Queensland

Parliamentary Debates [Hansard]

Legislative Assembly

THURSDAY, 9 APRIL 1908

Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy

718 Technical Instruction Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] Questions.

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.

TH!iRSDAY, !) APRIL, 1908.

The SPEAKER (Hon. John Leahy, Bulloo) took" the chair at half-past 3 o'clock.

QUESTIONS. OUTDOOR HELIEF.

Mr. LESINA (Olermont) asked the Home Secretary-

!. What was the number of persons; throup-hout Queensland receiving outdoor relief from the 1st Jann· ary, 1903, to 31st December, 1903 F

2. Also, the number receiving r.elief for each year from 31st January, 1904, to 31st December, 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1907, inclusiveP

The HOME SECRETARY (Hon. A. G. C. Hawthorn, Enoggera) replied-

As it is impossible to obtain the information in time· to answer these questions to-day, I suggest that the.­hon. member move for a return.

Mr. LESIN A: I would like to ask the Home Secretary, without notice, whether, if I call on the Under Secretary, either now or during the recess, I can get the information?

The HOME SECHETARY: I will give in­structions to the Under Secretary to give all information.

Mr. LESINA : Thank you.

DREDGES "MARYBOROUGH" AND "BREAbi." Mr. LESINA asked the Treasurer-!. Is it true that the dredges "Maryborough" and

"Bream" have been sent to Walkers Limited tor over-­haul and repairs because the work can be done cheaper than at South Brisbane?

2. H so, is he aware that it means that between fifty and sixty men must remain idle on the south side until• other work presents itself?

The TREASURER (Hon. P. Airey, Bris-bane South) replied- •

1. No. Tbe dredge ":I\Iaryborough" has been sta­tioned in the Mary River for many years. It is now undergoing some necessary repairs there prior to its­removal to Brisbane, '"'"here it is to be docked. 'fhe barge "Bream" was sent to Maryborough to receive new hoilers built by Walkers and fm• repairs incidental thereto.

2. No. rrhe department does not maintain workshops. or provide regular employment. Casual lab0ur only is' employed for such work as can be done departmentally.

Albert River, Etc., Bill. [9 APRIL.] Inspection of Machinery, Etc., Bill. 719

ALBERT RIVER, BURKETOWN, AND LILYDALE TRAMWAY BILL.

PROPOSED INTRODUCTION.

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS {Hun. G. Kerr, Barcoo) moved-

That the Honse will, at. its next sitting, resolve it~elf into a Committee of the Whole to consider of the desirableness of introducing a Bill to validate an agree­ment entered into between the Secretary for Railways, for and on behalf of the Government of Qntenslaud, and the Queensland Silver Lead Mines, Limited, for the construction of a line of tramway from the mouth of the Albert River, by way of Burketown, to the Lilydale Mine, and to authorise the construction of the said ramway, and to make provision for matters incidental

thereto.

Mr. LESINA {Clermont): Mr. Speaker-­The SPEAKEH: Order ! This motion was

called " Formal." Mr. LESIN A : I called "X ot formal " most

distinctly to the motion. I have never allowed a motion like this to go as formal on the voices.

The SPEAKER: Of course I must take the hon. member's word. Proceed.

Mr. LESIN A: I have the same objection as I had to offer the previous motion introduced by the hon. gentleman yesterday. I do not pro· pose to detain the House, because when we dis­cuss the whole project in Committee I shall then he able, perhaps, to make my pmition clearer in the matter. All I want to say is this: I would like to know from the hon. gent.leman whether he will give any information bearing on this matter? I do so for this reaeon : Th1s is the third occasion on which this company has come to this House and asked for consideration. Their Bill first came before us in 1900, and, after a long fight, eventually passed. No nne took up a stronger position of opposition to this Bill than the Minister who is now introducing the motion. All we have to do is to hunt up Hansa1·d and see his speech, where he tabulated point by point all the objections which Labour men throughout Queensland had against that particular measure. Not only did he do that, but other members of the party also opposed the measure from a mining and a pastoral standpoint-from the point of view th"t they had power to establish truck shops and labourers' dwellings. I will go into the whole of the facts, and the whole of the correspondence, when we come to de•! with it.

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: There is nothing in this Bill that you speak of.

Mr. LESINA: It is the same company, and we are asked to make an agreement with them.

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: Yes; bnt not the same agreement that was entered into before.

Mr. LESI~A: A new agreement? The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: Yes.

Mr. LESINA: That is the difficulty; we are voting in the dark. •

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: If you want to make amendments, you should let me have them, so that I can circulate them.

Mr. LESI~ A : A thing like this should be circulated beforehand. Why should we be kept in the dark and then asked to vote for it like " buying a pig in a poke." Information like this should be in members' boxes a week before the Bill is introduced-we are asking nothing unfair -and then we should be in a better position to judge of the merits of the measure. I know nothing about it unless it is the same Bill that was introduced in 1900. I hope, if we are going to get much more of this kind of legislation, that the Government will consider our claims in this matter. We do not want to do anything unfair

to anybody. '-Ne want information. I hope the Minister in future, if he has any more syndicate railways in the box--

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: These are not syndicate rail ways.

Mr. LESI~A: Will circulate them among. hon. members, so that they can study the mea­sure brought before them. This is why I rise now, although I may say that I am opposed to the principle of any agreement being entered into with syndicates for the construction of rail· ways.

Question put and passed.

SUGAR vVORKS GUARANTEE ACTS AMENDMENT BILL.

THIRD READIKG.

On the motion of the TREASURER, this Bill was read a third time, and ordered to be trans­mitted to the Legislative Council, by message in the usual form.

SHIPMENT OF BUTTER TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

On the motion of Mr. BOWMAN (Fortitude Valley), it was formally resolved-

That there be laid on the table of the House copies of a1l papers and correspondence in connection with the shipment of 400 boxes of butter to lrestern Australia per s.s. H BombH.la,n on 12th February, 1908.

SUPPLY. REcEPTION m· REsoLDTIONs.

The CHAIRMAN brought up resolutions from CommitteP. of Snpply covering the following Departments-Justice, Treasury, and Public Lands-which were read by the CLERK.

The TREASURER {Hon. P. Airey, B1'is'Jane South) moved that the resolntions be agreed to.

Question put and passed.

INSPECTION OF MACHINERY AND SCAFFOLDING BILL.

CoKsmERATION IN Co!vlliiiTTEE m· CoDNCIL's Ali!ENDMEKTS.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC WORKS (Hon. G. Kerr, Barcoo). moved that t~e Com­mittee agree to the followmg paragraph mserted by the Council in clause 63 :-

Restricting unauthorised persons from being allowed to enter any engine-room while the machinery is in motion and prescribing penalties against such un­authorised persons, and the conditions under which entry into Ruch engine-room may be permitted.

Mr. PAGET asked what was the meaning of the amendment? It might mean that no man was to be allowed to enter any room or factory where a machine of any description was running unless he held an engine-driver's certificate.

HoNOURABLE MEMBERS : No, no! Mr. BowMAN: Unless he gets permission.

Mr. PAGET: From whom? Mr. Bow"rAN : The person in charge. Mr. P AG ET : What was the meaning of the

words "unauthorised person," and who was to authorise the person?

Mr. BARTOK: It will be defined by regulation. ]l,fr. P AGET: Such places as meat works,

electric-lighting plants, the Ipswich Workshops, and big sugar·mills were objects of inter~"t ~o visitors, and it would be a monstrous thmg 1f

Mr. Paget.]

720 Inspec(ion qf Machinery [ASSEMBLY.] and Scaffolding Bill.

the owner or manager of one of these works was debarred from taking visitors round, unless they were authorised by an mspector.

Mr. HAMILTON: No; by the manager. Mr. BOWMAX thought the amendment was

a very useful one. It would prohibit any person going in where 1nachinery was in motion without being authorised to do so by the person in charge. Visitors could not go into such places without pertnission; and it was a wise thing to prevent any Tom, Dick, or Harry from going into a place where they were liable to meet with an accident.

The t:!ECRETARY FOR PUBLIC WORKS: The amendment was moved in the Upper House by the Hon. Mr. Plant. No doubt he had in his mind a winding plant. It was a proper thing, when a man was in charge of men's lives, as was the case with a man looking after a winding plant, that his attention should not be diverted from his work. The amendment only applied to the engine-room, and not to the works.

:Mr. PAGET: There are other engine-rooms be­sides those connected with winding plants.

Mr. KENNA: The amendment was a stupid <one, as it gave the Governor in Council power to make regulations restricting persons from enter­ing engine-rooms. Any person who went into an engine-room now without the consent of the pro­prietor, or the engineer, could be immediately <ordered out, or, perhaps, be sent to gaol. Who was to authorise persons to enter an engine-room? If the amendment were allowed to remain as it stood, it meant that the Governor in Council might issue regulations preventing any person going into an engine-room.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC WORKS: Are they likely to do that? You don't think the Governor in Council will issue vexatious regulations?

Mr. KENNA did not say that at all; but the amendment was very crude, and did not convey

the meaning it waR intended to [ 4 p.m.J convey. If it were intended to dis-

criminate between mining engine. <rooms and others, it should be amended. He admitted there was an objection to people going into a winding-engine room, where the most rigid precautions should be taken to prevent the engineer's attention being distracted; but the amendment, as it stood, would apply to any engine-roon1. What was an engine-room? Was it a room where there was a boiler?

Mr. PAGET: No, that is a boiler-room. Mr. KBjNN A considered that the clause was

very vague. Mr. D. HUNTER (Woolloongabba): After

having sat up all night, members seem to be a little bit cloudy for want of sleep. The Gover­nor in Council might well be trusted to frame regulations to suit all places.

Mr. PAGET: \Ve; want an explanation, that is all; and we are entitlFd to it.

Mr. D. HUNTER: The hon. member knew that in many puhl!c works men went into rooms where they were not authorised to go at .all, and they had no busine5s there. If the rel(ulations drawn up by the Governor in Coun­-cil in connection with this matter W<Jre enfor·ced, it would stop persons from going into an engine­room and running the risk of great danger, especially in the case referred to by the Hon. :Mr. Plant, where men were in charge of winding machinery.

:'\Ir. PAGET : That should be specified. Mr. D. HUNTER: Why should it be

specified? The clause was perfectly clear, and they would only cloud it by adding anything to it.

[Mr. Paget.

Mr. P AG ET regretted that the Minister in charge of the Bill din not give a more lucid explanation than he did. He {Mr. Paget) could understand that the Hon. Mr. Plant, when he introduced this amendment, had in view a winding-engine room, but the clause was very loosely worded. Take the case of a sugar-mill 400 feet long by 300 or 400 feet wide ; the whole of that building was practically an engine-room. There might be twelve or fifteen engines at work, dotted about all over the place.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC \VORKS: You can never get your mind beyond mgar.

Mr. PAGET: Yes; be often bad his mind on the hon. gentleman, which was a long- way from a sugar-mill. The hon. gentleman was very narrow-minded, and thought that he (:\Ir. Paget) was the same, but he was not. He desired to bring under the Minister's notice something that the Minister knew nothing about. There might be twelve, fifteen, or twenty engines at work in a sugar-mill, and that would practically be an engine-room. That building was open tor any­one to walk into it as often as they liked, because it was not capable of being locked up.

Mr. WooDs: \Vould you have an unautho­rised person going in there?

Mr. PAGET: Anyone who wanted to go and see the manager of a sugar-mill always walked right into the room to see him.

Mr. SUMNER: Under these. regulations he will be prosecuted.

:'\Ir. PAGET: Under this clause the sugar­mill would be classed as an engine-room, and an unauthorised person would lay himself open to a penalty, because he was not working there.

Hon. R. PHILP : He might be looking for a job.

Mr. P AGET : Yes, he thought the clause should be made to apply to a winding-engine.

The SECRETARY J<'OR PuBLIC WoHKS: I think that was the intention of the mover of the amend­.nent.

Mr. PAGET: It was highly desirable that an unauthorised person should be kept out of a winding engine-room; but the clause was loosely drafted, and it might result in restrictions being placed where it was not necessary to place them.

Mr. WINSTANLEY (Charters Towers): The amendment had really been drafted not Ly any stupid individual but by the men who bad the work to do in connection with it. These men wanted to introduce a similar amendment in the Bill when it was before the House recently, but they were too late in getting it in. It bad been sent down by the men in charge of winding­engines in Charters Towers, to be included in this Bill. In drafting the regulations, all other classes of machinery might be excluded alto­gether, and only wina_ing-engines left in. There were notices on the door of winding-engine room• saying, "No admittance except on busi­ness," but they were "more honoured in the breach than in the observance." The rooms were used as a storeroom, a changing-room, and a host of other things, where all sorts of people went in and diverted the attention of the engine­driver away from his work. The engine-driver wanted the room kept private, as it would Le much better for him in doing his work. (Hear, hear!)

Mr. PAGET: I am with you in that. Mr. WINSTANLEY: Accidents were often

caused by the attention of the engine-driver being taken away from his work. The amend· ment was a good one. The men who suggested the amendment were satisfied that it would be

Supply. [9 APRIL.] ~·uppt,IJ. 721

to their adv'lntage, at any rate, as it was, and if the C~n:mittee altered it in any way they might make 1t worse mstead of better.

Mr. BARTON (Bn'sbane No>·th): In refer­ence to this m;ttter he would like to ;:il·e an instance from the electrical works. If a perRon without the necessary skill entered an engine­room wher~ c~rtain high tensiqn electrical machinery was at work, becam;;e of his want of knowledge of that machinery he might be killed, and it was therefore necess>try tu keep out all unauthorised perdons. The trade would, in such casas, ask the Minister, in drafcing the regulations, to define the degree of skill req llired for persons to enter sllch engine-rooms, whether they did sJ wi\h the consent of the manager or not.

(tnestion put and passed.

The House resll!ned. The UIUIRl\IAN rep~rted that the Committee had agreed to the Legislative ·Council'o amenrlment. The report was adopted, and the Bill was ordered to be returned to the Legislative Council, by message in the usual form.

HA:.\IPDE)l'.l\IOUNT ELLIOI'I' RAIL­WAY BILL.

INTIWDliCTION AND FIRST READING. On the motion of the SECRETARY FOR

RAILWAYS (Hon. G. Kerr, Bnrcoo), this Bill, which had been initiated in Committee, was read a first time.

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: I move that the Bill be printed.

:.\Ir. LESIKA (Clermont): I want to know ·whether the company or the Government are _paying all expenses incidental to the intra­cl uction of this Bill, the preparation of the .agreement, and so forth?

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: If the hon. member had seen the Bill he would have seen that one-half the expenses in con­nection with this line are borne by the Go­vernment and one-half by the company.

Question put and passed.

The second reading of the Bill was made an ·Order of the Day for to-morrow.

SUPPLY. RESCMPTION oF CoMMITTEE.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND STOCK­CHIEF OFFICE.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Hon. J. W. Blair, Ipsu:ich) moved that £16,117 be granted for salaries and contingencies, " Chief Office-, Department of Agriculture and Stock." There was an increase of £1,241 in this vote, the prin­cipal items be·ing increases to the salaries of certain officials in the department, which were made with the approval of the Public Service Board. :.\Ir. l\Iobsby, photographer, was trans­fen·ed to the Chief Secretary's Department. Tno additional inspectors had been appointed under the Diseases in Plants Act. Increases were made to the salaries of assistants in the chemical laboratory, in accordance with the regulations of the public service. There was an increase of £76 in the salary of the Poultry Instructor, which was explained by the fact that for the year ending on the 30th June, 1907, provision was only made. for his salary for six months, but in deference to the wish ex­pressed by hon. members l\Ir. Fern was kept on during that year, and would also be re­tained for the year 1907-8. There was an extra £100 for the Af!ricultural Journal, which \\1tS

really expended in providing a general index 1908-2 y

to eighteen volumes of that publication, and there was a small increase of £75 in the vote for the chemical laboratory for the usual re­plenishment of stock. There was an extra amount of £450 for the inspection of slaughter­houses, which included increases of £25 each to the inspectors at Ipswich, :.\laryborough, Bundaberg, and :.\!ackay, and £175 for a ·new inspector at Mount :.\Iorgan.

Ho>. R. PHILP thought this was the first time in the history of Queensland that they had had two paid :.\Iinisters in the Upper Hous-e. The importance of the agricultural industry justified them in claiming that the Secretary for Agriculture should be a member oi the Assembly. The present :.\Jinistry how­ever, had clone nothing to assist the ag-ricul­tural industry since they had been in ottice, but, on the contrary, had done all they pos­sibly could to injure the industry. The present ::\1inister for Agriculture,. good man a•• he was, was a paid Minister in the l:pper House. He did not object to his being a paid Minis­ter, but he contended that the political head of this department should be a real live Minis­tor, having a seat in the· Assembly.

Mr. J. 111. HCNTER: :i\Ir. Thynne was not in this House.

HoN. R. PHILP: l\lr. Thynne was a man above the ordinary, and at the time he was Secretary for Agriculture there was only one paid l\liniste-r in the Council. liioreover, that g·entleman, though a lawyer, was the oon or a farmer, and had done some farming himsel£, and his sons occupied farms at the present time. As a matter of fact, l\Ir. Thynne knew m•n··~ about farming than so1no persons ~'·ho wc.1e engaged in that industry.

An HONOCRABLE J\.IEMBER: What about Byrnes?

Ho)~. R. PHILP: \Vhen the late l\Ir.Dn·ne• was in the Council, he was the only · paid :.\Iinister in that House. He '(."vlr. Philp) had !taped at one time that agriculture was going to be the biggest industry in Queensland, but he did not think so now. Under the Wages Boards Bill agriculture would have a very bad time in Queensland. The present Ministry evidently thought very little of the industry, and were doing nothing to encourage it. ·we had some State farms in Que·ensland, but so for there was none in North Queensland, which was just as de.erving in that respect as was Southern Queensland. There was a great deal of land fit for agriculture in North Queensland, and much of it was under cultivation, 11nd if these State farms were any good at all one should be established in the North--a part of t.he State which had been neglected by the pre3ent GovernmPnt.

Mr. J ONES: Will a State farm help the agri­culturists?

HoN. R. PHILP: The hon. member for Bur­nett had one in his own electorate, and he should know whether State farms were any good or not. There were State farms at West­brook, Biggenden, Hermitage, Gindie, and Roma, but no provision was made for a State farm in North Queensland. Ayr and Atherton were anxious to get assistance in that way.

lYlr. KENNA: ']'he Government ha Ye reserved a site for one on the Durdekin.

HoN. R. PHILP: \Vhat they wanted was a farm on which tropical agriculture would be carried out. He had neYor heard of any crops being grown in the Central district, but there was a considerable amount of agriculture carried on in the Korth. They had gone to great expense in cultivating land at Gindie,

Hon.R. Philp.]

722 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

and they still paid a manager £156 a year to look after that farm. If there was room in the Cen· tral district for State farms there was also room {or State farms in the ?\forth, as there was plenty of land fit for cultivation at Atherton. HB noticed that the Dairy Expert, Mr. Thomson, had resigned, and the :'.linister ought to tell the House the reason why. They were led to believe that i\lr. Thomson was a man who thoroughly understood his work, as our butter had improved very much in quality since he had come, and that he was the right man in the right place. He thought, at the same time, that the J:',·emicr ought to explain why he could not f111d a nmn in that Chamber on his own side of the House fit for the position of :Minister for Agriculture.

Mr. LESI?\A: It was rather a remarlmble fact that in a Chamber of seventy-two mem­bers, with a number of agricultural experts and experienced farmers who were loyal sup­porters of the Government, it was not possible

to secure a practical man for the [4.30 p.m.] position of Minister for Agricul-

ture. What about the hon. mem­ber for Cambooya, who was a man of forty years' experience, and a practical agriculturist, whilst the hon. gentleman introducing the prec.f'nt Estimates did not know a turnip from a mange! wurzel? (Laughter.) He (Mr. Lesina) did not pretend to be an agricultural expert himself. If there was anything that tended to make a democracy absurd, it was the putting of men into unsuitable positions in political life. The gentleman in charge of the department was a lawyer, whom the people had rejected at the election. They rejoiced as a party over the defeat of a man opposed to them, and they said he had not the confidence of the electors. Now, JYlr. O'Sullivan was de­feated, and became like any other man in the street; yet, in our democratic Government, he was taken up and placed in the Upper House at £1,000 a year; which was a distinct slap in the face to the \V at·wick people. The result was that on J.hese Estimates, instead of having a practical man, they had to deal with a lawyer who knew nothing about agriculture, which handicapped them, because they looked to him for practical information. It was a reflection on the Government that they had put this im­portant department of primary industries in the hands of a lawyer, and passed over men on their own side who were well qualified to hold the portfolio. The hon. senior member for Toowoomba and the hon. members for CambQoya, Nundah, Bowen, and Cairns were all practical men, repre•;en ting centres of agri­cultural activity, and why could not one of these gBnt.lem,·n be appointed inst<Jad of putting a defeated candidate in the Upper House and paying him £1,000 a year, thereby establishing a precedent for which democracy had no excuse at all? They hated that institu­tion, and yet the Government, in order to get a better standing in the community, put two paid Ministers into it. What was the use of talking about the curse of uomineeism when two nominees there were receiving £i,ooo a year, and tlwv had no more right to be in that House-because they had lost the confidence of their constituents-than the next Tom Dick, or Harry you could pick up in Queens: land. This strengthened the hand of those opposed to de~ooratic government, and they pomted to the Jobbery that was possible under it. He was ashamed of it, and hoped the time was not far distant when they would knock the thing on the head.

An HONOURABLE MEMBER: This Govern­ment does it.

;Hon. R. Philp.

Mr. LESINA did not care which Govern­ment did it; it was wrong, immoral, and in­defBnsible. What did the Attorney-General know about this department?

::\lr. JENKINSON: \Vhat does the ordinary Secretary for Agriculture know about it?

