and discovered to be most productive; and the following is a description of the state of things which followed, from one who had visited the locality: “In leaving Bendigo, the comparatively deserted state of the diggings along Kangaroo Flat, in Adelaide Gully, and the Robinson Crusoe, is very apparent. The vast extent of the yellow mounds, where so much bustle and activity formerly prevailed, is now in many cases unenlivened by the presence even of a solitary digger. The want of water, in the first instance, but chiefly the attractions of Tarrengower, have almost depopulated this portion of the Bendigo. Many stores have been removed, and a large number are closed up for the present; yet there is a vitality about the place which shows that the glory has not altogether departed. Some business is being done, and those who still remain have infinite faith in the recuperative energies of Bendigo. ‘When the winter sets in,’ they say, ‘we shall have the diggers back.’” Similar migrations are continually occurring; and hence it is most difficult to arrive at the actual population of any particular province or district. It is most probable, indeed, that the numbers of souls in the entire colony are considerably understated. This, we think, will be apparent when we come to examine the consuming powers of Australia, as tested by its imports. From a return, moved for in the House of Commons by Mr Archibald Hastie, and ordered to be printed on the 1st of May last, the following were the exports from the United Kingdom to the colony in each of the three years ending the 5th January 1854:— Declared value exported. 1851, £2,807,356 1852, 4,222,205 1853, 14,506,532. There is certainly evidence here, either of a most wasteful consumption, or of the existence of a population greater than it is generally supposed to be. But this return does not convey the full extent of that consumption. From what appears to be a carefully compiled statement in the _Melbourne Argus_ of the 25th of March last, the imports into the province of Victoria alone, in 1853, amounted to the enormous sum of £15,842,637, received from the following countries:— Great Britain, £8,288,226 West Indies (British), 14,973 North America (British), 13,560 Other British colonies, 5,036,311 United States of America, 1,668,606 Foreign States, 820,961 ——————————— Total Imports, £15,842,637 If the same proportionate amount has been taken by the other provinces from colonial and foreign markets, the total imports for the year would reach the vast amount of _twenty-three millions sterling_!