question,” he said, “is a reasonable one, and I will answer it with the frankness you are kind enough to ascribe to me.  I have ever made it a rule not to exceed my income.  Mrs. ****** bore our first trials with so much cheerfulness, and contributed so much to my happiness and my prosperity, that I felt myself bound to build her a good house with the first money I had to spare.”  I confess this answer raised my host in my estimation, and it was a gratifying proof to me of the success that attends industry and perseverance.

But let us look at another case.  Mr. *** had a property to the N.W. of Sydney, and having considerable funded means when he arrived in the colony, he soon put his property into a state of progressive improvement, and being in truth an excellent practical farmer, it assumed the appearance of regularity and order.  Had Mr. *** stopped at this moment, he would have been in the enjoyment of affluence and of every rational comfort.  But instead of exercising prudent rules of hospitality, he gave way to the natural generosity of his disposition, entered into expenses he could not afford, and was ultimately obliged to part with his estate.  Now it is deeply to be regretted, that one whose energies and abilities particularly fitted him for the life he had chosen, should have failed through such conduct; and it is more than probable, that if he had commenced with smaller means, and had gradually improved his property, his fate would have been very different.

I shall leave these cases without any further comment, convinced as I am, that each of them furnishes matter for serious consideration, and that they are practical illustrations of the causes of success or failure of those who emigrate to the colony of New South Wales.  And although I do not mean to affirm, that the majority follow Mr. ***’s example, I must venture to assert that thoughtlessness—­useless expenditure in the first instance—­waste of time and other circumstances, lead to equally ruinous consequences.

Moral objections to the colony.

One of the greatest objections which families have to New South Wales, is their apprehension of the moral effects that are likely to overwhelm them by bad example, and for which no success in life could compensate.  In a colony constituted like that of New South Wales, the proportion of crime must of course be great.  Yet it falls less under the notice of private families than one might at first sight have been led to suppose.  Drunkenness, as in the mother country, is the besetting sin; but it is confined chiefly to the large towns in consequence of the difficulty of procuring spirits in the country.  There are, no doubt, many incorrigible characters sent to settle in the interior, and it is an evil to have these men, even for a single day, to break the harmony of a previously well regulated establishment, or to injure its future prospects by the influence of evil example.  They are men who are sent upon trial, from on board a newly arrived ship, and they generally terminate their misconduct either on the roads or at a penal settlement, being thus happily removed from the mass of the prisoners.  Frequently, however, men remain for years under the same master.  They become attached to their occupations, their hearts become softened by kindness, and they atone as much as they possibly can for previous error.