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Return to
Brisbane—A ride by rail to Ipswich—Scenery on the line
—Venality of legislators—The Bathurstburr—Grass
seeds—-The Sida
return—Ipswich—The Grange Stud farm—The horse trade
with India—An Indo-Australian trading company—Excellence
of Australian stock.
On my
return to Brisbane I one day took a run up to
Ipswich, to view the far-famed stud farm of the Hon.
Joshua Bell, one of the best-appointed
stock-breeding establishments in
Queensland. My companion "was a
merry, sporting young sub., (what we would call in
Tirlioot a pucca admi,) who was now on the Governor's
staff, but had served for some years in Bombay and
Poona. It was a pleasure to meet an old Indian, in
the land of the kangaroo and eucalyptus, and you
may be sure we took to each
other at once.
The ride
up to Ipswich presents few noticeable
features. The country shows numerous traces of
clearing and settlement, but the old primeval
forest or bush still holds
undisputed sway over the greater
part of the landscape.
The rail
is on the narrow-gauge pattern, has long
single carriages, nicely furnished, with a seat running
down all the length on either side, like an
elongated omnibus. And there is
a platform at each end, where
you can enjoy your weed if so minded. We first
passed several neat kitchen-gardens, all cultivated by
Chinamen; then, through some heavy cuttings, and
finally plunged into the interminable and inevitable
bush. In the bush there is no restriction whatever
on timber-cutting; and gaunt,
withered, leafless trees stretch
out their ghostly arms in all directions. A
fearful waste goes on, and in time will no doubt be
felt; but at present the chief thought that occurs
to one is, how this seemingly
endless forest is ever to be
cleared.
A drive
through the thick scrub soon impresses you
with an idea of the vastness of the timber-supply, and
you no longer wonder at people being lost in the
bewildering mazes of this eternal bush. Till we
near Ipswich the soil seems arid
and poor, and numerous
grass-trees stud the partly-cleared slopes. This grass-
tree looks for all the world like a Busby, or
Highlander's bonnet, stuck on a twisted pole. From the
top hangs down the withered tuft of dried grass;
above is the green feathery
plume of living grass; and from
the centre springs out a long, thin wand with seed-vessels
at the end, resembling a bombardier's sponge.
"We are
here in a coal country, and several mines
have already been opened and profitably worked. Near
Ipswich the soil gets darker and richer; and here,
a few years ago, cotton was
grown in considerable quantities, but owing to the difficulty of getting
cheap labour, cultivation has
gradually died out. Under the
Industrial Act a bonus was given to all and sundry
who might introduce any new industry into the colony,
and under this stimulus the cotton farmers
struggled on for a time. As
soon, however, as the bonus was
withdrawn, cotton-growing was given up as being too
costly a process to pay. Silk was also tried, and one
far-sighted individual, with a little newspaper
influence, got a sum of 1500l. voted by the Parliament, 750I. of
which was to be cash down and the remainder when
he produced a certain quantity of silk or cocoons.
The thing turned out to be a flagrant job. An
appearance was certainly, made of starting the industry;
but when the 750L had been pocketed, the whole
affair was put up for sale. It
is currently reported here that
when the members voted* the money, they did so
knowing that no bond fide attempt at business Avould
ever be made, but they also knew that if the money
were not voted, some of them would be attacked by
the paper for which this pure-souled speculator
wrote! Such was the tale, told
to me by an Australian patriot,
and I was informed then, and subsequent experience
has confirmed the truth of the unsavoury allegation,
that similar jobs are and have been by no means
uncommon, and that, however much there may be to
admire in .connexion with the public policy and material
progress of Australian statesmen, and Australia
generally, gross venality and rampant jobbery are,
alas, a too frequent and common
reproach against many of her
most prominent legislators. "When I say prominent, I mean not so much those
who are prominent for talent,
ability or integrity, but those who are
forward and prominent by reason of their shameless
effrontery. There ia generally much reckless mud-
tlirowing between such members in a colonial
senate. During every great
debate, indeed, the Parliament
House in Sydney is seldom spoken of otherwise than as
the Macquarrie Street Bear Garden. In all justice
let it be said, that the sinners
are few in number, but then they
are sinners of such enormity. A few representatives of the people in Sydney
are bad, very bad, ravenous.
