Without giving any opinion of my own, as to whether it would be good or bad policy for the Legislature to impose a protective duty on wheat imported into New South Wales, I certainly think that the capabilities of that colony, as an agricultural country, have been very much underrated both in the colony itself, and in England; as to Chili, I have heard or read from good authorities, that it is a barren country, subject to great droughts; but then the Chilian agriculturists, although they use the most primitive implements of husbandry of the rudest construction, yet possess one great advantage over the English colonists of Australia,—they know how to irrigate their lands[1] As to the comparative quality of Australian wheat, and Chilian wheat, imported from Valparaiso, their respective quotations in the Sydney Morning Herald, when I left the colony in the beginning of last August, were as follow:—
| Colonial wheat | 4s. 6d. per bushel. |
| Valparaiso wheat | 3s. 6d.do. |
Agriculturists in New South Wales will therefore possess for a long time one great advantage over those of Van Diemen's Land and South Australia; for these colonies now produce more wheat than they can consume, and have become wheat-exporting countries. But owing to the large population of Sydney, and the circumstance that the majority of
