No. II.—Jan. 19th, 1869.

There are a few settlements around Glengower—the late Mr. Donald Campbell's run—at the south west corner of Sandon, and on the borders of Rodborough and Campbelltown. Most of the best land here however, was purchased long ago, Mr. Campbell alone having secured some 16,000 acres, the creator portion of which is good agricultural country Still, wherever any eligible sites were left unoccupied they were speedily taken up under the provisions of the clause. I observed here some selections adjoining the pre-emptive right of Campbell's station which appeared to have been marked out for other than agricultural purposes. The greater portion of the land was so thickly studded with granite boulders that it would be all but impossible to clear it. It, however, adjoins, the sheep-wash and dam belonging to the station, upon which some £200 has been recently spent, and if this land is taken away the whole of the improvements will be useless, as there will be no convenient place to run the sheep immediately after they are washed. The first party who took up this land made no improvement upon it, and another has now jumped it and lodged a notice of intention to apply for the area at the next sitting of the commission in the district. The present manager of the station applied to have one or two lots immediately adjoining the sheep-wash withdrawn from selection, but the Lands department refused to do so on the ground that the late Mr. Campbell had purchased 10,000 acres of the finest land in the district. It is somewhat difficult, however, to see why this is a reason that a portion of the property should he spoiled, or that his widow should be compelled to buy off parties who take up land for the mere purposes of extortion. If the allotments applied for consisted of even moderately good agricultural land the case would be different, but with the exception of a very few acres, to the granting of which no objection is offered, the whole area is fit for nothing but the purpose to which it has hitherto been applied—to run sheep on after being washed. The case appears so much the harder because the present sheep-wash had to be constructed in consequence of one previously built having been rendered worthless by the sludge which came down the creek from the mines.

Proceeding from Campbelltown through West Sandon, I came to the parish of Tarrengower. Here there are about eighty holdings, varying from twenty to eighty acres in extent, and averaging about forty acres each. Nearly all the allotments have been fenced in and cultivated, and in most instances the parties, except where they possess purchased land, are residing on them. In some cases the members of a large family have combined, and managed to secure between them a very decent sized farm. Thus, one family named Munro, just on the borders of Tarrengower, have some 200 acres enclosed in a ring-fence, and nearly the whole area has been brought under cultivation. In other cases a small allotment is worked by a family, without any extraneous assistance—father, mother, and the little ones all contributing their share, for there is always something even for the smallest to do. The only drawback to the pleasant reflections induced by the manifestation of such a resolute determination to succeed is the thought that the children, instead of being at work, should be receiving that education which alone can properly fit them for worthily and successfully playing their part in life. A week or two ago there might have been seen in Tarrengower a field of wheat being reaped entirely by children. The captain of the company was a young page 12 girl, some fifteen years of age, and she had with her her three brothers the eldest about thirteen and the youngest about six years old, all of them handling the reaping-hook and working with an earnestness which would have put to shame many older heads and stronger hands. Their father had, unfortunately for himself and family, earned a short time before rather more money than usual, which, in the most approved fashion, he had knocked down at the most convenient shanty. The consequence may be easily imagined. He drank himself mad, and for his own safety, as well as for the well-ordering of society, he was sent to gaol for three months. The mother—a steady and respectable woman—was in the meantime doing the best she could to support the family, and the children gathered in the crop of wheat in the manner I have just stated.

