The colony of Victoria is extremely anxious to attract immi-
grants, and the Government has proposed a new Land Bill. Under this measure any settler will be able to select a block of from 80 to 640 acres on any part of the Crown lands, paying 2s. a year an acre. After the third year his rent will be counted against the price, and when it reaches a pound an acre he becomes a freeholder. The prospect ought to be an attractive one to the English small farmer, who has just enough capital to struggle on in a position much worse than that of the artizan ; but if the Colonial Government wants him, why does it not make some effort to reach him ? He does not read the Times, or believe his local newspaper, but wants to ask a thousand questions of some agent accredited by the colony, and wants also, if he goes, to take some of the labourers he is accustomed to with him. The colonists should make more effort to encourage immigration by villages. That would remove the fear of " strangeness," which is the great check on English emigration.
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