As we
whirled along in oiir comfortable though
narrow carriage, the much-dreaded Bathurst burr was
pointed out to me, growing plentifully by the side
of the track. This is a terrible
enemy to the pastoral farmer.
There is an Act in force for its extirpation,
as it proves such a scourge to the wool-grower, for
when the burr gets in the fleece of a sheep it
becomes a sorry picture. There
is no way of getting it out
again, and the whole fleece is spoiled.
Out west
there is another kind of grass, the seed of
which not only enters the fleece, but actually pierces
the skin, and is the immediate cause of death to
great numbers of valuable
animals. This seed has a sharp
point, shaped not unlike an arrow with a barb on only
one' side. It is a much and justly-dreaded pest.
One owner I talked to told me he
had, a few years ago, to burn
ten thousand fleeces, which were quite matted
and spoilt by it. "When the sheep were shorn, the seeds
were found sticking like pins in a cushion all
over the bodies of the poor
beasts, and fully one-half of them
died from the irritation and pain. The introduction
of the thistle into New Zealand, where it has
since become a public calamity,
requiring special legislation
and severe punitive measures to secure its extirpation,
should have taught caution; but here also a plant,
the Sida return, was introduced
for the sake of its fibre. It
has spread, and is now such a pest that nearly all
the natural pasture near the city has been spoilt by it;
and although it produces excellent fibre, the cost
of preparation is so great, at
the present rates of labour,
that it will not pay to extract it.
Ipswich,
before .the railway was opened, was the
point to which all the wool and-produce from the
interior was brought. The river is navigable up to
the town for small steamers, and most of the stores for the
interior were despatched from this place. It is
still a thriving-looking town,
but the rail has shorn it of some
of its former importance. There are fine grammar
schools and beautiful gardens; and, surrounded by
its amphitheatre of wooded
hills, it looks a bright little
picture as it nestles in the hollow by the stream.
A very
high railway and foot-bridge is thrown across
the river here, yet the river is so subject to tremendous
floods that this extreme altitude is not
excessive. The wharves, and even
the offices and buildings on the
banks below, are all built with sharp prows pointing
up stream, to enable them to stem the tremendous
floods which annually occur. The stream is deep
but narrow, and a rise of over
sixty feet in the twenty-four
hours has frequently been recorded.
After
looking through the town, we drove out to the
Grange Stud-farm, belonging, as I have before stated,
to the Hon. J. P. Bell, one of the first breeders
of bloodstock in the whole colony. His manager, Mr. Kellett,
at the time of my visit, was eager to send a
shipment of young broken-in
stock to India. One of the great
drawbacks to exporters hitherto has been that companies
will not insure against individual loss. They
will insure the whole shipment, but not any particular
animal in the batch. This, shippers tell me, has
done much to prevent good horses
being sent out.
Dealers
are on the look-out all over the southern
colonies, picking up cheap cattle wherever they can.
These are forwarded to yards and paddocks near
Melbourne. They are never handled, but shipped as
they are. What wonder, then, that we too often
find the animals vicious and
intractable when they reach
India.
In the
breadth of Australia there are scores of establishments
perhaps in no whit inferior to the the Grange
either m stock, arrangements, or
management. In New South Wales
the names of Lee, Loder, Eales, Dangar,
Eager, Cox, Bailie, Tait, and numbers of others which
at once suggest themselves, are household words ;
• and enormous sums have been
expended in purchasing strains
of blood that have already raised the reputation of Australian stock of all
kinds to a world-wide celebrity,
and which in time bids fair to make the
horses, cattle, and sheep of the Antipodes equal, if not
excel, the crack specimens of Old Mother England
herself. |
