In preparing this little brochure—a humble effort to render a service to the Colony—many works have been consulted, and quotations freely used, from the feeling that the thoughts of many, some of whom have made the subject of them a life's study, must necessarily carry an authority far beyond anything which the present writer might attempt to say. From the works of Mr. William Ellis, of London, and Dr. "W. B. Hodgson, of Edinburgh, many extracts have been taken, and also some quotations used by the latter. To these gentlemen deep indebtedness is acknowledged.

It being now conceded that the title "Economics" is much more appropriate for the subject of the following pages than the term "Political Economy," which has been so long and so generally applied to the science, except in the case of a direct quotation, the word Economics has been adopted.

The term "Political Economy" is highly objectionable, inasmuch, as the subject is political in an altogether secondary and subordinate sense, and is therefore apt—indeed has been found—to create misapprehensions.