QUEENSLAND AS IT IS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9171, 15 June 1908, Page 7

QUEENSLAND AS IT IS.

(By Darling Downs Native). ,

I notice a number of farmers are leaving tha Dominion with a view of taking up laud in Queensland. Being a native of that country, and having a personal knowledge of all the laud offered by agents for sale, I can i'airly claim to have a knowledge of the difficulties they will have to labour under. The railway fares and'freights are fifty per cent, higher than here The long distances between important towns, consequently markets, are a heavy handicap. In wet weather the roads’are almost impassable. only short distances being metalled. Even walking is a matter of difficulty owin a to the sticky nature of the black soil. Due has only to go a hundred yards and his boots are about three times the natural size. In dry weather I have seen huge cracks in the soil varying in width from one to five inches, and frequently my horse has turned- turtle through getting his feet in these cracks. The hot winds which sweep across the'scorched plains are beyond description. One could hardly believe that there were any teetotallers there, every visage being of a vivid crimson, the nose of a boiled lobster hue. The plagues of Egypt were mere trifles compared with those of Queensland. Swarms of flies are a source of annoyance to man and beast throughout the day, the mosquitoes taking the night shift, never agitating for shorter hours. This is iu a dry season. A wet season must be left for imagination. Snakes, dike the poor, are with you always, except for their short sleeping season iu the colder months. The writer has killed snakes on the verandah of the “Yandilla” and “Brookstead” homesteads, also in the town of Toowoomba, a place of ten thousand inhabitants. Centipedes, scorpions, adders, iguanas, and spiders which vary in size from tarantulas of about three inches, to the black redstriped spider which resembles the katipo iu size and poisonous bite. Most of these are inmates of the dwelling-houses. An encounter with a nest of wasps or hornets would be a thing to be long rem inhered. Ants enter largely into o -Ts life, especially greenheads and bulldog ants. If they get on one’s person they make their presence felt; the more you squeeze, the more they “bite. All manner of precautions have to be taken to prevent the small black house-ants from getting at the food. If they even walk over it, it cannot be eaten. The white ants feed on timber, and will soon eat you out of house and home, if the fleas and bugs have not eady driven you out. Such a I Bkrishing industry is “white ant pa-oying” that there are now iers of experts at the game. 1 is©* advertisemets as “Dr. Wil- % *’ Death to White Ants,’’ \i Drive ’em Cue,’’ or . umVfin every newspaper. Q&The frequent recurrences of bought a r © well-known, and a rmer who is considered fairly sv'ealthy is often a mined man, after Bne of these visitations, from which Darling Downs suffer iu common ►with other districts. Many farmers ground Pittsworth, Domerville, Dalby,- and other districts, well-Uuown-to the writer, are poorer today than they were twenty years ago. All the rivers and creeks, which will be looking exceedingly Well now, are merely dry beds, ™\th occasional water holes, in jpiioh stock -bog, when endeavouring 10-get 1 a- drink. Men patrol these 'watpr courses to pull out bogged beep and report when horses and nattlo are bogged. The Oondamine, is the principal river in the n ,iing Downs, is a great offender in rhis" JpsjjocL In times of flood : this river overflows many miles of i the land offor-4. , I "Vast areas of the >v*ns are in- I rested with * 1 prickly pear’' through | which neither man nor beast can i penetrate. The cost in C learing is more than tha land is worth. The only way to get rid of it is to cut it dbwn*, pile it on wood, and burn it. Every leaf left on the ground becomes a plant. “Bathurst Burr,” and other 1 noxious weeds, which have to be destroyed, are items of considerable expense. Then we have tiio “tick fever” and “red water” in cattle, which is rapidly spreading over Queensland. During my recent visit to Queensland I found these pests, around Brisbane itself, the only cure being the dipping of cattle the same as sheep are done here, but the dipping has to be done fortnightly, in the summer months. Marsupials and dingos have to be reckoned with, the former destroying crons and grass, and the latter worrvingt he sheep. ’ The fruit pests destroy enormous quantities of fruit. The dreaded “fiuib fly” is so common as to scarcely be noticed. No restrictions can be too severe to prevent its introduction into New Zealand. The scaly pests have simply taken possession of all kinds of trees, whether forest or fruit. Laud is certainly offered at a low Bgure there. Now what is the reason of this? Queensland proluce is practically bringing about the same prices in the I ondon market as New Zealand 1 Surely [and obtains its value from what it Produces. Take tha “jimbour” State as an example. This estate Whs taken up by the Bell famny, about fifty years ago. A railway line runs t through it, and yet now, after fifty years of occupation, the Government resume it at a valuation of £3 10s per acre. If large fortunes are to be made there how is it that this, and most of the other large estates are in the hands of teh banks. X can name several who lost their all iu endeavouring to farm these lands. X cannot name one who has been able to retire on the wealth he had. derived from the land. I myself was ■'commissioned by a friend be sell two sections in Brisbane, and one in a farming district dose to on which seven years rates were due, I submitted them to an auctioneer for valfeation, aud he reported that they would uot even realise the rates. This will give you some idea of -the stagnation existing there. Of course, there fire some ac.vanta<*e« The land is all naturally grassed. The short winter mouths leave a long growing season, -amber abounds everywhere, lush are plentiful in the fresh water rivera and do not have to be acclimatised. There is agood deal of native game -—quail, '-turkeys, ducks, pigeons, geese and other smll birds. Toma- i toes nassion fruit, melons., and Gape | goosObeffies are to be fonmi growing . wild in scrubs, ami grapes and | oitr-us‘fruits axe ea-y of culture. j

To sum up—-the two countries have been much about the same time in occupation. There must be some reason for the glaring contrast in land values, and the reasons are : 1. Liability to drought. 2. Pests of all descriptions. S. The enervating climate. —Wairarapa Daily Times.