TASMANIA.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 124, 28 December 1858, Page 3

TASMANIA.

Via Svdriey, we have news'to "tlie '3rd from Hobart Town, and to the 4th instant from liaun•ceston. ■■:.■.: -. "'-; '' ; i The Hobart Town Courier announces the route - that has been determined on for the line of -telegraph connecting the island with the continent of Australia, as follows:— y "Being submerged at the East Bend, Low Head, George Town, it willbe laid submarine to East Bay, Circular Head, a distance of 72 miles., Thence emerging, an electric wire will he taken overland three miles to West Bay at that place, j From this point it will leave Tasmania, being carried submarine -thence to East Bay to Three Hummock Island, Bass' Straits, a distance of 25 ; miles. Over Three Hummock Island the wire : will be stretched a distance of 5^ miles to West [ Bajr, whence it will be again taken submarine a distance of 86 miles to Sea Elephant Bay, King's ; Island, proceeding over which to Victoria, from the north end of that island, some 18 miles,it wrll be again submerged to Parker's River, Cape ; Otway, 49 miles, thence it will be made sub-' marine to Geelong. Thus the total distance required to connect the two countries by submarine elegraph will be but 196 miles. But in conse- < quence of allowance, for depth of sea, which averages from 12 to 38 fathoms, 233 miles of sub-marine-cable will be required. 250 miles have been ordered by the contractors." The Hobart Town Advertiser, referring to an . extraordinary demand which has lately arisen for land in the unsettled districts, says:—The "rush" for land in the unsettled districts of the colony during the last few days has been something extraordinary. Up to last night 132 applications had been received for lots varying from 3000 to 10,000 acres. So eager were some of the applicants for land, that they would not wait until a i description could be got, but forwarded their apI plications for lots to the west of each other, until at last about thirty found they had gone to sea in their anxiety for land; the last one had selected a loca'ion eighty miles from the coast, as described in the Survey Office, " somewhere in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope." The origin of this apparent desire to locate the land to the westward is to be found in the fact that a number of gentle-^ men have formed a company, and subscribed a portion of the capital, to fit out an exploring expedition to the westward in search of auriferous quartz reefs. In order to protect themselves, should their party make any valuable discoveries, and, at the same time, to prevent any obstacle being thrown in their v?ay, the members of the company made selections on the ground which- it was determined should be prospected. Immediately on this becoming known, the Survey Officel was besieged with applications for land under the Un- \ settled' Lands Act. As the company had taken up so much land, it must be a good speculation to follow in their wake. No doubt good will result from this excitement. It will induce many persons who have taken land for speculative purposes to explore and turn it to a profitable account. In I this way the unknown country of the westward will be explord, and its capabilities developed; and what is now a barren wilderness will soon be converted into a populated district. The excitement caused by the taking up of about 1,200,000 acres of land will draw attention to the liberal tenqre upon which unsettled lands can be had. The only condition is that tlie land shall be stocked with twenty head of cattle, or one hundred sheep, ■for every thousand acres of land. The rent is a peppercorn, aud tlie applicant has the privilege of selecting 640 acres at the price of ten shillings per acre, at any time during the continuance of his lease of ten years. Conditions so liberal should have, the effect of inducing a large number of applicants.