38 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



of to-day that the back country of Australia 

 is peculiarly well suited for sheep and cattle, 

 and will provide the best of national profits out 

 of them ; that farmers do best on well- watered, 

 rich lands near to cities and seaports ; that if 

 you scatter 10,000 farmers thinly over a vast 

 area, separating them one from another, and 

 from the cities by long and expensive journeys, 

 you make them less comfortable than if they 

 were concentrated, and you make the business 

 of supplying them with some of the comforts of 

 civilization far more arduous and expensive. 



But the voice of the quack was heard. Fol- 

 lowing a sentimental outcry of " the land for 

 the people," the land system of Australia was 

 set in the wrong path from the first. Since then 

 there have been annual attempts to correct past 

 mistakes — attempts usually based more upon 

 " politics " than upon a business-like considera- 

 tion of the position — and no one can say with 

 truth that there is yet a thoroughly satisfactory 

 land policy or an immediate prospect of one. 



Let me quote the cautious and reserved 

 official summary (" Official Year Book of the 

 Commonwealth of Australia," G. H. Knibbs) of 



