1 Fes., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 105 
roguery or folly in men is but small. But remember that proportion is always 
there. The trader of to-day is just as apt to do—what shall I say ?—well, 
strange things as he was twenty years ago. He does the best he can for 
himself, and sometimes outsteps the bounds of common honesty so that he 
may make large profits. Now, gentlemen, what was your experience twenty 
years ago? ‘The greater part, in fact nearly all, the dairying of this colony 
was done within sixty miles of Sydney. A voyage of a few hours sufficed to 
bring your butter to the stores of agents or to the middlemen, and, although 
those middlemen were almost not more than an arm’s length from you, I found 
you grumbling, and not without cause. The Sydney market was almost as 
fickle and subject to extraordinary changes as the London one is now. Your 
butter never made a rise or fall less in extent than 3d. per lb., and I think we 
proved that the middlemen who stood between you and the consumer got almost 
as much out of every pound of butter sold to the consumer as you realised. 
That is, you, who had the farm and the cows, and supplied the labour from the 
pasture to the time the butter was placed on the wharf for shipment, received 
no more for your pains than did the men whose duty consisted of distributing 
that butter in Sydney. Well, by one great worthy co-operative movement you 
reformed the Sydney trade; but even now, speaking locally, all is not perfect. 
You find that you have to keep a constant watch on the middlemen. And, 
gentlemen, let me say right here that the middlemen of Sydney are as honest 
a class as any traders in the world. 
“ But now we are led right to the spot from which our subject starts, and 
are faced with the question: Should you expect the middlemen of London, 
12,000 miles away, to be honester or more trustworthy than the middlemen 
who are within sixty miles or a few miles more of your home? Is human 
nature changed? Are the London agents of to-day more reliable men than 
your acquaintances of Sussex street with whom you dealt twenty years ago ? 
Well, gentlemen, I have been in both places, and I can candidly assure you that 
there is no change. The men of Tooley street and of Smithfield, London, so 
closely resemble in form, features, and action the men of Sussex street, Sydney, 
that if the two were mixed I could not pick out the Sydney ones. Remember 
they are men, not angels—at least, not yet angels. Their wings may be 
sprouting, but, until they are full-fledged and have their halos, don’t expect 
ia to be more than ordinary folk. Some of you farmers do not object to 
take a point when you get the chance. Our financial men, our company 
people, need auditors, and the honester the trader is the less he objects to the 
exercise of certain safeguards. The man who has true weights never feels 
aggrieved when the inspector of weights and measures comes round. Even 
you, my friends, who have clean dairies and healthy cows feel no displeasure 
when the inspector of nuisances is about, because you know, as I do, that 
certain forms of supervision are in all kinds of business or all grades of life 
actually necessary. 
“Let us accept this as the rule, and I will ask you are we to make the 
- exception in favour of the men who are called upon to sell your produce in 
countries thousands of miles away ? 
“You see that by what I hope were easy grades I have led you right into 
the middle of my subject, and you should fairly ask me what are the markets 
of Britain like, and what are the prospects of Australian produce in those far- 
away markets? Had you asked me two years ago, 1 could have given you a 
yery different version to what you shall hear to-day. I would have told you 
of the great possibilities, and that all which was necessary was to send to 
London butter of the first quality, and you would in return receive the 
top price less a fair percentage deducted for expenses and commission. I 
now have to tell you that unless you exercise such care and watchfulness as 
do other exporters, such as the Danes, French, Germans, Canadians, and 
Americans, the mere fact that your produce bears the brand ‘ Australian’ will 
not save you from being frequently deceived. 
