Queensland
Parliamentary Debates [Hansard]
Legislative Assembly
FRIDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 1888
Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy
Supply. [2 NovEMBER.] Decentralisation Bill. 1061
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. Frid"y, 2 Novcmucr, 1888. Question.-ncccntral isa.tion Bill.-Snpply-rcsumpLion of committf;:c.-Adjonrnmcnt.
The SPEAK~!\ took the chair at half-past 3 o'clock. QUESTION. Mr. GLASS.EY aeked the Chief Secretary !. Is he aware that the illlmigrants nnd eoolies on board the variou~ mail steamers comin~ to the colouv are g·cncrally muployed to flisdmrge cargo from tho::;C steamers at 'l'owntiYillc, ltockhampton, and oLhcr ~orthern ports of Queensland, to the injury of the wharf labourers st>Ltlod at those ports~'-If so, what action has he takPH in the matter \Vith a vimv of pro tceting tho::;e labourers from thh unfair competition~ 2. If he is not awa,rc that such labour i::; genernlly cm}Jloycd on the mail boa.ts at tho:-;e ports, will he iuquirc into the nwtlor, with a view of causing a cc:-;sntion of immigrant ancl eoolie labour on those vessels, an The COLONIAL TREASURER: It has not Bunya Mountains, first section, £15,000." This been the case for the last two years. is rather a misleading title, but I lmve adopted it because it is the title given to a railway that The HoN. Sm S. W. GRH'FITH: It was was surveyed to the Bnnya Monntains some time last year. ago. The immediate object of this line is to reach The COLONIAL TREASURER: No. I the coal deposits close to Dalby. At the present have just asked that question of the Under time there is used beyond the Main Range coal Secretary. He intimated to me that we had a which is hauled all the way from Ipswich, amount credit balance, as I hn,ve said, this month, though ing, in round numbers, to about 13,000 tons per of cuurse I know that will disn,ppear when we annum. That coal, if I take the full price at which pay some £500,000 for interest in December. coal is carried by train, would cost 12s. Scl. per ton, The two things should be mentioned together. or about £7,930 per annum. However, I calculate I anticipate, with a good d~al of certainty, that that the department make a saving of about 33~ we shall be able to wipe out the deficit that has per cent.; deducting that, I find tlutt the cost of existed for some time without making use of taking that coal over the range and supplying the Treasury Bills for the purpose for which it to the railways west of Touwoomba, is £5,270, the Treasury B;lls Act was passed. It being say, in round numbers, £5,000 a year. \Vithin the policy of the Government not to increase ten miles of Dalby there is an approved coalfield the loan expenditure, I was bound of course where there is a magnificent seam of capital not to go in for any large amount of uew coal ; no coal could be more easily worked. It works. I know quite well the effect a borrow· is not a problematical field, because it has ing policy would have in this House. It might been fully proved, "nd the greater part of, at make me for a time very popular, but it would all events the approved portion, belongs to the give me an in1rr1ense arnount of trouble, and my Government. If a railway is taken there at friends an immense amount of work to get the a copt of t15,000-which smn will cover not money 'JUt of me ; but I know also that the only the railway, but the whole of the appli inevitable trouble would come again of finding ances in the shape of sidings, stages, and every the interest, and we have enough to do to do thing necessary fur the coal traffic-it will be a that without going into any new expenditure until saving to the Govern1nent, in carriage alone, of we get out of the hollow we have dropped into £fi,OOO a year; because the coal can be delivered through the£10, OOO,OOOloan. \V e have got to work in Dalhy just as cheap as it mm be delivered off the effects of that to a very considerable extent. from Ipswich. In fact, from the character Hon. members will therefore see, if they examine of the seam, and the ,Jeocrivtion of the coal, the Estimates, that provision has to be made for I hav<; not the slightest doubt that it can very little that is new. Where anything new be delivered there for less. Here we have htts been put in the Estimates, I shall be able a coalfield lying within a few miles of our to show very good reason why it should be main line of railway, and by the construction there. Of course I am not g.>ing to be blocked of this line, which will cost only £15,000, it will by the £10,000,000 loan; but, in the mean be made available for use. The ground belongs time, I am content to be blocked by it until to the Government, and I have had offers from I find that I am on firm ground, and until men to deliver the coal at 5s. per ton, the pit I can see my way with absolute certainty, I being sunk, or qt fis. per ton if they sink the pit. will not borrow money next year. The arrange In fact, I have offers from miners to work the ments going on at the present time make me Government reserve to any extent. I think that perfectly s>tfe until about May, 1890. If I do when we have such a fnnd of wealth there it not spend more money than we are spending would be actually criminal on the part of at the present time, I need not borrow more any Government if they did not allow the before then, and we shall have plenty for >tll our facts of the case to be known, and insist that coal liabilities. If the decrease in expenditure and should be supplied to that part of the country at the increase in revenue !'(Of'S on at the same the cheapest rate possible. Not only are the ratio that it is, I am certain that the balance facts as I have stated, but there is a great deal will be on the right side, and that we will be in more to be considered. There is no man who sees a very sonnd position for borrowing. In fact, I the present position of the Darling Downs, who think we shall occupy a better position finan will not tny other agricultural contmctors, £61,700; station buildings, £ll,OOO; purposes. In fact, it is being used there to supervision, £4,000; Ja,nd, £20,000; claims rwt a great extent in that way now, and used very met, £2,500 ; making a total of £99,500. The successfully; and that a big trade will be estab balance available is £20,000, le>tving, in round lished there I have very little doubt. .However, numbers, the £80,000 put down here to the basis I take is that the saving which the Gov complete the line. Of course over this amount ernment will effect per annum, as compared with I have no control; we have simply to pro. the haulage of cort! from Ipswich, will pay the vide for the completion of a railway com whole cost of this rail way in tha ccmrse of three menced before. \Vith regard to the North Coast years. The next item is £20,000 additional railway, for which £1Go,OOO is put down, the for the Maryborongh and Gympie line. This words "to complete" have been inserted wrongly. amount is in conneetion with replacing the This amount does not provide for section -1. In 30-lh. rails with "J1*-lb. rails; and, speaking sections 2 and 3, which will be let shortly, from memory, I think it is proposed to charge the cost of construction will be £260,000 ; one-third of the cost to loan, the remain land, £1,000; balance available for construction, der being charged to the };stiumtes-in-Chief. £9G,500; leaving £1G4,500 to be found for the pur The next item is '' Burrmn to J3nndaberg, and pose, not of completing the line, as stated in the extension to vV oongarra (additional)." The Estimates, but for completing to the end of the 8stimated cost of completing the line is £38,000. third section, leaving the fourth section, which The balance available i, only £20,000, so that is one on this side of the first section from £18,000 will have to be provided to complete the Gympie, to be provided for in the next Loan line. This is a line th>tt is peculiarly placed Estimate. The next item it " Dalby towards with regard to the coal trade. In the Burrum 1064 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Szcppty. there is a very large coalfield, which, of course, the engineers ought to get grt-at credit for it. I is the natural field to supply the 13undaberg believe the expenditure of this £20,000 will make district with coal. At the present time, however, the :Fitzroy a fine navigable river and do that it does not do that, because, theBurrum being navi credit to the engineers which, I hope, they will gable for vessels of a certain class, they take the get. The next item is, "Deepening Narrows, coal round to the Bnrnett River, and the buyers Ghtd,tone. £7,000." Hon. men1bers know just of coal on the Burnett River find it che:~per to as much about this as I do. Between the island bring it round and land it on the river bank. and the mainland there is a very shallow channel If, however, the Burrum to Bundaberg line is -the land, even in the channel, sometimes extended along the bank of the river to the showing up out of the water to the exent of Vvoongarra Scrub, at a cost of £5,000 or £G,OOO, a foot. That this will be a very useful work for it will open up a very large field for the use of the the di,;trict there cannot be the sli:.;htest doubt. coal. It will be made almost the whole way along I am one of those who deeply regret that the the ground, and, considering that the distance public spirit of the Central district is not up to is only 2~ miles, and that the work can be done the position of advocating the line from Hock for £4,000 or £5,000, with an additional £1,000 harnpton to Port Alnm. \Vby public opinion for sidings, it will be well worth the Govern should be so slow, in what is otherwise onll ment's while to complete the wodc I consid~r of the most enterprising spots in the colony, it the natural extension of the coal trade to I never could understand. I believe the Bundaberg ; it is bringing the coal depot to the making of that railway from Rockhampton to proper