Mr. LE SIN A : There was a practical man in tlw depal·tm€ut--:llr. Scriven-of large ex­perience, without whom the JYlinistBr would be lost. The ::\linister meant well. There was no more well-meaning man than the Attorney­General; in everything he. took up he meant wBll, and the Labour party had a soft spot in their hearts for him. (Laughter.) He admired him as a lawyer, but not as a :Minister for Agriculture. He had introduced this item, not as a practical agriculturist, or as an old sturdy farmer like the hon. member for Cambooya, with a practicJ.l discourse on the industry, its limitations. and the difficulties the men en· gaged in it had to contend with would have done, but with a simplB formal proposition that they vote £1G,OOO. What satisfaction was that to a guardian of the taxpayers? That was no information to him. He had to hunt up thB report so that he might acquaint himself with some of the work of the institution. Tho Government ought to have had a practical man as Minister for Agriculture. Could they not have selected a man from their followers? \Yould it have led to jealous:;- and a distur­bance of tho relations subsisting between that dBlightfully happy combination over thme? (Laughter.) This would go right on into the rccBss. and h€ uuderstood that the Attorney­General intended to take a trip to England, so that the department would be without a Minister. It was bad enough to have a lawyer in this department, supervising the work of agricultural experts, dail·y inspectors, diseases in plants inspectors-who chased bugs and beetles and all that kind of thing-looking after the vagaries of that crowd of experts he had to supervise. But what would happen to the unfortunate department when he de­parted? He believed the hon. gentleman when he went to England would be in consultation with Mr. Asquith in connection with the House of Lords, possibly with a view to the settlement of ImpBrial problems relating to the standing of that institution. (Laughter.) What would happen? No man with patriotic instincts could sit calmly here, unmoved, in the- face of wch a great calamity occurring. (Laughter.) The Government might reshuffle portfolios and get rid of Mr. O'Sullivan, and put a practical man in the position. He be-­lieved if a vote werB taken of members behind tho Government a practical man would be secured from their own ranks for the position. They had practical men in the Labour party, but there was a hard-and-fast rule which pro­hibited the agriculturists on the Labour benches from taking a portfolio. The hon. member for Maranoa would fill the position very well, and ho represented a big agricul­tural district. The hon. member for Burnett, who was a selector, would also do very well for the position. Then there we-re men on the­Opposition side who were quite capable of· filling the position. He did not know whether any overtures had been made to any of them.

An HoNOURABLE '\IE:IiBER: \Yhy did you not make ovmtures yourself?

J\lr. LESINA: He did not desire to make 8ny overtures himself; they wDuld come later on. There were not many agriculturists in his district, but there \Vt~re sel<?-ctors and gra.zing farmers, and they had relations with the

Suppl,y. i9 APRIL.] Supplp. 723

department. He wanted to refer to tho Emerald Butter Company. which had been applying to the department for some time for assistance in connection with the e'tablrshment of their bu,ine;s on something like a workable foo_ting, but he did nDt beliDve that rt had bDDn suc­cessful. A gDod deal Df correspDndence had r·assed betw<een the department and an appli­CJ-tion had been made, but ,~!wther it was proposed to grant it h<> could not say. He did not desire to bring pressure to bear on the Goyernll•Pnt.: th"y rmf(ht please themselves.

:\Ir. :\]AK~': Is it a syndicate cDmpany? :\Ir. LESI;\;A: He did not knDw. He had

no shar<o in it. It did not affect his district Dnly, but the whole of Queensla11d. He undilr­stoocl the :\I inistm for Agriculture was respDn­sible fer th2 acl.nir:istration of the Native Birds Protection Act. This Act appearecl tD give the most trouble in this department to pDr­son:::. ;:oncf'rned in his di~trict, who were en. gagDd in boar and opossum hunting. He had a letter from a. man in the Clermon t district, ;.lJOwing the trouble they had in this matter. He would like the :\linioter t.o give them some irfDrmation. beca•1se every other district where they hunted these marsupials for their skins was in the sar.1e position as Clermont. The writer poinh>d Dut th8.t the shooters ~tarted to shoot about the ht of :\Iay, believ­mg that. thev could shoDt till the end of October, according to the proclamation issued in the district; but a further proclamation came out stopping bear shoGting from thD 6th _\n.<m't to the end of Decemb<'r. Naturallv <>no,,gh the me" thou'l"ht they code! start shDot­ing again after the New Year, and did so for a few days. They were completely muddled. The men living in .,cattDrecl and inaccessible localities did not get to know of these changes; and, when they came in to sell their skins, they were prosecuted and fined, and the skins were forfeited. They wanted the close season to be fixed. The last proclamation which was issued extended the time to 30th June, 1908. The writer of the letter referred to contended that there was a mistaken idea abroad with respect to native bears. They were supposed to breed only at one particular season, whereas old shooters maintained that both the bear and the opossum bred all the year round. The writer further said that there were hundreds of miles of country on the Peak Downs-a large part of it never trodden b:v a human foot-where there were plenty of bears, and in other dis­tricts, so that the Government need not fear their extinction for the next fifty vears. They could fincl them in the most rugged country not accessible to horses. It was a very profitable industry to those engaged in it. He ]mew whole families who camped out for months and who made big cheques. '

Mr. JONES: The animals need protecting, though.

Mr. LE SIN A: They did not object to pro­tection, but they wanted the close season to remain fixed. The varying of the season by proclamations led to a state of unrest. He hoped the Minister would take the advice of practical men in the backblocks, who had no means of approaching the department, and whose only hope of rectifying grievances was by having them ventilated on the floor of the House.

Mr. :C.IANN (Cairns): There were a good many items to be dealt with under this vote, and he desired to get some information in regard to Dne or two of them. He wished to know, in the first plaoe, if it would not be possible to get some articles in the Agricultural Journal dealing with the sugar industry. At

present the Agrir1</tu!'al Journal was of very little use, if any, to sugar-growers. It was two or three years since he saw an article on the cultivation of cane, and now that the finances w<>re in a better condition, it might be possible to get some articles on one of the most im­portant of their agricultural industries. The next matter referred to the Instructor in Tropical Agriculture. He was never able to get a satisfactory reply from the hon. momber for Oxley, when he was Minister, with refer­ence to the subject on which Mr. Newport gave instruction.

:\lr. P AGET; Coffee particula.rly. ~lr. ~IANN: He was brought out here as

a coffee expert. and he believed he knew all about coffpo: but th-ere were only two growers up in the Cairns district, and as they now thDrougly understood the business, he saw no Teason for an instructor in coffee at Cairns.

:\Ir. PAGET: He visits other districts. ~Ir. :C.L\NN: He had not travelled for the

last five years. :\Ir. P AGET: He comes down to the 1Iackay

district frequently. Mr. :\IANN: The desire in his district was

that the Kamerunga State Nursery should be devoted to the propaga tim1 Df cane sBedlings. At present men wDre sent up North to collect the seed and bring .it down to Brisbane to grow it here. Better result.s could be got in the district where the cane arrowed, and wher" they could get the seed at any time without expense. · . .Mr. PAGET: They have got good results at I-Iambledon.

Mr. MANN: They had, but the experi­ments had now ceased. The Government ought to continue those experiments. After all, the number of first-class canes in the dis­triCt were very few. About the best cane they had in the Cairns district came from the Ac­climatisation Society. The climate at Kam­e.runga was very favourab_le for the propaga­tiOn of cane. The next pomt he wished to ask was whether the inspector of diseases in plants at Cairns, was not able to carry out his dutie~ without instructions from Kamerunga? He further ask~d what special knowledge Mr. Newport had of diseases in plants. The inspec­tor should have a free hand. He did not think there was any other place in Queensland where an inspector was controlled by a man who had other duties to perform, and who could not be expected to know as much as a man actively engaged in the work of inspec­tion. He was given to understand that Mr. Connoly was a very good and energetic officer but his work was handicapped by the fact that he was controlled from Kamerunga. This department had to administer the Shearers and Sugar \Vorkers Accommodation Act. At Cairns the inspection had been a farce. Mr. Connoly said, when he spoke to him about it, that he could do nothing unless he got in­structions from Mr. Newport. He believed Mr. Newport had only made one inspection. He might have gone to the different mills, but, from conversations and letters he had received from workers in the sugar industry, he be­lieved Mr. Newport had never inspected the camps of canecutters. The accommodation of those men required looking after, because, when a number of men were camped in tents and there was no proper sanitary accommoda­tion and an insufficient sup[JIY of water, typhoid fever might break out. '!'here was some talk recently about a case of plague at the Mulgrave ::\1ill. It was a great mistake that the inspector must receive instructions from

Mr. M ann.]

721 Suppl_lf. [ASSE~IBLY.J Supply.

the man who was supposed to run the depart­ment. The "Cnder Secretary might be able to say how many inspection~ had beE'n made. The leader of the Opposition advocated the E'stablishment of a State farm in Xorth QuE'ens­laud. He. ::\lr. :\Iann) had been in communi­cation with the :\linistE'r, who had given him a definite promise that he intended going North during recess to inquire into the matter on the spot. The Kamerunga J\:ursery was only a very small place, and it \1 as no use to the settlers over the rangE', where the great bulk of the good land was situated-that was land that was not under sugar. Settlers at Ather­ton. Tolga, Evelyn. and Herberton claimed that the fact that things grew well at Kam­erunga, near the sea-level. was no criterion that thev would do well over the range. There was a strong desire in Cairns that the nursery should be open to vicitors to the district on Sundavs. Steamers arrived on Sunday, and small towns were rather dull on that day, and it would be a great boon to visitors if they wore able to drive out and inspect the nursery. At present they were not allowed to go there. It was closed, as the manager objected to having his Sundays disturbed by _visitors. The farmE'rs, also, who were busy dunng the week, might find time to go round and have a look at the nursery on Sundays.

:VIr. P AGET: They go to church.

Mr. MANN: They might do that in Mackay, but not 1 per cent. of the farmers in the Cairns district would ride 8 miles to go to church.

:\Ir. WHITE: That accounts for you being herE'.

:\Ir. :\IANN: He always found that pro­fessed religious people were the worst people

to work for. If they had prayers [5 p.m.] for an hour in the morning, they

would want the time made up in the evening. He would far sooner work for an agnostic, or a man who did not bother about religion at all. A good deal of the plants they were growing at the Kamerunga Nursery were of no use at all to the praptical farmers. If the nursery was going to be worked properly, it should grow something that would be of practical benefit to the farmers. It would benefit them a great deal if seedling cane was grown there. He was pleased to see that they were going in for tobacco-growing there, but whether it would be a succt•ss or not he did not know.

:l\Ir. KENNA: It is a success in Bowen.

Mr. :MANN: At one time tobacco was grown in the Cairns district, but it was not a success. It might have been because tho far­mers did not know the proper season to grow tobacco. If it was a success at Kamerunga Nursery, it would give a big lift to farming in the Cairns district. Just round the nursery thero were thousands of acres of freehold land lying waste, growing nothing but burrs and weeds. But if it could be shown that tobacco could be successfully grown there that land would be taken up, and it would be used instead of being the menace that it was now to tho adjoining lands.

:\Jr. \VHITE: Is it Crown land?

:\[r. MAN:\': l'\o; it was fre<>holcl land. It wa.s leased in the early days to the Chinese, and thev had bananas, maize. and rice grow­ing on 1t; but they afterwards left the 'rand,

[Mr. M ann.

and 1t had no-w nothing but weed:-:; growing on it. \Yithin 3 or 4 miles of a seaport town they had thousand~ of acres of land lying waste, but if it could grow tobu,cco it would be a good thing for Northern (lue<Jnsland. He asked the :ilinister to take notice of what he said in regard to the Agricultural Journal and the Instructor in Tropical Agriculture. If the instructor was going to be of any use to the fal'm''rs up there, he must travel round the distri~t, and, although he did n0t know much about sugar-growing·, if he in­structed the farmen in the cultiYation of coffee, inst-ead of l}Ping tied to a nursery it would be better for the district. During 'his absNlCe the oYersem· could look after the Pursery fOl' him.

:\Ir. L1£~NON (Herbert): He understood that the Attorney-General said, in connection with the inspection of slaughter-houses, that wme efficient inspectors had been appointed, making a.n increa.oe in salaries of £450. he hoped that was the case.

'I'be AT~'ORN"Y-GENERAL: That is so.

I\lr. LE::\':1\'0N: That was absolutely neces­sary. Tl1e health of the communitv was the very first duty of the GDvernment to 'att-end to a!1d it was worthy of the most important con: sideration. It was a well-knDwn fact that throughout may parts of the Korth diseased cattle were killed in slaughter-houses and con­sumed by the people. He did not say that the police, who had to attend to this duty in con­nection with their other multifarious duties, were in any way to blame, becau,;e it was nDt for want of care but the want of knowledge. It was impossible for them to diagnose a case, and therefore they were not to blame. He hoped that the system of inspecting the slaughter-houses would be extended. In many of the small growing districts in the Northern part of Queensland additional inspectors were vitally necessary, and they might. perhaps, group three or four districts to be looked after by one inspector. He hoped the -:\Iinister would make a note of it. \Yith regard to State farms, the hon. member for Bow-en said that land had been reserved in his district ior State farms while the hon. member for Cairns said he had a pwmise from the illinister that he would pay a visit to that district.

i\ir. l\IANN: I said that he would visit the Northern districts.

Mr. LENNO::--J: He understood the hon. m em her to say that the Minister for Agricul­ture would visit Cairns. He hoped that the visit of the Minister for Agriculture to the North would not be too hurried, but that he would take ample time and not overlook that magnificent country which lay between the Bowcn electorate and the Cairns electorat-e, and which was represented by himself (Mr. Lennon). He trusted that the :Yiinister would have a look at that magnificent country in the Ingham, 'rully River, Murray River, and GeraldtDn districts, and if he could do some­thing in the same way for that district, it would put somo vitality into it. a-nd do some goocl to the farmers already there. He hoped it would receive the earnest comideration of the ;\linister for Agriculture.

Mr. P AGET regretted that the Minister in charge of an important department like this, which represented a big primary industry, was not in the Legislative Assemblv. He could understand that lhe AL_torncy-General was just as capable as the Mm1stcr for Agriculture in handling the Estimates, as neither of these gentlemen, as the hon. member for Clermont

SuppT;IJ· [9 APRIL.] Supply. 725

pointed out SDlllC tirne ago, \Vas a practical man. He was not certain whether the matters he would bring under the notice of th" hon. gentleman would be taken notice of, but the Minister, with the knowledge he had of the department during the short time he had eharge of the Estimate<, assisted by the offi­cers of the department, who were in thCJ gallery, would be able to give them some in­formation which they greatly desired.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: That is right.

~Jr. P AGET: He was a practical agricultur­ist hims.:lf. and it was hard for him to find that the Minister in eharg·e of the Estimates was not the responsible Minister of the depart­ment, and he could not, thereforE'. ask the Attornev-General for information which he would have askecl from the J\Iinister for Agri­culture himself. The hon. member for Cairns in his spePch referred to the Kamerunga State K ursery. For tho past two or three sessions he (Mr. Paget) had brought under the notice of the Minister the necessitv for having a State experimental farm in c01onection with the Kamerunga Nmsery, if possible, in the Ather­lon district. He understood from the Minister last year that some steps- \\ere going to be taken to start an experimental farm in the Atherton district, to be worked in connection with the Kamerunga State Nursery.

Mr. MANN: Why not have a separate estab­lishment altogether at Atherton?

~Tr. P.\GET thought thev might run the two establishment, together more economica.lly than if they were separate, and he also thought that after the lads who were taught at the Ath<'rton State Farm learned all the agricul­tural operations for a temperate climate they could spend par~ of the year at Kamerunga and be taught tropical agriculture too-that was other than sugar-growing. The report of Mr. Newport, Instructor in Tropical Agriculture, which would be found at page 107 of the annual report of the Department of Agriculture, con­tained a va:t amount of information about the tropical products which w<:>re being grown at Kamerunga. but there was nothing to show that it was intended to establish a State farm in the Korth. He would like to know from the Minister whether any defini le proposal would be made in regard to that matter during the next twdve months. vVithin a short distance of Caims and of the Herbert electorate there was an ideal place, as regarded both altitude and climate. for starting an experimental farm, wh~re lads could be t_aught how to grow crops whwh would succeed m temperate climates, so that they would not be bound to follow in the footsteps of their fathers who grew sugar on the coast. The hon. member for Cairns ,tated that experiments in tobacco-growing were being carried on at Kamerunga. He (:\fr. Paget) was of opinion that the services of Mr. N~vill, th"' expert in tobacco-growing, were not bemg avaiif'd of to_ the extent that thev might be, as 1\lr. Kevill practicallv devoted th"e whole of his time to Texas and" the countrv round Stanthorpe. He (::\Tr. Paget) was certain that c~;;-ar tobacco could be. grown profitably in the 1\orth. On one occaswn 1\lr. Kevill was sent to the North to report upon the possibilities of its soil a.nd climate in connection with the growing of that class of tobacco but tobacco­growing wa:s not going ahead very rapidly in the sugar di,tncts at the pn,,ent time. In the Bowen district there was a large quantitv of cigar leaf b~in'l' grown, and that was due to the fact that ::\Ir. Nevill had visited that dis­trict and told the people that they had a soil which was suitable. and a climate which he

also thought was suitable for growing· tobacco of that description. He (]\Ir. Paget) b.-liewd that there were also some a.reas at Cardwell on which cigar leaf "as grown, practically under the supervision of Mr. Nevill. If cigar leaf. especial!~- leaf suitable foy wrappers, could be grown as successfullv on the coast of Northern Queensland as it was grown in Sumatra and Borneo. there wa~ no reason whv thPv should not produce leaf worth 4s. or 5s. per lb., which was the value of the leaf grown in those islands.

Mr. V\'HITE: It is cured under special treat­ment there.

1\Ir. PAGET: If the British planters in those islands could make such a success of the busi­ness of growing cigar leaf, he saw no reason why the same thing could not be done in Queensland.

Mr. VVHITE: They are paying 50 per cent. dividends to the ,,hareholders.

Mr. PAGET: If the companiPs who ran the tobacco plantations in those islands could pay large dividends to the sharPholders, that was a strong reason why the farmers in North Queensland should be instructed in the culture of so profitable a product. He had not the slighest doubt that Mr. Nevill had the neces­sary knowledge to enable him to instruct the farmPrs how to cure the ]paf so as to put it on the markets of the world in a condition which would command the highest current prices. Another matter he wished to bring under the notice of the Minister was the salary paid to the Entomologist.

Mr. SmrNER: You want an up-to-date Ento­mologist.

Mr. PAGET: Did the hon. member mean to say that 1Ir. Tryon was not an up-to-date En­tomologist?

Mr. SmrNER: Yes. 1\Ir. PAGET differed from the hon. member,

as he thought that in i\fr. Tryon they had a verv valuable officPr. The trouble was that l\Ir: 'Iryon had not sufficient time to travel about the State and inquire into all matters that required his attention, and to perform the various duties inseparable from the office of Entomologist. It was absolutely impossible for Mr. Tryon to clo all that agriculturists asked him to do. He had known Mr. Tryon for a number of years. Mr. Tryon visited Mackay in the year 1894, in connection with the destructive grub which appeared in the cane, and he wrote a pamphlet which contained a great deal of valuable information on the subject. But enthusiast as 1\Ir. Tryon was, if the State was to get the best result from his knowledge, it was necessary that he should be afforded some assistance, and he hoped that this matter would receive the attention of the Minister. With regard to the Agricultural Chemist. he noted that that officer had not re­cei,·ed any. increase of salary for two years. Considering the value of the services that gentleman rendered to agriculture in Queens­land, his salary was shockingly low. Mr. Briinnich was a man of very high attainments, and had left a good position in the Colonial Sugar Refinery Company in order to accept the office of Agricultural Chemist in this depart­ment. He (Mr. Paget) wished to say at this point that the officers to whom he was re­ferring had not spoken to him about the matters that he had brought before the Com­mittee. In fact, he had not seen them for many months. The report of the Agricultural Chemist showed that very valuable work was being done in the laboratory building in

Mr. Paget.]

726 iSuppl,'l· [ASSE.Ml3LY.J oupply.

\Villiam street. He was glad to observe that four pupil assistants had been given to that oificer, becauso it was very desirable that young men should be trained in the profession of agricultural chemists. A young man would have to spend many years in hard work and studv before he would become an efhciont chen1ist, and, as agriculture in this State was going ahead by leaps and bounds, it was desirable that they should make provision for the future in this respect. Before long wo should probauly require half a dozen agricul­tural chemists, and it was desirable that we should have trained men available when wanted, and that those men should be ade­quately remunerated for the valuable services thev rendered to the State. The whole of the officers in the Department of Agriculture, right from the top to the bottom, were not receiving the salarin which the-v should do as com­pared with the salaries paid to officers in other departments. He noticed that the ,alary of the messenger was only £45 per annum. It was to be hoped he was not a married man.

He thought he knew him by sight, [5.3() p.m.] and should say that. fcrtunately,

he '"a~ not a marri·ed rna.n. On looking over the itr•ms <Jf the vote. it was apparf'nt that the Agricultural Df'pa.rtment. in resp<'ct of salarit's, was the Cindf'rella of iLe ~orrice: yet every officor, to his knowledge­and he had a lot to do with the department-­had his business v<'rv kef'nh· at heart. Thev were alwa.vs rcadv t'o assist' anvbodv-he was uot speakil1g of a'm<'mber of Paxlianwnt-but to assi<t anybody whom they possibly could. He hopf'd thP :.\IinistN would see if it was not pos,•ible to place the"" officers on a somewhat bett<er footin-~·. In saying that, he was not Bpeaking esp<'cially for highly paid officers; he believed a gr0at n •Jmber of the-e officers were not paid sufficiently well. He noticed that th{_\re was a. .!2entleman nan1ed J\Ir. Dads recently brought from South Africa to act as Government Veterinary Surgeon. His salary was not arranged for on these Estimates, and he would like to know what salary and allow­ances he was to receive. Again, under the Shearers and Sugar \\' orkers Accommodation Act, there was a vote of £GOO. \Vould the 1linister tell the Committee how that monev was spent' \V ere the officials who acted ,;s inspectors paid for that work from this vote' He would take the case of ::\Ir. Newport. \Vhen he (Mr. Paget) was last in Cairns, Mr. New­port was not only acting· as Instructor in Tropical Agriculture, but was also acting as inspector under th<' Shearers and Sugar \\~orkers Accommodation Act. He was the I!lstructor in Tropica.! Agricultnre at the Kam­crunga ::\ur:;;erv.

