -Eastern 
 Railway), Wahgunyah, Rutherglen, Buckland, Bright, Mansfield, 
 Jamieson, and Woods Point. The general geological formation is 
 lower silurian, with recent surface drift of slate and shale, and 
 occasional outcropping beds of granite and basaltic plains. 
 
 The Wimmera district occupies the north-west part of the colony, 
 and is also bounded on the north by the Murray river. Up to 
 
^ 
 
 a late period^it^^s^thougj^that the whole of this vast district 
 consisted of sandy antt- sparsely grassed plains, intersected with 
 belts of myall scrub, and forests of she-oak and stringy bark, and 
 therefore fit for nothing save the depasturing of sheep. Later 
 research, has however, discovered large patches of good agricultural 
 land which have been taken up by settlers. The principal rivers 
 are the Wimmera, Avon, Richardson, and Yarriambiack creek, 
 which are, however, all more or less liable to dry up, or become 
 mere chains of waterholes. In fact, the great drawback to the 
 vast plains in this district is the scarcity of water in summer, 
 although wells, sunk to a depth of from 80 to 140 feet, almost 
 invariably give good fresh water. The geological formation is 
 pleiocene tertiary, with granite and porphyry dykes. Gypsum 
 has been found in a few places throughout the district. 
 
 The Loddon district comprises a tract of pastoral country, in 
 which good agricultural land has recently been found and taken 
 up, lying on the Murray, Loddon, Avoca, and Campaspe rivers, 
 between the districts of Wimmera and Murray. The south part 
 of the district is very rich in auriferous deposit, and has long been 
 worked for gold with great success. The principal towns are Sand- 
 hurst (formerly Bendigo), Echuca, Ravenswood, Dunolly, Inglewood, 
 and Wedderburn. The geological formation is lower silurian, with 
 recent surface drift. 
 
 The Settled district comprises the whole of the south and south-west 
 part of the colony, including the districts of Melbourne, Castlemaine, 
 Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Stawell, Ararat, and all 
 the towns and country lying south of the main Dividing Range, 
 except Gipps Land, and it is in this part of the country that, as 
 yet, the principal portion of settlement has been going on. The 
 soil and climate is various, and at different places will grow almost 
 any crop that may be sown in it. (See chaper III. ) 
 
 The colony is also divided into seven mining districts, each of 
 which is under the control of a mining warden, viz. : Ballarat, 
 Beechworth, Sandhurst, Maryborough, Castlemaine, Ararat, and 
 Gipps Land. (For electoral districts see chapter XI.) 
 
 H 
 
102 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Victoria is also divided into thirty-seven counties, viz. : Anglesey, 
 Benambra, Bendigo, Bogong, Borung, Bourke, Buln-Buln, Croa jingo - 
 long, Dalhousie, Dargo, Delatite, Dundas, Evelyn, Follett, Gladstone, 
 Grant, Grenville, Gunbower, Hampden, Heytesbury, Kara-Kara, 
 Karkarook, Lowau, Millewar, Moira, Mornington, Normanby, Pol- 
 warth, Ripon, Rodney, Talbot, Tambo, Tanjil, Tatchera, Villiers, 
 Weeah, and Wonnangatta. The most densely populated of these 
 counties according to the last census was the metropolitan county 
 Bourke, with 236,778 persons, or over 136 persons to the square 
 mile; the next was Talbot, containing Clunes, Castlemaine, Creswick, 
 Daylesford, Maryborough, Amherst, Maldon, and other important 
 goldfields, with 84,762 persons, or 52 to the square mile; then 
 Grenville, containing the City of Ballarat, and the chief part of 
 the Ballarat and other goldfields, with 60,917 persons, or 41 to 
 the square mile; then Grant, with 40; Bendigo, with 23; Dalhousie, 
 an agricultural county, with 20 ; then Villiers, also an agricultural 
 county, with 13; and so on down to Weeah r a county in the 
 Wimmera district, close to the South Australian frontier, believed 
 to be totally uninhabited, inasmuch as 110 person was found in it on 
 the census night. 
 
 In 1861 there were in Victoria about six persons to the square mile. 
 In 1871, when the last census was taken, there were more than eight 
 to the square mile. In England and Wales there were 389 persons to 
 the square mile. This allows one and three-fifth acres for each 
 inhabitant of England and Wales, whilst in Victoria there are 77 
 acres for each individual. 
 
 There are 59 municipalities or cities, towns, and boroughs in the 
 colony, having a total area of 230,683 acres, with a population of 
 398,117, and 88,516 dwellings, a total value of ratable property of 
 29,638,515, and an annual value of 2,971,823. The revenue for 
 1876 was 446,256, and the expenditure 423,885. Under the Local 
 Government Act, boroughs must not be of greater area than nine 
 square miles, and must have a population of at least 300. They are 
 governed by a mayor and council, of not less than six nor more than 
 nine, who are empowered to levy rates, make by-laws, compulsorily 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 103 
 
 take land for permanent public works, &c. If, in a borough, the 
 annual revenue reaches 10,000, it can be proclaimed a town. If the 
 revenue reaches 20,000, it can be proclaimed a city, and under this 
 provision the metropolitan suburbs of Fitzroy, Prahran, Emerald 
 Hill, and Richmond have become towns, and the suburb of Colling - 
 wood and the towns of Ballarat and Sandhurst have become cities. _ 
 There are also 110 shires in Victoria, having an area of 48,087,227 
 acres, an estimated population of 411,735 persons, and 89,373 
 dwellings. The estimated value of ratable property is 43,415,832, 
 and the annual value 3,649,874, the revenue being 595,146, and 
 the expenditure 582,481. Any portion of the country not included 
 in a city, town, or borough, containing an area of not less than 100 
 square miles, may be proclaimed a shire, provided their revenue 
 raised from rates not exceeding Is. in the pound on the net annual 
 value of property amounts to not less than 1000, and road districts 
 must embrace 40 square miles, and have an annual ratable value of 
 5000. These districts are under the control of boards of six 
 members, of whom one is elected chairman of a road district or 
 president of a shire. 
 
 The metropolitan and largest city of Victoria is Melbourne, on the 
 Yarra Yarra River, near Hobson's Bay, and in the county of Bourke. 
 It is by far the most important city in the Southern hemisphere, and 
 has, with its suburbs, a population of 265,000. The city proper 
 has an area of 4480 acres, a population of 61,000 persons, 
 and 12,844 dwellings. The estimated total value of ratable 
 property in Melbourne is 8,568,100, and the net annual value 
 856,810, the revenue for 1876 being 112,653 2s. lid. and the 
 expenditure 101,246 16s. 5d. Melbourne is a city which, although 
 only of a few years' growth, would do no discredit, whether for the 
 width of its streets, the number and elegance of its public buildings, 
 the business transacted in it, the magnificence of its shops, the 
 beauty of the numerous parks and gardens by which it is environed, 
 or the thousand comforts and conveniences afforded to its residents, 
 to any country on the face of the earth. Indeed, it has been 
 spoken of as the ninth city in the British world for popu- 
 lation, wealth, and magnificence. The city proper is built on two 
 
 H2 
 
104 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 hills, and an intervening valley, the streets running at right angles, 
 each main street being ninety-nine feet wide, and each minor street 
 half that width. These main and minor streets run alternately 
 from east to west, but there are no narrow streets from north 
 to south. Thus the city is cut up into handsome blocks from 
 east to west, and half blocks from north to south. The principal 
 streets are Collins, Bourke, Swanston, and Elizabeth streets, the 
 first-named being the fashionable business street of the city, and 
 a system has lately been inaugurated of planting trees in the main 
 thoroughfares, which was commenced in this street, and cannot but 
 be productive of highly valuable results, in a town where the heat is 
 so intense and the dust is so troublesome in summer. The future 
 adornment of the streets in this direction is left in the hands of the 
 citizens. The most noteworthy edifices are the Treasury, Houses 
 of Parliament, Public Offices (just built), Public Library, Post 
 Office, Government Printing Office, Customs' House, Mint, Univer- 
 sity, Town Hall, banks, insurance offices, and many large and 
 well built hotels, of which the leading ones are Scott's, the Port 
 Phillip, White Hart, Albion, Menzie's, Phair's, and Tankard's, the 
 last -mentioned being a Temperance hotel. The port of Melbourne is 
 at Sandridge, two and a-Iialf miles from the city, and connected by 
 railway. The Yarra River is, however, navigable for large vessels up 
 to the heart of the city, the fairway being there impeded by a dyke 
 of basaltic rocks known as the Falls. Immediately below these falls 
 are the Queen's, Cole's and Australian wharves, extending for 
 about a mile along the north bank of the river, and almost solely 
 used by intercolonial sailing vessels and steamers, especially the 
 colliers. On the opposite bank are ship repairing yards, foundries, 
 and many other manufactories, there being also a large steam crane 
 capable of lifting fifty tons from vessels berthed alongside. There 
 are two railway stations in Melbourne, the Government station in 
 Spencer-street, which is the starting place and terminus of all the 
 up-country lines, and the Hobson's Bay Company's station, whence the 
 suburban trains run. There are four fine theatres in Melbourne, the 
 Royal, the Prince of Wales Opera House, the Academy of Music, and 
 the Princess, the latter only opened occasionally. The Hospital is 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 105 
 
 a commodious brick building in the centre of the town. There is 
 also a Children's Hospital in the town, and another, the Alfred 
 Hospital, at a little distance on the St. Kilda road, where are also 
 the Blind, and Deaf and Dumb Asylums, all fine buildings. The 
 Yarra Bend and the Kew Lunatic Asylums are on the outskirts of the 
 city in the opposite direction. There are two markets, the Eastern 
 and the Western, in the city, and in and about it lie several large 
 recreation reserves and public gardens, of which the Botanical 
 Gardens, about a mile distant, is the most extensive. Next to this is 
 the Fitzroy Gardens, then the Royal Park, containing the Zoological 
 and Acclimatisation Society's collection of animals, &c. , the Flagstaff 
 Hill Gardens, Carlton Gardens, and numerous other small reserves 
 planted with trees. The Picture Gallery, at the rear of the Public 
 Library, is a large building containing many fine paintings, water- 
 colour drawings, and statues, and adjoining this is the Exhibition 
 Building, first used with the original building for the Intercolonial 
 Exhibition of 1865. Melbourne was erected into an Episcopal See 
 in 1848, the present Bishop being the Eight Rev. Bishop Moorhouse, 
 and the Roman Catholic Archbishop being the Most Rev. J. A. 
 Goold. Melbourne is amply supplied with newspapers, there being 
 three daily morning papers, the Argus, the Age, and the Telegraph, 
 with their weeklies, the Australasian, the Leader, and the Weekly 
 Times. There is an evening journal, the Herald, and several other 
 weeklies and monthlies, comprising, in addition to those named, 
 the Illustrated Australian News, SketcJier, Punch, Australian Medical 
 Journal, Advocate, Australasian Insurance and Banking Record, Aus- 
 tralian Journal, Christian Review, Church of England Messenger, Vic- 
 torian Independent, Temperance News, Australian Jurist, Spectator, 
 Melbourne Review, Australian Review, Southern Cross, Australian 
 Trade Review, A. B.C. Travellers' Guide, Bradshaw's Guide, and others. 
 The suburbs of Melbourne, which are extensively and largely popu- 
 lated, are Emerald Hill, South Yarra, St. Kilda, Sandridge, Prahran, 
 Windsor, Balaclava, Elsternwick, Richmond, Fitzroy, Collingwood, 
 Carlton, Hotham, and North, East, and West Melbourne. Many of 
 which have local newspapers, and most of which are connected with 
 Melbourne by rail, or by lines of omnibuses, or cars and waggonettes 
 
