6 9 



berrin, and in this locality a second, to contain 20,000,000 gallons, 

 is being surveyed about three miles north of the station. Merriden 

 dam, which stores 8,000,000 gallons, cost ^"8,000. 



Another important factor in the success of the settler in the 

 east is that, when water is supplied, he will be able to get, in 

 addition to some hundreds of acres of superior forest country for 

 cultivation at 6d. per acre per annum (which, in 20 years, amounts 

 to the purchase money of the block), a homestead leasehold for 

 grazing purposes of 5,000 acres (or less) of third-class land at a 

 rental of id. per acre for 15 years, and 2cl per acre for an addi- 

 tional 15 years. Enormous areas, on which coarse but nourishing 

 shrubs grow, have been locked up for lack of watering places, 

 which, to a large extent, are being supplied in meeting the require- 

 ments of the Railway department. These are very pressing, owing 

 to the enormous development of the goldfields traffic that is expected 

 to lead to the duplication of the line at no distant date. 

 Plans may be obtained at the Perth Lands office, showing approxi- 

 mately, by means of both colours and surveyors' notes, the value of 

 the different portions of a district and also all the mountains, 

 rivers, watercourses, soaks and clams, together with a scale showing 

 the distance of the various blocks from a railway line. The notes 

 tell a plain, unvarnished tale, and the words " poison," "sand plain," 

 " thick scrub," arrest the attention of the reader as boldly as " rich 

 black (or chocolate) soil," "well-grassed land," " good forest," or 

 " permanent water." Sheep can be very cheaply worked, as native 

 shepherds are obtainable. The blacks are voluntarily assigned to 

 those who employ them, and give their services for clothes, main- 

 tenance and tobacco. A great deal has been written of the alleged 

 illtreatment of the aboriginal servants by their employers, but on 

 investigation it will be found that these tales emanate from new 

 arrivals in the colony, who make a visit to the north, and are 

 unfamiliar with the habits of the natives and the conditions 

 which govern their intercourse with the whites. This is not a 

 fitting place in which to enter into the merits of the controversy 

 on the subject of the protection and care of the blacks, which has 

 formed the theme of voluminous correspondence between the 

 Premier and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and of ani- 

 mated debates in the houses of the legislature ; but it may be pointed 

 out that if no other motive than that of self-interest operated to en- 

 sure that the natives are properly treated by those who engage 

 them, this incentive would be a very strong one. The natives are 

 very useful, and possess a special skill as trackers and bushmen, 

 which makes their services well worth retaining ; while, on the 

 other hand, if these retainers were dissatisfied with their servitude, 

 there would be nothing to prevent the children of the bush from 

 changing their environment in the summary fashion of the tribes 

 who wandered all over their respective districts and lived by hunt- 

 ing before colonisation by the whites took place. 



