TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



583 



and further in arrears. Recentl\- the 

 Commissioners have been weeding" out 

 those who, showing no aptitude for ir- 

 rigation farming, have fallen grievously 

 behind in their payments. Those who 

 show signs of ultimately "making 

 good," are dealt with most leniently. 



A settler's balance-sheet. 



At first the blocks taken up were too 

 large. Australian settlers would not 

 look at less than 200 acres. It was 

 speedily found, though, that the failures 

 were almost always in cases where a 

 man had taken up more than he could 

 manage. The blocks are now much 

 smaller, from 20 to 50 acres. This a 

 man can cultivate and see to himself. 

 Experience has shown, too, the best way 

 he should farm these acres. Much of 

 the irrigated land is devoted to dairy- 

 ing. The Commission charges 6 per 

 cent, on the value of the land. This 

 purchases the land in 31^ years. Five 

 shillings per acre is charged for water 

 per annum, whether it is used or not. 

 Houses are paid for in instalments ex- 

 tending over twenty years, with interest 

 at 5 per cent. 



A settler taking up, say, to 30 acres, 

 would, therefore, have the following 

 charges to meet : — 



6 per cent, on the value of 



30 acres at ;^ 10 per acre ... ;^ 1 8 o o 



6 per cen":. on house, valued 



at;^ioo 600 



Irrigation charge of 5/- per 



acre 7 10 o 



Total annual charge ...£li 10 o 

 To stock the land he would require 

 ten cows, costing £^0, a pair of draught 

 horses, costing £^0, pigs, fowls, imple- 

 ments and other expenses would pro- 

 bably bring the expenditure up to about 

 i;200 before a fair start could be made. 

 A cow is reckoned to bring 



in £\o a year £^00 o o 



The pigs should bring in at 



least 20 o o 



Total gross revenue ... 120 o o 

 Annual charges for rent, 



etc 31 10 o 



This means that a man taking 30 

 acres and working them entirely himself 

 must have a capital of about i^200 to 

 start with and would clear a matter of 

 £"90 per annum. On this he would have- 

 to live. But with milk, butter and eggs 

 costing him nothing, his housekeeping 

 bills would be small, nor would his 

 tailor trouble him greatly. 



A GOOD CHANCE FOR THE WORKER. 

 A net income of ^^"90 a year is not 

 likely to prove very attractive to the 

 young Australian of experience. He 

 looks, if he decides to go on the land, 

 to broad acres and large returns from 

 stock, grain or fruit. That is to say, he 

 is not an irrigation farmer. But the 

 proposition is an eminently good one 

 from the point of view of the man in the 

 old country, or, indeed, in Australia who 

 may get only 25/- to 35/- a week, out 

 of which he has to pay rent, and buy 

 all the food that his family needs. Such- 

 a man can hardly hope to save any- 

 thing at all, whereas, with thirty irri- 

 gated acres, he was actually purchasing,, 

 he might save anything from £2^ to £^0 

 a year. Any man with the right stuff in 

 him would speedily get larger areas as- 

 he gained experience, and with, say, 20G 

 acres of irrigated land, and knowledge,, 

 he would do well. 



DEPOPULATING. THE COUNTRY? 



It has been freely stated that instead 

 of bringing about closer settlement the 

 Commission is actually depopulating 

 the country. This is certainly not borne 

 out by the figures. In all, the State has 

 purchased 145 holdings, consisting of 

 77,600 acres, which are now controlled 

 by the Water Commission. At the time 

 of purchase there were only 103 families 

 on the land ; there are now 1157. This 

 does not look like depopulation ! The 

 real trouble is that irrigation farming is 

 at about the opposite pole from farm- 

 ing as it has been practised here. We 

 have been accustomed to do things on a 

 large scale. The intensive cultivator has 

 to do them on a small one, and that, too, 

 by very different methods. It takes 

 time to train up people who will make 

 a success of irrigated lands, but that it 

 can be done there is no manner of doubt. 

 ;^89 10 o Look at Mildura! 



