38 THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTVEE 



relentless pursuit of the man on the hind, and that wiser counsels 

 shall prevail to the end that methods may be employed to 

 restore vitality to languishing rural indvistries? Australia should 

 be able to provide a cheap meat supply for its owni people, and 

 build up a larger and more prosperous oversea trade in wool, 

 meat, skins, and hides, but before this can be aceomj)lished the 

 growing burden of taxation must be lightened or better distri- 

 buted, and the paramount importance of the live stock business 

 generally recognised. 



A serious menace to which special attention deserves to be 

 drawn is the dispersal of high-class stud flocks and herds, upon 

 which foundation stock-raising has been built and must be main- 

 tained. Without that foundation there can be no substantial 

 growth. On the contrary, flocks and herds will deteriorate. 

 Some States are noted for a special type of sheep, and it is from 

 the pure studs that drafts are continually drawn to maintain 

 the great wool trade and the growing meat export business. 

 These "types" can only be produced and kept to standard on 

 good inside country, but the imperative demands of two depart- 

 ments of taxation — Federal and State — make the business of 

 studbreeding a doubtful proposition. Instead of stud flocks 

 and herds increasing they are decreasing, and that factor in 

 relation to Australia's hitherto leading industry can neither be 

 disputed nor discounted. It represents a danger signal. 



In some countries private railway companies offer reduced 

 rates for the carriage of stud animals as an encouragement to 

 breeding which will bring business to the railways. The State- 

 owned railways of Australia charge more for stud stock — 

 sometimes as much as ten times more than ordinary rates ! 



In this and other respects there is much that railway mana- 

 gers could do to encourage live stock raising. Owners and 

 agents are unanimous that stock trains should be fitted with air 

 brakes, run to schedule time, and that provision should be made 

 for watering animals on long distance runs. State Governments 

 might well combine to send a first-class man (not a Government 

 official) on a world tour to inquire into various systems of 

 carrying live stock, or import an expert to revise our inade- 

 quate system. The pastoralist is the best customer the railway 

 departments have, and it will pay to respond to his require- 

 ments and help him to extend his activities and send more 

 produce over the railways. 



The extension of railways into central and northern Austra- 

 lia, the gradual elimination of varying gauges, conservation of 



