I2 9 



when drier situations ;uv not able- to produce vegetables, (iaidcn 

 blocks arc also obtainable at Oyster harbor, an inlet tVoin King 

 George's S'jund, six miles to the eastward ot" Albany. On the 

 eastern shore ot" Oyster harbor there are some growers makin. 



,1 livelihood out of small areas of not more than 25 acres. 

 There are also garden settlements on the King river, six 

 miles to the north of Albany. Here there arc some 50 

 acre surveyed allotments awaiting application. The Den- 

 mark railway branches off the Great Southern eleven miles 

 from Albany and runs west through some excellent land which has 

 been alienated, to the Denmark river, where the sawmills of the 

 Messrs. Millar Bros, are established. There are some patches of 

 superior land here still belonging to the Crown, and it is not to be 

 excelled for orchards and root crops. Along the banks of the Hay 

 river a confluent of the Denmark river a very eligible holding 

 can be procured if quality is deemed to compensate for lack of 

 quantity, for 100 acres of uniformly good rich, red land is the most 

 that remains for the new comer. This Torbay country is regarded 

 by some good judges as containing some of the choicest spots to be 

 found in the whole of Western Australia, but it is heavily timbered 

 with karri, a hardwood that has many excellent qualities, but that 

 does not stand exposure to damp nearly so well as the jarrah. Tor- 

 bay is IQ miles from Albany. A great deal of settlement is going on 

 in the vicinity of the King and Kalgan- rivers, which is one of the 

 newest districts in course of agricultural development. 



The following statement has been compiled from the answers 

 of leading settlers to the questions addressed to them by the Bureau 

 of Agriculture, namely : (i.) " Are there good roads to the land 

 belonging to the Crown open for selection ?" " The roads are good. 

 The country is so level and hard on the surface before being tilled 

 that natural highways over which wagons can travel are ready as 

 soon as the track is cleared. The Roads boards have been 

 energetic in making requisitions for funds upon the Treasury, and 

 the Government, having been shown good reason for the expenditure, 

 has granted the money. In the Wagin district the Roads board has 

 been doing especially good work in clearing roads in all directions 

 leading to the tow r nship. The w T ork has been done for is. 6d. per 

 chain. The roads converge like the points of a star to the centre ; 

 they were marked out before the land was surveyed. Now that 

 surveys are being made owing to the progress of settlement, the 

 judgment shown by the Roads board in selecting the routes of the 

 highways has been commended by the Lands department, and in 

 every case those routes are being regarded in the surveys as pro- 

 claimed main roads. Another characteristic of the south which, 

 while it improves the roads, has a countervailing effect of adding to 

 the cost of conserving water, is that until the Arthur and the 

 Beaufort are reached there are no considerable watercourses to 

 cross. The result is that land may be selected even in outlying 



