"THE OTHER SIDE."

Mataura Ensign, 21 July 1909, Page 4

"THE OTHER SIDE."

WHAT QUEENSLAND OFFERS. FOK FAItMEItS TO PONDER. (By Mr H. Pemblo, AVaikaka.) .No. ill. One of tho best moans available to rapidly gain some idea of tho qualities ot the soil and climato of Queensland lor settlement is to uso tho railways that run buck from the sea-board. One can obtain a return ticket at Bona a tree t station and take the south train that loaves in the morning and journey on leisurely to Cumiamulla, over GOU miles to the south-ivest. One can stop over at the larger stations and have a good look at the country on tho journey. Ipswich, the old capital, on the Brisbane River, is a sort of old world town, it was hero in tho early days that the saddest ol all sad stories of Queensland's past might be told. The city is rather a thriving one, with- a population said to number over 20,000. Thore is some good land along tho Hats of the river, but one, notices that very little seems to be made out of most of it. Most people have heard of the splendid lucerne flats of Ipswich with soil a thousand feet deep, and where tho lucerne grows Lko tho native gum trees! This is all fudge. Most, of the land is dry and hungering for water; when it is tilled it is carelessly cultivated, and tho fences and buildings are mure carelessly attended to still. The weeds, however, thrive almost everywhere. To seo Cation, a small town further down the line, is well worth stopping over for a few days. This is the district where the great Queensland murder ease of a. few years ago took place, when young Murphy and his two sisters were found killed in a bush section near the town under circumstances that, cast quite a gloom over the district for many years. There is same splendid soil around Gatton, hut n largo proportion of it lias been and is still heavily timbered and lias evidently retarded settlement very much in consequence. Tho Gatton Agricultural College is some four miles from tho township and is well worthy of n special visit. Tho visitors will find the master and officials of the college kindness and civility itself and ever anxious to afford all the information possible.. Tho live slock kept at tho college is of the best to 1)0 seen in the State, while the various descriptions of plants and cereals that are grown on tho farm attached to the college afford the most practical lesson that can he had of the capabilities of the soil as to its productiveness.

foowoomba. After leaving Gatton tho next ijoint. of call of any importance, is Tootvoomba. Here the visitor may well put in a lew days, lho town of fo< ivoomba is situated oil the high tableland overlooking lho great, Kvisbane plain through winch the traveller has just passed. From here one can visit the various districts in ihe neighborhood. Toowoemba is considered the most important: inland town in the -:outh of Queensland and the greatest agricultural centre of the Slate. V'rom i point a conplo of miles or so Irom the town, known as I'icnic. Point, a very line view may bo had of the great lirisaano plain so-called. The dry, super'icated nature of tlie country may bo •learly realised by viewing the extensive area of country that stretches away .is far as the eye can reach towards tho lortli and east. West aiid south the : and is of a somewhat different nature —rolling ridges and rounded hills of iow elevation reach away out beyond oio's lino of vision. Around the city of T;>o\vooml)a may be seen the evidence of decay as well as of progress. Tumbledown homesteads, dilapidated buildings, rotten fences, land overgrown will: brier and weeds, meet the oyo in almost every direction. On the other hand, many well-la id-out gardens, carefully-tilled farms and well-appoint-ed resiliences aro to be met with. The city itself is equally contradictory of tho old and the new. There is a firstclass railway station which is somewhat dilUcult, to work, evidently on account of the naturo of the approaches; and hanks, hotels, shops, etc., of an up-to-date description rub sides with old tumbledown places that aro a disgrace to a town holding itself as high as Toou'oomba docs, fa ruling, grazing, dairying and fruit-growing are carried on successfully around here. The i'oo- , wooinha high plains aro noted for their production of pumpkins. Pigs and sheep and large cattle are said to do well on them. The fanners feed them to stock much like Maoriland farmers feed turnips. Much of the land is of excellent, quality, but the prices range about as high as for land oil the rich plains of South Canterbury. Xo man nil it a knowledge of (he variations of climate in Queensland would ovor think of exchanging situations and paying equal prices for perhaps inferior land. "Starvation Glen."

The visitor should not neglect to pay a visit to "Starvation Glen," Otherwise known as V'anvick. if is situated on tho main overland line at the liaso of the btanthorpe ranges, it was here that, a poor stranded New Zcalander found a friend ami confidant in the l|rimo Minister of tho Commonwealth. The one was just our of the wilderness; the other thinking of entering on the journey. A\arwiek is a poor one-horse town whose population still talks of "the good old times" when tile tin mines were nil working and the millers wore sending down their tin. Tho miners called file place "Starvation (den" on account of the miserable country around it. A narrow Hat of insignificant proportions running along the upper waters of (he Coiulamine Creek, hemmed in by the granite country on the one side and the sandy terrace washes and stunted gums on the other, and cursed with the prickly pear of Queensland sorrow and shame.

