eap rates. They subsequently
petitioned for a revival of transportation; but, after some hesitation,
the British Government resolved to adhere to their resolution to send no
more convicts to Sydney. Van Diemen's Land was still unfortunate; it was
to receive, indeed, the full stream of convicts, but from 1842 Australia
itself ceased to be the receptacle for the criminals of Great Britain.

CHAPTER XI.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1841-1850.

#1. Governor Grey.#--The colonists of South Australia had, in 1841,
received a sharp but salutary lesson, and we have seen that they
profited by it. They had discovered that the land was their only source
of wealth, and many, who had sufficient means to purchase farms or
stations, went out into the country, determined to endure a year or two
of hardship in hopes of prosperity to come. Nor had they very long to
wait; in 1844 they were able to export corn to the extent of L40,000,
and in that year the colony possessed 355,000 sheep and 22,000 cattle.

The new Governor, Captain George Grey, took every care to assist the
colonists in returning to more prudent courses. Many changes were
needed; for in 1840, while the colony had a revenue of only L30,000, it
had spent at the rate of L171,000 per annum. Such imprudence could lead
to nothing but ruin, and the first task of the Governor was to reduce
all expenses as far as possible. In the first year the expenditure was
cut down to L90,000; in the next, to L68,000; and in 1843, to L34,000.

Instead of employing the poorer labourers on costly and unnecessary
public works, he persuaded them to take employment in the country with
the farmers and squatters, who were rapidly opening up the interior
parts of the colony. He settled many on small farms or stations of their
own, but in this he was greatly impeded by the high price of land; for
Wakefield's friends in England were not yet convinced that their
favourite scheme was defective--they attributed every mishap to the
incompetence of Governors Hindmarsh and Gawler. "To lower the price,"
said they, "will be to ruin the colony;" and lest such a thing should
happen, they raised the price of all lands, whether good or bad, to one
pound per acre. But many of those who had bought land in the first days
of the settlement had been so anxious to part with it during the crisis
that they had sold it for much less than it cost them; and thus a great
number of the poorer people became possessed of land at v