place, where it will be used. Coming to the I'ort Alma would be the making of the Central Central division, a sum of £4,000 is required to district, and of Rockhampton itself. The people complete the Emu Park railway, which I con" there, however, seem to think otherwise. It is sider a necessary work. Then we come to a one of those railways that private enterprise railway from Rockhampton to :Mount :i\Iorgan, woulrl be only too glad to get a chance of spend £60,000. ·with regard to this line, the Govern ing its capital on. If the necessary permission ment are in this position : \V e know that if the was given by an Act of Parliament, the line Governn1ent were to give pern1ission to private would be made in twelve months, and that it individuals or companies to make the railway, would be a. ]Jrofitable line there cannot be the that it would be made at once at no expense slightest doubt. Somehow, the people there are whatever to the Government ; that is, allowing <]uite opposed to it. I watched the feeling of the them to make the railway on the same principle people towards it during the general election, on which railways are made at home. \Ve ha Ye ctnd I have nnt the slightest doubt that the feel adopted the principle, lwwever, of theGovermnent ing was against it. rrhey stand in their own being the proprietors of all railway lines in the light. Had I found any inclination towards it colony, and there is no doubt thatwbilewework on I would have put it forward in this list; but I that principle it would be very inadvisable that a saw nothing of the kind, and I have no wish to profitable section of our railway system should shove the railway down their throats in the drop into the hands of companies. At the same present position of the Treasurer, especially time, the fact that private inrlividuals are willing when he does not want to increase his to construct the line is a proof to the Government Loan Bill to an unnecessary amount. The that it will be a profitable line. No one who has next item is 'l'hursday Island jetty-£1G,OOO. seen the district can doubt f~>r a moment that it Thursday Island is a very important coaling will be otherwise than profitable. It connects place for steamers, and it is a matter of great two of the biggest centres of population- leaving importance that they should be able to do their out Brisbane-in the colony ; and there is no business quickly there, and this £16,000 will be place I have seen where a railway has been pro sufficient to extend the jetty out to deep water jected in the colony with the amount of traffic so that vessels drawing 22 feet can go alongside. there is at present between Rockbampton and Anyone who has been there, and seen the incon Mount Morgan. It looks as if we are mak venience with which those vessels communicate ing a railway to benefit a rich company. with the shore, must think this a very necessary That is absurd. The rich company would be work. Miscellaneous services, £10,000, and new very glad to be allowed to make the railway plant, £10,000, require no explanation. A large themselves. We are making the railway for the amount of harbours and rivers' plant coURtantly inhabitants of Mount M organ, and for the pur wants repairing and renewal, and this is the pose of giving facilities for traffic between those ordinary vote put down. Artesian wells-£50,000. two points. Coming to the Northern division, I explained this mte pretty fully last night. a sum of £150,000 is asked for the railway I think the amount of £50,000 will be very useful. from Normanton towards Croydon, to which we It is a most troub]e,ome vote to the Treasurer, have committed nurse! ves to the extent of ·10 and I do not think therR would have been much mile", and I have provided for no more than tlmt. use in preparing hastily a schedule to submit As I explained last night, the previous Govern to the Committee, but I think the work we are ment had arranged to c;1rry the line 40 miles- doin~ now will test the question of artesian 30 miles in one direction, and then going off W>ttPr bPing obtainable in the colony in various towards Cluncurry. This money provides for parts. It promises fair in a great ma11y places, the whole of the 40 miles. The next item is£G3,000 and in the course of the next few months we shall for harbours and rivers. £20,000 is wanted for have put down ten or a dozen wells, and the the Fitzroy River. So far as the improvements in experience thus gained will satisfy us whether the Fitzroy River h>we gone, I think· they have we are on the right track or not ; and if the been fairly snccessful. Of course one cannot information wn gain is at all discouraging this speak positively on any river iJnprovements until vote will very likely not be all required, but it they are completed, but I am led to understand will be very useful if the results are as good as that when this £20,000 has been spent-and I I expect. Bridges-one over the Brisbane River, have taken some trouble to go into the matter £100,000; one over the Mary, £40,000; and one with the Engineer-the scheme will then be over the Burnett, £4f),000-come next. The last complete, so that there is some finality, as far as time I was in office I left a surplus which waB this vote is concerned, and it is the fir.>t time that apportioned, first by me and by the incoming finality has been promised in a vote of this kind. Government afterwards, to build bridges. It is a I have been one of those who have always sympn. very good way of spending sur·plus money. I have thised with the positiou of an engineer having to do not had the privilege of spending any surplus with that river; bnt the work has been very well this time ; but at the same time I think it done in spite of great difficulties, and in future essential that the \ilcovernment should take big Supply. [2 NovEMBER.] Supply. 1065 undertakings of this sort in hand. I think that remove the objection to putting the bridge above the proposition such as I have now to put before the present one, as a great deal of the heaviest the Committee is not at all unreasonable traffic can go across the new bridge. There are in fact, in the face of the fact that within the two ways in whkh the bridg-e can be built there last few years we have built bridges without -either extend Ann street right through, or get the the people being called upon to give anything land from the Government upon which the vVorks at all, the full expmditure having been paid by Office stands, extend Adelaide street, am! carry the general Government, I think it is fair the bridge across there. I do not think the latter :tnd justifiable. ·what I propose is, that in the scheme is very prol5able. I am not going to say case of the Brisbane, Mary, and Burnett Hiver anything about that, however. It can be done Bridges, the Government shall find one-half and by the extension of either street. That site is the local municipalities shall find the balance. most likely to suit the people of the colony The Government will build the bridges, and the generally, who have got to pay one-half of the balance due by the municipalities will be paid expense. I can say that that site will be the for by the loans they oLtain under the Public least expensive. The river is not so wide there. W arks Loans Act. So far as the Burnett HlVer I cannot say that I know '"nything about the is concerned, I think the arrangement was pretty bottom of the rh·er there, but I think I am well completed by the late Government. vVith perfectly safe in putting the amount at £80,000. regard to the bridge over the Mary Hiver, I do I think that amount is quite sufficient. Of not know whether there is any arrangement come course there is another idea-that is to increase to, but I think it is most important that a bridge the width of Victoria Bridge, but to that I shall should be built there, as it is much needed in not be a party under any consideration, because the district; and I am quite sure there is a great I think the life of that bridge will be very limited need for further bridge accommodation across now, and I should not like to put a new bridge the Brisbane River. There has been no bargain there, when it W•)Ulcl have to come down, between the Government and the municipaliti<·s most likely in our own time. 'l'he next item who represent the Brisbane, lYiary, and Buncla is Electric Telegraphs, general purposes, £75,000. berg municipalities. I have had no communica· The only explanation I have to give in reg:trd tion of any importance with them-at all events, to this is, that I have put in no schedule I have made no bargain; but if a bargain is showing the places between which these made they will have to pay half of the cost back lines are to be erected. And my reason to the Government by a loan raised at the rate for doing so is that I have always found th:tt of interest provided by the Act. in practice the lines as laic! down are so very Mr. GROOlVI : Where is the site of the Bris different from the schedule that there is no check. bane River Bridge to be? Nobody seems to really care a straw whether the money is spent or· not; so that I have put clown The COLONIAL TRJi~ASUIU~R : That will require to be decided by the Government and the £7\000 for general purposes, leaving it to the department to make the most useful lines. As a municipalities. A certain section want the~t bridge to be carried from River Terrace to matter of fact, that is what they do at the pre the Gardens. That would want a high le\·el sent time, and that is what they have always bridge, and would require to come a long way done. There has been no check upon it at all. into the Gardens, nncl I do not think it would be The HoN. SIR S. vV. GRH~FITH: There n very fine architectural improvement to the city, ought to he. "ncl it would be very expensive. I believe it could The COLONIAL TRE.