The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-15

AUSTRALIAN FARMING.
Reasons why the Planter and Ora
zier Are Poor.
From the London Times.

zier Are Poor.
From the London Times.
Australia, apart from the tropical
area, is naturally divided into three
divisions-the coast, the tablelands, and
the western districts; and the value of
each district is solely matter of rain
fall. The coast has a rainfall of about
Al inches. the tableland country about
80 inches, while out lin the west the
rainfall decreases in proportion to the
distance from the ocean, till west of
the Darling there is a lot of country
with an average rainfall of less than
10 inches, and in some parts of Aus
tralia the rainfall only inches And
yet into all this western country
money has been poured like water in
the vain hope of doing something with
1t. In the words of a starved-out
grazier: 1T is a great question
whether the western districts of Aus
tralia should be regarded as an asset
or a liability"
The settlement of Australia was, I'M
fortunately, not a gradual matter; the
settlers did not have to make their
own capital, and spread out slowly.
making their way on their own re-
sources. The country was settled on
the most up-to-date methods, inasmuch
as there. was unlimited capital to
finance the settlers. Land was scratn-
bled for in the districts where the rain
rail- was sure; and it's value was cal
culated, not on what result could be
produced by it, but on what it could
be sold for in future years, and on
what could be borrowed on it in the
meantime. By inconceivable folly all
the good farming land belonging to
the crown was thrown open for ISur-
chase at fixed price of Ell an acre.
The result was that the good land went
up in price by leaps in a good dis
trict-or, rather, not the value, but
the price-is as high as similar land
in English farming districts. This
false idea of value is a sad handicap
in everything. The whole country suf-
fers from overcapitalization. The
gold mines are overcapitalized-a mine
that would pay dividends on a small
capital is put on the market as worth
millions, and never earns its share
holders a decent return for their
money; the farmer has to pay so mucA
for his land that he can never keep
down the interest on his mortgage;
and the grazier who has been forced
to secure" his land by purchase has
had to spend pound an acre in cash
and pound an acre in Improvements
! for land that needs two acres to feed
| sheep, so that he is paying interest
on four pounds to maintain one sheep
| and sheep will not earn interest on
four pounds at present prices.
The western graziers of Australia
have immersed themselves in debt,
and now that the drought is on the
land their prospects are bad indeed.
A drought is a thing happily un-
known TO English readers. The big
stations out in the West mostly depend
on artificial supplies for their water. as
| the few natural watercourses and
creeks usually go dry once each year at
| least. To secure water for the stock
big reservoirs, called tanks" are dug.
holding millions of gallons, and dams
| are put across the shallow waterways
| and in some places artesian water is
| obtained: but. even If the water sun
| plyrholds out, the want of grass soon
begins to kill the stock. Sheen and
cattle are turned loose all the wear
round in large paddocks, some of them
| being five miles square. Then the
| sheep, coming down to water eat of
/ the grass and heritage growing any,
where near the water and as the
| drought progresses they eat every
| green thing anywhere within three on
| four miles Of the water; then thew get
| weaker and weaker, and even Though
there may be a little grass left out IN
the outlying corners of their paddocks,