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1086 T H IB L E A Dj^R- [Satijrpay ^
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OUR SANITARY CONDITION. Thebe is nothing...
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T IT 3S B T It I K R S. Tiik vohI popula...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A "Gentleman At Large" In Australia. The...
afc Korong existed on tea for a length of time . What will loving mammas say when assured that it is a common occurrence for men to be without food for two or three days ? Nobody thinks anything of it here . Pity and sympathy are words not to be found in the colonial dictionary . Formerly men were not content to find gold by the half-pound weight , even in many instances per diem . Now , a man who gets his twelve ounces in the same time is considered to be making good wages . Where one is doing this , hundreds are only getting that sum per week . All diggers are complaining . Men save up their earnings to take them to the diggings . They go ! they dig ! they come back beggars .
Emigrants are flocking in by thousands almost daily . Capitalists , mechanics , and the really hard working of the labouring classes , are alone wanted here . The market is overstocked with others . Literature and education are at a discount . A master of five or six languages is a poor match for a bullockdriver ! One great evil of this district is , that the lands are in the hands of "lags" ( convicts ) and squatters . These men are , for the most part , very wealthy ; . consequently , they carry the sway . " Unlock the lands , " is the universal cry , and unless this appeal be responded to , there will be a fearful amount of misery ; and , indeed , this may lead to a revolution .
At the present time , land up the country for agricultural purposes is sold in sections of not less t han a square mile . Again , no man can take a sheep run without a capital of some thousands . How different things would be if the land were sold at a low rate , and in small allotments , as in America . Land in the neighbourhood of Melbourne fetches from 21 . 10 s . to 121 . per square foot . The average price is 71 . per foot ! An acre of land was sold for 7000 ? . by public auction . It was unbuilt on , and , I believe , uncultivated . The
country around is very woody . On my way to the Korong diggings , 170 miles up the country , the road , after the first twenty miles , is nearly all bush . The . Black Forest is thirty-five miles in breadth , and I doubt not originally ran to the Bendigo ( properly Bandycosh ) , a distance of 110 miles from town . The forest , passing by Bullock Creek , the Soddon , and Maclntyre ' s , is nearly forty miles through , and the scrub is pretty thick . A nice prospect to have to-clear a square mile of this land . Land at Sydney , and other civilized places , is sold in reasonable quantities .
Whilst on board the Sir William FfolJces , I made one of a party of five who proposed to go to the diggings . After being on shore some fourteen days , I found no prospect of starting . The pack could not be got together . I , therefore , set off by myself to "walk to Korong , a , distance of 1 G 0 miles . I will give you a faithful account of my journey . I left Melbourne about three o ' clock , p . m ., on a Saturday afternoon , carrying my swag * consisting of my calico tont , blankets , hook-pot , pannikin , axe , & c . & c— in all , weighing 50 lbs . I arrived at Keilor , a distance of ten miles , about dark . There I oultl get no bed ; so , by advice , I pushed on a mile further , where , T was
toltl , I could get a shake down for the night . By this time it had come on to rain . There was no mojon , neither were the stars out . I blundered along , howover , over a partly-finished colonial road . 1 reached the place where I flattered myself I was going ^ to roost , and civilly asked if I could have a , bed . Apropos , a Led means room to lay on the (/ round . Blankets are not found , or covering of any Kort generally . Every digger carries his own . I must tell you , that before leaving Melbourne I had been assured , that once fairly out of town , I should meet with kindness and hospitality everywhere . The sequel will show you the truth of the statement . My inquiry had a marvellous
and unaccountable , although by no means agreeable effect ; for I was saluted with such abuse , such blasphemous oaths , and such a tirade of epithets as a Billingsgate i'mli-fug , or a St . CiluB ' n costernionger , might have blushed to have heard . True , rich , racy , genuine colonial hwearing—and colonists can , and do , Hwoar " a few . " Finding-that if I did not at once move on I should l > o made a target for revolver practice , I stoerod for Komo lights in tho distance . Trusting to tho Fates to befriend mo , I shortly found myself in the midst of tents of men working- on tho roads . 1 went up to a camp lire , and having stated tho above circum-HtanceM to those round about , 1 asked if there was any place whero I could got a bed . I w ; ik told there was
none . Well , thought I to mysolf , if this is the beginning of my experience of tho delights of Australian life , 1 should certainly wish to know what the wind-up will be . Here I am in the midst of Keilor plains , the rain is coming down pretty heavily , and has commencod at an hour which promises it will continue ) all night . It is pitch dark ; 1 don't know an inch of my road . The plain is now one huge swamp ; there in not a true near , or a pole fco be had - —or / jfo , 1 can ' t pi toll » my lent . I am cold , hungry , wet , and tired , if I # <> on 1 shall , in every probability , bu worse oft " : am likely to be " attick up" ( colonial phraseology for being stopped and robbed by bushnuigorn ) . Cortes , I am in a pretty pickle ; I may not even remain here and nit by ibis fire all night .
