Indianapolis Times, Volume 34, Number 120, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 September 1921 — Page 7
South EastemState/Anstralia
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Near the source of the Murray RlTer between Victoria and New South AVoles. The mountain covered with snow Is Mt. Kosciusko, the highest mountain in Australia. The Murray River is the salvation of agricultural lands in New South Wales.
Melbourne, victoria. Australia.—Victoria, which with the exception of the island of 'fasmanla is the smallest st. of the commonwealth of Australia, occupies the southeastern corner of the country. Its length is 420 miles and from north to south 250 miles. It contains 57.854 square miles, 56,245,760 acres, which is about the size of the State of Kansas with Connecticut thrown in. Its population is 1.500,000, of wnich 725.000 live in the capital, Melbourne, and its suburbs. It is a significant tribute to the richness of the state’s soil that less than half of its people live in the country yet are able not only to feed the whole state, but export great quantities of primary products as well.
It will keep clear in your mind a great many things in these articles If >ou will remember that in Australia the relations of the states :o the federal government, or commonwealth, is different from that of the United States. The Cnited States Government is supreme and the State governments secondary. In Australia the commonwealth i* only twenty years old and the states hare turned over to it only a small part of the rights which they enjoyed before 1901, up to which time they were separate and distinct from each other and had no binding ties. Much of the rivalry and jealousy which existed then is to be found in the states still, although they do not officially Indulge in the neighborly throat-cutting which once was so common. In the earlier days Victoria was a part of New South Wales and wanted to be independent, but the officials at Sydney which is the capital of New South Wales, balked it from 1839 to 1851, and thus gave birth to a feud which is not entirely wiped out yet, although now it is expressed mostly in the efforts of Melbourne and Sydney to outdo each other. Fifty years ago, however, the rivalry was so keen that the state built railroad lines right up to the border between them and tried to steal each other's trade by offering ridiculously low rates for shipments of products which originated on the other side of their dividing line. SAVED IT FROM CONVICT SETTLEMENT. The early visitors to the coast of Victoria were not attracted by it. Port Phillip, as the harbor of Melbourne was named, was an uninviting place, bordered by sand dunes, and the venturesome white men who made short trips of exploration beyond the shore line brought back reports of great tribes of aborigines, or blackfeilows, who were quite unfriendly. These reports also branded the country as unfit for cultivation and not likely eter to amount to anything. The error of these explorers saved Victoria from being the site of a convict colony, for the governor who was sent there to establish a settlement of felons wrote back such disparaging letters and such strong pleas that another place be chosen that finally he was permitted to move the whole es tablishment across Bass Straits to Tasmania.
So Port Phillip was let se-rerely alone tor a great many years. But from Sydney at different times exploring expositions kept going iouth and west and diseOTered aome of the rich lands which cow are within the boundaries of Victoria. The coast line, however, was not touched until several hardy souls from Taamanis, driven bj that spirit which has urged the worlu’B pioneers, crossed over and located themselves in the despised district and proved that it was possible to make things grow there and to raise stock. And where they blazed the trail others soon followed. Port _Phllltp became a small settlement, little more than a gateway to the fertile grazing plains west and north of it, but it had come to stay and ultimately to grow into the ninth largest city of the Britlshh empire. The government of New South Vales had to recognize it then and sent down an administrator to take charge. He had his hands full, too, for most of the newcomers took to the country and settled on large tracts of land and began to cattle. Vhat these old settlers started the people of Victoria have kept up today, for, almost a hundred years later, I find it still a state where agriculture and livestock raising predominate, and wool, •hides, meat, wheat, other grains and dairy produce are the principal articles of export. The state could hardly become a manufacturing leader, for it has little coal, and without fuel manufacturing is impossible. But, to put It slanglly, “Victoria should worry." Any state of Its size which has between 5,000.000 and 6,000,000 acres under cultivation and raises crops on three-fourths of it each year is getting along all right. With a production last year of more than 40,000,000 bushels of wheat and a constantly increasing number of sheep (they nownumber 15,000,000) and 1,500,000 head of cattle ranging on its plains and hills, Victoria Is flrmly established as an agricultural and pastoral state. DRY FARMERS OF AUSTRALIA LEAD. Some of our party were quite fascinated by the wheat harvest in the dry farming districts In the Interior of Victoria. In the United States they never had seen machines which nip off the heads of the wheat, thrash it and sack it, all In one operation. But twelve years ago I had seen similar machine* at work In the Argentine Republic and had wondered why American fanners did not use them Instead of sticking to the old method of cutting and binding the wheat In sheaves and thrashing It later. But I soon discovered that these machines will not work In any except a very dry country. In Victoria's dry districts, where the rainfall averages around fifteen Inches in normal years and where great irrigation projects are either completed or being constructed, these combined harvesters and thrashk ers help to lower the cost of wheat production. I believe that the dry farmers of Australia are among the best in the world. The Victorian government sent a keen observer to the United States severnl years ago to study our methods of dry faming in the West and they told it to me in Melbourne as a good Joke that he reported that he hadn’t been able to find anything new, that the methods which Americau dry farmers used were the same methods which Australian dry farmers had originated. However, ths Austrilian farmer finds that an average
of ten to fifteen bushels an acre pays him well and those in favored irrigation districts near the South Australian border who get twenty bushels to the acre consider themselves exceptionally lucky. In Melbourne I had trie privilege of talking to one of the men were
A meal In the open at harvesting- time In ft Victoria wheat field. Unlike our own country, where the noon meal at harvest time is a time for gorging. In Australia hot meals are brought to the field by the women ami eaten, with sacks of grain for a table.