:\fr. GRANT,' It would not br much tr{•,lble for him to make those inquiries.

:\fr. PAGET: [t ·-eomed to him peculiar for an Inspector in Tropical Agricultur<' to be also an inspectDr under the Shearers and Sucrar ·workers Accommodation Act. o

:\fr. IL~)!ILTO~: Thev cam JOt fill th<' two pD~itions ·

:\fr. PAGET: '\o. th<'~' could not: anrl wher<? they had officers of such attainments it seemed a pity that their tim<? should be taken up by doing such work Let thorn have men especially to carry out this work in a proper manner. (Hear, hear~) He remembered that a great number of members had assisted the hon. member for Grcgory when he brought his first Bill forward as a private member's Bill. It was not pa•·s<'d; it was hung up. Hon. members here, and especially those who

[Mr. Paget.

were large employers, rather welcomed that Shearers and Sugar \Vorkers Accommodation Act, especially in the sugar districts. As the administration of the Act was under this de­partment, it would be extremely wise if the inspection under the measure was properly carried out. It was extremely necessary in the interests not only of'the employees but of the employers. Some employers desired to do a fair thing to their men.

1lr. HEBBgRTSON: '.fhcy do not all do it. Mr. PAGET: That was why he wanted rigid

inspection, so that those who did not do it should be compelled to do it, and be brought into line with those who recognised the duty cast upon them of looking after their em­ployees. He did not intend to detain the Com­mittee. He hoped the Minister would take a note of these two matters, with a view to come to a decision with his colleagues, as it would be of advantage to the great agricultural in­dustrv of the State.

1\Ir: JOXES (Hur7lrlt) could not help but agree with the hon. member who had resumed his seat. The hon. member for Clermont raised the question of the protect:on of native bears. That industry was becoming an im­portant industry to the Stat-e, allCl ther-e were a greo.t many engaged in it, but they should see the animal was protcGted so as to preserve the industry. He suggested that a license fee be char~f'd to the scalpers ol' others <>ngaged in the industrv. There were manv men in his dis­trict who ,;;ere willing to pay £.1, ot even £10, per year. for a license to shoot in the season.

:\lr. GRANT: They are growling up our way about that.

:\fr. JOKES: The squatters in the outlying districts emploved men at a low rate of wage­in fact, gave ~o wages at all in some cases, but just employed the men on the stations by giving them the right of shooting. He re­comm<'wled that an alteration bo made in the Act, and a fee charged for the right to shoot. Another thing which he wished to refer to was the settlement under the Special Agricultural Selections Act, 1805. There was only one group under the Act, and 1t was situated in his dis­trict. He would refer to the report of the Under Secretary for Agriculture, who had often interested himself in that settlement, having visited it, and he had endeavoured to make it a great success. The Under Secre­tary said-

The rent. of their land lm~ been paid on their account, monev h~s heen advanced t'or rations. elothing, tools, and oiher necessaries. and an overs!:'er has. been :tppointed to dil·ect and guide tllem througll the ditliculties that mu~t. inevitalJly be met in tlle early stages of !'arm life in virgin country. He would like to know if the scl<'ctors under the .Act \Verc still contributing in any \Yay towards the salarv of the overseer. He thought that now they were establish('d ther<'. an m·er­seer Wi1'~ unneccssarv. l-Ie did 11ot know that one was necessarv a't all, e"cept in the initial sta.o;es. A creat rnany of the men settled there had a greater Irnowledge than the 111an \vho -was in chargo nf them. There \Va~ only one plou'5h providNl in tlw first in;tance for the whole of the >-elections. They pluui,ihecl up land on on<' selection to-day. and another one to·mOl"rO\V. Then thev ram-c to harro-w, and in another couple of weeks they came l'OUllC! to plant. They knew that. farmers working their own farms did not cultivate in that manner. or they would not g<'t on very fa,t. In fact. in n1anv ca3€S. the mana~em't!nt had rather harassed the men than oth<'rwise. Probably th<' o\ erseer did not have the tools or implem<'n to r1ecessary for the proper working of each farm.

Supply. L9 APRIL.] Supply. 727

'He thought every man should have his own implements, and not one big plough far the whole settlement. He was not saying anything per;:_,onal against the overseer, but hf' wa8 ~peaking in the iuwrests of the men settled under that Act. The report went on to say-

At one time there were signs that some of the mem­ber8 residing un the area appeared Lo think that there was no need to \.York hal d, and. as a result of an inquiry into the matter, two members 'vere reqnired to with­dra.w, and a third cautioned as to his future conduct. The warning had an effect upon the man, but, as his family abandoned the selection, he was perforce re­quired to retire also, because the essence of this Act being the settlement of families, single men l..l' men living apart t'rom their families are debarred.

The experience of the year has shown that the differ­ence between those who hnve received the adYantages of thi::3 Act a11d the ordinary ~elector. who works and tries hard until he has turned the eorner, is very wide indeed. rrhe mnn who has to tight his own way make:-: the best of what he has or what he ran fashion or produce without murmnring, in the hope that by hard and continuous labour fortune wiil smile upon him, and his home will be secured for himself Hnd his family. 1Yith some of tho.-:e who have receive(l assist­ance from the G wernment. on the other hand. it would seem that they consider themseh·es badly treated if anything they nsk fol' is refu;:ed. ":\Ieetings to raise agitation to secure certain ends that were desired, but whieh co1.1ld not be allowed. were held for at wining the objects desired. If that which was asked f()r was not grant.1·d, a meeting would be h·~ld denouncing the over­seer for his refusal.

Why should not these men hold meetings? He could inform the :\linister that thev had formed a prog-ress a~sDciation in the settlem·ent. That "a,; probably the me•eting referred to, and why should any objection be made to the men forming a progress a~sociation? They approached the various departments &ometimes through himself, and they had a very success· ful a'sociation which materiallv assisted the memb€r for the district in car'i·ying out his duties in approaching the various departments. He did not know that these men had made any personal attack on :!\fr. Barber, thG overseer. 'fhey did not agree with his system of plough­ing up the ground 0!1e day and planting it three clays later, after the weed,, had begun to •pring up. After this report was furnished to the House last year, the :\Iinister for Agri­culture visited the settlement, and according to his report-

Mr. O'Sullivan and :Jlr. Scriven went on to Gayndah on Saturda.y afternoon, Rnd on Sunday morning visited the Ideraway settlement. \Yitn the ovwseer IMr. Barber1 they rode over the settlement, and the :3-Iinister had interyiews with the twenty-three settlers. In all there are 128 chlldr.:n in the twenty-three families. Each fa..mily lul..s bP.en supplied with ten cows. at1d from 2 to 4 acres of land was plou~hc.i. for them by the department. The cows em1 bled the families to get an immediate incomr. The cream is furwarded to 1Yetheron. Xeady all the settlers are satisfied with their prospe ~ts, and 11r. O'i'lullivan confessed that they were a better class of men than he had expected to ~ee in the settlement.

:\lr. O'Sullivan said thev were a h•tter cJa., of men tha.n he expected b) sf'e. XQw, what class of men did he expect to see: They were just ~:s goQd a class of 1nen a.s the n1embers of that .\seemblv. and this statement was a slur on them ,_,l;ich he res<'ntecl. Because thev took ad;-antage of an Act of Parliament, just 'as any memb<•r of that Committee woulcl take advan­tage of the Land Act if he wanterl to take up f1 oelection, they were said to l'<' spoon-fed. lie Yeutured to say that the sucC''" of the settle­Inent wa~ assured, mul its suc.cess was clue 111ore to the energy of the rr1en then1selyes than to th<' mana,,<'ment. The 'Cnder Secre­tarv had alwavs ll<>en r0adv to meet the re­qu,;sts of the" men. One thinp: that helped t.hetn n1ore than anything {"1-.e v, a~ ::-upplying them with good dairy cattle; but a mistake <W:1s made in the first place by getting cattle

from clean country and bringing them into tick-infested country, with the result that a ]grge percentage di2cl. There 1-nust have been a ioss to the State of £200 or £300. He did not think that was anybody's fault. The :\linistm· could not avoid the cattle getting redwakr and dying.

i\Ir. JENKINSON: They should have taken immunB cattle.

i\lr. JONES: That was his sug-gestion at the time. The men in the settlement would like to know, now that they were W<Jrking on their own farms, and the 111ana.ger was not necessary for them, how much longer he "ould be there, and whether thev would haYe tn contribute toward, his salary. He would be very plea~ed if the :\linister would give an assurance that the cost of mana,oement would n<Jt be made a char,~e upon the settlement. One reawn why the settlem~nt was a succ035 was bec:1us-e the land "as good; and. if peopl<> were to be suc­c,essful under that Act, the first thin~· was to ,:ive them good land. As the Under Secre· tary pointed out in hi,; report, there had been a great difficulty in regard to water. lie knew that there Wf'l',e two departments con· corned. l:ut it "'emf'd absurd to put dvwn bores on the DinJour Plateau. where there were no pc'ople, while the'"' people just below were languishing for want of \:vater. Bores should be put down first where p<>ople were already on the land. This was the first settlement under the Act, and it had succeeded after tne settlers had f'nclured ,,ome hardship. He b€­lieved the department might very well estab­lish eimilar s<'ttlementi; in other districts.

Mr. \VHITE: Others were tried.

Mr. JO::\'ES: Not under this Act or under a similar system. The old group system was a failure because thP conditions were altogether different. He did not think any slur should have been cast upon these men for taking ad­vantage of thP Act. Certainly some of them had mon<'y, and, according to the Act, they were not supposed to have any. The leader of the Opposition made some reference to State brms. There ,., as a State farm in his elec­torate at Biggenden. It was very questionable whether farmers got any henefit at all from State farmf', and yet me m be,r~ repre~en ting other di~tricts \Vere clamouring for such farms. An a,gricultural State farm might be made suc­cessful if a stud farm were established in con­junction with it, so that the produce of the agricultural farm might be used in feeding the stock. They could hrcod a good class of h01'ses, cattle, pigs, and poultry, which they might sell to sckctors. At prc,ent the department w<'re tr:;ing to make the State farms self­supportillg : but, if the manager of a State farm was permitted to sell his produce, he was competing with the outside farm('r who was paying for his land. If, on the other hand, he was not allowed to sell the produce, or if he did not sell it, he gave it away. Vegetables were giYen aV>ay to people who were able to pay for them, such as the schoolmaster, the police officer, or it might be th<' member for the district, if he !iYcd in the neighbourhood.

Mr. JENKII-<SON: Have you got anything?

Mr. JONES: C\;o. \Vhen the poor farmer came round he could not sell his produce to these people. The State farms competed un­fairly with the fm·mer whicheve,r WJ.Y it went.

Mr . • T. M. HcNTEH: Why should not they sell their produce,, ·

::\Ir. JO:\'ES: Because they might sell at a reduced price. He be!ieYcd he was voicing the opinion of the farmers in his district wh~n he

Mr. Jones.]

728 Suppl.IJ. [ASSEMBLY.J Suppl!J.

sa1d that thPI' got no benefit from a State farm. He had no wi.>h to do away with State farms, but the o;vstem should be altered in the way he suggested.

Mr . .:\fAY: Would you sell the stock?

Mr. JONES: Yes; farmers wanted to get good stock, and the Government could help them in that way.

Mr. J. M. HlJ?\'TER (Jiaranoa): It was gratifying to find the Committee so enthusi­astic over the importance of agricultural in­struction. Hon. members recognised the im· portance of the agricultural industry, which was yet in its infancy, and required a great deal of assistance from the State, both in the way of finance and in the matter of instruction. In Australia they had not the experience that agriculturists had at home, where they had centuries of experience to guide them. They had pedigreE' cattle, pedigree .wheat and oat~ and barley, and all that kind of thing. They knew the constituents of their soils, and they had data regarding climate, rainfall, and sea· sons. They had all the data they required to facilitate their operations. In Queensland they had to provide all that for themselves, and it was on that account that they should pay special atention to this department, and not be afraid of spending a little money. The time was coming when any expenditure in that direction would be returned tenfold. He trusted the Government would endeavour to spare a little more money for the department, because there had been a disposition, alinost from its inception, to starve it. They had no men in the public service more enthusiastic over their work than the officers of this depart­ment. He did not agree with some members, particularly the hon. member for Burnett, with regard to the value of experimental farms. The experimental farms in Queensland were highly necessary to develop the various branches of the agricultural industry. Instead of one farmer having to make the experiments

and suffer a loss on his own, the [7 p.m.] State farms conducted the experi-

ment and the farmers learned from them. It was verv often the case that a number of the meii' who went on the lands, especially in the outside places, were men who had not been tra.ined up to the agricultural industry. In recent years the Agricultural College had done a great deal to dissemil'late the necessary information regarding· agricul· ture to the growing youth of Queensland, but they had in this State a hardy class of workers. men who had been out doing- ordinary labourer's work, and who, de-iring to settle down with their families, took up a bit of land with the intention of making a home of their own. A man of this description, if he settled near an experimental farm, would te able to ascertain what crops were- l:est suited for the land he was working. In the :Uaranoa district therE' were a number of young lads who were anxious to take ordinarv rouseabout work on the farms just for the sake of getting the in­formation that the mana~·er was able to impart to them during their time there. Valuable information was given in this way by the State farms. The experiments carried on in these farms decided to a large extent what crops might be grown i'uCcessfully. and seeds from thes-p experimental crops could bE' distri­buted throughout the district, and thus as,ure for the farmers residing there a fair! v good prospect of gl'tting- some result from their labours. They l1ad in their vVestern lands, and also in the Central districts, largo al'Bas of land which were destined to l:e

[Mr. Jonu.

productive of great wealth in the way of agri-­culture in future, a:ncl it was only by establish­ing these farms, and giving men opportunities of learning something about the growth of their crops, that these lands would be brought into subjection. He know that in some cases there were larger areas of land cultivated than ,,.a, justified, but thE' Sta-te farms had had the result of chocking this. The State farms had shown that smaller areas better cultivated would produce better results than large areas­indifferently cultivated. The system of dry farming, and the other methods which were adopted, proved conclusively to the agricul· turists that the systems that had been adopted in the past were not calculated to give the best results. On that account the State farms were very desirable. In his electorate in 1905 there was the largest area of wheat put in there that was grown in any district of Queensland. As a matter of fact, one-twelfth of the total area of land under cultivation in Queensla.nd was cul­tivated that vear in the .i'\Iaranoa district, and yet the result was not as satisfactory as might have been hoped for. Something should be done in the way of raising stock on the State farms for distribution amongst farmers. They should haYe sheep, cattle, and pigs on the State farms a,vailab]e, for distribution, and he believed that was the policy of the present Minister for Agriculture. He drew attention to the number of departments that were now tacked on to the Agriculture Department-in fact, they were so numerous that one wondered' how it was possible for them to be kept under one head. In some respect he believed that the Ag-ricultural Department and the Agricul­tural Bank sometimes came into collision with one another, and one or the other should give way, so that better results might be obtained from the bank than was the case at the present time. Included in the administration of the Agricultural Department they had the Meat and Dairy Produce Encouragement Act, Brands, Sheep and Stock, Live Stock, Meat Export, Sugar Experimental Stations, and Diseases in Plants Acts. That made the de· partment so cumbersome to manage that it was difficult, to imagine there was not more con· fusion and trouble in it.

Mr. PAGET: .It is because they have very good officers.

Mr. J. M. HUXTER: It was a wonder that they got such good results from the depart­ment as they did. The administration of the Agricultural Bank Act was causing consider· able trouble amongst the producers at the pre­sent time. Shearers, rouseabouts, dam-sinkers. and men of that class, who had been working hard all their lives, and then desired to settlo on the land with their families, when they approached the Agricultural Bank for finan· cial assistance were unable to get it. He thought that either the Agricultural Bank or the Agricultural Department should help theso­men to get some dairy cattle, sheep, and pigs. Complaints wore numerous about the Agricul­tural Bank, and he would like to get some information from the Government as to their futmo intentions regarding this institution. The Act itself was not onlv faultv, but the regulations were also at fa;,lt, He was not making any charge against the manager of the bank, or the directors. becausP, so far as the Act would allow them, thev were doing the right thing. But when they ·found such condi­tions prevailing that it was almost impossible for any man to get money from this bank, it was time something was done. The bank was being run more like a pawnshop, or a building-

Suppl,1f. [9 APRIL.] Supply. 72S.

society, or something of that description, than a bank. He would gi;·e one illustration of what happened in connection with the bank, but hP would not give the name. A man in his district had 160 acres of land, of which 130 acres were unJer cultivation for an ordinary crop and 10 acres under vines. 'l'his man had eighteen horses, worth from £12 to £14 per head, fh·e ploughs, strippers, winnowers, and cultivators. He had aiso a spring cart, a sulky, and eight sets of harness. This man asked to have £225 advanced to him from the bank, and he was tolJ that he did not have suffi­ci<mt security. The land itself was almost worth double the money, but, according to the provisions of the Agricultural Bank Act, there could be no money ad;-anced against stock. That was the strange part of it. If a man wanted to borrow mor~ey {ram the bank to buy stock, he could get It, but if he wanted to borrow monev on his own stock he could not get it. The r'(.sult was that this man, who was de,irous of paying off a storekeeper in that district, was not able to do so. A number of storekeepers-to their creJit it might be said­not only put men on the land but helped to keep them there, and when this man saw an opportunity of getting chea11 money he thought he would apply for it, and so pay off what he owed to the storekeeper. He was denied the money, however, and_ the amount was still owing to the storei<ceper. The storekeeper had not eyen asked the man for anv securitv or any class of mortgage or lien on his crop o'r farm.

:\Ir. PAGET: He knows the right way to go about it.

1\Ir. J. :\I. H"CNTER: A number of people did not seem tD know the right way to go about it. Perhaps the hon. member for 1\Iackay wanted the man to mortg·age his farm to the store keeper, then borrow the money from the Agricultural Bank and pay off the storekeever, but that would mean that he would have a double cost tD register the mort­gages and for the preparation of the two mort­gages instead of one.

Mr. PAGET: There is no cost in registering a mortgage with the Agncultural Bank.

Mr. J. :\l. H"CNTER: There wa> in the other case. He kne\" another case where a man had a good property which was .mort­gaged to the Bank of New South Wales in Roma. ·when he heard that the Agricult~ral Bank was prepared to make advances, he ~bought that. _instead of paying 8 pm: cent. mterest for h1s money, he would borrow it from the Agricultural Bank at 5 per cent. The Bank of ::\ew South Wales did not want him to leave, as thev were satisfied with his secu­rity, but he wanted to save so much interest, and so he left the Bank of New South \Vales. Two years afterwards this man was not able tn pay the interest on his money owing to the failure of his crops, and hB had a dt>mand from the Agricultural Bank telling him that unless the money was paid by a certain date they would at once seize and sell his property.

Mr. THOR1\:: What do you propose, then?

Mr. J. :\I. HUNTER: He would tell the hon. gentleman presentlv. This was a letter which the man wrote to him-

I beg to bring before your notice a business matter I had with the Agricultural Bank. Some time a~o the bn.nk took over R. mortgage the BR.nk of New South ·wales. had on my property. Now, I had no fault with the Bank of :Vew South Wales. neither did they want me to leave them, but I thought I could do better by dealing with the Agricultural Bank.

As you are awal'e, the wheat crop of 11?·06 was a failure on account of rust. I expecte1 800 bag-s. I got fifty bogs. so that instead of getting about £100 for· my wheat £2?. 10s.

I •vrote to the manager of the Agricultural Bank, stating my position, and asked if he would allow the next two lHLlf·rearly payments to stand over nntil the harvest of 19(,7i- If he did not I wonld have to sell some of my dairy cattle, and then I might as well give up farndng.

The reply I got wa~ tlu~t the bank could not extend the time, but I would not be unduly pressed for the time I asked for.

Si.x months after I got notice from the bank to pay up at once, or thPre would be steps taken. I wrote to· the manager, remindjng him of his promise, and tlmt my position was no better than it was six months ago; did he want me to sell1ny cattle?

The reply I got was H I paid hall h•< would let the other stand over until harYest.

I complied with that-I sent tbe half. Last December I got an account from the bank of

£35 2s. 6d., including a penalty of £3 Js. 6d.-that is, 20 per cent. on the £ltl or arrears.

I pai.d the bank the amount that was due, together with 8 per cent. on the £16 of arrears, in all £33 6s .. and stated that I would not pay the 20 ptr cent., as I considered under the circumstances it is barbarous. treatment.

You see by tbe annexed reply that the chnrge ol ~0 per cent. is by Act of J:'arliamen t.

I hope you will see the injustice of this charge and. try and have it R.ltered. There is no other bank in the country would do the like.

Hot>ing that you will see into the matter.

The bank charged 5 per cent. penalty for non­payment for the first month, 7~ per cent. for· the next month, and 10 per cent. for the fol­lowing month. This was a cruel tax, and made the interest as he a '7 a' the interest charged by an ordinary bank. If the Agricultural Bank, which was established for the purpose of assisting men on the land, could not afford to put men on a better footing than they would be if they borrowed from a pri,·ate in­stitution, it was a misnomer to call it an Agricultural Bank. This was not a singular case. There were scores of similar cases which might be quoted. The Agricultural Bank was a most useless institution at the present time, and he sincerely hoped that the Government would take some steps to remedy existing defects in the Act. Another case came under· his notice where a man had land worth £300, on which there was a splendid building worth another £200. This man applied for a loan of £100 to buy some dairy cattle, and his applica­tion was approved. The bank demanded that the house should be insured. The man thought­that was a very unfair thing, and that the Government were trying to make business for· insurance companies, and, being of a stubborn disposition, he refused to insure his house. The bank thereupon absolutely refused to pay the £100, and, instead of returning the £3 he had paid for inspection, offered to return him £1 10s. onlv. That might seem a small matter to some persons, but all these things were bound up with the progress of the industry, and to men on the land who were not making large sums of money an amount of £1 10s. or £3 was a serious matter. He would suggest that the bank regulations should be revised, so that the institution might be of some benefit to people on the land. 'l'here was no reason whv the bank should not be the means of pla~ing people on the land, and relieving a con­gested labour market. If it were made effec­tive in this way, men would be induced to go out \V est and make homes on the land for themselves and families, instead of roaming about town looking for work and quarrelling· about wages boards and things of that sort. He believed that everv member of the .tiouse· was prepared to rende~ every assistance to put

Mr. J. M. Hunter.]

