Mr. P. MCKENNEY (President, P.R.F.A.): As our worthy chairman has intimated, I have also got a few words to say on this occasion, but, as the time is so short. I shall only add with all my heart that I can but endorse the words that have been so sincerely put forth by Mr. Lambert. I cannot attempt to add to those words, but I would just like to duplicate them on behalf of the Pioneer River Farmers' Association. To attempt to do more would be to "gild the gold or paint the lily." I shall therefore conclude by stating that you have all been elected honorary members of the Pioneer River Farmers' Association.

The Hon. J. V. CHATAWAY then opened the Conference with the following address:

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CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS.

In opening this, the Third Annual Agricultural Conference, a few words may not be out of place as to the objects and scope of these conferences. They were initiated with the intention of bringing the farmers together, and enabling them to discuss questions of common interest, and formulate, by full consideration and debate, such measures of public policy as might appear on mature thought to be required. To accomplish these ends, it was necessary that the locale of the conferences should be changed each year, and consequently our first gathering was at Gatton, in the Southern district, our second at Rockhampton, in the Central district, and our third has now commenced in Mackay, the most accessible town in the Northern portion of the colony. It was naturally a matter of some anxiety to the Department to decide whether, in our opinion, the farmers of Queensland took sufficient interest in the agricultural and pastoral questions to induce them to travel so long a distance as to Mackay. We concluded that there was a live interest in the conferences, and that delegates would come to the North. The splendid attendance to-day-a record attendance of delegates, I believe-is ample proof that we were not mistaken, and full justification for our having called the Conference for this town in the North. If I may take up some of your time, I would like to briefly review the latest position of the agricultural industries of this colony.

LAND SETTLEMENT.

The progress of land settlement has perhaps been the most satisfactory feature of all. In the year 1896, 3,018,769 acres; 1897, 4,893,624 acres; and 1898, 16,079,253 acres were proclaimed open for selection. From the above figures it will be seen that more than double the amount was available for selection in 1898 than the two previous years. At one time there were many complaints that applicants were unable to obtain land; but now, although there is no diminution in the amount taken up, any applicant can be satisfied. The following will show the amounts of land taken up-In 1896, 2,358,380 acres ; 1897, 3,629,651 acres; 1898, 3,339,613 acres. The following figures are a striking comparison of the increased settlement taken place in the colony:— During the years 1893, 1894, and 1895, 3,664,818 acres were taken up, and during the next three years (1896, 1897, 1898) 9,327,644 acres, or an increase of 5,662,826 acres.

Considerable favour is shown to settlement in this colony by the people of Victoria and South Australia, from which two colonies very many trained and seasoned settlers annually come.

In agricultural settlement the progress is especially satisfactory. Last year I alluded to the increase of exports of agricultural products and the decrease of imports. And it is very gratifying to note that this still continues. There is still, however, much to be done in this direction. The agricultural produce coming into this colony is of the value of about £750,000, and the duty paid on it over £100,000. All this and much more might be produced in Queensland, and ought to be. Dried fruits alone contributed £33,000 to the revenue. Our exports of agricultural produce show much more satisfactory returns, and now we are exporting four times as much as we did five years ago.

WHEAT.

The wheat crop last year was, owing to dry weather and comparative failure, most unsatisfactory. No less than 23,914 acres failed to germinate. Undeterred by this disaster, our farmers have been putting in more wheat than ever this year, and there is every appearance of an excellent harvest. Within a few years we shall hear of the Central districts as large wheat-producers. Such small areas as have been planted near Emerald and Barcaldine are reported as looking most promising. Queensland offers special inducement to the wheat-grower, climatic and soil conditions being eminently suited. This is strikingly observed from the average production per acre in Queensland as compared with the principal wheat-producing colonies in Australasia :Queensland, average per acre 16:32 bushels; Victoria, average per acre 8:06 bushels; South Australia, average per acre 5'09 bushels.

SUGAR.

The progress made by sugar last season was very great, the output increasing from 97,916 tons in 1897 to 163,734 in 1898. The average yield is still low, standing lower than almost any other sugar-producing colony. Java and the Sandwich Islands produce more than three times as much sugar per acre. This is due entirely to their system of cultivation and manuring. It was not so long ago since the manure from the Queensland Meat Works was going to Mauritius, so enabling that island to compete successfully with us in the Melbourne and Adelaide markets.

