cupied by them; and, instead of trusting everybody, put no faith in
any one. This conduct ultimately recoiled upon themselves; their shares
fell in value; some of them became bankrupt, while the others had a hard
struggle to avoid that catastrophe; and the public lost all confidence
in banks and bankers. The worst part of the tale remains to be told;
namely, that many widows and orphans, whose all was invested in bank
shares, were utterly ruined and reduced to destitution by the failures
alluded to.

I come now to the second main cause of Australian distress, viz. the
speculation-mania that took possession of the entire population of this
fine Colony. No one who did not witness the effects of this mania, can
imagine to what an extent it was carried. Scarcely a day passed without
one or more public auctions of stock of all descriptions; and not a sale
took place, that was not crowded with eager purchasers. Many large
stock-holders took advantage of the high prices obtained at those sales,
to sell off, in the delusive hope that they would in this way be enabled
to retire from active life, and perhaps to return to their native
country. The terms offered at those public sales, were such as to induce
many persons who never even dreamed of sheep or cattle farming, to enter
the market and purchase to a large extent. These terms were, in general,
something like the following:--

Ten per cent, on the fall of the hammer;

Thirty per cent, by bill at twelve months;

Thirty per cent, by bill at two years;

Thirty per cent, by bill at three years: these bills bearing
interest at ten per cent, per annum.

I have seen tens of thousands of sheep and cattle sold in this way, many
of the buyers being men who had never even seen one of the animals they
were bidding for, and who knew literally nothing about the management of
flocks and herds; being tempted to make the purchase by the long credit
given. But, strange to say, many old settlers were led, with their eyes
open, into extensive purchases at most exorbitant rates, thinking that
nothing could check the career of splendid prosperity upon which the
Colony was then supposed to have entered. How dearly those parties have
paid for their folly, the world generally, and their creditors in
particular, well know. Besides the numerous public sales of stock all
over the Colony, and the large amount of property that changed hands on
those occasions, many important priv