106 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 with which Melbourne is plentifully supplied, and which are clean 
 and commodious, and run at cheap rates. Taken as a whole, the 
 city of Melbourne is a good place to live in whether for business or 
 pleasure ; it is still in the prime vigour of its youth, and for a city 
 little more than forty years old may fairly be called one of the 
 wonders of the world. 
 
 The second most populous town in Victoria is Ballarat, the centre 
 of the western goldfields, and a most important and beautiful city, 
 with fine wide streets and noble buildings. It is ninety-six miles 
 from Melbourne, and is connected by rail. Ballarat (East and 
 West) has an area of 7200 acres, and a population of 32,586, with 
 8046 dwellings. The estimated total value of ratable property is 
 1,097,481; the revenue, 35,204 os. 8d.; and the expenditure, 
 29,961 8s. 
 
 Sandhurst, the capital of the northern goldfields, comes next, 
 with an area of 7500 acres, a population of 26,927, and 7190 
 dwellings. The estimated total value of ratable property is 
 1,881,850, the revenue 25,505 Is. 5d., and the expenditure 
 21,495 2s. 4d. 
 
 Next in order of population, &c., comes the City of Collingwood 
 a suburb of Melbourne, with an area of 1241 acres, a population of 
 21,800, and 4889 dwellings. The estimated total value of ratable 
 property is 1,095,080, the revenue 20,238 8s. 6d., and the expen- 
 diture 19,266 11s. Id. 
 
 Geelong, the second seaport, has an area of 3100 acres, a popula- 
 tion of 11,000, and 2200 dwellings, with an estimated value of 
 ratable property of 703,920, a revenue of 14,198 11s., and an 
 expenditure of 14,625 15s. 2d. It stands next in importance to 
 Sandhurst, although in point of population, &c., it is below the 
 metropolitan suburbs of Emerald Hill (24,500), Fitzroy (17,000), 
 Hotham (14,600), Prahraii (16,520), and Richmond (18,612), 
 although including Geelong West, a separate borough, it would be 
 above some of them. 
 
 Following these places may be ranked in importance Castlemaine 
 (7500), Stawell (8000), Eaglehawk (7757), Clunes (5639), Daylesford 
 (4351), and Ararat (3000), all mining townships; Williamstowu 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 107 
 
 (7800), Warrnambool (4600), Portland (2400), and Belfast (2200), sea 
 ports ; and Echuca (3695), the port of the Murray River trade, and 
 next in order the other suburbs of Melbourne, and the numerous 
 country towns, villages, and agricultural settlements. 
 
 The total number of cities, towns, boroughs, and townships, large 
 and small, in the colony is at present about 600, but others are con- 
 tinually springing up in various parts, as agricultural settlement 
 goes on, and new townships are surveyed and proclaimed. It is not 
 necessary to give a list of all these places, and the pursuits with 
 which they are connected ; sufficient to say that nearly half of them 
 are wholly agricultural, about one-fourth of them wholly mining, and 
 the remaining fourth grazing, agricultural and grazing, or agricul- 
 tural and mining, and commercial. 
 
108 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GOVERNMENT, LAND FORGES, NAVY, 
 POLICE, etc. 
 
 THE form of Government by which Victoria is ruled is practically 
 the same as that of Great Britain, the only difference being that the 
 Royal power is here delegated to a viceroy. Bound by the same 
 regulations, and conforming to the same authority, Victoria has her 
 Upper and her Lower Houses of Parliament, corresponding in almost 
 every particular, except, perhaps, that of the privileges of Peers, 
 with the Houses of Lords and Commons in England. Both Houses 
 in Victoria, the Upper being called the Legislative Council, and the 
 Lower the Legislative Assembly, are electoral, the former being 
 presided over by a President of its own election, and the latter by a 
 Speaker, also of its own election. The officers of Parliament assimi- 
 late to those of the Houses of Lords and Commons, each electing its 
 own Chairman of Committees, the Council having its clerk, assistant 
 clerk, usher, and four messengers; and the Assembly its clerk, 
 assistant clerk, serjeant-at-arms, and seven messengers. The Council 
 is composed of thirty members, representing six provinces ; and the 
 Assembly of eighty-six members, representing fifty-five constituencies. 
 (For qualifications of members and voters, see chapter XI.) The 
 Executive Council is composed of the Governor and the Ministry for 
 the time being, who are the heads of the various Government depart- 
 ments, and who control those departments, being responsible only to 
 Parliament. 
 
 The functions of the Assembly are to inaugurate bills, and pass 
 them in the regular form, of first and second readings, committee, 
 and third reading, and then transmit them to the Council, who deal 
 with them in the same manner, having the power of initiating, accept- 
 ing, refusing, or altering all bills, except money bills, with which it is 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 109 
 
 within the province of the Assembly solely to deal. The Council 
 has, however, the power to refuse those bills in globo, but not 
 otherwise, and the Governor has, after all, the power of veto, and 
 also of granting a dissolution of Parliament. Before becoming law, 
 all bills must be signed by the Governor on behalf of Her Majesty 
 the Queen. The practice of Parliament is regulated by the rules laid 
 down by May, as in the English Parliament, the certain standing 
 orders being capable of suspension by the vote of the House. The 
 privileges of Parliament are jealously guarded, the President and 
 Speaker having power to call to the bar and commit to prison any 
 person infringing them. 
 
 The practical working of the Government of the country devolves 
 on the various departments, each of which is controlled by a Minister, 
 and which are as follows: 
 
 The Chief Secretary's department, comprising the audit of Govern- 
 ment accounts, police, gaols, the mint, patents office, chief medical 
 officer, school of anatomy, medical board of Victoria, lunatic asylums, 
 friendly societies, national museum, botanic gardens, observatory, 
 public library, museum, and technological commission. 
 
 The department of Education, or Public Instruction, including the 
 statistical department. 
 
 The Treasurer's department, comprising public finance, Govern- 
 ment stores and transports, payment and receiving of accounts, 
 intestate estates, and the Government printing-office. 
 
 The department of Mines, comprehending all matters appertaining 
 to mines, mining laws and regulations, and mining surveys. 
 
 Department of Land and Works, comprising the board of land 
 and works, lands and survey, public works, sewerage and water, 
 roads and bridges, and water supply. 
 
 Eailway department, comprehending all matters connected with 
 the Government railways and railway traffic. 
 
 Trade and Customs department, comprising roads and customs, 
 ports and harbours, pilot board, steam navigation board, powder 
 magazine, distilleries, and immigration. 
 
 Postmaster-General's department, including the postal and tele- 
 graph service of the colony. 
 
110 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Law department, comprising the Attorney-General's and Minister 
 of Justice's departments, law offices of the Crown, supreme court, 
 insolvent court, vice-admiralty court, county courts, district 
 courts, circuit courts, criminal sessions, police courts, coroners, 
 notaries public, jury lists, and auctioneer's, publican's, and haw- 
 ker's licences. 
 
 One of the fundamental questions with which the Government has 
 to deal is, of course, that of revenue. Now the amounts of which 
 the revenue may be said to be made up, are of two kinds, viz., 
 those raised by taxation, and those raised otherwise. Of the former 
 class are the receipts from customs and excise duties, from wharfage 
 rates, port and harbour dues, tolls, business licences, and duties 
 on estates of deceased persons. Of the latter class are the amounts 
 derived from the sale or occupation of Crown lands, from railways, 
 water supply, and other public works, from post and telegraph 
 offices, fees, fines, and forfeitures, labour of prisoners, interest 
 on the public account, &c. The revenue for the financial year 
 1876 was 4,325,156 9s. Id., of which 1,780,391 17s. 3d. was 
 raised by general Government taxation, and the balance by the 
 public lands, works, &c., specified. The expenditure was 4,572,843 
 10s. 9d. To this may be added the revenue and expenditure of 
 municipal government ; the grand totals being, revenue, 5,009,847 
 4s.; expenditure, 5,222,499 Is. 7d.; leaving a deficiency by expen- 
 diture in excess of revenue of 247,687 Is. Sd. From this, how- 
 ever, must be deducted 88, 794 4s. , surplus balance brought forward 
 from 1875, leaving a net deficiency to be carried to the finance 
 account of 1877 of 158,892 17s. Sd. 
 
 The public debt of Victoria, charged on the revenue of the 
 colony, amounts to 13,996,823, and consists of two items, viz., 
 12,119,193 borrowed for railway construction, and 1,877,630 for 
 water supply, defences, graving dock, and other public works. 
 The average rate chargeable on these loans is about 4.8 per cent. 
 