The net importations of sugar into Australasia were for 1898-New South Wales, 34,678 tons; Victoria, 56,597 tons; South Australia, 28,105 tons; Western Australia, 7,218 tons; Tasmania, 6,752 tons; total, 127,310 tons. If we add 24,300 tons, the estimated consumption of Queensland, we have a total of 159,610 tons required by the colonies proposing to enter into Federal Union. To supply this amount we made last year 163,734 tons, so that it will be seen that we are already producing 12,124 tons in excess of the Australian requirements. The sugar-growers have realised the position, and are already seeking a market outside Australia. Last year over 9,000 tons were sent to Vancouver, and a larger amount will go there this year. Three thousand tons were sent to Hong Kong, and small consignments to Japan. The narrow margin of profit now earned, by those engaged in the sugar industry, leads us to look for some means to enable growers of cane to enlarge their area, at the same time lessening the risk of ruin through having one crop only. This will probably be found in dairying in combination with sugar-growing. We have examples of the successful combination of these two industries in one district of the colony, where the canegrower is able and willing to send to the mill at a price which would be considered ruinous were he not improving the land with the manure got from the cattle and using as feed the cane-tops which were hitherto burnt and so wasted.

DAIRYING.

The progress of dairying by the factory system is gradually making headway. Gympie and Bundaberg have each established a factory. present time two factories are being established in the Central district-one at Emerald and another at Capella-and I trust there will be some in the Northern district before long. In this district it is to be hoped there will also be one before long. With dairying, pig-raising is associated, and very profitably. The last two years has shown a considerable increase in the number of pigs raised in the colony, and it is quite evident that, with attention paid to breeding and feeding, the profits of pig-raising are great. The number of bacon factories now established in the colony forms a safe and profitable outlet for pigs, which farmers are not slow to avail themselves of. Last year 85,510 pigs were sold for preserving purposes in the shape of bacon and hams, apart from those killed for local use, and these produced 6,973,000 lb. of bacon and ham.

With reference to condensed milk, some difficulty was at first experienced in this business; but the enterprising owners of a factory which has long been struggling, having sent their manager to America and expended a large sum in having him taught the trade, are now assured of success, and it will not be long before the 1,500,000 lb. of condensed milk, of the value of £30,000, now imported, is manufactured locally.

TOBACCO.

The tobacco industry of the colony may be said to be progressing, each year seeing an increased consumption of the home-grown leaf. The bulk of this tobacco is grown in the Texas district and is bringing satisfactory prices— from 6d. to 8d. per lb. This district grows a good quality of heavy tobacco, and will eventually displace the American of this type, when the growers have fully learned the approved methods of growing and curing; and in this they are making progress. North Queensland gives promise of growing a very superior quality of cigar tobacco, and it will probably become an important industry, as some of the leading farmers are proposing to take up tobacco-growing. tofore this industry has suffered for the want of a market, but with the assurance that this trouble can be overcome, they are disposed to again take it up. Samples of tobacco grown in the Cairns district have been valued in London at 2s. 6d. per lb.

PASTORAL INDUSTRY.

Here

There is a considerably brighter outlook for the pastoral industry now than appeared twelve months ago. It is true our flocks and herds do not show an increase, but the decrease is so slight as to cause no alarm, and indeed is largely accounted for by the increasing output from our works.

Wool. The recent change of fashion in favour of merino, as against crossbred wool, has to meet a very precarious supply. Our largest competitor, Argentina, has gone in for crossbreeding, and the supply of merino from there is very small. The Cape clip is so comparatively small that it exercises very little influence on the market. The losses in sheep in New South Wales from drought have been enormous. From 61,000,000 a few years ago, the sheep dwindled down to 40,000,000 at the end of last year, while during the present year the loss from drought is estimated to further reduce the number to between 25,000,000 and 30,000,000. Our losses up to date have not exceeded 1 per cent., so that we may confidently expect a further rise in the price of our staple product.

