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VIGILANS ET AUDAX.
PERTH, SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1893.
IN a letter published in yesterday's issue
Mr. C. H. RASON called attention to the
heavy importation of food supplies, all
of which might be produced in the
colony. The subject has so often been
referred to, so often discussed, so often
denounced, and so often prescribed for,
that nothing but its vast importance to
the present position and future prospects
of the colony could furnish an excuse for
again dealing with it. Mr. RASON
wisely, no doubt, does not suggest a
remedy. He simply points to the fact,
and leaves it as a sort of writing on the
wall, to warn us that unless we change
our ways the day of reckoning cannot be
very far distant. Apart, however, from
any remedies that may be possible, and
admitting that the evil is as serious as
Mr. RASON, and many others with him
believe, it has to be remembered that in
the present position of the colony it
would be a very remarkable thing indeed
if the farmers had within the last two or
three years been able to meet the increased
demand for their produce. That period
has seen a continuous and steady increase
to our population, due perhaps somewhat
to the depression in the Eastern colonies a,
and a the red principally by the gold
discoveries and in part also by the public
works policy which the Government are
now carrying out. . All these new arrivals
have to be led, and if supplies are not
available locally, they must be purchased
outside the colony. It is an open question
whether the farmers might not have made
better preparation for a demand which it
was not difficult to anticipate. Their
champions, however, declare that the
majority of them have done their best
that as far as they possibly could they
have borrowed money for adding to the
cleared and Cultivated portions of their
holdings, and that if progress is not being
made at so rapid a rate as could be
desired, it is only because of the lack of
financial assistance, a lack from which
unfortunately every form of enterprise is
now suffering. This is a point on which
our Northam correspondent-a close
student of the land settlement question in
its local aspects-has laid especial stress,
and it is only recently that he made what
appears to be an admirable suggestion,
namely that a Land and Mortgage Company
should be formed specially for the
purpose of lending capital to the farmers
on the security of their holdings. In
a colony where a total failure of the
crops is almost unknown, and where
there are many fine estates lying idle
principally from the lack of capital with
which to develope them, there can be
little doubt that a Company such as this,
wisely and carefully managed, would go
far to assist in solving a very difficult
problem.
Besides the reasons already given for
the heavy importations of food stuffs, it
has also to be remembered that last year
the harvest did not turn out so well as
usual. This year, however, the season
is proving one of the best known for a long
time past, and it may therefore be expected
that the yield of wheat will be the
largest known. So many, however, are
the issues involved that congratulation
has scarcely ceased on progress made in
one quarter before complaints demand to
be heard from another. In some of the
more remote agricultural districts the
farmers are declaring that they cannot
compete, even in the local market, with
their rivals in the Eastern colonies that
owing to the low rates of freight charged
by the steamship companies, and despite
a heavy duty, it costs less to land South
Australian or Victorian produce in Fremantle
than it does to bring it from the
Williams and other districts where there
are heavy cartage and railway charges to
be paid. Then again, supposing we produce
sufficient food locally to supply our
wants, the revenue will suffer, seeing
that at present a large portion of the
duties received represents fox tion on
the necessaries of life. This, of course,
is not by any means an insuperable objection.
The larger our population the less
should be the amount of revenue required
per head. But a readjustment of the
incidence of taxation would be required,
and there are many who hold that this is
not the least of the benefits which would
spring from a decrease in our Customs
revenue. There are certainly several
methods of taxation, regarded by political
economists as eminently desirable, which
have never yet been tried in this colony.
In discussing the land settlement
question it is essential to remember there
are at least two standpoints from which
the subject may be regarded. There is
the national one, and that of the farm. r.
There is, no doubt, a tendency on the
part of some critics of the situation to
throw blame upon the shoulders of the
agriculturists. But the answer to complaints
of this sort is so obvious as
scarcely to need repeating. If the settlement
of the land offers so abundant a
reward to enterprise, why, the farmers may
retort, do not you people who are always
urging it, cease talking and begin the
more practical work of cultivation. If
each one who is so ready to advise the
farmers would himself forsake the
pleasures of town life, and devote his
labour and his money to subduing the
wilderness, in a few years there would be,
if only they all stuck to their work, a
great many more acres under cultivation
than is the case at present. It is unreasonable
to blame the farmers if they
look at the subject as it affects their own
interests rather than in its national
aspects. But what v r they may say,
the position of those among them who
are within easy distance of a market
may be regarded as fairly satisfactory.
They complain perhaps that
prices rule low, and that to their mind
is only an additional reason why they
should not strain every nerve to increase
the producing power of their estates.
Least of all are they likely to feel deeply
interested in projects for settling people
on the soil to compete with them in the
local market. That, of course, is the
selfish view, but it is the one that would
be taken by ninety-nine people out of a
hundred in regard to their own affairs.
If there was a lack of storekeepers in
the colony we should not find the exist-
ing storekeepers clamouring for more
people to start in the business, and the
same rule applies to every profession in
which personal profit is the ruling motive.
On the other hand, the subject has its
national aspect, and it must be admitted
that not nearly so much progress has bean
made as could be desired. The Great
Southern Railway Company, from causes
partly within its control, and partly not
has done very much less than was expected.
Little of its land ha*beentakei
up, and only a petty fraction is under cultivation.
The Eastern railway, as soon
as it got into the good country, found
itself among large freeholds, the owners
of which are in cases either rel not at
to subdivide, or too poor themselves to
employ the labour necessary for the full
development of their estates. Now,
however, besides the Great Southern
railway, the first twenty or thirty miles
of the Northam-Yilgarn line, and a great
portion of the South-Western line open
up virgin territory, and the question is
how to make that fact known to those
persons in the other colonies, and the
United Kingdom, who are looking out
for land. Unquestionably we have many
advantages to offer. Our market is
locally under-supplied; there is fine
land, a beautiful climate, good markets,
and ready means of communication.
And best of all, while in the old world,
the farmers are suffering from terrible
depression, there is scarcely anything of
the kind known here. Though there is
depression i in Australia there is no class
which it touches less than the agricultural
producer, and there is no class to whom
the future offers better prospects.
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