162 
Land Improvement in Australia. 
give 6 d. an acre rent for it.” He then went on to point out the 
splendid state the land is in now. 
The Western District generally is of comparatively recent vol- 
canic origin. The whole country is studded with extinct craters, 
some rising into considerable mountains, and others showing them- 
selves as circular lakes in the plain. Where not covered with lava 
flows, the soil is usually very rich, and of a deep chocolate colour, or 
nearly black where mixed with alluvial and vegetable matter. It 
is excellent land for potatoes, which are largely cultivated and 
exported to Melbourne and other parts of the Colonies, where there 
are not the same facilities for growing them. 
Between Warnambool and Port Fairy, near where the land I 
am describing is situated, the distance is twenty miles, and there is 
hardly an acre of bad land the whole way. It is chiefly chocolate- 
coloured, or black volcanic soil ; but there is also a limestone 
formation between the volcanic soil and the sea, and on it there 
grows a good quality of grass, very valuable for dairying purposes. 
On an area of 3,357 acres, with which I am more particularly 
interested, I can give the outlay on improvements from 1872 to 
1890 ; but this does not include the preliminary operations of cut- 
ting new channels for the river, and deepening and widening the 
latter where necessary. 
£ 
Drainage and roads 
. 5,427 
Walls and fences 
. 3,919 
Grubbing and clearing 
. 5,447 
Buildings . 
. 2,895 
Total 
. 17,688 
represents an expenditure of 
51. 5s. 4 d. per acre, which 
would probably mount up to 6/. per acre were I able to include 
what was spent previous to 1872, but these figures are not avail- 
able. Roughly speaking, this 6 1. per acre is rather more than half 
the present value of the land, and with the If. an acre, the original 
pui’chase money, it comes out at 71. per acre laid out on purchase 
and improvements to make it worth from 10?. to 111. an acre. This 
is taking it at the low value of a period of depression, but prices 
fluctuate very greatly in Australia, so much so that, at the time of 
the recent “land boom,” the adjoining estate, of very similar quality, 
sold for considerably more than 20?. per acre. 
At first sight the large sum of 5,427?. spent on drainage and 
roads did not seem to show much for the money. There is a mam 
road leading to the homestead and beyond it through the estate. 
This road is macadamised up to the homestead, but no farther. 
There are two other roads intersecting the property, but they are 
merely fenced off from the surrounding fields, and in wet weather 
they are rather soft. The beneficial results of the drainage are in 
this case very visible, for whereas, before the drainage operations 
were carried out, the whole of the rich bottom lands were in a per- 
petual state of flood, they are now dry and well adapted for cultiva- 
tion or pasturing. The straightening and deepening of the river 
