which he highly approved. " Wliat could not be done with this land 

 with the rainfall of the south-west?" was his observation when he 

 was given an opportunity of examining it. It has been so conclusively 

 proved that the forest soil is superior to the jam country for 

 farming purposes, that the latter should be set apart by the selector 

 for fruit growing, for which it will be admirably adapted. 



There is a threat deal of valuable land in the eastern areas that 

 has not yet been surveyed by the Lands department, and about 

 which, therefore, less is known than Tammin, Meckering, Doodlekine, 

 and Bainding. On these areas settlement is proceeding so rapidly 

 that in a year or two the " eyes" of them will have been picked out, 

 and it will be necessary for the seeker for an eligible homestead to 

 go a little farther afield and inspect some of the pastoral runs which 

 occupy some very choice country to the southward of the Yilgarn 

 railway. A selector may take a block out of any pastoral leasehold, 

 but must pay the value of any improvements which have been made 

 by the lessee. In most cases the runs are unfenced, and may, 

 therefore, be erroneously supposed by those \vho are looking for 

 land to be private property. The policy of the land legislation of 

 Western Australia is that the grazier occupying Crown lands must 

 always give way to the cultivator. The farmer is the man to whom 

 every encouragement is given, while the past~ralist has very little 

 more than a premissive occupancy pending the arrival of the time 

 when the land will be required to produce corn, hay, or fruit. 

 Accordingly, the terms upon which pastoral leases are issued are 

 almost nominal, but the leaseholder has no right to the soil or the 

 timber, and may not even do ringbarking without the permission of 

 the Minister. When that permission is given ringbarking is 

 appraised as an improvement. Pastoral leases are granted in the 

 eastern division in blocks of not less than 20,000 acres, at a rent 

 according to the term for which the lease may be granted, as 

 follows : For each thousand acres or part of a thousand acres, two 

 shillings and sixpence for each of the first seven years, and five 

 shillings for each of the remaining years of the lease. If the land 

 is so shut in by other holdings as not to contain twenty thousand 

 acres, a lease may be granted for such lesser quantity ; but in no 

 case shall a lease be granted for less than j*i per annum. All 

 pastoral leases expire on the 3ist December, 1907. The fair value 

 of any improvements existing upon any block applied for within an 

 agricultural or special area is determined by the Minister, and the 

 amount is added to the purchase money of the block which the 

 conditional purchaser desires to obtain. He has ^o pay for 

 the improvements in five yearly instalments, with interest 

 added at the rate of five per cent, per annum, and the first 

 payment has to be made when the land is applied for. 

 Subject to these provisions there is, upon the sheep runs of the 

 eastern pastoralists, a very wide choice of location by the agri- 

 culturist, for, as it might be supposed, the squatters, who are the 