In this district, as in nearly all I passed through, the crops are comparatively poor. There are some exceptions, but as a rule the wheat will not average more than from ten to fifteen bushels to the acre. This is no doubt to be principally attributed to the drought. Another reason, however, is also given—the sowing of machine-thrashed wheat. Large numbers of farmers attribute their short crops to this cause. One—Donald Grant—who has a farm on the borders of Moolort, told me that from hand-thrashed seed he obtained twenty bushels of wheat to the acre, whilst the most that he got from machine thrashed wasten, although both were sown at the same time, and in precisely similar soil. Another farmer, in Tarrengower, said that, whilst from hand-thrashed seed he got twenty-six bushels to the acre, his machine-thrashed only gave him from ten to twelve bushels, although, as in the previous case, there was no difference in the character of the soil, or the time of sowing, and the usual allowance was also made for the proportion of machine-thrashed wheat, which is always supposed to be damaged. At Maldon, Moolort, Mount Greenock, and Eddington, I heard similar complaints, and a general determination was expressed, never for the future, under any circumstances, to use any but hand thrashed seed. I saw several instances in this locality of the extraordinary desire which possesses a large portion of the community to obtain a home which they can call their own. One man had actually taken up a portion of land thickly covered with sludge, deposited by the Jim Crow Creek when it overflowed its natural boundaries—a circumstance of frequent occurrence, as the original bed of the stream is almost entirely choked up by the refuse from the neighbouring mines. This man had thrown up a small embankment to guard against the future incursions of the creek, and then had actually set to work to cultivate the sludge. To a certain extent he had been successful. Vegetables were growing where all vegetation appeared impossible, and the man was seemingly content to pay a rental of some 4s. per acre per annum for the privilege he enjoyed of growing potatoes and cabbages in the sludge from the mines. To attempt to cultivate a hundred acres of such land would be quite sufficient to ruin even a moderately wealthy man. Yet this miner reaped at least a small profit from the little plot which he called his home. It is, indeed, astonishing to witness the amount of labour which people ungrudgingly bestow upon a small piece of land as soon as they imagine they have a title to it. Meeting another man, who had taken up an allotment of some twelve acres, I asked him what he thought of the 42nd clause. "It has been the salvation of the country," he immediately replied. "How so ?" I inquired. "Why, look at me," he answered, "I am now an independent man. Last year I cultivated an page 13 acre or so of potatoes and about half a dozen acres of wheat and this will give me enough bread and potatoes to keep my family until after the next harvest, and in the meantime I can take any work that offers, besides further improving the land." This man was very anxious to get about eight acres improving land adjoining his present holding, but as some shallow holes had been at one time sunk upon it he was unable to do so in consequence of a recent regulation issued by the Lands Department, that no abandoned diggings should under any circumstances be granted. No doubt this is a very judicious arrangement, and I suppose it is difficult to make provision for special cases, although in the instance to which I refer no harm could by any means follow, as the ground is all shallow, has been well tried, and there is no possibility of anything like a lead passing through it.

In the parish of Maldon the holdings are not very important, They have been principally taken up by miners, and others resident in the township. There never was much available land in this neighbourhood open for selection under the clause, and what there was has been rapidly taken possession of by bona fide selectors, anything like the evasion of the act being rendered almost impossible by the keen watch over the movements of these who had secured land by these who were less fortunate. There are altogether about ninety holdings in this parish, varying from five up to eighty acres in extent. There are, however, very few of the larger area, and the general average will be from eighteen to twenty acres. Nearly all the land has been fenced, and a considerable quantity has been brought under cultivation. In Baringhup, the adjoining parish to Maldon, the greater portion of the best land passed into the possession of the Messrs. Bryant, the pastoral tenants of the run many years ago. Some portions of fair agricultural country were, however, left, and these have now all been taken up. There are altogether thirty-four holdings, averaging about sixty acres each. Most of these have been fenced in and are under cultivation, but others have been taken up more recently, and the improvements which have been made are not of an important character. Some of the allotments have been selected by storekeepers and brokers. On a few of these no improvements have been effected, and a suspicion prevails that the selectors have acted in the interests of the holders of the run. These I was informed will be reported for forfeiture for nonfulfilment of the conditions of the lease.

