34 



the latter to outbid the former in the rate of .wages they are willing 

 to pay to get hands. So much the better for the over-crowded 

 laborer of older communities, who has to hustle his neighbor in 

 finding an employer and, therefore, young men, or those in the 

 prime of life, and who get their living under the hardest of condi- 

 tions elsewhere, should be eager to come to a country where they 

 may get a higher rate of pay, and very often better food and 

 healthier surroundings. 



Now we come to a cardinal feature in the land settlement 

 question of Western Australia, and one of our contributors has made 

 some remarks upon it that are so pregnant and full of pith that they 

 must be printed in extenso. He says: " Nearly all the food sup- 

 plies, which at the present have either to be imported or done with- 

 out, could be produced in the south-western district. I do not see 

 why we should have to rely on the other colonies for butter, cheese, 

 bacon, jam and such things all the year round, and potatoes and 

 onions for a great part of it. The supply of fruit is far below 

 requirements, as can be seen from the absurdly high price it 

 fetches. This (Bunbury) district will some day produce as much 

 fruit as can be consumed by the whole of the colony." It 

 is freely admitted that dairying is neglected. As has been 

 previously mentioned, vegetables are not grown wholesale on 

 all the good black swamp lands, but only on small widely- 

 scattered plots, while there are places belonging to the 

 Crown that would equally well repay the industry of the husband- 

 man. There are, besides, private estates which await subdivision, 

 and which are most advantageously situated in regard to railway 

 communication, being only on the outskirts of the town of 

 Bunbury. For some years, until the harbour works are completed, 

 there will be a large local demand for vegetables, and the wants of 

 the large numbers of holiday-makers, who make Bunbury their 

 watering place in the summer season, will offer a good opening to 

 who work garden land judiciously. Besides, it is anticipated 

 that tlu- development of the Collie coal deposits within a few miles 

 ot" Bimbury will ensure a large and permanent population. On the 

 coast, frosts are no menace to the potato grower, and it is near the 

 MM, I'.rtnuately, that the best land for this crop is mostly to be found. 

 Further inland, frosts arc occasionally very severe and damaging in 

 their effects, especially from June to September. The best land in 

 the Bunbury district is well adapted for close settlement, that is to 

 say. for subdivision in ten to 2O-acre blocks, if the holders are satis- 

 lied to do without grazing ground and will grow fodder for their 

 horses and COWS. The keeping of poultry is an adjunct to every 

 steading, but fowls are not kept as a speciality ; bees have no 

 keepers, with one or two exceptions, and an isolated hive here and 

 there. The chief requisites for the well doing of new settlers 

 are set down as follow : (i). A fair amount of capital. (2). Energy, 

 perseverance, and a willingness to take advantage of the experience 



