Page:Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia.djvu/26

 the discovery of the best modes of abridging labour, and much will depend upon timely and wise determination on this point. This is an important question, and surrounded with difficulties. Labourers could, of course, be imported from the parent country, but the expense of transport, and of after maintenance startle the young adventurer. The presence of convicts is irksome in a settlement of freemen, and where crime is, happily, as yet, less known than in the countries from which they have emigrated. Yet, without a large supply of labour, or some obedient power, improvement and civilization must stand still.

A few suggestions for the abridgment of labour and general amelioration of the settler, by the assistance of modern scientific inventions, have been already introduced; it remains now to address some words of advice, or rather matter for reflection. Let it be borne in mind that this country is principally adapted to pastoral pursuits, and offers very great advantages for the investment of capital in that way. The first and greatest want in the settlement is "communication by lines of road." This cannot be supplied without a command of labour. Would it not be worth the consideration of all parties, whether convict labour might not be applied, without compromising the dignity and moral