A Threatened Famine.
In the infancy of the various Australian Colonies the probability of a Flour Famine was a cause of much periodic uneasiness. Of beef and mutton there was no lack; but as the cultivation of cereals was not general, the possible disappearance of the indispensable "damper," or 41b. loaf, was a phantom requiring something more substantial than one's imagination to lay. N e w South Wales had such warnings of this kind that it learned from experience to look ahead, and its Government imported cargoes of flour from Calcutta and other Indian ports, had it ground by convict labour at Sydney, and stored in granaries, or siloes, ready for the needful day. In the early part of this year there were grave apprehensions of a dearth offlourin Melbourne, the average weekly town consumption being estimated atfifteentons. For two months not a single shipment was received from Launceston, Hobartown, or Sydney, and the bakers were such unscrupulous cheats that, not satisfied with high prices, they resorted to that seemingly inevitable trick of the craft—the fraud of light weights. T h e stocks were running short, and theflourtrade being in the hands of three or four individuals, the screw was put on accordingly. T h e price ran up to ,£65 and ,£75 per ton, and was for a time as high as £go—the 41b. loaf bringing from 3s. to 4s. Other provisions also increased in value ; potatoes ranged from £16 to ,£18 per ton ; butter, 3s. per lb.; and eggs, 6s.—and even 8s.—per dozen, whilst hay brought ,£15 per ton, and soap ,£52, or 53s. per cwt. Luckily there was a large surplus supply of Indian flour in Sydney, ground in 1839, and some timely consignments of this article were sent down and disposed of by auction. T h e market was thus eased, and an impending crisis tided over. This was done a couple of times in as many years, and was of very material benefit. Meanwhile, in many respects, the district was on the advance. Squatters continued to take up land, the germs of innumerable flocks and herds were introduced, and Bounty Immigration from Britain added thousands to the bone and sinew of the soil. T h e Crown Lands Act gave capitalists a right of selection, and what were known as "Special Surveys" were secured in various directions, such as Dendy's at Moorabbin, or Brighton (first known as Waterville); Unwin's, on the Yarra, opposite Heidelberg; Jamieson's, near Cape Schank ; Elgar's, at Kilmore ; Rutledge's, at Port Fairy, etc., etc. Mercantile firms (some of them bubbles that burst, others that lasted and prospered) sprang up in quick succession, and amongst them figured the well-known names of Rucker, Kemmis, Campbell, Wooley, Were, Graham, Craig, Broadfoot, Thomas, Enscoe, James, Welsh, Manton, Gourlay, Cain, Cole, cum aliis. General retail shops and stores increased, and Harris and Marks, Cashmore, A. H . Hart, and the Benjamins were some of our earliest Jewish shopkeepers. T h e auctioneers were represented by Williams, the Auction Company, Brodie, Power, Salmons, Kirk, and others. These gentry sometimes took high hand with their constituents, and on one occasion they condescendingly agreed to allow the owners of property offered for sale only one bid, after which there was to be no buying in. Several companies were started, and amongst them, providing a supply of water, the erection of a bridge over the Yarra, the establishment of a Tradesman's Bank, etc., etc. In July an Exchange was opened at the rooms of the Auction Company in Collins Street. There were three Banks and a Steam Navigation Company in full business, and the Insurance Company, started in 1839, was plodding along slowly, but safely; whilst three newspapers—the Gazette, Patriot and Herald— represented the public, but united in believing personal abuse and recrimination to be the cardinal tenet in the creed of journalism. T w o Club-houses were in full play, and three breweries in full blast. Education was not altogether forgotten. Embryonic literary and charitable institutions were much talked of, and ministers of religious denominations wrought hard in pointing the way to eternal salvation, according to their doctrinal lights. At the end of the year 1840 the population of the colony was returned as 10,291, i.e., 7254 males and 3037 females, an under-estimate by some thousands. 358 births, 198 deaths, and 177 marriages are recorded. ,£220,000 had been realised by Government Land Sales, and an extent of 3000 acres (an over-ratement) was stated to be under cultivation. T h e stock statistics showed 782,000 sheep, 51,000 horned cattle, and 2500 horses in the district. The new year (1841) opened with a population of between 5000 and 6000 in Melbourne, protected by a police corps of ten constables and a chief, 25 soldiers for guard and escort duty, and 250 ticket-of-leave
