Page:The new British province of South Australia.djvu/99

 of this book, containing all the evidence, will be printed for circulation in the three British presidencies of India.

Nearly connected with this division of our subject is a consideration of great importance; viz. the capacity of the new settlement for producing commodities that would be exchangeable in distant markets. Without goods to be exchanged in foreign commerce, the best commercial position is of little value; it is of no value, except as it may lead to the production of such goods. Whether such goods will be produced in South Australia, must depend upon two points; first, the productiveness of labour, or the cost of production, supposing soil and climate to be favourable, which must be determined in great measure, as we shall endeavour to show presently, by the mode of colonization adopted; secondly, the fitness of soil and climate for producing things which are required in distant places. On the latter of these points, the statement which follows will be found instructive: it is taken from a publication of the South Australian Land Company, who so long ago as 1831 projected the formation of a settlement at or near Port Lincoln.