Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/84

58 subterranean water. But there is besides a vast artesian storage. These so-called desert areas are shrinking every year, and the "wheat-line" is encroaching upon and absorbing them as improved methods of agriculture prevail. Thus at present farmers "are getting remunerative crops from regions of low rainfall and light sandy soil, which would have been looked upon as chimerical a decade ago."

The land laws in Western Australia are framed on easy terms for the settler. The holdings are limited to two thousand acres of agricultural land, including a homestead farm, or the equivalent of five thousand acres in grazing land, but the husband or wife of the holder may select an additional thousand acres of agricultural land, or two thousand five hundred acres of grazing land. A homestead farm of 160 acres can be taken up by new settlers on payment of about £9 in fees, with an additional 30s. for a Crown grant at the end of seven years. Larger grants may be had at from 10s. an acre, payable in twenty years without interest. Certain conditions attach to land purchase. The holder of a homestead farm of 160 acres, for instance, must reside there for six months in each of the first five years; he must expend four shillings an acre