\.SURER : But there not be built under £1GO,OOO. is not, and what is the use of pretending to be The HoN. SIR S. W. GRIPFITH: Pro· more honest than we are? I have gone over the bably more. whole of the items, and the total amount is The COLONIAL TREASUllER: That is £892,000. Of course this will have to be only a rough guess on my part ; but there is not followed by a Treasury Bills Bill being passed in the slightest justification "t present for the the way introduced by the hon. member for North Government, in the present position of affairs, to Brisbane. Hon. members will see, after the spend a single farthing on a bridge of that sort. statement I made on the general finances of the I know I shall not be a party to it. Then colony, that it will be simply on paper. I shall not there is the proposal to carry a bridge across require to borrow more money ; it is only to from the bottom of Eel ward and Alice streets. get the sanction of the House. I move, Mr. The river is pretty broad there, and that could J eesop, that a sum not exceeding £8D2,000 be be built for "bout £100,000; but the objection to granted to Her Majesty for the service of the that is that it would impede the traffic. I have year 1888-ll out of loan. never been in any part of the world where a low The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIF:B'ITH said: lYir. level swing bridge did not impede the navigation. Jessop,-I think it would be much more conve· 'rhose interested in this site say that it will not ; nient to take the items seriatim. There is no but there is no doubt that a briclge across there objection to some, but there are others upon would entitle the people between that and which a great deal may be said. However, at Victoria Bridge to compensation fur the loss in 11resent I do not propose to refer to any items in value of their properties, by putting even the best detail, but I wish to offer a few general observa sort of swing bridga up there. My opinion is tione on the propooals of the Government. I that the bridge ought to be above the present am very much disappointed that the Govern· bridge, and I have two reasons for that. '!.'hough ment have not given us a st'"tement of the pro· the River Terrace site is otherwise eligible posed loan expenditure during the year. That I fear that it would be very expensive, and the was done last year, and when the hon. gentle one at Edward and Alice streets would have man made his :Financial Statem,,nt early in to be a low-level swing bridge, and that is very this session, I called attention to the importance of objectionable. Anyone who has examined doing it, and the importance of doing more than the position of railway matters in Brisbane that-of following it up by a proper Appropriation will see that there are two things which must Bill, authorising the appropriation out of the happen soon. The station at present in South Loan Fund-or rather the Consolidated Revenue, Brisbane is inadequate for the purpose, and into which the loan money goes-of the money it should be brought into the centre of the intended to be expended during the financial town, and that site, I believe, is the one which year. I thought the hon. gentleman probably has been chosen in Melbourne street. That will would have clone that, but I suppose he has bring a great amount of traffic there, and will not had time, or that his health was not i066 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply. such as would allow him to do so. Certainly, I The estimated expenditure is £134,000, and think we ought to have had a statement of the £160,000 are asked for. Next is the expenditure proposed expenditure. I am very much sur on the Fortitude V alley railway. The snm of prised to hear the hon. gentleman say that he £80,000 was estimated to be spent on that last obtained from the departments, as the amount of financial year, and it is estimated that£117,000will money to which the Government was committed, be required this year, which makes £197,000, as the sum of £1,815,000. I know that from the against £17ii,OOO voted. But the Trmtsurer does inquiries I made as to what was likely to not ask for more money on account of that line, be required during the current year for liabili for the very good reason that it will not cost more ties already incurred, the amount was very than £175,000, if so much. This estimate again is much less than that. I made it my business to evidently a wrong-a wild estimate. The eMtimate obtain all the information I could, and found for the Southern and \Vestern Railway amounts it very hard to extract it. But, taking- into con to £66,000, of which I know nothing. Then for the sideration the railways going on, and the rail Maryborough-Gayndah line there is an expen ways nearly finished, and all other works, the diture of £79,000, and £70,000 is put down for amount was much less than that. I had a the Bunda.berg and Gladstone railway. I do not statement made out, and the hon. member ought think that is an expenditure to which the Govern to place such a statement upon the table, as I ment found themselves immediately committed. did last year. If he has any information I should This £70,000 for the line from Bundaberg towards certainly like to see it. Of course, I have not Gladstone includes a bridge over the Bur seen the figures quoted by the hon. gentleman, nett; and there is also a sum of £18,000 for but I will look at them now and say just what buildings and sidings and some small matters, occurs to me. I find there is an item of £30,000 which I need not mention, on the Mary for railway extension beyond Roma, which in borough railway. Pursuing- this inquiry, cludes £2,G00 for station buildings at Charleville, with reference to the £1,81.'5,000 which the £25,000 for the permanent way, and £2,-100 for Colonial Treasurer says he has to meet, I find contingencies. It is a very extraordinary thing that there is an item of £50,000 for the extension that that railway was nearly finished when the of the railway westward from Retreat, of which Estimates of loan expenditure were made up and we have not heard anything to-day from the laid upon the table of the House last Kovember, Treasurer. There is also a sum of £43,800 for exactly twelve months ago to-day. There was the Emu Park railway, and £25,000 for a new an amount put down on the J~stimate.s then, bridge oYer the Dawson lliver. amounting to £90,043, to be expended during the An Hm!OUHABLE lliEMBER : What are you ye:or on this line, and that included the station talking about? buildings and extension to Charleville, and every The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH said the thing else. Now there is £30,000 more in addi Colonial Treasurer had stated that the estimated tion to that £90,000, and that i,; very singular, to expenditure to which he found the Government say the least of it. I do not know what the £25,000 committed, and over which he had no control, for permanent way can be. Surely that must be when he came into office amounted to £1,H15,000. a mistake in the Estimates. The permanent way I said I did not believe that, and asked foe in was laid, and the rails were paid for before the formation. This iR the information I got-a list 1st of July. of things to many of which the Government were The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Hon. J. in no way committed by the late Government, and Donaldson): It was not finished inN ovember last. in respect of which they have themselves made no The HoN. Sm S. W. GlUli:B'ITH: The proposals whatever to the House. vVe have not £90,000 I have mentioned was the expenditure heard from them of this extension from Hetreat, or up to the end of .June, and now another £25,000 of this £25,000 for a new bridge over the Dawson is wanted. When I first laid the estimate upon River. Itiscertainlynotamattertowhich the Gov the table I found mistakes and corrected it ; but ernment were committed by the late Government. here is an extreme mistake of £25,000 for per The MIXISTER J<'OR MINES AND manent way between I-toma and Charleville since WORKS : It has been talked about a good deal. the 1st July. The permanent way was laid The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFJ<'ITH : It has been down before the commencement of this finan talked about, I dare say, for the last twenty cial year, and this £25,000 cannot have been years. It was talked about before the railway spent during the present financial year. Then was taken to the Dawson. I was there before there is "Beenleigh to South port and the border, that, and it was said then that "this bridge will £86,000." Upon that I have no means of offer never do for a railway ; we must have a new one." ing an opinion, and comparing it with the Estimate And that has been said at intervals ever since. te of last year. It is very difficult to reconcile the I am dealing now with matters to which the different fio-ures ; that is the only observation that 'l'reasurer said the Government were committed occ1us to ~e. Then there is the item "Upper by the late Government. The hon. gentle Logan Village to Beauclesert, £17,300 ;'' that is man stated th!tt he found himself embarrassed part of the same item. Next there is "Brisbane by the late Government h:.ving committed the to Caboolture and Gympie, £lil7,394, including country to an expenditure of £1,81!5,000 .. I said £80,000 on account of sections 2 and 3." The I did not believe anything of the kind, and that contract for section 3 has not been let yet. he must be mistaken. I e,sked for particulars, The MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS: Ten and I am only confining myself to those par ders have been called. ·ticulars. The next item is the Mackay railway, The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIEFITH: That may where there is an estimated expenditure of be correct ; I cannot say anything about that. £75,000, of which I have heard nothing before; Then there is the lino from Brisbane to Cleve £21,000 for branch lines, and £52,~00 for land. The sum of £23,000 was estimated to be a bridge over the Pioneer River. J<'or expended on that during the last financial year, the Bow en rail way there is an