A QUEENSLAND VISITOR

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14223, 14 June 1910, Page 3

A QUEENSLAND VISITOR

MR. A. C. THOMSON. I Mr A. C. Thomson, at one time!! °" ner Aibury Park, Albury, and ":j who afterwards resided in Timaru, ! where he t-ook a prominent part in the format-ion of the South Canterbury. Dairy Company, is at present on a visit ■ to Canterbury arid Otago, having come : over lrom liis new home at lvaimkellenbun, Queensland, where he owns a farm of 2300 acres. He was ill Timaxu yesterdaj;. In tho course of au interesting cliat with a "Heraid" reporter, Mr Thomson said lie was well satisfied with his Queensland land. Settlement was go-: iug on there very rapidly, people from • all parts oi the world now making for, that part of Australia on account of the flood quality or the land, combined with its low price. Even Victorians were going to Queensland now in large mimbers, land having become as dear in Victoria as it is in Xew Zealand —far too dear in his opinion. Germans were also making i'or Queensland, and they I made very excellent settlers. As giving 'i some idea of how the district in which ; he lived was growing, Mr Thomson said 5 I that during the past eighteen months there had been huilt a railway station, a general store, a butcher's shop, two large jjrivato hotels (.which so far had been unable to obtain a license), a ! blacksmith's shop, a school (-10 children ' are already attending, it), a public hall and library (called over there a School oi' Art), and ten or twelve houses. "When he first went there the only buildings were a shepherd's hut and a little place where cream was received. Mr Thomson's land comes right up to the township of Kaimkellenbun, and his house is within a stone's throw of the. railway station. So far, he has with his son, Mr Shaw Thomson, gone in exclusively for dairying, but he finds that the labour trouble is as acute in

Australia as it is in New Zealand, and by reason of the difficulty experienced in pitting men to work on the farm lie is thinking i)i" going in for slieep farming exclusively. Queenslanders, ha says, are splendid fellows to work among stock, 011 horseback, but they have a decided aversion to ordinary manual labour. The pay for such labour is about the same as in New Zealand. perhaps not quite as good, but living is less expensive than here. Asked how dairying compared with dairying ill Now Zealand, Mr Thomson said the financial results were about the same in both countries, but cattle were very much cheaper. Just before leaving lie bought a line of 300 lieifers at 17s Gd per head. He has the milking machines installed, and has 50 cows ill milk at present, with 100 more to come in shortly. In addition to the natural grass, the milking cows are fed on feed specially grown for them — maize and field pumpkins. These two crops are sown 111 the same field, three drills of maize three feet apart, and then a drill of pumpkins, and so on, tile pumpkins running about between the stalks <>f the corn. The pumpkins are often fed fireen to horses, cattle, and pigs, and they miike excellent feed, while the eobs of corn are pulled hv hand for the cows. Already Mr Thomson has some of his land sown with lucerne, and lie intends to get a few hundred acres in this fodder croD a.s soon as possible. Once established in good soil it will last up to 10 years without being renewed, and it can be cut from six to nine times a year. Lucerne hay sells at from £3 to £6 per ton. The cattle kept are much the satire as in New Zealand, though they have not- J'et reached the same high standard as is to he found in New Zealand. This, however, lie thinks, wilt soon be accomplished. Dairying is a comparatively new thing there, but already farmers are realising that it pays to cull the weeds out. and keep the best stock. He keeps a good many pigs 011 his farm, and finds a good market for J them, consignments being sent away by rail regularly from his district. One tiling be noticed ;JS soon as he went to Queensland was thai cattle and horses seemed much quieter than they are here, and are consequently more easily handled. There are thirteen Xc-w Zealanders 011 the land within a comparatively short distance of his place, one of those being a widow who went over ! from Christchurch, and who, with her two daughters, is milking 50 cmvs. Inferring to the Queensland sheen. Mr Thomson said that they were nearly all merinos—fine b:g sheep, much bigger than the New Zealand merino, the dry, healthy climate suiting them well. They cut good fleeces, from 7 to B!bs. oi very good onalitv wool. Queensland wool has been bringing- the top prices at the sales lately. He had recently seen the photo of a merino wether which clipped ■iOlbs. of wool, all one year's growth, and it was a common thing for rams to clip 2i) to 30ibs. Crossbreds did not Seem to do so well there. Asked about the Queensland climate, Mr Thomson said it was much better | than some people seemed to imagine. ! "And as for snakes." he added, ''the

