WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18629, 26 July 1930, Page 13

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

PROGRESS OF FARMING. 1: l Q SETTLEMENT METHODS. c t t Some idea of the energy with which i land settlement is being carried on in s "Western Australia may be gathered a from a report recently issued, which j the New Zealand Government might t 'well study with advantage. r The report says, inter alia: “It will c be remembered that the State, under a t tri-party arrangement with the Feder- s al and Imperial Governments, and c subject to the approval of the Develop-1 £ ment and Migration Commission, made j - ■very extensive preliminary surveys and | { (estimates in connection with what was j i .'known as the “3500 Farms Scheme.” 1 5 ’The idea originated in 1928, and the j ( .area of land to be settled under the I .scheme was 8,000,000 acres, 1,000,000 j .situated in the districts east of Mol-! .'lerin and 7,000,000 acres south of ] Southern Cross and east of the Great i Southern Railway. The area, fully j ] developed, was estimated to produce 1 12,000,000 bushels of wheat annually, 1 .and it was hoped that a substantial i, advance would be made in sheep and : ■ wool production, it being exected that : the area would carry 1,000,000 sheep, j producing, on the basis of 6ilb per sheep, six and a-half million pounds of ■ wool. Estimates of Cost. The length of proposed railways was; about 650 miles, and the estimate cost < exclusive of water supplies) was £2,- 1 925.000. Water schemes were to cost; £650,000, and 6000 miles of roads £SOO,- , 000. The programme of work was to occupy five years, and 2000 men would be employed, in addition to those en- j gaged in providing plant material and general services. Expenditure on these : particular works, it was expected, j would be approved by the Development and Migration Commission, while Agricultural Bank advances, harbour facilities, rolling stock, public buildings, schools, hospitals, etc., were to be provided from loan funds. The total expenditure involved was estimated to be £10,475,000. Later the Development and Migration Commission suggested the modification of the scheme, in keeping with the State's power of absorption of migrants, to provide for I

4.000,000 acres of the country lying south of Southern Cross and between Kondinin and Salmon Gums.

The project was merging into the light of early practicability when disquieting reports came to hand disclosing unsatisfactory harvest returns by farmers already settled within certain of these areas, the paucity of yield being attributed to the presence of salts in the soil. It was resolved that an investigation should be made by Dr. Teakle, the State Government’s plant nutrition officer. A report submitted by Dr. Teakle was of such a disquieting nature that it was decided to suspend any further activity in the scheme until a consulation had been called in to make a more intense exI animation of the country. It was sugj gested that Professor Prescott, chief of I the Division of Soil Research at the | Waite Institute, South Australia, ! should be called in as consultant, a course which was adopted. Professor Prescott’s Report. The Minister of Lands, Mr C. G. | Latham, stated that although no fori ma! report had yet been submitted by [Professor Prescott upon his examina- ; tion of the allegedly alkaline areas, the professor had disclosed to Sir ' James Mitchell and himself the result ;of the investigation. The scientist : had confirmed Dr. Teakle’s report of ; the presence of alkali in excessive quantities in certain types of heavy soil; the individual areas were not i large, and the affected country comI prised but a comparatively minor proI portion of the total area included in | the scheme. The professor considered : that the trouble was likely to be much ! more apparent in seasons of light rain- : fall than in normal years. He said that the light lands were absolutely free from harmful salts. , When Professor Prescott’s report has ‘ been considered by the Government i:i ; all its aspects an announcement of ; policy will be made concerning a : scheme which has filled a very imporj tant place in the agricultural aspira- | tions of Western Australia, what is, in | fact, one of the greatest agricultural | projects ever conceived by a British State.