NOTE BY THE EDITOR.
The publication of the preceding Journal affords an appropriate occasion for inviting attention to the remarkable progress of Western Australia within the last few years. Mr. John Forrest is proud to acknowledge himself as belonging to that colony--indeed native-born--and his fellow-colonists have invariably supported and encouraged his explorations. Belonging to the public service, he has recognized as his main object the discovery of new and good country with the view of extending colonization, while within his ideas of duty there has been a steadfast regard for those objects which promote the welfare of young settlements. It has long been observed that Western Australia requires to be thoroughly understood in its great capacities for carrying a large population. There are vast resources yet to be developed, and what has been accomplished in sheep and cattle stations, in copper and lead mining, in wine-growing, in pearl fisheries, besides other important operations, prove that the country has scarcely been tapped, and will be sure to reward those who have the enterprise and industry to become settlers. It is only necessary to substantiate these statements by official documents, and, in the hope that this volume will do good service to Western Australia, the following papers are reprinted.
GOVERNOR WELD'S REPORT TO THE EARL OF CARNARVON.
Government House, Perth,
September 30, 1874.
MY LORD,
It has appeared to me that your lordship may think it desirable that, before I leave, I should, so far as the limits of a despatch may enable me to do so, place before you the present state of this colony, review the progress it has made within the last five years, and indicate its future prospects.
2. When I was appointed to the Government of Western Australia I was aware that from various causes the colony had made but little progress; and on my arrival in September, 1869, I found chronic despondency and discontent, heightened by failure of the wheat crop, by the prospect of the gradual reduction of convict expenditure and labour on which the settlers had been accustomed to depend, by the refusal of the Home Government to continue to send out free immigrants, and by that vague dread of being thrown on their own resources so natural to men who have been accustomed to take no part in their own affairs, and who have consequently learned to rely entirely upon the Government, and not at all upon themselves. One healthy symptom there was, and that was a desire, not very strong perhaps, or even generally founded upon a just appreciation of the past, or political foresight of the future; but still a very wide-spread desire, and to many a reasonable and intelligent desire, for a form of representative institutions which might give the colonists some real voice in the management of their own affairs.