APPENDIX No. 14.

Victoria.

Statement by the Engineer for Agriculture (Mr. A. S. Kenyon, C.E.), State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, on the Victorian Mallee.

GENERAL.

The "Mallee," in Victoria, is defined by Act of Parliament as land on which the mallee scrub grows or grew formerly and more particularly as the area coloured on a certain map. It comprises over 11,000,000 acres, or about one-fifth of the whole State. The agricultural occupation really began in 1889, and with the run of good seasons from then until 1894 its settlement was very rapid. By 1898, nearly 4,000,000 acres, comprising the whole " fringe" to the river plains of the Wimmera, Richardson, and Avoca Rivers, were taken up.

The bad years from 1895 to 1902 checked further extension, especially as all, or practically all, the readily accessible country had been subdivided. The return to good seasons after 1902, combined with the very successful efforts of the South Australian Government to open up its mallee adjoining the Victorian border at Pinnaroo, gave a fresh impetus to mallee development. The " fringe" had gone. The " interior belt," of close upon 2,000,000 acres of good wheat land, and the "Murray frontage" of as many more, were waiting though they presented greater difficulties in regard to railway and water facilities. Meanwhile, the " fringe" country had been well served with railway and channel extensions.

Not until 1908 was a start made to throw open the" interior belt." Subdivision started almost simultaneously at three points : at Murrayville, adjoining Pinnaroo on the South Australian boundary; at Ouyen on the previously constructed line to the Mildura Irrigation Settlement; and at Eureka, north of Lake Tyrrell and near the terminus of the Bendigo to Ultima railway line.

Profiting by previous and somewhat bitter experience, an effort was made to as far as possible prevent the considerable period of non-production accompanying the early years of settlement, due to the natural difficulties caused by absence of railways, roads, and water supply. Ahead of the settler, or at any rate, contemporaneous with his arrival, railway lines were constructed, roads were located to avoid bad sand where possible and grubbed clear of all stumps to a width of 16 feet 6 inches and metalled in very bad places, while as complete systems of water supply as immediately practicable were established. Further inducements to early occupation and production were given by suspending payments for the purchase of the land for a period of three years provided the settler put on an equivalent in excess of the improvements stipulated in his lease; in the provision of a steam rolling plant and clearing by its means at a low rate; by advances of up to 60 per cent. of the value of his improvements; and by minor concessions. The effectiveness of these innovations was demonstrated early. Out of 103,000 acres thrown open and allotted in 1909 at Murrayville, no less than 55,000 acres were under cultivation in 1910, with a yield of over 600,000 bushels.

The cost of road and water supply works is actually defrayed by the settlers. An addition of 3s. per acre is made to the purchase price. Three-fifths of this is spent on roads and water supply in approximately equal portions. Thus for a 700 acre block, £105 is added to the settlers' liability, which he pays off at the rate of £2 12s. 6d. per annum. The actual outlay is £63. The rate of interest obtained by the Government is about 2½ per cent. if the settler extends his payments over the full 40 years allowed, but the experience is, up to the present, that he pays up on the average after 20 years in order to obtain his freehold title. In this case, the interest works out at 3½ per cent. No charge is made for railways nor are any local rates now charged. Mallee railways are amongst the most profitable of our lines. Complete and reliable schemes of water supply put in later are paid for by rates covering interest, depreciation, redemption and working expenses, running from £6 to £10 per annum per square mile and involving supply of about 4,000 cubic yards.

RAINFALL AND CLIMATE.

The rainfall for the mallee is not only variable in its annual totals but also in its seasonal distribution. In the south-west near Serviceton 75 per cent. of the annual precipitation falls in the wheat-growing months, whereas near Euston, Bumbang, less than 60 per cent. falls in the same period. Again, in the eastern and northern portions, the total rainfall for a year may be as little as four inches, while in the western and southern parts, the minimum annual falls are in some cases as high as 11 or 12 inches. The rainfall in any one year is not, however, such an important factor as might at first be thought. Where fallowing is practicable—and practised it must be if settlement is to be successful—excellent and very profitable crops have been raised on four inches of rain. The yields obtained by the best mallee farmers are about the same though the rainfalls of the different districts vary very much. The average fall over the whole mallee is 14 inches with a range from 19 in the south to 11 in the north.

SOIL.

A marked peculiarity of the mallee is the great variability of the soils. The best class is a red sandy loam with a subsoil much resembling the surface but containing a greater percentage of clay. Characteristic flora are pines (callitris), hop-bush (dodonea), belar and buloke (casuarina), cabbage-bush (heterodendron), quandong (fusanus), sandalwood (myoporum and eremophila), grevilleas, hakeas, beyeria, etc. In this country there is always more or less grass and numerous plains occur. Where the mallee bush predominates the soil is generally lighter in colour and contains more clay, the subsoils in some cases being fairly tough. The vegetation is generally mallee more or less low in habit depending upon the number of fires which have swept it and the period elapsed since the last. It is traversed by low ridges running generally in an east and west direction and much sandier than the flats. Occasionally they are fairly heavily covered with porcupine or "false spinifex" (triodia). In portions the sandy ridges predominate and such vegetation as broom (baeckia), ti-tree (melaleuca and leptospermum) prevails. This country, when in proximity to the better land, has been found to yield heavily and profitably and is more retentive of moisture. With increasing sandiness, the mallee practically vanishes, broom and ti-tree still remain, but in stunted forms, while heaths (epacris) and desert forms of oaks, hakea, and banksia are numerous. The parallelism of the ridges disappears and the country is a jumbled mass of sandhills and is known as "desert" or "sandhills and heath." Of no value for agriculture, it is more useful for grazing than the dense mallee and will support a sheep to about 10 acres.

In the ordinary mallee country there is at times a considerable amount of limestone, mostly traverline. Victorian farmers generally look upon limey land with distrust, but South Australian farmers, who are better judges of poor land, have a better opinion of it.