SOUTH AFRICA

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1536, 7 August 1901, Page 23

SOUTH AFRICA

THE QUEENSLAND PREMIER'S

VIEWS.

Mr Bennet Burleigh, the "Daily Telegraph" war correspondent, writes:—l had for travelling companion with me the other day the Right Hon. Robert Philp, Premier of Queensland. He has journeyed hither to see one of his sons, an Australian. volunteer, who, I regret to say, ia down with enteric in one of the hospitals. The lad, happily, is convalescent, and it is hoped that with care he may now recover, although still very weak. (Mr Philp ’and his son have returned to Australia.) Mr Philp's next duty is, in fulfilment of a 'promise, to go upon the trek for a short time with the Queensland contingent. As they are with General Plumer. 1 Uope to have tne pleasure of ms companionsnip and drive hmr from raiineaa into the Australian camp. ixemg ieliaw townsmen, we have found a goou deal to talk over besides the war. Mr 'Philp I=s. impressed with the possibilities for development in the new colonies, more partici?lariy the Transvaal. I own that at tiaa season, thanks to the superabundance of rains—it seems to rain more or less every otiier day this s©ason--the country looks charming, luxuriantly green and restful. Even the Orange River Colony, hard by the railroad, is no longer brown and arid, but is_ speckled with herbage and mapped out with ponds and fields- The formerly rare fountains, otherwise 'horse ponds, little dams, are now frequent and very big dams. No longer is the air filled and thq noonday 'sun obscured as by a veritable snowstorm, with interminable flights of termites, winged ants and all devouring locusts. Cold and Tyet have told their tale in the destruction, no doubt, of untold billions of the 39 insect pests. But green as tne veraure is, the grass upo» the high veldt ground Bioernrontem is aa patchy and scraggy as a worn out piece a/ London public park turf. **JNo," says Mr Philp, “it is no use offering men, Australians anyway, 170 acres of farming land in either of these colonies to come and settle. -They can do quite as well, perhaps twice as well, 'at home in Queensland. But if there is gold around Pretoria and elsewhere in the Transvaal in the quantities I hear, and it is found upon further prospecting to be go, Australians will ruskhither. They know J a good deal about mining and gold getting, probably quit® as much as the people know here, and gold will tempt men into any country, and to a climate far hotter than I ever'hope to experience. Five or seven thousand Australians would swoop down within a year upon this neighbourhood if gold is found. And they will rot be an undesirable popu-> lation, like so many of those I have seen in this country, even in Johannesburg and Pretoria. The hope is that th© laws will be framed so as to give the average man a fair chance of acquiring property. -If the thing is thrown into tffe hands of big syndicates the country cannot benefit to the same extent. Personally, lam in favour of a tax upon 'the mines, making them helg to pay for the £200,000,000 the war is going to cost England. Why should her people be forced to pay that vast sum, largely expended in the interest of the mines? Is Queensland dynamite is free, but we impose a 5 per cent, tax upon mines and get it without difficulty. The vast derived from South African mining could well afford to'be taxed, for the war has resulted in an enormous addition to the value and security of all these properties.' 1 "