languishing previously, in consequence of a feeling of insecurity existing in regard to the real value of such investments. Fortunately for the colony, the large supply of convict labour does not allow this spirit to expire in fruitless aspirations, nor to counteract, by its own activity, the good which follows legitimate enterprise, by sinking an amount of capital in its accomplishment utterly disproportionate to the results. Although wages are no doubt extremely high, they must be regarded as moderate when compared with those of the neighbouring colonies, where no such check exerts a constant depressing force, as exists here. There is then a prospect of employing labour even in the present exalted pecuniary condition of the colony, with the reasonable expectation that its products will be a fair return for the expenditure of capital. These facts assure us that the drain of workmen to the "gold diggings" has neither arrested private nor public works, nor at all restricted the march of progress, but, on the other hand, has been attended with the best results. A number of private dwellings are being erected, some of which display a considerable amount of architectural decoration, indicating a strong bias to taste, in a society struggling with difficulties. While the improvements of the streets are progressing steadily, so as to bring many of them into a condition little inferior to those of the mother country, there is still found sufficient labour to continue the extension of the wharfs, to construct an additional aqueduct required for the wants of an increasing population, and to hasten to completion an admirably designed public market. The latter may be considered one of the most useful, and, in an ornamental point of view, the most important, buildings Hobart Town has to boast of. Its pretensions, however, cannot prevent one feeling how ridiculously absurd are the opinions which many of the Tasmanians hold with regard to it: indeed, one hears sometimes this query gravely propounded-" have you any finer buildings in London ?" It is pleasing to witness how widely patriotic devotion is diffused, and how certainly it invests the native soil, in defiance of all obstacles, with the most attractive properties. Here, as elsewhere, the young regard their country with pride and affection, and nothing could convince them that it is not the fairest and best portion of creation. It would be wrong to try to remove this feeling, so fruitful of good; besides, they have much reason to be proud, when they contrast the appearances of wealth and civilisation existing around them, with what the same district was but little more than a short generation ago. Then a wild barren-looking scene, crowded hills, and thick brushwood, surmounted by sombre-coloured and comparatively stunted trees, indicative of the poverty of the soil, must have given a character of inhospitality to the desert shore, from which all but the stoutest hearts must have recoiled. What a triumph for our race it is to behold how their indomitable energy, directed by the rarest practical wisdom, has reared an opulent city, with all the necessary concomitants to render it self-supporting, where a few half starved savages could with difficulty gather a precarious supply of food, and who, after indeterminate centuries of occupation, have left behind them scarcely a trace of their existence, while already the labours of their successors are graven in indelible lines on the face of the country. (Continued.) AN ADDRESS TO A LARK, WHICH THE AUTHOR STARTED FROM ITS NEST ON SOUTHSEA BLEST be thy resting spot, minstrel by nature taught, Who, upon wanton wing, earth's vocal praises sing, My tongue cannot praise thee in lay as it ought to, Close by thy tiny nest blushes the daisy's crest,- Ne'er will I touch thy lair; here, in the open air, Oh, may they never be held in captivity, J. C. [It is necessary to apologise to the reader for the insertion of the above very imperfect verses-imperfect so far as their construction and rhyme are concerned. We hope, however, that some interest will be excited on read ing them, as the production of a vigorous yet unpolished mind, viewing nature through a particular medium. Accepted in this light, they form a psychologic curiosity, which constitutes our excuse. The author, J. C., was a native of Renfrewshire, by occupation a sailor, aged about thirty-six years. His steadiness, activity, and intelligence, had elevated him to the position of mate in a Liverpool trader. The small pecuniary gains from this situation scarcely sufficed to support a wife and three children who were dependent on him. His love for them-one of the most ennobling feelings of humanity when legitimately exercised, but capable by its very strength of becoming, by virtue of necessity and loose moral views, a social demon-and his poverty, drove him to commit a forgery on the master of the ship in which he was serving. The crime was proved against him, and he was condemned to seven years' transportation. Of this period he had served, previously to his embarkation, one year in "separate confinement,” and twenty-one months on "public works." Upon no one of the prisoners, probably, had prison. discipline produced a deeper or more beneficial effect. There was a subdued earnestness apparent in every act of his life. Not a minute did he allow to escape without endeavouring, by active exertion, to inspire a favourable estimate of his character. No obloquy, and no danger, seemed for a moment capable of arresting him in the discharge of what he deemed his duty. His moral courage was indeed invulnerable. It seemed to be based on sincere religion, and on the unchanged love he bore to his wife and family. It may be considered improper to conjoin a spiritual principle with an earthly one; but I am describing the moral character of an indi vidual, and therefore I am compelled by truth to present it with all its human imperfections. Prison constraint and discipline appeared to have caused him far less suffering than what he experienced in having his domestic ties broken. To return to his family, or bring them to him, was the absorbing object of his daily life. His conduct on board rendered his character deserving of the most favourable notice, which I have no doubt has been fully sustained by his subsequent behaviour; thus bringing probably his cherished hope almost already within his reach.] WEEKLY RECORD. DEATH has been amongst us in its most awful form, that of suicide. No one could look on those livid and distorted features, those rigid and contracted limbs, without shuddering at the ghastly object. There was a history of pain and anguish imprinted on every lineament. To us the sight was most repulsive; but to others it appeared to possess in its very horror a kind of fascination. One poor misguided man actually threatened to take it for an example, and his state of mind rendered such a result not improbable. He was therefore placed under restraint, which soon restored him to the use of the little sense he possessed. The ideas expressed on this melancholy subject in another part of this Journal, render unnecessary any further detail. A week's calm, varied only by light gusts of wind and thunder showers, has tried our patience, and developed character. Every coming cloud or cat's-paw was considered by the sanguine a termination of their state of |