Proceeding almost due south from Baringhup you reach the Moolert Plains in the parish of Moolert, and here the settlement is of an entirely different character to that hitherto met with. Instead of comparatively small holdings of inferior land occupied by men striving for a livelihood, you are surrounded on every hand by farms of a respectable size, substantially fenced, and in a great many instances having comfortable houses erected on them. The land here is, with very few exceptions, of excellent quality. The general size of the allotments is eighty acres, but by means of transfers several selectors have managed to secure from 160 to 200 acres each, and in a few cases even larger areas. All these are doing well, and their prospects are excellent. A great want of water has been experienced this season, and mar? of the farmers are either sinking wells or forming reservoirs in order to be better prepared in the future for a like contingency. About 120 licences, averaging sixty-five acres each, have been issued for this district, making the total area taken up under the clause nearly 8,000 acres. I could discover only two or three instances in page 14 which the conditions of improvement had not been carried out. In one a man and his family had managed to obtain no less than 640 acres, and in twelve months had only cultivated some five acres and put up a few chains of fencing. It was pretty evident that this land had only been occupied for speculative purposes. I was informed that several persons were waiting to jump portions of it, and that unless the holder at once commenced to improve in earnest the area taken up by him it was extremely probable he would lose it all, as the Crown lands bailiff had already given him notice that he should report against him. Another lot, containing some 200 acres, had been fenced in for grazing purposes, but as this was very stony land it would cost a great deal to clear, and as the occupier had cattle upon it it was not considered likely that he would be interfered with, especially as there appeared to be no doubt of his bonâ fides. In another instance a lot of land was taken up by some persons who pretended they were going to start a sugar plantation; but after a considerable delay—the public when appealed to being anything but enthusiastic in their support of the proposition—the whole scheme fell to the ground, and the land was forfeited. It had been forfeited by the same persons once before, and again selected by them, they, by this rather clever move, evading the payment of the rent due. The land—some 200 acres—has since been taken up by farmers, who, for ten years previously, had rented farms at Taradale, the property of Mr. Tucker, the late rejected of Castlemaine. As a rule the wheat crops in this district have been very fair, in some instances averaging twenty bushels to the acre, and in others from fifteen to eighteen. Very few oats were sown, and of the small quantity put in, the greater portion was cut for hay, so that many farmers have not even sufficient for their own use, whilst scarcely one has any to dispose of. It is a rather singular fact that, although the soil in this locality is very good, potatoes will not grow, every attempt both this year and last to cultivate them proving an entire failure. When planted early the frost seems to cut them off, and when planted late there is not sufficient moisture to permit the tubers to develope. Almost all the selectors in this district consist of merchants, storekeepers, and others, having more or less capital, and many have laid out over £1,000 on their selections. The holdings being large, the rent is not so much as that charged for small allotments, it being in the one case 2s. 10½d. per acre, and in the other is and over. Yet, strange to say, it was principally in this district that I heard any complaints relative to the rent demanded by the Government, and it was here I met with the greatest number of persons anxious that the rent should be considered and taken as a portion of the purchase money. Nothing could be more unfair to the country generally. The rent charged is extremely moderate, for nearly all the land is worth at least from £3 to £5 an acre, and I am satisfied that if country of a similar quality in a like situation were to be now offered for rental by auction, it would certainly fetch two or three times the amount at present charged by the Government. What has already taken place in the district constitutes a safe basis upon which to form an opinion. It was here that the late Mr. Ramsay, M.L.A., and his sons-in-law took up some 400 acres, a proceeding which caused no little stir at the time. Although not a brilliant politician, Mr. Ramsay appears to have had a very keen eye to what is popularly known as the main chance. At any rate he was a very good judge of land. The section taken up by him was one of the best in Moolert. Since his death it has been disposed of to two brothers named Garlick. At the most liberal page 15 valuation the improvements, including a few head of cattle, were not worth more than £200, but the Messrs Garlick gave Mrs. Ramsay £560 for them, or, in other words, they paid a premium of nearly £1 per acre for the privilege of renting the holding from the Government at 2s, 10½d. acre per annum. Facts like these are a sufficient answer to these who allege that the present rental is an exorbitant charge for such land as that I have been just describing. One retired storekeeper who has secured a first-class allotment in this district, and who has taken a very active part in the agitation now going on for a reduction in the rent, or for its being received as a portion of the purchase money, pointed out to me that he had taken up 160 acres, eighty in his own name and eighty in that of his daughter. The first year he said he was only able to cultivate a small portion of his holding, and yet he had to pay rent for the whole area, which he appeared to consider a great hardship. I quietly asked him whether it would not have been better for him if he had contented himself with one eighty acres, and let the other go, in order to have avoided paying so much rent. He did not at all coincide with this view of the case, and, as I expected, appeared to regard me as little better than a maniac for making the suggestion. At the same time, he entirely ignored the fact that if taking up the 160 acres at the rent charged, although he could not cultivate the whole at once, had not been a remarkably good speculation, he would have had nothing to do with it; and he also forgot the fact that there were hundreds of men in the district who would have been delighted to get the eighty acres he took up in his daughter's name, even though they had to pay for it a much higher rental, Taking the whole of the district of Moolert the settlers are doing exceedingly well, and the only thing to be regretted is that there is not plenty of such land, as eligibly situated, open for selection upon the same advantageous terms. It would not long stand idle.