The New York herald., 1876-03-18
QUEENSLAND AT THE CENTENNIAL.
EagerneSS OF the Australians 10 Exhibit,
Buy, Sell and Learn.
THE PRODUCTS TO BE EXHIBITED.

The colony of Queensland Australia has been singu.
larry expeditions in the preparation and shipping OF
the specimens by which to be represented tho
Centennial Exhibition In Philadelphia Many of those
specimens already the Exhibition grounds and
the work of making thom ready for inspection will be
begun within week The Chief Centennial Commits
soner of the colony is the present time New York
He arrived in this country several months ago, and
spent the intervening period in slowly travelling
through California Nevada and several other far West
ern States the Territories carefully studying every
bit of machinery, whether meant for the purposes Of
transportation for nearer to the first production
Of materials Of wealth The name OF this Com
missioner is the Hon. Angus Mackay. He
is a member Of tho Parliament Of Queensland,
and is apparently man who has raised himself to
that position by force of character Mr. Mackay is an
expert at mining and has knowledge oi all KINDS Oh
machinery The fact that he has these qualhcationss is
among the reasons for his appointment as specai
Commissioner to our great Exhibition. He Is COM
mssioned not only acquant himself with our ma
chinery but also TO make purchases OF some OF It.
The people of Queensland enterprising in charac-
ter They possess the dash. the nerve Of the
.'Argonauts OF '49n or, better, OF the men
who followed those eccentric individuals TO
the Goldena State and eavened her society.
They are tired of buck CARTS gong the rate of few
miles day, and want steam railways. But they are
also willing "make haste slowly" Knowing the
difficulties incident the construction of steam rail-
way in a country, they did not wish to begin ono
on too grand plan, and hence determined to
COPY ROADS
rather than those Of England AS Mr. Mackay says,
'Our people do not want to sixty miles hour at
first but will be satisfied to go ten safely and from
time to time make such changes will enable them
tnoaJ In fact
railways are not much wanted in Queensland, but
freight roads are in order carry productions from
the interior to the seaboard. BY the time such rail-
wavs are built hoped by the people Of Queensland
that facilities viii be created for free and direct com
merce with the United States. This is
of the pet ideas OF Mr. MacSay and it Is
also fostered by the entire population of Queensland
And this TACT explains the eager interest that the colo
nists take in Exhibition They have articles that
we need and supply them TO us cheaper than we
can get them elsewhere. They want to prove these
things to our people, thus secure our trade They
are Mr. Mackay says emphatically free traders but,
for the nonce desire direct trade only, even though Il
be restricted on one side-that is our side This VIII
be the entering wedge; and our merchants they think,
will very drive that wedge until II splits the
block that stands in the way Of free commerce. All
these be 1t understood are the views OF the colonsts
They nave natural products-god, silver tin, copper,
coal antmony and other metals and also hard WOOD in
abundance. We have exchangeable arsicles-money,
machinery, flour, &c. We are their
NEAREST NEGHBoRs,
and they must trade with lessen the value OF their
possessions. If they continue to trade through the
port of sydney they will lose the of transportation
of their materials from Brisbane Northampton the
principal ports ofQueensand TO the capital New South
Wales and also the cost of the services OF middemen in
that port In importing they will lose the value OF the
customs imposed upon their purchases at sydney The
people OF the colony of Queensland have, them the best
possible for desiring 10 trade directly with this
country and, it seems to the writer, and indeed, to-
most Americans they have equally good reasons for
wishing their commerce with US to be unrestricted by
customs laws
Remote though the colony is her Commissioner and
her articles for exhibition are among the first to reach
US Mr.. Mackay expresses astonshment that this
should be and remarks that be hopes our people will
datory much longer, for, he says, many OF his
fellow coonisfs are coming hther during the Exhibi-
ton and hope TO such display Of wonders
never in the world before. They are coming to
see learn and to buy and for the latter purpose VIII
bring
coined OF the earth into which they deved.
Almost all the articles that have arrived or coming
from Queensland have been voluntarily contributed by
colonlsts The gold and silver specimens, the ingots
of tin and copper these and the various other
their native state smelted, sent hither by pri-
persons. also the hard woods, mainly OF tho
eucalyptus species of which there are about 400
varieties in Queensland; the representatives OF the
animal and vegetable productions OF the colony, and
the large photographs illustrative of life there. Tho
government has sent little except immense and beauti-
ful maps of the colony Though Sir Arthur Macalster
and the members of fParament-among whom, by the
way are several Americans-desired TO help on the
work ofpreparing for the Exhibition, the people left
them little TO do. The Premier will be among our
visitors in May.
The space allotted to the colony in the Exhibition
building is somewhat circumscribcd yet IL Is expected
to arrange that everything VIII be seen by visitors
| The fauna and fora of the colony will be gracefully
arranged in the territory, and the mineral will be
exhibited together The great attraction IL is hoped
by the coonists will be the two pyramids of metal
of tin, the other Of copper. These will be the
trophies OF the hardy delivers of the EARTH There are
remarkable facts connected with the discovery these
| two metals in Queensland. Tin is found in way that
shocks scientists Biologists have insisted that tin
cannot nay, almost must not, be found except deep
in the bowels OF the earth. Yet those practical
Australians just scoop the metal from the surface of
the EARTH and laugh pleasantly at their puzzled tutors
In min I0Uu n ngh nna anfif and
the supplies arc so vast says Mr.. Mackay that they
could send 1t TO this country for onethird the price
per costs here. And yet the metal only dis
covered in the colony two ears ago.
| TROPHY
will be about twelve feet high and built Of ngos, each
weighing eighty pounds. The other trophy-of cop
per-w not be so high II will also be made of pure
metal The labor OF refining the copper OF Queensland
not very great Commissioner MacGay says Tor it s
| freer from dross than almost any metal ever found.
| Nuggets often found, he says, 7O-1O0 fine.
Should this article appear enthusiastic, IL must be
borne in mind that its subjects inspire enthusiasm.
The colonists OF Queensland enthusiastic they
would not be getting enormously rich they would not
be knocking at doors and asking Tor free trade they
would not already have endeavored to overthrow the
barrier of customs TO procure unrestricted commerce.
| They work nard to produce, and heartily enjoy the
fruits their labor They ovia loud perha,z as
| our Californians are, and are
FULL GRIT,
like the latter; but they will keep their present Why's
of showing grit their joviality and loudness longer
than the Calornians because, Mr. Mackay says, lt
| Will be many years vet before they begin TO slowly
leave their mines TO tickle the earth that she may
| laugh out harvests And word of advice to
manufacturers may bo in place here. The Queens
landers coming mere next summer in nnumbers Bo
enthusiastic as they Sell them all kinds OF ma
chincry and tools, mining implements, locomotives,
sewing machines sawmill furniture, buzz saws, &c,
and all kinds of edged tools; have them taught how to
work with all these things; how to make good high
ways and how do many other things that they viii
h,r.a hnnn honp