 Pensions chargeable on the Government, not including police 
 pensions, nor retiring allowances voted annually by Government, 
 amounted at the end of 1875 to 26,276 17s. Id., although only 
 24,795 4s. 8d. was actually paid. The pensions under the Civil 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. Ill 
 
 Service Act are of three kinds, viz.: retiring allowances, equal to 
 half their salary to officers of not less than ten years' service, 
 being sixty years of age ; retiring allowances, equal to a sixtieth part 
 of their salary for every year of service up to forty to officers of not 
 less than ten years' service and sixty years of age; and retiring 
 allowances equal to a sixtieth part of their salary for every year of 
 service up to forty to officers not having attained the age of sixty, 
 who should be compelled to retire in consequence of infirmity of 
 mind or body. 
 
 The Land Forces of Victoria consist of a paid artillery corps and 
 naval brigade, which was formed under the Discipline Act 1870 (34 
 Viet., No. 389), 011 the withdrawal of the detachment of the Imperial 
 troop, formerly stationed in the colony; also of a volunteer force 
 of various arms, established under the Volunteer Act 1865. The 
 men of the paid artillery, or local defence force, if of good character, 
 are drafted off into the ranks of the police and of the warders of 
 gaols as vacancies occur. In the period between the 1st July, 1870, 
 and the 30th June, 1875, there were 190 men so drafted, and the 
 cost of the corps to the colony during the same period was 44,545. 
 The following is the strength of the local defence force : Officers, 2; 
 sergeants, 5; rank and file, 130; total, 137. 
 
 The Volunteer Force of Victoria is a fine body of men, and its 
 members have shown much zeal in rendering themselves effective. 
 The total establishment authorised is 4015, consisting of 6 troops of 
 oavalry, 10 corps of artillery, 1 corps of engineers, 1 torpedo and 
 signal corps, and 13 corps of rifles. The strength of the volun- 
 teer forces at the end of 1875 was Cavalry. Officers, 31 ; sergeants, 
 24; troopers, 196; total, 251. A rtiUery. Officers, 60; sergeants, 
 68; gunners, 1299; total, 1447. Engineers. Officers, 5; sergeants, 
 7; rank and file, 102; total, 114. Torpedo Corps. Officers, 4; 
 rank and file, 21; total, 25. Rifles. Officers, 65; sergeants, 97; 
 rank and file, 1552; total. 1714. Grand total. Officers, 165; 
 sergeants, 116; rank and file, 3170; to which must be added 109 
 supernumeraries. 
 
 In addition to these there were 64 staff and unattached officers, 
 and 38 unattached sergeants, with 100 bandsmen, bringing the grand 
 
112 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 total of volunteers to 3551, so that the aggregate strength of all the 
 volunteer corps was 464 short of the establishment, or 355 short if 
 the supernumeraries be added to the number of the regular corps. 
 
 The following arms were in possession of the land forces : Gar- 
 rison guns, 6 muzzle-loading rifled 9-iii. , 25 muzzle-loading rifled 8- 
 pounders, 30 smooth-bore 68-pounders, 38 smooth-bore 32-pounders. 
 Guns of positions, 6 breech-loading Armstrong's rifled 40-pounders. 
 Field guns, 6 breech-loading Armstrong's rifled 12-pounders ; 6 
 breech-loading Armstrong's rifled 6-pounders ; 6 muzzle-loading rifled 
 Whitworth's 3-pounders ; 1 smooth-bore howitzer 24-pounder; 9 
 smooth-bore howitzers, 12-pounder; 2 guns, 6-pounder ; total, 135. 
 Some of these guns are, however, of obsolete patterns, and some 
 otherwise unserviceable for defence. The rifles in possession of the 
 land forces were : Breech-loaders, 131 ; long Enfield, 573 ; Lancaster 
 large bore, 1234; Lancaster reduced bore, 1800; General Hay, 322; 
 pattern unstated, 147 ; total, 4147. 
 
 The Naval Forces consist of the ironclad turret-ship Cerberus, of 235 
 feet long and 2107 tons register, and the wooden line -of -battle ship 
 Nelson, of 220 feet long and 2736 tons register; also, of a Naval 
 Reserve, the men of which receive a small fee as a retainer. The 
 Cerberus has 6 officers, and a crew of 36 petty officers and seamen, 
 and 40 boys total, 82 ; and the Nelson 5 officers and 32 petty officers 
 and seamen total, 37. The Naval Reserve consists of 9 officers and 
 216 petty officers and seamen total, 225. The Cerberus carries 4 
 Woolwich 10-inch 400-pounder guns; and the Nelson 2 Woolwich 
 7-inch 116-pounders, 20 shunt guns (45 cwt., 64-pounders), 20 
 smooth-bore (32-pounders), and 6 howitzers (12-pounders) total, 52 
 guns. The small-arms in possession of the naval forces are 50 
 Martini-Henri rifles, 226 Sea Service rifles, 43 Enfields, 18 General 
 Hay's, 24 Deane and Adams's revolvers, and 119 undescribed 
 revolvers total, 480. 
 
 The military expenditure during 1875 amounted to 36,372 16s., 
 and the naval expenditure to 17,104 12s. 2d., a total of 53,477 
 8s. 2d., the amount expended on defences generally, including 
 buildings and works of defence, during the last twenty-one years 
 being 2,073,874. 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 113 
 
 During the present year, Sir William Jervois and Colonel 
 Scratchley two eminent military engineering authorities have 
 made a rigid examination of the defences of Port Phillip, with a 
 view of so altering the old or constructing new fortifications as to 
 render them capable of repelling an invading fleet, and immediate 
 steps will be taken to act on their valuable recommendations and 
 suggestions. 
 
 The Police Force of Victoria is a body of men of whom, whether 
 for appearance, physique, or knowledge of their difficult and often 
 delicate duties, it is impossible to speak too highly. The force (which 
 numbers about 1050), is divided into two sections the foot and the 
 mounted police, or troopers. The former are engaged principally in the 
 large towns, and the latter in the country districts, except a few who are 
 stationed in Melbourne, and who are told off for occasional special 
 duty in the suburbs. The cost to the colony for police was 199, 737 13s. 
 Id. in 1876, during which year the cost for gaols and penal establishments 
 was 61,051 4s. 7d., a total of 260,788 17s. 8d. for the detection, 
 repression, and punishment of crime in the colony. Under a recent 
 system, the police and gaol warders are drafted from the strength of 
 the local defence force, who enter on their duties therefore with 
 some knowledge of them, and without having to undergo the necessary 
 drill, &c., before being ready for active service. 
 
114 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE COLONY THE RISING 
 RACE, NATURALISATION CONCLUSION. 
 
 "WHAT great events from trifling causes spring!" A generation 
 has passed away since the small craft, so aptly named the Enterprise, 
 was moored to a tree at the foot of a grassy hill on the banks of 
 the Yarra Yarra River, and since the little association of 
 seventeen souls landed in August, 1835, on the site where was so 
 soon to spring up the now magnificent city of Melbourne. The hill, 
 first called Pleasant Hill, and then Batman's Hill, has disappeared ; 
 one by one the members of that little band of hardy pioneers has 
 gone from the scene of his labours to join the "great majority," 
 but that handful of people has widened out into a nation. 
 
 The wilds, untrodden by human foot, save that of the dusky 
 savage, who roamed unmolested through the bush in search of food, 
 have given way before the axe of the woodman, and the spade of 
 the settler. The country has been reclaimed, and what was once a 
 dismal solitude, a desolate wilderness, now echoes to the unceasing 
 sound of busy life. 
 
 The newly found country did not lack long of people. Already 
 the Hentys had settled with their flocks and herds at Portland 
 Bay, but it was not until the public mind was awakened to the 
 advantages of the Port Phillip district as a new field of enterprise 
 and settlement by the adventurous zeal of Batman and Fawkner 
 in 1835, and of Major Mitchell in 1836, that many ventured to 
 the unknown country. In May, 1836, the seventeen had already 
 swollen to 177 (including the settlement at Portland Bay), 142 
 males and 35 females ; by November of the same year the number 
 was 186 males and 38 females 224 in all; but in September, 1838, 
 there were 3080 males and 431 females, a total population of 3511 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 115 
 
 persons. Settlement went on slowly until the gold fever set in, 
 when in April, 1854, there were no fewer than 236,798 persons in 
 the colony, and thenceforward the increase has gone on rapidly 
 until at the end of 1876 there were no fewer than 830,679 persons, 
 comprising 451,134 males, and 379,545 females, the result partly of 
 natural increase, and partly of immigration. 
 
 Many of the present inhabitants of Victoria, as is well known, 
 have found their way hither from other parts of the world, and the 
 relative proportion of different nationalities has naturally changed 
 from time to time with the varying streams of immigration. The 
 English-born were, however, foremost in the list of nationalities at 
 every census-taking until that of 1871, when they were found to 
 be more than doubled by Young Australia. In 1846 there were 
 9126 Irish-born, and 4225 Scotch-born, to 10, 100 English-born. In 
 1851 the numbers had changed to 14,618 Irish-born against 28,908 
 English-born, or scarcely a half, and in 1861 the same proportion 
 was found to exist. In the latter year the Scotch-born were little 
 more than a third of the English-born, and in 1871, the date of 
 the last census, the Irish-born were found to have gained on the 
 English-born, and stood in the proportion of three to five, and the 
 Scotch-born were rather more than a third of the English-born, while 
 the Welsh formed a very small proportion of the whole population, 
 less than 1 per cent. only. 
 
 Foreigners, on the other hand, were in the proportion of 5 per 
 cent, of the total population, but out of the 37,315, which was 
 the sum total of foreigners, 17,826 were Chinese, or one in every 
 forty-one of the population. The next most numerous race were 
 the Germans, who numbered 9264, or one in seventy-four. The 
 Americans numbered 2423, and the French 1170. 
 
 In that year, Victorians born numbered 329,597; natives of other 
 Australian colonies and New Zealand, 28,669; English, 164,287; 
 Welsh, 6614; Scotch, 56,210; Irish. 100,468; other British pos- 
 sessions, 3870; French, 1170; Germans, 8995; Austrians, 269; Belgic, 
 128; Danish, 1014; Dutch, 341 ; Italian, 772; Norwegian, 395; Polish, 
 214; Portuguese, 197; Russian, 334; Greek, 146; Spanish, 135; 
 Swedish, 845; Swiss, 1240; Turkish, 10; American (United States), 
 
116 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 2423; Chinese, 17,857; other countries, 315; born at sea, 2064; 
 unspecified, 2999. Total on the 2nd April, 1871, 731,528; since when 
 no record of nationalities has been kept. 
 
