1 Jory, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 15 
railway people now know how many busheis of wheat they deliver to the mills, and 
they need not carry more than the corresponding quantity of flour at the reduced 
rate. Besides, millers who overstep the mark could be made liable for full rates on 
all the flour they send from their mills. I bring these two things under your notice 
at the request of the society J represent, who, in the main, but perhaps not in all 
the details, are in full accord with me on the subject. If the Department of Agri- 
culture gives the two subjects serious consideration—and in the latter case assist us 
with its influence—I am sure the result will be of advantage to the farmers in our 
part of the colony, and it may see its way to use its influence in our favour. I had 
intended to include some minor subjects in this paper, but I am afraid I have tres- 
passed upon the patience of the Conference by the length of the paper as it is. 
(Applause.) 
Discussion ON THREE PRECEDING PAPERS. 
Mr. W. D. Laws (Yangan) said he could heartily endorse all that Mr. 
Deacon had gaid about the railage on flour. The Downs farmers were 
certainly heavily handicapped by the heavy rates. At Stanthorpe, for instance, 
flour is quoted at something like 30s. per ton lower than it sells at Warwick, 
notwithstanding that it had to pay a £1 per ton duty. As for the Warwick 
people sending their flour to the intermediate towns between Warwick and 
Brisbane, they simply could not do it. _ In order to get the reduced rates, the 
wheat had to be sent to a port, and he had known flour to be sent from 
Warwick to Ipswich, and from there shipped back to intermediate towns, a 
saying in freight being thereby effected. As for the rates on the carriage of 
agricultural machinery, they were absolutely prohibitive. What Mr. Deacon 
had said about his carrying machinery over the Range himself, was quite true, 
and he would have done the same with a thresher if it had been possible. On 
this latter class of machinery the Railway Department would not allow the 
slightest reduction, and he had had to pay full rates of freight on everything 
connected with the plant, including cases. Wheat-growing. was now firmly 
established on the Downs, and they were likely to be exporters in that 
commodity in the near future. ; 
‘Mr. P. McLean said it might save some little discussion in connection 
with Mr. Deacon’s paper, if he pointed out that the Agricultural Department 
had not been asleep or blind to the benefits to be obtained from the dissemina- 
tion of statistical information about the probable areas of different crops in the 
various parts of the colony. Years ago he had submitted a memorandum to 
the then Minister for Lands and Agriculture dealing with, that very question, 
and the proposed scheme was, to a certain extent, given effect to. All the 
divisional boards of the colony were then communicated with, and their co- 
operation asked for. If the clerks of the boards, who, from their local know- 
ledge, would have been able to supply or obtain the desired facts, had co- 
operated with the Department, the bringing out of the statistics would have been 
practicable. But he met with a refusal from nearly every board, and he was told 
distinctly that the clerks had something else to do. Of course the advantages 
that would accrue from such a system ‘as that suggested by Mr. Deacon, were 
obvious. Were it-published in time that a large crop of maize was to be grown in 
the Bundaberg district, for instance, the fact would be of the greatest benefit to 
all the other maize-growing districts in the colony. He had even gone to the 
extent of having a map plotted out in sections, so as to have the information 
collected on a definite system. Queensland was a very large colony, and 
produce was grown and distributed over a very extensive area, so the value of 
such statistics could hardly be over-estimated. As they were probably aware, 
the statistical information of the colony was collected by the police, but over 
them the Agricultural Department had no control. There were many diffi- 
culties in the way of obtaining such facts as those referred to, and of publish- 
ing them early enough to be of use in the direction mentioned, but they were 
not insurmountable and could probably be overcome, and the information made 
available to farmers in good time. ‘The Agricultural Department was now in 
a much better position than it was when the scheme was first mooted. They 
