g very palatable, particularly during
the summer months. One of the gentlemen alluded to has also made very
good port wine and brandy.

The greatest drawback on the commerce of New South Wales, is the
deficiency of exports, the balance of trade being greatly against the
Colony. Its wool and oil are what merchants have hitherto principally
depended upon, though other exports are now coming into play; viz.
cedar-timber, hides, tallow, and salt provisions. Still, I do not think
that, even with these additions, the merchants of the Colony can manage
to make their exports equal in value to their imports; and were it not
for the very considerable sums drawn for on the Home Government, by the
military department, for the pay and provisions of the troops, necessity
would compel the merchants of England to reduce their shipments to
Australia. The great fall in the price of the principal colonial staple,
wool, has added very materially to the difficulties arising out of this
state of affairs, by reducing the value of remittances made in that
article to one half of what it used to be. The quantity of wool
increases, it is true, from year to year, but not to such an extent as
to counterbalance the fall in price; and it must be borne in mind,
that, as fast as the wool increases, so does the population, and
consequently the amount of imports in the shape of supplies, which have
all to be remitted for. Since the opening of the coast of China to the
commerce of the world, (the result of our late struggle with that
country,--a struggle so much condemned by those who were ignorant of the
merits of the case,) the merchants of Sydney seem to have entertained
the idea, that their trade will benefit by the change. No one would
rejoice more than myself at their anticipations proving correct; but I
confess my judgment differs from theirs; and if we may judge by the
result of their trial shipments, which arrived prior to my leaving
China, it is to be feared they will find, to their cost, that they have
reckoned without their host. The Sydney merchants, from what I have
heard, expect to find in China a market for horses, cattle, and sheep,
coarse woollens, wine, and salt provisions. The first three have been
tried, and the experiment has proved an utter failure: the horses were
sent to Calcutta, not a purchaser being found for one of them in Hong
Kong. Cattle are out of the question: they cannot be transported five
thousand miles to undersell th