COTTON IN QUEENSLAND.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1732, 24 April 1913, Page 10

COTTON IN QUEENSLAND.

ENORMOUS POSSIBILITIES. liii ITISII GOVKIiN'MTAT'S COSTLY ll.XPJ'll! ITU i;.\t. lively cnuiiTry iu Kurope i- scouring the earth i'or places in which to grow cotton. Tlio British Government has jiM. guaranteed three millions for experiments in I hi. Sudan. ,-;i in the possibility of a cotton shortage regarded, anil in Geruia.iiy, the groat: inauiifacturing ompirc'of liurope, a ,-imilar anxiety for .-uppiies is felt. Oilier countries have lo deal willi exactly the same position. Tlio world's denryid for cotton is <111it<• in excess uf the siijinly. Mr. Tom (larnetl, of (,'lilheioe, near the meuibcr of the Dominions Cuinniis-ion now in Australia, who K i\\iiert iu niatler> opperlaining to the Lancashire cotton industry, had these I'r.cls iu mind when visiling Omenslauii. and he has come away cunvinced that the prosperity of Queen-hind could be very materially increased if the Stale could only be persuaded to take up cotton-growing with the. same whole-hearted seriousness that siio has taken up other branches of primary culture. And lie agrees that what apples to Queensland should also apply to many portions of Mew South Wales. Fortune's ar? waiting the men who can grow cotton.

Discussing the .subject recently with a. represcntalive of the "Sydney Daily Telegraph/' .Mr. Garnett—who has direct family associations witli Australia, his daughter being the wife of Mr. Geoffrey vjfino, of the Melbourne "Age," the hero in a recent burglar incident—expressed himself as having been very greatly impressed with the fertility of Queensland's soil.

"If Queen-land may be taken as a fair sample of what is possible in tho rest of Australia." said Jlr. Garnett, "I don't know what mare the country wanls. You have the sun, you have the soil. Not many countries have both." And, turning to the subject of cottgu-growins, -Air. Garnett pointed out that in Texas, probably the chief cotton-growing country of the jvorhl, cotton was not grown on large estates. It w.as essentially a crop for the man with a small area at his command, and I'ron'i that point uf view alone was doubly worthy of consideration in Australia.

"Would there be a good market forgot ton grown on a large scale in Australia?' the interviewer asked.

"Then; is a splendid market for'every bit of cotton that can bo produced anywhere," replied-Mr. Garnett,- "and," lie went on, "."penkins purely as an individual onlooker, finite apart from my position as a member ot' the Commission, I lie point brought home to me most, vividly during idy ,-Uy ill (hat part of Australia is thai there is a source of wealth available which, in proper hands, ought almost to rival llie tremendous wealth-producing capacity of the merino." in other respects Queensland appealed lo Mr. darnelt as a counlry possessed of great latent prosperity. TJie cross-cutting system of railways ho admired as- being the oiileonie of wise forethought on sonietxjdy's part, and he had al-u a good word for the Queensland seaport system.-

"What the commercial nuin wants in every case," he said, "is to get liis produce on to the water at the quickest possible moment. Water carriage is so much cheaper than any other form of carriage; the, man without it is at a distinct disadvantage as compared with the man who has it. Queensland has a well-arranged coastline, a matter of great importance to the commerce of any country, and I can only speak of (he State enthusiastically. I have seen 110 other portions of Australia. so that I am ignorant of what! possibilities there are elsewhere. There uiny bs possibilities as good as those in Queensland elsewhere, or there may bo better."

Another paint appealed to Mv. Garnett, perhaps, the most forcibly of anv—the sparsiiy of population. It was difficult to imagine, he -n : .d, that a country in which tho whole of Great Britain, could be placed, he did not know how many times," could be occupied by such a small number of people.