affairs. But as it is, the manners and customs of the Australians are a
perpetual challenge to the range of temperature in which they live.
Indeed, the form of food they indulge in proves incontestably
that they have never yet realized their semi-tropical environment. With
a proper recognition of existing climatic surroundings there would be
an overwhelming demand for more fish food; for something better than
the present Liliputian supply; and for the creation of extensive deep-sea
fisheries. Fish in Australia is nothing more than a high-priced
luxury, although projects for the development of the deep-sea fisheries
have been repeatedly suggested. Somehow or other we never get beyond
this stage, and as a consequence the yield from our fisheries is simply
pitiable. A widespread use of fish and an adequate fish supply would
give employment to hundreds and to thousands. As I have pointed out in
the chapter relating to this subject, the want of enterprise shown in
starting our deep-sea fisheries is an inexplicable anomaly. If the
Australian people had sprung from an inland race, this would not,
perhaps, have been so difficult to understand. But coming, as we do,
from a stock the most maritime the world has ever seen, such a defect
is not to our credit as inheritors of the old traditions.

Nor can it be pretended that market gardening has ever been taken up
seriously, if we apply the statement to Australia as a whole. It is
true that Sydney and Melbourne, and possibly Adelaide and Brisbane,
have made an attempt in this direction. But even with this
admission there is not much reason for congratulation from an olitory
point of view. Few--only very few--of the more commonly known
varieties are grown. For if the potato and the cabbage were taken away,
Australia would be almost bereft of vegetables. There are, however,
many others, which are delicious and wholesome, which are easily grown,
and which would make a pleasing addition to the present monotonously