730 [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

the bank on such a footing as would make it of service to the community. Another matter he wished to refer to was that of the close season for marsupial>. The department did not seem to know what the broeding seasons really were, and he hoped that some reliable data on this subject would be obtained, so that the department would be able to come to some decision as to what was the proper times for the close season. A large number of men made a good living in ·destroying marsupials, and it was a great drawback to them to have to wait about town for one, two, or three months until the necessary proclamation was issued to allow thorn to enter upon their work. \Yith rega.rd to the in,poction of shearers and ~ugar-\vorkPr:s' accomrn-odation, he- thought that that duty should not be tacked on to anv other office, but that it should be performed by an officer specially appointed for that purpose.

:\Jr. KEN:--JA: Against the working of this ·department he had nothing to say. The officer> were all that could l:e desired an cl did their work in an expeditious way-in fact, the de­partment was unique in that Tespect. In com­n.on ;yith other member, representing agricu]. tural districts in the :c-;r orth. he desired to see a State fa.rm estaHished in North (Jueensland. The Gatton College had done very good work as far as the farmers in the South were con­cerned, but farmers in the Korth received no benefit from that institution.

Mr. KEOGH: You can send your boys there.

!\Ir. KE:\'KA: It was easy for 1.eople in the Rosewood district and on the Darling· Downs ~o send their boys to the Gatton College, but 1t was not so easv for farmers in the ."\ orth to do that. In cost"£4 or .£5 to send a bov there from his district. and' eYen more to send a bov from districts further K orth. Thev wanted something like the Gatton College in the North as the farmers there were looking forward t~ somethmg more than sugar-growing, and they wanted a lead. \Yith all due r<"spect to the hon. member for Herbert, he thought that somewhere between Ca1rns and A vr would be an admiratle place for an agricultural collegf' 'The Bowen district was admirablv suited for such an institution. as mixed farming-, truck farming, dairy farming-farming of all soTts­were carried on in that district.

l\Ir. JE:->KINSON: \\'hat are the climatic con­ditions?

).lr. ICE:\' I\ A: The climatic conditions were all that could be desired. The people in the North wanted to go in for dairying, but they rece1v~d no ass~st~nce or encouragement to en­gage m that mdustry. The State imported bulls ancl stock of all sorts. and tho Darling Downs farmf'rs got the full benefit of them but farmers in the 1\'orth reaped no advantag~ from those importations. If thev applied for a bull, a pig, a clutch of eggs, or a cow, they hac! to scramble with all the farmers down South to get it. Ever since he had been in the House he had ach·ocated a scheme by which the State might assist to improve the quality of dairy cattle in the I\orth. They had a lot of Yaluable bulls specially imported, be­Sides horses and pigs. \Yould it not be possible to do as was clone in Xrw Zealand and other places-takB one of those bulls insure it and send it in charge of an attei{dant to North Queensland for tho use of dairvmen who wished to improve their herds? He thought this might be done, and that the farmers' associations of a district should guarantee the safe custoclv and maintenance of the bull for a Dertain pcr.iod, and then pass it o.n to farmers in other districts. A scheme of that kind

[J1fr. J.1lf. Hunter.

would be the next best thing to having an agricultural college. He commendecl an ex­periment of that nature to the favourable con­sideration of the department. It had been tried successfully elsewhere, and the same result would accrue here if a beginning was made. A start might be made with one animal. He desired to pay a tribute to the Tobacco Expert. Some years ago he used to criticise that gentleman on the ground that his operations were too much confined to the 8outhern districts, such as lnglewood, Texas, and other places in that part of the country. Ho had now included Bowen, and begun what ''as going to be a big industry.

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS: Do they grow cigar leaf?

).Ir. KE"t\NA: Yes. Other m<Jmbers migJit >peak for their own district, bn t the cigar leaf grown in the Bowen district had qualiti~s which were equalled by a very few places m

tlw woTld. It was owing to the [7.30 p.m.] 11ature of the soil or some climatic

conditionB. \Vhen 1\lr. Kevill went there first, there was no tDba<>co grown, but he induced some of the farmers on the J ohnstone to plant 1~ acres after a lot of trouble. He (:\Jr. Kenna) had seen the land from which the crop had been gathered, and the farmer had told him that the value of the c1·op would be at the rate of £100 p<lr acre. Teitz.el Bros., in that district, had 13 acre" of tobacco growing, and the 'fobacco Expert estimated that the value of the crop would be from £1,300 to £1,.100. \Vas there any other form of agriculture which could beat that?

:\Ir. Sl',INER: \Ye want to try that in our district.

:\Ir. KEl\KA: The hon. member might do worse. As a result of that succes·,ful <lxperi­ment, tobacco-growing \Vas spread~ng all ov-er the Bowen district. Small areas under culti­vation were springing up, and the outlook was f:xce-edingly good. One settler, ::\Ir. Farnham, had taken up the matt<lr, and wao about to build drying-sheds. The only thing was that the leaf must be grown more than 6 m1les a\\ ay from t.he sea, otherwise the sea air det-eriorated it.

:\Ir. JEXKINSOX: It was the hon. member for :\Iackay who induced :\Jr. Nevill to first go up there.

:\lr. KEKl\A: He would pay a tribut-e to :\lr. Nevill, who was a practical man and enthusiastic in his work. He was doing ex­cellent work in :\forth (Jueensland in educating tho peJple up to the value of tol·acco as a suitable crop. He (l.lr. Kenna) wished the de­partment would pay some attention to the que.'­tion of Chinese competition with white farmers in conncrtion with bananas, tomatoes, and other fruit growing. Those products were grown up in the Korth by ChiiH·'e. shipped down to the steamer in Chinese junks, and taken clown to Svdnev and :\Ielbourno, where Chinf'se ag·pnts fook Po~·,ession of thcn1, sold them to Chinese hawkers, who then sold them to white people. The only white m-en who touched these articl<>o were the men who loaded th<em on the deck of the steamer and took them off. If a white man start<>d a whit£ rlantation up North, he had to seml his pro­due<> to white commission agents, who . hippecl them to white commission agents in the South, where thev were sold to white hawkers, who had to adopt the higher standard of !i.-ini!. The white standa.rd of living precluded com­petition with the alien banana monopoly. Just as that monopolv was becoming· a Gninese monopoly, there ,,·as considerable danger that

Suppl_y. [9 APRIL.] Supp1,1J. 731

other industries in North Queemland would lapse into the same unenviable position. They <>xp<>rienced the full force of it in Bowen. An nh-entee, who owned 2,000 acres of land capable of producing anything in the way of fruit, came back. cut it up, and leased it to China­men, who were pr<>pared to pay a higher rent than the white man could pay.

:\Ir. JENKlNSON: \Yhy does the white man not gTOW it·:

:\lr. KE::-.i::'-JA: The white man was growing i!, but he had got noue of this land Lecauso the white man could not afford to pay the price the Chinaman was paying for it. He had to have a decent home and decent food and clothes for his familv, but the Chinaman was content with a humpy and a handful of ricfl', and a rag to tie around his bodv. He wa~ eontent to work seven davs a weeh: 1Yherea6 the white man w<:>nt to ch~rch on ::l~nda}, or. for dcc<>ncy sake, did not work. lt was not possible for the white man to compete under these conditions. If there was a. local market for vegetable products in the town, the China­men. who employed time-expired kanakas, or, if. WJ!. employed the rifraf in the sugar dis­tnct~, and paid a meagre wage--with his ,canty means of livelihood and low average of subsistenc<:>-was enabled to sell his produce ;,, th0 town and cut the white man out.

:\Ir. Sc;\fXER: A good many white growers send to Chinese hawkers.

Mr. KE::\'NA: That might be so, but he was showing how this pinched the white farnwr. The Chinaman was creeping in in Bowen in this big truck garden industrv. The Chinaman also was getting on to public re­sorvf'-. in an insidious manner. If a white man wanted a piece of land, he had to compete for 1t as an agncultural farm, but the China­man did not do that. If there was a Govern­ment reserve with a piece of scrub on it, he went on Without anybody's permission, and cleared a p1e~e, on whi_ch he built a bumpy, and fenced 1t m, grew h1s crop, selling his pro­ducts m the town, and compctiuo- with the white farmer .. The white farmer had to pay re_nt for h1s p1ec<•, and how could he compete '>}th the C'hinaman, who was paying nothing? L nfortunately, tt!e local authorities were blind on the side of the Chinaman. Xobodv seemed t-o lJUe>tion his right. Then· thought that he must ha. vr obtained a license from the Govern­ment, and they let it stop at that. Later on, someone took an interest in it, and wrote to the member, who. on inquiry at the Lands Department, discovered that the Chinaman had no right whatever to be there.

:\Ir. JEXKIXSOX: And they eject. him.

:\Ir. KE::\'XA: Thev did not eject him. They generally threw 'the land open to com­p2tition. In one caso near Bowcn a Chinaman had squatted on 5 acres of land, and cultivated it for years, alH.l a white man wanted that rcsPne. The department said they would cut it up into two pieces, and give the Chinaman a :> :'•ar-to-yPar t·E'tlUrE' for fi\ <:.:_' yf'ar:::; at 10~. an acre, and the white man the other. But the white n1an ~aid. "':\a. I want the lot.'' The11 thPy put the land up for public competition, hut tlH' China.m:tn':::; in1prOYPntent:-. had to l-:<0 protected. \Vhat right had the Government to protect improvements which were un­authorised? Some kanal<a·· had planted at the Proscrpine on a piece of Crown land which was selected later on, but the kanaka farmer and his improvements were protected, and the in­coming selector had to pay the· cost of the im­provements to the kanaka, which he had no right to put on. If a white man went on a

reserve, a ranger came along and kicked him off, but the Chinaman and his improvements were protected.

:\Ir. J ENKINSO:\ : 'l'hey are under tho most favoured nations treatment.

:;fr. KE:r--;-::-.iA: Preferential treatment. This was a matter the farmers in his district felt very keenly on, and it was the duty of the department to do something to prevent the indirlious encroachment of Chinese competi­tion in the industries he had referred to.

Hon. E. B. FORREST: If the white farmer put the same improvements on a reserve they will protect him the same a• the Chinaman.

:\Ir. KEl'il\'A: They would go and kick him off; but the Chinaman crawled ou the reserve, and got a tenure, and he got his improvements protected. The "Heathen Chinee" had a way of getting inside the methods of the Lands Department through the back window. There was a great and growing danger in many farming industries, and even in the sugar in­dustry, of Chine·,e encroachment, and some­thing must be done to protect, at any rate, the truck farmers, us well as those in other indus­tries, from this competition. He introduced a motion last session in favour of that, but withdrew it on the promise of the Government that they would bring in a Bill. He was sorry to sav that that Bill had not yet been brought in. He intended 11ext session tn table a simi­lar motion, with a view to drawing public attention to the matter in a more forcible way than was possible on the present occasion. The farmers were crying out bitterly against this sort of thing, and ha hoped the dep.artment would do something to keep the agncultural industrv white. \Yhat was the good of driv­ing the- coloured alien out of sugar if he could go in for market gardening? He hoped never to see better market gardens than those be­longing to a number of white men around Bowen. In one seaoon 100,000 cases of fruit and vegetables were despatched from Bowen, and most of it was grown by wh1to men; but vear bv vear more was being grown by Chinese: -

:\Ir. SU:\IKER (Xundah): This vote was one of the most important iu the whole of the Estimate~. I-Ie as rather amus·ed at some aopects of the deba.te. The leader of the Oppo­sition prophe~iecl that agn~ulture ~vas _1n for a had time owing to the- rad1cal leg1slatwn that had just ceen passed. Then the s-enior mem­ber for :\Iackay expressed the behef that. agn­culture v. ould go ahead by leaps and bounds, though the sarne hon. mf'rnber a few days. ago t-old them that the inrlustry would be rumed by the operations of waa;es boa.rds. .H·e agre~d with the hon. member that a:onculture 111

(/ueon,land had a great future. T1w money \vhich ,,·as ~p-e11t in this departm-ent \Yas w~Jl s]wnt, although they could not ab· a~ s "'2 the re'lllt'. :\[anv producen were opposPd to the _\gricultura.l C'olleg·<' and Pxperimental farms be'Cause the'r could not ::;-ee any imm0diatc prac.­tical rewlt.- He was -one of th-ose who beli,eved that those in"titutions were not rea.lly accon1-plishino; what they ought to accomplish. A farm, to l:e an experimental farm. should show the people in the locality what to gro;v, how ;,,,st to gTow 1t. and the value of d-1fferent manures. It should conc-entrate experiments, and perhaps say~ lOO or 200 farmers from ex­p<:>rimenting on their own account. In the old countrv twentv or thirtv different farmers ex­perimf'·l;ted with various' manures without any tangible result, and an experimental fann was

Mr. Sumner. J

732 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

intended to obviate the necessitv for that sort of thing. Dr. Cobbe, in J'\ew ·south \Vales, had conducted a large number of experiments with wheat. If he could only succeed in pro· ducing a yariety which would giye an increased vield of even one bushel to the acre it would lustily paying him almost any salU:r:y. They oft£n lwgrudged the salaries of experts en­ga~ed iu that class of work but he asked hon. members to think of what ,;ne bushel of wheat to the acre W{JUld mean to Australia. Experi­mental farms taught as much by their failures as by their successes. If they taught the farmers in the various localities what not to grow as well as wha.t to grow. they would save them a large amount of work and loss of money. The results were not a.! ways apparent. l\Tention had been made of the Kamerunga Nursery. He had spent three or four of the pl<>asante··t clays of his life some years ago with i\lr. Newport. Tnat gentleman wa.s thoroughly conversant with every branch of tropical cul­ture. He was a verv valuable servant, but his services had not b<J<>n avail<>d of to the extent they might ha.ve been. He comp!imented the Gon~rnment on having secured the SBLrvices of i\Tr. Dodds. the veterinary surgeon from South Africa. The appointment was a step in the right direction, and he hoped l\Tr. Dodds would be put to investigate the redwater disease. He did not think the country was aware of the gravity of the trouble. In the coastal districts men we.re losing almost the whole of their dairy h<>rcb in a few we€ks; and ev€n £30,000 or £40.000 spent in endeavouring to cope with the disease would be monev well spent. He would like to know if it were the intention of the Government either to reappoint the late cotton expert or to make a fresh appointment. He he Id no brief for the late expert, but he beliewd that he was a thoroughly capable man, and that he had dcne a large amo"unt of good work. The initial difficulties had been overcom<', and it would be a pity if the thing were now allow;•cl to drop. The Under Secre· tary stat<'d that Ht<em was a fairly large market for eott·.m in Australia, and some effort should be made to keep the industry going. The farmer wn,s the hardest worked man in the country. and had more difficultie.s to contend with than any other class. and they were de­serving of .o::-very encouragement from the Go­' ermnen t. There were other ways in which the men on the land eould be assisted. The tax-gatherers were after the farmers a great deal more than any other class in the cam· munity. At the pr<>sent time the farmer- had to pay incorne tax, disease3 in stock tax, rabbii; tax, hra.n.ds tax, marsupial tax, cow tax, and slau"htermg tax. and on top of all these came the shire council's tax.

Mr. JE!'KIN'SON; And the wages board. Mr. Sl'MNEH : The wages board would not

hurt the farmer at all. It would improve him. \Yhat was the complaint of the agriculturists to-dav? \Yas it that there were no men to be got?

Mr. AR1!STRONG; Yes. Mr. SL'MNER; No. It was that they could

not get the right class of men. Good men were not going into that industrv

[8 p. m.] until the conditions were altered. They were told the same thing

some years ago in connection with the sugar industry. and they were told that white men could not work in it. If the conditions and the wages were improved they could get men to work in anv of these industries. Labour, like capital, would flow where it could get the best investment. At the present time the farmers in Victoria were asking to come under the operation of the \\'ages Boards Act

[211 r. Sumner.

because they could not get men. There were" men coming round the Nundah district look­ing for work, but they were not agriculturists. He hoped the Governmen_t would abolish these­taxes in their entirety.

Mr. HARDACRE: And put on a land tax. The CHAIRMAN; I hope the hon. member

for Xundah is not going to continue to deal with that asp<'ct of the case., because that is not the question before the Committee.

Mr. SUMNEH: The farmer had unreliable seasons to contend with, and as the revenue was increasing, he hoped the Government would take steps to wipe out the whole of these little, pettifogging, humbugging taxes which cost a certain amount to collect, and which should never have been put on.

Mr. SOMERSET (Stanley): The Estimates for the Agricultural Department were in­cluded in theee pages, and that was an illustra­tion of all the importance that the department was considered worthy of. There was no more important department in the State than the­Department of Agriculture and Stock. It re­presented an industry that would become the most important iudustry in Queensland. The question of stock inspectors was a very import­ant one at present, on account of the preva­lence of tick fever or red water. He complained' that the stock inspectors in the settled districts were insufficient in number, or the districts under their control were too large to be pro­perly worked. The stouk inspectors did not receive sufficient allowance for horse feed, and­no consideration was given them when horse feed went up to a high price. Lecturers should: visit the various districts. It was not every· district that was blessed with an agricultural college. He remembered when Professor· Shelton came up to his dcstrict some years a15o, and he did a great deal of good bJ: lectur~ng on the American methods of growmg matze, which had since to some extent been adopted· by the farmers in his district. There were very few farmers, for instance, who understood any. thing about pasteurising cream. He was not at all sure that this would not prove to be the best method to adopt for carrying their cream sweet to the factorv. From what they knew of pasteurised cream 'at present he did not think that method could be adopted yet, because it was said to yield rather greasy butter. It only required experimenting with, and perhaps that defect could be overcome. If it could be­overcom<>. it would do away with a great deal of the expense in connection with the carriage· of Crf•am. Quite recently, when ihey had a flood in the Brisbane River. a great number of farmers on the eastern side were in trouble with their cream. The flood rose suddenly in the night and there were four or five boats washed. awav. The Esk !Shire Ccuncil had provided bmits at Stanley Bridge, Mount Esk Bridge, and McFarlane's Bridge. All these and· other boats were washed awav and the farmers could not get their cream to the factory .. If these farmers had known how to pasteuns<> their cream, thev could have kept it all until the flood went down. This sort of information should he c:iven to the farmers. The ordina.r:v method of the farmer was to run the milk throug-h the separatcr, and the cream went straiaht into the cream can, but the proper wav "Zvas to allow the cr<>am to flow from the sep-arator into a large opPn Yessel. where it was allowed to cool. and then from that vessel it should be strained into tlue cream can. That would make a .c:reat deal of differ<>nce in the quality of the cream whf'n it reached the factory.

Supply. [9 APRIL.] Suppl,y.

Mr. :\IAc-;N: You want a man to go up then• .:and lecture ou butter-making.

:\lr. 80:\IERSET: A i;reat deal of good ·eonld be done in that wav, but he "as more desirous of seeing the pasteurising of cream experimented with. It could lee done at the Gatton CCJ!lege, and the farmers could get the results of the experiments tried there. He would like the department to distribute to the farmers some of the Qrasses which had lceen recently discovered, such as the Phi/aris or

-canary grass. Mr. PAGET: Is that a ne\v discovery? Mr. SOMERSET: No; but it was a new im­

_.portation, and he had tried to grow some of it himself but it was costly as yet.

Mr. ARMSTRONG (Lockyer): It was quite crefreshing to hear the hon. member for Nundah reiterate the remarks which he (Mr. .Armstrong) had made consistentlv in the House until about four yPars ago,· when he was defeated for the seat he now repre-•ented, about the way that the agricultural farms should be worked in Queensland. He had just been looking up the last remarks he had made ·on the subject, and tht'y bore out exactly what the hon. member for Nundah said--that it was ·necessary for these experimental farms to prove a failure as well as a success. V\'hen he made that statement before, there was a howl of in­·dignation from the Opposition corner. \Vhen a certain mode of culture was being tried, it was far better-that the loss, if it were going to be a loss, should be the collective loss of the country than that the individuals round about 'Should suffer loss in experimenting with it; and when he said that the experimental farms should be worked to prove either a failure or a success, he was tabooed all round the House. The members of the Opposition at that time •said that the experimental farms should all be run on financial lines, and that they should be financially succe"ful. In conection with these St~te experiment farms, they had either to expenment to prove a success or a failure, ·or else run them as solvent concerns. If a State experimental farm was run as a solvent <Concern, then they would lose the whole of the benefit of experiment. Before thp•.e farms were e'tablished, a number of the farmers at­tempted, in their own way, to carry out experi­ments, and they had also experimented in directiOns which the public institutions did not ~ake up at all. Experiments cost money, and •t was far better that the State experimental farms should have the whole matter in their ·own hands, so that they could prove to the ;agriculturists in the district whether certain things could be grown successfully or not. He did not want to see them established all ·through Queensland on the same scale as they had been in the past. There were two est ab­lished on the Darling Downs in different places. They d1d not want those extensive affairs.

