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The Power of Gold
COLONIAL CLIPPERS
From time immemorial the progress of the world, in colonization in the Sciences
(shipbuilding especially), and in the arts owes its advance to the adventurous
sprit of the pioneer. Particularly is this the case in the opening up of
new countries and the improvements in ship transport to those countries
Kipling has sung the song of the pioneer and has laid stress on the pioneer
spirit, but he has not touched on that great magnet which has ever drawn the
pioneer on and dragged civilization in his wake--the magnet of gold. Gold and
its glamour has been the cause, one can almost say, of all the tragedy and all
the evil in this world, but also of nearly all its good and all its progress.
It was the discovery of gold which opened up the fair States
of Western America and brought about the building of the wonderful American
clipper. In the same way the great; Dominions of Australia and New Zealand owe
their present state of progress and prosperity to that shining yellow metal; and
without its driving power there would have been no history of the great
Liverpool emigrant ships to record. ,
Emigrant
Ships to Australia in the Forties.
Before the discovery of gold in Australia, the trade of that
Colony was at a low ebb, suffering from want of enterprise and financial
depression; whilst the emigrant ships running from Liverpool and other British
ports, owing to the want of healthy competition, .
were of a
very poor description. The horrors of the long five-months passage for the
miserable landsmen cooped-up in low, ill-ventilated and over-crowded 'tween
decks, were fit to be compared with those of the convict ship. The few vessels
with humane owners and kindly captains were in a class by themselves. These,
indeed, thought of the health and comfort of the wretched emigrants and did not
content themselves with merely keeping within the letter of ,the Government
regulations, which might more fitly have been framed for. traffic_in..Hell
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