ART. IV. Second Report from the Select Committee on South Australia. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 10th June 1841.

IN N the discussion of the Wakefield Theory of Colonization,' which appeared in a former Number of this Journal, we briefly noticed the settlement of South Australia as an experiment, devised by the especial patrons of that theory, for the purpose of bringing its merits to a practical proof-an experiment of which the issue was still to be seen. We explained the circumstances out of which the scheme arose, the general. principles by which it was distinguished from previous enterprises of the same kind, and its progress up to the date of the latest accounts then accessible to the public; and without presuming to treat it as a failure, merely because the boasted evidences of success appeared to us to be fallacious, we confessed a growing anxiety to receive some indications of stable and permanent prosperity more substantial than the value of Bonds in the market; or the number of capitalists who might be willing to stake large sums of money upon the chances of the speculation turning out well. For at that time, though we had heard much of the increasing value of land, as indicated by the enormous prices paid for lots in favourable situations-much of the unexampled attractiveness' of the new colony, its streets, squares, wharfs, public buildings, and club-houses-much of the rapid influx of settlers and of British capital, and something of a growing revenue derived from customs' duties upon goods imported; we had as yet heard nothing of exports or of internal production-nothing of new sources of wealth opened in the colony itself-nothing, in short, of the creation of that promised fund from which was to be derived the interest upon all the capital permanently invested there, as well as the means of repaying all the borrowed money which had been laid out in making the colony attractive.' Of the creation and growth of this fund we were anxious to hear; because, unless the bosom of the new land should prove capable of producing supplies of new wealth sufficient to remunerate the capitalist for his advances, it was plain that-how long soever the game of speculation might be carried on, how long soever the money might be shifted from hand to hand, how many fortunes soever might be made and lost before the cheat was finally detected, and upon whomsoever the loss might ultimately fall it must end at last in failure and disaster.

Not many weeks after our remarks were written, serious apprehensions began to prevail that all was not so well in South Australia as it had been represented, and South Australian revenue Bonds were no longer negotiable; and these apprehensions were shortly confirmed by the refusal of the Commissioners to honour bills drawn upon them by their own officer resident in the colony a virtual declaration of insolvency; and a reference of the whole matter to Government, on the ground that they could no longer carry out the provisions of the act without further powers than those with which it entrusted them. The result of this reference, as our readers are aware, was the appointment of a select Committee of the House of Commons, by whom the whole case was minutely investigated, and on whose recommendation a temporary advance of L.155,000 was made by Parliament to enable the Commissioners to meet the immediate emergency. Their second Report, containing a series of recommendations as to the future government of the colony, lies before us, (with evidence and an appendix,) in one of those huge folios in which our legislators think it expedient to seclude from idle curiosity the fruits of their graver deliberations; and will, according to an intimation given by Lord Stanley in the House of Commons, speedily occupy the attention of Parliament. Had the getters up of this and similar experiments used a similar vehicle for the conveyance of their communications to the public, we might have been content to leave this history of the progress and issue of it to make its own impression. But advertisements, prospectuses, leading articles in newspapers, and even pamphlets, find their way into heads where no folios can follow them; and we hope, therefore, that in reducing to a circulable shape the more material results of this important investigation, and committing them to the wings of our lighter octavo, we shall be performing no unacceptable service to the idler public, whom it much concerns to be truly informed of the fate of such projects; inasmuch as it is to the idler public that all new projects, requiring borrowed money to set them on foot, especially address themselves. The broad fact, indeed, that up to this period the experiment has proved a failure, is sufficiently notorious. The creation, within so short a time, of so great a financial embarrassment-the demand upon the public for L.155,000 before four years were out, to save from absolute ruin a colony in behalf of which it has been constantly promised that it would at least cost nothing to the mother countryspeaks for itself in language which every body can understand, and nobody can dispute. Which of the parties concerned has been most to blame, may admit of controversy; but the result

which they have brought out amongst them, will not be popularly recognised under any better name than failure. Admitting, then, that the experiment has failed, the question is, what and how much we are to infer from the failure; what light does it really throw upon that theory of colonization which it was meant to bring to the test; and whether, giving up as vicious the principles of the South Australian colonization act, we must give up the Wakefield principle' along with them? Our own opinion is, that the question as to the soundness and practical efficacy of that principle, as expounded by us on a former occasion, remains exactly where it was, and is not at all affected by the issue of this experiment; the miscarriage of which is sufficiently accounted for by other parts of the scheme quite apart and separable from it, though unfortunately placed in the same boat. The principles of navigation are not answerable for the wreck of a vessel entrusted to an ignorant pilot, or sent out without proper equipments; nor must Mr Wakefield's theory of colonization be too hastily condemned, because it has not been able to overcome the threefold disadvantage under which he was content that it should be tried-of a territory unexplored and unfavourable, a Board of managers inexperienced and irresponsible, and a supply of money drawn from a source at once expensive and uncertain. We formerly intimated our opinion, that in expecting it to triumph over all natural disadvantages, its patrons expected too much from it. Our belief that it was sound, and our hope that results of great practical importance might be expected from its operation, we as yet see no reason to abandon. But to make our conclusions more intelligible, it will be convenient to begin with some account of the negotiations, and the abortive schemes that preceded the introduction of the measure which was specially adopted.

