1 Juxy, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 3 
FIRST SESSION. 
Monpay, 9ru Junu, 1902, 8 p.m. 
Proceedings were commenced by the welcoming of the delegates to 
Toowoomba by the Mayor, Mr. C. Rowbotham. The Hon. D. H. Dalrymple, 
M.L.A., after returning thanks for the very kind expressions of welcome, then 
delivered the following opening address :— 
CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS. 
GuENTLEMEN,—It is my duty and my privilege to bid you all a hearty welcome to 
this Conference, and to express the hope and belief that good results will follow from 
our deliberations. I think we ought to congratulate ourselves on the fact that we 
have met in the beautiful capital of the most important agricultural district in 
Queensland, even though it is not now at its best, but, in common with the rest of the 
State, is suffering from the worst drought we have ever experienced. I am glad that 
among the subjects set down for discussion is “ The drought”; for, though we cannot 
control the seasons, we may be able to devise some means, within the limits of our 
financial resources, of minimising the evil effects of an abnormally long period of dry 
weather. I expect my own information and ideas on the matter to be largely 
supplemented and influenced by the proposals and suggestions which will be made by 
those among you who have given serious thought to the question. It is no doubt the 
problem of the hour, and the problem of all others which will render the man who 
propounds a practicable solution of it our greatest benefactor. I can assure you that 
whatever I can do to advance a scheme that appears to me to be workable I shall do. 
CoNFERENCE RESOLUTIONS. 
At this Conference, as at the last, I shall be an attentive listener, for I know what 
an advantage it is to the Minister of Agriculture to learn at first hand the difficulties 
that beset the farmers and their proposals for overcoming them. Your papers and 
discussions will not be lost on me, and the resolutions you adopt will receive my most 
respectful consideration. In this connection I ought to inform you with respect to 
the last Conference, held at Bundaberg, that I did not allow the resolutions it passed 
to be ignored. In every case I gave full consideration to the recommendations made, 
and wherever it was in my power to do so I gave practical effect to them. : 
AGRICULTURE, 
At the time of the last Conference I had to speak of the drought and its conse- 
quences. Since then twelve months have passed away, and the same drought still 
continues. The farmer is employed now, as then, in fighting its effects rather than 
in making advances in new directions. Yet, notwithstanding this severe misfortune, 
the statistics of the Registrar-General show that Queensland is a wonderful country, 
and that the confidence of the farmers in its capability has not been shaken. ‘The 
area, reaped for wheaten grain in 1901 exceeded any previous year, and the average 
yield per acre has not been surpassed since 1891. ‘The figures for the last two years 
for grain are :— 
1900—79,304 acres ; 1,194,088 bushels ; 15:06 bushels per acre. 
1901—87,232 _,, 1,692,222 5 19°40 ~ 1 
The average yield for New South Wales for 1901 was 10°6 bushels, and for South 
Australia 5°66. 
A recent and most satisfactory development of the wheat industry has been the 
sales of wheat by public auction upon lines similar to those in connection with the 
wool trade, and resulting in the farmers obtaining a better price for their grain. 
The area under malting barley increased from 1901 by 516 acres, the average yield 
for the year being 28°39 bushels to the acre, the highest yields being in the Killarney, 
Allora, and Warwick districts, with 37:60, 32°03, and 31:74 bushels to the acre 
respectively. The statistics for 1901 have proved that the production of grain was 
equal to 98°6 per cent. of the total quantity of malt made dati the year, or, in 
other words, practically the whole of the malt made in Queensland was from barley 
grown within the State. 
For other barleys, the yield .was 16'84 bushels, as against 15°62 for 1900. New 
South Wales averaged 17 bushels, New Zealand 33°33 bushels, and the United 
Kingdom 30°98 bushels to the acre, Although a lesser extent of land was under 
maize for grain, the decreases for 1901 being 10,991 acres, the production was greater 
