28 



payable gold will be found in the locality. There is a fine expanse of 

 fertile ground in the possession of the Australind, an English 

 company that is merely nursing the princely present that was 

 handed over by the Crown under the old location grant system. It 

 still remains to be developed by the race of new settlers who are 

 being drawn westward by a more liberal land law than obtains in 

 any other part of the world. Journeying on, the Collie agri- 

 cultural area is entered upon, and it extends to within eight miles 

 of Bunbury, which is widely known as the birthplace of the 

 Premier of the colony, the Right Honorable Sir John Forrest, 

 K.C.M.G. The whole of the Collie area, which is a very popular 

 one owing to its proximity to the port and market of Bunbury, 

 where important harbor works are in progress at a cost of 

 ; 1 00,000, has been selected, with the exception of two blocks, and 

 the greater portion is under cultivation. The unoccupied allot- 

 ments are of 100 acres each. The area embraces 7,150 acres, sub- 

 divided into fifty-one holdings. It has been available since 

 February, 1892, and is served by both the South-western railway 

 and the extension of the line to Busselton and Donnybrook. The 

 soil is mostly of a stiff clayey character, on which fruit and 

 vegetables do better than cereals. The land will be improved 

 when some drains of a serviceable capacity are cut to carry the 

 surplus rainfall into the Collie river. It has been found necessary 

 to enlarge the original area, owing to the great eagerness that has 

 been show r n to select thereon. The drainage could be perfected at 

 a very moderate cost, and the Government are now having the 

 work done in response to representations that were made by the 

 residents. 



From Bunbury and Picton Junction, close to Bunbury, there 

 branches out to the south- west and south-east respectively two new 

 railway lines through two of the most important agricultural 

 districts in the colony, namely, the Blackwood and Bridgetown 

 districts, which call for notice in some detail, because of the large 

 areas of eligible lands which are available there for selection. The 

 districts form the continuation of the fertile country for 

 which Bunbury is celebrated, and which contain some of the 

 most notable examples of what can be wrought by the aid of 

 capital, scientific cultivation and determination to make swamp 

 lauds which are dark and unprepossessing in their virgin state, 

 blossom with the harvest of plenty. The best of the laud of 

 Bunbury is, in the estimation of one of the most respected authorities 

 upon the agronomical resources of the colony, Mr. William Pater- 

 son, (for it has been his duty to examine all parts in greater detail 

 than other men) the best that is to be found anywhere in the west, 

 from the Vasse to Geraldton, or from Kremantlc to Meckering, and 

 in support of his conviction he points to the vineyard and orchard 

 of Mr. Ephraim Clarke, mayor of Bunbury, which are bowers of 

 beauty and luxuriance. The land was heavily timbered before it 



