WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume I, Issue 17, 21 March 1890, Page 2

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

The following interesting letters from W, W. Clark giving a description o Western Australia to a friend in New Zealand have been handed to us for publication ;«rr. s ; > r t X. ' s;i J -• w PerthWvA. w ‘ Jan. 16, 1890.; Duly arrived here. Have been in Perth four days. Had a splendid trip all the way from New Zealand. Stayed only two’days ini Sydney, Onristmas and Boxing ]}ay. I had to leave ( Sydney early on account of catching the Orient steamer Guzco at Melbourne. Stayed, a.i, Melbourne five days j then came oir to Albany, calling |t Adelaide. Had two days there, The trip from Melbourne to Albany takes eight days liy the big English mail steamers. From Albany to Perth by rail is 840 miles ; time, days from Albany [to Beverly. This line was constructed by a syndicate on the land-grant system, and who now work the line, and their lands |ara nptv openjtol selection* ■ The only place of importance is York, that is on the Government line from Beverly to Perth. This Albany-Perth line _ has not bpg beep opened, practically it i$ only: railway in'; Western Australia, There lare some small firMich' tines off it, and a line from Perth to Fremantle, twelve miles—4oo is about the lot. Judging from appearances the country between is fairly good. It is all open to selection. The company and the Government hold alternate blocks, and selection can be made on either. I have not been able

to get the company’a land regulations. They are not yet ready, but I am told they much resemble the Government, a copy of which I am mailing you with this. Of course it ia hard to judge land simply passing through by rail, but I like the look ot a lot of it. The line is a long way off the old main jroad, and there is absolutely no settlement over 200 miles. From Beverly to Jf arth there is a good deal of settlement. The land is very good and there ia a good deal of farming done (at least what they call farming here). A good deal of it has been very heavy jarrah timber country, cut out. York,, on the line, is the place where the road leads to the new Yilgarn goldfields. There is some cropping done about there, so far as I can learn; it is all cut into chaff.

Perth is a slow placed but everyone here seems satisfied, and are all waiting for responsible Government, when they appear to think that things will be very good in the colony.., Theyjare a first rate community, no difficulty about getting on with them at all. I hear of no industries sit all about the place, and practically no production to any extent. People say things are now at their dullest. A great deal binges on the success of the Yilgarn reefs, in which there is a great : deal of Perth money sunk; and at present there is little moving in any line that I can see. Perth is a pleasant place, situate on a hill overlooking the Swan River, The country all around is sandy, but will grow anything, more particularly grapes. That is 1 going to be a big thing here shortly 1 No shipping is done here except by lighters on the river to Fremantle. The river is very shallow in parts, and tlie ' bar is not navigable. Fremantle, the port, is nou much more than an open roadstead, I spent one day there ; big vessels lighter everything 5 steamers berth at the wharf; very often when gales come on everything has-to go to sea. Fremantle and Perth are about the same size, there is a lot of business in the former place, all the shipping ; being there, and it does the* trade with the places up the north-west coast, It is a very peculiar looking .place, all the public buildings and works (as in Perth) have been constructed by convicts, and the whole place bears tlie penal stamp. Everything is walled in, the “Whole towns, streets, walls, and everything else is built of wh'te stone. One half of Fremantle is a prison. The- principal exports of W.A. are sandal wood, pearl shell, jarrah timber (wool not great). Sandal wood is -found all through this part of the colony jdt gqes to China ; it is used, for incense at id for the oil that can .be extracted frdln it. it seems the - staple product 'between ; here and Albany ;it realises from £8 to £lO per ton, and th ere has been a lot of money in it, but the markets hte not good now, and there are* some large stocks of it X noticed coming through the line, latter pay a royalty*to Government for it. The pearling up coast is about the biggest thing’ in the country, it requires a dot of money to equip vessels which go but,* and there is a lot of risk about it, terrible gales and a bad coast. There are, a good many locally-owned vessels at it, but; ! am ' told English companies do the most of 1 it. The pearl shell beds are regulated by Government, who get a royalty on ■ that also, so much per man employed. The work is carried* bn by Malay crews with diving apparatus., Sheep stations there are hone of' toy extent*,' flown 1 here—in fact pot any great extent any? ' where in W.A. What is, is away in the W.W, country. I think the wool is 1 shipped from up the coastal ports, In 1 fact the whole settlement in the colony is simply a coastal ; fringe,' and, iexcept * on some of the northern rivers, there is not much inland is that 40,000 people in .an immense territory like this is a mere; handful, if ever a country wants population this does. There is very little stock raised in the cblbny, jusf enough for local demands, and,none for export; even horses are shipped here from South Australia, at a freight of £8 to £loy)er head. All the stock that I have seen here are of a very poor description compared with New Zealand. ,j (To be continued.) r