150 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1899. 
‘PART IV.—STATE CREDIT NOTES. 
28. All land credit advances shall be made in State Credit Notes of one pound 
each. 
29. These notes shall be issued by the Credit Commissioner, and bear the date of 
issue. 
30. These notes shall be legal tender within the colony, and the State guarantees 
their payment in gold after ten years from the date of their issue. 
PART V.—REPAYMENT OF ADVANCES. 
31. When the period for granting advances is closed each borrower shall receive 
a statement of his account with the State, consisting of the amounts borrowed, and a 
charge for expenses at the rate of 2 per cent. per annum to date. This statement shall 
be published in a local paper. 
32. Every subsequent year the borrower shall pay one-tenth part of the amount 
in the statement, in addition to the interest of 2 per cent., until all indebtedness is 
repaid, but the borrower may repay any time during the ten years, and receive a full 
discharge. 
33° Payment may be made in State Credit Notes, which shall be destroyed by the 
Commissioner. 
PART VI.—ADMINISTRATION,° 
34. An officer styled “ Agricultural Credit Commissioner’ shall be appointed as 
the executive head by the Governor-in-Council for no less than five years. His office 
shall be attached to the Department of Agriculture. 
; 35. The District Land Commissioner or his deputy shall be an advising officer to 
the Credit Commissioner and the Divisional Board. 
36. ‘Ihe Minister for Agriculture may appoint Settlement Inspectors to report on 
the improvements and progress made on the lands placed under the operations of this 
Act. 
Discussion on Two Previous Papers. 
Mr. W. Torn (Rockhampton) was afraid Mr. Peck’s scheme of an honorary 
directorate would hardly be workable. 
Mr. W. Deacon (Allora): As far as I can understand it, the scheme 
underlying Dr. Thomatis’s paper is the lending of money to farmers by the 
State, and we know this is no new principle. The Government adopted it when 
they introduced the Agricultural Lands Purchase Act—that is to say, they 
bought the farms first and really lent the money, so that the farmers might 
acquire the land, the farmers being given a series of years in which to pay for 
it. JI understand this matter is to be brought before the Parliament this 
session, and we might therefore giye some consideration to it. It may be said, 
why should farmers have money lent to them by the State more than any other 
business people? Well, money-lenders do not look upon farms as the 
very best of security, although I do not know why, for in my opinion 
they are the best. Farms, however, are more or less remote from 
the towns, and agents cannot inspect them without trouble. Some 
years ago, some farms were liable to be abandoned, but I am certain 
that this will very rarely occur at the present time. In what manner 
the assistance shoyld be rendered, is a question for the consideration of the 
farmers and the State, and, for my own part, I Dee the New Zealand system. 
There, they buy estates and cut them up, and instead of requiring that the 
farmers should pay all the money in a certain number of years—say interest and 
principal in twenty years—they give the farmer the option of obtaining a 999 
years’ lease, and he only pays 4 per cent. He can also buy the land outright for 
cash or pay for it over a term of years. Against their 4 per cent., we in 
Queensland pay 5. If anyone reads Mr. Reeves’s book on these New Zealand 
settlements, he will see that they haye been a success. With regard to other 
arts of Dr. Thomatis’ paper, I think a good deal is visionary. ‘The ideas are 
ardly practicable, and I do not think, if he hands his Bill to a member of 
Parliament, that that member will earnestly attempt to bring it before the 
Legislative Assembly. Dr. Thomatis, doubtless, considers Mr. Peek’s paper 20 
years behind the times, but I think Mr. Peeck’s scheme is well thought out, and 
that it is, to a certain extent, practicable. This issuing of notes is all very well, 