'Thev want<>d small establishments which would .deaf with the particular products of the dis­tricts in which they were situated and per­r.aps experiment with new products for the growth of which the districts were adapted. Ho wished now to ask a question with regard to the Agricultural Uollege. Were the officers .of that institution expected to devote the whole of their time to the business of the College, or were they allowed to devote a por­tion of their time to attending to their own private business? There were officers in that institution who were here, there, and every­where, and who accepted positions on public institutions in the district. He did not say that their work suffered to any extent, but

those people who lived in the district saw what was going on, and they naturally asked what was the occupation of those gentlemen who were in the employ of the Government. With regard to the destruction of native bears, which had been referred to by the hon. mem­ber for Burnett, he thought that Lear,, should be protected absolutely and entirely all the year round. The native bear was one of the most inoffensive animals we had in the State; it did absolutely no harm, and yet it was be­coming almost extinct in many parts of the country. The few shiilings that an individual received for the fur of bears wao no compen­sation to the country for the loss of those animals. The statement had been made that squatters allowed men in their employ to sup­plement their wages by destroying those animals. To that statement he gave a flat denial as far as Southern (,!ueensland was con­c<>rned. He had a small area of 10,000 or 12,000 acres, and he would rather shoot a man than shoot a bear.

:\Ir. :!\!ANN: Oh! Shoot a man:

l\lr. ARJ\ISTROI\G: Yes, i( he caught the hon. member for Cairns there shooting bears, he would rather shoot him than shoot a bear. (Laughter.) A man who would fire ten, twelve, or fifteen shots at th<>se poor inoffensive animals before they were brought to the ground should be shot. 'With re-gard to the opossum, they had the wrong clo--e iieason for that animal. The spring and running season of the opossum was in the early months of the year when there were fresh leaves on the eucalyptus trees. It was in the depth of winter that they were perpetuating their species, and that was the time the trappers found the most r"munerative market for their sl.ins, because dealer' in skins would not buv them unlf''S the fur was thick. The fur w'as thick when the opossum was suckling and perpetuating its species. and they should te prot-ected during that period. He wished also to refer to the destruction of bird life. Youngsters in towns were allow<>d to take out their guns and little ,T~fles, and destroy birds at all -easons of the year, and the police had too many duties to perform to watch the boys and prevent them carrying on this indiscriminate destruction. Insectivorous tirds were being destroved on all hands. \Vhy were some st<>ps not· taken to protect those birds? If they destroyed the balance of Nature by allowing th<:.·>B birds to be killed indiscriminately, the pests which were so great a trouble to the agriculturist and fruit­grower would increase. As a consequence of the destruction of insectivoTous birds certain pests had increased to such an extent that they now tackl<>d plants possessing fattening quali­ties which they never touched in the old davs, and they also attacked fruits. vegetables, a'nd oher products. It was a crying shame that these birds should be destroyed in the wanton manner he had described, and he hoped that some steps would be taken to prevent it . Could they see anywhere around Brisbane the native birds which were quite numerous in the old days? No; they had been de.,troyed.

Th SECRETARY l'OR RAILWAYS: It is a pity you did not ,get that Bill pa'•SNl.

1\fr. ARM STRONG: He was glad to hear the hon. gentleman say that, because if it had been passed it would have prevented a great deal of the trouble which existed to-day. But it was very little use a private member bring­ing in a me~sure of that sort, as it was simply made a cockshy or aunt sally for members to play with. The question was one which should be dealt with by the Government.

Mr. Armstro.zg.]

734 Suppf_y. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

Reference had been made by the hon. member for Stanley to .the pasteurising of cream. But there was another subject which claimed atten­tion before they attempted to deal with that one. 'l'he Government should send round a small cream-testing plant, as they oent round the travelling dairy in the old days. A com­petent officer should be placed in charge of the cream tester, and he should visit the several dairy districts, and teach the people how to test their cream. If our dairy herds were to be improvccl, the dairyman must be able to test the cream from the milk of his own animal, so that he could find out whether it paid to keep her or not. If instructions in this matter were given to dairymen, then several farmers in a district might club to­gether and buy a small tester, and test the cream of their cows. \Vo had schools estab­lished in all the dairying districts, and intelli­gent masters were placed in charge of those schools. and he believed that if they received the necPssar:v preliminary instruction they would be willing to teach the children how to test cream. Such an arrangement as he sug­gested would be a very great advantage in dis­tricts where dairying was in its initial stages.

An HoNOURABLE l\h;'JBER: The inspector could give that instruction.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: HR questioned very much whether the inspector could do it. because he had already plenty to do, and if they imposed upon him the extra duty of teaching the business of cream-testing some portion of his work might be left undon~. But what he rose particularly for, was to ask the Minister to define the position of the public senants at the Agricultural College and on experimental farms throughout the State.

Mr. REDWOOD (Drayton and Toowoomba): The importance of this department did not seem to impress a great many members.

Mr. LESINA: What about making a defeated candidate Minister for Agriculture in another place?

Mr. HEDWOOD: He thought the Agricul­tural Department was doing very good work,

but he wanted to see it expand [8.30 p.m.] and become more useful. The

hon. member for Mackay said that the officers of the department were not treated on a parity with other public servants, and he wished to endorse that remark. For instance, the Under Secretary received £5.10 a year. He had really tD make the policy of the depart­ment, but in other departments the laws of the land laid down the course which had to be steered. He was a most capable Under Secre­tary. and the Committee should impress upon the Minister that the salary should be in ac­cordance with those of the other Under Secre­taries in the service. Again, he thought these remarks also applied to the chief clerk, accountant, and other officers, and particularly to the Dairy Expert. The Tobacco Expert receiYed £500 per annum, whereas the Dairy I~xpert received £4,10. The Dairy Expert should certainly receive £500.

Hon. D. F. DENHAM: It depends upon who he is. Some are dear at £10.

Mr. REDWOOD: He took it from the re­marks of the hon. member for Oxley that the department would not employ a man except a fi'"t-class type. The hon. member was to be congratulated in connection with the excellent work he did in cDnnection with the butter in­dustry. He would like tD see the same energy displa.y<>d in Dther forms of agriculture which the hon. ge.ntleman displayed when he was in

[ Jl.1 r. A rmstrong.

office. He hoped to see the mattPr of the-­:oalaries remedied when the next Estimates came forward. TherR "as a great cliversity of opinion with regard to the agriculture Df this Rtate. W·e had been told that the \V ages Hoards Bill was going to kill the industry, and that it was unjust to the dairy and cereal grow­ing industries, which wDuld begin tD decrease. His opinion was that those industries were go­ing to expand considerablv, and that the opposi­tion to the wages boards would gradually fizzle out. One system he would like to see introduced was tho grading of cream. and he believed the department wa··· already taking action in this direction. To makt· lif't-class butter, they should start at the root. Thev could not make first-class butter, no matter h~w it was graded, if they did not have good cream. and in taking this actiou he be!i,,ved the department were going to do awa.l(; with the vast u..1nount of bad huttE>r, and preyent L'utt-cr being condemned wlwn it was macle. 'l'lw cereal productiDn of the State had not reached the dimensions he w.m!d like to see, ancl that branch of the in­dustry had been negl·Pcted by the variDus ::\Tinisters who had been in charge Df the dB­partn1cnt. .\\.,.e should be growing ample 'vheat for our own requirements, and also for export, if it was properly looked after. He did not know whether it wa., the fault of the :\linis­ter, Dr who it was, but the department did not put that energy into the Dther forms of agri­culture which they had put intD dairying. Dairying had n1ade gre-at pro~rl'ess. I!· had been bo0med by the department. and nghtly w. but he wanted them to handle the other industries in the saml' wa.y, and. if they had a sympathetic i\Iinister, to allow him full play, and things would move in that directiDn. \\e shm.1ld be importing new types Df wheat from other countries. and the same with barley and other cereals. \V e should increase our standard, and make Queensland an expDrter of cereals. instead of an importer, as at present. Then he wanted tD Fee the horse industry flourish. \Vo could produce a type of horse equal to any to be found in the world, and our horses were sought after in India and China and other countries. He would impress on the Minister for Agriculture that it would be a great advantage to have a .first-class stud, which could be let out to the various associations and agricultural societies. He did not intend to go into the details of the scheme, but he hoped the Minister would take in hand the matter of forming a stud establishment for horses, cattle, swine, and poultry. The swine industrv was absolutelv going back. Two or three years ago we had· 30,000 or 40,000 more swine than we have at the present moment, and the industry required every encouragement, because Queensland was. peculiarly adapted for hog-raising. The action of the department in regard to State farms had done a great amount of good. Although they had not been a financial success, they had to a great extent fulfilled the objects they were established for. The failures in the past were of much good to the farmers in the various districts, as it showed them what they were able to grow. He thought the State farms had been unjustly condemned, although he wanted to see them do more than they were doing. The style of cultivation in Southern Queensland at the present time was of a very inferior nature. Close agriculture, especially on the Darling Downs, was not up to what it should be. People hardly realised the difference between good cultivation and bad, which simplv meant suc­cess or failure. A man would come along and take up a piece o£ land, put in a crop of wheat or some ·other cereal crop, without properly

Suppl_y. [9 APRIL.] 8uppl_y. 735

cultivating the soil, and the result was failure. Unless they liberated, by the action of the sun and the atmosphere, the nitrogenous food in the soil, any man who attempted to go farming would make a failure of it. The department would do a vast amount of good in giving practical instruction in those matters. The State farms had been doing this. but he wanted to see it carri,ed out on a larger scaie. He had nothing to say against the department, but it should be more liberal, more practical, and more in touch with the pro­ducers, and it would then meet the end which the House intended. In South Australia they used to grow 5 bushels of wheat to the acre, an'l by the u?e of superphosphates they in­creased their y1eld to 12 bushels of wheat to the acre, at a cost of :Js. to 4s. per acre. It had been the means of making land at first worth £1 per acre now worth £5 per acre, and showed the advantage of scientific farming compared with the slovenly stem of the past. He wouid like to see proper storage facilities for our exportable products at State farms and other places, and also the establishment of a depot in London. If that were done, it would aJd to the sale of our products by rlacing !hem on the market in first-c!ftss con­dition. He had hnen advocating thi,, for many years. and so far it was not in favour with the Government, but in the near future this would LecomP an accomplished fact. \Vhen our products arri,·cd in Great Britain, there should Le some way of seeing that no inferior products were sold in the markets, and be would continue fighting until that was accom­plished. On the whole he had nothing to con­demn the department for. He ga.ve them a r.reat deal of crndit for the work they had done, but he felt the department was being starved and should be treat<:>d more lil·erally bv the Government. \Ye should not stint thB Jepartment, because a country without agricul­ture \\as a poor country. To make Queensland what she ought to be we must develop our agricultural lands, and let the world know what we could produce. To do that we must under­stand the proper way to cultivate.

i\fr. CAA!PBELL: \Ve want more people.

Mr. REDWOOD: The hon. member said they wanted people. Unless they got labour to get through the harvest on the Darling Down", the cere~! crop wnuld, to a great extent, not be taken off. As the PrFmier was going to grapple with this question, he believed they would h:we suffi­cient labour to handle net only the crops on the Downs but also the cane harvest in the Nortl1. This department must be given every assistance. They should endeavour to make agriculture one of the great factors in the development of the State.

Mr. G. P. BARNES (War1oick) was sure the Comm1ttee felt very much indebted to several speakel's on the other dele-especially the hon. member for Nundah and the hon. member for Toowoomba-for developing into such champions of the farmers. It was quite evident that the members of the Opposition were not the only ones who adopted that role, but that there were others of like mind. He w~s sorry that he Wfts unable to agree with the opinion of the hon. member for Nundah that the industry was increasing. An article in the Banking Rec01·d showed that some people were alarmed at the fact that agricullure in Australia, instead of being on the increase, waR actually on the down ward grade. The article stated-

The enormous expansion of the value of the exports from Australia, shown by the official returns of the last three year~. llas been clue both to larger volume and to higher _prkes, more of the latter than the former. Now,

as regards the increase in the volume of pastoral, agri­cultural and dairy production, it has been due very largely to the bounty of Xature manirested in propitious seasons. 'l'be area under cultivation has not sensibly increased, and no development in new agricultural indu~tries has taken piHce In fact, apnrt from wheat and two or three minor articles. agriculturr- shows little progress, and in some kinds of crop there 1s pmd­tive retrogression. Even ab regards wheat the area. in both Vieturia and Xew South Wales recently rea-ped sllows a large diminution as compcued with the pre­vious Yt'ar. The heaYy production of ~ugar in Queens­land has been due almost entirely to favourable­weather conditions The conclusion generally is that agriculture is not progre~sing in A nstralia as it ough[j to do, and tllat Oereloprnent shown in one district is often neutralised, so far as the broad interests of the Common,realth are concerned, by decline or neglect else\vbere. There is no oecasion to attribute fault. rrbo agrieultnrists have probab1~· worked as 11a>:d as they cOuld, and they have been handsomely rewarded. Rtill it is not an encouraging reflection that of the whole continent of Australia less tllan 10,000.000 acres, or barely over 2 ~("res per 0apita of yopnlation, is under active cultivation. From the financi,LI point of view it is evide11t that the efl't>cts of a recnrrence of a series of bad seasons will h~rdly be compenr:-ated for by an enlarged agricultural area.

Mr. HAnD \CUE: There i~ n good reason for that. You cannot export agricultural products, with the exception of dairy produce.

Mr. G. P. BARNES: South Anstrali~ alone was exporting 17,000,000 bushels of wheat.

::Ylr. HARDACLUJ: I am sJ eaking of agt·icul­tural products generally-hay, and so on.

Mr. G. P. BARX:i'JS: Hay could not be ex· parted on account of its bulk, but they could export cereals and many other prodncte. They should s'rive to ascertain the reasors why agricultnre was on the decline. During the season they were about to enter upon the area under cereals was likely to show a lorge decrease. Farmers were feeling discnnraged, possibly to some extent on account of the various taxes which had been referred to ; but they were dis­couraged to a very much larger extent by the res~ricLive enactrnents that wer~ constantly being dinned into their ears. The farmer was begin­ning to feel that he was in the road, in"teftd of being a man who should be encouraged. Syn1pathy had gone out towards him from that Chamber this evening; and, as one who was intimately connected with the farmer, he said there was no man in the country who was more entitled to their sympathy ftn i support. Men who were in a comfortable position to-day had only attained that posilion after a lifetime ot arduous toil and thrift, and they were entitled to every protection for what they posseso.ed. He was rather surprised to hear the hon. member for Toowoomba refer to the need for improve­mmt in the preparation of the land. No doubt. tbere were farmers who prepared their land in a fanltv fashion; but their average yields were very niuch greater than the averages in South Australia, Victoria, or New South \Vales. That indicated that their farmers knew their buei­ness, and that their work compared more than favour<>blv with that of the farmers of the other States. It was a great pity that the contents of the departmental reports were not mure widely circulated. Good work was being done by the Agricultuml Department, of which the great bulk of the people seemed to be quite ignorant. He was pleased the farmers in the Roma dis· trict appreciated the State experimental farm there and were learning t<omething from it; but, gene;ally, very little was known with r\gard to what was being done on those fftrms. Some effort should be made to distribute more widely the valuable information which waH contained in the annual reports of the depftrtment. One was glad to see that experiments were being made in connection with natural gmssEs. One thing thftt impressed him more than anothel'

ilfr. G. P. Ba:rnt.;.]

736 Suppl;y. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

Dn looking at the Estimates was the paltry pittance that was paid to the managers ot th'e State experimental fJ.rms. For men who had a number of employees under them, and were respomible for a large am .unt of the country's money, a salary of £15() per annum was altogether inadequate, even alluwing for free quarters. Every exhi oition that 11as he~d bore ample evi· dence of the good work that these men were -doing. Some of them could he classed as artists

in their work. Taking the display ru p.m.] alone ltt the gxhibition, it was ad-

mitted tu be the work of artists, and ·On every hand thesB people were given the highest praise not only for what was being pro· -duced but for the order and manner in which it was displayed. He would like to know if the Agricultural Chemist could not take into con· -sideration the matter of experimenting in ihe direction of ascertaining whether the prickly pear was of an v commercial 'alue. If the Agri· cultural Chemist had too much to d,J they should let another chemist be employed for the work. There was no greater work that they could do at the present time than to prevent the spread of noxious weeds and prickly pear.

Mr. HARDACRE (Leichha?·dt) was pleased to see the increase in the ,-ote as the depart­ment, like many other departments, for years past had been practically strangled by the preosnre of parsimonious economy. He joined with other hon. members in his appreciation of the staff at the Agricultural Department. They ihad a set of officers in that department equal to ,any other department of the service. He had always been received with the greatest courtesy by the officers, and they a! ways displayed a great deal of common sense. He also entered his protest against the absence of the Minister for Agriculture from the Assembly. He had nothing to say at all against Mr. O'Sullivan per­sonally-in fact, he had the kindest feelings towards him and the highest degree of respect ior him. But it was entirely wrong in principle -it was antagonistic to the democratic principles of self-government-that they should have any gentleman, whether Mr. O'Sullivan or anybody else, in1mediately after his defeat at an election, reappointed to a not her place, and, what was more, reappointed to the Government. Practi­cally the people eaid, "We do not want this gentleman and we do not agree with hia policy." But, in spite of that protest, he was put back into the Government again to reign over them. That was an unfair thing, a reprehensible thing, and ·could noi be defended. He did not intend to deal generally with the Agricnltmal Estimates, but would direct his remarks briefly to two matters connected with his own electorate. The first question was the condition of the butter factory at Emerald, to which he called the atten­tion of the Minister. It was practically a stranded butter factory. It wa' erected in the ordinary way by sh~treholders by cooperative -enterprise under the Meat and Dairy Produce Encouragement Act.

Mr. GRANT : The dairy f>Umers cannot get their money back.

Mr. HARDACRE: If his advice was taken he would assise the Government to get their money back, and also the dairy farmers. They had at Ememld a fully equipped up-to-date butter factory, building, machinery, and every­·thing ready for commencing operations, but, not­withstanding the fact that the Government had put money into it, and the people had put money into it, there it was lying deteriorating, going to ruin, absolutely lHeless. The district had ueen proved to be capable of producing butter. The dairying industry had been carried on there for thirty years past, and to-day they

[Mr. G.P. Barnes.

found that from Emerald, and from further up th ~ Spriogsure line, numerous cans of cream were going past-in some caoes travel­ling a distance of ~00 miles-to Rockhamp­ton, which was 165 miles east of this factory, while the factory was lying idle at E'llerald. It was important to the district, and also to the Government, that something should be done with regard to that factory. About six or more years ago there was an a\(itation for the erection of a butter factory in that district. }'iually, Messrs. Fairbairn Brothers, of Capella, who had a considerable amount of pastoral C'0untry there, came to the rescue of the sP.!ectors in the distnct, ~tnd actually gave, for the purpme of assisting the butter factory, the sum of £300.

Mr. PAGET: Mr. Fairbairn is a prominent squatter. He gave it to help the country.

Mr. HARD ACRE: Fairbairn Brothers gave the money with the idea of recornpensating them­selves in the end-with the object of cutting up their pastoral properties into small areas for dairying settlement. The rest of the money was subscribed by the selectors in the district, and they then applied for a loan under the Dairy Act froin the Government, and succeeded in establish­ing a very fine, modern, and up-to-date butter factory. Unfortunately, immediately after the butter factory was established the unprecedented drou!!ht-the greatest drought Queensland had ever experienced-came and destroyed absolutely the who:e of the dairying herd in that district. The drought continued two more years, and dur­ing the whole of that time the butter factory was lying idle. After that time it was almost impos­sible to obtain dairy stock, and for another period-something hke two or three years-the factory had neces;arily to remain idle. Finally it was arranged to remove the f•ctory, and, with the consent of the department and the favourable opinion of the Rail way Commissioner, the factory was removed to 1£merald, which was a more centrally Rituated position and much more favourable for obtaining cream from the various localities. Emerald was at the junction of three lines of railway-Emerald, Clermoilt, and Springsure.

The SECRETARY FOR RAU,WAYS: Did they borrow the money to remove it?

Mr. HARD ACRE: He was not quite sure about that. Again misfortune befell this com­pany. The cost of removal turned out to be greater than was anticipatPd, and that took all their ready cash. They had no ready money to commence operations, and no money to pay for the cream. The result was that the butter factory was now lying stranded, with no hope of being able to get out of its difficulties. The district was languishing, so far as dairying was concerned, because the factory was not working. The company applied to the d< partment for further assistanca under the circumstances, and the Meat and Dairy Bo~trd offered to lend another £150 on condition that the sbareholder8 subscribed an equal amount. That seemed ex­tremely fair. The Meat and Dairy Board were limited by the conditions of the Act, and they could not lend more than 50 per cent. of the assets of the company. The shareholders, after having had such an experience in the past, were absolutely discouraged from putting any more money into the butter factory. The first attempt to start a uutter factory in Emerald was made nine years ago, but it came to nothing, and the present butter factory, owing to the misfortunes it met with, was landed into its present position. Another factor which had to be taken into con­sideration w:1s that many of the shareholders had left the dist,ric~, some having gone South, so that very few shareholders remained. Therefore, while it seemed a fair thing to ask them to sub-

Supply. [9 APRIL.] 737

scribe another £150, it was practically impossible for them to do it. The Meat and Dairy Board ought to have power, when a factory or meat­works was landed in difficulties in this way, to make an extraordinary advancH, in order to help them out of their diflicnltiec, am] to ensure the return of the money already advanced by the board. If thi,, could not be done under the exist­ing Act, then he would urge, upon the Govern­ment the d•,,irability of altering the Act. He was only asking them to do what any financial inHtitutiun would do under similar cire:nm.stances. \Vith regard to the que;tiun of the close season for opossums, it must be remembered that thou­sands of men were employed in trapping those animals, and that if it had not been for the fact that they were able to trap them and sell their fur in drought time, a large number of unem­ployed would have marched down to the towns, and, in sume cases, would probabiy have asked for bread. The close se~son which had been proclaimed had to some extent restricted the employment of men in that industry. The men did not object to six months' exemption from trapping, shooting, or snaring opos::;ums, but they did object to the continual alteration of the close season, i::tnd also to the close season for bears being made identical with that for opossums. It was the almost universal desire of the men con­cerned in this occupation that the close season for opossums should be at one time of the year _, the time now fixed by rec;ulation­and the clo,;e seu".on for bears at another time of rhe year, so that they might be continuously employed during the whole year. He hoped the department would encleaV0'11' to meet the wishes of the men in thi>< mcttter. vVith refer­ence to , experimental farms, it was well known that for· many years the Gindie State ]'arm was an unprofitaLle institution, and that fact had giYen rise to the jmpression that it "vas an un­profitable institntion to-clay. That, howe•er, was a mistake. At the end of the drought there was an alteration made in the method of manage­ment, and the farm was converted from what might be called an agricultural State farm into a grazing State farm, with the result that it was now the most profitable State farm in Queens­land.

