Tailors, 5r. to 7s per day.-In demand. Piece-work one-third higher | Wheelwrights, 5. to 6. per day, or 151, to 201. per annum, and than in England. Turners.-A few might work profitably on their own account. rations.--General workmen always find employment. The above embraces all those departments of mechanical and common labour for which there is at present any adequate demand in the colony. Prices. A knowledge of the prices of the principal articles of subsistence is as necessary to enable any one to form a correct estimate of the advantages likely to be realised by emigrating, as a knowledge of the wages of labour. Provisions at Sydney are, generally speaking, cheap except in seasons of drought; but as these are unfortunately of frequent recurrence, the labourer is exposed to considerable vicissitudes. We give below an account of the average prices of the principal articles of provision at Sydney during the alternate months of 1835. It must, however, be remembered that that was a season of rather severe drought, which has a powerful influence over prices. In ordinary seasons, butcher's meat, at Sydney, does not exceed from 1d. to 2d. per lb., and bread (loaf of 4 lbs.) 5d. The prices of the principal articles of provision in the market of Sydney, in January, 1833, a plentiful season, were as follows: Rations for Convicts.--The weekly rations of the convicts are 12 lbs. of wheat, or 9 lbs. of flour, or 3 12 lbs, of maize and 9 lbs. of wheat, or 7 lbs. of 24 flour; 7 lbs. of beef or mutton, or 4 1-2 lbs. of salt pork; 2 oz. of salt; 2 oz. of soap. Insurance.-Different joint stock insurance companies have been established at Sydney, for the insurance of ships, houses, and lives. The Australian Marine Insurance Company divided 18 per cent. nett profit for the year ending 31st December. 1835. The customary premium on vessels engaged in the whale fishery, is from 8 to 10 guineas for 12 months, or from 8 to 14 guineas for the voyage Banting would seem to be one of the most profitable modes in which capital can be inves'el in New South Wales. Four joint stock banking companies were carrying on business at Sydney in Decem ber, 1835. Of these, the bank of New South Wales, established in 1816, is the most ancient. All of them issue notes payable on demand; and their profits vary from 15 to 22 per cent. on the paid up capital. They allow from 4 to 5 per cent. interest on deposits. Subjoined is a state of the affairs of the Bank of New South Wales on the 31st December, 1835:- Frices. L. s. d. L. s. d. 040 to 0 6 0 010013 008 010 008 040 030 029 500 Average Prices of the undermentioned Articles of Market Produce at Sydney during the Year 1935. 0 64 10 0 8 610 0 18 0 15 0.18 0 36. 40 3640 70 02 -16 0 16 0 -29 0 5 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 600 0 6064 0 4 00 0 6000 6000 8.00 08 20 . 00 04 Granting of Land in Australia.-We have previously given (vol. i. p. 437.) a copy of the terms on which lands are now granted to emigrants to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. They are not very explicit. All land is to be sold by auction; the minimum or upset price is to be 5s. an acre; and government has a discretionary power of fixing a higher minimum price on superior lots, and of declining to sell them till that price be obtained. Even were there nothing to object to the principle of this plan, if any thing so very vague deserve that name, in its practical operation it can hardly fail to generate every species of abuse. The local government, having the power of limiting the quantity of land to be put up to auction, has it completely in its power to fix its price; for it may either increase the quantity of land so that it shall fetch no more than the upset price, or it may limit it so that it shall fetch any greater sum. Such auctions must in reality be a mere farce; it is not possible that they can be conducted on a fair principle. The price must, in every instance, really depend on the pleasure of the sellers, and not on the competition of the buyers. Supposing the local authorities to be uniformly actuated by the sincerest desire to deal fairly by every one, by what test are they to discover the probable number of offerers at different periods, the amount of their funds, and the intensity of their desire to purchase? And yet, without knowing all these things, they cannot decide upon the quantity of land to be put up, so as to have any thing like a fair sale. And supposing them to be influenced by the partialities and weaknesses incident to humanity, how easy, when they wish to oblige, will it be for them to increase the number of lots put up, and conversely! Even when the regulations are bonâ fide carried into effect, the delay that compliance with them necessarily involves is found to be exceedingly injurious. According to the rule originally laid down by government, all parcels of land desired to be put up to sale were to be advertised for three months previously to the sale taking place. The period for advertising has now, however, been reduced to one month; but, notwithstanding this judicious abbreviation, the delays that have still to be undergone before completing a purchase are loudly and justly complained of. An emigrant, on arriving at New South Wales, has to fix his family at Sydney, where lodgings and living are usually very high. He has then to make inquiries as to the best place for fixing himself; and having at length succeeded in finding a location which he thinks suitable to his views, he applies to have it put up to auction. But here he has most likely to encounter new difficulties. Almost all the land in the vicinity of the settled districts is either occupied on payment of a small rent to government, under leases which determine the moment it