1 Jury, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 37 
First, because the majority of those who were brought here were not farm 
labourers, amongst them being men from every branch of trade in the United 
Kingdom, many of them having as much practical knowledge of farming as a South 
Sea Islander has of Greek; also many of those who came stayed in the towns or 
found work on the railway lines and other places. Others again, unable to find 
suitable employment, migrated to the southern States, although the taxpayers 
of Queensland had paid from £9 to £13 each for the passages of these men. 
The effect has been that whilst men have been hustling each other in the’ town. 
for a few days’ work to enable them to live, production has been checked 
because farmers were unable to get the necessary labour. To those who think 
that agriculture, dairying, &c., are not of much importance, or worthy of special 
consideration, I would point out that there is still plenty of gold in the mines, 
plenty of coals in the bowels of the earth, plenty of timber in the forests, 
but without the farmer these things fail to give prosperity, so we must 
admit there is some truth in the old saying, ‘The farmer pays for all.” 
Then is it not wise to give him the necessary labour to work for the 
good of all? If the past has not been too good for the farmer, is there 
any prospect of the future being better? There loom ahead in the dim future 
an income tax, a land tax, a minimum wage, and a statutory eight hours. The 
firstwe need not fear. Our surplus income is not likely to be large enough to tax 
—if it is we will willingly pay it. The second will cause us to pay more money 
away directly and indirectly, for the tradespeople will put the amount of their 
land tax upon the goods they sell. The third and fourth will be a stronger 
‘inducement for the country labourer to come into town and pass a miserable 
existence on a few days’ work per week, although his wife and children may not 
be so well fed and clothed as if in the country, with its fresh air and freedom, 
with plenty of milk, fresh eggs, vegetables and fruit, and everything conducive 
to growing up to a strong, healthy, independent manhood or womanhood, free 
from the physicai and moral taints which, alas, are too common in city life. 
Our future prosperity depends upon the value of our production and exports. 
Tf these are attended to the towns will follow as a natural consequence, though 
large cities are a curse, being hotbeds of sin and iniquity. There is Pleas, of work 
to do if reliable labour could be found to do it. In my district (the Wide Bay) 
there are plenty of openings for the use of capital which would be a help to the 
employer and the employee and to the country in general, but those who would 
like to embark in these undertakings are afraid to do so. They say we cannot 
rely upon the labour, for at a critical time we may be left in the lurch, and 
suffer heavy loss if not ruin, and owing to this enterprise is strangled, and the 
people of the State are the losers. [ am not alluding to black labour. I will 
quote from an article which appeared in the Maryborough Chronicle of the 28th 
May, which was taken from the Melbourne Argus. Mr. Mackenzie, the 
president of the Butter Manufacturers’ Association, having just returned from 
London, has much to say on the trade. Mr. Mackenzie believes that if Australia 
is to improve her footing in the old world, and to make it Pee our butter- 
makers will have to address themselves seriously to the subject of winter 
production. After giving good reasons why this should be done, the article 
goes on:—Our dairy people say: “ Winter production means more labour— 
labour in growing fodder, labour in feeding the herds, labour all round. Our 
families, when we have families, cannot stand the strain of such work, and as to 
labour, we cannot even obtain labour for summer production. We cannot pay 
the rates of the Wages Board even in summer. France does not pay those 
wages, nor Denmark, nor Holland, and therefore winter competition is 
impossible. We are dropping more and more to the position that we have to 
even limit our summer production to the herds which we can manage without 
hired help.” After expressing what the dairy people say, the Argus continues : 
—‘ This is substantially the position, and how it is to be altered so as to make 
winter production a possibility is not easy to foretell. As Mr. Mackenzie says, 
the eer has to be grappled with, and the best minds of the industry and 
the best minds of those who wish the development of the State need to be 
