IMPRESSIONS OF QUEENSLAND

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9106, 27 March 1908, Page 2

IMPRESSIONS OF QUEENSLAND

(By a Marton Resident.) SIR. My brother has sent me a copy or two of your enlarged paper. I must congratulate you on the improvement. lam pleased that you are now working simplex machines, as this means a lot less labour, besides you, will be able to turn the papers out with despatch. I before long you will have to other improvements to your ialuable paper, if. as I understand, Marton is still going ahead so well. I was sorry to see that the boroug rejected the loan proposal for street and 'footpath improvements, as i am sure if Marton wishes to keep going ahead, they must have good streets and footpaths, as otherwise bad paths give a town such a poor aphas improved a good deal since I came to Queensland. There is plenty of rain falling here at the present time, more than some of the small landholders care for as these grow sweet potatoes and oth vegetables, together with pmeapples for the market, but this is usually their rainy season, so everything is looking well with plenty of has a population of a little over half _ a million, the revenue for the eight months just closed is £2,912,972, the expenditure £2,502,748, excess of revenue over expenditure is £410,224. Queensland has a fairly good railway service, there being over 3000 miles of railways, and travelling is fairly cheap for long distances. This summer has not been exceptionally warm, the average temperature for _,-nsbane being about 85, and it has_ not been much over 93. Of course it is very much warmer higher up north and out west, where it has been as big i as 110 in the shade. We are told it does not rain here in the winter mncb, and when we arrived here on the Ist November it bad not rained for several weeks before. „ Brisbane has a population or 182,000; it has a fair electric tram service, and water supply, bub X am sorry to say it has no sewerage; m fact I have not come across any town here with a sewerage system. Brisbane is not a city for up-to-dateness like Wellington, neither does there appear to he the amount of business transacted that there is in Wellington. The Government have some ve'y -fine stone buildings, especially the House of Parliament. and_ the newly-elected House is just sitting. It is composed of three parties, namely, Labourites, Socialist and anti-Socialists, all of equal strength, and that makes it a very unsatisfactory governing body. lam atraid they will not be able to do much good. , . The Darling Downs country is of a very large area, You can go 100 miles or more and still be on level ground. It has in most places black soil 10 feet deep, and is excellent growing country. They can «row lucerne splendidly,_ which can bo cut every five or six weeks, so they can get six or seven crops on, but there are not many roads, as there is no metal about. —x ours trU ly JOHN L ZAJONSKOWSKI. Brisbane, March 18th.