Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/225

 from the scene of action, would it not be much more natural to expect success were the head-quarters fixed in the colonies themselves? We believe most of the English schemes have been supposed to originate in philanthropy and public spirit. Thus there has been an array of great and distinguished names: bishops, lords, members of the House of Commons, bankers, and all that sort of people, who are supposed to guarantee the purity and reasonableness of the undertaking, but who generally know nothing beyond a prospectus. Might not a body of colonial gentlemen be found acting on their own responsibility, but with the friendly countenance of Government, to constitute a company, to plant agricultural families, and to facilitate the formation of towns and cities within this vast territory? And might it not be possible to gain a profit sufficient to justify the investment of capital in the undertaking? Never would such an effort proceed under fairer auspices. The land is accessible—steamboats would keep open a communication with the port—the wants of the emigrants would be met without the vast preparation demanded by a new country—and provisions would be obtainable in abundance. There would be no need in wasting strength on undertakings which have often embarrassed the founders of new colonies. Besides these material advantages, it would not be difficult to furnish such religious and scholastic instruction from the older settlements as new comers might at first demand.

To operate with any success we should require a tract of country suitable for the experiment. It would be necessary for an English agency to be appointed, and under stringent restrictions to organize a workable population, disposed on their landing to proceed to their destination at once. They would meet with slight difficulties compared with those encountered by a colony in its infancy, and probably two years would be sufficient to relieve a colonial society from any care or incumbrance. As capital returned, the process could be repeated. If successful, it would find many copyists, and the country would be covered at a rate of progress which by ordinary means can never be realized.—Sydney Morning Herald.