estim> not know whether that is likely to be required town line. If I understand the hon. gentkman or not. Then for the Cooktown railway, section 4, what he presents in these Estimates is simply a which is a new contract, the plans for that section request to authorise the raising of sufficient having been approved by Parliament this session, additional sums to carry out the works to be carried there is put down a sum of £60,000, and £16,000 out during the present year. As I have pointed for a bridge over the Laura River. The late out, the figures in the estimate the hon. gentleman Government did not commit the country to that, had laid before him are entirely incorrect. and the Government do not ask for the money. A The Loan Estimate figures may be more great many of these things, to which the Govern correct, and I hope they are. It is quite ment say they find they were committed, are clear, however, from the material before us, entirely new to me. They were not committed to that we cannot arrive at any conclusion whatever construct the Cooktown to Maytown extension; as to what the loan expenditure is likely to be, or it may be a desirable thing to do, but that is a dif whether the proposals of the Government are ferent matter altogether. Then there is £50,000 likely to be reasonable or unreasonable. I think for the Cloncnrry railway. That is, no doubt, it is an unfortunate thing that we have not got correct. I have not, of course, had an oppor a fair statement of what the expenditure is to be, tunity of adding these figures together, but any so that we might have a fair opportunity of onewho has followed the items as I read them w11l cheeking it. I have only had these figures put see that a great part of this £1.815,000 is made up in my hands now, and I am only able to of matters to which the Government were in no criticise them as I stand, and that is a difficult way committed by the late Government-many and almost an unfair position to put me in. matters the previous Government never heard I think the hon. gentleman should havt> brought of, and some for which no proposals have ever down a statement of the proposed loan expendi been made to the House. The estimated ex ture for the year at an earlier period of the ses penditure for telegraph lines is £4, GOO. I sion, when we could have gone into the considera suppose that is correct. The expenditure tion of it properly. I have shown that the for harbours and rivers is estimated at Estimate submitted to me, and which the hon. £134,000. The mnuunt £or the previous finan gentleman takes to be right, is out to the extent cial year was £136,000, so that th:;t is no doubt of at least £300,000; and that money might be correct; but this includes the J<'itzroy River, well em ploy eel in the construction of many works which the late Government certainly intended to of which no mention is made in these Loan go on with. I see that the working expenses of Estimates. We do not know what the intentions the dredges are put clown at £20,000 more than of the Government are with respect to the South they were the previous year, though there is Brisbane railway or the Valley railway, and exact.ly the same number of dredges. those are matters upon which qu<>stiom h>tve been The COLONIAL THEASURER: There is asked during this session, and upon which, infor another big dredge. mation was promised "at a later period," "at the The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH: Yes; one proper time." Then there is the railway to Pialba. was in use for only a part of the previous year. There is no mention of that here, but 'if the Gov The amount for Works is a comparatively ernment are to carry out the promises to which small item. If this Estimate had been revised they have been committed by the last Govern carefully the hon. gentleman would have found ment, that is one of them. The hon. gentleman that, instead of its being £1,815,000, it would told us that the estimate given him he accepted come to something like£1,500,000; certainly not as a sta,tement of what the previous Government more. That only emphasises the importance of committed the colony to, but it was nothing of the getting proper Loan Estimates made up at sort. It was simply a statement of suggestions the beginning of the year-I mean Estimates of made by officers of the departments. loan expenditure. Last year was the first time The COLONIAL TREASURER : Take it it was clone systematically, and it took two or as that. three months to get it done. The figures and TheHon.SmS. W.GRIFFITH: Yes; but that statement brought down by the hon. gentleman is a very different thing. The arguments of the contain proposals I certainly never heard of hon. gentleman were based on this: He perhaps before. They are merely proposals made by did not use these express words, but what he some officer in one of the clepartment5 of the clearly meant to convey all the same was that the Government, and it is not fair on that to say reason the Government did not propose this that the late Government committed the country session the various works they promised outside to an expenditure during this year of £1,815,000. would be proposed, was that· they were com The COLONIAL TREASUHER: That is mitted to such a large expenditure o.f loan money not my argument at alL by the late Government. That was the hon. gentleman's argument. The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH: What the hon. gentleman told us was that he was com The COLONIAL TREASURER): No. mitted to an expenditure of £1,815,000 by the The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH: Then why late Government, and that, therefore, he was did the hon. gentleman refer in the way he did obliged to curtail any further expenditure from to the expenditure from loan to which he was loan. I say the hon. gentleman may do what committed by the previous Government? he pleases about that, but I object to the late The COLONIAL TREASURER: Where is Government being blamed for having com the pledge given by the Government which they mitted the country to the expenditure of a have not kept? certain sum of money when they have not dune The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIF:B'ITH : I speak so ; and that I have shown from the state of pledges spoken of in this House as having ment with which the hon. gentleman has been made, and which are currently believed furnished me, and which I never saw before. to have been made. I would like to know where the money for the Cooktown line is t<> come from. At the The COLONIAL TREASURER: You ac present time the~e is not more than enough money cuse the Government of breaking their pledges. to make the bndge over the Laura. There is Tell me one they have broken. nothing in these Loan Estimates for making that The HoN. SmS. W.GRIFFITH: I have heard line. \Vhere is it to come from, or is it to be it stated very positively that the Drayton deviation made? I confess I do not understand why an was one. That was spoken of very prominently. item like that is not put clown here. There is no The COLONIAL TREASURER: Who proposal for raising money for making the Cook· promised it ? 1068 Supply. [ASSEMBJ~Y.J Supply. The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH: I am sav The HoN. Sm S. W. GRI:FFITH: I know ing what was spoken of in this House. The hoi1. the net results agreed, with the exception of about member for Toowoomba, I dare say, could tell £10q,ooo, w~ich is accounted for by works not the hon. gentleman who promised it. The carried out m consequence of the action of the South Brisbane line, too, was to have been House. Of course the details might be different, completed; I do not know what was said about but theyoughtnotto be. The officers of the depart the Valley. ment charged with the expenditure of this money The COLONIAL TREASURER: Speak ou!'ht to make up. estimates of what they are about the Estimates. gomg to spend durmg the year, the same as any other department in the service. We shail The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIF:FITH: I am never have satisfactory control over the ex dealing with a very important matter. The penditure of loan money until that is done. hon. gentleman has said he WlLS curtailed in his ~arliament ought to know every year what freedom to do what he would desire to do by the IS proposed to be spent out of loan. I shall action of the previous Government; and I have h>we something to say on the items when shown that his freedom in this respect has been they come on in detail. I have said all I desire in no way curtailed by the action of the previous to say on the general proposals of the Govern Government. I hU:ve shown that the hon. ment, which I do not think are very satisfactory gentleman accepted as correct an estimate to the House or the country. I do hope that in of £1,815,000 as what the previous Govern future a statement of the proposed loan expemli ment had committed him to in the way of ture will be made an essential part of the loan expenditure,. and that if the estimate had Treasurer's J!'inancial Statement, just the same been £1,400,000 it would have been more nearly as proposed expenditure from revenue. what the previous Government committed the country to. Among the votes on these Esti The COLONIAL TREASURER said : Mr. mates relating to matters to which the Jessop,-The last remarks of the hon. gentleman is about the only criticism he has offered· on the previous Government r<'.