Agriculture in Western Australia. 



353 



Agriculture in Western Australia. 



The Government of Western Australia have recently 

 issued information relating to the condition and resources of 

 the colony. As regards agriculture, it is stated that the 

 industry is as yet almost entirely confined to the south- 

 western division of the country, where there is still a 

 vast area of unoccupied arable land, which will undoubtedly 

 be occupied before the other less accessible districts. The 

 lands of the colony are granted to settlers on various 

 terms, the blocks required for sheep - raising being very 

 much larger than those selected for tillage. Land taken 

 up for pastoral purposes may be held on lease only, and 

 cannot be acquired by any form of conditional purchase. In 

 the south-west division, which is the most fertile, blocks 

 of not less than 3,000 acres may be held on pastoral 

 lease at a yearly rental of £1 per 1,000 acres. In more 

 remote districts the minimum pastoral leasehold is 20,000 

 acres, and the rent varies from 10s. to 2s. 6d. per 1,000 

 acres; in the latter case it is raised to 5s. after seven years. 

 The tenant is compelled, under penalty of double rental, to 

 stock the land properly within seven years. In the less 

 accessible districts he can obtain a reduction of rent if he 

 has ten sheep or one head of large stock per 1,000 acres of 

 land. The lessee has no right to the land of his holding, 

 which the Crown can always sell, although compensation is 

 given for improvements effected. 



Sheep, horses, and cattle are reported to thrive well through- 

 out Western Australia, especially in the northern districts > 

 which generally yield abundant and nourishing pasture. The 

 extensive areas of the goldflelds are being utilised for pastur- 

 ing the sheep and cattle necessary for the supply of food to 

 the mining population. An attempt is being made, by means 

 of granting leases on advantageous terms, to clean certain 

 districts infested with indigenous plants which are poisonous 

 to live-stock. The agricultural area already mapped out for 

 settlement comprises over a million acres, and as the land 

 is taken up other arable tracts are measured out along the 

 various ines of railway which have been laid through the 



z 



