the gentleman to whom the inquiry was addressed. "The distance is two hundred and sixty-one miles; and whenever the mails arrive here they are sent through to Perth by a coach, which makes the journey in about fifty-three hours. You may travel by the mail-coach, or you can take a coasting steamer once every fortnight, and touch at all the ports worth seeing, as well as some that do not pay for the trouble."
"How many railways have they in the colony?"
"Not many," was the reply. "The Northern Railway, thirty-five miles long, runs from Champion Bay, on the coast, to the town and mining district of Northampton. The Eastern Railway, ninety miles long, extends from the port of Freemantle, at the mouth of Swan River, to Perth, and thence to Beverley, whence it is to be extended to Albany. There are branches from both these lines, but none of great length, and there are some private railways belonging to timber companies. All the lines of the colony are of three feet six inches gauge; several new lines are projected on the land grant system, in the same way that many of your railways in the United States have been constructed, and on some of them work is now under way. But it will be several years yet before the country has an adequate system of railways."
"Western Australia is territorially the largest colony of Australia, but there are not yet fifty thousand inhabitants in its whole area," the gentleman continued. "The largest place is Perth, which has a population of about six thousand. Freemantle, its port, twelve miles lower down on the Swan River, has four thousand, and the other places of consequence are Guildford, Geraldton, and Roebourne, the latter the centre of the pearl-fishery."
Fred asked what were the products of the country, and how it happened that Western Australia, while nearer to Europe than any other colony of Australasia, had been so neglected.
"To your first question I will reply," said his informant, "that wool is our largest item of export, and then come sandal-wood, lumber, pearl-shell and pearls, horses, and sheep. We send many horses to India, Singapore, and Java, and our trade in this line promises to increase. Our annual exports of all kinds amount to £290,000, and our imports to something less than that figure. We have mines of gold, lead, copper, iron, and tin, but up to the present, though there have been a few gold rushes, very little attention has been given to our mineral resources, and we really know little about them.
"There is an abundance of fine country in Western Australia. There are splendid forests in the south-west, and excellent pasture lands