 An important change of type is continually going on by process of 
 marriage. There are, as every one knows, distinctive characteristics 
 in the general appearance, physique, and character of English, Irish, 
 and Scotch people, the result of difference of origin, of temperament, 
 climate, soil, occupation, social institutions, laws, religion, and of 
 being kept apart. But the old barriers have been broken down by 
 the alliances which are every day powerfully cementing the three 
 great peoples named, so will another national type be developed in 
 the shape of an Australian people whose destiny it may be to show 
 that, as they are the latest, so they will prove the wisest, best, and 
 happiest among the nations. 
 
 There has always been a disproportion in the number of the two 
 sexes in Victoria, although it is, of course, not so great now as it was 
 in the earlier days of the colony ; for example, in 1838, there were 
 only 431 females to 3080 males, while in 1S76 it is estimated that 
 there are 383,837 females to 456,463 males. The greatest equality 
 naturally exists among the Australian born. In 1871, there were 
 178,385 females to 179,881 males. Among foreigners, the French 
 showed 37 females to 100 males; Germans, 35 females to 100 males; 
 and Chinese, only 1 female to 575 males. Statistics show that the 
 nationalities are rapidly being forced, and that ere long the distinc- 
 tions of race, as they exist with regard to the present generation, 
 will be to a great extent disregarded, if not unknown. 
 
 There is a home for all races, all creeds, all tongues, in her midst, 
 who will be content to be, not English, or Irish, or Scotch, French, 
 Italian, German, or what not but Australians, as certainly their 
 children will be after them. And to become Australian is easy. 
 There is no prejudice here, no jealousy of foreigners, no obstacle in 
 the way of their success. They enjoy equal rights, privileges, and 
 immunities with the British or the native born. They can, by 
 becoming naturalised, have the same voice in matters of State, 
 occupy the same position in the councils of the nation. Foreigners 
 residing in Victoria may obtain letters of naturalisation on taking an 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 117 
 
 oath of allegiance to the Crown before any judge or police magistrate, 
 as prescribed by an Act of the Legislature (26 Vic., No. 166). But 
 without becoming naturalised, alien friends resident in the colony 
 may acquire real and personal property, and may hold, convey, 
 devise, and bequeath it in the same manner as if they had been 
 natural-born subjects of Her Majesty. Alien women being married 
 to British subjects thereby become naturalised. The number of 
 foreigners naturalised during the last eleven years, that is to say 
 from 1866 to 1876 inclusive, is 1034, of whom 116 were naturalised 
 during the latter year. Of these 1 was Austrian, 1 Belgic, 2 French, 
 3 Dutch, 4 Italian, 16 Prussian, 49 from other German states, 32 
 from other European countries, 3 American (U.S.), and 5 Chinese, 
 
 t Victoria, a country of no nationality save her own, which is made 
 up by a fusion of them all, invites all nationalities to her shores. Not 
 as visitors for a season, but to come in as her adopted sons and 
 daughters, and share in the riches which her grateful soil affords to 
 those who will but till it. Thousands have already found peace and 
 plenty in her bounteous lap, but there is yet room, not only for thou- 
 sands, but for hundreds of thousands. And not only room to live, 
 but the means to live in comfort, to thrive and become prosperous 
 citizens and denizens of this "new earth under a new heaven." 
 
 To the crowded marts and hives of industry in Europe, where men, 
 and women too, crowd, and toil, and sometimes starve in the struggle 
 to get bread, hopeless of rising, despairing of anything beyond; to 
 the broad acres where weary farm labourers vegetate through life, 
 without a thought of mending their condition, unceasing labour from 
 youth to manhood, and in old age, the workhouse; to the sunny 
 slopes and wide champagnes of France and Germany, and the vine 
 ttnd oh' ve-clad hills of Italy, where the peasant lives and dies content 
 if for his toil he can earn his black bread and soup; to the artisan, 
 the farmer, the small capitalist, the vigneron, the sericulturist, the 
 labourer, she cries : "Come, here is plenty and to spare, come, bring 
 with you your strong arms, your stout hearts, your skill, and your 
 knowledge, bring with you your wives and little ones, for I have need 
 of you all," 
 
118 HANDBOOK TO VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OUT. 
 
 IN these days of rapid travelling the voyage to Australia may be 
 looked upon as little more than a pleasure trip, for the passage is 
 frequently made in little over forty days, and, except a little knocking 
 about off the Bay of Biscay and the Cape of Good Hope, is generally 
 a tine one, it being no (infrequent thing for passengers to declare 
 that the sea for the greater part of the run has been "as smooth as a 
 millpond" a slight exaggeration, perhaps, but, in the comparative 
 sense in which it is used, quite true. 
 
 The means of transit are numerous, and such as will suit all classes 
 of the community. From the stately floating palaces the mail 
 ships which ply from Southampton, via the Mediterranean and Red 
 Seas and the Indian Ocean, to the fast-sailing clipper ship, there are 
 all classes, all sizes of vessels engaged in the Australian trade, but on 
 all the accommodation is ample, the provisioning good, and the health 
 and comfort of the passengers strictly and carefully considered. 
 
 The best-known lines of regular traders from England to Victoria 
 are, first of all, the Peninsular and Oriental line of mail steamers, the 
 passage rates in which are rather high, and only suited to the means 
 of wealthy persons or those whose business compels them to travel in 
 a hurry ; the fares are from 40 to 88. Next come the steamers of 
 the Pacific Mail Steam Navigation Company; the Lusttania, the 
 Chimborazo, and Cuzco (which make the outward passage in from 
 36 to 40 days); the Wkampoa and the St. OsytU. Money Wigramand 
 Sons' line of steam and sailing ships comprises a number of well^ 
 known vessels the Durham, Northumberland, Kent and Somersetshire 
 steamers, and the Yorkshire, True Briton, Hampshire, Essex, and 
 Lincolnshire, sailing packets. The rates of passage money are : By 
 steamers, saloon, 55 to 70 guineas; second-class, from 25 to 30 
 
HANDBOOK TO VICTOKTA. 119 
 
 guineas ; third-class, 18 to 22 guineas ; steerage (for single men only), 
 15 guineas. By sailing vessels, saloon, 47 10s. to 52 10s. ; second 
 cabin, 22 to 25; third cabin, 18 to 20; steerage, 14; a reduction 
 of about 10 per cent, being made for families, &c. Besides this there 
 is the old-established Green's Blackwall line of fine sailing ships, and 
 best known of all, perhaps, the celebrated Black Ball line, of which 
 the Great Britain, a vessel that has made more runs and brought 
 more passengers to Melbourne than any other ship afloat, is one. The 
 Aberdeen line of clippers, the Orient line of steamers (just started), 
 all of which run regularly with passengers, and the Colonial, White 
 Star, Victoria, London, Thames, and Mersey lines, which although 
 not composed strictly of passenger ships, still afford excellent accom- 
 modation to all classes of passengers. The fares in each of these lines 
 of vessels are about the same, namely, from 14 to about 50, 
 according to accommodation, and, in fact, Money Wigram's prices 
 may be taken to fairly represent the whole. The dietary arrange- 
 ments for all classes of passengers are on a liberal scale, and amply 
 sufficient in quantity, and good in quality, for the requirements of 
 persons of all grades. 
 
 Besides the Peninsular and Oriental line of mail steamers, there are 
 also two other mail lines, one via America, New Zealand, and New 
 South Wales, known as the Calif ornian service; and one via the Medi- 
 terranean Sea, Suez Canal, Singapore, Batavia, Torres Straits, and 
 Queensland, known as the Eastern and Australian Company's Service. 
 These are, however, little used by ordinary passengers, the routes 
 being more expensive than the others. 
 
MELBOURNE : 
 
 M'CARRON, BIRD AND CO., PRINTERS, 
 37 FLINDERS LANE WEST. 
 
PURE NATIVE WINE 
 
 CONSIDERED AS 
 
 AN ARTICLE OF FOOD AND LUXURY, 
 
 AND THE GROWING OF IT AS 
 
 AX .INDUSTRY ADMIRABLY SUITED TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 READ BEFORE A MEETING OF VINEYARD PROPRIETORS AND OTHERS INTERESTED 
 IN COLONIAL WINES, ON 12TH DECEMBER, 1867, 
 
 <&t tfje Soutfj Australian Institute, 
 
 WITH PKEFACE. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 VERY REV. JOHN J. BLEASDALE, D.D., F.L.S., 
 
 Y MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA, ETC. 
 
 ADELAIDE : 
 PRINTED BY ANDREWS, THOMAS, & CLARK, 
 
 GRENFELL STREET. 
 
 1868. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 SHOULD this short paper on pure native wine briefly con- 
 sidered in some of its aspects as an article of daily human 
 food, as well as an agreeable stimulant and intensifier of the 
 sense of enjoyment of life, and also as an industry admirably 
 suited to the soil and climate, or rather the exceedingly 
 various soils and climates, of^Sduth, Australia fall into the 
 hands of any one unacquainted with the circumstances which 
 gave occasion to it, I may remark that a large number of the 
 principal wine-growers of South Australia honoured me some 
 months ago with an invitation to " pay them a visit, and 
 offer them any remarks and observations on wines > that I 
 thought judicious, and in such way as should appear most 
 agreeable to myself." During my visit I had the honour 
 and pleasure of meeting large numbers of the wine-growers in 
 public on several different occasions, and of addressing them 
 and conferring with them; and I take this opportunity of 
 stating that I was everywhere received with lavish courtesy, 
 and that in every instance where I visited a vineyard or 
 cellar no information that I asked was withheld. As the 
 very limited time at my disposal prevented me from visiting 
 every single vineyard within a radius of forty or fifty miles 
 of the capital, I made it my aim to see and thoroughly 
 inspect what I considered to be fair representatives of the 
 produce and productiveness of each district. I was the 
 better able to do this by the courtesy of the head of the 
 
 ff- 
 
4 
 
 Railway Department, who made me perfectly free on the 
 Railways during my stay ; and the kindness of private 
 friends, like Mr. Daly, who drove me in his own carriage 
 through the most interesting wine districts of the north, 
 and afforded me a sight of vineyards I should otherwise not 
 have obtained. 
 