pioneers In the irrigation work of Victoria. The Murtsy River, the longest and largest stream in Australia, is for more than 1,000 miles of Its very crooked length the boundary line between Victoria and New South Wales. Two brothers named Chaff-.y from t alifornia. where they had irrigation experience, saw vast possibilities in the waters of the Murray In the most northwestern corner of the State, bounded on the north by the Murray, they saw thousands of acres of land which they believed could be made productive if It only had some of the water which was running down to the sea in the river. So they obtained from the government a grant of 50.000 acres and bought 200.000 more acres on generous terms. The government also gave them the concession of enough water from the Murray to irrigate their 250,000 acres and to fill the needs of all who might settle there. That was in 1887 The Chaffeys installed pump engines at many places on ’he banks of the Murray, dug hundreds of miles of channels for the distribution of the water which they pumped up and turned the land into a highly product! e country. Settlers came ia quite readily then and the Chaffeys sold them the land and water equivalent to fifteen inches of rainfall a year at the very reasonable price of $3 an acre. But their forethought did not end there. They knew that some years the Murray would not run full, that the dreaded Australian droughts might come upon them, and that they must provide some : means of meeting those conditions. Thj planting of grape vines and fruit trees was their solution and they were right, for in the dry years the raisins and other fruits which they had to sell offset the lack of a normal wheat crop. ben ciiaffev. man WHO NEVER FAILED.
When I wsa introduced to Ben Chaffey, the friend who brought us together hailed him as “the man who never has had a failure." I can well see why. It is the old story of the man who has brains and uses them getting ahead of those who never lift their eyes from the ground at their feet. The state of Victoria has spent more than 530.0CX1.000 on irrigation schemes, including advances to private individuals for the same purpose, since the water control of the state was vrstc i in a state rivers and water supply commis sion in 1905. Today more tl an 300,000 acres of land which otherwise would have been only slightly productive are plentifully w-atered es a result and are piling up the production figures for the state. Victoria has no large and deep rivers.
( jfwall fciper Prires j §§|| The lower cost is undoubtedly of the if mm greatest satisfaction to those || Slllllil jft j who need to buy. If *!• !III! iI Not or y ears hav3 you had the opportunity to purchase I H#// at present prices such high grade and beautifully de- / $ llliilli® . . /// signed papers as we now have on display. /|A HI II DISTRIBUTORS FOR DEVOE /|l||| IllSlllSlSfif paints and varnishes. /All 111111 l | The Bethard Wall Paper Cos. |l\\ llllilllflf 415 Massachusetts Avenue. * / Illla ttlillllllf !jlj!ii!!|! ilililiii:;iiiiiiiiHij :' . :l •• !;&£!!!&!!£!! "'Tiv"::.ill;:jiliiljiiiiiiiijiiiiiiii!;:ii;ii:;iiiij;iiil?:*! I#/# * * •=;ijljliljijilj! life ill a:, ,::;:.'.. ...
Most of its streams are so shallow that they are never navigable except for small, flat-bottomed boats Others make a brave start from their sources but dwindle into tiny rivulets that finally lose themselves altogether in the dry .lands. The lakes of the state are not
Wheat Is one oI the mainstays of Vlrtorla, and this Is the way It is transported on the railway—in sank* on open freight cars Forty thousand bushels wero produced in Victoria last year.
great in number and mnny of them are merely damp marshes except in flood times. Now irrigation is a matter of having an abundant water supply at the time of the year when the farmers most need it. The streams of Victoria
Do you know what constitutes a strong constitution ? TO have sound, healthy nerves, completely under control, digestive organs that are capable of absorbing a hearty meal, means you have a strong constitution! Your general attitude is one of optimises end energy. But an irritable disposition, frequent attacks of indigestion, and a languid depression, indicate your system is not in correct working order. Probably you are not eating the proper food. Probably the nutritious elements are not being supplied to your system in the proper way, Grape-Nuts is the wholesome, delirious cereal that promotes normal digestion, absorption and elimination, whereby nourishment is accomplished without auto-intoxication. A mixture of energy-giving wheat and malted barley comprise the chief elements of Grape-Nuts. A dis.b cl breakfast or lunch is an excellent, wholesome rule to follow. You can order Grape-Nuts at any and every hotel, restaurant, and lunch room; on dining cars, on lake boats and steamers; in every good grocery, large and small, in every city, town or village in North America Grape-Nuts—the Body Builder “There’s a Reason"
INDIANA DAILY TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,1921.
