188 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ava., 1899. 
The Price—This is the all-important iat to the farmer and pig-raiser. Well, 
pigs are like any other marketable commodity, they fluctuate in value according to 
supply and demand. ule ‘ : 
ring the past 12 months farmers have been receiving a top price for their 
pigs, and in many cases, owing to their being fed on soft food, there has been a great 
shrinkage in the cured products ; consequently loss of weight and loss to the bacon 
curer. Grain-fed pigs are always worth more than milk and slop-fed pigs, and if the 
ast season had given a good maize crop pigs would have been considerably cheaper, 
ut, at the same time, would have paid the farmer as well. 
Take America. With their enormous grain crop, they get on an average 27s. 6d. 
to 30s. for prime baconers—which means a pig not less than 180 to 200 Ib.; whereas 
here we have been getting 38s. and up to 46s. for pigs ranging from only 120 to 150 Ib. 
clearly showing that the American farmer prefers selling his cheap grain products in 
the form of live pork, and, being a pretty wide-awake gentleman, knows which pays 
him best. 
Now, with our favourable climate, cheap lands, and everything in our favour, we 
should, in the near future, be a formidable competitor. At present the Sydney market 
may be said to control the Australian markets, as most of the southern colonies buy 
largely there, and Sydney buys largely from here, both in a live and cured form. 
Ihave been trying to induce southern buyers to operate here, but lately there has 
been no margin of profit to them, our prices being equal, and in some cases better than 
theirs. May, June, and July generally show a fall in prices, owing to the rush of fat 
pigs, in consequence of maize and pumpkin crops being harvested. 
Marketing.—The present system of selling pigs will, I think, very soon be on a 
better footing. The old idea of selling to any pig-buyer who chooses to go round to 
the sties and make an offer is by no means a good one. They must make their average 
prices come out right, consequently one man gets the value of his pig, and the other 
man much less. You don’t see woolgrowers selling their produce in this fashion; 
they submit their products to public competition, and get market value for them. 
I maintain that all fat pigs should be sold by auction, and by live weight, not by 
appearance, and I hope ere long to see this system in vogue. A weighbridge at the 
various markets could easily be erected, and let every lot of pigs be weighed, their 
weight posted above their pens, and sold at per lb. live weight. Buyers would then 
know exactly what they vere buying, and the farmers Praiifl be more satisfied; the 
rain-fed animal would give his owner a good idea whether it would pay him to grain 
eed or not. This matter of weighing might well be taken in hand by the Government. 
Let them erect weighbridges at the various trucking yards where pig sales are held, 
and charge a small fee, of say, 2d per head as a yard due. It said pay them well to 
consider this matter, as the business would be a remunerative one: 
I would also suggest that a qualified inspector attend all sales, and condemn any 
animal he considered unfit for food. 
A Pig Breeders’ Association would be of great value to farmers and others, as 
there are many little matters that often crop up that require seeing to. Take, for 
instance, the trucking conveniences at the various railway trucking yards. They are 
utterly unsuitable to load a truck of pigs from, the present race and conyeniences being 
enough to kill a man, to say nothing about the bruising and injuries the unfortunate 
pig receives. ib 
The shelter and watering conveniences are about as bad as they can be. An 
association might do a great deal to remedy these existing evils, and materially assist 
in building up one of the leading industries in Southern Guemelsne 
The next paper was by Mr. H. N. Rocers, of Port Curtis road, Rock- 
hampton :— 
‘ PROPOSED DATRY LEGISLATION. 
The object of this paper is to criticise a Bill “‘ to provide for the registration and 
inspection of dairies and to regulate the manufacture, sale, and export of dairy 
roduce,” cited as “ The Dairy Produce Act of 1898. The Bill was introduced into 
arliament, referred to a select committee, and their report was printed. The Bill 
HuER OSES to lay down rules, to be fixed by a Government department, as to the minute 
etails of dairy management, and to enforce these rules by means of Government 
inspectors with enormous powers of interference and the right to inflict heavy penalties. 
And there is to be no appeal except to the Minister, in a colony of 668,497 square 
miles. There is no board of dairymen, and the Minister, whose qualifications are 
unknown, and a few experts have power not only to administer a most stringent Act, 
but to legislate without consulting Parliament by means of undefined regulations. The 
Bill had a bad time of it in committee, but the committee did not finish its work, and 