Meat Trade. The export meat trade has now settled down to c.i.f. orders from England, instead of companies freezing on owners' account, and is not now of a speculative and hazardous nature as formerly. This mode of conducting the business has two very great advantages-first, in owners selling for cash here, and second, in not running the risk of an overstocked market in England. The opening up of regular foreign markets will steady prices, and the almost complete depletion of the New South Wales fattening paddocks must create a very keen demand for our store cattle on the breaking up of the drought.

At last year's Conference I pointed out that, on the whole, it would be far more profitable to Queensland if our cattle-owners were able to dispose of their produce locally instead of sending them over to the other colonies by methods which are both expensive and wasteful. The erection of new works and the increased capacity of those already existing have now put us in the position of being able to deal with the greater part of the annual cast from our herds. A few stations are so situated that Adelaide will always be their natural market. Chilled meat trade is being successfully established with New South Wales, and, in spite of the heavy tariff, some shipments to Melbourne have not been entirely unremunerative. The stock tax and the tariff on meat, which now press so hardly on the Victorian consumer, are almost doomed, and, if I may judge from the debates during the last session of Parliament in Melbourne, they cannot be maintained much longer.

Extract.-A warning note should be given to those engaged in the meat export trade to export none but extract of the very best quality. Australia came very rapidly to the front in the extract trade, but has as rapidly declined in favour, so much so that some of the principal manufacturers of it desire to place their stocks on the English market without any marks which shall identify them with Australia.

It now only rests for me to formally declare this Conference opened. In doing so I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Mackay. Particularly am I glad to do so, as I know that in welcoming you I express the feeling not only of myself but also of my constituents. Both on my own account and also on that of my many friends here, I may express the hope that, while judiciously combining pleasure with business, you will be able to leave with a useful record of the latter, and with kindly recollections of the town and district, and with the people amongst whom you have held your third Conference. (Applause.)

The CHAIRMAN stated that the appointment of committees was the next business to be dealt with, and it was agreed that the most necessary action for immediate purposes was to form a committee to deal with the various resolutions passed.

RESOLUTIONS.

On the motion of Mr. McLEAN, the following resolutions were then carried:

That delegates shall not speak more than once on each subject, and not longer than five minutes; the reader of a paper to be allowed ten minutes to reply.

That the following constitute a Committee of Resolutions:-Messrs. E. Denman, F. W. Peek, W. Deacon, J. E. Noakes, and C. J. Booker; Mr. F. W. Peek to be convener.

Mr. DEACON (Allora): Before we proceed to business I should like to thank the Mayor, the President of the Pioneer River Farmers' Association, and yourself, Mr. Chairman, for the most hearty welcome we delegates have received in Mackay. I do not think it is necessary to move a special motion, but still I think it incumbent that one of us should express these words of thanks. Mr. E. DENMAN (Etowri, Mackay) then read the following paper on

THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AND ITS REQUIREMENTS.

Mr. PRESIDENT and GENTLEMEN,-For the third time the P.R.F.A. has chosen me as one of its delegates to our annual Conference. I have taken the "Sugar Industry and its Requirements as the title of the paper I am about to read. I purpose to review some of the many suggestions offered both by kindly friends and censorious critics as means which would afford canegrowers a large measure of relief. I also intend to offer suggestions myself which a long experience and anxious thought convince me will, if carried into effect, not only render the sugar industry more stable and more profitable to those whose all is invested in it, and to those who are at the present time dependent upon it--some 22,000 souls-but will also lead to a much greater expansion than can ever be hoped for so long as it is impeded by unwise, if not hostile, legislation. I am further satisfied that they would hasten, slowly and surely, the desiderata devoutly wished by so many, and by none more fervently than the canegrowers themselves-namely, the substituting of white for alien labour, at a fair rate of wages. On the present occasion I do not intend to confine myself entirely to the farmers' needs. I intend to also enter a plea on behalf of that very necessary adjunct of the farmer, the sharer of his woes and sorrows, which is about all most of us have to share with her-the farmer's wife. To accomplish this great change, ample time must be given and wise counsels must prevail. Sacrifices both of sentiment and substance will have to be made, and it behoves those into whose hands the power of determining the future of others is entrusted to make these sacrifices as light as possible. Sentiment is all very well if it is not at variance with fact, and legislation, equally as much as farming or any other business, to be successful, must be based on business principles, not on sentiment. During my connection with the sugar industry I have had personal experience in two instances of the disastrous results which followed attempts to incorporate sentiment with canegrowing. Sentimental legislation was some years ago forced upon the canegrower. Everyone in this room,

