No. II.—Jan. 16th, 1869.

Franklin, the next parish to Yandoit on the road to Paylesford, takes its name from the well-known mount in that locality, at the base of which Sir John Franklin, when on his tour of discovery through the colony, stayed for some little time. He resided with Mr. Parker, the holder of page 7 the run, at what was then the home station. The building still exists, but in a most dilapidated condition. There is a small township or village, called Franklinford, just as you enter the parish from township allotments were originally sold at a high a few fetching over £100 per acre; but the place is now very quiet. There is, however, still some energy amongst the inhabitants, for I observed a substantial brick building in the course of erection which is intended for a common school house, and the greater portion of the cost had, I was informed, been locally subscribed. The land in the parish of Franklin is of a superior character to any that I had hitherto passed through. A great portion consists of good undulating country, lightly timbered, with comparatively rich, chocolate-coloured soil. Of course, as you approach Daylesford, a very considerable difference is observed, but I am now referring to that portion of the district which is under settlement. In Franklin, eighty-five licenses have been issued, covering a total area of 2,020 acres, and averaging about twenty-five acres each. I believe I am correct in saying that the whole of this land has been fenced in by the licencees, and cultivation has proceeded very extensively. In some places I observed very good crops, which I was told would yield as much as twenty bushels to the acre, but, from the causes mentioned in my previous letter, the general average will be far below that quantity. As is the case in almost all the earlier settled localities, much of the land taken up here under the 42nd clause is occupied by farmers in connection with their previously purchased holdings. In this district all the forty-seconders, as they are termed, are doing comparatively well, and their prospects are certainly much better than these of their friends in Guildford and Yandoit.

Leaving the more settled districts of Franklin, and proceeding on the road to Daylesford, you find yourself in the midst of precipitous ranges, with slate reefs and quartz or granite boulders cropping out in every direction. Of course, in such country very little land has been selected, but here and there, wherever in a break in the ranges a passably level piece of ground could be obtained, some enterprising individual has secured it. At short intervals, therefore, substantially-fenced and cleared holdings, with small huts or weatherboard houses erected on them, and a patch of cultivation refreshingly verdant agreeably varies the romantic scenery of these sterile ranges. The road lies through Shepherd's-flat and Hepburn, running nearly the whole distance along the sides of almost perpendicular declivities, which are eminently suggestive of the inevitable consequences which would follow any unusual display of eccentricity on the part of the horses you may be driving; in fact the roads are as execrable as the country is picturesque. The local authorities seem to have done something with the idea of improving them, such as throwing down in the worst places a cart-load or so of quartz boulders of the average size of a man's head, or, where these were not available, a similar quantity of cubes of slate of an equally convenient size, leaving the work of distribution to the vehicles and horses which are obliged to stumble over them. In some cases they have certainly cut down the crown of the hill, and done something towards levelling a sideling, but the only and general effect has been to produce an awful amount of dust everywhere. In the entire district apportioned to the Crown lands bailiff of Daylesford there are 883 licencees under the 12nd clause, occupying an aggregate area of 26,997 acres. These are distributed as page 8 follows:—In the parish of Bourke, 105 holdings, containing 3,500 acres; in the parish of Holcombe, 71 holdings, containing 2,000 acres; in the parish of Dean, 105, containing 2,300 acres; in Glenlyon, 42, containing 1,560 acres; in the parish of Coliban, 60, containing 3,350 acres; in Franklin 85, containing 2,020 acres; in Bullarook, 123, containing, 3,452 acres; in the parish of Wombat, 126, containing 2,530 acres; in the parish of Trentham, 96, containing 4,100 acres; in the parish of Tylden, 15, containing 685 acres; and in what is known as the state forest—parish unnamed—55 holdings, containing 1,500. The principal holdings, or rather these in which most progress has been made, are Franklin (already described), Burke, Dean, Bullarook, and Wombat. In Trentham, also, the soil is of magnificent quality, but heavily timbered, and the settlers, all of whom appear bona fide, are for the most part engaged in fencing and clearing, but little having been as yet accomplished in the way of cultivation. In Tylden, Holcombe and Glenlyon, a considerable area is very light soil, and is principally used for grazing purposes. The whole of it, however, appears to be profitably occupied, and where the land is of a better quality it is being rapidly brought under cultivation.

