110 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Auve., 1899. 
Extract.—A warning note should be given to those engaged in the meat 
export trade to export none but extract of the very best quality. Australia 
came very rapidly to the front in the extract trade, but has as rapidly declined 
in favour, so much so that some of the principal manufacturers of it desire to 
place their stocks on the English market without any marks which shall identify 
them with Australia. 
Tt now only rests for me to formally declare this Conference opened. Tn 
doing so I have great pleasure in weleoming you all to Mackay. Particularly 
am I glad to do so, as I know that in welcoming you I express the feeling not 
only of myself but also of my constituents. Both on my own account and also 
on that of my many friends here, I may express the hope that, while judiciously 
combining pleasure with business, you will be able to leave with a useful record 
of the latter, and with kindly recollections of the town and district, and with 
the people amongst whom you have held your third Conference. (Applause. ) 
The CarrMan stated that the appointment of committees was the next 
business to be dealt with, and it was agreed that the most necessary action for 
immediate purposes was to form a committee to deal with the various resolutions 
passed. 
RESOLUTIONS. 
“On the motion of Mr. McLeay, the following resolutions were then 
carried :— ; 
That delegates shall not speak more than once on each subject, and not 
longer than five minutes; the reader of a paper to be allowed ten minutes to 
reply. 
; That the following constitute a Committee of Resolutions :—Messrs. B. 
Denman, F. W. Peek, W. Deacon, J. E. Noakes, and C. J. Booker; Mr. 
F. W. Peek to be convener. 
Mr. Deacon (Allora): Before we proceed to business I should like to thank 
the Mayor, the President of the Pioneer River Farmers’ Association, and your~ 
self, Mr. Chairman, for the most hearty welcome we delegates have received in 
Mackay. I do not think it is necessary to move a special motion, but still I 
think it incumbent that one of us should express these words of thanks. 
Mr. E. Deyman (Etowri, Mackay) then read the following paper on 
THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AND ITS REQUIREMENTS. 
Mr. Presipent and GrnttemEeN.—For the third time the P.R.F.A. has chosen 
me as one of its delegates to our annual Conference. I have taken the “ Sugar Industry 
and its Requirements”’ as the title of the paper Iam about to read. I purpose to 
review some of the many suggestions offered both by kindly friends and censorious 
critics as means which would afford canegrowers a large measure of relief. TI also 
intend to offer suggestions myself which a long experience and anxious thought con-~ 
vince me will, if carried into effect, not only render the sugar industry more stable and 
more profitable to those whose all is invested in it, and to those who are at the present 
time dependent upon it—some 22,000 souls—but will also lead to a much greater 
expansion than can ever be hoped for so long as it is impeded by unwise, if not hostile, 
legislation. I am further satisfied that they would hasten, slowly and surely, the 
desiderata devoutly wished by so many, and by none more fervently than the cane~ 
growers themselves—namely, the substituting of white for alien labour, at a fair rate of 
wages. On the present occasion I do not intend to confine myself entirely to the 
farmers’ needs. I intend to also enter a plea on behalf of that very necessary adjunct 
of the farmer, the sharer of his woes and sorrows, which is about all most of us have 
to share with her—the farmer’s wife. To accomplish this great change, ample time 
must be given and wise counsels must prevail. Sacrifices both of sentiment and sub- 
stance will have to be made, and it behoves those into whose hands the power of 
determining the future of others is entrusted to make these sacrifices as light as pos~ 
sible. Sentiment is all very wellif itis not at variance with fact, and legislation, 
equally as much as farming or any other business, to be successful, must be based 
on business principles, not on sentiment. During my connection with the sugar 
industry I have had personal experience in two instances of the disastrous results 
which followed attempts to incorporate sentiment with canegrowing. | Sentimental 
legislation was some years ago forced upon the canegrower. Hveryone in this room, 
