i6 



it is an excellent thing for the cattle which have to provide milk 

 for the inhabitants of those large centres, to be kept in health, but 

 the absurd spectacle is presented of landowners receiving nine- 

 pence or one shilling per head weekly for the agtstment of stock 

 upon land that under orchard cultivation would foot up in the 

 credit account of receipts to 200 per acre. It only remains to be 

 added that there is land for sale at the Canning, and that it is 

 understood the owners are in treaty with the Government for some 

 of it to be added to the public estate for the behoof of settlers and 

 close settlement. There are a few wheat crops to be seen at 

 the Canning at harvesting time, but not one fifth of the land is in 

 any better state than when it was the undisputed possession of the 

 native tribe which hunted and fished within its boundaries. The 

 very healthy upland plains of the Canning, a good height above sea 

 level, have a most equable and agreeable temperature, the extremes 

 of heat or cold being unknown, and the air is so pure that the 

 medical faculty desiderate the establishment there of a con- 

 valescent home. 



Among the Canning hills which fringe the river there are some 

 spots where fruit and vegetables would thrive, but these patches are 

 small and difficult of access, as the country is rough and steep. The 

 larger part of the hills consists of ironstone ridges, the home of the 

 jarrah, which is cut in large quantities by the Canning saw mills, 

 whose line, starting from the Midland Junction near Guildford, runs 

 southward to within four miles of Kelmscott on the South-western 

 railway. At the junction of the river and the latter railway, there 

 are some excellent pieces of country, which lie between the hills 

 and the stream and beyond the Gosnell estate. One of these blocks, 

 several thousands of acres in extent, belongs to Mr. Panton, P.M., of 

 the City of Melbourne. Victoria, who is known not only as an 

 expert in matters pastoral, but also as an artist and a patron of art. 

 The railway bisects his property, the best of which is the clay 

 country near the river. Further south it is of a light loam, merg- 

 ing into a sand plain ; but as the late Sir F. A. Weld said, when he 

 was Governor of the colony " West Australian sand is the most 

 fertile in the world." Some further observations of His Excellency, 

 who held the vice-regal office from 1869 until 1874, and under 

 whose administration the colony made a decided advance, may be 

 regarded as reliable testimony, lor he took the greatest interest in 

 agriculture, which he had studied in a practical spirit, and was well 

 versed in geology and the chemical composition of soils. His 

 Excellency was, therefore, competent, not only from a familiar 

 knowledge of the colony, but also as an educated critic, to give 

 evidence that is of value- touching the subject of the settlement of 

 the land, and the degree of success that is likely to attend it when 

 it is intelligently and industriously followed. Sir F. A. Weld's 

 general description of the physical features is so clear and concise 