is purchased, or by trespass, that is, by squatting, or forcible possession. Both classes of occupiers are in general very unwilling to quit; so that the chances are, that, when the sale comes on, the emigrant, unless he retire a great distance into the wilderness, will have powerful competitors to contend with, and may not be able to conclude a purchase; and should such be the case, he has nothing for it but to begin his operations anew! On the whole, we have been assured by undoubted authority that about five months may be taken as a fair average of the period that must elapse before an emigrant arriving in New South Wales can complete the purchase of a parcel of land from government; and as he has to keep his family all the while at Sydney, his means are either greatly narrowed or wholly exhausted; so that it not unfrequently happens that the small capitalist, who left England in the expectation of becoming a proprietor and wool-grower in New South Wales, finds himself, about a year after, a pauper in the town of Sydney! Hence it is that the existing regulations, the high price demanded for land, and the difficulty of getting a location, have put an almost total stop to the immigration of the most valuable class of persons; that is, of small capitalists. They are by no means so unfavourable to speculators, and persons of large capital; and the former and paupers now constitute the principal part of the free emigrants to the colony. To obviate the chance of abuse, and the practical difficulties now stated, the better way, as it appears to us, would be to get a large tract of country surveyed, and divided into lots, and to fix prices on these according to the estimate formed of their various advantages, assigning them in absolute property to the first applicant ready to pay down the price and to conform to the regulations as to occupancy, &c. To prevent persons on the spot monopolising the best lands, it might be enacted that no more than a certain number of acres should be assigned to one individual, and that under the condition of residence or occupancy. We confess, however, that we entertain serious doubts as to the soundness of the principle involved in this plan, even supposing it could be fairly and easily carried into effect; and these doubts have not been in any degree lessened by the extravagant eulogies lavished upon it. It would seem, indeed, to be supposed that all the evils incident to colonisation have resulted from the settlers getting land on too easy terms; and that all that was required for the establishment of a colony on the best possible foundation, was, to sell its land at a high price; in other words, to make it as like an old country as possible! It says little for the public discernment, that opinions of this sort should have obtained any currency. We concede, indeed, that nothing can be more injurious to a colony than the making of large grants of land to individuals who either do not intend to settle upon them, or are unable to clear and bring any considerable portion of them into cultivation. But because such inconveniences have resulted from the injudicious granting of land, it does not, therefore, follow that it should be sold at a high price, or even at any price at all. In making grants of land, regard ought to be always had to the means and the intentions of the grantee; that is, the grant should depend partly on the probable amount of his available capital, and partly on the purposes to which he means to apply it. And it might be properly enough stipulated, that if, at the end of some fixed period, certain improvements were not made, buildings erected, &c., it should revert to the Crown. But the more we reflect on the subject, the greater are our doubts as to the policy of exacting any price for land, particularly in such a country as New South Wales. Considering the very inferior quality of most of the land in that colony, 5s. an acre seems quite extravagant as a minimum price; and, instead of being made the lowest point in the scale, it should rather have been inade the highest. At all events, if an upset price of 58. an acre be not a great deal above the mark in New Holland, it must be a great deal below it in Upper Canada. It would not really be more absurd to set about establishing a uniform rate by which to regulate the sale of land in Essex and the Hebrides, than it is to apply the same scale to all our colonial possessions. We have already seen that an emigrant may be conveyed to Quebec for 57., while it costs 167. to convey him to Sydney; and VOL. II.-3 C 73 supposing an emigrant's family to consist, servants included, of seven grown up persons, he would save 771. on the mere expenses of the voyage by going to Canada rather than to New South Wales! It does appear to us that government should pay some regard to this circumstance in fixing the price of land in Australia. In our view of the matter, it would be both just and expedient to allow all emigrants to Australia who made purchases of land, a deduction from its price equivalent to the sum which the passage out costs them over and above what it would have cost them to go to America. This would be a great relief to small capitalists; and, even with this regulation, the balance would still incline, in the opinion of most persons, very much in favour of Canada. But, however modified, the principle of the measure is, we apprehend, radically bad. If the Americans exacted the same price for their public lands that we do, something might be found to say in favour of extending the principle to Canada. They, however, do nothing of the sort; but sell much better land at a decidedly lower price. Hence, if this preposterous scheme do not discourage emigration, it will assuredly turn the tide from our