36 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Juny, 1898. 
the result would be an increase in the endowment; and as for the rates becom- 
ing too high or oppressive, he had pointed out that the extra money paid in 
rates would be more than compensated by the decrease in the wear and tear 
and loss of time caused by bad roads. Stopping every mile or so on a road 
to repair some breakage to harness or vehicle, as had to be done not 
unfrequently on many country roads, was far more oppressive than paying a 
slightly higher rating. Allowing members of a board to do the assess- 
ment might save a few shillings in valuators’ fees, but it did not seem to 
him a wise proceeding. He had known members of boards who had been the 
means of having their own rates reduced. Such men were few, but still they 
existed. As for valuations themselves, he believed they should be fair, neither 
too high nor too Jow. It wasa pity they could not find some means by which 
ratepayers would give their own valuations, and if they were not considered 
high enough the ratepayer should be compelled to sell at his own valuation, the 
division getting the surplus if there wasany. In his opinion there were many 
questions in which divisional boards had insufficient power, but he believed this 
was being remedied in the new Local Government Bill to come on next session. 
As for roads, the power was in the hands of the ratepayer, and if the rate- 
payer did not take sufficient interest in the matter he would have to continue 
to put up with bad roads. 
Mr. Cuaraway said that although the reader of the paper on roads had 
stated that he did not desire further aid froin the Government, still, from the 
remarks that had been made, it was evident that an increase in the endowment 
to local authorities would be very popular. It would be well to remember, 
however, where that endowment came from. Jt came from their own pockets. 
The central Government had no special fund, no stream of money, from which 
they could take endowment and present it to the boards to spend. The 
question really resolved itself into this: Whether they, for the further improve- 
ment of their roads, should take money out of their own pockets, or allow the 
Government to take it out and hand it back. That the Government should ~ 
take it out of their pocket and then hand it back, seemed the most popular 
idea of the two, although it seemed to him there might be some waste in the 
transaction. If the Government increased the endowment, the money would 
have to come from somewhere, and if, to find it, it was proposed to increase 
taxation, say by reimposing duties on farming implements and fencing wire, 
many might hesitate before pressing their application for increased 
endowment. There was no doubt, however, that the local bodies did 
want more money. With regard to cheap money, that was a question to 
which he had given as much attention, he supposed, us any man in 
the room, and he could say that it had been proved without a doubt that 
in those countries where the banking facilities have been especially great, 
and where money has been especially cheap, of itself, with no other controlling 
influences coming in, the debt of the farming population has increased. This has 
been the case in Switzerland, where banks are established all over the place; and, 
indeed, they all knew what had taken place in Queensland ten years ago. Money 
then was especially plentiful, and they all remembered how deeply thousands of 
people had got into debt. In fact, it could safely be laid down that, of itself, 
the supply of cheap money added to the indebtedness of a country. The 
gentleman advocating cheap money had also, however, desired that it should 
come through the Government, and Captain Henry had mentioned the success 
of agricultural banks on the Continent of Europe; but, although the speaker 
did not wish to argue out the whole subject, he wanted to point out that where 
those banks had been: successful—and successful they had been without a 
doubt, having changed the whole face of many parts of Kurope—they had been 
severely left alone by the Government. In Germany, for instance, they had 
been opposed at first by the State. The successful banks were purely 
co-operative associations, run by the borrowers themselves. ‘The whole subject 
was one that required a vast deal of consideration, and he knew that for several 
years a number of thoughtful men, with whose aims he had the deepest 
