THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



241 



population is at present about 

 five thousand, but Grafton is 

 one of those centres which are 

 destined to grow. When the 

 River entrance is improved, 

 and railway communication is 

 open with the table-land and 

 the rich coast country, the 

 development of the district will 

 be greatly quickened. 



Around Grafton, and stud- 

 ding the Clarence between it 

 and the coast, a number of 

 thriving villages have sprung 

 up. Chatsworth Island, lying 



at the mouth of the River, is 



I;. 



an important maize and sugar 

 growing locality. The soil is 

 very rich, and produces large 

 crops every year. There are 

 here eight sugar-mills, including 

 the extensive works of the 

 Colonial Sugar Company, 

 which employs some hundreds 

 of hands. The population is 

 over twelve hundred, and its 

 prosperity is gradually increa- 

 sing. Lawrence, a shipping port 

 for a great deal of the Tenter- 

 field wool, is another river-side 

 village, and the site of three 

 sugar-mills. It is situated on 

 the Clarence, about eighteen 

 miles from the city. A little 

 to the south, on the opposite 

 bank of the River, is Brush- 

 grove, a village with one sugar- 

 mill ; and following the course 

 of the Clarence Ulmarra is 

 reached, with a population of 

 over twenty-three hundred, and 

 supporting four sugar -mills. 



To the south-west of Grafton- from which it can be reached by coach, or by another 

 route from Uralla is the little mining settlement of Dalmorton, with its one quartz-reef. 