everyone in Queensland, knows that it failed. It proved the very thing that it was intended to disprove; it resulted in ruin to some, and loss to all; and those who wrought it had themselves to rescind their own measure. Surely, after this, canegrowers were reasonably entitled to expect that they would be allowed the quiet enjoyment and rational use of the labour their opponents had proved to be necessary! Many people are under the impression that canegrowing was started with white labour, and that the early planters (now no more) substituted kanaka labour on the sole grounds that it was cheaper. This is not only unjust to the planters, but utterly wrong in fact. When Queensland broke the bonds which bound her to New South Wales-bonds which I sincerely hope (apart from all personal self-interest) will never be reforged-it was early seen that her future prosperity depended in a great measure upon her ability to utilise her vast area of tropical lands for the purpose of cane and coffee cultivation. The first Parliament of Queensland placed upon our statutes an Act under which free grants of land were offered to induce people to embark in these industries. It also placed at the same time other Acts thereon, under which the necessary field labour required by these industries could be obtained not only from the South Sea Islands but from the East Indies also. And the very fact that during the twenty-five years the East Indies Coolie Act was on our statutes not a single employer took advantage of it, proves most conclusively that the employers of alien labour, from its inception, were actuated by a desire only to introduce the class of labour bound to create work for white labourers, and least likely to come into competition with them, and refrained from introducing a class which most certainly would have done so, notwithstanding the fact that their introduction would have cost much less, and that they would otherwise have been much cheaper to the planters.

If the intelligent, enterprising, and undesirable Jap has of late years been introduced into our canefields, it was forced upon employers owing to the uncertainty of and the harassing restrictions placed upon employers of kanaka labour.

In

In

So imperative is reliable labour to the successful carrying on of the sugar industry, that even in the West Indies, with their large creole population, Coolie immigration has to be carried on on a large scale. British Guiana, making about 110,000 tons of sugar, has a Coolie population of 100,000. Queensland, making 120,000 tons, has a kanaka population of about 7,000. It may interest some to learn that during ten years the births of kanakas in Queensland were 482; the number returned to the islands was 415, leaving only 67 unaccounted for, of which number death must have claimed some. Under favourable conditions, Queensland must soon seek a market for her sugars beyond the Australian colonies, and enter into competition with other sugar-producing countries in the world's markets. Let us compare the labour conditions of Queensland with those of British Guiana. I select that particular colony because I have resided there, and can speak from experience. Queensland, the kanaka is introduced for three years, the whole of the expenses of introduction being borne by the introducer. The cost of introduction and return passage is £30, which, divided over three years, equals £10 per annum. Of this sum £24 has to be paid in advance, and a bond with sureties given for the return passage money. British Guiana the Government introduces the Coolies for the planters (who, unlike the farmers of Queensland, are all wealthy men). The cost of introduction is £10, only a portion of which is paid by the planter, the payment being extended over three years. The term of indenture is five years, the cost of return passage, which can only be claimed after ten years' service, is, say, another £10, or £20 in all, which, divided over the ten years, is £2 per annum-just one-fifth of what the Queensland farmer has to pay. In all other sugar-growing countries, all work is done by contract, the labourers providing their own food. In Queensland the kanakas get both rations and wages whether they work or play. I have known instances of kanakas being sick for eighteen months, yet every six months, when the inspector visited the estate to witness payment of wages, this islander had to be paid the same as those who had never lost a day. It is extremely hard and most unjust that we should not only have to provide a sick islander with food, medical attendance, and medicine free of charge, but pay unearned wages also. The S.S. Islander in Queensland is protected in a manner which the most democratic Government on the face of the earth would never dream of extending to the white man. Many delegates to the Gatton Conference could scarcely credit the statements made by my co-delegate and myself with reference to this labour and the iniquitous burdens placed upon their employers. Some of you were there and heard the statements. I am now here before you, and am prepared to more than justify every statement I then made. I trust, gentlemen, that during your stay here you will embrace the opportunity of making yourself personally acquainted with this most important phase of our troubles. My suggestion is that the term of indenture be extended to five years. This, while doing wrong to