SWAN RIVER.
A file of papers has been received from the new settlement on the Swan River, to the 19th of January last, and letters to the 3d of February. The accounts thus received of the state of the colony are most favourable. One of the letters we have seen remarks, that "in a short time, perhaps next season, sufficient corn will be grown in the country to render the colonists independent of foreign supplies ;" and the prices of all sorts of food are much lower than heretofore. This looks well, and goes to prove that the soil has been condemned upon insufficient eyidence. Labour is numb in demand; carpenters getting with ease, when . they chose to work, ten shillings a day, and labourers twelve shillings a week besides board and lodging. • - . The Government regulations for selling land appear to.have hal the deSitalge effect of keeping the colonists together; and now that they . are beginning. to be understood throughout the Australian colonies, they are meeting witlik, that approval which we predicted they would receive, ivn the plan was first developed in our paper. The value ' Of land h: eatly increased ; but unfortunately no details are given in 4ifr
proof of tins general statement. A very intercYting pamphlet, giving an account of his journey to Swan /bier, lm i been published in India by Colonel Hanson, the • Quartermaster. General at Madras ; from which, as the most authentic i intelligence, we Shall give a few extracts. Be thus describes the town
: and neighbourhood of Fremantle- . ".The first impression of a stranger is certainly anfivourable : he bees nothing but an apparently poor soil, upon which the town of Fremantle is building; and until be is shown the actual produce of 'mother earth,' it will be diffieult fur him to imagine that it is capable of giving any sort of vegetation.. When he - sees, however, that this apparent sand produces the fittest vegetables in the world, he cannot permit himself to remain any longer in doubt. There u as an excellent little inn established when I was there, , The Stirling Arms,' at which the comforts were fair and the charges moderate; Several good stone and brick louses were in progress, the property of respectable settlers ; and indeed all - classes- seemed to be governed by the same praiseworthy and good feeling towards each other. The distance by water from Fremantle to Perth, I should think is about twelve miles ; but the land road is much shorter ; and upon it, half-way, there is an inn, at which the traveller can obtain refreshment. " The town of Perth is at present the capital of the colony; and the site of it is well chosen. It is situated on the north bank of the Swan River, having '-a; picturesque little mountain at its western extremity, named Mount Eliza, upon which it is proposed to build a Government house. The society of the place is-hospitality personified ; for though their means are sOinewhat limited, .yet they share them With the kindest good-will. Stone and brick houses are there also in rapid progress: one of the latter, the property of Captain Irwin, the .Commaridant, was nearly finished when I came away ; and a most excellent hotise it will prove to be. Stock of all kinds thrive and multiply at a prodigious 'rate. ' Poultry is becoming very abundant, and pigs were running wild in the jungle. Goats appear to like the climate vastly ; fill- they are so exceedingly prolific that they seldom produce less than three at a birth.
•
"The most thriving farm on the north bank, above Perth, is called the 'Yorkshire Farm.' Here the soil may be said to assume quite a new character. The sand, so much complained of by a parcel of prejudiced visitors, is but par- tially seen ; and there were certainly as fine crops of wheat and other grain on the ground, When I was there, as could be found in any part of the world. "The township of Guildfbrd, on the south bank, is fast assuming a very re- spectable appearance. The Governor has built a little cottage orn6e in its imme- diate vicinity ; and it is difficult to imagine a more beautiful situation. - "The house is considerably elevated above the general level of the country. The site is chosen at a turn Of the river commanding a view along two exten- -sive reachts ; and the land in front of it being all meadow land, very beautifully studded with fruit trees, you may, without much eff-rt of imagination, conceive -yourself placed in the midst of agentleman's park at home. "A splendid farm adjoins the Governor's estate, the property of Sir James Hume; :tad the land, as I proceeded up the river, was as fine as any land in the world. I not only speak from my own observation, but I speak from the testi- mony of a first-rate gentleman farmer, Mr. Buckman; whose prodace this year will justify. the praise I am bestowing upon it. His fields of wheat, and indeed of grain of every description, were as rich and productive as in any -part of the world ; and both the mutton and beef on his estate were equal in my opinion to well-fed ulna in England." Colonel Hanson's pamphlet throughout is much in praise of the colony. The climate, soil, and general capacity for production, appear to be in eVery view particularlyeligible for a settlement. These points may now be considered as set at rest. . The prosperity of the colony does not, however; depend upon these alone ; and at a future opportunity we shall make some remarks upon the system of colonization to be adopted with reference to that settlement, and to which too much at- tention cannot be paid by those friends whom the settlers have left be- hind them in England.
Previous page
