The editor of the Colonist comments on a 'highly unfavourable' column, published in the Australian, relating to John Dunmore Lang's An Historical and Statistical Account of New South Wales, Both as a Penal Settlement and as a British Colony. The Australian's column is purportedly written by a 'London correspondent', but the Colonist argues that the writer's identity is known and that the person responsible has not ventured beyond 'the Heads of Port Jackson'.