~lly committed the country, I find the Cleveland branch and statement I have made, and I want to ask if he the N,>rth Coast railway ; then there is the has been reasonable? He 5ays that I ought to Maryborough and Gympie line, and the cost have come down with a schedule of the works I whatever it is, of the completion of the Burrm:r: propose to make out of loan. We took office at to I3undaberg line. The Emu Park line was the end of the financial year, and is it an un also included, and the first section of the Croydon reas'?nable thing for me to have expected the Muustry whom we succeeded to have left behind raih~ay. The Government may fairly charge the previous Governnwnt with having cornn1itted t~em som~ record of what they, from their expe tf'e country to the expenditure necessary on those nence, estnnated the expenditure would be? But t~ere was no such record. The hon. gentleman in hn~s. The hon. gentleman proposes to construct a !me from Dalby towm·ds Bunya .i\Iountains smts that we ought to have given an account at an extension of the line from Burrum to \Voon: the commencement of the session of what we pro garra, and also a line from Rockhampton to posed to expend out of loan. I f)Uite agree vvith Mount Morgan, but it is impossible that any large him in that, but it has never been done before amount will be expended upon them during the except once, and how was it done then? It was current year. There are a great mttny things not doue at the commencement of the session, in more urgently required than some mentioned in order, as stated by the hon. member, that hon. the Loan Estimates. Is the Central railway members might have an opportunity of criticising to be extended westward to Hetreat? · it. The statement was not laid on the table until the 2nd of November last year, and an The COLONIAL TTI.E.\.STJRER : How can estimate from the 30th J nne this year until the that information be given in this Loan J<;stimate? 30th June next year, can scarcely be said to he The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIJ!'J!'ITH: Surely an estimate for that period when laid on the the hon. gentleman is following me. I sav we table on the 2nd of November, when nearly half ought to have had a statement, and it need not. the year has gone. The hon. gentleman was have been minute in detail, of the estimated actually forced by pressure of circumstances to loan expenditure for the current year. The table that statement, and because he was a good hon. gentleman says he got one from the depart boy for once-because, never durin" the whole ments, but I have shown that that was an of his parliamentary experience h~d he done entirely inaccurate one, so far as it is founded such a thing until he was forced to do so-he UJ~on anything to· which the country was "com comes down and asks the Ministry to do that nntted before the hon. gentleman went into office. which was perfectly impossible for them to do It is quite possible to n,ake an accueate estimate to g·et snch information as would emtble them to if you take the trouble to do so. Last year I laid state what the pr•>posedloan expenditnre for the upon the table, on the 2nd November, an estimate year would b:'. Is that reasonable? I have pnt showing the probttble expenditure from the the best details I could get before the Committee~ Loan :Fund during that year at £1,832 000. The first thing I had to do, on taking office, was That included £15,000 for a line from \Var~vick to ask how far the departments were committed to .Thane's Creek, and £-!5, 000 for the South to expenditure. \Vhen I say ''committed," I ]lnsbane extension, which were not approved do not mean to say that the Miniotry could not by the House. 'rhat was £()0,000. There was also have annulled what had been previously done £20,000 for the extension westward of the Central and taken another course ; but I wanted to se~ line, which was not spent, and that made £80,000. how far the departments were committed to The actmtl amount expended during the year was c':rryi?g on the business ~f the country without less than my estimate by not quite £100 000. vwlatmg any pledge. 1! or instance £100 000 'l'l~at £80,000 nearly makes it up, the remai~der might have been granted for the constructio~ of bemg accounted for by other works not carried a rail way ; a contract might be let for the first out. half of it, and in that case the Government were The COLONIAL 'l'REASUREl-t: Did vou in honour, committe~ to the eo m pletion of that line: ever compare that estimate and see how it was Those are the comm1tments I referred to just now. justified by the resnlt? I was perfectly aware that I could have struck off £400,000 or more frorri the commissioners' The HoN. Sm S. W. GRI:Fl<'ITH: No; I estimate of £500,000, but I did not clo so in the never had an opportunity. int:rests of the public. I do not wish violently The COLONIAL TREASURER: You have to mterrupt the course of public business to carry not the slightest notion ? out any fad of my own. What I have put before Supply. [2 NovEMBER.] Supply. 1069 the Committee is the view of the departments The HoN. SIRS. W. GlUFFITH: It was a as to the requirements of the year. I asked for printed document, and I had one on my table in the information as soon as I went into office, and the Treasury. It wa" not, of course, a detailed this is the information I got from the late Estimate, but only materials for carrying on the Government. Estimates. The hon. gentleman told us just now The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH: There are what he means when he speaks of matters to which things there no one ever heard of before. the country is committed. I quite agree with him that there are numbers of thing,; which The COLONIAL TREASURER : How a Government commits the country to. Those much of it is outside the £10,000,000 loan? I are the things which I say amount to not more quite agree with the hrm. gentleman that a than £1,400,000. But the hrm. gentleman has statement of loan expenditure should be laid certainly not followed that principle. He has upon the table of the House; but it was perfectly not felt himself bound, for instance, to go on impossible for the present Government to have with the V alley line, making it a useful line. done so. I believe in it being done, and I will do what I can in that direction in future. I agree, to a The COLONIAL TREASURER: We have certain extent also, with the hon. memberin adopt not stopped any works yet. ing a system by which there ought to be laid upon The HoN. SIR S. W. GRIFFITH: The late the table of the House a statement showing how Government only let the work as far as tho the money is to be appropriated. That system is a money would carry them. Nor has he carried great deal better than the present, but the hon. out his rule with regard to the N ormanton line, member must not try and force the idea upon us by extending it to the Flinclers, when every that he carried out that system, because all thing was actually arranged, and the people were he did was to place a statement on the expecting the work to go on. I repeat that I table, on the 2nd November, showing the hope we shall get a much more complete grip proposed expenditure for the year, a considerable over our loan expenditere than we have ever httd portion of which had gone. The hon. gentleman up to the present time. has not the slightest notion, nor had he ever taken The MINISTER FOR MINES AND any steps before he left office, to verify the result \VORKS said: Mr. Jessop,-Iquite agree with of his Estimate to see if his prognostications had the hon. gentleman's last remark, and, in order been carried out. to get that more .complete grip, we should have The HoN. SIRS. W. GRIF]'ITH: Yes. an Act of Parliament compelling the Treasurer to pass the loan expenditure through the House The COLONIAL TREASURER: WeH, I the same as he passes his Estimates of expendi shall make inquiry on the subject, and place the ture out of revenue. All the colonies of Aus actual figures before the Home when it meets. tralia have different ways of getting authority I pledge myself to find out how far that for this expenrliture, with the exception of Estimate has been carried out, and I am sure Queensland and New South 'vV ales, which are the hon. member himself will be astonished at very much alike. I suppose we copied our the result. It will be useful, at all events. He system from New South Wales. In Victoria will be astonished to find how wideiy different there is a regular Estimate of loan expendi the result has been from what he expected, ture put on the table of the House. That is done although he had four months of the year to guide by Act of Parliament. There is a different mode him as to how the money was being spent when in South Australia and New Zealand, but every he laid that Estimate on the table in November. thing is done by Act nf Parliament. Ao long as He will find that during the other eight months it is left to any Government to do it or not, it there is &ome deplorable meandering to be will not be clone. There is no use talking about accounted for. it, and it will be much better to pass an Act of The HoN. SIR. S. W. GRIFFITH said: Mr. Parliament compelling all future Treasurers to Jessop,-The hon. gentleman is wrong in saying do so. As to the hon. gentleman saying that he that the late Government were forced to lay the was not compelled to do it, from my recollection Estimate referred to on the table. They did w I think he was. 'vVhen the hon. gentleman suc voluntarily, and it was not laid on the table ceeded J\!Ir. Dickson, the late Treasurer, the until the 2nd November simply because I could statement he made on the subject was such as not get the information out of the departments any would alarm any man, and we would not allow ROoner. A few weeks after I became Treasurer him to go on with his Estimates until he told us I got a statement which I was sure was wrong. the whole truth. It was not my business to make up the details, but The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH: Oh, oh! looking at the statement I saw it was so palpably wrong that I sent it back again and again until The MINISTER FOR MINES AND I was tired of sending it back. At last it was 'vVORKS: The hon. gentleman says, "Oh, oh!" laid on the table of the House as being the best There are many members of the last Parliament information I could get. By this year the de here who are quite well aware o£ it. I th"ught, partments ought to have been able to do it with when he made that statement about Mr. Dick much more accuracy, especially as it was done son, that Mr. Dickson had clone something last year, and it was nndersbod that it was to culpably wrong-that he had taken money out of be done in future. The hon. gentleman says the the Treasury and put it into his own pocket, or late Government did not leave anything behind something of that kind. them to show what works they were committed to. The HoN. SIRS. W. GRIFFITH: Nonsense!! There was a statement made from which that was The MINISTER FOR MINES AND compiled-which I kept always on my table 'vVORKS : The hon. gentleman was alarmed at showing not only the expenditure for the year the state of the finances ; things had been 1887-8, but, in another column, the necessary allowed to drift. He knew afterwards that the expenditure on the same works for the year Treasurer had no control over his denartment. 