36 



watering-place, being regarded as the Tasmania of the west. It rivals 

 Tasmania in growing remarkably line fruits of all the English varieties, 

 and the harbor is a safe and pleasant yachting ground. The choice is 

 offered of swamp and forest lands, and if the clearing is rather 

 heavy it is repaid by the fertility and stamina of the soil. It is well- 

 known that the further the traveller goes south the broader becomes 

 the stretches of superior land between the mountains and the sea, 

 and this is well exemplified now that we have gone from Fre- 

 mantle southward, nearly 200 miles, and are inspecting the grand 

 territory in the neighbourhood of the Vasse. The land only wants 

 working to yield a great increase ; but so far very little of it has 

 been worked, the few settlers being content to use tolerably large 

 holdings, chiefly for grazing, from which they have derived a com- 

 fortable livelihood, without doing a great deal of farming or orchard 

 culture. The gifts of nature have been so prodigally bestowed that 

 the inheritors of them could not grasp them all ; the horn of plenty 

 is full and overflowing. Who will prolit by it ? Why should there be 

 any poverty or hunger in the crowded communities of the old world, 

 when there is such a splendid field for emigration such bountiful 

 offers from the state as that of free grants of land and loans of money 

 to bring it into subjection and profit. If it were planted with apples, 

 stone fruits, and raspberries, strawberries, and gooseberries, the Vasse 

 country would be able to compete with the world ; its fruits could 

 be shipped fresh to England and the Continent under the improved 

 methods of packing and carriage that are now in vogue, and landed 

 at the other side of the globe in perfect condition after only a four 

 weeks' voyage, at the season when gourmets are depending upon the 

 exotics of hot-houses to supply their tables with desserts. In being 

 so much nearer the great markets of the world than the orchards of 

 Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, the Vasse, with 

 its highly suitable soil and climate, is marked out as a specially 

 favored fruit-growing ground ; with its copious rainfall it is indepen- 

 dent of the costly scheme of irrigation which has threatened Mildura 

 with disaster. Hence it is claimed that this division of the south- 

 we-t has great potentialities for a productiveness that makes it 

 resemble a payable lode into which the miner's pick has hardly 

 been struck. So far we have only spoken of the Vasse from the 

 point of view of its exceptional fruit-growing capabilities; but it is 

 almost equally to be recommended ;is the sphere of that scheme for 

 the raising and canning of vegetables upon which Mr. McLarty ad- 

 dressed the Legislative Council two years ago. He showed that theie 

 was a lucrative market on the goldfields for this necessary article 

 of diet ; that /.Xooo or { annually sent abroad to supply 



local needs and that there were places in the smith-west where 

 y kind of esculent would grow like pumpkins in a compost heap. 

 While Mr. McLartv, as in duty bound, spoke- more directly of the 

 capabilities of his own district, it can be demonstrated by our 

 intonnants that Busselton is willing to enter the lists at any exhi- 





