50 



with the exception of that of Mr. Frank Craig on the confines of the 

 town. Some fruit from the property of Mr. Kenneth Edwards was 

 very highly praised in London. The only varieties of fruit that do 

 not thrive are cherries, loquats, gooseberries, raspberries and straw- 

 berries. The prevalence of frosts and the scanty rainfall are not 

 favorable to the potato, although in some spots small areas have 

 yielded potatoes very largely. There are near the Helena, on the 

 west of the Avon, some moist lands that are especially valuable for 

 producing vegetables during the summer in a colony where cab- 

 bages and pumpkins are sold retail at 2d. per lb., and other escu- 

 lents at a proportionate price. But this garden ground, as it is 

 called, is mostly in private hands, and in Western Australia every 

 man likes to be his own landlord and to purchase direct from the 

 Crown, as has been proved by the experience of the Great 

 Southern and Midland railway companies, whose land grants have 

 not been nearly so readily taken up as the blocks belonging to the 

 Government. But a visit to the land that Mr. Kenneth Edwards 

 has devoted to the cultivation of vegetables affords very convincing 

 proof of the value of intense cultivation in chosen spots. The land 

 regulations provide for the sale of garden blocks at i per acre 

 for 10 acres under certain improvement conditions. 



The .testimony furnished by men of experience in the York 

 district at the instance of the Bureau of Agriculture for the guidance 

 of new settlers, may be summarised as follows : Although there are 

 no Crown lands available near York, there is fertile fcrest country 

 beyond Greenhills, 15 miles to the eastward, which it would be very 

 advantageous to secure. There are also eligible private estates 

 between York and Greenhills, the owners of which only require a 

 fair inducement in order to open them for settlement under the 

 provisions of the Agricultural Lands Purchase Act, which was passed 

 last session, accompanied by a vote of ^"200,000, to enable the 

 Government to put that statute into force for the purpose of 

 augmenting the producing resources of the colony and adding to 

 the national wealth. There is an excellent prospect before 

 industrious men who possess, say, from .150 to 300, intelligence 

 and industry, and who have some knowledge of farming, because 

 in going into tillage they would have an assured market at good 

 prices for their crops, railway communication to that market, 

 and reasonable freights, besides the protection of the import 

 duties. There are good roads to the railway and schools in 

 every division, so that children are never beyond the reach of 

 the schoolmaster. If a man is without capital it may be possible 

 for him to become a settler by working for his neighbours, but 

 his slow progress would be discouraging to anyone who had not a 

 dauntless spirit. To farm on proper lines a man should take up 

 300 or 350 acres, because he must have some gra/iug ground, it" 

 only to turn his horses upon in the slack time <>l the year, while 

 crops are growing. 