it was here that- the (.ovemmeni nsett to tind employment- for its tired unemployed. Hut tlip "Warwick folk have iJi'cat faiih, very yreat. faith indeed. Some few years ago a young man win) had seen a "bunyip"' in 0110 of the ball-dried-np holes m 1 heir river (!) made such good haste into !ou n In acquaint tho peopio of the wonderful beast- that lie fell dead in one of the streets, and the people said that it, was the spirit of tho binivip thai had interfered to prevent the youth from telling of its dwelling-place! The ' htuiyip is a wonderful creature in Queensland, and moro especiallv at Warwick. Destruction of tho Bush. Uno noticeable featuro nljrmi. 1 he majority of Queensland' townships that, are huilt on I he banks of, or are near, ereelts and dry rivers is that tho people have religiously out down the trees and bushes that ouce upon a time shaded the water from tho tierce rays of the sun and the winds. Nature is'over con. servative, hut man iias been stark, raving mad in his wild destructive folly in destroying the sheltering fringe of greenery along tho courses of the rivers and streams of this great. eounLi'v. Thivtv-fi ve years ago tho residents of Warwick had a lovely stream of fresh water running pact their doors, 11 ml now. alas! th.-y lun e a chain ol dirty watcrholcs in the winter and a (Iried-up watercourse in summer. The banks are hare and sun-dried and the course is marked l.y riio bones of animals, rotten logs and decaying stumps. Such a pitir 111 Uanstoi illation —the work of only a few years! Tho Big tstatcs. A short branch line runs front Warwick n> Kiliarncy. oiV the main line, and Kiliarncy is we 11 worth a visit. There are some prosperous l'anners anil some good land 111 the district, hut tho hitler is practically all alienated and precious it'.v opportunities ocur iV-r securing a cheap farm. 'l'he early birds have caught all the worms and the (lover.uncut will have to repurchase more land if it is desired to increase the >ettlenient t,> any large exunii. One of •he great mistakes that Queensland land administrators have made in the past has been the selling of the bush lands of the State in large areas. To get on to the Cuunainulla-Brisbane, or the (Ifeat Western line, it is nceessarv 10 reirace one's steps to Too woo in ha. After leaving Tootvoomba the traveller passes through one of the lincst agricultural districts of the State. The land is mainlv composed 01 a rich volcanic loa it., and for some- miles the country is of a pilling nature with hero and tilers slight elevations, rounded hills and extensive plains. On reaching Dolby one is fairly in the pla in country and will hove had a pretty fair j glimpse of the prickly pear evil on the , Conserving the Water. Tho traveller should ceitiiinlj- stop

over for a fen - da t v.«» nt Doil\v. The di.— trict was, settled more than *JO year*? ago. In the early years the country was almost, entirely in the hands of the : squatters, and Dolby wax merely a , squatter'* post, town. In the course of years, however, small areas ol land t uvro r.etiJcd and cultivated, but the I own was slow of growth. Tho pastoral industry was the mainstay of the district, and of the people. The recurring droughts and the over-present dread of a waler famine militated much against advancement mid permanent | prosperity. To see (he vail- plains in j a w«-t season one wmld se;»reely think ! of a time when water would he hardly I procurable. The very (in.-t tiling new! settlers in Queensland think ol' is to; make provision for a rainy day. tanks or wells, .'cooped <»u- of tinground by the aid of horse 1 .- and bullocks, are made, having lon a drains that run oui in various <Tirecrions. .sometimes for inile.v, to h ad the storm wuter into the tanli or well thus formed. The artesian vaier, however, !ia>. added a new chapter to settlement i' l the west. Still, i:. is scarcely within the means of small Kctiiers to provide \ heinselves with expen: ive artesian wells, and therefore Ihe cheaper tank; is the main .standby. The pi-np!.- <>f i : Dolby have an artesian weii, and visitors may of the and energy ;of tho re.si(lenis by ])ayin;j; a visn- to the dilapidated box they have, to wash themselvt:!, in. Hut ih»v s»*areity of water has innnrcl Ihe jjeuplo of tiic baek country to and urine-, and for that, reason, pu>sihjy, the. want. <>[ proper baths is hardly misled. Some of the residents, however, do visit tin* box for a balh oeonMonaliy anrl then tho first to arrive jios^-cssion, and the next man to cosne must wai; hi-*, turn. There is a sanatorium near the township on the plain to the north, \vhirh_ i.-; ah evidence that thon' qualilied to .iinb-- consider the rliniale ol Dolby a highly suitable one for Mich an institution. ]i is not altogether an to a dbtru-l to court ihe , erection of these institutions. Disease ■is very liable to spread anion-:; tho ■ healthy under certain unfavorable con- ; ditions and tlio.e utifavorahltwondilion:. > are not wantinp; in a few places.