Mr. GRAYSON (Cunninqham): So far the criticism on this vvte had been very mild, and he attributed that to the manner in which the department had been run for the last three or four yectrs. Ever since the hon. member for Oxley took charg'C of that department it had been a live department, characterised hy prompt­ness and energy. The farming industry was making grand strides throughout the State, and it would make still further advances if it w""' let alone and the Government did not impose restrictions on farmers. The hon. men1ber for Toowoomba bad deplorerl the fact r ~at a larger area of land was not put under cereal cnlti va­tion. _As the representative of a purely farrning constituency he could tell the Committee that if the farmers of the Downs were certain that they could obtain labour at harvest time there would be a larger area put under that crop than there was at the present time. It was the fnr of scarcity of labonr at harvest time that deterred farmPrs from putting a larger area under Cf',real"·. The Under Secretary for Agriculture, in his last annual report, said-

On the other hand, skilled anrl reli11ble farm labour hQs been scarCE\ and at periods, p!trticularly during the ha1'"vest time, practically unobtainable for general agriculture as separate from the sugar industry.

It would be seen, therefore, that the department acknowledged that farm labourers were scarce throughout the State. At the present time there was a dearth of farm labourers on the Darling Downs.

1908-2z

Mr. LESINA: Agricultural wage'; must be going up, then.

Mr. GRAYSON: Yes; agricnlturallabourers ;vere geting Letter wages now than they were a rew years a~-:;-o, because the farmets were more prosperous, and could afford to pay Letter wages. He had not heard that farm labourers on the DO\--:ns complained of the rate of wagfs they receiVed, :tnd he knew that they were well fed Pond well kept. He noticed that the Govern­ment had a stud herd of cattle at the Gatton College, and that the progenv frull1 th" cattle itn_Portec~ hy the departme:1 t '~ere realising good pnces. Jcle thought the tune had arrived when the department should create a stud horse farm. Next month the stud of Clydesdale horses be­longing to the :\iaryvale Estate, would be sub­mitted to public auction at \Varwick. He had no hesitation in saying that the Maryvale Clydes­clales, the AWl brand, were the best draught Clydesdales in Queensland, if not in Australia; and he suggested that the department should purchase four or five of those stallions and station one at Gatton, one at \Vestbrook ~ne at Hermit:tge, and one at Mackay. He k~ew that ~any Yictorian and New South Wales buyers "!ntended to be presen~ at .the sale, and he thought 1t would be a great p1ty 1f that stud were bought by Southern buyers, and taken out of Queensland. He would strongly advise the Minister to instruct :Nir. JUahon, the manager of Gatton College,

to J'urchase at least half a dozen of [9.30 p,m.] the stallion, at the sale at "Warwick

next month. He had heard the criticism of the miserable salaries that some of the managers on the State farms received and he was really surprised, on lookino- ove; the Agricultural Estimates, to find that the Under Secretary was receiving £150 a year less than the Under Secretaries in other departments. He contended that Mr. Scriven wa> equally entitled to the same salary.

Mr. PAGET: The whole department is under­paid.

::\Ir. G RA YSO:c;[ : Yes. There was Mr. Ross the manager of tbe State farm at Westbrook: He had been connected with the Agricultual Department for many years, and he was getting £156 a year. The displays which Mr. Ross made at the different shows were worth from £50 to £100 to the State, and he should certainly have an increase. He was an exceptionally good man.

:Mr. MA:<i~: The manager at Cairns only gets £140, and he is a very excel~ent man, too.

::\Ir. GRAYSON: There was another matter he would like to mention, with regard to the manager of Gatton College. ::\Ir. Mahon was an excellent manager, but the time had arrived when he should be a1lowed to visit the different farm­ing rlistricts, especially at show times, and meet the farmers and converse with them on matters connected with agriculture. The last two or three shows which they had on the Downs, he had letters from the secretaries requesting that ::VIr. Mahon should be allowed to visit those shows, and he had waited upon Jliir. Scriven who gave him good reasons why J\>Ir. ::\Iaho~ could not visit the last two or three shows. He thon~ht arrangements should be made by the department to allow J\!Ir. Mahon to do this.

Hon. D. F. DEXH.UI : \Vho would attend to the College?

::Yir. GRAYSON: There was an assistant there. He thought Jliir. Mahon was too valuable a man to shut up in a college from ye;1l''s end to year's end, and ought to have a little more scope. He contended that the scope of the Agricultural Bank should be considerably widened. There was too much difficulty in the way of farmers

Mr. Grayson.]

738 Suppl,y. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

getting money, and the matter ought to be in­quired into. He had had several verbal complaints from farmers of the way in which they had been treated by the directors of the bank. He thought the Agricultural Bank was doing good work for the State. He was not going- to find fault with the present J\1:inister for Agriculture, the Hon. T. O'Sullivan, who he believed would administer the department according to his lig-hts and to the best of his ability.

Mr. LESINA: The hon. member who; had resumed his seat had referred to the fact that the Hon. T. O'Sullivan, who was the paid Minister representing the Department of Agri­culture in another Chamber, would probablv administer the department to the best of his ability in a conscientious way, and very likely to the satisfaction and agricultural interests of the State generally. But that was not to the point. He was not much concerned with the matter of his administration at all. That more concerned the men engaged in the industry. But he wanted to point out that the State made a departure from democratic government to pick np a candidate rejected by his constituents and put him into the Upper House at £1,000 a year. In 1897 a long discussion took place over this vote for the same thing. Sir Hugh Nelson was then Premier, and he made a promise to Parlia­ment that the Minister for Agriculture should eit in the popular Chamber, where, when mem­bers came to discuss the matter--

The CHAIRMAN : Order ! I am sorry to interrupt the hon. gentleman, but he very fully dealt with that aspect of the question this after­noon, on the same vote. I will ask him to be good enough not to repeat what he has already said, so as to enable us to get on with business.

Mr. LESINA: He had not quoted Hansard at all, and he proposed to introduce new matter. He was quite prepared to discuss the matter till 11 o'clock.

The CHAIRMAN : Order ! The hon. gentle­man will not be out of order if he introduces new matter. I am only reminding him that he has already referred to the fact that the Minister for Agriculture occupies a seat in the Legislative Council.

Mr. LESINA: He admitted that, but the fact of making the admission that he was there, did not follow that it closed up every avenue of argument for or ag-ainst the proposition. He had no desire to reopen the matter, but he did not know when speaking previously that it had been discussed in 1897, when the leader of the Labour party-Mr. Glassey-backed up by Messrs. JI/IcDonald, Sim, Hnolan, Cross, Jack­son, and Kids ton, and ut her members of the Par­liamentary Lahour party, attacked this thing as a departure from the accepted democratic prin­ciple that a Minister in charge of an important department like this should sit in this Chamber, so that when they discussed his Estimates they could meet him face to face. That was a recog­nised constitutional practice, and all this talk about matters of subsidiary interest in the de­partment was so much waste of time. It was of no importance compared with the big constitutional point-that the Government had taken up a de­feated, discredited candidate, and, in the face of public opinion, thrnst him in the Upper House at £1,000 a year, to administer the department they we~e discussing to-night in his absence. The point wh1Ch arose here was the constitutional point. They should refuse Supply to the department till they got the Minister sitting herb. There was only a makeshift Minister in the person of the Attorney-General, who knew absolutelv nothing about the matter. If he knew anything about agriculture, or anything allied with it at

[Mr. Grayson.

all, it was the horsehair industry. (Laughter.) The late Sir H ugh Nelson statsd in 189G that, if a separate Minister for Agriculture was ap­pointed, he would be a member of the Assembly. In the debate that took place at that time the Labour party took up their traditional attitude, standing up for the rights of the people, and for clean administration. No word was heard about this outrage on the Constitution until be broached the matter this afternoon.

The SRCRETAHY l!'OR RAILWAYS: You are the only clean man in the Committee.

Mr. LESIN A: He did not say that, bnt, whether his party or any other party liked it or not, he was always ready to denounce wrong­doing.

Mr. MANN: Last night you defended the :Mount Molloy timber" steal."

Mr. LE SIN A : He did nothing of the sort He proved up to the hilt that the selling of the Mount Molloy timber was due to the regulation framed by the present Secretary for Lands, whom the hon. member supported, and whom he would support if he did things ten thousand times worse, so long as he could get some paltry parish pump concession for his constituents. It was worth passing attention that the father of that House, the late Mr. \V. H. Groom. made a magnificent speech in 1896 in defence of the proposition that the Secretary for Agriculture should sit in the Legislative Assembly. \Vhat had the two members for Toowoomba to say to-night about this? \V ere they prepared to stand up for the traditional rights laid down by the late father of the House, who was so touchy where the rights and privileges of that Chamber were concerned? That desire appeared to have evaporated nowadays, with the result that their rights were being gradually filched from them. There was no justification for putting a defeated candidate into the Upper House at any time; but it was still worse to put a de­feated candidate into that Chamber and pay him £1,000 a year for administering an important public department, and then ask the Committee to vote £40,000, to be placed in his hands for "dministration. That was an outrage on the Constitution and on the taxpayers, and though his objection might not carry much weight, he objected to it. They should be very tender on such a point, bee" use there v. as always a tendency for Governments to filch from Parliaments their powers in ]Jiecemeal fashion, until some day they would waken up and discover that they had lost important privileges. If they made protests, >ts he was doing now, it might bring about an altera­tion. He did not say that the Government, as a result of his protest, or as the result of the pro­tests of other members, would arrange for one of their supporters to resig-n his seat ond give l\1r. O'Sullivan a chance of getting- back into that Chamber. ·which member of the party was will­ing to resign his seat in favour of 1\fr. O'Sullivan, who was apparently so acceptable to the Govern­ment that they pnt him in the Cabinet, with a seat in the other House, to administer the depart­ment connected with the industry upon which the whole of the people must live? \Vould the Home Secretary take that judgeship to create a vacancy?

The Hmn;: SECRETARY : The Minister will be back here after this sesGion.

The SECRllTAHY J<'OR RAILWAYS : After the appeal is over.

Mr. LESINA: He might be-he had no objection ; but the portfolio should not be held by one who had lost the confidence of the people. There were one or two points connected with the vote to which he would like to make some reference. Mr. Benson, the Instructor in Fruit Culture, was down for

Supply. [9 APRIL.] Supply. 739

a salary of £475. He filled a very important position. It was utterly impossible that he could travel over the immense extent of <:ctueensland and gi v8 expert instruction. And now he had gone to Great Britain. If there was one thing that struck a person more than another in ·Queensland it was the enormo•1s importation of fruit. Queensland was capable of producing some of the finest fruits in the world. The finest lemons and \Vashington navel oranges in Aus­tralia were produced in the electorate of the Secretary for Rail ways, at Barcaldine and Blackall, and they were going in for grape and sultana culture this year. The soil and climate of that district were wonderfuily favourable for the production of hi:;h-grnde fruits, and yet they importrd fruit from outside. They should do something to encourage this important industry. Mr. Benson could not possibly g(ve his attention to the whole State. A great de'eJ of hi., time was devoten to deliver­ing lectures, writing articles for the A,gricultural Jo-urnal, and reporting here and there upon various matters submitted to him. Then he had to travel a good deal. His time must be fully occupied, and whatever little inetruction he was able to give in each district in fruit culture must be given in a piecemeal fashion. It seemed to him that the department was worth extending, o,nd that other assistance should be engaged in order to make the work >till more advantageous. Queensland had a fine future before her in the production of fruit. Another thing he would like to bring before the Minister was the case of Mr. Thomson, the Dairy Expert. He understood a dispute had arisen between Mr. Thomson and the present Minister. He did not know whether Mr. Thomson's resignation had been tendered.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: It has been accepted.

Mr. LESINA: He did not know whether the Government would be able to improve on ?llr. Tbomson as a Dairy Expert; he felt pretty sure they could not. \Vould it be asking too much of the Minister to let the Committee into his <Jonfidence on the matter? He wonld like to know the facts of the case in dispute, how it originated and what the ultimate result would be to (,lueensland.

The HmrE SECRETARY: Give him an oppor­tunity and he will tell you.

1\Ir. LESINA: There was another matter. The hon. member for Nundah made a speech in which he dealt with the claims of the farmers. No one was more willing to adrr,it the claims of the farmers for consideration than he was, and the Labour party generally, and since they had assisterl in the discharge of legislation in that Chamber, they bad given the farmers more con­cessions than had ever been the case in the previous history of any parliamentary party. That industry was the basic industry of civilisa­tion. \Vherever there was civilieation, a man naturally took to the cultivation of the b-'il, so that the farmer was the basic element of civili­sation, and the industry was most important and should be properly encouraged. His objec­tion to the farmer, or the farmer as they knew him through his representative» in the Chamber, was, that whibt the farmer's representatives were willing to take all that they could possibly ladle out in the way of concessions year after year and Parliament after Parliament, when they asked for concessions for the man who laboured for the farmer, the farmers' representatives objected.

Mr. MACKINTOSH: The farmer gives him all those concessions himself.

Mr. LESINA: How magnanimous! Ont of the largeness of his bounty the farmer gave his slave some concessions. The Labour party

wanted no concessions from the farmer. They recognised the fundamental fact that the economic value of the farmin>: industry depended on the market, as Adam Smith pointed out many years ago. They could not nry well fix it by Acts of Parliament. The London market ruled the price of produce practically throughout the world to-day-such produce as could be safely trans­ferred from the point of production to the point of consumption. During the past ten or twenty years the farmer had been granted concession after concession-it was a marvel he did not stagger under the load of concessions. He would take that aspect of the matter, becau"e the hon. member for Cunningham and the hon. member for Xundah had persistently trumpeted forth the needs of the farmers. He would not like to be a farmer under those conditione, The farmer had been de>cribed a> being sur­rounded by pests, plagues, droughts, floods, fires, wnstantly under the demands of usurious financial institutions, persistently standing on the Treasury steps, cap in band, demanding assistance and concessions. That was the true picture f(iven of tb8 modern farmer-not the independent, stiff-spined, straightforward fellow they understood him to be. He refused to believe that was t~·pieal of the Queensland farmer. He believed he was a stouter, sturdier type than tb>1t, when he looked around and saw the strong, stalwart bon. member for C•m­boova, who for forty yeaiB had dragged a living by 'hard labour from the bowels of the earth. (Loud laughter.) He did not mean deep down-­from the soil. .Just in passing, he might point out, as a counterblast to those trumpet-tongued appeals for assistance-charitable concessions­which the representatives of the farmers in that Chamber were constantly sounding, sounding, sounding, like the men who surrounded the walls of Jericho and blew their loudest-as a counter­blast to those constant trumpet appeals for assistance for the farmer, he would like to point out what they had done for the farmer. They had given him light lines of railway to agricul­tural districts ; they had given him the D•iry Produce A et, with an army of inspectors; they had the Orient subsidy, costing £26,000 a year, to carry his produce to London.

Mr. W. D. AmrSTRONG: For all of which he pays.

Mr. LESINA: 'l'hey had given him an Agri­cultural Bank Act, which had made advances to farmers and selectors to the amount of about £180,000. They had given him seed wheat, which cost something like £20,000, the half of which had been pa.id back, and the other half was still owing. They had agricultural colleges, costing about .£7,000 a year. They had experi­mental farn1s, gardenR, aw-l nurseries, cof.!ting over £12,000 a year. They had given him wire netting for fencing out nutrsupials, co.-:,ting £3,000 a year. They had the public estate improve­ment fund, under which they had spent £20,000 or £30,000 a year.

Mr. WHITE: That has nothing to do with the farmer

Mr. LESINA: The money was spent in n1aking roads, constructing culverts, sinking wells, and doing general work, in order to make it easier for the man on the land. They had appointed a Botanist at £200 a year, in order to give the farmer expert advice. They had an Entomologist and Vegetable Pathologist whom they paid £300 a year to do their business­who had to go rou_nd and lr;vestiga~e the ~esti.ve bug track it to Its lair, discover Its habits, Its ways and means, and eventn:J.!ly obliterate it. They had an Ag:ricultural .Chemist at £380 a year, and an assistant chemist at £210, to give

Mr.Lesina.]

'740 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

them expert information in the scientific cultiva­tion of his crops. They had the Agricvlt-nral Journal) which was run to give the fanner exper~ inforrnation, <-t.nd which cost £t)fi0 a year. They had £47G for an In,pector in Fruit Culture, who tuld the farmers how to c<epture the cane beetle and obliterate it. The t'\cate also paid £500 for a Tobacco Expert, £2.30 for an Instructcr

in Tropical Agriculture, £430 for [10 p.m.] carrying on experiments in connec-

tion with tobacco-growing at Cairns, £285 for an Agricultural Inspector, £410 for a Government Dairy Expert to help the farmer carry on his dairy business, and £15G £or a Poultry Instructor to instruct the farmers how to raise poultry. Then there were also the inspectors under the Diseases in Plants Act, who£e salaries total £856, and £340 was paid for bursaries at the .\gricultmal College for the purpose of encouraging farmers and giving their sons technical education. The Government had also established wheat-sheds for the benefit of farmers-this Government more than any 0ther. Then the whole of the State,, of Australia were taxed to provide a bonus of £750,000 per year for the cultivation of sugar-cane in Queensland. The GovernHJent had also deferred the rents due on selections when the farmer was behind hand in his rent from one cause rtnd another; they had given the farmer special low freights on the carriage of ~s-riculturrtl produce, and they had granted loans for the purpose of co-opecative dairy production. They had also granted loans for the purpose of establishing Central sugar­mills, involving a sum of £300,000, and only to­day they passed the third reading of a Bill under which they proposed to give the farmer back his title-deeds for the land which he had forfeited to the Government.

Mr. WHITE: 1Y1r. J'daughan, hrtve we got to Bit here and listen to this rubbish all night ? (Laughter.)

Mr. LESINA: The hon. member for :::\nnclah gave a list of the taxes that the farmer had to pay-the cow tax and other things-and he (:VIr. Lf·,ina) was only giving the other side of the shield.

Mr. 'V BITE: I wish we could ~;ee the other side uf you. (Laughter.)

Mr. LESINA: Then the Government spent large sums of money in repurchasing r>tates for the purpose of settling farmers on the land, and they had given subsidies for the erecti<.n of cattle­dips, so that the farmers would be able to tackle the ticks, redwater, and .other troubles. They gave :Mr. lYiaxwell a salan of £3,000 a year and travelling expenses in order that he might g-ive the farmers 8pecial instruction i.n their business; and they also gave the sum of £ii00 for the destruction of sugar-cane beetles. They knew that that would find employment for a lrtrge number of people at Cairns, where they would go out at nights with their bags and lrtnterns, capture thousands of beetles, bring them to one common centre in Cairns, and sell them for "ld. a quart. (Laughter.) Then the Government granted a subsidy to the Adelaide Stean:ship Compan:;· to cttrry the farmEr;,' produce to Sydney, and gave numerous endowments to agri­cultural rtnd horticultural societies all over the State. He had not quite comr,leted his list yet, and there were nun,erous other things he could quote to sho" what the State lmrl done fnr the farmer. The list he had read would show that they had done a fair tiling by the farmer, and yet the other day when they attempted to pass a miserable little 'V ages Boards Bill for the purpose of giving employees a decent wage, the farmers were up in armd against it, and wanted to be excluded from it, raising their voices in

IM r. Lesina.

the House and outside trying to get them­selves excluded from the provisions of the Bill. Every farmer in the House, with the exception of the hon. member for Cairns and the hon. mem­ber for )iundah, had raised his voice in that cry. He bad given his counterblast as to what the State had done for the farmer, ant! he hoped that the~' would no longer hear anything more about the poor farmer being trotted up in his tattered garments, and led up to the door of the Treasury as he had been Parlia­ment after l'arliament ttnd Government after Government, with the constant cry, like the drtnghter of the horse-leech, "Give, give!" Reference had been made during the debate to the Native Animals Protection Act which had been p.tssed in 1906. He found that for the twelve months before that Act came into force the number of Hkins of bears and opossums bought and sold was 3,.'500,000, vrtlued at £131,000. One firm's transactions alone showed that they had handled 8GO,OOO skins, which were valued at £3(),000, and in three months alone some 2,000,000 opossum skins were sold in Lon­don, having come from Australia. Some 1nem~ bers thought that it was owing to their desire t,1 preserve Amtralian fauna that they had paseed that Hill. He was just as desirous as anyone of preserving e1·erything nati,·e as he was a native himself. This was an important industry. There were still thousands of opos­sums in Queensland, in lands which were ,eldom visited by men. Shearers, sugar-worken,, and casual ruiner.-;, who put in some montbs during the year at their own occupation, were glad to go out and c·,pture these bears and opossums and sell the skins, and these men wanted a fixed term during which they could shoot. so that they would know where they were. He had said all that he had to say, and he hoped he had said it effectively, and th~t it would bear fruit.

