Notes on Natal. Edited by John Robinson, F.R.G.S. (Durban, Natal
: Robinson and Vans°. London : Street.)—" The desire of the editor," we read in the preface, "has been to place in a compact and accessible form a trustworthy description of the leading aspects and industrial developments of the colony. This object has been to a conaider- able extent effected by the editor's personal inspection of the country; in districts to which he has not been able to extend this, he has called in the services of residents." The plan is undoubtedly excellent ; the merit of its execution probably varies, but the whole gives the impression of being of exactly the practical, useful character which those who may be meditating emigration want. Can a man got a living in Natal? is the practical question. Here is one of the answers to it. Mr. H— came out in 1850, and after buying his 85 acres of land and building himself a straw hut, found that he had five shillings left in his pocket. He has now twenty acres under coffee, producing about .£12 per acre. The cost of machinery is represented by a pulper which cost £10, and the cost of labour would be something less than £50. The farmer's own labour is not included in this. Another small farmer has 30 acres, 17 of theta under coffee, which might sometimes produce as much as between five and six tons of coffee. But then care- ful cultivation is required ; there, also,—
" Pater ipso Mandl
Hand facilem esse viam voluit."
The idle and helpless in England Will be also idle and helpless in Natal.
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