1888-!J. Of course, that was purely conjectural The hon. gentleman, I must say, managed the on my part, but the document always remained department in a very different way from his there, so that the figures could be filled in from llredecessor, but it was only when the matter was time to time. That would have given the hon. forced upon him, as much by the action of the gentleman an idea of what the late Government late House as by the condition which he himself were committed to. found the Treasury in. All Loan Estimates The COLONIAL TREASURER: Wasthat ought to be laid on the table, and the Treasurer in the Treasury ? ought to get the authority of the House to spend 1070 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply. the money-as is donP. by Act of Parliament in nothing could be done about Ipswich unless there New Zealand, Victoria, and South Australia. was first an accident, and, as he had mentioned vVe should not leave it to the whim of any the other night, a man had sworn in evidence Treasurer. I know, and the hon. gentleman knows that he had wasted his own time to save eleven from experience, how hard it is to tie down the lives on that bridge. They would not quarrel heads of departments in the matter of expendi with the Colonial Treasurer about the site, as ture ; and it becomes still harder through changes they did not care whether it was put above or of Ministers. If there was a continuity of below the present bridge, so long as they got it. Ministers, as well as a continuity of policy, it But to speak in real right-down earnest, there would be a very different matter: The head of was not a bridge in the colony that wanted more a department makes a promise to the Minis immediate attention. He had expected that that ter, and probably if that Minister kept in office sum of £160,000, which had been stolen away he would be compelled to stick to it. But he from Stanley, would have appeared on the list, goes out of office during the year, and the next and he had at least expected to have seen Minister has to learn his business, and he gets £50,000 or £60,000 put down for a bridge over under the control of the head of the department the Bremer, and if it could not be done now he and lets him do whatever he likes. That is the hoped it would be done next year. positive fact. I myself, when Minister for Rail Mr. GROOM said the Minister for Mines and ways for four years, did my level best to keep the Works was quite right in what he had said with engineers to their promises, but I found it really regard to the way in which Parliament was misled imposssible. I know I have the reputation of about the cost of rail ways. The hon. gentleman having a very strong will ; still they managed to had mentioned the cost of the Northern railway. get round 1n6, or under me, or over me, in some The House had been informed that that line way or other. I distinctly remember making a would cost £3,000 a mile when the question had statement in the House, which I believed as first come before them. thoroughly as I believe the Gospel, that the Northern line could be made for £3,000 a mile. The MINISTER FOR MINES AND The engineer assured me of it, and I was never WOHKS : And the leader of the Opposition more astonished than when I found from a return said it could be done for £2,000. laid on the table of the House that that line had The HoN. SIR S. W. GRIFFITH: On the cost between £4,500 and £5,000 a mile. That is same authority as you had. how things are done, and we must adopt some Mr. GROOM said that they were accustomed other system ; perhaps the hon. member for to that kind of thing. They had had it in regard Toowong will tell us by-and-by what that system to the first railway estimates, and it had never ought to be. been discontinued. In 1863-twenty-five years Mr. O'SULLIVAN said he did not care how ago--Parliament had been informed by an engi soon that Act of Parliament came into force that neer that he could construct the line of railway . the Minister for Min~s and vVorks had been from Ipswich to the top of the main range for talking about. Some years ago them was a sum £4,000 a mile, and Parliament and the country of £160,000 on the Loan Estimates for railways believed him. in the electorate of Stanley, and the whole sum The COLONIAL THEASURER : To what was spirited away to Maryborough on the place on the top of the main range ? authority of the late Mr. Miles. Mr. GROOM said, to Toowoomba. Ipswich The HoN. SIR S. W. GRIFFITH; Of his was then the head of navigation; and they had predecessor. been informed by an engineer, who was looked Mr. O'SULLIVAN said he had seen the upon as one of the ablest in the colony, that that authority in Mr. Miles's own handwriting. That railway could be constructed at £4,000 a mile, money was taken away without any authority and Parliament and the Government believed from the House and sent to 1\'Iaryborough. A him. The then Premier and Minister for W arks, Minister ought to be made accountable for such the Hon. A. Macalister, assured Parliament a thing. He was in hojJeS that he would that he had received the very best opinion from have seen that £160,000 restored to the list. the then Engineer to the effect that he could If that money had been taken away without construct that line for that sum. His hon. any authority, surely it ought to be given back friend, the hon. member for Stanley, Mr. again. The money had been borrowed and had O'Sullivan, a gentleman since deceased, Mr. not lapsed, but Mr. Miles, the then Minister for Forbes, and himself had disbelieved the state Worb, had used it for other purposes. There was ment, and they had voted against the line a sum of £100,000 put down for a bridge over the because they could not believe those figures; and Brisbane River, £40,000 for one over the Mary, for that they had been sarcastically termed by and £45,000 for one over the Burnett, but not a the then Premier "the South Brisbane Select shilling put down for a bridge over the Bremer. It Committee." \Vhat were the actual facts with was well known that there was not a more danger regard to that line? From Ipswich to Murphy's ous spot in the colony than the railway bridge over Creek the line had cost the country £10,000 a the Bremer. North Ipswich was now almost as mile, and from Murphy's Creek to Toowoomba large as South Ipswich, and there was no question £20,000 a mile. of the danger owing to the large amount of traffic Mr. O'SULLIVAN: It was never known crossing that bridge. The steam whistle was what it cost. going within a yard of the peovle and horses, and l'IIr. GROOM said he thought the hon. member there was a terrible necessity for another bridge. was right, and that it had never been known The Colonial Treasurer had said that the Govern what the line had cost; and, strange to say, ment would pay one-half of the cost and the from that time up to the present, Parliament had people were to contribute the other half, and he been deceived in the estima.te of what rail was quite sure the people of Ijlswich would be ways were going to cost the country. 'He could agreeable to make a bargain with the Govern quite understand the leader of the Opposition's sur ment such as might be made with Brisbane or prise at the figures the Colonial Treasurer had any other place. The Colonial Treasurer had given, as compared with the figures he had supplied said that he was going in for another loan in May last year. It was most extraordinary that that next, and possibly a few accidents might take Committee had never yet been able to get correct place before that date, which would lead the figures as to what a railway would cost. They Government to place a sum on the next Loan had been told that the duplication of the line Estimates for that bridge. It appeared that between Brisbane and Ipswich wouldcost£80,000, [2 NovEMBEu.] Supply. 1071 and as it had been·admitted to be a work of neces confined to the coastal districts. In the interior sity, Parliament had most cheerfully agreed to no rain had fallen, and Queensland was nut that work ; but it had cost about £160,000. They alone in that calamity. In New South \Vales had not yet been supplied with the exact amount, things were equally bad, and he wished to draw although he had expected that session that some the attention of the hon. Treasurer to the fact figures would have been brought forward to show that he would undoubtedly have to make pro the actua.l cost of that duplication. It was vision for supplying htbour to hundrecls of suggested that in other lines, where tmffic was farmers, who certainly would have to go into the rapidly increasing, duplication of the lines labour market, fur the first time for many year>, would be required, and before sanction was and work hard to en.rn bread for themselves and given to them they would require to have an their families. There was no other course estimate of the cost, in order to guide them to a open to them under the present circumstances. right conclusion as to whether the expenditure All the stores held in advance were gone, and was justifiable or otherwise. He had listened the stock were dying around them. Their very carefully to the figures the Colonial Trea present meteorologist, who was the most com surer had given to the Committee, and he had petent man they had ever had in the colony, also listened very carefully to what the leader of and perhap" the most competent man in any the Opposition had said, and he had noticed the of the colonies, did not gi ,.e them any hope apr.arent conflict between the figures given last of there being an immediate change of the year by the leader of the Opposition, after the weather. He '(Mr. Groom) had remarked only most careful analysis, and what had been supplied a few days ago that the climate of Queens by the Colonial Treasurer that clay. That differ land appeared to be undergoing a most extra ence clearly showed that there was something ordinary change. Some years ago they could wrong in connection with that department. It always look for rain in the months of January was utterly impossible to get reliable figures, ancl,July, and probably thunderstorms towards and Parliament and the country were con the end oft he year, and they could compare thitt tinually being misled with reg'!