the York district, and thence down the country
eastward of the present Sound road, to the fine harbour of King George's
Sound, would do more than anything else to give an outlet to the
resources of the country and supply its wants; such a line would
ultimately be extended through the eastern districts and Victoria plains
northward to the Irwin, Greenough, and Geraldton.

But I will recall myself from these and other speculations of the yet
more distant future, and look back upon the modest past. Two tramways
with locomotives now bring timber to the coast from the Jarrah forests,
and there are also two other tramways for the same purpose, of less
extent, but still of some importance. I have made concessions to the
companies constructing them.

27. With regard to ordinary roads, I can very confidently say that,
considering the extent of the country and its scattered population, no
colony that I have ever seen is in a better position regarding roads.
Occasionally, owing to the loss of convict labour, the scarcity of free
labour, the disinclination of the people to tax themselves locally, and
the great extent of the roads themselves, parts of the roads already made
fall out of repair whilst other parts are being formed; but on the whole,
having perhaps traversed more of Western Australia than any one man in
the colony, I very confidently assert that, taking all in all throughout
the country, the roads are in a better condition than they have ever been
before. Large bridges have been constructed over the Upper Swan, Moore
River, Blackwood, Capel, and Preston, besides twelve smaller bridges, and
a large one completed at the Upper Canning.

28. Bushing the Geraldton sand-hills has been a very useful and
successful work; the experiment was first tried by Lieutenant-Colonel
Bruce. Part of the work has been done by convict labour, and part by
farmers and settlers in payment for a loan advanced to them for
seed-wheat before my arrival. It is not too much to say that this work
has saved the town of Geraldton and its harbour from destruction by sand.

29. A little has been done in the way of improving the Swan River
navigation by means of a dredge imported by Governor Hampton, and worked
by prison labour and by an appropriation in the Loan Act of 1872. A work
has also been constructed, from funds provided out of the same loan, at
Mandurah, by which the entrance to the Murray River has been improved.

30. Harbour improvements hav