Our First Half-Century by Queensland

Author:Queensland [Queensland]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History
ISBN: 4064066171896
Publisher: Good Press
Published: 2021-04-26T04:00:00+00:00

So late as twenty years ago, much of the butter consumed in Queensland came from the Southern States. The local product was inferior in quality, although an agreeable change from the imported salted butter. The passage of the protective tariff of 1888 gave a great impetus to the production of butter and cheese. A heavy impost was placed on dairy produce, and the Government lent further aid to the industry by sending experts through the farming districts in charge of travelling dairies. Valuable instruction was given; the cream separator came into general use, and there was soon a noticeable improvement in both butter and cheese. Factories sprang into existence in every agricultural centre, and by degrees the farmers became suppliers of cream instead of manufacturers of butter. Speedily production overtook the local consumption, importations ceased, and manufacturers began to look oversea for a market for their surplus stocks. Difficulties at once arose in connection with refrigerated space and freight rates. Regular shipments and rapid transport involved transhipment at Sydney from the coastal steamers, increased expense, and risk of deterioration. A State subsidy induced first one and then another shipping company to make Brisbane its terminal port in Australia, and to provide refrigerated chambers for butter at reduced freights; and now Queensland, in respect of these matters, is on precisely the same footing as the other States.

On the first appearance of Queensland butter in London, lower prices were obtainable than were paid for other brands with an established reputation, and some dissatisfaction was expressed by buyers on account of variations in quality. To remedy this, legislation was passed providing for Government inspection and grading of all butter intended for export. Whether grading and price do or do not stand in the relations of cause and effect, it is beyond dispute that it is only since the initiation of the system that Queensland butter has been on a parity with the butter of the Southern States and New Zealand, and the general standard is undoubtedly higher than in pre-grading days.

Coincident with the improvement in the quality of the butter, a great change for the better has taken place in the dairy herds. Good milking strains have been introduced, and more attention is paid to the feeding of the cows, with the result that it is by no means uncommon for the milk from one cow to bring as much as £8 or £9 a year.

The tariff of 1888 and the educative policy of successive Governments have also been largely responsible for the establishment of the allied industry of bacon and ham curing on a firm basis, and local brands are favourably known in many parts of the world.

Under the heading of crops for which our farmers enjoy a monopoly in a limited but protected market—or natural advantages which are equivalent to a partial monopoly—are sugar, maize, tomatoes, tropical and citrus fruits, and cigar tobacco. The Commonwealth tariff gives Queensland a practical monopoly in Australia for sugar. She has a virtual monopoly for tropical fruits, being the only State in which these are produced in excess of local requirements.

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