132 : QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JouRNAL. - [1 AvG., 1898. 
it was looked upon with friendly eyes by the small selector, and he could assure 
them it was not considered a scourge in all districts. He knew what it was 
like on the road between Dalby and Roma, where the country was given up to 
the prickly-pear, but it had been at Rockhampton for forty years, and had not 
spread. When he first went to Gracemere he was astonished at the Messrs. 
Archer Bros. allowing it to grow on the place, but those gentiemen told him 
it had been there forty years and had never given any trouble; in fact, they 
cultivated it. It was fed to cattle in winter, and he knew dairymen who would 
not be able to remain in the business but for prickly-pear. He knew farmers 
who fed pigs on it, and who looked upon it as a valuable fodder plant. He 
had heard that in some parts of South America and Mexico stockowners would 
be unable to see a drought through but for it, and he thought that in some of 
the Northern districts of Queensland the use of the pear would be the means 
of saving a lot of stock. Of course the spines had to be destroyed either by 
fire or by steaming. 
Mr. O’Kxrre (Blenheim) came from a district that suffered severely from 
weeds, especially Noogoora burr. Jarmers there were getting this latter into 
their cultivation paddocks, and to such crops as maize it was a terrible nuisance, 
although with lucerne it did not matter so much. Many people were inclined 
to blame the local authorities for their apathy in connection with weeds, and 
he was not going to defend them very much. When, however, they came to 
examine the authority the boards had to deal with these pests, it would be seen 
that they were not responsible for their spread. He maintained that the local 
authorities did not have the power to deal with the question, or to compel 
people to clean their property. very authority felt itself in that position, 
although from time to time, from year to year, it went on going through the 
farce of calling upon people to clear their properties of noxious weeds. A board 
would send outnotices threatening the land-owners withail the laws and penalties, 
but it stopped there because it felt that it could not move a step further. It 
dared not, and the ratepayers knew that. It had got that way now that in 
many cases those who were really anxious to clean their property omitted to 
do so because they knew it would simply be a loss of time for them to attempt 
to keep their land clean. It was useless one trying when others adjoining did 
not. He thought the want of power of local bodies to deal with the question 
should be brought before the Government, for he was certain that if once the 
boards felt they had the power they would take the matter up. Doubtless the 
boards would find it a tender question when the ratepayers’ votes were con- 
sidered. Then, again, there was the subject of the Government land. The 
moment the local authority had sufficient power to deal with the question the 
matter of public reserves would come in. He had been on a block of land on 
the Darling Downs 500 acres in extent, and, with the exception of a narrow 
bridle-path running through it, on the whole 500 acres there was nota spot 
where a man could drop a pin without its lighting on a prickly-pear. As for 
the Lockyer district, he had never seen prickly-pear spread in his own locality. 
[Mr. Craraway: “Tt depends on the soil.” | He hoped a resolution would be 
passed asking the Government to give local authorities more power to deal 
with this weed question. He thought it should be necessary that it be com- 
pulsory upon the local body to deal with it. People were always asking the 
Central Government to attend to little troublesome local nuisances, but all 
he (Mr. O’ Keefe) thought they should ask the Government was to provide 
machinery for doing the work themselves. : 
Mr. Wut. Deacon (Allora) said it was all right to say local bodies would 
not attend to noxious-weed eradication. But if they would not, why not replace 
the members of the body by men who would. When he (Mr. Deacon) was 
on a divisional board he always saw that the burr in the district was cut. If 
he did not cut it on his own Jand, he got a notice to do so; and if he still per- 
sisted in taking no action, the board would send a man to cut it for him, 
charging him with the cost. Again, every year his local authority called for 
tenders for the destruction of noxious weeds. On the Darling Downs every 