West by Southwest New Zealand, Australia and South Sea Islands By W, D. BOYCE. Organizer and Leader of the Old Mexico Research and African Big Game Expeditions, author of “Illustrated South America,” “United States Colonies and Dependencies” and “The First Americans —Our Indians of Yesterday and Today.”
drain a large watershed, but they are at flood level only in the winter when the farmer doe* not aeed water badly for crops. So the problem Is simply one of building reservoirs to catch the water and save it against the day of need. The valleys of those streams which have been found suitable are dammed and the winter floods stored for spring and summer use. Irrigation is not profitable unless there are enough people using the water to good advantage, so the state purchased large blocks of land whleh can be served by these reservoirs and divided them Into small tracts which have attracted many settlers Returned soldiers also have been settled ou these tracts. The most important dams are those across the Murray, the Loddon and the Qoulbouru Rivers. The Goulborn is the largest stream in the state and the overflow from the great weir which has been built across it near its source is caught by another dam. twentysix miles down stream. From both reservoirs mile upon mile of channels carry the water into the arid lands. Up in the northern part of the state are what are known as the mallee lands, millions of acres covered with thick, tough scrub with heavy-pronged roots which It is back-breaking work to get out. There are plenty of ambitious settlers who will undertaken the clearing of the land in order that some day they may become independent. But the mal-
lee lands have only a low and uncertain rninfall and. before they can become profitably productive, must have water. The nearest source Is the Murray River, on the north, but unfortunately the mallee country is higher than the
river. This difficulty it Is proposed to overcome by building a huge reservoir, to hold the rainfall from running off. from which channels will irrigate all of the cleared land. Clearing mallee is done in a characteristic manner, mostly by tracto.-s which are used to haul across the scrub great iron cylinders—often a discarded steam boiler—which beats down the bushes and crushes the sap out of them. When it has dried fire is set to the scrub and the land burned off. Then the heavy roots are dug out and the land is ready for cultivation after it has been treated with phosphates. The roots are used for fuel. Where the mallee is found usually Is dry land, but the aborigines used to find themselves at no trouble to obtain water when they passed through the scrub, for the mallee sap furnished it totbem. I have said that sheep are the mainstay of Victoria. Virtually all parti of the state are suitable for sheep raising. Much of it is done in connection with
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Sheep shearing Is ft profession In Victoria, laws have been passed to protect the shearer. Proper accommodation* must now be given him and he mutt bo handled with glove# or the union to wh.ch he belongs will take a hand. Electricity is now used almost exclusively for shearing. crop growing in the agricultural sections. It Is a far cry from the millions of shoep In Victoria today to the tiny flocks of the pioneers of yesterday, flocks so precious that one bright old lady in Melbourne delights in telling of the nights when lambs which had insisted upon coming into the world at the very unfavorable winter season were brought into their rude home by her husband and taken under the covers of their bed by herself and her children lest the little animals perish. Shee pin Victoria are raised mostly for their wool and I was not surprised to lesrn that in this State the eMrino has reached the highest development in the world The origlnnl Merinos wore brought to Vi dorta from Spain and Great Britain and it is said that most of the
finest sheep are descended from a famous flock of Sussex, England. If so, the Victorian sheep of todny surpass their ancestors. for the fleece of today weighs an avernge of seven or eight, and sometimes fifteen, pounds in contrast to the three or four-pound fleeces which graced the backs of most of the sheep imported fifty years ago. Naturally the wool-clipping season is a strenuous one. The annual wool clip of the state is over 190,000,000 pounds valued at between $25,000,000 and $30,000.000. Electric shearing machinery Is universally used and the sheep-shearers travel through the country in bauds. Like all classes of labor, the shearers have a union and one of their most stringent rules Is that a shearer cannot be compelled to shear wet sheep, but must be paid for the time during which the sheep are drying The man who raises sheep is grateful for the heavy fleece of the Victorian sheep when he Is selling his wool, but he damns it In shearing time, for even in the driest of countries and without a vestige of rain a heavy fleece will pick up a surprising amount of moisture from the air. Some of the best Australian jokes are built around the repartee exchange between the owner of a flock of wet sheep and the shearer who refuses to tackle them. Raising of sheep and lambs for freez-
Most Phenomenal Merchandising Event in Nearly Seven Decades of Indiana Retailing— Ten Wonderful Selling Days Featuring the Pettis 68th Anniversary Sale Saturday , October Ist , to Wednesday , October 12th , Inclusive SIXTY-EIGHT years is a long span in the life of any retail business and few there be who attain it. Those who do may reasonably be pardoned for a feeling of pride in such an achievement and for a desire fittingly to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of such an establishment. This is one of the few stores anywhere which is 68 years old. "We are. therefore, preparing to do something big—something substantially Helpful in the public interest as befits an organization which has had such a steady growth due to public confidence and appreciation for more than two-thirds of a century, by conducting the greatest sale in all our eventful history.