It is in the four parishes of Burke, Dean, Bullarook, and Wombat, however, that the energy of the miners and others who have taken up land is most conspicuously manifested. A great portion of this land was, but a short time since, a dense and almost impenetrable forest. Most of the holdings are only twenty acres each, and these who selected so small a portion of such country, with the idea of forming a home and making a living, must have been possessed of no small amount of pluck and endurance. They, however, knew the quality of the soil, and that it would well repay all the outlay both of capital and labour expended upon it. It is, in fact, some of the very finest that can be found in the whole colony, and is worth at least £5 an acre. Consequently, there is scarcely an eligible site which has not been occupied, and which is not being improved. On most of the holdings good weatherboard habitations have been erected, and there is generally an air of independence, comfort, and contentment prevalent amongst the forty-seconders in these districts which speaks well for their future prosperity. In many cases the roughest part of the work has been done, and already they are reaping the reward of their past labour. Passing over Wombat Hill, I was told that the greater portion had all been cleared, but it was only by comparing the fenced in and partially cultivated holdings with the untouched forest in the immediate vicinity that the fact could be realised, and with something like astonishment I beheld fields of luxuriant grain growing amidst what still appeared to be a very respectable forest, but it was all dead timber. The living trees, which would have exhausted the soil and injured the crops, had been removed, and either converted into posts and rails for fencing, or had served the good people of Daylesford for fuel. In some instances, however, the timber had only been dragged to the boundary of the holding, where it formed a dog rail or bush fence. The number of transfers which have been applied for in this district is exceedingly small, almost every individual residing on the allotment originally selected by him. The crops here are generally good, though not quite so forward as in these districts through which I had previously passed. The soil seemed to grow everything equally well, and in a comparatively short distance I observed wheat, oats, carrots, potatoes, mangolds, and vines all looking exceedingly healthy and promising. I conversed with several of the selectors, and from none page 9 did I hear anything like a complaint. One hard-working, good-tempered, good-humoured Irishman, who was nearly as black as the charred stumps of the monarchs of the forest which he was engaged in clearing away, said, in answer to my questions, "He couldn't complain; he took up twenty acres a little more than twelve months ago; this season he had seven or eight acres under cultivation, and the produce of that would keep his family until after the next harvest. Next year he would have more land cleared and under cultivation, and he should then do better." This man is only a type of a lame class who have settled in this district, and to whom the 42nd clause has undoubtedly proved a great boon When not engaged on their land they do a little mining, carting, or other work as opportunity may offer, and the money thus earned, instead of being squandered in the haunts of vice and dissipation, is expended in improving their holdings, and adding to the comforts of their homes. The settlers in this locality do not appear to have suffered so much from the drought as in other parts of the colony. A great portion of the land lies higher, and is not so much affected by the scorching hot winds, whilst the thick forests in the locality also exercise an ameliorating influence upon the climate. Vegetation here, consequently, docs not present that same shrivelled appearance which is so noticeable in other districts not similarly favoured.

