THE SQUATTER AND THE SETTLER. 



through the formula of asking for work, after which follows the usual inquiry 

 for accommodation for the night. On some stations these men are such a 

 nuisance that huts are put up for their accommodation ; and, instead of 

 permitting them to mingle with the men at their meals, they are given a 

 certain quantity of flour, and sometimes meat. During the day they camp 

 by the side of a creek where there is shelter from the sun, whence they do 

 not stir till it is time to start for the station where they intend passing the 

 night, timing their arrival about sunset. Once a man becomes a <; sundowner " 

 he is useless for any honest employment. 



1 The life of a successful squatter is a very pleasant one, with a large 

 freehold estate in a settled part of the country, and an extensive mansion in 

 which to entertain his friends, he can pass a few months very enjoyably in 

 the country ; but his real home is in one of the most aristocratic suburbs of 

 Melbourne or Sydney, where he lives in a house that cost fully five times 

 the value of his squatting run in the old pioneer days. The pioneers deserve 

 rest and prosperity. They did good work in their day, and their successors 

 are emulating their example in the great sultry plains of Central Australia.' 



In due course everywhere the Australian squatter gives way to the 

 agriculturist. The sheep become a secondary agent to the plough. In 

 place of the squatter we have the \ selector.' Land is not given away by 

 the state in Australia to the immigrant, and yet it is unusually easy — even 

 for a new country — for the poor man to start farming. This remark is 

 made on the authority of Mr. T. K. Dow, the agricultural 'special' of the 

 Australasian newspaper, with whom the writer conversed on the subject for 

 the purposes of this volume. Mr. Dow had just returned to the colonies 

 after a tour through America, made for the purpose of procuring information 

 on agricultural matters, and he could thus speak as an expert. He says : — 



■ In Australia a man selects a piece of land ; he pays the survey fee, and 

 then he pays for the fee-simple by annual instalments. But nearly all the 

 land so selected is fit for the plough. The man gets a crop off it the very 

 first year, so that he can pay his way as he goes. The land you get for 

 nothing in other countries is worth nothing in the first instance. It has to 

 be made valuable. There are expensive improvements that have to be 

 effected, and so you want more money to start with there than you do in 

 Australia. It is surprising with how little capital men do start here. 



1 The Australian harvesting system is the cheapest in the world, and is 

 peculiar to the country. There is a dryness about the crops of the northern 

 plains, on which the bulk of the wheat in South Australia and Victoria is 

 grown, and this enables the "stripper" to be used. The stripper is an 

 Australian invention. It is described by its name. It squeezes the corn 

 out, and leaves the stalk standing. The corn is threshed upon the straw, 

 and the straw is afterwards burnt off or is ploughed in.' 



Mr. Dow is an enthusiastic irrigationist, and it is pleasant to hear him 



p 2 



