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Considering the paucity of genuine 'periodical literature' in the colonies, the writer for My Note Book advances the argument that because 'English books are now sold in Melbourne at a very trifling advance on home prices', the book-buying colonial public prefers to purchase items from 'home'. This then forces 'the general absorption of the ltierary talent of the colony into the staff of the various newspapers'. The writer concludes: 'Should these obstacles and difficulties even [sic] be surmounted, it is more than probable that with the men of ability already amongst us, the literature of Australia may yet be able to take a respectable place beside that of much older countries.'
