Queensland Parliamentary Debates [Hansard] Legislative Council TUESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 1913 Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy 2628 Axjournment. [COUNCIL] Joint Committees. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL .. TcESDAY, 11 NoVEMBER, 1913. The PRESIDENT (Hon, Sir Arthur Morgan) took the chair at half-past 3 o'clock. PAPERS. The following papers, laid on the table, were ordered to be printed :- Rl•port of the L nder Secretary for Pub­ _lic \Yorks and Government Architcc' on his tour through Europe, Great Brit .tin, F nitnd States of America, ;,;nd Canada. Third Report of the Workers' Dwellings Board for tho year 1912-13. Report on tlw Government Central Sugar Mills. SCSPB~SIOK OF ST \NTll~G IU.'LB~ AND ORDERS. On the motion of HoN. _\. H. BARLO\Y it v-;a, rl•,olwd- .. That so mu. h of the Standing Rules and Orders be suspended, for tho rc­ maindc>r of the session, as would other­ \Yise preclude the passing of Bills. through all their stages in one day." St:~SPEKSIOK OF STANDING ORDER No. 76. On the motion o£ RoN. A. H. BARLOW, it was resoh-ed- " That so much of Standing Order ::'>!o. 76 be suspended as requires the plans, sections, and books of reference of proposed rail ways, received from the Le<sislative Assembly, to lie on tho table during the remainder of tbe sitting at which they are brought in, and during th' whole of the next ,,itting day, be­ fore being referred to a Select Com­ mittee." JOINT COl\HIITTEES. ('O"TINT'ATION DeRING R:P. ,L;:JS, On the> motion of Ilo'l. A. H. BARLOW, it was rosohed-- " 1. That, i11 the opinion of this Ccun­ cil, it is dc,,irable that tho rnntlem.on constituting, rospndivcly, tlw Joint Librarv Committee, thn Joint Rcfresh­ rnpnt-r'Ooms Committ('1>, and the Joint Buildine-o Committee should continuo, to control, during the recess, the scYorul matters committ c·d to 'heir charg·e as ;;uch connnittof's during the ~c"·sion~ "2. That the abo•,'c resolution he for­ wardl'cl to the Legis!ativB Assembly by mesFage inviting their concurrence therein. Pure Seeds Bill. [11 J\'OVEMBER.j Pu1·e Seeds Bill. 2629 CRIMINAL CODE AMENDME::"!T BILL. get about a 90 per cent. crop." He (Mr .. Stephens) understood that, if the Bill was \ME~D~IENT o~ MoTro~ FOR THIRD passed, thG storekeepers would say that they READING. kept corn and wheat for the farmers' fowls, The ATTOR::"!EY-GENERAL (Hon. T. but they would not keep seed whu:~t or seed O'Sullivan) moved the insertion, on line 27, corn, and they would be able to evade the page 2, of the heading "Amendments as to law in that manner, if the Government Criminal Appeals" bdoro subclause (4) of allowed the law to be evaded in that way. dause 2, which would become subclause (3). He agreed with the Minister that, if the Amr'ndmcnt agreed to. ftmcndment was agreed to, it would make the clause optional, and possibly the best thing· would be to drop the Bill altogether. THIRD READING. Hox E. J. STEVENS was not mor<" sur­ prised· at the amendment than he was at On the motion of the ATTORNEY­ the means of evading the Bill proposed by GEXER~\L, tho Bill was road a third time, the hon. gentleman who repi'esented the passed, and ordered to be returr,ed to the Government. On looking at the title of the Ass0mbly b_, mes,ago in thp usual form. B1ll, he sa\> that it was "A Pure Seeds Bill.·' If there was anything in the Bill at all, it was to provide that pure seeds only PURE SEEDS 13ILL. should he us8d in this country. 'The "amend· mont provided that bY an agreement, verbal COMMITTEE. or otherwise, inferior seeds could be sold. That was entirely against the spirit of the (Han. W. F. Taylor in thr chair.) Bill, and it would not be a Pure Seeds Bill Clauses 1 to 4, both inclnsiY<'! put and at all under an arrangement of that kind. passed. He should certainly vote against tho a;nend­ ment, but ic would be a good thing after On clause 5--" Invoice to be given b"· \"dl­ the amendment was defeated to dc'eat the dor; '' .:trranty '' -- clause altogethe1·. l-Ie had n1a.de inquiries Ho]';. \V. V. BRO\Y::"!: The clausP com­ nu_tside Parliament, and he had been unable pellred a seed merchant to give a "·arranh to find anyone who w:.ts in favour of the with regard to all seeds sold by him, and Bill. The