ABSTRACT
But trouble soon emerged. The Western Australian Land Com402
pany - the first project - could not dispose of its lands and failed in its immigration schemes. so that the Government was forced to purchase its Great Southern Railway7 and the remaining 2i million acres of land. The other company led to still more trouble for. owing to its financial difficulties. Forrest had obtained a first charge over 2,400.000 acres of its land in 1893.8 Yet it kept on alienating large areas of land9 on the Upper Irwin and Victoria Rivers. thus nullifying the Government's policy of insisting on improvement as a qualification for ownership. Despite the 'strong condemnation' of a select committee and despite motion after motion of the Assembly, this anomalous position remained10 and the railway is still in the hands of the company.
