p 
have to be driven in, which entails loss of condition. Indeed, 
when there is a shortage both of water and feed, the effects of 
droving on cattle are frequently severe and, at times of actual 
drought, may be disastrous. Insect pests, particularly the 
warble-fly and tick, are also troublesome. 
Then again, unlike South America, Queensland has a beef 
“ season,” that is to say, killing does not take place throughout 
the year. The season begins in the early months of the year 
according to the condition of the cattle coming forward which, 
in turn, depends on rainfall. Usually the season begins in 
February or March and may begin as late as April, although seme 
works may be able, by drawing on near cattle, to start operations 
aarlier than others. The end of the season is also uncertain. 
[f the rain has been heavy during the season so that there has 
been plenty of both water and feed, the cattle may be sufficient 
in numbers and finish to enable the works to operate until the 
closing months of the year. Sometimes, however, the season 
ands in or about the middle of the year, which means that the 
whole output for the season has been treated within three or 
four months. The curve of Australian beef supplies in Diagram D 
shows how erratic has been the output during the last few vears. 
Queensland beef is graded in three qualities, first quality 
known in the trade as “ g.a.q.”” (good average quality), second 
juality known as ‘““f.a.q.” (fair average quality), and third 
juality known as ‘“ second f.a.q.”” The last is not usually shipped 
to the English market, but is suitable for canning and, during the 
last three years, has been exported to the Continent. Some of 
the meat-works are strict in their grading and maintain a uniform 
standard so that the g.a.q. of their brand varies little from year 
to year. Others are said to be less strict, especially during a 
dry season.* Ambiguity is, perhaps, inevitable, in the interpre- 
tation of these qualitative standards. On the one hand, it is 
asserted that the term must signify good average quality of the 
particular season concerned, but this is, at once, a variable 
standard, for cattle which, in a good season, would be second 
guality may, in a poor season, be the best that are sent into the 
works. On the other hand, the merchant on this side naturally 
insists on the term being applied, not seasonally, but generally, 
that is to say, the standard must, for commercial purposes, be 
absolute and not relative to the conditions of any one season, 
Fortunately, this conception is receiving wide acknowledgment 
in the Dominion; it seems probable that the newly appointed 
Meat Council (see p. 50) will seek to establish high standards 
and to maintain them. 
Since 1920, the Queensland beef industry has been passing 
through a time of severe depression owing to the glut in European 
markets. In 1922, a bounty of ld. per pound was granted by 
See also para. 13, ‘“ Report of Immerial Economic Committes.” 
md. 249%. 19925. 
*