-rd to the esti with the present sterile appearance of the country. mated cost of the proposed hnes. He was That change was not confined to Queensland alone. quite sure that many lines which had been A large portion of India and China, and the south agreed to would never have been sanctioned if ern portion of India, were in exactly the same posi the correct estimates had been placed before tion. He noticed that the Treasurer had not made them at first ; but in many cases only a small any provision in his Loan Estimates for public sum was asked for in the beginning, and Parlia works, except those in Brisbane and Maryborough. ment was tempted to agree to the constrnction of The extension of the line from Maryborongh to those lines, and then Treasurer after Trea!iurer Gayndah had been sanctioned ; but, beyond asked for additional sums, until the cost increased that, there was no other railway contract that greatly in magnitude. It was no wonder that the Treasurer would be in a position to ask for the Commissioner for Railwavs, in his annual during the next eighteen months; at all events, report, had to announce such small returns he had not indicated to the Committee that it upon the outlay, when they took into account was his intention to ask for further railways, so the enormous cost of their lines. The hon. that for that time, so far as railway works were gentleman at the head of the Government concerned, there would he no field open for the would excuse him when he said that he did employment of labour in the Southern portion not take the sanguine view of matters of the colony. Work of some kind would have which that hon. gentleman took. He was to be provided ; though he sincerely hoped sure that they ought to give the hon. gentle that it would not come to that. He was sure it man credit for not ignoring the present disastrous would be the wish of the whole country that the season. He did not believe there had ever been Government of Queensland would never be snch a season as they were suffering from at driven to instituting relief works, but if no present, in the history of the colony. He had chan~e took place they would be compelled to been a resident in the colony for thirty-one years, estahlish them, to enable the farming population and he did not believe that in all that time the of the colony to do something to earn their bread. disasters among the agricultural community had Even immigration would have to cease in conse ever been so great as they would be if a change quence. It raised a very serious question, and of weather did not take place in a short time. what he particularly wished to call the attention There had never been a time in the history of of the Treasurer to was, that even in the Loan Queensland, even in the most severe droughts Estimates which he had provided, and in the works they had experienced, but what there had been a which he had already enunciated, so far as rail break in the weather, and some crops grown which ways were concerned, there wa.s not the slightest the farmers could realise in order to keep body provision made for the Southern portion of the and soul together ; but at the present time the colony where the largest population was concen earth was yielding no increase, and the heavens trated, and where most work would be required. were as brass, and there was not the slightest There was another subject he wished toreferto. The appearance of a change. The stock of the leader of the Opposition ha.d said that a promise unfortunate farmers was dying all round, and was given that the Drayton deviation would be t.hey could do nothing to save their lives. proceeded with, and Parliament would be asked There was n0 prospect whatever. All stocks to sanction it. He did not hear the hon. gentle were being sold off, and the farmers would man at the head of the present Government say eventually have to go into the labour market he would construct it; but others, in his name and compete with the present labour, and there and on his behalf, had undoubtedly promised was no work provided for them. The Treasurer that that line would he constructed. Of course did not seem to recognise the importance of the they all knew what election promises were. position in which the colony stood in reference Promises were made at such times without to the deplorable seasonB. Of course round about thinking. That was a contingent promise Brisbane, where coastal showers had fallen, things upon certain things occurring. He was not did not look so gloomy, and he was glad to see in go in~ to bring up any ~harge against the hon. one of the Mooloolah steamers, which arrived gentleman; but it was a fact that on his behalf a few days ago, two crates of vegetables, and it was promised that that line would be con he had also the pleasure of seeing them un structed if the present Government were returned packed, and observing what splendid vegetables to power. Thn.t was to be une of the first lines .they were that came from that locality. But that the Parliament would be asked to sanction . that was an isolated spot. The rain had been \Vhether that promise was made on the authority 1072 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply. of the hon. gentleman he did not know ; but he present was diverted to other channels. He did expect that it would have been brought before would like to have seen provision made in those Parliament. He ~tlso anticipated that other Estimates for the extension of the railway in railways in the Southern district, for which his district to Longreach. If that extension money had been already voted, would be asked were made it would be the means of promoting to be sanctioned that session; and he believed it settlement, because there was rich soil and would have been a wise thing on the part of the permanent water in the district, and he would Government if they bad done so, because they commend the matter to the favourable considera would have opened up a field where labour might tion of the Government. have been employed. Mr. SALKELD •aid he would like to make The MINISTlm FOR MINES AND "' few remarks on those Loan Estimates. He WOEKS : Do you refer to the 1'in rectn? noticed two items there to which be thought attention should be called, the one was £15,000 Mr. GEOOM said he did not. There were for the first section of a line from Dalby towards other gentlemen in the Committee who would Bunya Mountains, and the other £60,000 for a speak at length upon that subject. Provision line from Rockhampton to Mount M01·gan. He should be made for carrying on lines which had wished to remind the Treasurer that there were been already r,anctionecl by Parliament, and for a number of works for which money had been which the money bad been voted. He would voted by the House which had not been gone like to speak on behalf of his constituents, and it on with at all, among them being the extension was distinctly understood among the friends of of the Fassifern railway to Coochin. It that the hon. gentleman, and among his own friends line were only extended for a further distance of and by his colleague, Mr. Aland, that which 10 or 12 miles it would accommodate settlers on ever side went into power, the Drayton deviation a large area of fertile country, which contained would be one of the first lines the House would also an almost inexhaustible supply of magnificent he called upon to consider. That had not been timber. Coochin Plains comprised very valuable the case, and he was sorry for it, because he land, but the roads there, owing to the country felt sure that, at the present juncture, it would being black soil, were almost impassable at certain have opened up an avenue for employment seasons. Amilway could very easily be constructed for a large amount of surplus labour, and the in that district, and it could be done cheaply, work could have been carried on at a compara because the country was a dead level, and, though tively low cost-probably at almost starvation a few culverts might be necessary, no bridges or prices. That avenue for employment would cuttings would be required. Money had been not be opened up at the present time. How voted for the extension to Coochin, and if the ever, he did not ohject to the Loan Estimates line was only carried 10 miles further than the pre the hon. Treasurer had proposed-the hon. sent terminus it would be a great boon, as bondjide gentleman was simply carrying out the policy of settlement of farmers, timber-getters, and saw his predecessors; but he respectfully invited his millers was rapidly increasing in that district. He attention to what he had already said in regard to did hope the Government would not lose sight of the probahle consequences of the present deplor that matter, but would go on with the extension able seasons, and the likelihood of a very large another 10 miles. Another matter to which he number of