Holl. D. F. DE0fHAM tOxley): There were rt number of questions that he had intended asking the .'viinister, but he would get the information from the Under Secretary, instead of discussing it that night. He regretted that the Under Secretary's salrtry was still £5,)0. 'rhe Under Secretary in the Chief Secre.tary's Department got £600, the Under Home Secre­t>>r.Y got £700, the Under Secretary for \Vorks £730, the Under Secretary in the .Justice Department £650, the r; nder Secre­tary to the Treasury £700, and the l' nder Secre­tary for Lands £700. He had been associated with the Under Secretary for three years, rtnd for tact, energy, ability, and general efficiency it would be impossible to secure a more capable man. He endeavoured to get his salary raised to £600 the last year he was in the depart­ment, but on that occasion he had to g·ive way. But he left a minute in the office in which he expressed an eiLrnest hope that when the E,ti­mates were next framed the Under Secretary would get at least the amount received by the Under Secretary to the Chief Secretary's Depart­ment-namely, £1)00. It was not a fair thing that an Fnder Secretary who had so many mb­departments under his contrnl should receive a less salary than other Under Secretaries. The Agricultural Chemi,t received £3RO, and he got no in,~rease laRt year, though he wa~ an oti]cPr of exceptional ability. The ,alary of the Gnvern­ment Armlyst v, ,cs increased from £!SO to £300-doubtless he was well worth the incre .c;e ; and tbe Bacteriologist got £500. J\Ir. Brillmich's work in the department was of immense value to the State; and he hoped that the question of increasing his remuneration would receive consideration when the next Estimates were being framed. ·with reference to the Tobacco Expert, he believed that the term o£ his engage-

Suppl,y. [9 APRIL.] Supply. 741

ment would expire very shortly, and would like to know if the Government intended to renew his engagement.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL proposed briefly, but none the less completely, to reply to the numerous questions which had been sub­mitted with the view of eliciting information regarding the working of tbe department. He wa' very glad indeed that members seemed unanimous in their commendation of the work performecl by the officials of the Agricultnral Department, and would like to oay that he thought very few departments were so splendidly manned and worked as the dep1rtment now under consideration. The hon. member for Leichhardt raised the question with regard to the Emerald Butter Factory, and allusion was also made to the same subject by the hem. mem­ber for Clermont. This factory was first erected in Capella, but owing to the effects of the drought of 1902 it never operated, :,nd last year the company apprcJached the Meat and Dairy Board for help to move the buildings to Emerald. '!.'hat help was granted, as the board then con­sidered that there was a promise of fair business being done, and the factory was re-erected at Emerald. In granting that assistance the board straim•cl their powers under the Act to the fullest extent. After getting this help the company found that they could not go on.

J\Ir. HARDACRE : They had no ready money.

The ATTOR::'{EY-GE:NERAL: They might not have had the wherewithal to go on. Then they asked the board to advance them money for working expen"es to enable them to :,tart. Beyond all question it was very doubtful whether the board had power to advance money for pur­poses of that kind, but they offered to advance money up to a certain amount if the company would subscribe £1 for £1. The company had not done that, so that matters were now practi­.,.ny at a standstill. He could only promise hon. members who had brought this matter up that he would make representations to his col­leagues, and if anything could be done-he doubted if anytl,ing could be done-they would endeavour to do it. The hon. member for Cler­mont, the hon. member for iYiaranoa, and the hon. member for Leichhardt had alluded to the matter of the Native Animals Protection Act. On page 3 of his report the Under Secretarv stated that the Native Animals Protection Act was passed-

rro provide a close season for the native bear and the opossum, and to wholly protect tbe tree~ kangaroo, the wombat, the duck-lnole, the hedge-hog, and thr Hying squirrel. There could be no question that the industry of -obtaining the skins of some of those animal~ for their fur was a very important one, bnt the preservation of the animals was also a very important matter. For that rea,son the depart­ment had proclaimed a close season for those ammals, and difficulties had arisen with reoard to shoo tin!' them, as persons did not knov.:' the exact time in which they conld shoot. It was a difficult matter to deal with a season which varied. However, the representations made by hon. members would be communicated to the department, and an endeavour would be made if possible, to define the limits of time withi~ which shooting might take place.

Mr. AmiSTRONG: One important thing is that whatever period is decided upon it should be observed. . M:·· J~NKINSON: It is not only shooting-it Is pmsomng.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: A question wa•; asked by the hon. member for Lockyer in ~egard to the duties of the officials in the Agri-

cultural Department. He could only say that they had fixed duties to perform, and they had no right to go outside the limits fixed by the department. If any of them d irl anything of the kind, the department should be made aware of it.

11r. An·.rs~ROKG: As soon as those dutie'l are perfmmerl, they are free to go where they like.

The ATTORKEY,GEN}=RAL: They were subject to the ordinary rules of the public ser­vice. The hon. members for Toowoornba and Oxley referred to the salaries of certain officials. Personally, he thought the staff was very etli­cient, and the sJ..laries, in ~many cases, 1night need revision. He had no doubt they would be revised. He believed the Estimates whi~h were coming before the House next session would show increases to some of those officials.

Hon. D. F. DE:O:HA::: There is no reason whv the department should be below other depart· rnents.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: No, cer­tainly not. Allusion wa.s made to not having the report of the department. As a matter of fact, it was before the House six months ago.

Mr. JENKIKSON: \Ye should have all depart­mental repor~s up to the same period.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Possibly that might be a desirable innovation, but they were only dealing with things as they were at present.

Jlllr. PAGET: It is the most up-to-date report of the lot, because it is six months ahead of all others.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: He believed it wn.s a most up-to-date report. The leader of the Opposition referred to the ex-Dairy Expert, lHr. Thomson. As a matter of fact, he com­menced duty on 1st March, 1904; he had had a nine months' holiday in Great Britain, and, when he returned, he made a claim for some £133 for expenses, stating that he incurred the expense in the interests of dairying and immigration. Appa­rently no authority had been given to incur those expenses.

Hon. D. F. DENHAM: He is a law unto him­self.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The hon. member for Oxley, having been in signally successful charge of the departnwn t, was acquainted with the facts. The claim was not entertained, and the result was that there was friction. Finally Mr. Thomson sent in his resig­nation. He believed he sent it in twice before.

J\1r. JENKINSOK: Do you give as a reason that he sent it in because of the refusal of the £133.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The last re­resignation directly followed that refusal, and after hadng been twice before tendered. Finally it was accepted. Then he asked to be re-engaged on different terms, and that offer was not enter­tained. He then asked to be re-engaged on his old terms, and that offer was declined also. He was getting £-HO a year, and it seemed that he was fairly well paid. The hon. member for Ken· nedy asked whether cert1in articles on sugar could not be published in the Agricultttral Journal. The answer was that the department was ahva} s willing to accept such articles, but would not pay for them. In regard to the ques­tion of pro]Jagating cane seed at Kamerunga, that matter was under the control of Dr. Maxwell, and if anything was done with regard to that officer, possibly he might consider it. Refer­ence was also made to one of the in­spectors of the department. The department's answer was that he had a fairly free hand; but that it was necessary, in the interests of discipline, to have a senior officer stationed at the place mentioned. \Vith regard to the question raised in referen"e to the Shearers and Sugar \V or leers Accommodation Act, that matter

Hon. J. W. Blair.]

742 Suppl,y. [ASSEMBLY.]

was under the consideration of the department now, and he had no doubt the recent deputation would result in the matter being further con­sidered. In regard to the opening of Kame­runga State Farm on Sundays, that also was under consideration, and had formed the sub­ject of voluminous correspondence. \Vhen the Minister visited the North, as was his intention at an early date, the matter would be further discussed. The hon. member for Herbc,rt raised the question of inspectors of slaughter-houses. In the country districts it was necessary to utilise the services of the.police, but in the towns there were trained inspectors. He had no doubt that as the requirements warranted it further trained inspectors would beappointed. The hon. member for Mackay, in speaking of an experinwnt farm at Atherton, raised cerbain ouestiom. The question of establishing such a farrn was at present before the Minister, and a recommendation in connection with the whole matter was under consideration.

Mr. PAGRT: It has been under consideration for a very long time.

The ATTORXEY-GENERAL : Possibly the result would be more perfect action as th'e result of maturer consideration. He was going to give what was the crude idea of the depart­ment. It was to work a farm on the top of the

range in conjunction with Kamer­[10.30 p.m.] unga State Farm, and then to inter-

change students according to the pre­, qomina~t need for tropical or sub-tropical culti va­:.t;on. W1th regard to the matter of the utilisation , (lf the services of the Tobacco Expert, :\Ir. N evil!, . t.l:Ie. department had been to a certain extent hampered by the form of agreement. Mr. N evil! was engaged by the department exclusively for

·tobacco culture, but that agreement was' run-ning out, and they hoped to he able to make a better arrangement with him in order to more fully utilise his services. At present he believed the matter was under consideration with the view of forming a new contract. Whether Mr. Nevill would be reappointed or n?t he could not. at this juncture say, but, If re-engaged, the mtention of the depart­ment was to make use of his services in a wider form. The Agricultural Chemist, .Mr. Briinnich, was undoubtedly an able man, and further as­sistance in that branch was under consideration. ~eference ~ad been made to ltir. Tryon, the Entomolog1st and Vegetable Pathologist. He was a good officer, but at present he had no assistant, and for that reason he had no opp~rtunity c;f visiting the country, except on spec1:'l occaswns. The department was con­Bldermg whether or not they should appoint a . clerk assistant, in order that l\Ir. Tryon m1ght have some of his time free to de­vote more parti*ularly to the investigation of diseases in sugar-cane. \Vith reQ,trd to the Agricultural Chemist, his salary was'"increased to £400 on the lst .July last, and that would be satisfactory to members of the Committee. He need say nothing about his being a good officer, as members were well aware of the work which he did under the Dairy Produce Act and the Federal Commerce Act. A new veterinary sur­geon, Mr. Dods, had been engaged for three years, at a salary of £800 a year, to investigate diseases in stock, particularly tick fever and he had taken up his duties. Before coming' here he had travelled through America to obtain experi­ence of the latest methods of dealin~ with diseases there, so that he thought the depa~·tment would have a thoroughly experienced officer to deal with these matters. A question was asked as to the expenditure of the £600 for the assist­ance of •ngar-workers. There were the salaries of two inspectors at £250 each, and £100 for

[Hon. J. W. Blair.

incidentals. They were inspectors specially for that work. The deputation which waited on the Minister recently emphasised the necessity for more inspectors, and naturally enough the repre­sentations of the deputation were being con­sidered. Reference had been made by the hon. member for Burnett to the Gayndah Group. The selectors at present were contributing towards the salary of the overseer, in accordance with the agreement signed by them. This salary,. amounting to £156 a year, was clivirled between twent:·-three families. He wanted to point out, on behalf of the department, that if an overseer was removed there was no method by which the department could protect the advances made, and see that the terms of the agreement were being performed, "O that he thought it was r,;ther unfair to argue that the overseer should be removed. The hon. member for ltfaranoa raised the question of the Agricultural Bank. Perhaps that ought to be discussed on the Trust Estimates, but he might mention that the money advanced under the Agricultural Bank Act was restricted to the terms and conditions of that Act, and the question of whether the Act wanted amending or not would have to be considered in the light of the statements of the hon. member for Maranoa and others.

Mr .• TRNKINSOX: To be truly useful the mea­sure needs amending.

The ATTORJ\JEY-GENERAL: These state­ments would be utilised by the department in considering whether the Act would be amended •. As to the Roma State Farm, that was really instituted to guide and encourage farming in dis­tricts which were subject to considerably dry spells. The farm was not a very old one, but it had been very successful, and he was informed the department were considering the question of purchasing stock for the farm-milking Short­horns, and a Suffolk l'nnch stallion and mares­the object being, by making a s"le of the progeny at reason8,ble figures, to improve the dairying and the draught stock of the district. He merely mentioned this to show that thA department was alive to the wants of the district and the resi­dents therein.

Mr . .J. M. HuNTER: \Vhat are you doing with those birds?

The ATTORNEY-GE::'\ERAL: As a matter of fact, the department had not done anything about that. The hon. member for Bowen raised a very important question in regard to the leasing of land to aliens. The hon. m em her had brought this matter up more than once, and had gone as far as to introduce a Bill !as~ year, which he ultimately withdrew on the implied promisf of the Government to introduce a measure dealing with the matter. They had not forgotten that, and would probably, at no late date, Andeavour to deal with the matter by legislation. The matter was one full of per­plexities, but they would not shirk their duty. The hon. member for Nundah asked whether the department would appoint a cotton expert, but we had, in the person of Mr . .J ones, a man who had an extensive knowledge of cotton culture. }Ir .• Tones had seen fit to try to acquire a· wider know lerlge, in another branch of politics, but failed to secure that knowledge, ami so far he had not heen reappointed. He thought he had dealt with the numerous points which had been submitted, but he would be glad to afford hon. members any other information in hi& possession.

Mr. \VHITE rose to make a little E''<planation· with regard to a deputation which waited on the Minister last Thursday. The hon. member for Bnndaberg stated at the deputation-

The condition of things on some plantations was scandalous. The buildings at one of these places were

Supply. [9 APRIL.] Suppl,y. 743

infested with vermin. and at others the copdltions were worse than they had 'ever been. At Qunaba tbey we::'e particularly bad. He had not been there himself, but he was assured that the buildings were Hlthy, and that pigs were allowed to ro;-tm about them.

When h0 read th"t in the Cmtria he felt rather surprised, because Qunaba was in his electorate. Immediately on his return to Bundaberg he telephoned to a doctor in the town that he wished him to accompany him (1'\Ir. \Vhite) to Qunaha to inspect the buildings and everything connecr.ed with the plantation. He did this because he considered that it was his duty to see if the Act was properly administered, while it was also due to his constituente to see that they got a fair df,al. Accordingly he did not rely upcm his own inspection. He notified the manager that h•' wished to have the whole place thoroughly inspected. The report of the doctor was to this effect-

! have the honour to report that I visited Qunaba Plant:ttion about noon on the 4th April, 1908, accom­panied by }lr. White, 11.L.A. We were met by }Ir. Hartnell, the manager, who acJompanied us and showed us over the mechanic~· and men's quarters, washhouses, latrines, dining-rooms and kitchen, and store. ·vre also inspected and tasted the dinner which was read,· for the men at 12 o'clock, in fact, some were having tf1eir dinner at the ttme, and we spoke to th,-m about their meals, and all said, "The tncke1· was real good," but that on one or two occasions in the hot weather the meat was a little tainted, b-.1t that there was always plenty to cat.

I first inspecteU the latrines attached to the men's chief quarter.:-.; they were clean, well situated and con­structed, and consisted of six pans and two urinals; the pans in two of the closets were a little small, but I saw good galvanised pans which wPre to replace them at next cleaning, which is done twice a week.

I next visited the wash-house, which is conveniently situated to the quarters, in which there arc nine fixed basins with water laid on and plugs for the waste. At the other s1de of the building is a shower-bath consisting of six showers, one in each compartment; both the wasbhouse and the bath­room did not have the appearance of being much used. 3-Ir. Hartnell said the men preferred to wash in old buckeh or kerosene tins on the vera.nda of their quarters or at the tanks which contain and collect the rain water for drinldng, and by so doing made much mess by throwing the soapy water about.

The mechanics have quarters, wash house, bathroom, and latrine~ :;eparate from the men; these are ..,. ell sit uatP.d and construeted, and have the appearance of being frc<1nently used.

I tben visited the men's quarters. The rooms are about 10 x 10 feet; have four movable canvas bottom bunks, two on each side of the room (a top and bot­tom). The rooms were well whttewashed. I did not see any bugs or traces of them. I spoke to a man, Scraggs, and he slated he had been employed and Tesided there for the last three months, aud that he did not see a bug since he had been there ; he also stated the tuc1..:er was good.

I next visitpd tbe dinmg--room, which is ~itnated next the kitchen. H is a large_ airy, wen. ventilated room; good clean table..:: and fol'ms placed down i<.t.Ch side of the room, with plenty of room on eacll side. The kitchen is well appointed, and, as tlinnm~ was cooked and about to be served, I examined and tasted each article, which consisted of roast beef, boiled corned beef of iirst.class (1uality and. well cooked, aver~· savoury cea pi~:. boiled rice, stewed apples, and tea, all being of excellent (1uality, well cooked, clean, and appetising; there were on the table saltcellars, vinegar, golden syrup, and good raw sugar (notr~tion). The eook and his two a~sista.nts stnted there was alway8 plenty, and that every man eonld pass in his plate as often as he liked; there was also pastry and browny which the men can take out with them to their work for lunch. I inspected. the stores fm· the following day's meals; they 'vcre all of first·class quality.

I also inspected the smaller houses used also as quarters; they were clean, bnt not so well constructed ~ts the main quarters: these also h~td closets situated conveniently and W''ll constructed.

'rhe grounds and drains about all the buildings were clean.

There wm·e no pigs m· sign of pigs about, and to my knowledge ther~'- has not been a pig about the ldtchen or quaTters for more than two yeaTs.

I have, etc .. (Signed) GvY F. LCTIIER, L. and L.:\1., R.O.P.I., etc.

He (Mr. White) inspected every pat·t of the buildinf( himself, and asked each man-taking him right away from the manager-whether he was satisfied with the Rccommodation, cooking, and food ; and there was only one reply. One man said that on Monday morning they got cold roast and corned beef-that they did not get hot meat that morning. There was a bill of far0 put up m the kitchen for every man to see what he could get every clay, and he asked the manager to give him a copy of it. He would just read the menu for two days-

1Io:NJJAY.

Breah:fa,;t.~Cold corned and roast; jam. DA1ler.-Pie; corned and 1·oast; potatoes and peas;

rice and aJJples. S1·,i.J_, e,·.-Ir)sh stew; mince; colcl roast and corned;

syn1p. TUESDAY.

BreaA; ·r8t.-Gl'i1led steak and onions; cold corned and roast; jam.

Dimwr.-Roast and corned; sea pie; potatoes and onions ; '1ago pudding.

Suppe1· .-Stew ; cold corned and roast; syrup.

Four mornings they got grilled steak and onions, and he did not think he had ever tasted better corned or roast bePf. Every man said that he was perfectly satisfied, and he did not wonder at it. Everything was clean.

:Mr. \Voous : Did you try any of it?

Mr. WHITE : He did. He asked the cook to open up the pie for the doptor to see. He did oo, and it certainly looked appetising. He tasted it and the corned beef, and also had a drink of tea, as it was just 12 o'clock, and he had a good distance to drive back. There were very few men, even in his position, who got such a range of food for every meal. The places were all clean, and well whitewashed. There certainly were two tiers of bunks, as permitted under the old system, and he strongly recom· mended the manager to adopt the system laid down under the new Act, and do away with the upper bunks, and he believed that recommenda­tion would be carried into effect at the earliest po,;sible date.

:'dr. BARBER (Bundabcrg): They had heard what a splendid picnic the hon. member for ~Iusgrave had at Qunaba-.. tea at half a dollar a pound, aml excellent corned beef. He (Mr. Barber) was not in time to hear the hon. member dilate on the ham and chicken which he had or did not have. He presumed the hon. membe.r had attempted to refute the statements he had made cl,nd which he still stood by. And he had, at the deputation last week, no hesitation in saying that the whole thing was rigged up for the occasion on Saturday last, when the hon. memberfor :'Iusgra,·e, Dr. Guy Luther, and the manager for Milbquin visited that place.

Mr. \YHITE: The men all distinctly stated that it was just the same always.

:Mr. BARBER : ·when the hon. member talked about "11, did he mean he spoke to three men or was it twenty·three? It was a well­knO\~n fact that the conditions of the sugar­workers in the Bnndaberg district for some considerable time were unfit as far as the sleep­ing accom1nodation and sanitary condition.s were concerned, owing to the number of vermlJ:? ~nd the filth that had accumulated about the bmldmg and the large number of pigs running about the place. . . . .

JYir. "WHITE : There are no p1gs w1thm 2 nules or a mile and a-half.

Mr. BARBER: They were all driven away for the occasion.

Mr. WHITE : It is absolutely untrue. Mr. BARBER: At the time Mr. Barton was

Premier of t.he Commonwealth Government he visited Bnndaberg and had a look round and

Mr. Barber.]

744 Suppl,y. [ASSEl\fBLY.J Supply.

delivered addresses in Bundaberg. There were reports in the Federal Parliament as to the con­ditions under which the kanakas lived there. On the day the party passed through the \Yoongorra Scrnb many of the kamtkas were stanrling at the gates along the road, well dressed. They had a special holiday. They had plenty of tucker, ctnd were eating beautiful plumduff and plumcake. The whole thing was rigged up for the occasion. He did not hear all the hon. member for J\1usgrave had to say, but at Qnnaba., only wit.hin the last few days, the buildings were cleansed and white­washed, and there wtts no wonder the hon. mem­ber for J\lusgrave and the gentleman who accompanied him on Saturday last found thing. in such a "spick and span " condition.

Mr. Wm•rE: They have not been touched for three weeks.

Mr. BARBER: A whole three weeks ! Even if it was three weeks, they had cleaned up with the idea of having an impectirm.

Mr. WHITE : They knew nothing about the inspection.

Mr. BARBER: That was all moonshine. He had recehed some information since the boil. member for Musgrave returned last week. He received a letter written on l'vionday, which he would read to the Committee. It was as fol­lows:-

At 8 o'rJock on the morning of the 4th April (Satur­day), the storekeeper went over to the Qunaba kitchen and informed the cook and staff' that they were ~oing to have an inspection that day by some of the medical men and members from Bundaberg, and that he was to have everything spiel\ and span, and 1n·cpare a good meal; also, a cleansing gang was put ou to clean up all round the barracks. Consequently, when the 1' inspec­tors" arrived, everything was in RJ)ple-J)ie order.

Mr. WHITE: There is absolutely not a word of truth in it.

Mr. BARBER: He would just as soon believe the writer as the hon. merr.ber.

Mr. WHITE: You never saw it yourself. Mr. BARBER: He had not been there the

last few weeks, but he knew the conditions prevailing there and at other plantations. The letter went on to say-

They went into the dining-room when the men were at dinner. and tasted all the" good things," also the tea (on this occasion the tea 1vas real good), and the Hon. ,John declared that the food was as good as any town house (I suppose he meant pnbR). 'rhen, awav to the sleeping quarters ; and things there 1vere all right. "'rind you, since I started to "rouse" about tbo sleeping quarters, they have had thpm cleansed and white­washed; but they still have bugs, and one of the meu told the "inspectors'' thnt only that morning he killed a nnmber of bugs ln his room.