own colonies to the United States. And though it had no such effect, it would still be highly objectionable; inasmuch as it cripples the resources of the colonist at the very moment when they are most indispensable, and deprives him of funds which he would have laid out better than, it is easy to suppose, they can be laid out by government. The mode of letting land by fine, that is, by the receipt of a large sum of money on the tenant's entry to a farm,-the rent during the currency of the lease being proportionally small,-has been severely censured by all the best agricultural writers; and for the very sufficient reason, that it deprives the tenant, on entering into his farm, of the greater part of his capital, and disables him from undertaking any considerable improvements at the very time it is most essential he should set about making them. And yet we are loudly called upon to do the same thing by the settlers in a new colony,-who, for the most part, emigrate only because they have little or no capital,—that is so justly condemned at home. This precious project has actually been trumpeted forth as a signal discovery that was to be productive of the very greatest utility; and a society has been formed to promote colonisation, on the avowed principle of rendering it much more difficult than it has ever hitherto been for a colonist in the lower walks of life to acquire land and become independent! If slaves could be imported into a colony of this sort, there might be some chance of its succeeding. But while land of the very best quality may be had in the valley of the Mississippi for about a dollar an acre, or less, we think bet ter of the common sense of our countrymen, than to suppose that any one able to carry himself across the Atlantic will resort to Australia under the auspices of any company of the sort now alluded to. In compiling this article we have made use of the Report of Mr. Bigge on the Agriculture and Trade of New South Wales, being Parl. Paper, No. 136. Sess. 1823; Report of Commissioners of Inquiry, Parl. Paper, No. 328. Sess. 1831; Papers laid before the Finance Committee; the excellent New South Wales Calendar and Directory for 1836; the works of Messrs. Sturt, Breton, and others; the tract of Mr. Carmichael, &c.; but we are indebted for by far the most interesting portion of our information to exceedingly valuable private communications from the colony. SYRA, the ancient Sycros, one of the islands of the Greek Archipelago, in the group called the Northern Cyclades. It is from 7 to 8 miles long, and 4 broad. Though rugged, it is tolerably well cultivated, and produces corn, wine, cotton, olives, figs, &c. The population, in 1830, is set down by Mr. Urquhart at 4,500; but we have been assured that it is, at present, little if at all short of 7,000. Pherycides, one of the most celebrated of the ancient Greek philosophers, the disciple of Pittacus, and the master of Pythagoras, was a native of this island. The port is on the east side of the island, in lat. 37° 26′ 30′′ N., lon. 24° 55′ E. It affords excellent anchorage for vessels of light draught, and is capable of accommodating a few even of the largest ships. In consequence partly of the advantages it enjoys through the possession of its port, but more of its central situation, Syra has recently become a considerable commercial entrepôt; and has attracted a good deal of the carrying trade that formerly centered at Smyrna, Constantinople, &c. A few miles to the east of Syra, lies Delos. This island, regarded in antiquity with peculiar veneation, from its being the birthplace of Apollo and Diana, is no less celebrated in the commercial than in the religious history of ancient Greece. Its sacred character, by insuring its immunity from hostile attacks, and its central situation, made it a favourite mart for the products of the states of Greece, Asia Minor, Phoenicia, Egypt, &c. Religion, pleasure, and trade had all their votaries at its festivals; which were famous throughout the ancient world for the splendour of the rites and processions, and the magnitude of the business transacted. It were too much to expect that Syra should ever attain to equal importance, even as an entrepôt. But as she enjoys most of those advantages of position that contributed to render Delos one of the principal emporiums of antiquity, it may be hoped, now that there is a reasonable prospect of good order and freedom being again established in Greece, that she may also acquire some commercial celebrity. It may be worth while mentioning, as strikingly evincing the mutability of human affairs, that, at present, both the great and the little Delos are uninhabited. And Tournefort states, that the inhabitants of Mycone were, in the early part of last century, in the habit of holding the greater Delos for the purposes of pasturage, paying to the Grand Seignior a rent of 20 crowns a year for that famous island-(Tournefort, Voyage du Levant, 4to ed. tome i. pp. 290-325. There is a good account of the religious rites celebrated at Delos, though but a very indifferent one of its commerce, in the Travels of Anacharsis.) T. TACAMAHAC, a resin obtained from the Fagara octandra; and likewise, it is supposed, from the Populus balsamifera. It is imported from America in large oblong masses wrapt in flag leaves. It is of a light brown colour, very brittle, and easily melted when heated. When pure, it has an aromatic smell, between that of lavender and musk; and dissolves completely in alcohol, water having no action upon it.