 In the course of these pleasant journeys, I learned to my 
 satisfaction the immense difference there is everywhere 
 between the wines of the Hill country and those of the 
 Plains. The samples of South Australian wines from the 
 Hills, nearly all of a light firm character, seen and examined 
 at the late Intercolonial Exhibition, had appeared to me 
 rather as happy exceptions to a general rule of strong full- 
 bodied wines, than as the normal produce of vast districts of 
 magnificent vine country. Hence it was that I advised 
 strongly that the distinction should be made on every label, 
 as "Wine of the Hills" or "Wine of the Plains," according as 
 it was produced on the Hills or the Plains. Such a distinction 
 is simple, easily understood, and will I believe be of much 
 use in assisting selectors, whether for a market or private 
 consumption. For in a distance of five miles, in some places, 
 there is all the difference in the produce that we recognize 
 between a dry Rhenish wine and the strongest Burgundy or 
 pure Port or Sherry. 
 
 I would repeat in this place that the two points at which 
 the South Australian wine makers must labour are : 1. To 
 keep their wine from becoming too strong with natural 
 spirit I mean spirit produced by fermentation ; and, 2. To 
 study blending, especially in the case of red wines. 
 
 With reference to the first, viz., the over-spirituosity, I 
 will recommend the subjoined extract from a recent number 
 of the Lancet, as expressing a most valuable opinion : and 
 with regard to the second, I may mention the fact that but 
 
few of the blended wines obtained distinctions in the late 
 Intercolonial Exhibition, and fewer still kept wdl : 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE "LANCET." 
 
 " On the general wholesomeness of light wines, and especially of 
 the clarets and Burgundies, and other red wines of the same class, it 
 is now scarcely necessary to insist : the fact is nearly universally 
 admitted, and to it nearly everybody can add the testimony of his 
 own daily experience. Good sound claret rarely, if ever, produces 
 headache, fever, thirst, or an overstrained nervous system ; it just 
 stimulates the appetite, and promotes, in place of disordering, diges- 
 tion ; it raises, in fact, gently, and within normal bounds, the 
 functions of the body, innervation and circulation. We believe also 
 that the majority of the Burgundies sold are equally wholesome, and 
 we found this belief mainly on the results of the analyses we have 
 given, and which show such small differences in the composition of 
 the two classes of wine that it would not be possible to assign any 
 reason, derived from their composition, why the one class of wines 
 should be wholesome and the other injurious. 
 
 " The fact of the wholesomeness of these light red wines is now, 
 as we have said, pretty generally admitted ; but how comes it that 
 they are so much more wholesome, so much better tolerated by the 
 stomach ? We believe that the explanation of the wholesomeness, 
 or the contrary, of any wine is to be found, in the main, in the 
 quantity of alcohol present therein ; and that the unwholesomeness 
 increases, as a rule to which there may be some exceptions with 
 the alcohol. We would not, however, be understood as stating that 
 the effects stand in any very exact relation to the amount of spirit, 
 since no doubt those effects are modified to some considerable extent 
 by the other constituents of the wine ; there is no doubt that more 
 alcohol can be taken when associated with the components of wine 
 than when mixed only with water. In our view of the matter the 
 strong wines cannot be drunk in any quantity without producing 
 marked physical effects upon the delicate lining membrane of the 
 stomach itself, irritating and corrugating it, and provoking it to 
 throw out acid and morbid secretions. Most of the port and sherry 
 sold in this country contains spirit enough to preserve the dead 
 human stomach for years from decay, if immersed in it a fact which 
 alone will serve te show the alcoholic potency of these wines." 
 
 JOHN J. BLEASDALE, D.D. 
 
PAPER 
 
 KEAD BY DR. J. J. BLEASDALE BEFORE A MEETING OF WINEGROWERS 
 AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN COLONIAL WINES, HELD ON THURS- 
 DAY, DECEMBER 12, AT THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE. 
 
 The HON. JOHN MORPHETT, President of the Legislative'Council, in the Chair.. 
 
 MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN I have the honour to 
 appear before you to-day in acceptance of a very flattering 
 invite given so far back as last August, but which the many 
 duties of my calling prevented my responding to at an earlier 
 period ; and especially in accordance with that portion of it 
 where it is said " an opportunity will be afforded to you to 
 impart, in your own way, such information as you may please 
 to give on the interesting national enterprise in which, as 
 you are aware, vast sums of money have already been expen- 
 ded in this colony." I thank you for the forethought and 
 courtesy of leaving me to impart, in such way as I think I 
 most satisfactorily can, any hints which my acquaintance with 
 wine matters, my actual observations on South Australian 
 wines, and the information afforded me by individuals among 
 you, cause me to consider of present importance in advancing 
 the manufacture and general use of pure wines. 
 
 Wine is a very compound fluid. Among its principal con- 
 stituents such as are always present in it are water, spirit 
 of wine, tannic acid, tartaric acid, phosphoric acid, racemic 
 acid, sugar, an oxide of iron, and potash, with generally a 
 small quantity of lime. These are the principal, but by no 
 means the only ingredients of pure wine. The bouquet, as it 
 is called, is a true aether, and is formed by the action of the 
 acids on the alcohol in a nascent state and the flavouring 
 principle of the grape, from which each distinctive bouquet 
 
8 
 
 is derived. The iron, potash, and lime are taken up from the 
 earth; the elements of the acids, sugar, alcohol, &c., from 
 the air and water. A glass of genuine wine contains a 
 varying quantity, generally about one-fifth or a little more of 
 its bulk of proof spirit, and four-fifths of water. The proof 
 spirit, however, in the case of wine differs widely in its action 
 on the human system from so much distilled spirit and water ; 
 for in wine it is not a mere mixture, but a combination, and 
 it stands in chemical relations with the tannic and tartaric 
 acids and the iron. Tannic acid is a powerful astringent and 
 tonic, whilst tartaric acid, combined with potash and 
 iron, has its own peculiar action on the human 
 economy. It is evident, then, that wine must be slowly 
 digested before it can get into the general circulation. 
 And it is also plain that it more nearly resembles the nicely- 
 adjusted prescription of a physician than aught else. And 
 it is a prescription prepared by the Greatest of all Physicians 
 not alone as a restorative or alterative for the deranged 
 functions of the body, but one meant primarily to strengthen 
 and promote the well-being of the healthy frame, and at the 
 same time intensify the sense of enjoyment of life. It is 
 both an element of food and a luxury. Had I time, nothing 
 would be more pleasing to myself than to illustrate by ex- 
 amples the wonderful and merciful providence of God in 
 maintaining His creatures in existence, health, and comfort 
 through every zone from the equator to the poles, supplying 
 them with whatever is needful under the very altered con- 
 ditions in which their existence has to be carried on. What 
 animal fat and oil, clothing of skins and feathers, are to the 
 Laplander; what his starch, no matter whence derived, and 
 his almost naked skin, is to the equatorial African; what his 
 bitter beer is to the inhabitants of northern Europe that 
 is wine, and a moderate quantity of animal and vegetable 
 food to the inhabitants of sub-tropical climates all over the 
 world. Again, if time allowed, it would be delightful to 
 take up the line of illustration so exquisitely drawn by Mr. 
 Babinet, of the Institute of France, and trace the action of 
 Providence in the wool, hair, feather, skin, and other integu- 
 ments of animated nature in the several zones. But we can do 
 
no more now than allude to it. And so, if we reason con- 
 secutively, we shall find that every climate has its own ap- 
 pointed conditions, under which alone the human economy 
 will be healthy and vigorous. You cannot here subsist on 
 the starch food which maintains in health and strength the 
 inhabitants of equatorial regions ; nor can you think of sus- 
 taining life for any length of time on the fish-oil, tallow, and 
 dried flesh of the Laplander or the man of Kamsckatka. 
 The beers and ardent spirits, so much a necessity in modera- 
 tion in cold and damp regions, and the strong tea of China, 
 when taken constantly and in excess, produce diseases here 
 on which learned physiologists become eloquent, and from 
 which are derived in no small degree the need of the phy- 
 sician, and the waste of health, and the expense of sickness, 
 to say nothing of the miseries of declining life. Health de- 
 pends much on the vigorous tone of the nervous system 
 the enjoyment of life wholly and on that great 
 instrument in the human laboratory the liver. Tea and 
 such like act strongly on the nervous system, but are 
 comparatively harmless. Malt liquors and ardent spirits 
 load the system with carbon well enough for the production 
 of animal heat, but not needed here, since the atmosphere 
 supplies it abundantly. When the temperature is not low 
 enough to demand a large supply of carbon to maintain 
 animal heat, then, as the carbon must go somewhere and be 
 got rid of somehow, the liver and kidneys have to do the work, 
 when they are perhaps already overworked. I trust I am 
 neither a theorist nor a quack. Had I been suspected of 
 being either one or the other, my much-respected friends of 
 the Medical Society of Victoria would never have conferred 
 on me the distinctive honour of life-membership. I hate 
 quackery of all kinds ; and my education has long taught me 
 that theories are worth little more than that they serve to 
 arrange and harmonize a certain number of facts. The fact 
 in this case is that liver and kidney diseases, nearly un- 
 known in wine-drinking countries, are almost universal in 
 these colonies, and either form the basis of prevailing diseases, 
 or are complicated with them. Beer and spirits have their 
 work to do in cold and damp climates, not in such as ours 
 
10 
 
 intensely hot and dry. In a paper read some time ago 
 before the Royal Society of Victoria, I said : " Again, during 
 eight of the above years I was constantly engaged with in- 
 vestigations, chemical and histological, sometimes for myself, 
 at others for members of the medical faculty, and for the 
 General Hospital, and had constant access to the laboratory 
 of the late Government Analytical Chemist, for whom I per- 
 formed for several years very nearly the whole of the micro- 
 scopic and histological work. I thus had opportunities' 
 which few non-medical men have had in this country of 
 witnessing the ravages made by ardent spirits on the human 
 constitution. Peculiar forms of liver and kidney disease ; 
 fatty degeneration of the softer viscera ; molecular changes, 
 such as softening of the brain and insanity these are a few 
 of the more prominent rapid consequences of habitual spirit- 
 drinking in this warm dry climate, as presented to the 
 student of disease. When to the above catalogue, which 
 affects primarily the drunkard himself, you add all the ruin 
 and misery of a family, the wretched home, and starving 
 neglected children, you arrive at something like what used 
 to be daily and hourly before the eyes of a minister of 
 religion in this new country." 
 
