THE AUSTRALIAN IRRIGATION COLONIES.
At the close of an interesting article upon the Australian irrigation colonies, a writer in a contemporary thus sum marises : " The New Zealand grower has better and cheaper land, fewer rabbits, and cheaper living. The Mildura settler can grow no forage for his horse and cattle without the expense of irriga ting. The New Zealander has au ample r<iiufall, aud being close to his port he is at least .10s per ton better off in the matter of freight, besides having facilities for disponing of perishable produce, The Australian settler has the finer climate for raising vines and for drying fruit, but this is not altogether an unmixed blessing, as anyone can testify to who has spent a summer on the Murray with the thermometer standing at time* at over 120deg. in the shade. Do you get it very hot here in summer ? I asked of au Irish resident. Oh, sure, said he, we take no account of the heat until we've got to send the thermometer down town to get another twelve inches put on to it. How do you like life ou the Murray during the long summer ? I enquired of a New Zealand gentleman. Well, to tell the truth said he, I would sooner live on two meals a day in New Zealand than on three here." Since the above appeared in type, the Mildura settlers are reported to have had a falling-out with the proprietors, Messrs Chaffey Bros., the Americans who founded th colony. They have in consequence stopped the engines which pump the water for irrigating purposes, and without which the settlement cannot exist. The settlers have appealed to the Victorian Government, from whom the Chaffey Bros, obtained the concession of these lands upon pirt..:i irly easy and favourable terms, but it has been found, on looking into the agreement, that provision was not made for such a contingency which has come to pass, and the Government is powerless to compel them to supply water.
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Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3175, 29 October 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)
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334THE AUSTRALIAN IRRIGATION COLONIES. Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3175, 29 October 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)
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