homes at
Perth.

#3. Land Grants.#--Most of these immigrants were attracted to Western
Australia by the prospect of obtaining large estates; they knew how
valuable land was in the well-settled countries of Europe, and, when
they heard of square miles in Australia to be had for a few pounds, they
were captivated by the notion of so easily becoming great landed
proprietors. But the value of land depends upon surrounding
circumstances, and ten acres in England may be worth more than a whole
wilderness in West Australia. At that time foolish notions were in every
quarter prevalent as to what could be done by means of land. The British
Government thought it possible to make the colony self-supporting by
paying for everything with grants which cost it nothing, but which would
be readily accepted by others as payment. Thus the Governor, instead of
his yearly salary, was to receive a hundred thousand acres, and all the
officials were to be paid in the same manner. The land was distributed
in great quantities to people who had no intention of using it, but who
expected that, by the progress of colonisation, it would increase
enormously in value, and might then be sold for splendid prices.

To induce immigrants to bring with them useful property, the Government
offered a bonus of twenty acres for every three pounds worth of goods
imported; and the colonists--quite unconscious of the future that lay
before them--carried out great numbers of costly, though often
unsuitable, articles, by means of which the desired grants were
obtained. It was found difficult to convey this property to the town,
and much of it was left to rot on the shore, where carriages, pianos,
and articles of rich furniture lay half-buried in sand and exposed to
the alternations of sun and rain.

[Illustration: PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, IN 1838.]

[Illustration: PERTH, 1890.]

Splendid horses and cattle of the finest breed had been brought out, but
they wandered useless in the bush. For, till the country was surveyed,
nothing could be done in the way of agriculture; and, even after the
surveys were completed, owing to a regulation that those whose grants
exceeded a square mile should be allowed the first choice, all the
sections nearest to the town were obtained by officials and wealthy
speculators, who had no intention of using them. Many of these persons
held a district almost as large as an English county, and, therefore,
the lands remaining for selec