that though a fair number of 1,000-acre holdings of quality equal to Grass Patch can be picked out in the neighbourhood, the average quality of the whole district is distinctly lower.

Rainfall and Water Supply.—Rainfall at the 30-mile is 18 inches and at Swan Lagoon and Grass Patch 15½ inches. What it may be north of here is a matter of conjecture, thought probably at the 75-mile it has lost quite another three or four inches. Therefore the rainfall at the north end of this mallee belt may be looked on as at least rather doubtful. At Norseman the average fall is 10¾ inches, but is irregular and falls greatly during the early summer months.

Over the whole of this belt there are no gullies or watercourses (except salt flats), and this fact alone appears to be emphatically indicate that if the rainfall is as we believe from 18 to 12 inches, the bulk of land must be of a porous nature, and it is extremely improbably that fresh water will ever be obtained by sinking on a salty subsoil such as this.

There are, more especially in the south and west parts, occasional depressions locally designated lagoons or fresh water swamps, with yate trees growing round them, but none of them appear to have had any water for the past 10 or 12 years, and may be passed over as a source of water supply, for they would require a flood to fill them, and are at present mostly overgrown with scrub and saplings.

There is no doubt that the provision of an adequate water supply for general farming purposes will be an exceedingly difficult question, at any rate for a few years, until a large amount of clearing has been carried out and the land becomes more set. At present the very small amount of traffic along the main road is, after 16 miles north of Esperance, entirely maintained by condensers during the summer months, and apart from these recognised long stages, at which you buy water at 6d. per dink per beast, the only prospect of obtaining the precious fluid appears to be the offchance of scraping a bucket or two out of a wheel rut after a thunderstorm. Probably sites for small tanks could be obtained in numerous localities, and the soil could if necessary be puddled to make them retentive, but catchments for large tanks will not in most cases he easily found, as the salt water level appears to be rather close to the surface in nearly all the hollows.

Timber consists of mallee mostly with dense hard ti tree scrub and broom bush in places, the mallee varying from a comparatively low bush to about 20 feet in height, and on the northern portions, approaching the forest country, occasional clumps of salmon and other gums are met with, and as a rule the larger the timber the better the soil. The cost of clearing this land has, in the mass of correspondence which has appeared on the subject, repeatedly been represented at about 4s. to 5s. per acre. There are some patches to be met with where the cost could be reasonably estimated at 10s. but the average for this belt will probably be nearer 15s. Rolling along will cost from 5s. to 7d. 6d. per acre, and there will be an enormous amount of root-picking after this, whilst on considerable areas where the mallee grows big, the cost will be quite as high as on the wheat-growing parts of the State, viz., 20s. to 25s.

The inspection of this land in the warm weather is one of the most arduous, dreary, and monotonous occupations that one could desire. There is no animal or bird life, the scrub is dense and hard, with no vestige of natural feed, either on the burnt or unburnt country, and no water. A fairly large area of land has been selected, but not yet surveyed, at the time of our inspection, and practically no work has yet been carried out on any of the new selections, and with the price of horsefeed at £9 per ton, water 1½d. per gallon, and labour generally unobtainable at 10s. per diem minimum, prospective settlers without a good cash reserve will not have a very rosy time at the start.

No. 3 Belt.—The land on this belt is nearly all good, and mostly forest land, with occasional patches of small scrub and granite, and a number of a very large salt lakes. The rainfall, however, is, so far as can be ascertained, decidedly doubtful, and without more encouraging information on this point we should be sorry to advise settlers to come here.

Towards Ravensthorpe from Fitzgerald Peaks to Ravensthorpe the country begins to deteriorate, the sandy patches being much more frequent, and the limestone formation, which is such a marked characteristic of the subsoil of the mallee land further east, is not nearly as prevalent, only occurring at intervals, while the land here generally is more inclined to ironstone gravel. After leaving the Peaks some 20 miles, poor open scrub plain, with occasional patches of mallee, is to be seen for miles on either side, and runs probably right down to the coast. As there was no water between Peak Charles and the No. 1 Rabbit fence (70 miles), we were unable to make a proper examination of this country, which might possibly repay further inspection at a more favourable time of the year, though we do not think this likely; we had a hard job to get through at all with our horses. Round Ravensthorpe there is some very good mallee and forest land, much superior to the bulk of the Esperance-Norseman land in the same latitude, but unfortunately this district is surrounded by a large belt of poor country.

ARTHUR G. HEWBY,

Chief Inspector Agricultural Bank.

Guy M. MAY,

Chief Inspector of Lands.

Perth, 4th January, 1911.

REPORT OF SURVEYOY C. E. WATKINS.

To the Surveyor General, Perth.

Mallee Belt between Esperance and Norseman.

In accordance with instructions received I have made an extended examination of the mallee belt between Esperance and Norseman.

2. My inspection was from the 28-mile from Esperance, or approximate southern limit of mallee, to the 65-mile at Salmon Gums, and extended westerly from railway survey for 15 miles and easterly up to 25 miles. The limit of mallee was not reached either easterly or westerly. It appeared to extend many miles from Mt. Ridley (23 miles out) in a direction east by south and to extend westerly from the 15 mile limit, but not to extend north-easterly.

3. Natural Features.—The country is all slightly undulating for 15 miles on each side of railway survey without any prominent isolated elevations. On the east the country is interspersed with lakes, samphire flats, and tussock plains. An isolated hill occurs at Mr. Ridley about 23 miles easterly from about 44-mile from Esperance. The west portion of area, except at south end, is practically free from lakes. The eastern, central, south central portions of area have a series of lakes, samphire and rushy flats and tussock plains. The banks of lakes usually rise to a height of from 10 to 30 feet above the level of the best of lakes adjacent. These banks along the lakes usually consist of a deep friable loam associated with tall mallee, ti-tree, and dense undergrowth.

4. Geology.—Only occasionally do rock outcrops occur. These consist of limestone, granite, ironstone, chert.

5. The ironstone is practically distributed over the whole area, and consists of finely divided limestone, small and large nodules, as boulders, and occasionally as a rock outcrop round the edges of the lakes.

6. The granite occurs as floaters, and as a solid rock forming the side and the bed of lakes, and as an elevated hill at "Mt. Ridley."

7. The ironstone is associated with the lime round edge of some lakes, and occasionally with granite and chert.

8. The chert occurs with lime and ironstone, and runs easterly and westerly from near 45-miles to northerly from Mt. Ridley, and westerly to the limit examined. The chert is used for road making in conjunction with lime, and forms an excellent road. The chert is associated with the sandy and poorer portion of the belt of mallee.

9. Gypsum.—Gypsum has been found on some of the lakes and along the banks as a deposit in places practically free from silicious sand.