That Mr Wakefield, once satisfied as to the value of his theory, should be in a hurry to see it at work, was natural and laudable; that he should be duly cautious and deliberate in maturing his plans, and surveying his ground, was hardly to be expected. How soon after the promulgation of his doctrine South Australia was fixed on as a fit field of operation, we are not informed: but the choice seems to have cost very little trouble. Of the huge cantle' which was to be cut out of the globe for this purpose, scarcely any thing was then known-except the latitude and longitude, the general temperature of the climate, and the aspect of the land as seen from the coast. How far the fertility extended inwards, whether the appearances of fertility on the coasts were not themselves superficial, what supply there was of water, what the soil was capable of growing, whether the selected territory

consisted chiefly of grass or jungle, sand or rock, mountain, plain, or swamp all this was left to the imagination. But where nothing is known, more may be hoped-and, whatever might be the qualities of the land, at all events it was waste, and remote from other settlements. The very beauty of the thing was, that by securing the just proportion between the surface of the land and the labouring population, it would make all lands alike fertile. If the soil proved less rich than was expected, it was only to bestow more labour upon it—if more labour were wanted, it was only to pour in emigrants more rapidly—if more means of emigration were required, it was only to raise the price of land. Certainly an only child does not suffer more from the blindness of parental affection than an only theory. The territory lying 'between the 132d and 141st degrees of east longitude, and be'tween the 20th parallel of south latitude on the north, and the 'Southern Pacific Ocean on the south,' was voted eminently 'fit for the reception of emigrants or settlers'-and negotiations commenced accordingly with the Colonial Office in the beginning of 1831.

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Lord Howick, then Under Secretary for the Colonies, thought favourably of the principle, and was disposed, under proper cautions, to make the trial; and Lord Ripon had no objection, provided it could be done without an additional item in the estimates, and without involving the Government, should the scheme prove unsuccessful, in the discredit of the failure. To provide against this, it was proposed that the Government should have nothing to do with it; but that it should be undertaken by a Company, with a paid-up capital, upon whom, along with management, would devolve all the risk and all the responsibility. A Company, with a capital of L. 500,000, was to undertake the charge of founding, peopling, and governing the new settlement; of managing the land sales according to certain principles to be defined in their charter; of applying the proceeds to emigration; and of advancing money to defray the preliminary outlay;-and if, on trial, the plan did not succeed—i. e. if the population did not reach a certain amount within a certain period, it was to be given up; i. e. the peculiar principles on which the Colony was to be established were no longer to be insisted on: South Australia was to be as New South Wales, or as Van Diemen's Land. This sounded fairly. But if the Company were thus to undertake all the responsibilities of Government, they must, of course, be trusted with the authority of Government likewise; and the authority which they required amounted to little less than a delegation of all the substantial powers of sovereignty. This Lord Ripon was not prepared to sanction;

and without this the project could not proceed. Accordingly, after a year and a half spent in fruitless endeavours to adjust the difficulty, the proposition was abandoned. And in truth it might as well have been given up at first; for the condition required by Lord Ripon was obviously impracticable. Unless it could have been contrived, that in case of failure not only the pecuniary losses, but the social and political consequences also, should fall upon the projectors alone, it was plainly impossible for Government to escape responsibility for the issue of an experiment which could not be tried without its express sanction. By deputing others to conduct it, Lord Ripon might indeed throw upon them a subordinate responsibility; but so far from absolving the Ministers of the Crown by that means of the responsibility in chief, he would rather involve them in a double responsibility-making them answerable, not only for the propriety of the experiment, but also for the fitness of the instruments.

Up to this point, it might be thought the obstacle to this undertaking lay solely with Lord Ripon, who demanded a condition from the undertakers which he refused them the means of fulfilling. But from the correspondence which took place on the revival of the project during Lord Stanley's administration of the Colonial department, it appears that this condition of the schemenamely, that the Government should have no concern in the practical management, was one which the undertakers themselves were prepared to insist on quite as obstinately as Lord Ripon; for Lord Stanley interposed no such stipulation, but, having made up his mind to sanction the experiment, was quite ready to take his share in the charge of it. The idea of a Sovereign Company being now abandoned, the following plan was next proposed :-The limits of the Colony being marked out, a guarantee was to be given by Government that no land should ever be sold within those limits below a certain price-that the whole of the sum derived from the sale of land should be employed in conveying to the Colony young pauper labourers of both sexes in equal proportions-and that the maximum price of Government land, though it was to be advanced from time to time, should' never be reduced. The Governor and all the officers were to be appointed by the Crown; and upon the Governor was to devolve the whole power and responsibility of the government, ' until the Colony should be thought sufficiently advanced to ' receive the grant of a Legislative Assembly.' But since the entire revenue derived from land sales was to be spent in emigration, a fund would still be wanting for the purposes of the civil government. Provision was to be made for this by a Joint Stock Company, who were to make themselves responsible to the.

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