75 



about Dangin, Toapin, Badjelling, Cubbine, and Dorakin, there are 

 some heavily timbered areas. The country is dotted with the 

 granite ridges which indicate the presence of water, and which 

 would, therefore, be chosen as homestead sites by the settler. On 

 the west of Dangin there arc sonic exceptionally sturdy jam trees 

 which attest the goodness of the ground. This is one of the best 

 spots for settlement, and there is plenty of scope for it. The white 

 gum belts are, as usual, blemished with box poison, but the salmon 

 gum country, which is the predominating timber, is free from this 

 pest, as is generally, although not invariably, the case. In the 

 Dangin district the attention of the Lands department is being 

 directed to the merits of a large block suitable for an agricultural 

 area. The correspondent adds : " I have had many enquiries 

 about the land at Dangin, for its fame has spread, and nowadays 

 there is keen competition for rich forest lands possessing a good 

 rainfall. The rainfall at Dangin is about 14 inches, and once the 

 Greenhills railway is finished the district would be in great demand 

 by would-be settlers. The case of the Meckering agricultural area 

 need only be cited as a case in point. Until three years ago settle- 

 ment there was comparatively slow. During the last year it has 

 been most rapid, and now the area is almost entirely selected, 

 while there are weekly enquiries for land at the Northam Land 

 office. I foretell a great settlement in our eastern forest areas, and 

 am certain that attention will be given to those in the mount 

 Stirling district." From Warralling, which borders on a few 

 hundred acres of cereal land, into Greenhills, the country is 

 chiefly suitable as pasture ground. 



So many references have been made to poison lands that it is 

 desirable to supply some explanatory notes of the provisions under 

 which these areas are acquired, and the terms under which they are 

 defined. Under the Land Regulations, proclaimed on the 2nd March, 

 1887, poisoned land is defined to be land that, in the opinion of the 

 Minister, is so infested with poisonous indigenous plants that sheep 

 or cattle cannot be depastured on it. Poisonous plants are con- 

 sidered to be eradicated when it has been proved to the satisfaction 

 of the Governor in Council that land originally infested has been 

 rendered safe for depasturing cattle and sheep at all seasons, and 

 has continued so for a term of not less than two years. The lease- 

 holder of a poison block is required to pay for the survey of the 

 same ; to select not less than 300 acres ; to pay an annual rent of i 

 per 1,000 acres or part of 1,000 acres ; to produce evidence that the 

 land applied for is poisoned land under the regulations ; to fence 

 within three years, and to pay the stipulated rent for a period of 

 21 years ; whereupon, having given proof that he has eradicated the 

 poison, he becomes entitled to a Crown grant of the land, or sooner 

 if all the conditions of the leasehold have been fully complied with. 

 The bulk of the land held as poison leaseholds was taken up under 

 an earlier Act than the one which the regulations quoted amend, 