This 68th Anniversary Sale is, therefore, an event with a definite purpose—a purpose to do something in which the public which made our success possible, can participate to their profit, a recognition of our indebtedness to them which we can reward in a most practical way—a way that means the selling of new- and staple merchandise for Fall and Winter at prices which will set anew high record for value giving—affording the most remarkable economies in recent years.
The entire resources of this institution, with Its w-orking army of loyal employees, its corps of expert merchandise buyers, its New York and foreign offices in touch witli the whole merchandise world, are concentrated in aa event which will establish even more firmly in the minds of Indiana people that the Pettis Store is the real economy center of this city and State. The value giving which has brought this store from its modest beginning in a room in the old Bates house, 68 years ago, to the high position it occupies in middle West retailing circles today, will be strikingly illustrated
lng is secondary to wool, in spite of the high esteeem in which Australian mutton and lamb is held in other countries. Until the drought of 1914 this trade was on the increase in Victoria and It is only now that it is approaching the figures of other years. There are less than twenty freezing plants In the state, but the 4,000,000 sheep and lambs, the quarter of a million cattle, 400,020 hogs and several million rabbits which they handle in a year keep most of them busy. The importance of sheep in Victoria is well illustrated by the fact that until 1915 the basis upon which land was taxed was not determined by its unimproved value, as now, but by the number of sheep which it would carry to the acre. The fellow who paid the highest tax was the farmer who was so fortunate that his land was able to carry four sheep to the acre. It is interesting in this connection to note that every hundred acres of land in pasture in the state carries livestock equivalent to ninty-two sheep. Again the government recognizes the sheep in its offieial figures, for in determiniing how much livestock is carried on its pastures, horses and cattle are reduced to their equivalent in sheep. The government statistician | works it out on the basis that a horse
The Pettis 68th Anniversary Sale Will Begin Saturday, Oct. Ist, and End Wednesday Oct. 12th
PETTIS DRYGOODS CO. THE NEW YORK 3 TORS -~~S3T 18 73.
will eat as much as ten sheep and a cow a smueh as six sheep. When you talk to the average Victorian you will most likely be puzzled by the fact he refers quite often to the "boom” and dates events as before or after the boom. I learned they refer to tha period between 18S1 and 1890 when the population of the state jumped by leaps and bounds, the time when land values were highly inflated, wages and prices were high and both governmetn and people spent money lavishly. “But it wasn’t a circumstance to the ‘roaring fifties,’ when gold was discovered in Victoria," said my informant. “That was the thing that did more than anything else to populate Victoria. X suppose you have heard of Ballarat and Bendigo ?" I had, and because Ballarat once was closely connected with the I'aeiflc roast • f oar own country I am going to tell ! you next week about our visit to that town, the name of which once was famous throughout the world. SOCIALISTS IN BRIGHTWOOD. Socialists will invade Brightwood Friday evening when William 11. Henry, ; nominee for mayor, speaks at Roosevelt and Station streets at 7:30 o'clock. Both j Democrats and Republicans have held j large meetings in the section recently.
in this wonderful anniversary celebration and sale. Here you will find most extraordinary money saving opportunities In fashionable Apparel and personal needs, in Dry Goods of all kinds, in Furnishings and conveniences for the home —in fact, In every department throughout this great store. Every family and every individual in Indianapolis and around about should be sure to take advantage of this most timely chance to practice thrift in its truest form.
We will, during the ten days of this big and important anniversary sale, distribute great quantities of new and stylish Fall and Winter merchandise at notable savings from prevailing retail prices. Many things will be sold at today’s wholesale prices—some things even LESS THAN AVERAGE WHOLESALE. Two mighty pages In The Indiana Daily Times Friday evening will tell a portion of the merchandise story and Illustrate the remarkable economies for the first day of the 6ale. Read these advertisements carefully and be here early Saturday morning.
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