lations of the colony, although up till the end of 1896 it would 

 have cost three or four times the Crown price of IDS. per acre- for 

 conditional purchases, to have acquired them from the proprietors 

 of the railway. The computation is made of laud approximately 

 within live miles of the main road from Pinjarrah to the 

 Williams, because the road runs along the valley of the 

 Hotham, and it is in the valley that most of the cultivable 

 land adapted to the growth of cereals is to be found. Including 

 the resumed land grants of the railway concessions the Lands 

 department estimates that 60,000 acres of value to the farmer remain 

 to be selected within five miles of the road. Most of these 60,000 

 acres are equal to the best of the blocks already alienated, but they 

 are not in large areas. The day has gone by when an immigrant 

 might hope to obtain in the Williams district more than 200 acres 

 of fertile land in one lot, seldom, in fact, more than 100 acres. 

 While the railway was being agitated for it was represented to the 

 Government that 100 or 200 acres would be useless to a settler who 

 was 50 or 70 miles from a railway station. His only prospect 

 of success was to go where he could get, in addition to wheat fields 

 for the sowing of cereals, grazing country to bring in an income 

 from a \vool clip and the sale of sheep to the butcher. Now, how- 

 ever, the construction of the promised line w r ill give a man as good 

 a living from the cultivation of 100 or 200 acres as he can now make 

 from 1,500 to 2,000 acres while depasturing is his chief resource. 



The rainfall of the Williams district, although not heavy, is 

 sufficient. The average is 24 inches, and this quantity, in the 

 temperate climate in that part of the colony, goes further than it 

 would more to the north. The easy slopes prevent much of the 

 rain running off the fields to swell the flow of water in the river. 

 The friable soil easily allows the show r ers to enter it, and the clay sub- 

 soil stores and conserves the supply. The years 1894 and 1895 were 

 the most unfavorable that have been experienced for many years, 

 the record for 1895 being only 13 inches. But even under 'these 

 adverse circumstances land, which owing to the cost of carting 

 fertilisers and of taking crops to market has almost always to 

 depend upon its own resources, has grown nothing less than seven 

 bushels to the acre, while 30 bushels have often been harvested 

 when the average rainfall has been registered. In 1896 rain 

 fortuitously fell early in March, which enabled growers to sow 

 early, with a corresponding increase in their returns. 



As an orchard country the Williams district is hardly to be 

 excelled, all kinds of fruits doing well, except citrus. Apricots, 

 apples, peaches, muscatel grapes, and plums are produced, of large 

 size and superior flavor. So far the fruit garden has merely 

 been an appanage of the steading to supply family require- 

 ments, as so perishable a commodity as fruit could not be 

 sent to market in presentable condition after being jolted over 

 a road in a wagon for 50 or more miles ; but with 



