THE TOWNS OF NEU' SOl'TII ll'.U.ES. 



235 



and in the course of nature should have been the larger of the two, hut the lVt-1 

 River Company, an offshoot of the Australian Agricultural Company, possessed and 

 used for pastoral purposes all the magnificent land to the south and west, and freehold 

 farmers could get no footing there. "No farmers, no town," is a law in these districts. 



ARMIDALE. 



Great squattages are not so favourable to the growth of inland towns as small farms 

 are, because their business lies more with the commercial towns on the coast. Absentee 

 landed proprietors, especially when they take the form of dividend-seeking companies, 

 have no close sympathy with local movements ; for while they favour some forms of 

 enterprise, and often display a spirited application of capital in the way of improvements, 

 they frequently block the natural course of settlement. Tamworth, cramped on the 

 western side, spread to the east across the Peel River. Farmers searched out and took 

 up tracts of country fitted to grow wheat, thus finding ample means of subsistence, and 

 a sure source of permanent prosperity. 



Minerals were found in many localities gold at Nundle and Barraba, diamonds at 

 Bingera, and copper at Dungowan. Flour-mills were erected to grind the wheat, and 

 stores multiplied to supply the wants of the increasing population. The Roman Catholics 

 have done most for ecclesiastical architecture in Tamworth, and indeed their church is 

 superior to all the other buildings in the town ; they have also a fine, well-built convent 

 to which is attached a good school. The corporation has had the good sense to plant 

 trees along most of the streets, and to found an excellent public library. Amongst the 

 business enterprises of the place are flour and saw mills, coach factories, breweries and 

 a manufactory of galvanized iron. 



Northward from Tamworth the railway route follows the general line of the old 

 road along the backbone of the colony, which here spreads out into a great table-land. 

 Over the Moonbi Ranges a terrible trial to teamsters in the old days the line passes 