persons being thrown on to the labour wished to refer was, perhaps, of a more debateable market to compete with the present labour, and character ; that was, the vin rert((., or direct line bring about what Queensland had never seen from Brisbane and Ipswich to ·warwick. An before-relief labour works. There was likelv amount of £500,000 had been voted for that rail to be a very serious disaster occur to the way by Parliament. He knew there was the very colony, such as had not been experienced for erroneous impression abroad that that line would many years. cost a million of money to construct. He had Mr. PAUL said the Colonial Treasurer in just been looking over the various reports the remarks he made in introducing those Loan and estimates with regard to the route and Estimates expressed his surprise that the mem cost of that proposed line, and found that bers for Central districts had not advoc,ted the one thing was very apparent-namely, that Port Alma rail way extension. when the first survey was made the engi neers were afraid of the direct line. They The MINISTER FOR MINES AND commenced to survey the line along Rosevale WOEKS: No. and the eastern slopes of the Liverpool Eange Mr. PAUL said he thought the hon gentle and the Main Range. Those surveyors declared man did. Well, he would withdraw that state that that wonld be a very expensive route to ment. He could assure the hon. gentleman that take. Ultimately, however, the Government there were fully nine m em hers representing the and the engineers were induced to make a flying Central districts, who would support that line. survey and take some levels. He mig·ht here He was perfectly aware that the two members mention that the previous member for vVarwick, for Eockhampton individually were of the Mr. Horwitz, deserved the thanks of the com same opinion, and he was certain that they munity for the way in which he went to work to would have been returned whether they induce the Government, the railway engineers, had advocated it or not. He thought the and surveyors to look at the route he proposed. Eockhampton people should be educated up The country on that route from Bundabilla to their true interests in that matter. At to the foot of the Main Range was easy any rate, he, as one of the Central m em hers, country, and did not rise very high above would urge upon the Government the necessity the sea level. · The difficulty was to get of extending the railway to Port Alma, not only up from the foot of the range for about in favour of the Central districts, but ,]so in the 9 or 10 miles. vVhen that survey was going interests of Rockhampton, because if that railway on he was acquainte works of that kind, before we know where and he was the means of h11ving a sul'l'ey we are going to expend the money, and that effected. The report of the engineer, which was is what I do not know at the present time. I with the Railway Department and probably in should like to devise some means by which an that House, spoke most favourably of that attempt may be made in the irrigation of this line, showed that it was easy of con;;truction, colony, and I think I shall succeed in doing so. that there was an abundance of timber and I am at present in communication with those ballast in the di;;trict, and that it would cost gentlemen who have, in my opinion-though about £2,500 per mile. The late Minister fur others may hold different views on the subject \Vorks, 1lr. 11iles, informed a deputation that to n, certain extent, made irrigatinn a success in waited on him that if the reports had been Victoria tmd South Australia. They have com made to him before the £10,000,000 loan was municated with me indirectly, to know whether apportioned, he would most gladly htwe taken the Government are prepared to entertain any that line into consideration, becr,use he uelieved proposal on a simihr basis to that which has that line it might be stated, that at the beginning been adopted in Victoritt, and I have given them it would be a paying line. In further support of evPry encouragement to put their prO]J lUr. ANNI~AH : There is plenty in J'.Iary chosen, he hoped that in the interests of the colony borough. as well as of the people of Brisbc>ne no bridge Mr. COvVLEY said there might be enough to would be erectPd below the Victoria Bridge that build the bridg·e upon, but there w:1s not nmch would interfere with the navigation of the river. rnore, whereas in the country districts there were The bridge over the lYiary River, he presumed, thousands of :1crek of good land still the property connecting .T\1ar.vborough ::t.nd Gl'anville, hacl of the Government, and if the inhabit:1nts were as:->uuted ... new phase since the lwn. rnember for willing to contribute one-h>e!f the <>xpeme, 1Jy Herbert had spoken. He did not see the use of building the bridge they would not only enhance putting that sum on the J<:stimates if the people the value of their own property, but they would were to be asked to contribute 1d. to the construc also enhance the value of the property which the tion of that bridge. It would be a groat injustice Government still httd to di,pose of. He hoped to the people of l\Iaryborough to ask them to that in connection with that matte1· the country contri!Jute ls. towards it. One hon. member stated that they had a bridge there >tlreacly ; but districts would be treated in the same way "" it was proposed to treat the towns in the Southern it had been a white elephant to them for years, part of the colony. as it co;;t hundreds and hundreds of pounds every year to keep it in repair. Jtockhmnpton had a Mr. ANNBAR said the hon. member was pernmnent structure, nmde by the country. There very mild in hb utterances nu doubt, and the was a permanent structure at Townsville and at other clay hacl twitted him with sometimes lYiackay, and every shilling for those briclge,s had rnaking rai'3h statement..,. A rasher staternent been contributed by the country, nnd yet the was never heard th>en that just made by the hon. hem. m ern ber ''aid the people of' JVIaryborough member, when he said there was only sufficient were to be asked to contribute to the construction Government land in lYlaryborough on which to of their Lridge. erect the bridge; itnd it showed how wilfully the The COLOJ'\IAL TltEASUHER : I said so hem. member wished to misrepresent the ea;;~. my,;elf. He would like to have a word or two to say on Mr. Ai\XEAit ,_,,id he clicl not hear the hon. the Loan Estimates. He noticed in the fir,;t gentleman make that statement. He considered li,t of items a vote for £15,000 for the con the amount put clown wtts sufficient for that struction of a railway from Dalby tmnud.~ briclge, therefore he did not see any need for the the Bunyu lYfonntains, and the Colonial Trea people to contribute a ;;hare of that money. The surer had told them tbat the chief reason bridge over the Burnett Uiver was provided fur in for constructing- that rail way was that good the £10,000,000 loan, between £70,000 and £80,000 coal was being found there, and that they would being pnt down for that work, and now £"15,000 thus be able cheaply to supply the Southern and more was asked for c>nother bridge. He supposed \Vestern Railwtty with coal. They all knew that the people of Bundaberg would have to contribute the diamond drill had been at work in tlmt neigh the same proportion ns had Leen stated by the bourhnnd for a long tin1e, and it had to Le lwu. member for Herb~rt. He was very much removed because they could find no coal there. dis Mr. ANNJ~AR said he had stopped in Towns l\Iary borough to Gmnville. He could '"sure the ville one night; he was there at low water, and Committee that the skttement of an hon. member had taken a walk up Hoss Creek, and he never that all the land there wa.; in private hands was wished to put in another night there. He did a mistake. I<'or every acre ftlienated on the not call Townsville a watering-place. He hoped opposite side of the river there were twenty that the Government would concede the request con belonged to the Government. Only a slighb tained in many petitions prf" power five years ago that the credit of the colony We know how long that has been promised ; we was utterly exhausted, and thftt we could not go know the argnments that h That makes a very material difference ; so that ture from the Consolidated Revenue. The matter there has been no injustice or unfairness to one was mentioned in the early part of the sessiOn by part of the colony more than another. I believe the leader of the Opposition, and it struck him that the Ingham raihnty would pay. 0£ course there it did not come from that hon. gentleman with is a The COLONIAL TREASURER: Yes The HoN. Sm S. W. GRIFFITH: Where is especially the Rosewood. the cnal? Hon. members will he aware that not Mr. ISAMBERT said, especially the Rose very long ago a pamphlet was circulated through wood; and if the Government did what he had out Victoria, describing the advantages of land mentioned he would be satisfied. in this neighbourhood which was for sale, and it Mr. GRIMES said the hon. member for ~un quoted Mr. Gregory's report, and referrerl chh had referred to the Sandgate rail way line as amongst other things to this rail way '" one one of the best-paying lines in the colony, and that of the inclnccments held out to people to buy was what he belie\·ed 111 luwing-snburban line~ this h1nd. It alRo said that coal was there. -and it wonld be for the good of the country if I>ictures of the railway were contttinod in that that system were followed out. The hem. member pamphlet, and from that it would appear that for Cook ha On the motion of the COLONIAL TREA SURER, the resolutions were ordered to be received on Tuesday next. ADJOURNMENT. The PREMIEH said: Mr. Speaker,--! move that this House, at its rising, adjourn till Tuesday next. Question put and pressed. The PRKVIIER said : Mr. Speaker,-I move that this House do now redjourn. Question put rend pressed. The House adjourned at nine minutes to 10 o'clock.