Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

FREXCII :^IKLAXESIA. 347(bousaiul, of wlioiu the niiijoiily are enipldyed on the public works ; as man}' astwelve hundred have been handed over to mining or industrial companies, andsome six hundred enjoy a relative measure of freedom in the agricultural penitentiaries,where they cultivate their own "concessions." The conWcts thus graduallymerge in the class of the free citizens, who, though still far inferior in numbers tothe criminals and their keepers, cannot fail ultimately to predominate, beingcontinually recruited by the descendants of convicts restored to their civil lights.Uut most of these families must die out, because very few women are transjjortodto New Caledonia ; at present they number scarcelj^ one hundred and fif tj' in thewhole island. Nevertheless, some families are perpetuated, and, as hapjjened inAustralia, the offspring of these convicts have already begun to protest against afurther importation of the criminal classes from Eurojje.Free immigration is but slightly developed, and the "colony" still piossessesfewer colonists than officials. Doubtless the government offers to all immigrantlabourers a free grant of ten acres of arable land and fifty of pasturage, on thecondition of residing a few j-ears on the estate and bringing it under cultivation.But the es.says at coloiii-sation have hitherto been so disastrous that the unfortunatesquatters have had to be restored from time to time to their native land. Thecompetition of penitentiary labour deprives the small holders of all hope of success.The most numerous and flourishing settlers are the Australians, some hundredsof whom have settled in the agricultural districts, where they devote themselveschiefly to stock-breeding. With their knowledge of the climate, of the natives andthe local economic conditions, they are able to face the difficulties of colonisation inits initial stages with more confidence than the ignorant peasantry imported fromFrance.Large estates have already been created, and so early as 1880 one .speculatorowned as many as 42,000 acres in a single holding. Yet stock-breeding, the onlyindustry of these extensive landowTiers, possepses but a slight relative importance.In the whole of New Caledonia there are less than 100,000 head of cattle, scared}'20.000 sheep, and but a few hundred horses introduced from Norfolk Island. A totalarea of 50,000 acres is reserved by the state for all the agricultural penitentiaries.TopoGKAi'iiy.Notniicd, or Port-, as it was called during the first years of theoccupation, is the capital, and the only town in New Caledonia and its dependencies.It has a population of four thousand, or about one-half of all the residentcivil and military Europeans. Founded in 1854 after the submission of theNguea, or Numea tribe, it occupies a favourable commercial position towards thesouthern extremity of the island on the side facing Australia. Here a wideopening in the outer barrier reef commimicates with several roadsteads, allperfectly sheltered by the neighbouring hilly penin.sula and adjacent islands.The lai-gest expanse, opening in the north-west between the islet of Nou and theDuces peninsula, is spacious enough to receive a whole fleet. The whole trade of