 With so much now said by way of general introduction, I 
 will proceed to deal with your wines, and offer you such 
 observations upon them as have occurred to me, either in my 
 previous course of study of them, or since I have had the 
 pleasure of seeing some of your large cellars and forming my 
 own ideas on the spot. In the first place, then, I would 
 remark that I have noted in very many instances the marked 
 superiority of your young wines those of the last two years 
 over the older samples. I make the remark in general 
 terms, for I have tasted aged wines that were simply magni- 
 ficent, fit for the tables of kings. Again, among the young 
 wines, the whites were generally sounder and fuller of pro- 
 mise than the reds. Can this marked improvement be attri- 
 buted to a better system of making, or is it an accident of 
 favourable years ? Or is it that all the wines appear, and in 
 fact are good at first, but fall off, especially the red ones, 
 before they attain full age? In the case of the sweeter 
 
11 
 
 varieties, or those which nature intended to hold a good deal 
 of their natural sugar for a considerable time, the solution of 
 the difficulty seems easy. The cellarman had been in too 
 great a hurry to get them clean and dry saleable in fact. 
 Racking and fining had done their work till the wine had 
 nothing to feed upon. Certain it is that I could not help 
 observing in many instances a want of firmness in the older 
 samples, and that peculiar sweety sour taste so characteristic 
 of the earlier stages of change. It is true, I found nowhere 
 any very large amount of wine older than 1865. These 
 young wines, again, were in all instances, save one or two, 
 which would have to be put down as exceptions in any case, 
 far too full of natural spirit. I believe they had not been 
 fortified only the very ripe grapes had been fermented down 
 till all the sugar was converted into alcohol. Yet there was 
 something about them that told you they were not yet what 
 we call " dry wines." I believe I am quite safe in stating 
 that wherever the produce of a vineyard has shown a rise 
 above 18 or 19 per cent of proof spirit in the wine when six 
 months old, in future the following course should be adopted, 
 viz. : When the saccharometer falls to 5 above 0, which may 
 be looked for according to temperature and the larger or 
 smaller quantity of the fermenting must about the third, 
 fourth, or fifth day, throw in about 2 or 3 per cent of spirit, 
 about 20 or 30 overproof ; and when the must has cooled, 
 say next day, fill the vessel to within four gallons of its full 
 capacity, and cover the bunghole with thick rough cloth. 
 The immediate effect of this is to fix and throw down a large 
 quantity of the vegetable albumen that nitrogenized sub- 
 stance without which fermentation cannot proceed. By this 
 means you keep a deal of the natural sugar for the wine to 
 live on, and you prevent it from becoming over-spirituous, as 
 a matter of course. I have no hesitation in saying that most, 
 if not all, your wines are too full of spirit. I do not mean 
 that they are "brandied" or "fortified" artificially. Nothing 
 of the sort. Any little spirit you add after the wine is set is 
 not worth naming. You have followed the guidance of the 
 saccharometer too closely, and you have been aiming at get- 
 ting your young wines to appear dry at as early a stage as 
 
12 
 
 possible; and the result is, from the vast sweetness of your 
 grapes, an almost unexampled quantity of naturally-produced 
 alcohol. The following twenty-one samples have been distilled 
 by myself since I have been among you, and they represent the 
 produce and methods of manufacture of districts wide apart. 
 They are far ahead of the pure wines of Spain and Portugal 
 in point of spirit : 
 
 Absolute Proof 
 Mr. Jacob's alchohol. spirit. 
 
 White (Pineau ?) 18'8 31'0 
 
 Do. Silvania, No. 1 17'0 28'8 
 
 Do. do. No. 2 (6) 16-5 277 
 
 Do. do 14-1 237 
 
 Mr. Auld's 
 
 Red ' ... 13-9 22-6 
 
 White (old) 12'4 20'8 
 
 Mr. Peake's 
 
 Pure Riesling 27 '1 
 
 Do. Grenache 28'2 
 
 Palomino 25'8 
 
 Clarendon White 20'8 
 
 Temperano ... ... .. ... ... 30'5 
 
 Do., and another sample 
 
 Smith & Son's 
 Yalumba Sherry (1864) 
 Do. do. (1866) 
 
 Do. Verdeilho (1863) 
 
 Adelaide Club Wines 
 Peake's Riesling 
 Glen Para White 
 
 26-0 
 
 17-0 28-8 
 
 15-5 26-0 
 
 15-5 26-0 
 
 16-5 277 
 
 14-8 24-0 
 
 Highercombe 157 26'0 
 
 Mr. Gillard's 
 
 No. 5. Red Mataro and Black Portugal, 1865 ]8'0 30 "5 
 
 No. 4, Scyras, 1866 17'4 29'0 
 
 No. 4, Frontignac 14'5 24'3 
 
 I need hardly say, gentlemen, that I am not here to teach 
 you the elements of winemaking. I take it for granted that 
 you know the ordinary details, and your successes and failures 
 have shown you where the dangers mostly lie. I will, how- 
 ever, qualify what I have just said about the use of alcohol 
 to check fermentation and preserve the sugar at a certain 
 point, so far as this your palates and judgments of flavour 
 must to some extent regulate the point at which the spirit is 
 to be put in, as well as the exact quantity of it. It should 
 
13 
 
 not be less than two per cent. Red wines everywhere, and 
 especially in Australia, need much study and care to make 
 the best of them. For those of you whose vineyards are on 
 high, poor, cold grounds, where the character of the produce, 
 especially of the riesling and carbonet, seldom rise to 20 per 
 cent of proof spirit, then of course the only advice I can 
 offer is to keep your cellars as cool as you can, provided the 
 fermentation is going on say at 65 ; and if you had by you 
 a small still like this, and could determine the amount of 
 spirit already produced when your saccharometer has fallen 
 to within a trifle of zero, you would have an additional 
 circumstance to help your judgment. Obviously, in these 
 eases you must avoid using any spirit, or it will interfere 
 with any bouquet the wine would have. The much-prized 
 bouquets of the finest Rhine wines and of those of the North 
 of France are owing to the slow formation of aethers the 
 result of the action of acids on alcohol and essential oils in a 
 nascent state. These are never produced when the fermen- 
 tation is rapidly carried on and where much alcohol is 
 produced. 
 
 Should you be curious to know the methods of winemaking 
 in France (and this knowledge might be of real use to such 
 as are managing vineyards like those I have last descanted 
 upon), you will find it in abundance, and in a plain readable 
 form, accompanied with sensible remarks, in a work just 
 issued by Dr. Kelly, entitled "Winegrowing in Australia." 
 I would add, as a word of advice to all whose vineyards are 
 located in warm genial situations, to aim at making wines on 
 the models of the best Spanish and Portuguese, and the 
 early use of alcohol is one point generally to be attended to. 
 The sherries and ports, brandied as they might be for the 
 English market, rarely contain in their pure state more than 
 22 per cent of proof spirit. Yet the grapes are allowed to 
 become quite ripe, and the amount of their natural sugar, 
 as shown by the strength of the musts, is very great, and 
 would make them as spirituous as yours are, when made 
 from the same fruit. When two-thirds of the sugar has been 
 converted into alcohol and the sugar goes first and while 
 the last third is untouched, which last third consists of 
 
14 
 
 gummy matters associated with formed sugar, the spirit 
 which is added kills, along with the ferment, many of those 
 things which would in time become sugar and be broken up 
 into alcohol. These fall along with the ferment and form 
 the lees. When your Verdeilhos and Muscats have been 
 brought to the perfection of the wines of Madeira and 
 Lavradio; when your Rieslings have reached the acme of 
 Bucellas or Lisbon sweet and dry; when your Shiraz and 
 Black Portugal or Donzellinho have reached the perfection of 
 Colares and port, and your sherry wine have yielded stuff 
 like Manzanillia and Paj arete, you may defy the criticism of 
 the world. If it be time to say what one man has done 
 another may do, there is no reason in nature why you should 
 not achieve all this; for I have many a time over tasted as 
 good pure wine of the character of the best produce of those 
 countries as could be found in Spain and Portugal. I could 
 mention a list of names, but forbear. I may add, however, 
 that never yet have I tasted a bottle of South Australian 
 wine of the precise character of either hock, Sauterne, 
 Barsac, or Chablis; yet I have met with others that, in their 
 own way, are perhaps more than their equals. 
 
 Another point in the after treatment of the fermented 
 musts is fining. The English is not a language rich in wine 
 terms, or else that word fining would have either been dis- 
 carded or confined to a definite meaning. As it is now, we 
 use it in two widely different senses first, for the act of 
 removing the roughness and bitterness out of wine, and 
 rendering it soft and smooth for the palate, and for this 
 purpose gelatine or albumen of milk is used ; and second, 
 for fining, i.e., clearing wine from mechanical impurities, 
 such as sediment and scuddiness, which can be done without 
 using any chemical agent. Much good wine has been spoiled 
 in a quiet way by the improper use of eggs or isinglass or 
 gelatine, because these substances attack and remove the 
 tannic acid. This tannic acid is one of the main elements, 
 on the presence of which the durability of a wine depends. 
 Its function seems to be to keep the alcohol from being 
 oxidized. On the presence of it in large quantities depends 
 much of the keeping power of the Rhine wines ; and to the 
 
15 
 
 want of it, I fear, much of your red wines when over two 
 years old shows signs of a want of stability and firmness. 
 
 I will now show you something in the way of demon- 
 strative experiments upon this tannic acid, and will then try 
 to make the very pretty bit of chemistry involved in the 
 production of the change of colour clear to you. 
 
 EXPERIMENTS SHOWN. 
 a Action of tannic acid on albumen of egg. 
 b Ditto ditto on gelatine. 
 
 c Ditto ditto on persalts of iron. 
 
 d Ditto ditto on the iron of the wine, shown by satu- 
 
 rating the free acids with alkali. 
 
 As to racking you must use your own judgment. Ex- 
 perience and the kind of market you are looking to must 
 guide you in all that, only sulphur your casks well, after 
 rinsing them with spirit, and keep them pretty well filled up, 
 and the temperature of the cellar as equable as possible. I 
 think the difference of a few degrees of temperature is a small 
 matter compared with one uniform degree of heat. 
 
