impetus in 1851,
that the firm prosperity of New South Wales was completely lost sight of
in the brilliant success of its younger neighbour. The yield of gold in
New South Wales was never great as compared with that of Victoria; for,
with the exception of 1852, no year produced more than two million
pounds worth. But the older colony learnt more and more to utilise its
immense area in the growth of wool, an industry which yielded greater
and more permanent wealth than has ever been gained from gold mining.

#2. Governor Denison.#--Governor Fitzroy, who had been appointed in 1847,
remained eight years in office, and thus was present during the events
which made so great a change in the prospects of the colonies. In 1855
he returned to England, and his place was taken by Sir William Denison,
who had previously been Governor of Tasmania. In 1854 great excitement
had been caused in Sydney by the outbreak of the Crimean War, and the
people, in their fear lest they might suddenly receive an unwelcome
visit from Russian cruisers, hastened to complete a system of
fortifications for the harbour. The new Governor, who had in youth been
trained as an officer of the Royal Engineers in England, took a warm
interest in the operations. He built a small fortress on an islet in the
middle of the harbour, and placed batteries of guns at suitable spots
along the shores. The advance of the science of warfare in recent times
has left these little fortifications but sorry defences against modern
ironclads; but they have since been replaced by some of those
improvements in defence which have accompanied the invention of new
methods of attack.

#3. Constitutional Changes.#--The Constitutions which had been framed for
the colonies by the Imperial Parliament in 1850 were not expected to be
more than temporary. The British Government had wisely determined to
allow each of the colonies to frame for itself the Constitution which it
deemed most suitable to its requirements, and had instructed the
Legislative Councils which were elected in 1851 to report as to the
wishes of their respective colonies. In Sydney the Council entrusted the
framing of the new Constitution to a committee, which decided to adopt
the English system of government by two Houses--the one to represent the
people as a whole, the other to watch over the interests of those who,
by their superior wealth, might be supposed to have more than an
ordinary stake in the welfare of th