The company has not sold any land, because it will not sell 

 at exorbitant prices, at which it will not pay people to buy the 

 land and settle on it afterwards. . . . When this concession 

 was granted the company led 'people to suppose that it was 

 going to encourage settlement, and, in fact, there was a clause in 

 the contract by which the company bound itself to introduce live 

 thousand immigrants. That immigration clause was erased, in some 

 way or other, but still the principle sticking out from every part of 

 the arrangement from the very outset, was that this railway was to be 

 built for the benefit of Western Australia, and not alone for the benefit 

 of the people who built it. We were to get people on the land who 

 were to become producers. There are plenty of young men anxious to 

 settle on the land. A small area of country has been marked out as 

 an agricultural area by the Government, and to show that people 

 will acquire land there I desire to state that nearly the whole of that 

 area has been taken up. That area lies along the Midland line, 

 south of the Moore river. This is a proof that if the Midland railway 

 company was trying to dispose of its land they would soon get 

 a great deal of it settled ; but in that case the company would have 

 to part with it on terms very much lower than it is asking at present. 

 The position of the settlers along the Midland railway is different 

 from that occupied by the other people of the colony ; people who 

 hold leases under the company have to relinquish three months' 

 notice to quit." Mr. Phillips, the member for the Irwin electorate, 

 which is included in the Midland district, said: "We have now 

 waited some ten years for the settlement of the company's lands 

 and, speaking for the people of the Irwin district, which I represent, 

 it has been a terrible blow to that district through the land being 

 locked up so long. We have lost the bone and sinew of the place, 

 as the farmers' sons have had to go elsewhere and find a living 

 because they could not obtain land in their own district. I can see 

 that the Government cannot do anything until the agreement ex- 

 pires, and I should like to know when it does expire." Mr. H. W. 

 Venn (Wellington) said : "The action of Parliament in reducing 

 the price of all Crown lands has mitigated against the company 

 selling its land, because if the Government land was equally as 

 good as the company's land, those seeking settlement would go on 

 the Government land preferentially, on account of the terms. I do 

 not say the legislature did wrong in lowering the price of land for 

 the purpose of obtaining settlement, as that was a just thing to do ; 

 but we must remember the company based its calculation on the 

 then price of Government land, and they could not reasonably have 

 expected that as the country became more settled the land would 

 get cheaper. The country is progressing. The company \vill have 

 a better opportunity of dealing with its land than it has had 

 in the past." The motion was withdrawn after the Premier had 

 informed the House that on the date on which the question of fore- 

 closure was discussed the company was not in default to the full 



