THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



297 



Murray, and only half a mile off, there is a railway station affording cheap communica- 

 tion with Melbourne, which thus obtains a considerable portion of the trade of this district. 



From this point a northerly course to the Murrumbidgee leads over a pastoral 

 country of first-class quality. En route is Urana, distant seventy-six miles from the main 



THE MURRUMBIDGEE AT WAGGA WAGGA. 



railway line at Wagga Wagga, and only seventeen miles from the Jerilderie branch line. 

 Around the small lake from which the town takes its name about one million sheep 

 are pastured. The farmers are increasing in this locality, the soil being as good as any 

 in Riverina, though, as in the case of many other districts, it is a difficult matter to 

 obtain land. It is now seen that it would have been more conducive to the prosperity 

 of New South Wales if the public lands had not been so freely parted with by the 



