1 Jury, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 69 
future Acts this evil should be guarded against. Another great evil has been opening 
up land in unsuitable areas. I have known for a fact a man searching for months 
before he could obtain a grazing farm that gave him any prospect of prosperous 
settlement. This has been occasioned by the want of practical knowledge of settle- 
ment by our Ministers for Land and their subordinates. 
This evil could be easily remedied by employing men to survey the land with 
practical knowledge, and giving them power to use their own judgment, of course under 
an efficient board such as a practical land board. Mr. Dutton instituted a map and 
information office, which if properly carried out would be of immense benefit to settlers. 
Another evil that has disgusted many selectors has been the numerous amend- 
ments to Land Acts, without due regard to the interests of those who have already 
selected; generally every amendmeut has reduced prices, and the first buyer or settler 
has had to submit to reduced values without compensation. 
In illustration I will quote the case of a selector I know near the borders of New 
South Wales, who took up land valued at that time at the purchasing price of 15s. an 
acre. After living on the said land for five years, proving it was well adapted to fruit- 
growing, especially of the citrus tribe, the adjoining land held by the Government was 
opened up to homestead selectors at 2s. 6d. an acre, and to others at 10s. per acre. This 
injustice seemed to this man so great that he gave over his farm to his brother, who had 
lent him a little money, and went over the border to New South Wales to settle. 
Numerous have been the instances of land being sold by the Government at £1 
an acre, and later on similar land in the same neighbourhood they have sold at 10s—a 
manifest injustice to the original purchaser, lowering the value of his land. 
Now, ‘having shown you the evils embodied in the present and former Land 
Acts, as well as the principles that experience has proved to me should guide future 
legislation, the next subject that naturally arises is the formulation of suggestions to 
be embodied ina new Land Act. 
Taking first the agricultural districts, I think the maximum area should be 
1,280 acres; residence a sine qua non. Supposing, however, a farmer’s homestead 
comprised only a small area, he should be allowed to take up rougher land elsewhere, 
not exceeding in the aggregate 1,280 acres, and, say, not distant over 15 miles from his 
farm. This would give him a paddock where he could keep his young stock and those 
that required spelling, but no one who possessed over 1,280 acres, whether freehold or 
not, should be allowed to select. 
In other than districts where agriculture could be carried on profitably, home- 
stead grazing farms should be opened in sizes regulated by the carrying capacity 0 
the land, and distance from ports or markets, remembering that where carilage was 
high, a man required a greater number of stock to return him a fair living. 
In the semi-coastal districts I think the area of grazing homestead farms should 
be from 5 to 20,000 acres, and in the Western interior from 10 to 50,000 acres. Some 
people will, I know, say these areas are too large, but they must remember that life in 
the far West isa very hard one, and seasons very irregular; therefore, the settler 
should have the prospect of a larger reward tor his labour than those on the 
coast. In this paper it is manifestly impossible to enter into detail as to areas in such 
a large State as Queensland, with so much diversity of svil and climate, but in the 
foregving I think I have clearly shown what practical experience has taught me—the 
method of attaining the desired end, a prosperous homestead settlement. 
Prices and income are the next object to be considered. As I have previously 
written, it would be a mistake to cripple the settler at the commencement of his career 
by obliging him to pay heavy rents, for to do so would be like killing the goose who 
lays the golden egg; therefore I think the present prices of homestead agricultural 
farms quite sufficient, and I think that grazing farms for the first three years of 
settlement to bond fide settlers should not be over 1d. per acre per annum for the best 
lJand, less for worse according to quality, and after three years rental should be 
gradually increased, provided seasons and yalues were favourable to the depasturing 
of stock. Jn considering this subject of land revenue we must not forget that 
every additional family producing the fruits of the land by labour and settlement, 
contribute in many incidental ways to the revenue of the State; that being the case, 
il is certainly sound Honey, to hold out every inducement for families to settle and 
make a home on the land, so that by their labour they may increase production, and 
in that, as well as other ways, add to the wealth of the State. 
The squatter cannot complain when land is only taken out of his leaseholds or 
occupation license, as it is required for better purposes, and if he considers the 
question from a business point of view it does him no harm, for each new settler 
requires stock and gives him purchasers at increased value, fully compensating him 
for the loss of the country. 
