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able to enlarge his holding when he has made some headway, for he 

 will need about 500 acres more if he intends to keep stock, and in 

 later years reach a plane of solid independence. A ring fence and 

 sundry expenses, such as stores and tools, will make the ^50 look 

 very small, but with the land fenced the selector will be entitled to 

 get a loan from the Land bank. If he is a worker and knows how 

 to go about his clearing, the 50 per cent, of the value of his improve- 

 ments which the bank will allow him to draw will not only keep 

 him going but will give him something over. This balance, with a 

 job or two on wages or a bit of a roads board contract, will lincl 

 the money for a pair of horses. He can now get some stores on 

 credit, and get a stump jump plough on a hire note, for which 

 accommodation the crop he is about to put in is a good backing. 

 While the crop is growing he can still be working for wages, and 

 the seasons are so certain and regular that the harvesting of the 

 first crop puts a man in a fair way. I have seen several men get 

 going on the lines I have sketched, and have known of no failure. 

 One man who started three years ago is not only straight with the 

 world, after making enough to pay all his creditors, but he has a 

 stack of hay and stock which he has no need to realise upon, and 

 lately he has taken up a much larger block than the one he 

 began upon. He came here w r ith less than the ^50 I have 

 mentioned as the minimum of the necessary capital ; certainly 

 he got on to some very good country, and was a tiger 

 to work, but there is plenty of good land to be occupied 

 yet, and some of it is not far away/' The Government have just 

 thrown open a reserve of 6000 acres, which had been gazetted as 

 the site of a model farm. The reserve was proclaimed at a time 

 when it was deemed that a farm under skilled direction should be 

 established to disclose the productiveness of the south ; but that has 

 been so fully demonstrated by the work of private hands that any- 

 thing in the nature of an experiment is now deemed to be 

 supererogatory. The reserve has been locked up for five or six 

 years, and notice has been given that it will be available on a 

 certain date. All the applications received on that day will be 

 regarded as having been received at the same time, and if more 

 than one application is received for one block the applicants will 

 have to ballot to determine who is to have it. This course was 

 followed \vhen the long interregnum imposed by the terms granted 

 to the West Australian Land company came to an end. The 

 company had the right for some years to choose their selejcions, 

 and in order that they might not be prejudiced in doing so the 

 Crown consented not to alienate any of the country after the sign- 

 ing of the railway contract, until the company had got its full com- 

 plement of land grants. This, of course, proved a great drawback 

 to the development of the district. Meanwhile, people were spying 

 out eligible spots, which they intended to apply for as soon as the 

 embargo was removed. To prevent a scramble, and avoid dis- 



