IMPRESSIONS OF QUEENSLAND

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1338, 16 January 1912, Page 8

IMPRESSIONS OF QUEENSLAND

AX KX-XEW ZKAMNDKU'S OI'TXIOXS All px-Nom , Zi'alandrr. whii is now .<cttloil in Queouslmid, Mr. A. ('. Thuinxm, is i>l prcsuut oil. a visit to New Zealand, having conic over for the purpose til* purchasing tome TOtijrl i—H Leicester slipcp, ■with which to found ii Unci; 011 his fiirni of 2300 acres at. Kuimkillenbuii. When he arrived he-iu Mr. 'i'hom.-oii also intendod to purchase some Clydesdale stallions for Australia, hut since his arrival he lias boon through a revere illms?; ami lie does not now feel equal to the task of taking the Clydesdales home with him. It is understood that: he will purchase the sheep in the North Island, as he can fret tin ,, ; 1 cheaper in the North lhan in the Houtli. At the present, time, Mr. Thomson is ill TimaiM, recovering from his illness. During tlio course of a. con'vorsation with 11 representative of the 'J'iinnru "Herald," the visitor said (hat Australia, was very prosperous just; now. It was, ho believed, working "up to a boom; it wns in the position now that Xew Zealand was in ten years ago. It. was a difficult thing to get houses built, or even timber with which to build them, and labour of all classes was very hard to get. A good many people said that it was a series of very prosperous years which had brought this about, but' Australia ha.l not had au exceptionally prosperous time, during the past, five years —the past five years had, in fact, scarcely been up to the ordinary. The fact of the mattev was that Australia had a set back for a. number of years, and was now recovering: from it. Things Brisk in Queensland, Queensland, said Mr. Thomson, was getting its full share of the prosperity. Everything was very brisk there. They were getting an enornv.ms number of immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, Kussiu, Holland, and Germany, but chiefly from England and .Scotland. All the available passenger ships were fully taxed, and intending immigrants from England had to book six mouths ahead to get a passage, to Queensland. About three months ago one vessel took 1400 immigrants (0 Queensland. The people were absorbed as fast they went, there, and there was no sign of unemployment. The Government carried out a vigorous and very good system of land settlement, and tliis attr.ietcd many hundreds of people to the country. Land Settlement. Different classes of land were provided for the settlers. There was some bush land which has given them nothing; other better land could Ire bought at up to 10s. per acre 0:1 terms extending over II). years; and resumed estate could bo bought at from ,E2 IDs. to .£5 per acre on payment of 10 per cent, cash, nothing for the next four years, and the balance to lie paid off in payments extending over twenty years. I.ast.\vear the Queensland Government settled six million acres of laud, and the year before millions, or 1U million acres in two " years. Mr. Thomson said that his farm'was part of a resumed estate; it was all flat, alongside the railway, all ploughable, and would grow cereal crops as well as lucerne to perfection. He intended to put down another 201) acres in lucerne this ■year, and to keep on sowing until he had tha whole farm in this kind of feed. Rainfall and the Crops. The rainfall last year up to November was very light, with the result that a good many of the grain crops were failures, but since November the country had taken on an entirely different appearance, and feed was now very plentiful. It grew very quickly there after a rain. When ho left home he had a mob of 'good storo cattle on the farm, but since his arrival here he had received a cablegram from his son that the butchers had taken a pood many of them as fats, and a draft of fats had also been sent.to the freezing works. Tie mentioned this to indicate how rapidly the feed grew and cattle fattened after a good rain. New Zealanders Quite Satisfied. Continuing. Mr. Thomson said the talk about New Zealanders wanting to leave Australia was all nonsense. He was very satisfied with his holding, arid- if he wanted more land to-morrow he would buy in Queensland. lie went "in-for a good deal of cropping now, but intended, •as soon as the whole farm was down in lucerne to make a grazing place of it. Tho English Leicester sheep which ,he would take, back with him he intended to cross with the . Australian merino, and thus get a good wool and mutton sheep, and good fat lambs. In having tho merino to cross with the longwools, Mr. Thomson considers the .Australians have a great advantage over their fellow-fanners in New Zealand, and on this point he is in thorough agreement with Professor Loivrie, who has'had ex-, perience in both countries. The Future of Lamb-Raising. Tho best ewe is a halfbred or threequarterbred, and using the English Leicester ram, with the' advantauo of the blood from the excellent: merino sheep available in Australia, Mr. Thomson considers that .lamb-raising in Australia should have a bright future. He qualified that remark with the statement that the necessary works for treatment should be available. In New Zealand (ho breeder has (he advantage that if he does not like the price ottered bv the buver lie can deal direct with the works. That is not so in parts of Australia, and especially on parts of the Darling Downs, where lie is settled at present. On the wool side. Mr. Thomson save his support to the En"lisli Leicester for crossing purnoses. The Lincoln is regarded as tho best of all lii-tre wools, but the two breeds are chisely'reliitcd. Mr. Thomson is enthusiastic over the wool which results from the with tho English Leicester ram. Id - . Thomson, before leaving Australia on his present trip, made known his in'tention to import snni<» ElHis.ll Leicester*, and the "Sydney Mail" said that "it will bo interesting to observe the effect in the fairly dry climate to which Mr. Thomson will take his little stud of I.eiessters, as compared with the comparatively moist climate from which they will ,be brought in New Zealand. ' Tli» chances are that the advantages clniined on tlu- mutton side of this oro=s will r»neat on the wool sirlo, for tlio breeder will not only be workini on the large-framed and heolthv typo of merino, but, sheep with a tendency to produce wool. It is difficult to smv ryactly at this stage what the effect' will be, but therfl are. eond r.lnuices of success. Mr. Thomson lui.s already exi;»rimciited with some halfbred Lincolns. which' were tho only ones available; and although the season was very dry, lie states tint the result wn« splendid'. II; was nartly this f»H which determined him to go over to tl>o Dominion and purchase a nuinh»r of English for stud purposes."