-(Thomson's Chemistry.) TAGANROG, a city of European Russia, on the north coast of the Sea of Azof, near the mouth of the river Don, lat. 47° 12′ 40′′ N., lon. 38° 39′ E. Population from 7,000 to 8,000. It has a naval hospital, a lazaretto, &c.; and there are annual fairs in May, August, and November. Taganrog is a place of considerable commercial importance. It owes this distinction to its situation, which makes it the emporium of the extensive countries traversed by the Don (the ancient Tanais), one of the principal European rivers; and which, there is reason to think, will at no very distant period be connected with the Wolga, and consequently with the Caspian Sea, by the completion of the canal projected by Peter the Great. Civilisation is in a very backward state in these regions; but it is making a constant, though not a very rapid progress; and as it proceeds, Taganrog will necessarily rise in importance. The principal exports are grain, particularly wheat, of which large quantities are sometimes shipped; iron and hardware from Tula; with cordage, linen and sail-cloth, copper, tallow, leather, furs, wax, ashes, caviar, isinglass, &c. The imports are comparatively trifling, and consist principally of wine, oil, fruit, dry salteries, cotton and woollen goods, dye stuffs, tobacco, sugar, coffee, &c. By far the largest part of the trade is carried on with Constantinople, Smyrna, and other Turkish ports; but a good deal is also carried on with the different Italian ports. We subjoin an Official Account of the principal Articles imported into and exported from Taganrog, in 1830 and 1832. Total estimated value of imports in 1830, 2,581,153 roubles; ditto of exports, 11,011,616 roubles; so that the exports exceed the imports by the sum of 8,430,463 roubles. 1,541 2,097 2,626 9,098 poods 605 2,295 The Turkish vessels are generally of but small burden. Moneys, Weights, and Measures, same as those of PETERSBURGH; which see. Sea of Azof-The navigation of this sea, the Palus Maotis of antiquity, is impeded by numerous shoals, and can neither be entered nor safely navigated by vessels drawing more than 11 or 12 feet water. Its greatest depth in the middle is about 7 fathoms; but it shoals gradually to the sides, and at Taganrog there is only from 9 to 10 feet water. Its depth is, however, materially affected by the direction and strength of the winds. The only entrance to this sea is by the Straits of Yenikale, the Bosphorus Cimmerius of the ancients, a narrow and difficult passage, having in some places not more than 13 feet water. Owing to the great quantity of fresh water poured into the Sea of Azof, and its limited magnitude, its water is brackish inerely. It is unnavigable from November to April, during the greater part of which time it is generally frozen over.-(Norie's Sailing Directions for the Mediterranean and Black Seas; Annuaire du Commerce Maritime for 1833, p. 161. &c.) We avail ourselves of this opportunity to lay before our readers the following details with respect to the TRADE, ETC. OF THE CASPIAN SEA. Quantity and Value of the Articles imported from Foreign Ports into the Russian Ports of the Cas pian, in 1831. Account of the Quantity and Value of the Articles exported from Russian Ports on the Caspian, to Foreign Ports on ditto, in 1831. Shipping.-Arrivals at, and Departures from, the Russian Ports of the Caspian, in 1831. N. B.-Of the vessels here described, only 1 Persian arrived, and 1 ditto departed, of burden unknown. Magnitude of the Caspian Sea. Ports, &c.-The Caspian Sea, or rather lake (the Mare Hyrcanum of the ancients), extends lengthwise from N. to S. about 740 miles, varying in breadth from 112 to 275 miles. In some parts, particularly on the southern shores, it is so very deep that a line of 450 fathoms will not reach the bottom; whereas, in the northern parts, and opposite to the mouths of the Wolga, it is comparatively shallow; and owing to the frequent occurrence of shoals, it is not safely navigated by vessels drawing more than 10 or 12 feet water. Its level had been variously estimated by Olivier and Lowitz, at from 64 to 53 feet below that of the Black Sea; but according to the recent observations of M. Humboldt, the difference of level between them is no less than 300 feet! We confess, however, that we are not without our doubts as to the perfect accuracy of this statement; and would not have been inclined to attach much weight to it had it proceeded from any inferior authority. The water of the Caspian is not salt, but brackish merely; it has no tides, but gales of wind raise a very heavy sea. It is extremely prolific of fish and seals. The value of the sturgeon caught in the Russian fisheries amounts to a very large sum. (See STURGEON FISHERY.) They proceed in shoals up the rivers, where they are captured without the least apparent diminution of their numbers. The salmon is remarkably fine; and herrings are in such abundance, that, after a storm, the shores of the Persian provinces of Ghilan and Mazunderan are nearly covered with them.-(Kinnier's Memoir of the Persian Empire, p. 6. ; Memoir on the Caspian Sea, in Malte-Brun's Geography; Humboldt, Fragmens de Géologie, &c.) Astrakhan is situated on an island of the Wolga, more than 50 miles from the mouth of that river; and owing to the extensive command of internal navigation it possesses, it is a place of very considerable commercial importance. Baku, acquired by the Russians in 1801, is, however, the best port on the western side of the Caspian. It is situated on the southern shore of a peninsula that projects far into the sea, in lat. 40° 22′ N., lon. 51° 10′ E. The harbour is spacious and convenient; and its central and advanced position gives it superior advantages as a trading station. Prodigious quantities of naphtha are procured in the vicinity of Baku. It is drawn from wells, some of which yield from 1,000 to 1,500 lbs. a day It is sed as a substitute for lamp oil; and when ignited emits a clear light, with much smoke |