 Now a word or two on blending wines. Few wines in 
 warm countries are made from one kind of grape, and fewer 
 still are wholly unblended. In fact, blending is more than 
 half the science and art of wine-preparing. It is by studying 
 and discovering a blend that will take the market that the 
 wine-treater can continue for ever to supply a wine of one 
 given character. Cosens' brown sherry, or a given shade 
 of Lisbon, sweet or dry, all of them good wines, could be sup- 
 plied for ever ; but it depends on judicious blending. If you 
 mix the grapes before crushing, experience is the main thing. 
 If you blend must or finished wines, the following hints will 
 be of service. It is not enough merely to find two or three 
 sorts that blended yield a result better than any of them 
 taken singly, in your own opinion. After finding the due 
 proportion to be employed, it is necessary to bear in mind 
 that they want a bond a connecting-link, a something to 
 make them incorporate one with another and that is 
 effected by the judicious use of a little strong spirit, and a 
 greater or less quantity, but never very much, of a substance 
 called arome" or arrope". That brings the edges of them 
 together, so to speak. That you may not suspect I am 
 
16 
 
 carrying this doctrine too far, I will give you the established 
 formula for the preparation of the Englishman's claret. It 
 is for a hogshead 39 gallons of Bordeaux, one gallon of 
 brandy, 10 gallons wine of Rousillon. Rousillon is a strong, 
 highly-brandied wine, made only in the hot South of France, 
 and from Malbec, Mataro, and Grenache grapes, or a mixture 
 of them. Claret has always been a favourite. 
 
 There is yet another point to be urged, and that is perfect 
 cleanliness and sweetness about every cellar, utensil, bottle, 
 cork in fact, everything employed about the making and 
 keeping wine. Only yesterday a friend asked me to taste a 
 bottle or two of old and splendid wines. The first bottle of 
 red was magnificent, six years old ; the second, out of the 
 same cask, corked with a bad cork, was, as to smell and taste, 
 offensive. He then opened two of white of the same age, 
 and with the same result ; one would have sold by sample a 
 thousand gallons, the other would not have sold one. Yet 
 the only difference between them lay in the corks. A bad 
 sour cork is sure ruin to the delicate taste of good wine. 
 Plenty of slacked lime in fine powder is a capital thing both 
 on the cellar floor, where the floor is not flagged, and placed 
 pretty thick about the bung. Wine is as delicate as milk. 
 Never trust it in contact with wood where you would fear to 
 trust milk. The delicate properties of wine are as easily 
 affected as those of fine butter. What shall be said then of 
 the practice of kindling fires of colonial wood in cellars to 
 ripen (?) wines by raising the temperature, while at the same 
 time the whole atmosphere and every vessel becomes coated 
 with the empyreumatic products of the combustion of euca- 
 lyptus wood 1 
 
 And now Paulo majora canamus wines for the ladies. 
 Somewhere about one-half of our population consists of the 
 female sex, with tastes more delicate, and finer organization 
 than ours. They need sweet wines vins de liqueur. They 
 detest what we think so fine the dry, firm wines. They not 
 only detest them themselves, but they are the most active 
 enemies of the private consumption of colonial wines in 
 families. " Please don't put my husband on to buy any more 
 colonial wine ; it is making him ill." " It will be the end of 
 us all." " I never drink it. I can't. It is nasty, sour stuff." 
 
17 
 
 And yet this same friend of mine was never heard to find 
 fault with sweet Muscatel or Aucarot. All that doctrine I was 
 just now laying down about the use of spirit and arome will 
 be called into practice as soon as winegrowers remember that 
 ladies have palates for sweet wines, but none whatever for the 
 hard and dry. I place it on record as my deliberate opinion 
 that the ladies are the very worst enemies at this day of the 
 domestic trade in colonial wines, and perhaps you yourselves 
 are the cause of it, because you have not sufficiently studied 
 their palates in the manufacture of your wines. 
 
 The next important class of consumers of pure strong 
 wines are the patients in any and all of our public institu- 
 tions. In them, if anywhere, wine has a distinctive function 
 not Cette port and Hamburg sherry, nor any other delete- 
 rious compound of the worst of beetroot spirit, sloe-juice, 
 damaged French prunes, and catechu, such as I have had the 
 great gratification of turning out of Melbourne Hospital but 
 the article now in use there, with pleasure as well as sanitary 
 advantage to the patients, an old strong red wine of the 
 Malbec and Mataro character, with 26 per cent of proof spirit 
 in it. The trash which was turned out stuff looking rather 
 like shoe-blacking, with a " sweety sour " smell on it con- 
 tained by my distillation, in the presence of several of the 
 Managing Committee of Melbourne Hospital more than 40 
 per cent of proof spirit, and so bad! It had cost 10s. per 
 gallon duty paid ; the South Australian less than 7s. 6d. 
 duty paid. If the physician considers that wine is indicated, 
 then let it be wine ; if a stimulant, then brandy, ammonia, 
 &c. Surely trash of any smell, taste, or colour is never indi- 
 cated. In sheer mercy to the poor among our Victorians we 
 are making an effort to have them supplied with good sound 
 wines, approved of by the Medical Society, at the cheapest 
 rates, and guaranteed the same as the sample submitted to 
 the faculty, every bottle bearing a label with the name of the 
 wine, its age, the vineyard or district it came from, the 
 special remarks of the faculty's judges, and its price. Should 
 not as much be done here among yourselves 1 
 
 At the risk of "being tedious, I will call your attention to 
 a few matters which have appeared both in the city and 
 
18 
 
 provincial papers of Victoria, touching the progress of intro- 
 ducing colonial wines into our public institutions. I cut the 
 following out of a Warrnambool paper. I scarcely need say 
 that the certificate of the honorary medical staff of the Bene- 
 volent Asylum will speak boldly for their experience in that 
 large body of our poor, sick, and decrepit people : 
 
 COLONIAL WINES IN HOSPITALS. 
 
 The question of introducing the colonial wines as a substitute for 
 the so-called sherries and ports at present used in the above institu- 
 tions is now occupying some public attention in the metropolis. The 
 proposal has found favour with the Committee of the Melbourne 
 Hospital, and also the Benevolent Asylum. In the Argus of the 7th 
 ultimo the following letter appeared on this subject, under the 
 signature of I. K. : 
 
 "Sir Through the courtesy of the Rev. Dr. Bleasdale, I had an 
 opportunity this morning of tasting a number of colonial wines, 
 chiefly South Australian vintages, which that indefatigable advocate 
 of colonial wines has collected for purposes of comparison. I do not 
 wish to say anything here about the merits of the samples submitted 
 to the test as compared with high-class wines, or even fair dinner wines 
 of Europe ; but one and all of those I tasted were in every respect 
 superior to the so-called port wine which is in vogue in our hospitals, 
 and as they are moreover much cheaper than the imported adulterated 
 'drug,' the patients would, or at least might, get the benefit of the 
 difference in the price by being supplied with more wine than the 
 available means at present allow of. Some connoisseurs may find 
 fault with colonial wines for many reasons ; they may not suit their 
 palates ; but if they possess any knowledge of wine besides mere 
 taste for it, they cannot deny that the bulk of our colonial wines are 
 a by far more wholesome drink, ay, and a more palatable one too, 
 than the common red stuff which is sold as port wine, and which in 
 most cases is but a mere wretched compound of which grape juice 
 forms by far the smallest portion. The experiment of substituting 
 colonial for European wines has been made in the Benevolent Asylum, 
 where, I am told, it answers so far very satisfactorily. Where 
 colonial wine is not considered strong enough, pure brandy should 
 be given ; and if now and then a patient should prefer (fancies of 
 invalids require often to be indulged) the time-honoured black-bottle 
 stuff, it should be at hand, and be administered. Let the experiment 
 be tried honestly for twelve months, and I am certain that the medical 
 officers of the institution will report favourably of the result, and 
 bad wines will be banished henceforth from the Hospital cellars. 
 Dr. Bleasdale has recently received a very flattering invitation from 
 a number of South Australian winegrowers to pay them a visit and 
 to report on their produce. Should the rev. doctor undertake such 
 a tour of inspection, I would advise the various Committees of 
 
19 
 
 Management of the Melbourne and provincial Hospitals to com- 
 mission that gentleman to choose for them a suitable and inex- 
 pensive wine from among the many varieties which will come under 
 his notice." 
 
 Since the foregoing was published, we are informed that the 
 Melbourne Hospital Committee have procured a quantity of South 
 Australian wines for the use of patients, and the following certificate 
 has been given by the Honorary Medical Staff of the Benevolent 
 Asylum : 
 
 "Melbourne, August 27, 1867. 
 
 " We the undersigned, members of the Honorary Medical Staff of 
 the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum, certify that for the last five 
 months we have prescribed colonial wine for the inmates in all cases 
 where the use of wine was indicated, and that we find it infinitely 
 preferable to the port and sherry ordinarily employed for Hospital 
 purposes. We feel it a duty to recommend its general employment in 
 all charitable institutions. 
 
 " S. D. BIRD, M.D. 
 
 "JAMES EDWARD NEILD, M.D. 
 
 "A GRAY, Surgeon. 
 
 "We would suggest that the Committee of the Warrnambool 
 Hospital should try the experiment ; and if Dr. Bleasdale be com- 
 municated with prior \o his intended visit to Adelaide, he would be 
 only too happy to obtain a supply for our local institution." 
 
 The teetotallers and other consumers of cordials, such as 
 ginger wine, pure green ginger cordial, cloves, raspberry- 
 wine, &c., deserve a kind word in this place at least, I 
 trust it will not be out of place. With the exception of 
 raspberry vinegar generally as supplied a compound of a 
 doubtful character, and certainly but rarely prepared, as it 
 ought to be, with raspberries, vinegar, and sugar only few, 
 if any, of these cordials are prepared without a very large 
 share of strong spirits. Out of three samples got haphazard 
 yesterday, one "raspberry vinegar," one "ginger wine," and 
 the third "cloves," I found on distillation no spirit in the 
 raspberry vinegar, but in the cloves 1 1 '0 absolute alcohol, or 
 18 '4 proof spirit per cent, and in the ginger wine 17*4 
 absolute alcohol, or 29*3 proof spirit. The spirit contained 
 in these samples was excellent. I have carried my researches 
 into these compounds, which are mainly consumed in Vic- 
 toria, by teetotallers and women who honestly believe there 
 is no spirit in them, to an extent that I can only just allude 
 to at present. But this I will say, that the articles of local 
 manufacture, whether here or in the sister colony, are vastly 
 
20 
 
 superior to any imported ones I have examined. The chief 
 difference lies in the comparative fineness and" purity of the 
 spirit employed. After my return I hope soon to lay these 
 investigations before one or other of our learned societies, 
 when you will probably hear something more of them. They 
 all contain what I consider a scandalous quantity of strong 
 spirit, of which the consumers know little or nothing, unless 
 they guess from their headaches and flatulency that all was 
 not quite right the previous evening. 
 
