us) we do not cavil at for
one moment. But even the patients under the Jordan (American quack)
system may have relapses; and, when the _Planters' Friend_ can calmly
publish two columns of leaded matter insinuating that a mud bank on
the shores of Cleveland Bay is to become the leading port of North
Queensland, we can but regretfully infer that the Jordan cure is not
entirely satisfactory, and that even the 'brightest intellects' suffer
terrible and deplorable relapses."

These journalistic amenities were accorded serious attention by the
society of Bowen, which, by reason of the many Government officials
established there, considered itself very exclusive. The majority of
these officials were connected with the law, for Bowen was the proud
possessor of not only a resident judge, but also a new courthouse of
such ample dimensions that the whole population of the town could have
been accommodated therein. How the numerous barristers, solicitors, and
the smaller legal fry lived was a mystery. Perhaps, like the mythical
French town whose population supported themselves by doing each other's
washing, the legal gentry of Bowen existed by performing each other's
clerical work. Next in numbers--though not in social standing--were the
Government officials connected with the Harbour and Lights Department,
and "The Jetty." The Jetty was one of Bowen's triumphs; was over a
quarter of a mile long, cost twenty thousand pounds to build, and was
costing four thousand pounds a year to keep in order, and enable the
staff of engineers, inspectors, etc., to dress in a gentlemanly style,
and maintain their prestige as officials of higher importance than the
Customs officers, of whom Bowen was provided with six, all dressed very
becomingly, and all more or less related to members of the Queensland
Cabinet--as a matter of fact it would have been a difficult task to
find any male person in the Government service in Bowen--from His Honour
Judge Coker to Paddy Shea, the letter-carrier, who was not connected
with, or did not owe his position to a member of the Ministry. And Bowen
revelled in the knowledge that Brisbane and the Legislature dared not
refuse Bowen any reasonable request, for already there was a dark
rumour concerning Separation--the division of the colony into North and
South--and the _Clarion_ had warned the "inert and muddling Government"
of the colony "that unless the just and courteous request of the
telegraphic staff of the Bow