Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/162

 emerge from their present chaotic state of confusion, and emigrants with capital once more quit England for New South Wales.

In the article on the state of New South Wales, forwarded to the Colonial Gazette, by the late editor of the Sydney Gazette, that writer has observed, that "paradoxical as it may appear to some, who only glance at the surface of things, there never was a time, since the foundation of New South Wales as a British colony, when capital could be invested therein to so much advantage. Horned cattle, in mixed herds, can be purchased for cash at the rate of £1. per head; horses at £10.; sheep at 3s.; houses in Sydney at less than their original building price, or, in other words, for the present value of the materials—to such distress is the colony reduced."

Supposing that a person purchased sheep at the rate of 5s. per head, and that they remained stationary at that price, it would be very easy to show, that after making every allowance for wages, rations, land carriage, average risk of loss from catarrh, scab, outrages and depredations of native blacks, &c. that such a person would clear annually, at the least twenty per cent, on the money so invested: thus an emigrant investing £1500. in sheep and stations, would realize annually £300. clear of all expenses. In order to shew this, I will suppose that 3500 young ewes dropping their lambs are purchased; if ordinary ewes and wethers are assumed