1872. The returns in the Geraldton district were one bushel per acre, and in the Irwin and Greenough districts only half a bushel. A considerable portion of the population was made up of small farmers, and their suffering and poverty were extreme. The store-keepers did what they could to help, and they lost heavily. Flour valued at £2,430 and grain at £812 were exported in 1872. There was a decrease of nearly 7,000 acres in the area planted in wheat in 1873; bad farming and red rust precipitated the evil. The protective tariff had an effect opposite to that expected. In that year the imports of flour represented £15,241. The area was decreased by a further 2,000 acres in 1874, and flour valued at £14,605 was imported. Another decrease in area cultivated in 1875 necessitated the importation of hay, potatoes, dried fruits, butter, grain, flour, and meal. In 1876 only 18,769 acres were under wheat, and though the season was a fair one, large quantities of wheat and flour had to be imported. In 1877 flour representing £31,913, bran and pollard £3,858, and potatoes £998, were introduced. A bag of flour sold at 48s. The cost of living was enormous, and pauperism became still more general. Notwithstanding the efforts to import labour, there were some hundreds of unemployed in Perth—the large sums sent out of the colony for the necessaries of life were bound to cause these sad results. The 1877-8 harvest was slightly better, and flour in February, 1878, sold at 21s. a bag and wheat at 4s. 6d. per bushel. The market was said to be glutted, and the farmer complained that he could not grow wheat for 4s. 6d., and was compelled to take his axe and go to the sandalwood trees. The absence of enterprise in wheat and vine and vegetable production were the great regrettable features of this period. A market was in 1872 established under the Town Hall, Perth. In 1874 wine valued at £120 was exported.
In 1876 silk cocoons were produced at the Government Garden at Claisebrook, and in 1877 a piece of golden coloured satin, fifty yards long, made entirely from the local production, was received from Europe. In 1878 silk cocoons valued at £64 were exported. Sugar-cane was grown with some success in different parts of Western Australia, and in 1874 Mr. Padbury imported a sugar-mill for his Yatheroo Estate, where he had several acres under sugar-cane. The Government offered a bonus of £250 for the first five tons of marketable sugar produced in the colony.
With better prices and improved transport more energy was devoted to the sandalwood tracts, especially by the disappointed farmers. The trade now reached its highest point in local history. As usual the value of exports, and number of people engaged in sandalwood cutting, varied with the prices at Singapore and elsewhere. At times piles of the wood lay strewn about the country; at others insufficient could be obtained to meet the demands. An export duty of 5s. per ton was levied. The annual exports of sandalwood were:—In 1869, £32,998; in 1870, £48,890; in 1871, £26,926; in 1872, £31,536; in 1873, £62,916; in 1874, £70,572; in 1875, £66,456; in 1876, £65,772; in 1877, £31,850 (lower prices); and in 1878, £35,064.
The hardwoods had more attention, and substantial amounts were received from export. In 1878 there were timber companies at work, some with trains and trams, at the Canning, at Rockingham, on the east and west sides of Geographe Bay, and at Torbay, near Albany. Six steam saw mills and three water saw mills were engaged in these different places. Several companies were formed, in and out of the colony, and large orders were received for jarrah sleepers. Acting Governor Bruce informed the Legislative Council in June, 1869, that he believed £100,000 worth of orders for jarrah from India bad been refused during the preceding six mouths through the difficulty of conveying the timber from the forests to the seaboard. He advocated trams and railways. Renewed energy was therefrom noticeable in the mills, and in 1870 orders were held that could not be fulfilled for months ahead. In 1871 Mr. G. Simpson, for a timber company formed in Victoria, began operations at Wonnerup, near Vasse Inlet. In 1872 a notification was received by the Government that Western Australian jarrah was rated by Lloyd's in Table A line No. 3 for shipbuilding, and in 1873 karri was placed in the same grade. In 1872-3 the export was small, but in 1874 it jumped ahead, and in 1877-8 was enormously above any previous years. The returns best exhibit the revival:—In 1869, £14,274; in 1870, £17,571; in 1871, £15,304; in 1872, £2,590; in 1873, £4,770; in 1874, £24,194; in 1875, £23,965; in 1876, £23,743; in 1877, £36,979; and in 1878, £63,901.
Whaling on the north-west coast and in the south-west and south was regular, but not particularly significant. The returns were:—1870—oil, £3,142; bone, £455; 1871—oil, £3,840. 1872—oil, £1,408. In 1873—oil, £1,872; bone, £187. 1876 oil, £6,673. In 1877—oil, £6,344; and 1878—oil, £5,212. A valuable oil from the dugong, found on the north-west coast, was exported. The Mandurah Fishing Company began operations in 1878. The export of horses was maintained. Mr. Maitland Brown at Neumarracarra, eighteen miles east of Geraldton, made horse-rearing a speciality, and he possessed an excellent stud. The exports of horses, cattle, and sheep were:—In 1869, 967 horses valued at £12,272; in 1870, 284 horses, £4,544; in 1871, 554 horses, £6,648; in 1872, 427 horses, with 1,132 sheep and 33 cows, £6,487; in 1873, 296 horses, £4,396, and 370 sheep, £370; in 1874, 400 horses, £5,600; in 1875, 197 horses, £2,758; in 1876, 733 horses, £10,822; in 1877, 630 horses, £7,900, 125 cows, £875; and in 1878, 761 horses, £9,937, and 243 cows, £1,701. It will be seen that cattle and sheep were for the first time exported. Quantities of gum and leather were also exported. An export duty of 1s. per head on horses was imposed in 1874.
The wealthy pearl beds on the north-west coast were exploited with increasing success. Numerous fortunes were made in the industry in a few years, and many lives were lost in the exciting search. Owing to the gales and hurricanes known to recur in the north-west a strong spice of danger was attached to pearling; the industry had a potent attraction for the adventurous. In some respects pearling resembled gold digging; at any moment a pearl of peerless lustre might be found that meant a fortune to the lucky discoverer. Beneath the north-west waters numbers of high priced pearls were come upon, and, with guano, that part of the coast proved a great source of wealth to Western Australia. Local people who knew little of the vagaries of the sea and less of the management of sailing craft purchased boats and went up the coast. The young sons of old colonists gained more wealth in a couple of years from pearls, than their fathers had garnered on the land during all their colonial experience.
Mention was made in the last chapter of the developments in pearling in 1868. Early in 1869 a handsome pearl, the size and shape of a marble, was sent to England and sold for £260. No stronger stimulant to enterprise could have been found, and a rush was made for the pearl beds. That pearl was as valuable as a sixty-four ounce nugget of gold, and the dreams of mammoth stores of submarine treasures knew no end. At the same time the market price of pearl shell rose to £180 per ton. The number of boats engaged was doubled during that and the succeeding year, and it was feared that the beds would soon be worked
