Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/184

bouring colonies, the islands in the Eastern seas, and the Mauritius; and that, notwithstanding the distance of 15,000 miles of ocean, and all the difficulties add disadvantages of our sliding-scale, nearly 1300 quarters of wheat were imported from that colony last year into the English markets. It was no doubt a small quantity when compared with the consumption of our population; but when it was considered that it was the first experiment to bring wheat from Van Diemen's Land, that it had succeeded in a remarkable manner, that the corn was of a very superior quality, was brought to Mark Lane in remarkably good condition, and that after paying all expenses, and a duty of five shillings a quarter, it left a handsome profit to the importer, few could doubt that the experiment would soon be tried again, and on an enlarged scale, especially when they considered what a desperate struggle there was now going on for the employment of money, and that merchants found no task so difficult as the discovery of a new article of importation which would be attended with profit. The corn imported last year was of a very superior quality. He never saw any corn that could be compared to it in weight, thinness of skin, and general appearance. An honourable friend near him, who had caused a large quantity of it to be ground for his domestic purposes, declared that the bread was superior to anything he had ever tasted. Though the average price of English wheat was at the time