mitted him "to make very liberal and special concessions." His Excellency announced, in addition, that "another Melbourne company" had since asked concessions which it was also in his power to grant.
The first-named company commenced its operations at Géographe Bay, whence they have already laid down a line of railway (as yet unique in the colony) stretching eleven miles into the interior as far as to their head station of Yokonup, which is situated in a dense forest of jarrah. At the ends of the line, which it was hoped would be formally opened by the Governor himself last June, townships are springing up under the respective names of Yokonup and Lockville, and more than four thousand logs of wood, which had been previously contracted for, are said to have been lying ready last April, awaiting their transit on the arrival of the expected "locomotive" from Melbourne.
The jarrah has now become so completely the chief building timber in all parts of the colony, that other descriptions of wood have, perhaps, had scarcely a fair chance.
The coachmakers and wheelwrights speak very highly of the merits of another of the eucalyptus tribe called the York gum. This timber is very hard and close-grained, and wheels made from it seem to stand the great dryness of the atmosphere and the destructive effects of the rough bash roads remarkably well. I have heard of a pair of dray wheels which had been in constant use for more than four years without showing signs of any deterioration. I was also once shown a very pretty gun-stock which had been made of York gum, and it seems to be likewise well suited for all kinds of millwright's work.
