rapid in the interval which I have mentioned, but it has, nevertheless, showed signs of real progression, and, despite the unfavourable circumstances of its birth which, in nursery phraseology, have made it "backward on its feet," there are reasonable grounds for believing that it may, even yet, learn to run alone.
The different members of the same household are sometimes slow in recognizing the gifts and graces of each other, and Western Australia has long been regarded by the sister colonies of the great southern continent somewhat as the "ugly duckling" of the family. I do not know whether these more successful neighbours have, as yet, revoked their opinion, but a fact, which has long been known to the friends of the unlucky fledgling, has at length received solid acknowledgment in Victoria, to wit, that the much-contemned colony of Swan River contains, in inexhaustible quantities, the best timber in the world.
"Self-love and social" were long ago pronounced by Pope as identical, and the truth is that the days appear to have gone by when the settler in any part of Australia can hope to make a fortune in a few years by the rapid increase of his flocks and the proceeds of his wool. The fortunes of Australia, as a whole, can no longer be embarked in one enterprise, and, as no country in the world, perhaps, possesses more varied resources than West Australia, the eyes of the neighbouring colonies naturally turn towards her in their desire to strike out for themselves new and lucrative branches of industry.
Now the one product of timber alone will probably hereafter, more than make up for all the disadvantages under which Western Australia has suffered hitherto.
