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 easy terms of residence and improvement. Further, cooperative settlements are arranged, with freeholds of 160 acres, where special facilities are given for State schools, etc.: and these are particularly suited to families, as each member can have his holding, and yet some can remain free from time to time, during the early period of struggle, to contribute to the common stock by wages earned elsewhere. To come back to the Darling Downs,—which, it will be remembered, were discovered in 1827, and leased by squatters in 1840,—the squatters' country, which had become freehold, was opened up by the railway constructed by Messrs Peto & Brassey in 1867. The land became of agricultural value, as was proved by the small holdings acquired here and there by selectors. But private owners could not afford to extend the terms of payment for the land sold over 20 years. Parliament therefore sanctioned repurchase; for resale on 20 years' terms, or £7, 12s. 10d. per annum for each £100; being £5 interest and £2, 12s. 10d. for redemption, or £152, 16s. 8d. in the end, unless the purchaser shall elect to clear off the debt sooner. The payments, of course, with the exception of the first instalment, come out of the land itself; which, besides, keeps its owner and his family in comfort during the process. A typical case of a farm of 323 acres, thus secured in 1896, gave nearly 200 acres under cultivation by the end of 1897—100 of them under wheat, and the remainder in oats, potatoes, onions, peas, beans, pumpkins, and maize. All this was done with a double-furrow plough, while fencing, wells, dwelling-house, dairy, milking-shed, and yards were in course of construction. The cottage stands in an orchard of three acres; and, with twenty cows and a score or so of pigs, there is very little difficulty in meeting the Government instalments. Close by is the steading of a farmer