WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6900, 12 February 1894, Page 4

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

A young man, who two or three years ago left this district to try his fortunes in Western Australia, thus writes to a friend :— "Dear^ Sir,— Your interesting letter of June reached me a few weeks ago, but for want of time I have been unable to reply before now. As you have requested it, I will endeavor to give you a little information relating to this colony, which may be of Rervice to you, although it is rather a responsible matter to take upon oneself the onus of recommending any person as to the Advisability of leaving one home to found another in a strange and distant plaoe. Still, in your case, knowing as I do the totally different soil, climate, and surroundings in which you would be placed here, I should undoubtedly recommend you not to take any such step. Even if you were a much younger man, I think it would be better for you to remain in New Zealand, that is, provided your desire was to obtain a livelihood from land, or its products. Of course, for nondescripts, such as I, one country is almost as good as another. As regards profitable agriculture in this colony, I see very little prospect, except for the few who have lived situate in the very few areas which are suitable. The climate even in the south is much more trying than that of New Zealand; but you cannot speak of it as a whole ; in the north it is truly tropical. It would seem strange to you or any New Zealand farmer to settle in a country where you often have no rain for seven or eight months at a stretch. This is the great drawback, and it is difficult for anyone who has not before seen such a country to realise what is meant by a seven months' summer in a sub-tropical climate, •with practically no rain excepting an occasional light thunderstorm ; still, I have noticed that if the land is only given a chance everything springs up with wonderful rapidity — that little if spoils it. There are no great rivers^or. water-courses except in the wet season, as in the dry the so-called rivers are merely a series of stagnant pools. A West Australian will show you a rill of ■water that would run through a gas-pipa with as much pride as farmers in other parts exhibit a prize ox. Most produce is imported, and always will be. The only future before Western Australia is, I think (1), the cultivation of fruit, principally vines for wine-making, as most fruits grow well — ineluding bananas and oranges ; these nreeven grown in and around Perth on pure white sand, similar to what you have on the Waikanae. (2) Development of mineral resources of the colony. This latter undertaking is being rapidly done by the many new arrivals who are mostly in search of precious auriferous metal. Gold seeking here is fraught with many hardships, as the parts to be prospected are remote from commercial centres, and consequently the necessaries of life are rather dear ; water also hard to get (even for money), and bad at that. Notwithstanding all this the gold export is fast Increasing. The {bulk of the land will only feed one sheep to five or more acres. So far no artificial grasses have been successfully cultivated, with the exception of couch, and even it will only (grow in damp places. Lucerne will do well where it can be irrigated. You can see from the circumstances that the system of farming has to be modified to some extent. Very little dairying is done as it can only be profitably carried on for three or four months in the year, and then the yield is only from two to six pounds per week per cow. Land is to be acquired on easy terms. The Government has been disposing of land at 10s an acre, payable in twenty annual instalments, and settlers could lease blocks at a rental of from 2s 6d to 20s per 1000 acres. The result is that many are holding much more land than they have capital to work. This is bad, as a small area in a high state of cultivation is one of the chief elements of success in farming. There is also too much of the choice land locked up by monopolists who do not work it. Sheep when dressed weigh about 401bs each, and clip three to four pounds of wool. A sheep that weighs 501 bs is an unusually large one. Cattle thrive well in the north (from whence all our meat has to be shipped), as they cannot be overlanded safely on account of the poison plant along the different routes. Meat in Freemantle and Perth is consequently sold at the high price of 7d and 8d per pound. The station-holders who command the supply also own most of the butcher shops here, and can refuse to supply any competitors in the business, so they have it all their own way. Most of the settlers after harvest go oat back in the bush and cut sandalwood which is wcrth £7 per ton, but the Govern- ! jnent has lately prohibited this for a term of three years, mainly on the ground that they consider it retards the breaking-in of new country by offering an easier mode of existence to the settler, and also because a few monopolists have such a quantity on hand that the market price has fallen considerably. There are no freezing works here, and not likely to be for many years to come. The last drought decimated the flocks of the runs, which are mostly in the north- west. They bad nearly three years without rain, and considerably over a million sheep perished ; the consequence was the runholders lost considerably, and to assist them the Government had to adopt the unique method of aiding them by foregoing a part of annual rental. The population of the colony now numbers over 60,000, the area is 1,060,000 square miles, or 678,400,000 acres. The total value of imports last year amounted to considerably more than the exports. The latter consists principally of gold, pearls and pearlshell, Bandalwood, timber (jarrah), and wool. From what I have seen New Zealand will ever be the Queen of the South, and will be to Australasia what the British Isles have been to so many corners of the globe, not only in most respects the storehouse, but the land whose surplus population will eventually from time to time spread over a great portion of the Southern Hemisphere, and therefore rejuvenate the more listless occupants. Of course there is some good to be got out of any country, and the future for Western Australia may be bright in many respects."