Whilst I was thus chewing the cud of reflection over all my troubles , my packet of tea came undone , and out fell the contents . Dame Fortune was determined
to spite me , for not only had I to lament the loss of my tea—a very necessary part of my evening meal and t he morrow ' s breakfast—but this accident was the cause of my meeting with a second edition of abuse from an old convict , who was in a pleasing state of liquor . After some parleying , I was told that I might sleep in one of the tents . I joyfully embraced the offer . I was shown into my abode for the night , and a lovely place it was : an English horse woul d die of influenza or grief in a month with such accommodation . The only occupant of this apartment was a
broken-down Liverpool linen-draper : he kindly offered me some cold tea and dry bread , after partaking of which , I made my bed on the ground . I had just turned in , and had promised myself a few hours' rest , when in comes another lodger , as drunk as hocussed colonial liquor could make him—and all liquor retailed is well loaded here . This individual , according to his own account , had imbibed some forty " nobblers " ( half glasses ) of alcoholic stun ; and after picking a quarrel with his " mate , " he began at me . He was a Scotchman , and in the genuine lingo gave me edition number three . However , to cut the matter short , I
managed to remain there all night . The effects of having been so long cooped up on board ship , without exercise , began now to be felt . My feet pained me exceedingly ; I had no clean things of any kind with me , having left my knapsack to be forwarded per dray , consequently , when I abandoned what vestiges yet remained to me of my socks , I felt it the more . After various mishaps , I reached , of which place I knew the Commissioner and J . P . A nice object I . looked , to present myself to any onedirty , ragged , unshorn , unwashed , and uncombed . My boots , of course , had been cut all over to ease my torn and lacerated feet . I stayed some time with rny
friend at the diggings—just long enough for me to learn that few were doing any good . there . I left on the 17 th of May ( my birth-day ) to come down . I had 24 s . in my pocket to take me a distance of 160 miles : no bread to be had , and flour lid . per lb ., tea 6 s . per lb ., sugar 2 s . per lb ., mutton 6 d . per lb . } the latter article being the same price all over the colony , and at three stations out of every four not to be purchased in less quantities than a hind or fore quarter . Australian mutton is generally tough stuff to tackle , being scraggy , grisly , ill-fed , and tasteless . One pound weight of good English mutton is worth two of Australian . Meat keeps no time here , and is quite commonly p-ut
on the bush fire whilst yet warm with animal life . I myself have eaten it thus , and what is worse still , have unwittingly partaken of a sheep that has died of the rot , and of a bullock that has been worked to death on the roads . Such meat is often sold up the country . But I am digressing ; so here goes again to my story . When I had come some eighty miles on my way down I found myself without so much as would purchase a loaf ( a 41 b . loaf costs 4 s . ) . My mate and I were thinking we should have to take a stroll round our little tent and a smoke by way of dinner and supper , when providentially we obtained a job to unload a dray bogged in a crab hole . So far so good , but the morrow . The morrow came , however , and with it work on the roads
—quarrying ! At it weyzeu & j-irom sunrise to sunset . We were encamped ^ t 5 na bleak plain , the rain fell heavily , mixed with sleet of hail and snow . A cold rain wind blow incessantly a perfect hurricane . It froze sharp for somo days . The nights and mornings woro very cold , and , to add to our misery , our tent blew down in the middle of one of these tempestuous nights , and tho remaining portion of our grub , purchased from proceeds of unloading the dray , was soaked in mud and water , having been dragged out of the tent by a possum , who must have been a lunatic to have taken up his abode in such a wild neighbourhood . Our lucifera were wet , we could raise no fire , not oven a pipe to be
done ; and during the time we woro working thi 3 quarry , four days and a half , wo wore for tho moat part without the means of cooking any food , the rain fell so > incessantly aa to render it impossible to light a fire oxcopt at intervals . As far as tho actual work goes I rather likod it , although sand and ironstone m hard stuff to puck . Ask , in England , if quarrying is not hard work ? Ask if quarryinon aro not paid high wages , and then you can answer those who would say I am lazy , or not strong enough , and so forth . Water was in our quarry , and ice on it , when wo went to work , wet ,, cold , ami hungry . It is sU ' hctvlwj to work on an empty . stomach . It is hard to endure cold under such circumstances . . / suffered much during thin four d . ayx . My male and myself were , very wretched . We pushed
on lor Melbourne amidst more snow , hail , starvation , anil iniHory . On one occasion the rain had fallen ho heavily that the ground was like a swamp ; we 'managed , however , to get a lire , and sat by it all that night . For two days wo had only ono pound of bread between two of us , and this whilst I was walking from fifteen niilos upwards daily , and carrying a swag weighing fifty pounds , with my feet torn and lacerated in a dreadful manner . ( I havo now been down two uionthn and my foot yet show tho marks of sores . ) When I reached Melbourne 1 pledged some olothea to pay for beds and food . I was days before I felt at all strong . Circulation wan ho slow I could not get warm for a long time . During two months I never once took my clothes off ; during nix woeks of that timo my foot woro
never once dry . Since I have been down to Melbourne I have been working at quarrying , at sinking a well , at rough carpentering ( making a pigsty ) , gardening , and so forth . ¦ Most of the Government employe ' s here are very gentlemanly fellows . - We have a few from the neighbourhood of Belgrave-square and from Cadogan-place , rather fast men , but all in a correct way , nothing loud , all in good taste . There is as good society and as much amusement at C- —— , in the Way of balls , music , soire " es , & c , as in any country town at home .