As I have already intimated, a considerable portion of the area taken up under the 42nd clause in this district has been merely fenced in, and is used for glazing purposes. Some objection has been taken to this, but there does not appear to be any tangible ground for it. If small dairymen are content to go to the expense of fencing in the ground for the sustenance of their cattle, or merely in order to have a safe place in which to keep them during the night, and to pay the rent demanded by the Government from them for their holdings, it would be most unjust to refuse them the opportunity of so doing. In their sphere they are as useful and as necessary as the agriculturist. The two avocations, indeed, depend greatly upon each other for their mutual success, and all who are engaged in them constitute equally desirable colonists. Throughout the whole of this district I saw no signs of dummyism, nor of any attempt to evade the provisions of the act; nor did the inquiries I made lead me to suspect that anything of the sort had taken place. Of course it is impossible for me to say positively that no land has been taken up for the mere purpose of speculation, but it must at any rate have been to a very harmless and limited extent. As a rule, all the selectors are residing on their allotments, and all have made expensive and substantial improvements. Daylesford itself is a prettily-situated, clean, and, I should imagine, very healthy township. It is at present exceedingly quiet, owing to the great falling off which has taken place in the yield of the mines of the district. Hopes arc, however, entertained that a reaction will speedily take place, but whether this be the case or not, Daylesford will always be a township of considerable importance, in consequence of its healthy position and the large amount of agricultural settlement which has taken place in the neighbourhood.

Returning from Daylesford, through Hepburn and Shepherd's Flat, at both of which places there are some small settlements, though of an unimportant nature, as the soil is of anything but an inviting character I again passed through Yandoit, on my way to Strangways, Sandon, Tarrengower and Maldon. In Strangways there has been a large amount page 10 of settlement, over seventy licences having been issued, averaging about forty acres each, and a total area of nearly 3,500 acres being occupied under the clause. Generally speaking, the land here may be described as fair agricultural soil, lightly timbered. It is not so rich as that in the Daylesford district, but then, on the other hand, the expense of clearing and preparing it for the plough is much less. So far as I was able to ascertain, there is no available land unoccupied, and nearly all of it has been fenced in and brought under cultivation. There are not so many persons, however, residing on their several holdings, as a considerable portion has been selected by farmers who are living on their own purchased land. The crops here are not so good as was at one time anticipated, but the wheat will, in all probability, turn out from thirteen to fifteen bushels to the acre. In this parish I met with one of these difficulties which the Land department is sometimes required to solve. A section of twenty acres was taken up by one Hugh Smith in 1865. He fenced it in and otherwise improved it, but shortly afterwards left the locality, and has not been heard of for some two years past. One Ainsley, who is a relative of Smith's, quietly took possession of the land and improvements, and has since cultivated it and paid the rent, in the expectation, as he now alleges, that Smith would soon return and resume possession of his property. But a short time since a man named Abbis, finding that Ainsley was in illegal occupation of the land, it never having been transferred to him, jumped the ground, and now claims it and the improvements, the latter being valued at £200. The matter will probably come either before the next land commission which sits in the district, or before the department in Melbourne, to be determined. In either case some curious questions will arise, such as to whom the land should be adjudged; if to the jumper Abbis, should the improvements go with it, or do they revert to the Crown; and should Ainsley be called upon for an account of the crops he has already taken from the land of which he has been, and is, in illegal occupation.

The road from Strangways, through Sandon, lies through a narrow strip of purchased land; and backwards from this, on both sides, the farmers who own the purchased land have taken up additional areas under the 42nd clause. There are, however, a considerable number of persons in this parish who hold all their land in this manner, and nearly all of these have their ground fenced in, and a great portion under cultivation. The whole of this locality presents very evident signs of steady prosperity. There are sixty-nine licensees, whose allotments average about thirty acres each. I here met the Rev. Mr. Minte, the Presbyterian clergyman of the district, and Speaking from an intimate knowledge of the circumstances of the inhabitants, he gave a very encouraging account of their condition. Within the last eighteen months, he said, settlement had greatly increased, and his congregation had doubled. He himself has shared in the prosperity of the district, for, instead of the weatherboard cottage once occupied by the minister, he now resides in an extremely comfortable and substantial brick house, the land being purchased and the building erected at the sole cost of his parishioners. Besides this, the young men have erected a very good weatherboard and shingled stable for the accommodation of their horses whilst they are attending the rev. gentleman's ministrations on the Sunday. The land he describes as generally good, the people as contented, and with fair prospects; whilst, strange to relate, he remarked that he has never heard of any agitation for the reduction of the rent.