SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume I, Issue 15, 18 July 1840, Page 3

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

The writer of the letter to "a leading colonist" in South Australia, which we published a fortnight since by way of "warning," called upon the newspapers in Adelaide to furnish statistical details of the progress of the colony — " Quarrel away, if you please ; but let us have statistics. How many sheep have you? how many cattle? how many acres under cultivation? how many people?" &c. Although all these questions are not yet answered, we are happy to find in the " South Australian Register" of August 1 Oth, received since the publication of the "warning" letter, a variety of interesting and encouraging facts respecting the progress of the colony; and we proceed to lay them before the reaier in a condensed form.

In March and April 1837, the town allotments were appropriated. In August 1039, two years and a hale from the beginning of the colony, the number of settlers, of all grades, was estimated at 8,250.

The total number of sheep, cattle, &c. , in the colony is put down at — sheep, 58,500; bullocks, cows, &c. 6,250 ; horses, 520 ; pigs, 1000; goats, 180.

Imported by sea, during the first six months 1839, 265 bullocks, 160 horses, and about 27,000 sheep ; by land, 3,250 bullocks and cows, 96 horses, 13,050 sheep. Very large additions to the stock of sheep and cattle were expected. One proprietor had purchased 10,000 sheep from the Port Philip, district, and which were then probably within the limits of the colony. An equal number had been bought in Sydney by another settler, at an average price of 19s. 6d. each; the maiden ewes realizing about 305., aged 255., and wethers 1 Os. a head. [A calculation of the value of the sheep in South Australia, by this time probably at the fewest 80,000 in number, may be gathered from these prices.] Ninety-seven vessels entered Port Adelaide in 1838; but in the first six months of 1839 the number reached ninety-nine. And these arrivals were from many different quar-

ters — London, Liverpool, Greenock, Dundee> Hamburg, Altona, Batavia, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Hobart Town, Launceston, and Port Philip. The burden of these vessels was 21,232 tons. Seventeen vessels, varying from 86 to 520 tons, were in Port Adelaide on the 10th of August. Of the rapid increase in the value of land, there is no occasion to say much, though it occupies a large portion of the " South Australian Register." Half of an acre, town allotment, was sold in the beginning of August for £755 ; and one acre, with buildings upon it, valued at £500, brought £2,000. For an allotment of half an acre with good waterfrontage at Port Lincoln, 300 guineas had been offered and refused. Between the 14th January and 20th July 1839, no fewer than twenty-eight special surveys of 4,000 acres had been taken ; and there had been paid into the colonial treasury in hard cash for that land, and remitted without deduction to England, for the benefit of the Emigration Fund, £108,094. The number of dwellings and buildings of various descriptions in Adelaid and the immediate neighbourhood was 1128. The revenue, derived from duties on ardent spirits, wines, tobacco, ard publican's licences — the only articles taxed — in the first puarter of j 1839, was £2,750 12s. 9d. I In reference to the influence of South Australian prosperity on the neighbouring Colonies we are glad to find the following obser- , vations in the " Sydney Gazette," dictated by a liberal spirit, as well as experience of benefits derived from the influx of South Australian capital into New South Wales. "On no subject can we employ our pen so much to the gratification, of our readers as when recording the progress of the overland com- ' munication between this colony and South Australia. It has often been asserted that a spirit exists in this colony inimical to the interests of the Free Province. Nothing can be further from the truth. It may be that under the irritation caused by the discovery of fresh schemes on the part of the Colonization Doctors in London lo advance South Australia at the expense of the older Australian Colonies and at the expense of truth and of justice, language has been made use of which might bear such a construction ; but it is absurd to suppose that any rational colonist could wish other than success to a settlement ; which by opening up an extensive market for our superfluous sheep, cattle, and other produce, must necessarily contribute largely to our prosperity." It is a subject of the utmost gratification to observe the progress made in bringing the natives to a state of civilization. For some time past a number of them have been employed, under the superintendence of the Protector and Interpreter, in constructing houses for themselves on the park-land, and they have already made considerable progress in learning the "art" of pieze wall building. Several of them are also emploped in the Survey Department at Yankalilla and Aldingha, who receive rations and pay the same ,as White labourers. And last, though far from being least, we are informed that at the fishing-station at Encounter Bay, a whalingboat is manned entirely with aborigines, whose dexterity in using the oar is not surpassed by any White person. — South Australian Register.