The Argus
17/ 4/1875
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The officials of course spend their money here, but it is not the fact that the institutions are here altogether in favour of railway communication as far as state economy is concerned. The scarcity of agriculturists - there are over 30 000 acres enclosed in the shire - does not arise from the absence of good land but because the thousands of acres of splendid soil between Beechworth and Hillsborough are at present stocked with heavy and valuable timber, and there are fair agricultural areas in the shire at Tarrawingee, Bowman's Forest, and Wooragee already occupied. The granite ends within the town and from the south west round by the south to the north east the whole country is slate and sandstone, with an overlying red volcanic soil for miles
But, after all, these are but a few of the details involved in the general question lately raised, "Is Beechworth a solitude surrounded by a wilderness devoid of resources of any kind?" I think I can not only answer this in the negative but prove that - notwithstanding the neglect with which this district has been treated, notwithstanding that it has for years been paying for roads to other localities, and its share of the interest on railways to more favoured regions - the Beechworth United Shire is more thickly inhabited than the very richest portions of the colony, and at least as well entitled in every other respect to railway communication. In endeavouring to make out my case. I will take the Beechworth Shire alone, although Yackandandah, the Kiewa and Mitta Mitta rivers, and the heads of the Murray will all be served by a terminus in Beechworth.
My authorities are, in regard to rates, number of ratepayers, value of property, and amount of licences the returns furnished annually by all councils to the head of the department, carefully com- piled in the Shires Directory, 1875 {Evans Brothers, Melbourne), and as to population and area, Mr Archer's estimate, 1873 - the latest available to me - the population being obtained by a house to house visitation, also made annually by the various councils.
The United Shire of Beechworth contains an area of 185,000 acres, or 290 square miles, but it is very compact, being, roughly speaking, a circle, with the town of Beechworth a little north of the centre. There are only 15 shires in the colony, out of a total of 98, which contain property of a greater net annual value, that of Beechworth being £44,767. (See tables which I enclose. Sir, as a check upon my figures and calculations.) The mere value of the property in a district, however, is of very little use as a guide in considering the prospects of a railway - the population per square mile and the character and condition of that population, being of far more importance In comparing the Beechworth Shire in these respects, with the average of the 15 wealthier shires, I will abandon the Wimmera with its 6,778,210 acres and 852 ratepayers, as that shire is exceptionally situated.
Taking the other 14 richer shires, and allowing, in the absence of a population return for Dundas, 5,000 persons for that shire, we have an aggregate of 78,661 inhabitants for a total of 13,450 square miles, or 583 persons per mile. Against this the Beechworth shire contains 290 square miles and 8,111 inhabitants, being over 29 inhabitants to the square mile, or nearly six times as many as the 14 richest shires in the colony. Of these 14 shires three only possess a larger population each than Beechworth, namely - Buninyong, 13,217, Kyneton, 9,250, and Warrnambool, 9,113 persons, but, almost incredible as it may appear, there is not one shire in the whole colony which boasts so many rate-payers as Beechworth - surely a fact significant of a widespread prosperity. I will here anticipate the argument that the united shire embraces the town of Beechworth but on the other hand, of the three more populous shires above named, the Kyneton shire is in precisely the same position. Warrnambool has a seaboard with a convenient harbour, and both Kyneton and Buninyong have had the benefit of railway communication for years - a heavy drag upon these districts - and good roads before that.
Moreover, each of those three shires contains several considerable towns and hamlets, while Beechworth has but one, Stanley, for it comprises but a small portion of Eldorado. To follow up my argument, the average annual value of property per square mile in the 14 richest shires is £66 4s 7d while that of the Beechworth shire is £235 12s 3d; and the number of rate-payers per square mile is for the 14 shires 1 29, and for Beechworth 9 25. Another important fact is that the Beechworth Council obtains more money for publicans', brewers', grocers', wine and spirit, and colonial wine licences than any other council in the colony, whether of a borough or shire, and while there is certainly no exceptional excess of drunkenness in the district, this, taken with the number of homes, as evidenced by the ratepayers' roll, shows that a large majority are more than comfortably circumstanced. It must be remembered too, that, this involves a large traffic for the railway in liquors.
I have now only to allude to the statement that 50 tons a week would more than cover the whole traffic on the 10 miles. The population alone is a sufficient answer. The late Mr Pollard, a high authority on the subject put down 15cwt per head as a very reason- able estimate for the supply of a population in our condition and circumstances, and considering that we procure everything except bread and meat from Melbourne, besides machinery, implements tools material, &c, it seems a low estimate. This would give for 8,411 persons in the shire alone 126, 965 tons per annum, or 121 tons per week, inwards from Melbourne irrespective of the down traffic, passengers and local business.
In conclusion Sir, I think I have shown that great things may be expected from a district which has achieved so much without help when it comes to be treated with common justice and honesty in the matter of the branch line -I am, &c ,
JOHN COPE GARNETT
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