100 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1898. 
ment to secure the cheapest sugar for British consumers. Such might, perhaps, be 
the case, if it were not that the present cheapness is only the prelude to high 
prices when the British colonial industry shall be crushed—as our continental 
rivals hope it will be, and as it must be unless something is done to restore 
the equilibrium of the market—but Mr. Chamberlain thinks there is some- 
thing better than a saving of half-a-farthing a pound on sugar — the 
saving of British colonial industries to wit. He believes the British public would 
cheerfully give a little more for its sugar rather than see a British colony go to the 
wall. Mr. Chamberlain, however, with whom, probably, more than any other, the 
selection of the method by which to place British colonial sugar on an equal footing 
with the beet product of Hurope rests, sees certain objections to countervailing 
duties—though he has distinctly said that they present to his mind no insuperable 
difficulties should all other methods fail. ‘The chief objection the Secretary for the 
Colonies sees to countervailing duties is the cost and inconvenience of their collection. 
The sugar imported from the colonies bears a very small proportion to that imported 
from the continent, and it would, in order to protect the smaller portion, be necessary 
to weigh, bond, and register the larger. ‘There is another way in which the 
colonies might be helped just as effectually as by the imposition of an import 
duty on beet sugar, and with, in the long run, the same result to the 
British taxpayer, and without greatly injuring British manufacturers. I mean 
by meeting bounty with bounty. Let Great Britain give its colonies a bounty on 
their sugar. The weighing and registering could all be done in the colonies at ship- 
ment, which would do away with all inconyenience so far as the Home authorities 
would be concerned. Whether England paid from the Treasury a lump sum upon 
all colonial sugar imported, or whether the consumers paid a fraction more for the 
sugar they purchased, the cost to England would be, in the long run, the same. It 
must also be borne in mind that, whether England gives a bounty or imposes 
countervailing duties, whatever is done will be for a short time only, for, as the 
continental bounties are given with a view of crushing the cane industries, as soon as 
it is made clear there is no longer any hope of doing so they will cease, and the 
colony will no longer require assistance. Undoubtedly the price of sugar will go up 
slightly, but it will be better so than to have the market at the mercy of the 
continental producers when the colonies have ylanted their last crops. I submit 
that it behoves those interested in the cane-sugar industry to impress upon 
British people, here and at home, that the dangers which threaten the West 
Indies threaten Queensland as well; that whatever remedies are applied in the case 
of the West Indies must be extended to us if our industry is to survive; and that 
the only hope consumers have of not some day lying at the mercy of German 
monopolists is to foster and sustain the British colonial cane industry, bearing 
especially in mind that whatever sacrifice England may now make it will only last 
until Continental Governments understand that they can no longer hope to ruin us. 
Their people will not cheerfully submit to be taxed to the extent of £34,000,000 
when they become convinced that there is nothing to be gained by it. If 
Queensland gets fair play, if she has the opportunity afforded her of, as Mr. 
Chamberlain puts it, “ freely exchanging her natural products for the natural pro- 
ducts of other countries,” the limits to the expansion of her sugar industry are 
impossible of definition. That right of free exchange must be won now, or it will be 
soon too late. On the sympathy of the Imperial Government we can safely count, 
but we must bestir ourselves to let it know our needs. 
THE BETTER ORGANISATION OF FARMERS AS A MEANS OF 
: REDUCING THE COST OF PRODUCTION. 
[By E. Swayne, Pioneer River Farmers’ Association, Mackay.] 
As one of the representatives of the association which, with the view of drawing 
the agriculturists of Queensland closer together for purposes of mutual benefit, 
first suggested to your Department the Conference afterwards held at Gatton, I 
think it is fitting that for the second time [ should say a few words on this 
subject. In these days of close competition, when every nation is striving for first 
lace in the world’s markets, one of our first aims, if we are to hold our own in the 
industrial struggle, must be, in every possible manner, to improve the quality and 
lessen the first cost of our products. This applies equally to our wheatgrowers, who 
promise soon to produce more than sufficient for our own requirements ; to our dairy- 
men, who have recently exported 300 tons of butter; and to our sugar-growers, who 
this year will be confronted with the problem of having to find a sale for over £1,000,000 
