become discontented and miserable. Several of this class have re-emigrated to Valparaiso. Men with families are very often worse off, and, as long as the present mode of dealing with squatters remains in force, it is impossible that married men can find accommodation and employment, in any numbers, on sheep or cattle stations, as men have no fancy for laying out money in improving government land. At Sydney, where this evil has been felt more than at Melbourne, a committee of the Legislative Council examined many witnesses on the subject, and the result of their inquiries was to establish the facts which I have stated above.
The exports from the Port Phillip district in the year ending 31st July, 1843, being the close of the wool season of 1842–43, amounted to £232,602 in value, made up of the following items:—
| £ | s. | d. | ||||
| Shipped at Melbourne and Geelong |
Wool | 3,327,763 lbs. at 1s. ⅌ lb. | 166,388 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bark | 903 tons at 80s. ⅌ ton | 3,612 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Oil | 4½ tons at £24 ⅌ ton | 104 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sheep | 87,880 at 78. ⅌ head | 13,258 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Cattle | 735 at £6 ⅌ head | 4,410 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Salt Beef | 1,294 cwt.at 23s.4d. ⅌ cwt. | 1,509 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Tallow | 1,017 cwt. at 288. ⅌ cwt. | 1,423 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Hides | 793 at 9s. each | 357 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Horns | 3,580 | 8 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sheep Skins | 3,526 | 147 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Butter | 200 cwt. at £5 2s.9d. ⅌ cwt. | 1,026 | 0 | 0 | ||
| £192,242 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Shipped at Portland Bay, Port Fairy, and Gipps Land.[1] |
Wool | about 600,000 lbs. at 1s. ⅌ lb. | 30,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sheep | „ 20,000 at 7s. each | 7,000 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Cattle | „ 560 at £6 each | 3,360 | 0 | 0 | ||
| £232,602 | 0 | 0 |
- ↑ The shipments from Portland Bay, Port Fairy and Gipps Land are approximations furnished by the Collector of Customs, the actual returns not having been received, so that the total amount may vary slightly from the actual exports.
