Page:The founding of South Australia.djvu/44

 One of the rules was:—

"That one of the earliest measures of the society be, to establish a General correspondence with the colonies, in order to ascertain in what districts the greatest demand for labour exists, and in what settlements colonists may direct their enterprise with the greatest advantage."

Enough has been said to show that the task Robert Gouger set himself was a gigantic one, but the brief diary to which we have referred contains only a record of dry and bewildering labour, useful to himself as memoranda, but of little interest now. He was greatly assisted in his work by the circulation of two small books: one, entitled "A Letter from Sydney, edited by Robert Gouger," in which the writer, whose name, for certain unknown reasons, was not disclosed at the time, dealt largely with the convict question as affecting the social condition of New South Wales, and sketched the outline of a plan for more systematic colonisation. The other book was entitled, "The State of New South Wales, with Annotations by Robert Gouger."

In the course of the year Mr. Gouger had opened up correspondence with Canadian settlers as to the prospects of the society in regard to Canada, and also with the Cape; he had organised