1086 T H Ib L E A Dj^R- [Satijrpay ^
1086 T H IB L E A Dj ^ R- [ Satijrpay ^
Our Sanitary Condition. Thebe Is Nothing...
OUR SANITARY CONDITION . Thebe is nothing new to report on the progress of the cholera , except that at Dundee , where , since the outbreak , sixty-four persons have died , it seems on the increase ; and that two emigrant ships , the KossutTt and the Guiding Star , put into Queenstown and Belfast , early in the week , with cholera on board . We still hear , indeed , of cases , here and there ; the most notable localities in England being Soham , in Cambridgeshire , where thirty-seven persons have died , and Luton , where seven have perished . On the whole the violence of the epidemic has abated , although it occupies a larger territory than ever . The health of London has not improved , as regards cholera . The results are summed up in the usual report of th « Registrar-General .
" The number of deaths from all causes registered in London in the week that ended on Saturday was 1112 j in the previous week it was 1144 . In the ten weeks corresponding to last week of the years 1843-52 the average number was 1001 , which , with a correction for increase of population , becomes 1101 . Hence it appears that the mortality of last week slightly exceeded the estimated amount . v " Cholera continues to make progress , though its rate of increase is not rapid . The deaths referred to it last week were 102 . In the last four weeks the numbers rose as follows : 45 , 83 , 99 , and 102 ; in the same periods diarrhoea and dysentery were fatal in 55 , 48 , 43 , and 42 cases , showing a constant decrease . Of the 102 deaths by cholera , 11 occurred in . the West Districts , 9 in the North , 2 in tho Central , 21 in the East , and 59 in the South districts .
" London is situated in a basin , through the bottom of which the Thames flows ; and it was discovered during tho epidemic of 1848-9 that the rate of mortality by that disease was nearly in the inverse proportion of the elevation of the ground on which the dwellings of the inhabitants stood . The same relation between the rates of mortality at different elevations , though the deaths have been comparatively few , has hitherto been observed in the present epidemic . " The mortality from cholera in the districts at an average elevation of less than 20 feet above Trinity high water-mark has been 31 in 100 , 000 inhabitants ; in tho
districts of an average elevation of 20 and below 40 feet ( 20—40 feet ) the mortality has been 16 in 100 , 000 ; at an elevation of 40—60 feet the mortality lias been 11 in 100 , 000 ; at 60—80 it has been only 4 ; at 80—100 only 3 . Marylebone at an average elevation of 100 feet is tho only exception to the law ; the mortality has been there 13 in 100 , 000 . At Hampstead , where the elevation may bo put at 350 feet , there lias hitherto been no death from cholera . Exceptional circumstances disturb the average in particular districts ; but it is a general rule that the danger oi dying of cholera , and of all plagues , diminishes within certain limits in proportion as the dwellings of tho population are raised above tho level of the sea . " A table is appended to the report , which shows this at a glance . Mortality hy Cholera in the Houses of London at various elevations . _ ,, , Deaths to Deaths from l 00 ( m inhabitant * . Average- v lo Cholera ' Elevations f- , ? iUri in the Ten ~ 77 ~ i in foot . tlon ' 1851 - Weeks ending oWvod Calculated October 20 . Ol > 8 orvcu . bchch . 350 feet 11 , 080 O 0 2 100 „ 157 , « M « 20 13 & 80—100 „ -202 , 285 0 3 J * «(>— «(> „ HH , 0 i ) 2 5 4 " < W>— 00 „ OliifiSS 65 11 ll > 20— 40 „ 438 , 11 ) 3 70 1 « }" 20 „ 85 i ) , lt ) 0 204 5 * 1 _______ Under 3 C 0 foot 2 , 3 ( 12 , 23 ( 1 423 W * _ __ ^ ^ g The Horiea , col . f > , was obtained by dividing 31 , tho rate of mortality in the lowest terrace , Bucccatuvely by 2 , J » / J | > f > , 0 , and 17 , in conformity with tho law laid down m tno Jtuport on Cholera . Liwt week tho birthn of 847 boys and 811 girls ,, m all 1 ( 558 children , were registered in London . . l »«> average number in eight corresponding \ voekn oi tlui years 18 dfi-fi 2 wan 1428 . At the Itoyal Observatory , Greenwich , the » u ) . height of tho barometer in the week waw 21 ) -8 « W m-The mean temperature of tho week whh 48 v < % ' - > which iH 2-8 dog . above the avorago of tho name w *;« k in 38 years . The mean daily temperature row u > ov < 52 dog . on Tuesday and Wednesday , which ih ""<>< < 5 dog . above the average . Tho wind blow iroi" «> ° south-east .
T It 3s B T It I K R S. Tiik Vohi Popula...
T IT 3 S B T It I K R S . Tiik vohI population of factory operation in L ? ™ . " - ° are still out on strike , and at present there ih no i . proHitoot of n Hottlemont . Indeed , at lalo » HOj > ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12111853/page/6/
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