ome on their own
account, and at the risk of the agents of the parties who advanced the
money in Sydney. In the meantime, wool fell in the English markets to
1s. and 15d. per pound. The nett proceeds of the shipment did not nearly
cover the advance made; and the hapless shipper, already in debt to his
agent for supplies, and without a penny of cash at his command, was
called upon to make good the difference, which he was unable to do. His
agent, pressed by others, must press him; his flocks are brought to the
hammer, and sold at the now ruinous current prices; and he becomes a
bankrupt. Dozens of cases like this, occurred during the late wretched
times.

I come now to the consideration of the bad seasons of 1838-39 and
1839-40. While I maintain that they were far from being the sole, or
even the chief cause of distress, I allow that they added to it very
materially. To shew that they were not the sole cause, I may mention,
that, among my own personal friends in the Colony, not one who avoided
speculation and putting his name on paper, has failed; while those who
followed the stream have sunk, every one of them. During those years,
every thing the unfortunate grazier had to sell, was cheap beyond all
precedent; while every article he was compelled to purchase, was very
dear. Tea, owing to the China war, rose from 5l. to 15l. per
half-_pecul_ chest of hyson skin. Flour of the very coarsest description
could not be had under from 30l. to 35l. per ton of two thousand pounds
weight,--a colonial cheat, calling two thousand pounds a ton! Sugar and
other necessaries were equally high; and many a poor settler who had
never refused his hard-worked servants their tea, sugar, and tobacco,
was compelled to stop those indulgences.

To the working-classes in Sydney and other towns, the bad seasons were
ruinous. Provisions were so dear, that many a father of a family found
his earnings far from sufficient to provide food for his wife and
children. Building was almost entirely put a stop to; and thus, hundreds
of industrious men were thrown out of employment. To so serious an
extent did this distress reach, that Government was called upon to
afford pecuniary relief to the starving poor; a circumstance altogether
unprecedented in Australian history.

So low had these evils sunk the Colony and all its inhabitants, that
failures of merchants and settlers continued to be of almost daily
occurrence up to the end of the year 1843. No one d