"Western Interior," which occupies about half the area of the state. Here undulating downs extend to the horizon, almost treeless, except above the watercourses. In the summer season many of these become a mere series of water holes, but the discovery of the great supply of underground water, over a district reaching from the extreme north of Queensland into New South Wales and South Australia, has made it possible to transform them into running streams by means of artesian bores. It is a melancholy fact that many of the pioneers in the industry got poor returns for their hard and strenuous enterprise. In the early days labour was scarce and dear, and in the absence of railways or good roads it took from six to nine months to convey the wool to the coastal district by means of bullock drays. It was many years before the great agricultural possibilities of the Darling Downs were discovered and utilised, though this rich district supplies more than 70% of all the oats, wheat, and barley grown in Queensland. The Queensland farmer is at present in a most fortunate position; he has good stock, cheap land, first-rate pastures, and a climate which allows production to go on all the year round. As immigrants from Great Britain are under normal conditions admitted on payment of a nominal fee as