people take no more notice of tlieni than they do of rates in Now Zealand, A snake will always get of your way : f it can possibly do so. New Zcalanders laugh at people of other countries who say they would not live in New Zealand iyr fear of earthquakes, and in precisely the fame way Australians laugh at those >vho say they would nut live in Australia for fear of snakes. There are those who say that sooner or later the little islands comprising New Zealand will he blown up, and go to the bottom of the sea, and New Zealanders know how absurd such talk is. But the talk about snakes in Australia

is just on a part with it."The rainfall was not as regular as might be desired, but the grass jvimned up after n rain in a truly astonishing way. It completely ran away from the stock altogether. and a few weeks after a good rain the icb was to find the stock in it. Mr Thomson's farm is 1000 feet above sea level, and while it is hot in summer they do not escape frosts in winter. The climate is such, however, that they are able to grow two crops of potatoes in a year.

Speaking of matters political, Mr Thcvjison said he did not regret that the L'.'i>onr Party had assumed control. Previously, there were three parties in Australian yuiitics, and lie loukoU upon that as bad i'or any country. 'I lie Labour party in Australiia had in the past been forcing certain legislation, and not being in prwer it could disclaim responsibility for -anything: which did not turn out -well. N-ow, howeyer, it would be responsible for all this legislation passed, and it ivould be very careful what it did pass. It was not a Labour party in the sense that a good many people thought, inasmuch us it contained men possessed of considerable wealth, and mon of considerable bruin power too. They were self-made men. but none the worse for that. They would certainly pass a graduated land tax. and such a tax was really necessary in Australia for there \vcf«s ,some ver- bis; estates there. Some jjeopie thought they would have Socialisifl in Australia now, but he was not among' the number. In conversation with a well-to-do member of Parliament- —a ',vv■ 11 known Socialist —be (Mr Thomson) ■ had remarked: "Well I suppose yon ■will be for dividing; up now, seeing that tou have all along been advocating Social'sm. - ' "No fear," the member

repl'ed. '"I clon't believe in Socialism by revolution, but Socialism by evohitio". I'm not jioinr; to divide my bit with the man ' down by the crook'." Mr Thomson then discovered that he ■was a Sorinlist too. if th~t was what 't ami the two shook hands cordiallv. ThfTP is r>r> donbt, Mr Thomson say. but. that A >"strnlia is and the trnblir service" surh as tele-

! graphs. t<- l e« , ion®s. ma'ls, and railways, are very b-dly run. It was quite a common thing for letters to zo astrav, «nd perhaps not turn up for a week

after their due date. The officials were careless, and did nut seem tu have the same interest in their work as officials of the public -service in Xew Zealand. It was very little use making complaint, as although a person complaining would probably get back a very nice note statin;; that the grievance would be rectified, the same thing would occur again a week later. Telegrams were often delayed in the office, and in the matter of telephones, the Department adopted n policy of procrastination—putting off the erection of lines which would pay well, to their own loss, and the great inconvenience of the settlers. Mr Thomson mentioned one ense in which a fight had gone on for a lengthened period over the erection of a single telephone txile, the point hems as to who should pav for its erection, and in the meantime a community was being kept without the service sinmly for want of this one connecting pole, the rest of the line having lippn completed. Yet the Government S'-emed to care ni thing. He hoped that the present. Government would treat the country with more consideration, and di'-plav a little more business acumen. Tn the matter .>f land settlement the Government- hTul done well enough. however, having settled over 2.V million acre l ; in Queensland within the last twelve months, and all on the freehold tenure. Tn eoticiuMon, Mr Thomson said that 011 Irs return here he received a vry unpleasant surprise to find that the New Zealand Government had increased the railwnv rates so greatly He thought the Hon. -J. A. Millar was going the r'ght way to work to ensure the runnl"T of empty trains, Mr Thomson has come over to New Zealand on private business, and will return to Queensland about the end of the month.