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 The New Overseas Empires 375 receive, and the more she will be at the mercy of her small group of higher officials. Apart from India, there was no great expansion of any Em-opean Empire un- til the railways and the steamships were in effective action. A considerable school of political thinkers in Britain was disposed to regard overseas possessions as a source of weakness to the kingdom. The Australian settlenaents developed slowly un- til in 1842 the dis- covery of valuable copper mines, and in 1851 of gold, gave them a new import- ance. Improvements in transport were also making Australian wool an increasingly marketable com- modity in Europe. Canada, too, was not remarkably progres- sive until 1849 ; it was troubled by dis- sensions between its French and British inhabitants, there were several serious Photo: Brittsh South A/Hcan Co. RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE GORGE, VICTORIA FALLS. OF THE ZAMBESI, SOUTHERN RHODESIA