34. QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jury, 1902. 
Unless the land is settled, our railways will never reach a point when even a 
little dividend will be payable. There has been a good deal said about the 
home separator, and I recognise, as one connected with the business, that the 
home separator does offer advantages to the farmer. We have often improved 
the quality of the cream by that means. Again, there are the evils attendant 
on the cream being kept on the farm for too great a length of time. One 
delegate spoke of the necessity for factories rejecting such cream. The 
same difficulty has arisen in the Southern States and in America, and it 
has been found that it is almost impossible to set up a standard by which 
cream may be judged. If some of our experts could put in our hands 
some means of determining a standard by which cream could be gauged, 
they would bestow a great benefit on the industry. But it is now almost 
impossible to fix a standard for the rejection or acceptance of cream, 
While we have, in Australia, made wonderful progress in this industry, 
other countries have come along in a marvellous way. Some have referred to 
Denmark, but the most extraordinary development of this business has taken 
place in a most unlikely country, and that is—Siberia. Itis here that Siberian 
competition has an important bearing upon Queensland. The Russian farm 
labourer is content with a small wage; and it is a matter of considerable 
importance to us when we find a Jarge number of people, well looked after by- 
the Russian Government and every facility placed in their way, entering into 
competition with us. I have received a letter from an agent in Glasgow, and 
he referred to the fact that the quality of the Siberian butter imported into the 
United Kingdom has greatly improved—that the Danish people have been 
buying up the Russian butter and putting it on the English market under their 
own brands. So it is imperative that no stone should be left unturned to 
prevent damage to Queensland in this important industry. 
Mr. A. McSuanx (Toowoomba): When I took up this subject I knew there 
would be a lot of discussion on it, but I thought my views would have met with 
a little more opposition. The main objections, of course, have arisen over my 
remarks on the home separator. A good many of the people who have spoken 
referred to Denmark as an ideal dairying country, but most of those people 
were perhaps not aware that there is not a single home separator in Denmark. 
Their use there is prohibited by Act of Parliament. I do not say that the home 
separator will not make good butter, and it will make good butter for home 
consumption. But let those gentlemen who make their own butter put it on 
the London market, and see how it will fare there. 
The Cuarrman: The very great importance of the dairying industry 
to Queensland has been fully admitted by the Government. The Govern~ 
ment long ago began with the travelling dairies. Since that time a Co- 
operative Act has been passed under which assistance has been given to all 
those who desire to establish factories, and as late as last session a modification 
was made in the Lands Purchase Act whereby land could be obtained under it 
for purely dairying purposes. I can assure you that there is no subject upon 
» which the Government is more unanimous than upon the importance of the 
agricultural industry and the importance of that great branch connected with 
dairying. A gentleman has suggested that the Government supply bulls for 
the use of dairy farmers, but to attempt to do that would be undertaking a 
rather large contract, especially when we take the size of Queensland and the 
number of dairy farmers into consideration. Some years ago Mr. Chataway 
tried this experiment when the position of the public Treasury was much more 
cheerful than it is now. A very good Ayrshire bull was stationed at the 
Westbrook State Farm, and a charge of 5s. a cow was made for its services. It 
was there four years, and there were not more than ten or a dozen cows sent to 
it. I can assure you that in this matter of the Department placing bulls at the 
disposal of farmers considerable difficulty has to be encountered. Members of 
associations quarrel as to what kind of bull they should have sent to them. One 
farmer says the bull must be an Ayrshire, and that he would not have a Jersey 
near his place; another wants a Holstein. Then there is the question as to who 
