1 Ave, 1899. } QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 209 
‘you intend incurring expense in connection with your land, and which will 
‘doubtless frequently save you from putting high-priced manure on to it that 
would give no result. A. halfpenny per ton on the cane produced would 
provide for such a chemist in the Bundaberg district, and the payment of such 
a tax would not break anyone. For a farmer growing 500 tons of cane it 
would only amount to 21s., and the benefits would far outweigh the expendi- 
ture. Our farmers will stand very much in their own light if they do not take 
-some active steps to strengthen the hands of the Minister to do something in 
this matter of providing agricultural chemists, a matter that would be 
provocative of the greatest benefit to the whole agricultural community. As 
for federation, it is a matter of the greatest importance to everyone engaged 
in the sugar industry, whether he be canegrower or manufacturer. When at 
Circular Quay in Sydney lately, a German steamer from Bremen was pointed 
out to me as capable of carrying 20,000 tons in her bottom. This steamer was 
‘subsidised by the German Government, and had recently brought to Sydney 
10,000 tons of sugar on which a bouus of something like £2 per ton had been 
paid. If that vessel were to bring over 20,000 tons it would be able to swamp 
the whole sugar of Queensland, and there is no reason why it could not be 
done. The only remedy against this very possible contingency is for the 
colonies to federate, and then the same thing could be done as was done in 
America. The United States said, “If you are going to send any subsidised 
sugar to this country we shall put a countervailing duty upon it.” They did 
so, and at present the bounty-fed sugar is practically excluded. People talk 
of freetrade, but the bounty system is anything but fair, and [ think we are 
quite justified in doing everything we can to put the sugar trade on a fair and 
vequitable basis. With everything on an equal basis, I do not think the beet 
‘sugar could compete with us, and as a single colony we cannot stand against 
the present forms of competition. Put us together with the rest of Australia 
-and we shall be able to do what was done in America. The point I wish to 
bring out, gentlemen, is that we shall never be able to have countervailing 
duties imposed in Australia unless we are united with the other colonies. 
Mr. ‘I. Mackay (Cairns): I can fully endorse what Mr. Gibson has said 
-on the importance of light lines, and may mention that we have these to 
Redlynch in our district. The Cairns Divisional Board borrowed £40,000 
from the Government to build a railway, and at the start we were in doubt 
whether to build it on a 2-feet, a 23-feet, or a 3-feet gauge, but.Mr. G. Phillips, 
of Brisbane, our engineer, advised us to build it on a 33-feet gauge, and we did 
so. When that line was building, I heard a carrier say the board had a great 
“cheek” incurring the expense they did, seeing that the traffic along the road 
which the line would follow was not able to support 2 carriers, and, for 
myself, when the railway was finished, I thought we would only be able to run 
‘trains two or three times a week. When we did start, however, we commenced 
‘by running twice a day, and the traffic had increased to such an extent that 
before 8 months had elapsed we found our rolling-stock was altogether 
insufficient for our requirements. The further increase of business necessitated 
further borrowing to purchase more rolling-stock, and we discovered that if we 
had put up a 2-feet gauge railway it would never have been able to cope with 
the traffic. The line is now paying, without any difficulty, interest and 
redemption, which amount to about 8 per cent. per annum, and the produce, 
moreover, is carried at a little less rate than on the Government lines, This 
line, which is certainly an object lesson to other districts, is at present 18 miles 
long, and we intend to extend it. As for federation, I think it will be to the 
benefit of all of us, and I can endorse everything Mr. Gibson has said on that 
subject. 
Mr. W. Torr (Rockhampton): Some of the delegates haye been 
practically saying that if we do not federate with the other colonies they will 
give us such a hot time of it with our sugar that the colony will be forced 
to join the union or else have her industries ruined. But what about our 
cattle, from which New South Wales has to draw her supplies, and what are 