 How much better to take what nature demands, and take 
 it in moderate quantities, of wholesome wine. Wine-drinking 
 never made drunkards. I lived many years in a great city 
 on the Continent of Europe where wine was the universal 
 beverage of all classes and both sexes, but never saw a native 
 of the country intoxicated. I would not spend an hour of 
 my time on all the wine in Australia if I did not believe it, 
 with the deepest conviction, to be the one natural remedy for 
 the beastly drunkenness still so common in our Australian 
 populations. 
 
 These, gentlemen, are some of the aspects under which 
 I elected to criticise wines, wine-making, and curing in 
 South Australia ; and with these, as the first steps towards 
 rendering your wines sound and good and universally 
 acceptable, I ought to conclude. Yet there are some other 
 points of no small importance towards achieving perfect suc- 
 cess, whether as makers of wine or creators of markets. 
 
 1. You need internal organization among yourselves. I 
 do not misrepresent you when I say hardly one knows aught 
 about his neighbours' plans of winemaking, quantities or 
 qualities, successes or failures. There is no interchange of 
 thought among the wine people. Yet, if in many industries 
 thought and interchange of experience have been advanta- 
 geous, surely wine-perfecting can be no exception, involving 
 as it does so many nice critical points. I conceive you want 
 an association, founded on broad grounds of mutual advan- 
 tage and improvement, and in, the kindliest of human 
 feelings, such as the generous beverage is always supposed to 
 engender. Papers should be read, and discussions elicited. 
 
 2. You want a recognised organ, and must make wine mat- 
 
21 
 
 ters fill a larger space in your daily papers. Bell's Life in 
 Victoria is now thoroughly committed to the wine interest, 
 and will serve for the present at any rate. 
 
 3. You need a central mart in Adelaide. In the absence 
 of any better plan, I will tell you of one which is now in 
 operation and succeeding well in Melbourne. A number of 
 winemakers, mostly on the Victorian side of the Valley of the 
 Murray, formed an Association or Company for the better 
 placing their produce in the Melbourne market. They soon 
 found a cellar capable of holding, say 30,000 gallons. Each 
 stated the number of gallons he was prepared to supply 
 towards filling it, and agreed to pay, whether he had any in 
 it or not, a share of the rent and current expenses in the pro- 
 portion which the space allotted to him bore to the whole 
 capacity of the cellar. The cellar had a capacity for storing 
 30,000 gallons. A. B. sent in 10,000 gallons, and had to 
 pay as his share one-third of the rent and expenses. A 
 skilled manager, who could himself watch and treat the 
 wines, was engaged at a salary per month, I think, and then 
 a percentage on all he sold. When I left Melbourne, these 
 wines were moving off steadily. Such an establishment here 
 would, if properly managed, and with advertising and the 
 assistance of the local press, soon become the recognised 
 quarter to which people would look for reliable information, 
 not alone in South Australia, but in all the adjacent colonies. 
 This would be one of the means of placing before the world 
 this fourth largest of your national industries and sources of 
 wealth. 
 
 4. Another crying want is a better distillation law ; one 
 that will leave you as free as possible among yourselves to 
 convert your wine whenever you like. Probably an export 
 duty would be the simplest and best, as it would leave you 
 at liberty to do as you like at home. As for the shallow cant 
 of free distillation making your people into drunkards, I 
 simply disbelieve it in toto. When I lived in Portugal, any- 
 where in Lisbon, or in the villages a quart bottle of brandy 
 20 over proof cost at the outside sixpence ; yet I never once 
 saw a Portuguese or Spaniard drunk. And are your tee- 
 totallers and sentimental philanthropists to tell me the moral 
 
22 
 
 or physical nature of the Portuguese or the Spaniard is of a 
 better temper and a higher class than that of the native races 
 of Great Britain or Ireland 1 In Great Britain and Ireland, 
 men who seek stimulants are driven from the beers to malt 
 spirits or rum. They never had a chance of cheap good 
 wine spirit, far less of abundant cheap wholesome wines. 
 The argument, then, from beer and spirits in England to 
 wine and pure brandy here, has not a leg to stand on. If 
 you reason by analogy, make sure that the analogy holds 
 good. I repeat it again, your people at large here have 
 never known what pure good wine spirit was ; and it re- 
 mains for the opponents to show that out of the favoured 
 few who do know what pure wine brandy is, and have had 
 both the chance of getting it and the means of buying it, 
 have become anything like the besotted imbiber of endless 
 nobblers of bad whisky and rum, and worse geneva. 
 
 5. I deny that colonial or any other wine has yet become 
 among you an established article of diet in those classes 
 which feel the need and can afford something with their 
 dinner other than a glass of beer. That the wines are more 
 frequently purchased by labouring men than heretofore I 
 grant, but hitherto it is classed among recognised exceptional 
 enjoyments. And this will last until you take the same 
 measures as have lately been taken in the sister colony, or 
 rather until the confectioners, fruit-sellers, oyster-shops, 
 cigar-vendors, and such-like, who come daily in contact with 
 the needs and instincts of the masses, find out that it will 
 pay them to add wine-selling to their other sources of 
 emolument. It seems to me that you should help all such 
 as are willing to enter the wine retailing trade to the best of 
 your ability. Let them have the wine so that they may 
 retail it at the cheapest rate. Our best benefactors were 
 those who began to sell our wines at a shilling a bottle retail. 
 Here it ought to be cheaper still Your hospitals and public 
 institutions ought to use it. Since I have been among you 
 I have found abundance suitable for these purposes, and im- 
 measurably better in convalescence after child-birth or disease 
 than the wretched compounds called port and sherry, and 
 which cost about four times as much money as the genuine 
 
23 
 
 article. With a domestic consumption such as it ought be, 
 such as it soon might become if the right sort of people took 
 it up your gentry of position, your medical advisers in the 
 cause of health, your clergy in the cause of sobriety and 
 morality you would not only consume your present produce, 
 but might safely enlarge it if no other market were available. 
 But other markets are available, and let us hope soon will be 
 more available as the doctrine of free trade among ourselves 
 as sister colonies becomes generally accepted. Free trade 
 among ourselves would be the blessing of labour and the 
 crown of productiveness. For years to come your wines 
 will be needed in Victoria ; needed now for present consump- 
 tion, and for blending with our thinner and newer wines ; 
 needed in our hospitals and public institutions ; and lastly, 
 needed as standards of improvement in vine cultivation and 
 winemaking. The higher the standard we keep the public 
 taste used to, the greater the efforts our winegrowers will 
 have to make to gratify it, and the more the wine interest 
 will thrive. Let me say it once for all if we would have 
 this eastern world seek its wine supply in our markets, we 
 must show that we believe in the produce ourselves. We 
 can make excellent wine in Victoria, but we need, as I just 
 said, your older, higher class, and more perfect wine for a 
 long time to come. I am no politician, yet I may urge for 
 both the wine interests here and in Victoria, that no stone 
 ought to be left unturned to get the benefits of free trade. 
 
 On very many occasions in Victoria, and here in South 
 Australia on several since my arrival, I have been asked 
 whether the late Intercolonial Exhibition has had any bene- 
 ficial effect on our industries and products, either in the 
 improvement of them in quality, or in extending the demand 
 for them. I am asked " Can you point to any manufacture 
 or native produce that has been in any way bettered by the 
 Exhibition?' Now, I take this opportunity of placing on 
 record what I know of its beneficial effect on the wine indus- 
 try. It made the name of colonial wine respectable, and that 
 of South Australian really known to the vast mass of our 
 people as an article generally better than aught produced as yet 
 on a large scale among ourselves. The collection of samples, 
 
24 
 
 and my knowledge of their goodness, enabled me to get together 
 a private meeting of the Medical Society a body of learned 
 and able men, the membership of which I consider the 
 highest honour conferred upon myself and induce them 
 seriously to consider the suitability of colonial wine for being 
 exhibited in lieu of port and sherry in our public institutions 
 and their private practice. Out of that meeting has come 
 the adoption of colonial wine in our Benevolent Asylum, and 
 now in our great Hospital in Melbourne, in Geelong Hospital, 
 at Sandhurst, and I think I could mention other places. I 
 calculate on my return that the Lunatic Asylums will also 
 begin to consume them. For now the doctrine seems esta- 
 blished, that if wine be indicated, pure wine should be exhi- 
 bited ; where a mere stimulant, then brandy, &c. 
 
 Gentlemen, in conclusion, is it wrong for me to hope ay, 
 to wish I may live to visit you' again at some future time, and 
 have the satisfaction of witnessing, not the pretty vineyards 
 scattered here and there along the plains and the sunny hill 
 sides at long intervals, as now, but the whole expanse of your 
 ranges, fashioned as they have been by Nature to become the 
 home of the vine, one vast, continuous succession of wine- 
 farms. It is no exaggeration to say that the wine-yielding 
 lands of South Australia and Victoria could supply the world 
 if all other countries failed not alone with quantity, but 
 quality also. With the ripened experience of a few Portu- 
 guese Feitores and Spanish Capitazes, added to the wine- 
 knowledge already brought among you by German, Swiss, 
 and French winemakers, your vineyards might equal, per- 
 haps even surpass, the productions of the Old World. For 
 you have what they have not autumns nearly if not quite 
 always hot, and absolutely dry. No fear of rain, that mortal 
 enemy of wine ; but on the contrary, the greatest security 
 that you may let your grapes ripen to the fullest maturity, 
 and gather them and cqnvejdLihem into musts at your most 
 ample leisure. With thee^e4vantages, the fault is your own 
 if your wines are inferior to the produce of any warm climate 
 on the hithertedtno^rn surface of the globe. 
 
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