176 



extent of ^20,000, which would allow the penal clauses of the 

 mortgage to be brought into operation. On enquiry the reporter of 

 the Bureau learned in July, 1897, from a leading official of the com- 

 pany, that the company was likely to be unable to keep their account 

 with the Government square, unless they were able to make some 

 fresh arrangements in London, and that negotiations with that object 

 were then in progress. The following figures showing dealings with 

 lands of the company have been supplied from their Perth office : 

 Total land subsidy to the contractor who laid the line, and others 

 for services rendered in connection with the affairs of the company, 

 3,324,000 acres; mortgaged to the Government, 2,400,000 acres; lands 

 disposed of, 821,077 acres ; free unencumbered lands, 102,943 acres. 

 After the mortgage to the Government was executed, the company 

 had 924,000 acres outside the operation of that lien. The references 

 which have been made serve to show \vhy the Midland is not a great 

 producing district supporting a large population, and also throw 

 light upon the opportunities that are still open in that quarter for 

 immigrants to obtain suitable farming areas on the Crown lands 

 adjoining the railway and grants. It has been the experience of all 

 the colonies, as well as of Western Australia, that population attracts 

 population to a certain district, and that where there are large closed 

 areas the tide of settlement is borne to some other destination. The 

 shutting up of 15,000,000 acres between Perth and Geraldton, 

 owing to the Midland railway belonging to a private corporation, has 

 diverted attention from the adjacent Crown territory that is open 

 for settlement. The railway, which was opened for traffic during 

 November, 1894, runs in a northerly direction from the Midland 

 junction, on the Eastern railway near Guildford, to Mingenew, a 

 distance of 217 miles. From Mingenew the course of the railway is 

 due west for 36 miles to Dongarra, the commercial centre and seaport 

 of the Irwin river district, thence north along the coast for 24 miles 

 to Walkaway, where it joins the Government line laid between 

 Walkaway and Geraldton, the port of the Yalgoo and Murchison 

 goldiields. 



Arriving at Gingin, the visitor will see, within a few miles of the 

 station, not only one of the choice garden spots of Western 

 Australia, but the place where oranges grow larger and of better 

 flavor than anywhere else south of the equator. The estate is 

 known as Cheriton, and is the property of Messrs. Kclgar Wedge 

 and Co., one of the proprietors being Mr. Charles Harper, of 

 Woodbridge, the orchards and nurseries of which have been 

 briefly described in the chapter dealing with the Swan district. 

 The Cheritmi orangery was planted about 40 years ago by the 

 late Mr. W. L. Brockman, and some of the trees are now 40 feet 

 high, and of a diameter in the trunk of 4 feet 6 inches, the fruit 

 having to be gathered by the aid of long bamb<>< > ladders ; the yield 

 is annually between three and four hundred do/en per tree. Mr. 

 Brockman found, indeed, on the banks of the Gingin creek, what 



