This Zigzag volume 'seeks among its interpolated stories and incidents of travel to explain, The Australian Ballot System, its history and influence; the Wakefield Theory that the profits of the rise in value of wast lands caused by immigration should be shared by the immigrants; the great reformation wrought in the lives of tens of thousands of transported convicts by the opportunity of securing new homes in new lands where their old tempters and errors did not follow them; the teaching of temperance physiology in the Australian schools; and the progressive ideas of young Australia, and their influence on the world.'
Source: Preface.
Author's note: 'The Author is indebted to Mr. Douglas Slade, the Australian poet, for courtesies and helps; to M. C. A. Stephens for the use of a part of his illustrative story on the Black Men; and to the "Christian Union", "Chautauquann," and "Youth's Companion" for matter which he originally wrote for their pages, and which were first published by them; and to the latter paper for the use of M. Eden's story, and the narrative of the late Captain Jordan.'
