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at 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 onl y 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 than 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 11 . per foot 1 An acre of land was sold for 7000 Z . 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 Macln tyre ' 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 Ffolkes , 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 tog-ether . I , therefore , set off by myself to walk to Korong , a distance of 160 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 tent , blankets , hook-pot , pannikin , axe , &c . fcc . —in all , weighing 50 lbs . I arrived at Keilor , a distance of ten miles , about dark . There I could get no bed ; so , by advice , I pushed on a mile further , where , I was
told , I could get a shako down for the night . By this time it had come on to rain . There was no moon , neither were the stars out . I blundered along , however , over a partly-finished colonial road . I reached the place where I ilatturcd myself I was going to roost , and civilly asked if I could have a bed . Apropos , a bed ineaiiH room to lay on the [/ round . Blankets are not found , or covering of any sort generally . Every digger carrieM Inn' own . I must toll you , that before leaving" Melbourne I had been assured , that once fairly out of town , I Khould meet with kindness and hospitality everywhere . The « oquel will hIiow 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 fish-fug , or a St . Giles ' s co . ytermonger , might have blushed to have heard . True , rich , racy , genuine colonial swearing— -anti colonists can , and do , Bwear " a few . " Finding that if I did not at once move on I should be made a target for revolver practice , I steered for some lights in tho distance . Trusting to tho Fates to befriend me , I shortly found myself in tho midst of tents of men working on tho roads , i went up to a cam ] ) lire , and having stated the above circiunfltanees to those round about , I nsked if there was any place whore I could got a bed . I was told there was
none . Well , thought I to myself , if this is the beginning of my experience of tho delights of Australian life , 1 should certainly wish to know what tho wind-up will be . Hero I am in the midst of Koilor plains , the rain is coming down pretty heavily , " and lias commenced 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 is not a tree near , or a polo to bo had - -ergo , I can't pitch my tent . I am cold , hungry , wot , and tired . If I go on I shall , in every probability , be worse off : am likely to bo " stuck , up" ( colonial phraseology for being ' Htopped and robbed by bushrangers ) . OorUm , I am in a pretty pickle ; I may not even remain here and nit by this firo all night .
Whilst I was thus chewing' tho cud of reflection over all my troubles , my packet of tea ami ) undone , and out fell tho contents . JDumo Jf ortuno was determined
to sp ite me , for not only had I to lament the loss of my tea , —a very necessary part of my evening meal and the 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 Btate 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 would die of influenza or grief in a month Tvith 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 stuff , 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 my
friend at the diggings—just long enough for me to learn that few were d oing 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 Ib ., mutton 6 c ? . 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 7 One pound weight of good English mutton is worth two of Australian . Meat keeps no time here , and is quite commonly put
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 we went , from sunrise to sunset . We were encamped on a bleak plain , the rain fell heavily , mixed with sleet of hail and snow . A cold rain wind blew incessantly a peifocfc hurricane . It froze sharp for some days . The nights and mornings were very cold , and , to add to our misery , our tent blew down in the middle of one of these tempestuous nights , and the remaining portion of our grub , purchased from proceeds of unloading the dray , was soaked in mud arid 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 lucifers
were wet , we could raise no fire , not even a pipe to be done ; and during the time we were working this quarry , four days and a half , we were for the most part without the means of cooking any food , the rain foil so incessantly as to render it impossible to light a lire except at intervals . As far as tho actual work goes I rather liked it , although sand and ironstone is hard stulFto peek . Ask , in England , if quarrying is not hard work ? Ask if quarrymen are 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 we went to work , wet , cold , and hungry . It in sickening to work on an empty stomach . It is hard to enduro cold under such eireu instances . / suffered much dur ' mq this four days .
My vuitc and myself were very wretched . We pushed on for Melbourne amidst more snow , hail , starvation , and misery . On one occasion the rain bad fallen so heavily that the ground was liko a swamp ; wo managed , however , to g-et a fire , and Hat by it all that night , For two days wo bad only one pound of bread between two of us , and this whilst I was walking from fifteen miles upwards daily , and carrying a swag weighing fifty pounds , with , my foot torn and lacerated in a dreadful manner . ( I havo now been clown two months and my foot yet show tho marks of sores . ) When 1 reaohod Melbourne I pledged some clothes to pay for beds and food . 1 wan days before I felt at all strong-. Circulation was so slow I could not get warm for a long time . During two months I never once took my clothou off ; during six wookti of that time my foot wore
never once dry . Since I have been down to Melb ourne 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 ^ quare 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 soirees , &c , as in any country town at home .
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OITB SANITARY CONDITION . Theee is nothing new to report on the progress of the cholera , except that at Dundee , where , Bince the outbreak , sixty-four persons have died , it seems on the increase ; and that two emigrant ships , the Kossuth 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 hi the usual report of the Registrar-General .
" The number of deaths from all causes registered in London in the week that ended on Saturday was 1112 ; in the previous week it was 1144 . In the ten weeks corresponding to last week of the yeara 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 . " 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 ol the elevation of tho 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 ayerage 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 tho mortality has been 11 in 100 , 000 ; at 60—80 it has been only 4 ; at 80—100 only 3 . Marylebpno at an average elevation of 100 feet is the 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 baa hitherto been no death from cholera . Exceptional circumstances disturb tho average in par- ^ ticular districts ; but it is a general rule that tho danger of dying of cholera , and of all plagues , diminishes withiu certain limits in proportion as the dwellings of the population are raised above the level of tho sea . " A table is appended to tho report , which shows this at a glanco . Mortality by Cholera in the Houses of London at various elevations .
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i - . / 10 S 6 STH E LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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r .. - DcathH to Deaths from 1 ( X ) m Iimai > ita n ( B . Avemgo p i Cholera ' Elevations , iuri in the Ten 1 . in feet . fcion - i 85 L Wecka ending Oliwrwd Calculated O « tober 20 . ul ) HtrV 0 U - , none * . 350 feet 11 , 080 0 0 2 10 <) „ 157 , 090 20 13 6 80— 1 ( X ) „ _«_ , 285 0 3 — 80 „ 118 , « i ) 2 5 4 , H 40— 00 „ 51 . V > H 8 55 11 1 (> 20— 40 „ 438 , 103 70 1 < J } ° 20 „ 85 i > , 41 ) 0 204 31 - Under 350 feet 2 , 302 , 2 : 10 423 19 18 __ .
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1 2 3 4 6 Tho msrioH , eol . 5 , waa obtained by dividing 31 , the rato of mortality in the lowcnt terrace , nuoceHBively by 2 , «'» '' '» T > , ( J , and 17 , in conformity with the law laid down m Uio . Report on Cholera . Last week tho births of 847 boyH and 811 g »' j " » all K > f > 8 children , were ro istered in London . ij »« average number in eight oorreHponding weelfH ol " yearn 184 G- /) 2 wan 1428 . At tho Itoyal Olmorvatory , Crotmwioh , tho ¦ " »««¦" height of tho barometer in tho week wan 2 i >•««>•> | U - The mean temperature of the week wan 48 ' 1 > «« # which in 2 .-8 dog . above the average of tho name w «« in 38 years . The mean daily temperature row a mv T > 2 deg . on Tuesday and Wednesday , winch in ««»» t > dog . abovo tho average . Tho wind blow from w Houth-eant . _____
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THE STRIKES . Tino vant population of factory operativoH in h * ucil f £ iv are Htill out on utriko , and at proHont tlioro w " « promwot of a Hottlomont . Indeed , at i * lwti ° l >
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 1086, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2012/page/6/
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