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 Conclusions ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 20: whose outlook had been extremely discouraging were enabled to obtain good wages. The Western Australian goldfields worked for good in South Australia in yet other resjjects. Local producers found a high-priced market f(jr hay and butter, local manufacturers for every class of mining machinery, local merchants for their goods, and local capital for investment. The best of the Western Australian groujis of mines was originally owned by an Adelaide syndicate, and the local men who took up their residence in the West invariably left their families in this Province, and despatched, through the moiuty order office, substantial sums of money in the aggregate to their relatives. In truth, the Western Australian goldfields afforded great relief to all Australia at an awkward period. Further relief to the labor market was afforded by the Government in the formation of Village Settlements on the communistic principle. Seven or eight of these small communities were established by State assistance, and although they have not been a remarkable success, their establishment served a useful purpose. In providing a temporary outlet for the energy of a class which was idle by compulsion, they were undoubtedly useful, and may be said to have augmented the assets of the Province. The Holder Vili.agk Settli;mknt Concurrent with this, the Government has given practical encouragement to what is known as the Homestead Blocks system, initiated many years before by the Hon. G. W. Cotton, under which working men are able to obtain, on nominal terms, the fee-simple of a plot of soil which they may cultivate in their spare time, and upon which they may build a cottage, thus becoming landed proprietors. This is an admirable innovation, which has attracted deserved attention from other countries. The applications for blocks have sometimes been so numerous that the (Government has not been able to supply tliem. There are now in .South Australia magnificent examples of the advantages of this unitjue system. Over and above necessary legislation designed to meet the peculiar conditions of local economy, the Kingston Ministry projected measures compatible with the advanced liberal, or democratic, views of the constituencies. These have supplied the most decided feature of local politics in the present decade. Some of them, such as the Village Settlements Act, were demanded by conditions prevailing at the time. A Conciliation Act, providing for a Board of Arbitration, presided over by an officer of the