36 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



of the world. There was in the Commonwealth 

 good, well-watered land, upon which the rain 

 came regularly, sufficient to maintain an agri- 

 cultural population of many millions ; and 

 after that, apart from a large tract of poorly 

 watered country in the far interior, there was 

 an immense area of land which was steadily 

 profitable with special treatment. 



First to encourage the pastoralist ; then to 

 encourage the farmer — that was clearly the 

 wise land policy for Australia. With such a 

 vast area to dispose of, it was easy to serve 

 the needs of both. But wise precaution would 

 have suggested that, since the conditions of life 

 for the farmer were in many ways different 

 from those for the pastoralist, some grading of 

 country, not only by its comparative fertility, but 

 by its means of access to ports and cities, was 

 necessary. The pastoralist, depending to a very 

 great extent on nomadic labour, able to send 

 some of his products to market on their own 

 hoofs, and the rest of his products in small bulk, 

 could range far away. The farmer, to whom 

 life as a solitary dweller distant from centres 

 of population was far more irksome and less 



