1 Jur, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 33 
generally the ery was they were too high already. Personally, he would like 
to see them higher, as they would then save in wear and tear, horses, &c., and 
all round it would be for the benefit of ratepayers if the members of the 
boards could be induced to raise the rates. In the division he represented, 
the rate was 7s. 8d. in the £, and, although he thought this insufficient, the 
large landholders in the district objected to having it raised. The destruction 
of Bathurst burr on the roads was also a source of expense to many local 
authorities, who, he thought, should be empowered to compel owners of property 
to destroy such burr on the roads adjacent to their land. The Government 
could assist divisional boards by the construction of light tramways, some- 
thing after the style of the Allora Railway, although not so good, and ‘these 
would be of the greatest value in many farming districts. At present, farmers 
in outlying districts were not able, owing to the time taken in getting their 
produce to market, to avail themselves of a temporary rise in prices, in the 
same manner as a man in close proximity to a railway line was able to do. 
Mr. O’Kerre (Laidley) had had some experience in Divisional Board 
work, and, like the last speaker, lived in a division with a very heavy road 
expenditure, there being roads every quarter of a mile. He knew many boards, 
heavily handicapped through excessive road expenditure, the members of which 
actually valued their own lands higher than their neighbours, in order to set 
a good example. Members of a board who tried to improve revenue by 
increasing the valuations would never succeed. In his own district, the feeling 
among ratepayers was that they were already overburdened with taxation. 
About Laidley Creek, the average valuation was £10 per acre, and the highest 
rate that could be struck on that was 13d. in the £. An increase in the 
valuation would therefore be very bard on any man who held a quantity of 
land, and a proposal to do so would meet with strong opposition. The whole 
question, however, was a difficult one, as some wanted the rates higher and 
some lower. There was no remedy in the appeal courts. A ratepayer would 
go into court, and there could get neighbours to bear out his statements. A 
valuator, on the other hand, could never get another ratepayer to confirm his 
estimates. In his division, the members of the Board, in order to save the 
expense of a valuator, often did the valuing, and of course, as usual, got more 
Kicks than halfpence for their pains. 
Mr. W. R. Rositnson (Toowoomba) considered that the present system 
of Divisional Board valuation was a farce. What did a great many members 
of these boards know about land valuation? In Toowoomba, not so long ago, 
the accepted valuators were a photographer and a clerk out of a drapery 
establishment. In many boards the valuing was done by the clerk or foreman 
of works, or some of the members. Perhaps tenders were called, and generally 
the lowest was accepted, irrespective of who the man was, instead of giving the 
work to the best man available. A sensible man who has any dealing in land 
can generally arrive at a fair valuation. ; 
Mr. 1. A. Bromiiey (Piaiba) pointed out that in valuing land the Act 
inferred that the agricultural value of the land should be taken. The valuations 
of auctioneers or land agents were rarely right, and a Divisional Board’s clerk 
was not always unbiassed, and many abuses crept in anyhow. In his own 
division he knew of a piece of land on one side of a road valued at £90. On 
the other side an exactly similar piece was valued at £220. In the matter of 
allowing higher assessments, personally he would be glad to accede to it, 
provided it fell on others equally, and provided the expenses of office manage- 
ment did not increase in a like ratio. 
Captain Henry (Lucinda Point) thought Mr. Peek had mentioned the 
solution of the matter in his remarks on roadways. In the North, tramlines 
were their great hope. In his own district they had already constructed over 
thirty-six miles of tramlines at a cost of from £500 to £800 per mile, and they 
were making arrangements for the construction of an additional eighteen 
miles. ‘There could be no doubt that, in the long run, tramlines will be by far 
the cheapest kind of road they could get, as the cost of maintenance was so 
Cc 
