59 



in order to induce parties of professional dingo huntsmen to he 

 organised to carry on the work of extermination, They were so 

 impressed with the mischief and losses that are occasioned by the 

 ravages ot the dingo and other vermin that it xvas resolved that 

 subject to the exercise of local option as to whether any district 

 should join in the movement, the residents of any vermin infested 

 territory should, in the form of a rate, subscribe pound for pound of 

 the amount granted by the Government, to increase the bonuses f'.r 

 scalps. The wild dog is said to be increasing in the eastern 

 districts, but it is not so numerous as to demand the folding of 

 sheep at night, as is the case in some places further south. The 

 eaglehawk, for whose head and claws a bonus of 2s. per 

 bird is paid, is the cause of the loss of many a lamb; 

 but at other periods of the year, after the lambing season, 

 this species of vulture lives on the smaller ground vermin 

 of the marsupial tribe which do damage in crops, orchards 

 and vegetable gardens, and for this reason the eaglehawk is not 

 without friends who deprecate the payment of a reward for its des- 

 truction. A bonus is also proposed to be given for the killing 

 of opossums, boodie rats, parrots and silvereyes, chiefly in the 

 interests of the fruitgrower. It may be added that the conference 

 affirmed that it was not desirable to afford any protection to the 

 kangaroos, which in some parts of the colony, particularly between 

 Perth and Bunbury, are greedy among the crops. 



A new arrival will note with satisfaction the absence of inroads 

 upon his income in the form of the various municipal and other 

 taxes that are generally levied in older communities. On an agri- 

 cultural area there are no tithes to pay of any kind, except it may 

 be a fee of 55. per wheel of the vehicles employed on the farm, 

 which sums form the nucleus of the revenue of the local roads' 

 board. In municipalities rates are struck, but the Government 

 comes to the aid of the resident in a new district by donating, 

 under the authority of a vote of Parliament, liberal subsidies for the 

 construction of roads. These subsidies amount to ^300 or ^400 

 per annum. There is also given, when good reason is shown, a 

 special grant which, in the case of the goldrielcls Roads' boards, has 

 amounted to very large sums, in addition to w r hich, all large public 

 works, such as the bridging of rivers or the making of roads, are put 

 upon the estimates, and, on being passed, are carried out by and at 

 the cost of the Public Works department, which employs a very 

 large staff of architects, inspectors and clerks. For the financial 

 year ending 3oth June, 1897, the item on the estimates for roads 

 and bridges amounted to ; 168,700. The total vote granted to the 

 Works and Railways departments was ^1,447, 114, being an 

 increase on the vote of the previous year for these departments of 



A visit to the York and Beverley districts affords convincing 

 proof that, in spite of any untoward circumstances arising from a 



