BRAZIL 111 



"With the shortage of cattle in many countries affected by 

 the war, there is no doubt that Brazil is one of the best countries 

 to invest in, taking into consideration the quality and price of 

 the land. 



An Australian, now resident in Brazil, writes me: — "Brazil, 

 with her vast extent of excellent cattle-raising lands, abun- 

 dantly watered and easily improved, offers opportnnities not 

 to be met with in any other part of the world. No other 

 country is so lavish in Government assistance to ]iastoralists 

 or farmers; but still progress has been slow in both these 

 pursuits, mainly on account of the lack of initiative of private 

 individuals. The average Brazilian likes politics better than 

 work, so there is plenty of room for the man who wants to work 

 intelligently. To the Australian who has a little capital, I can 

 truthfully state that, comparing the t\w countries, I prefer 

 Brazil— that is, there is no domineering Government, whose one 

 idea seems to invent new taxes for those who keep the country 

 going, no labour unions whose one idea seems to be the ruining 

 of the honest working men by not allowing them to do enough 

 work to keep them physically fit. T will not claim that the 

 Brazilian Government is a model one ; it makes no pretence to be 

 perfect, but to its credit may be said that it helps those who are 

 engaged in either of the industries referred to, realising that 

 the future of the country depends on them. 



"As to the railway communications, they are much better than 

 in Australia. One can travel comfortably, and at a reasonable 

 rate, anywhere, if the Central Railway — a Government-owned 

 and controlled concern — is dropped out. It is a remarkable 

 thing that Government-controlled railways in any part of the 

 world are usually failures (especially is this so in the Common- 

 wealth of Australia, where you have one of the worst of ser- 

 vices, and yet many Australians have asked me if we have 

 decent railways in South America). The "Central" (Govern- 

 ment-owned) Railway costs the country the small trifle of about 

 a million pounds sterling yearly in dead loss, yet lately, an 

 English company offered the bagatelle of £12,000,000 sterling 

 for the "concern" as it stood. Naturally, the offer Avas refused, 

 l)ecause there are a lot of "jiolitical friends" to be protected; 

 and so it goes on losing money for the country, instead of being 

 a "paying concern," as it would be were it in the hands of a 

 private company. 