farmers were against it, as they imposed conditions which it was quit" im­ said thoro wac, nothing in it, and the ·SBBd possible for him to comply with. \Vhon n1er{lhants were entirely against it, as it farmers camB into the city to buy seed, they would place them in an absolutely false had the opportunity cf inspecting the seed, position. They had to import their seed and they know then what they were gotiing, from other countriPs, and they had to buy .so that there· was really no occasion for snch it without any warranty or guarantee at e.ll, a dradtic waTrantt~ in that ca,Je. He could and yet, when they sold it, they were called quite understand that,. when people living in U[lOn to guarantee that it was pure seed. remote places in the country S<'llt down to a If the Bill was carried out in its entirety, seed merchant in the city for seed, they it vmuld mean that no seed would be im: should have some warrantv that the seed was ported, as no seedsman would run the risk. .suitable for their purposes, and then the \\'arranty should stand good, unlhs tho pur­ HoN. A. J. THYN"'"E: The object of the {)haser agrE'ed in writing not to require a Bill was to provide that farmers would not warranty. He, therefore, moved the omis­ havB seed palmed off on them which wa• sion, in linrs 38 and 39, of the words "not­ use1ess. and also that they should have seed withstanding any agreements to th·~ con­ which was not contaminated with seeds of trary," with the view of inserting the words weeds, which wonld be a very serious injury " unlee, otherwise agreed in writing bv th(• purcha'"Or." ·' to them. \Yith regard to testing the germi­ nating qualitv of seed, that was a very HoN. A. H. BARLOW: The effect of the simple matter. Any farmer, simply by put­ amendment would be to make the Bill purely ting a qu'lntity of see,! between a. couple of optional. Nobody would have to obey it shec.ts of blotting paper for three or four unless he felt inclined. Exception was taken days, would be able to tell what the gcrmi­ on the second reading that a farmer would nn.ting qualit:- of the seed was. Then,_ 'iS not be able to sJ!l a bag of seed wheat to to weeds in seeds. that was a more serwus his neighboar. There was nothing in the matter, and one that required a good deal Bill to prevent him doing so. of consideration. Se\eral weeds had been introduced in imported seeds, and it was Hon. \V. V. BROWN : He is a vendor. desirable that the hrmers should be pro­ HoN. A. H. BARLOW, He as a vendor, tected, but the cheJk should not be on the but he was not a seed merchant. .'1. farmer s·oedsman alono. It should bu as tight, if <Jould give a bag of seed wheat to his neigh­ not more tight, on tho farmer than on the bour, and he could ~ay to him, " You can seedsman, because the whole of this s:vstem eat it, you can burn it, or do what•wer you was to be initiated for the benefit of the like with it." The Secretary for Agriculture farmer, and, if a farmer had a crop growing was of the opinion that, if the amendment in a fod condition, it would be almost a was passed, it would destror the whole cri,uinal act on his part to sell the seed effect of the Bill. " from that crop un]e,s he took precautions to ck-an it of weeds or other foul elements HoN. W. STEPHE="JS: On one occasion from which hB suffered. On the other hand, he went to bu3 some seed from a seed mm­ there \':as a g·ood dcctl to be ,aid on b<>half chant for planting, and the merchant said of tho scedsman. It was possible for them to him, "I don't sell seed for pl-anting, but to eupecvisc and check see.ds grown in I have some excellent bird seed, and a lot Queensland, but it was not an easy rna tter {)f my neighbours ar<> using it. and they for them to chPck ''ed import,- d from othm· Han . .A. J. Thynne.] 2630 Pure Serds Bill. [COUNCIL.] Pure Serds Bill. ·countries. He had tried some little experi­ RoN. A. J. THYNNE asked in what H;.ent: in grass seed.. He sent to {' very respect the Bill differed from the Yictorian [Hommc·nt seedsman m anothor country-a Act. man of very high standing-and he got a Ron. P. J. LE.\HY: It is more drastic than ~mall packet of seed •and sowed it, nursed thD Victorian Act. 1t, and looked after it c_arefully, aml he was ven. much _mterested m the shape of its HoK.