Having, therefore, pointed out to the best of my ability what I consider the greatest drawback to the advancement of this fair colony, viz., the wasteful expenditure of 6,000,000 of money annually for Victoria alone, I will return to consider at greater length the object for which this sketch was mainly written.
[The Settlement of the Lands.]
Husbandry is the source of all true wealth, and the back-bone of every country. I regret to say the farming interest in Victoria has been heavily handicapped by the protective duties, to sustain the interests of the manufacturers and importers. The crisis came upon the farmers first, as soon as they had to compete in the world's market, and it will come upon the manufacturers just in the same way, when they have over-produced for the home market. It is just now upon the turning point. Can they compete with the world with men's present wages, and eight hours' labor? I very much doubt it. If not, what will they do with their surplus goods. Farmers' sons have had to rush the cities for employment, and there is a vast population just growing into manhood—sons of artisans, which our football matches testify. Can these be absorbed into the various trades? I don't like taking a gloomy view of things, but I think the subject should have very serious thought. It is very easy to boast about the eight hours' movement, and wages to be fixed, and "strikes" ordered by a Trades' Hall Council. But will they provide an outlet for the working man's commodities at colonial prices? But to return to the land. In the first place, I may say as regards Victoria, the open selection of Crown land has ceased. Even the grazing blocks, under the new Act, 1884, which nearly covers all the inferior or waste land, I think are all pretty well taken up, and the only hope now is the breaking up or sub-division of the large estates, and they comprise, luckily, the very finest runs of land, on 100 acres of which, a family could live better than on 320 of ordinary land. Of course, to get this good land requires some capital, but the return lies surely in the soil, and it only requires labor—the poor man's capital—with strict economy, to recover the first expenditure. The breaking up of these large estates will be the making of Victoria. Or the cutting up into tenant blocks would be even better for the owners, and better for men of limited means. A ten years' lease on prime land should make him independent. I don't mean make his fortune, but should place him in a position to go ahead. This is the only land that will bear a dense population, or bear intense cultivation, and is, in fact, the only hope for the colony. This want of land for the rising generation is the cause of so many of our young men—farmers' sons—seeking employment in Melbourne, their parents' holdings not being sufficient to maintain the whole of the family, and many are marrying, and desire to have homes of their own. I trust the large owners of estates are patriotic, if not philanthropic enough to see the necessity of this, which is also a duty to God and man, for it is pitiable to see men willing to go upon the land, and many with sufficient means, looking about in vain. Without these are cultivated, how can the population increase as it should? And how can work be found for the artisans in the cities? These and the farmers must go hand in hand, and prosper together; for if the 130,000 farmers have only a surplus of an average of £10 each yearly, it throws into their hands £1,300,000—no insignificant sum. To a small extent, there has been a disposition to sub-divide. I trust they will increase a hundred-fold.
I think it will be seen from what I have written, that for "New Chums," at least in Victoria, there is not much chance for settling on the land, without they possess a few hundreds in cash. Therefore they must be satisfied with patient, frugal labor for a few years, to save sufficient capital. But there are the other colonies of Australia—New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, and Western Australia, where they have liberal land laws. Splendid countries, inviting capital and labor, and upon which, in the various latitudes, the products of the whole world can be grown to the greatest perfection, and the area so vast, that the population of another Europe could be set down; but a very great portion of it, from its position, climate, etc., is not very inviting, or hardly suitable for needy emigrants. There is, though, a vast outlet for the profitable investment of capital in those outlying districts. Capital and labor must go hand in hand like twin brothers. Then the waste places of the earth would soon "blossom as the rose," and we should soon find the over-stocked hives of the old lands relieved of the burden of humanity, for as yet it is idle to talk of the "over-population of the world;" why, we know in fact that as yet it is not half populated, not only Australia. Look at the vast country of South America, watered by that mighty river the Amazon, also the Argentine Republic. Then the great north-west of Canada, also the regions of the Congo and Central Africa, and many other considerable and desirable places. Yes, there is room enough yet in the ample and bountiful bosom of "Mother Earth," and she is inviting, with open arms, her children to partake of her bounties. We hear a great deal about "over-population" and "over-production." Why is it? Simply because the great masses of the working bees are not placed in a position to gather the world's honey, and thus to become customers for the products of the manufacturing countries. The cry should be—Put the people on the lands, at whatever cost! They will return interest an hundred-fold.
At the present time the subject of irrigation is absorbing the attention of the Government and the community in general. The appointment of the Royal Commission on Water Supply was a grand idea, and for which the colony should be grateful, and particularly to the president, the Honourable Alfred Deakin, M.P., for his arduous and indefatigable labor to promote a general interest in the subject. The visit also of the Commission to America, and the report of the same, are highly interesting and useful, and which led to the establishment of Messrs Chaffey Bros.' Irrigation Colony at Mildura. This will do immense good. It will be an open book, giving ocular and practical demonstration of the advantages of water and intense cultivation, but above all, to show how capital can be advantageously invested for the mutual and common good, and I think it will lead to many such in Victoria, and also extend right across the continent to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and thus make a profitable outlet for English capital, and at the same time relieve the old lands of the plethora of humanity. What can be done in arid countries without water? What would India, Egypt, Italy, &c., be without irrigation? In fact, it is the life of all nature. We can hardly estimate its value. It is the only solvent and menstruum to set free the constituents of the soil. Intense culture with water requires intense labor and intense manuring. It will also require cheap labor and cheap mechanical appliances. At present our machinery is nearly double the price it is in America. How then can we compete with the world without we start fairly? A 50-acre irrigated farm will suffice to keep a family comfortably, as crops are not only doubled, but you can double crop. That is, take at least two crops, one grain and the other roots or fodder plants, in one season, and you can cut fodder crops three or four times, and lucerne five or six. I have experimented for some years, and I have come to the conclusion that "soakage" is the best; that is, run the water in the furrows between the lands or beds, not too wide, so that the water, by capillary attraction, may soak quite through. There is a very great deal to learn. The right time to put the water on, and the time to leave off, otherwise it will do more harm than good. For fruit, also, you must not keep watering too long, or the fruit will never mature properly, and be of inferior flavor and quality, and the young wood will not mature for the next year's crop. Independent of fruit growing, which is so much advocated just now, I think irrigation is of as much advantage to the general farmer, not so much for corn growing, as it is difficult to catch the right time, and an excess is pretty sure to create mildew and rust; but for roots and fodder crops, and "catching crops" after harvests, for the dairy, etc., too much cannot be said in favor of irrigation. Every stream, however small, running through a dry country, should be utilised, if not, it is so much wealth running to waste, and its use to the dairy industry, which has advanced with such strides during the last few years, is not half enough appreciated. The Government has aided this industry most liberally, and it has been the making of thousands of families, but improved methods of growing crops by irrigation and better feeding, and an improved breed of dairy cattle, would quite double the produce. I think I have said enough as to the advantages and difficulties of irrigation, difficulties which experience will overcome.
As this "Life's Sketch" was written mainly to induce the settlement of the people on the land, my concluding division will be an endeavour to propound.