ll explain any
ordinary discrepancy in the accounts from this country.
_2d_, The various accounts of the climate must in a measure be traced
to the same causes. People used to out-door labour in Britain find the
winter so mild, that everything is lauded to the skies; those used to
nice, roomy, convenient houses at home, finding themselves so very
differently situated, condemn climate, prospects, and everything. Both
may convey a false impression. The cold or heat by the thermometer is
no test of sensation; days, however warm, are exceedingly agreeable,
except the hot-wind days, which are absolutely indescribable, yet I
have seen some men work out all day in the worst of them. They cause
great relaxation in the system, and produce dysentery, especially
among children. Compared with other _hot_ countries, this appears to
be the most agreeable.
_3d, Employment_.--This is readily to be obtained by working mechanics
of all kinds in the towns; remembering that a very small sprinkling of
workmen for finer work--such as cornice-mouldings, fine freestone
work, cabinetwork, &c.--will be able to find employment for a long
time to come, because, till a new generation spring up, who can live
upon the accumulations of their sires, money will not be diverted to
any great extent from business in land, buildings, or merchandise. A
considerable number of labourers will find employment about the towns,
at the stores, on the wharfs, &c. at about 24s. weekly. Country work
on the sheep-stations--as shepherds, drivers of bullock-drays,
sheep-washing and shearing, cooking for the men, &c.--is remunerated
by about L.25 and food. These live far off in the solitary plains,
almost apart from men, and come to town once, twice, or thrice a year,
as their distance and employment may determine. The Sabbath has little
of the religious character for them, and they know little of the
progress of mankind. Agriculture also employs men at about the same
rate. There is no probability of wages falling, for a long time to
come, with any stream of emigration likely to come out hither; for if
the country cannot grow more wool, a greater attention to its quality
would employ more men; and agriculture will absorb a vast population
as soon as the land-question has been fairly overhauled, and settled
on a foundation that will allow a small capitalist to obtain, at a
fair price, a suitable farm: besides, everything necessary to
civilisation has yet to be done--ro
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