I just write this to let you know, and to prepare you for anything that may arise out of what you said at the deputation.

He had not heard all that the hon. member for Musgrave had s"id, but he (Mr. Barber) pre­ferred to take the version of the men who had been working at the place for some time.

Mr. \VHrrE: He did not say so. Mr. BARBER : Who was "he "? l\fr. \VHITE: The man who wrote the letter.

Y on did not give his name. Mr. BARBER : The letter was written bv

the secretary of the Sugar YVorkers' Union, a man who went there enry week. That con­fi_rmed what he (Mr. Barber) said at the deputa­twn the other day. Those conditions were only typical of what prevailed at the other planta­tions from which the hon. member for l\Iuse<rave got so much support. The conditions of the Shearers and Sugar \Y orkers' Accommodtttion Bill had never been properly administered there or the conditions prevailing at the present tim~ would not be allowed.

Mr. WHITE: It should be.

[Mr. Barber.

Mr. BARBER: 'l'hey knew it should be, but it w.>s not, simply bet "'use the gentleman who was supposed to do the inspection really had not the time to do it, con"idering he had

over 800 dairic< to attend to. They [11 p.m.] did not complain so much of the

f'HJall farmer, becau':·8 Lt 111::1n who worked for the nu~ll farmer 7enerally g-ot a better de.,J than the man who w,.rked for the big fellow. It was the big fellow who took advan­tag-e of thP Act e\·ery tirne. TberA "as no doubt th:tt the tucker was good when the hon. member for ::>It •gra1·e went to Qunaba. He remembered under t]p old conditions when they had the kanakas ill his diNtrict. A l\Iethodist conference w~~.s he1d at Bundaberg, and n largn nundJer of the clerical g-entlemen who attended the conference paid a vi.sit to s.Jme of the plantations. On that occasion the kanakas bad tablecloths on the tables, cups and saucers, knives and forkB--

Mr. KJ<NNA: SerYiettes. Mr. B_'-RBER: Anrl they were sPrved with

afternoon tea. He noticed the hon. rnernb~r for l\fu,.g-rave had an extra curl on his head. It was probably bem.use of that fine cup of tea that he had at Quanbn bst Saturday.

Mr. JEN'KIXSON (Fass1jcrn): TbR depart­ment closed the road from Boonah to Killarney recf·ntly, and unyone wishing to go to Killarney had to f:'O a long way rouml, covering a distance of 80 miles. Would the Minister find out if these l'eople would be permitted to travel the shorter route, seeing that they could get to Killaruey just the same the other \\·ay.

The ATTORN'EY-GEKERAL: The road was closed owing to the discovery of ticks on a horse.

Mr. JENKINSOK: Just one case. The ATTOR:!\'EY-GENERAL: The depart­

ment were now considering if they could not re­open the road.

Question put and passed.

AGRICCLTGRAL OOLLEGJ<. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that

£7,282 be granted for the "Agricultural College." There was ttn increase of £742 in the vote as com­pared with last year. The increases included £20 each to the farm foreman and dairy instruc­tor. The engineer, blacksmith, and poultry in­structor were new appointments under the salary vote; but thev were not new officers, having previously been paid from conting·encies. There were also sm.all increases for n1achinery and implements, seerls, and horses.

Question put and passed.

S'fATE FARl\!S, GARDEKS, AKD KliRSER!ES. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that

£12,070 be grant.ed for "State I<'arms, Gardens, and Nurseries." There was an increase in this department of £ !, 500.

Mr. P AGET drew attention to the £3,000 provided for the establishment of a State farm in the Central district. He had no objection to the establishment of that State farm. In the Mackay district they had an experiment sta­tion under vir hat was called ''the sugar fund." At Mirani, 20 miles from l\Iackay, there \'.all "'n area of land reserved for >1 State farm many :-·ears ago, but it had since been cu~ up for the purpose of caneg-rowing. A road had now been opened up to the top of the Enngella Rang-e under the public estate improvement fund. They had at the back of J\Iackay as fine country, though not to the ume extent, as the Atberton Scrub, at an altitude of 2,3-10 feet. It would be extremely wise for tbe Agricultural Department to get an area of that land reserved for a State farm in the future before it was thrown open for selection,

Supply. [9 APRIL.] Supply. 745

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The •ugges­tion of the hon. member was a very valuable one, and he would bring it under the notice of the Minister to see if son1ething could be done.

Mr. PETRIE noticed the item "Botanic Gardenl':i and Government Domain, Brisbane, £1,130." He believed that cOme nf the profee­~ional gardeners were only receiving labourers' \Va{{es. The Govf'rnnlent inRi8ted on contractons and others paying higher wageR, and they should sec ,' good example by paying good wages them­seh·es.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The per­manent bands were paid £8 per month.

:Mr. JB:SKIXSOX: What about the lighting of the gardens'? Is it corn ph. ~ed;

TheATTORNEY-GE);ER 'I.L: Very nearly.

Mr. ·woODS asked what action had be•et1 taken in connection with the establishment of a State farm at Atherton, as promised some time ago by the present Ministry?

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The matter would be fully considered bv the Minister when he made his trip to the N ,;rth, when be would decide on the advisr.bleness of establishing an experiment station there and pick a site.

Question put and paased.

BA CTERIOLOG !CAL ll>;STITVTE.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that £1,425 be ~ranted for the" Bacteriological Insti­tute." There was a small increase in this vote resulting fron1 increases in salaries. '

Mr. ~ AGET : L_as_t session he brought under the notwe of the Mm1ster the small salaries paid to the laboratory assistants. One assistttnt re­·cei.ve~ £180 and another £140 a year, which was qmte madequate remuneration. seeing that they were highl~- qualified profe,sional men, who in the performance of their duties daily ran the risk of contracting blood-poisoning.

The ATTOR]'(EY-GENERAL said he ought to have mentioned that since the Estimates had been framed the salary of Mr. Beard more the first assistant, had been increased to £200 'that of the second as~;istant to £1GO, and that df the caretaker and messenger to £120. The increases would appear on the Supplementary Estimates.

Question put and pagsed. -

}!ISCELT~ANEOUS SERVICES (sUBDIVISION).

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL m01·ed that £7,355 be granted for '~Miscellaneous Services r(Subdivision)." There were some small increases in this vote, notably a sum of £3,000, special grant for approved improvements on reserves. This was a special grant for the purpose of a"lsist­ing public parks outside of Brisbane to help them in some measnre with necessary repairs and imM provements that had of late years been in abey· ance owing to reduced subsidies.

Mr .• TENKISSON: Do cemetery reserves come 1mder that ?

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: No. Mr. McLACHLAN noticed that last year a

sum of £100 was voted ao a a-rant to the Austral Association, Toowoomba, o; condition that the Toowoomba Municipal Council granted an eqn<tl amount, and wished to know if the council had fulfilled that condition.

The AT'l'ORl'\EY-GENERAL: The Austral Association had not claimed the grant.

Mr. MACKINTOSH said he was against the Agricultural Department altogether, and thought that if the £-!4,000 voted for the department were expended in building rail wavs in popu­lous agricnltural centres they would get more benefit from them than spending the money on

this department. He did not tlispute that there were goon men in tlre de;,Mtment, but the State got no l1enefit whatever frorn the expenditure incurred. A fe\'-' yt'ar:::. ago caterpillar.., were very troublesmne on the Downs, dcing conN siderable damage to whe ,t and other cereal crop,, an cl the farmers :>pplied to the depart­n"ient tn send up a profl-'S'JOY' to advise then1 what they ,;hould do to get rid of the pest. The adYice g·iven then1 \-vas to get ~;,s 1na.ny geese) turkey~, and ba1·n~donr fowl.~ as thPy could, and they wonld destroy the caterpillars, altogether ignorin:; the fact that the fowls would roll on the wheat and by it on ttw ground. (Laughter.)

The CHAIRYl:AN : If the hrm. member is going to diicuss the ad ministration of the de­partment under thi·; vote, he i entirely out of order. The vut-"' before the Cmn:rnittee at the present ti1ue iH £7,3i5G for uri;-,eellane0us services, and I must ask the ben. member tn keep closely to the question, and nut discuss the subject of caterpillars.

Mr. ::\IACKil'\TOSH: He merelv wished to express the opinion that, fl·orn H prr~ctiea1 point of view, this nwney con1d be expended Inore usefully in de\·eloping the resources of the coun­try than on a Department of Agriculture.

Mr. REDWOOD: Regarding the grant offered last year to the Austral Association ofToowoomba, he would point out that there was no suitable exhibit of agricultural produce in an_v part of the State. Charters Towers bad its school of mines, and he saw no reason why Toowoomba should not have its agricnltural exhibit. He was sorry that the vote of £100 was not on the Estimates this year as a grant to the Austral Association. He was sure that the Toowoomba Municipal Council would be willing to find an equal amount, and he hoped the department would see its way to establi~h somewhe,re in the State a suitable agricultural exhibit where visitors conld see the products of the State.

Mr. KEVITT asked for information concern­ing the grant of .X500 for refrigeration on Northern steam err'.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: A contract was entered into with the Adelaide Company by the departm8nt for the purpose of making pro­vision for the carriage of perishable products in refrigerated chambers, the undertaking being that the steamers should call at Bowen and Broadmonnt to bring down the coast fruit and produce from the North.

i\ir. \VI:"\ST ANLEY: Reference had been made to the Charters Towers School of 1fines. A good deal had been said during the discussion in regard to the assistance given to the farmers of the State--

The CHAIRMAN: The hon. member will not be in orrler in di:scu';sing· the Charters Towers School of Mines on this vote. That can be di~cussed on the :ii.'Iines Department Estimates.

Mr. LESIN A: In speaking on the assistance given to farmers, he had mentioned the subsidy given to the Adelaide Steamship Company for the carriage of produce down the coast. The iten1 was a con1parati vely new one, although it had been paid for t1·.o years. It was in evidence that the Government had dealt very liberally with the farmers.

Mr. PAGET: This enables you to get good fruit and vegetables from Bowen.

Mr. LESil'\ A : He belie,ed that every facility should be given for produce being brought to market, but the arrangement should be based on a gh·e-and-t:.ke policy. He suggested some time ago that, instead of subsidising the Orient Com­pany to take butter to London, they should

Mr. Lesina.]

746 SuppTy. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

carry butter free of cCJarge on the railways to those centPls which conlcl not get it except at prohibitive prices. He found no support for that proposit'on, "'lthongh it should commend itself to a party pledged to the nationalisa­tion of milwayJ. He did not object to the subsidy being paid to the Adelaide Com­pany if the produce 111nst be carried, and there wa~ no other rneans of carrying it, and it co\\\d not be carried in the ordinary way of trade. He supposed in thi' semi ·c"pitalistic and socialistic age it was a right thing to sub­sidise private companies t',) carry far:mer.s' pro­duce, but, fundamentally, there wa•• no sound argument on which the practice could be based. There was no justific,.tion except that of ex­pediencv ancl the fact that the Government were inclined to dabble in capitalistic enter­prises. It might be alleged that Brisbane received cheap mangoes and vegetable& grown at ~owe_n, but for all that mangof''< were not cheap m Ens­bane. In Bowen four domn could be bought for a few pence, and yet in Brisbane they cost ~cl., 10d., and h. a dozen. There must be somethmg wrong in the system of distribution. If any­thing was to be done to assist the primary in­dustries it should be in the direction of bringing produce cheaply and quickly to market. The only method that coulrl. be devised was the slip­shod one of subsidising a private company to the extent of £500 a year to provide refrigerated chambers in which to carry produce down the coast. The time was nnt far distant when they would have a strong Parliament pledged to the principle of establishing a State line of steamers running along the coast for the purpose of carrying the primary producers' products quickly to market", so that consumers could reap the benefit of cheap products. The present happy-go-lucky system of private enter­prise, which was boosted in the Press, pulpit, and on the public platform, did not r~sult _in cheapening the food of the people, for, m spite of the subsidy for the carriage of the products of Bowen, the people of Brisbane were still called upon to pay prohibitive prier' for those pro­ducts. There must be something wrong when the producer and consumer could not be brought into closer relationship. A better system of distributing food products w.<s worthy of a trial, and rather than see the system of subsidising private enterprise continued he would prefer a well-directed effort on the part of the State to undertake the cheap and economical carriage of food products.

Mr. MACKINTOSH : If the State produced more, there would be no nece,·oity to pay subsi­dies for the carriage of prod nets in refrigerated chambers, for steamship compani,;s would be tumbling over one another in their efforts to secure thP trade. So lung a;; they locked up the country and spent money in frivolitie.~, they would have no increase in their products. So long as they continued State. colleges an? Stat.e farms and paid people to give lessons m agri­culture, they would continue to ··ubsidise steam­ship companies for the carriage of produce, and would get n0 more land under cultivation. He trusted the gentleman in charge of the depart­ment would take into con:,ideration what he had said.

Question put. and passed.

DEPARTMENT OF Pl:BLTC INSTRGCTION-CHIE~' OF:B'ICE.

The TREASURER (Hon. P. Aire;·, Brisbane Smdh) moved that £9,920 be gmn ted for "Chief Office." There was an incre,.se of £1,613. The salaries showed an increase of about £u00, ancl contingencies £100. The principal increases of salary were to the Director of Education £52, the Under Secretary £50, the accountant .£2o,

[ J1{ r. Lesina.

the re:;istrar £20, record clerk £30, and increases of £20 to other clerks. Hon. tnembers would see that provision had also be!"n made for three ad.di­tional junior clerks. Th1s was necessary owt!'g to the extension of the department and the m­crea,s:ing volume of work.

HoN. D. l'', DENHAJ\.I rose, not to discuss the items under this vote, but to protest against proceeding with Estim»tes of such importance as these at such an ~our of the night. (Hear, hear !) These E~timates con­cei·ned hundreds of teachers and thousands of children, and it was not a fair thing to

the officers of the House, nor to [11·30 p.m] the members of the Assembly, to

· ask them to proceed with the disemsion of these very imp~}rtant Estimates to-night, when it was I.Jorne m _mmd tl?at they had already had three very lat.e mghts this weeJ::, an cl had only adjourned at half· past i5 o'clock this mornin". Now they were asked at half-past 11 o'clock to enter upon the discussion of ~~'timates which usually took a full day. Could It be the desire to burke inquiry ? He dtd not k':'ow that anything was wrong. They were not m a fit state to go into the Estimates. He under­stood the urgency was in order to rise before Easter. It could not be alleged that ~he Oppo­sition had in any degree delayed busmess, and he did not think the Opprwition to-day had taken more than half an hour on the vote. He sh?uld have felt much interest in discus.sing the Agncul­tural Estimates, and yet he had not taken two minutes, in order to assist the Government and to avoid being asked to remain at such an undue hour. He hoped there would be some mea.ns of getting through the business without pt~ttmg a physical strain on members, and I.'?posmg the disability of not having these Estimates ade­quately discussed.

The TREASURER thought the hon. member under,tood that there was a kind of understand­ing come to between the leaders of t.he respective parties of the House that they should endeavour to get through public business, and rise some short time before Easter.

Hon. D. F. DENHAC\!: vVe have done our best to help you.

The TREASURER: The hon. member would understand he was not complaining of his action­it was not to be wondered at in one way-but he was simply drawing attention to the fact that, unless the House agreed to put through a fair amount of business day by dav-perhaps a somewhat large,- amount than usual--

Hon. D. F. DENHAl\l: We h"'cl better come back after Easter and do business.

The TREASURER : There woulcl be no pro­spect of rising as was the understanding between the leaders of' the respective parties. It was a matter in which one ha.d to agree with the sense of the House. '.fhere was no desire on the p~rt of the Government to in any way burke or stdle discussion and the somewh"'t larger amount of business o~ the paper night after night had been simply due to the fact that ther,• was a general clesire on the part of the House to get through the business some time before Easter.

:Mr. JEJ'\KINSON thought there was a go_od deal in what the hon. member for Oxl~y said. Tile arrangement mentioned by the Treasuru had been adhered to on this side. They had not entered into any lengthy discussion, and her.e they came to the third largest vote o? the Esti­mates, amounting to £381,000, an mcrease of £22 000 on last year. They had got through all now' with the exception of this estimate and two others. There was nothing else on the busmess paper but a small Local Authorities Bill.

Mr. CoYNE: \Vh"'t about syndicate railways?

Old Age Pensions Bill. [9 APRIL.] AdJournment. 747

l'l1r. JENKI='<SON: They had two Bills which he did not know that they could describe as syndicate railways. The Premier indicated this afternoon that they were not likely to be that. There were still four days, and the Council appeared to be going through the business very expeditiously, and were not likely to propoee any serious amendment to the measures sent up to them. It would be a fair thing to postpone this \·ote now, and they could tackle it to· morrow. The Chamber had 'ttt till half.past 5 o'clock this morning-.

The PRE>IIER: \Vhqre were you at half·past 5 o'clock?

Mr. JEXKINSON: He went away so that be would not be tempted to talk.

The PRE:\1IER: A number of members, althoug-h he did not think the hon. nwmber for Fassifern was one of them, might have good reason to complain that they had been sitting late during the last few weeks, and if the House preferred to stop now he had no objection. (Hear, hear!) His own opinion was that it was much wiser to go on until they had finished these Estimates; but if the leader of the Oppo· sition and the leader of the Labour Party told him that they wttnted to discontinue, he was prepared to do so.

HONOJ:RABLE MEMBERS : Adjourn ! The PREMIER: Did he understand that it

was the wish of the House that they should ad· journ now?

HoNOURABI.E MEMBERS : Hear, hear ! Mr. BOWMAN: Sp8aking on behalf of his

party, they felt it was hardly a fair thing to sit here at prolonged length, and, so long as they could get through the J<~stimates in time J;o finish next week, he thought they might now adjourn. They had sat till half-past.~ o'clock this morning. Bo far as the Labour party was concerned, they had some important business to transact in the morn­ing at a meeting of the party, and they would not feel much inclined for it if they stayed here till 3 or 4 o'clock to-morrow morning. He would like to fall in with the wishes of the House, and also with the Premier, who wished to facilitate busi­ness. The question was whether business would be facilitated by sitting later. If members were simply going to sit there without making pro­gress it would be better to adjourn now, even if it meant sitting another day next week. He believed the Premier expected to finish by next ·Wednesday.

Hon. D. F. DENHAM: 'Ne will help you all we can.

Mr. BOWMAN: This was an important de· partment, and there was going to be a good deal of discus,;ion on it, and they might be in a better frame of mind if they took them to-morrow night and made another "all-nighter" of it, but two· " all·nigbters " running was rather strong. Speaking on behalf of his party, they were agree­able to adjourning now.

The House resumed. The CHAIRMAN reported progress, and the Committee obtained leave to sit again to-morrow.

WAGES BOARDS BILL. CouNCIL's MESSAGE, 1'\o. 2.

The SPEAKER announced the receipt of a message from the Council, intima.ting that they agreed to the Assembly's amendment on their amendment in clause 5.

OLD AGE PENSIONS BILL. RETURNED J<'HOM Cot:NcrL.

The SPEAKBR announced the receipt of a message from the Council, returning this Bill without amendment.

HoNOURABLJ;J J\1EMBEBS : Hear, hear !

PARLLUIE::"!TARY BILLS REFERF.X­DUni BILL.

:\IEsSAGE FROM Col:NCIL.

The SPEAKER announced the receipt of a messa"e from the Ccuncil, returning this Bill with ~rnenclments, in which they invited the concmrence of the Assembly.

On the motion of the ATTORNEY­GENERAL, the me'H:>ge was ordered to be taken into consideration to-rrwrrow.

PORT ALMA RAILWAY.

The SECRETARY FO!t RAILWAYS: I beg to lay on the table of t.he House the plan, section and book of reference of the proposed railway to Port Alma, North Coa.ot line, in length 16 miles 40 chains, also the Commis­sioner's report thereon. I move that the report be printed.

Question put and passed.

ADJOURNMENT. The PRE::\IIER : I beg to move that this

House do now adjourn. The first business to­morrow will be the consideration of thfl Conncil's amendments in the Parliamentary Bills Refer­endum Bill, then the second reading of the Hampden-Mount Elliott Railway Bill, then the approval of the planc. of the Tolga to J o~nstone River Railway, and then we shall fimsh the Education Estimates. 'J'here has been a general understanding among hon. members that we should try and finish the work of the session before Easter. As hon. members know, there is still a good deal of work to do. Members, as a rule, have helped me very much in trymg to finish before Easter; but I am afraid that to-day a good deal of the talk on the Estimates of the Department of Agriculture might have been condensed without any great harm to the country. I am not questioning the right of hon. rr1embers to speak; but I would point out that, unless we work together, it ":ill be quite impossible to get through the busmess before Easter. I sincerely hope that hon. members will keep to the agreement that has been come to, and that they will help to put the business through.

Mr. BOW::\IAN: The consideration of thA Estimates is of great importance to hon. mem­bers who wish to discuss any grievances they may have. I b~lieye all. members are a!'-xions to assist the Pre1mer m brmgmg the sess1on to as early a close a-. possible. and I do not thin~ !t is fair on the part of the Prem1er, or any lYlmJster in charge of business, to ask that discussion should be curtailed, particularly on matters affectino- the Government departments, which we hav~ only two opportunities of discussing­on the Address in Reply and on the Estimates. Up to the present I do not think the Premier has anything to complain of.

The PRE>IIER : As a matter of fact, I do not complain.

Mr. BOIVMAN : I do not think there is any need for it. There are two or three important departments ;;till to discuss. The l<!duca~io? Estimates are very important. The iVImes Esti­mates are ver:i' important, particularly to 1nining members ; and, last but not least, there are the Railway Estimates, which are pr.obably th_e most important of all.. So far as. th1s party :s con­cerned, we will g1ve the Prem!Br every assistance in getting the E'timates through.

Question put and passed. The House adjourned at eleven minutes to 12

o'clock. Mr. Bowman.l