WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume I, Issue 21, 4 April 1890, Page 2

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

(Continu * d from our lose.)

The followin ■ interesting l'tters from Mr W. i>. Clark giving a description of Western Australia- to a f Hen I iu New Zealand have been handed to us for publication : Perth, W.A. Feb. 10, No merchants or bankers trnubla me here. Tiie only troublejp have.is to get my pissengers through, and get water for my team ; fe d there is plenty, the company's waggons take it through for us. The coaoh.es are paying the company verv We'll. t Everything is of the in >st prim : tive Ascription. They are a fearfully slow community altogether. I arrived from the Cross last night (Snndav). It took me five days t> come down, and as I am the last to come through I am deluged with .enquiries about water. . The first question you are asked here is, is there any water at such a place, or has it rained yet at the Cross. I have been asked that question over thirty times to-day. Two teamsters have been here in the room while I am writing;this to ask the same question, and I hear some one else asking for me, I'll bet he, too, wants to know if there is sny water. I find it fearfully trying to answer the same thing and telling the truth every time comes hard when you are not accustomed to it. There is some fair land in that district if there were any rain or water, bub as it is, it is absolutely useless. I would not have the whole lot at a gift, and this is the curse of W.A. generally. To give you an idea of what a dry country it is. Twenty-eight years ago an explorer named Hunt made the first trip through the Yilgarn country and on to the Hampton Plains, 200 miles further east. He had a number of convicts with him, who were to obtain their freedom when they returned to Perth. Along the route they travelled he-sank wells and blazed the track. This is now the track we go to the Cross by, and I have seen the tracks Hunt's waggon made very nearly 30 years ago with sapplings growing between the ! wheel marks, and you can follow the blazed track without the slightest difficulty. The growth is so slow they appear to have been done only a few years. A better illustration of' the dryness of the country I can't give, you. The bush is very thin and verv poor timber, in tact, useless. I can drive my team anywhere through it. There > is no settlement at all in the country. York is the principal farming district of W.A., and it is poof at the best. As I left Perth a day or so 1 writing you last there is not any iufor- ' mation I can give you. Everything is hung up waiting toe change of Government and 'he result of Yilgarn, and until these come.to. pass everything must remain at a standstill.. There is no money in the colony, but there is plenty of Vict->rtan anl S.A. capital waiting the development'of the fields. There has not yet been a satisfactory crushing, but what has ben put through went two ounces, and a W of gold lost likewise owing, to the mineral water. The Government had a borer at the fi Id but it filled to g-t fresh water, and has beeii abandoned. I think this colony is goiiuj to be good shortly, but at present there is nothing to warrant any one coming here. I would not advis.i anyone in that direction just now. I Lsave again ia two days tor the field, and will write you again on ray return to York. I meet very few New Z -alaudei'S here ; iu fact, very few from the other colonies at all except uuuers at. the go Id fie Ids. Another pa.'ty has jnsb drooped in to enquire about water, andas I am invited to have a liquor, an opportunity not to be neglected, I must, wind up. (Cowlwisd.)