1 Jury, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 67 
Mr. T. pe M. Murray-Prior, of Maroon, then read the following paper 
on— 
LAND SETTLEMENT. . 
In Queensland the Government have leased to pastoral tenants some 237,690,952 
acres of land, and in this paper I intend mainly to deal with the closer settlement of 
this enormous area, also. touching on the subject of the large estates that at present 
are only used for pastoral purposes, while they might be utilised to better advantage 
were the weanjdteal aul homestead farmers. 
In the past this subject of land settlement has been the weightiest problem our 
legislators have had to deal with, yet notwithstanding voluminous discussions, result- 
ing in several Land Acts and many amendments, no one appears to be satisfied, and 
there is great dissatisfaction among the classes interested—namely, the leaseholder, 
grazing farmer, and agriculturist. 
This being a fact impossible of contradiction, and, moreover, it being a certainty 
that the future prosperity of the colony depends on the production from the land, the 
sooner the question is re-opened by our Parliament and a new Land Act passed, based 
on sound and economical principles, the better for the inhabitants of Queensland. 
In dealing with this most important question of land settlement, I fully recognise 
the fact that I have tackled a difficult subject, but hearing of no one else attempting 
it, and thinking that no better opportunity of discussing such an important question 
than at this Conference could be seized, I felt it my duty to attempt it, at the same time 
hoping than abler heads than mine will ventilate their opinions and throw fresh light 
on the subject. 
The associations I represent—the Fassifern Agricultural and the Pastoralist as 
well as the Stockbreeders and Graziers--have a vital interest in the question, and I 
take it the object wished to be attained by them, as well as us all, is the settlement of 
a thriving and industrious population throughout the colony in areas sufficiently large 
to enable a family to be aie and educated from the production of said area. 
Throughout the early days of settlement in Queensland and Australia the 
markets for agricultural produce were so limited that only a few people could gain a 
livelihood by land tillage. Moreover, the greater portion of inland Australia is of so 
arid a nature that no dependence could be placed on harvesting a crop; consequently 
a system of leasing was instituted, enabling the pioneers or squatters to carry on a 
business of grazing. These men have opened up the land, making it fit for the 
agricultural development that is taking place throughout the colony, for had it not 
been for them there would now be few inland roads or railways and little or no 
shipping to carry produce to markets away from home. These deeds of the pioneer 
squatters have given them or their successors a certain vested right that no just man 
in dealing with the question can deny. 
Still, for all that, there is one axiom that holds good all over the world—namely, 
the interests of the many must preponderate or take precedence to that of the few. 
This principle being unquestionably sound, the ideas inculcated in this paper must be 
based on the principle of settling the greater number of people on the land, com- 
patible with their own and the colony’s prosperity, and at the same time interfering 
as little as possible with vested rights. Phat is the object to be aimed at, being the 
settlement of a thriving population on the land, who will deyelop its productive powers 
to their greatest capabilities, commensurate with the improvement of their separate 
holdings, at the same time-taking care said land does not deteriorate in its powers of 
roduction, and that the settlement be as close as possible, provided always holdings 
He large enough to enable a man to rear a large family and prosper at the same time, 
remembering a happy and contented population is the safeguard of all States, and no 
opulation is contented and happy ieee the majority are interested in the land 
e must also remember that with universal suffrage democracy is the power that 
rules the State, and till we make the majority interested in property they will never 
be contented. That means, to make the majority contented we must people the land 
with homestead farmers and graziers, as well as encourage co-operation in business 
and manufactures. Otherwise, a feud of classes will be maintained, and we will have 
no stable or good government. Nature has endowed man with many powers and 
attributes, but the dominant one of them all is selfishness, and while the majority are 
without a stake in the country that selfishness will make them envious of those who 
have what they desire, and foster that discontent we wish to avoid. 
When I was a young man I was accustomed to large areas and few people, and 
did not realise the teeming population and consequent closeness of settlement in’ 
other countries ; therefore, my ideas were more in sympathy with big areas, till I 
watched the progress of settlement caused by the homestead clauses of the 1869 Act. 
This was the first Act in Queensland that induced an agricultural population to settle 
