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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1883. 



BLACK AND WHITE LABOUR IN QUEENS- 

 LAND, 

 were thus cUacusaetl by Mr. Hume Black, mem- 

 ber for the Mackay sugar district, in addressing his 

 constituents. It will be seen that Mr. Black is en- 

 tirely opposed to the Chinese immigration, because 

 the Chinese directly compete with white men. But 

 he is favourable to black labourers being introdaced 

 to do what white men cannot, and even then only 

 on condition that such labourers are not allowed to 

 settle. We quite appreciate the dilBculties of the 

 case, but we doubt if the Government of India will 

 sanction emigration to countries where the coolies 

 are nnt allowed to remain if they choose : 



" On a previous occaeion in that hall, he told them 

 that he would put his foot down on any attempt to 

 introduce colored labour without the most stringent 

 regulations in reference to their return and the em- 

 ployment to be undertaken by them. He was op- 

 posed to tlie introduction of Sinhalese without regual- 

 tions aud considered that by the jiresent means of 

 bringing them here tliey would come into conflict 

 with the working classes of the whole colony. The 

 Government had no more to do with it than the 

 gemlemen so loudly declaiming against them at present. 

 The Government have no power to stop or control it, 

 and this is a great- danger to the working men of the 

 colony — a danger in fact to all classes. The Govern- 

 ment were deterred by the so-called Liberal party from 

 taking action in the matter, and it now rests with the 

 people of the colony to enter their emphatic protest 

 against this conduct on the part of the Liberal repre- 

 sentatives, and insist on the Government framing regula- 

 tions in tins matter. So long as control labour is 

 introduced under a similar, form to the Kanaka regula- 

 tions, at present existing, it would be a source of bene- 

 fit to us, but without regulations it would be simply a 

 curse. He had seen the district thrive and prosper in 

 a way no other part of the colonies had done ; he had 

 proved beyond the possibility of question that for every 

 £10 spent on kanakas £90 was spent on white labour, 

 he bad proved that coloured labour absorbed only 10 

 per cent of the expenditure on plantations here, and 

 with these facts before him, and his knowledge that 

 the industry followed here could not exist without 

 reliable labour, he would never be the one to strike a 

 Wow at the industry which would result in the dea- 

 truction of that by which his constituents— one and all — 

 earned a good living. A hirge and important Company 

 was now attempting to further develope the resource, 

 of the district, but without reliable labour to carry on 

 their works — lalxiur that the Government could regu- 

 late — things would come to a standstill, aud cause an 

 enormous loss to the district. He was astonished to 

 find such an outcry against the coolie, when they had 

 been letting in the Chinese in swarms without a pro- 

 test of any kind. At the present time there were in 

 the colony 11,000 Chinese, and when the Minerals' 

 Bill was under discussion in the House it was sug- 

 gested that they should work on plantations and not 

 interfere with the miner. To this he uttered a de- 

 cided protect in the House as he considered Chinese 

 labour antagonistic to the prosperity of the oniony 

 and really coming into competition with white labour. 

 ^\s a politician he was utterly opposed to the intro- 

 duction of the Chinese, and he certainly was as- 

 tonished that no outcry had been made against 

 them in Mackay ; the peo)ile had simply let them 

 come in swarms whilst their attention was being 

 attracted by the coolie cry. He would put it to his 

 constituents' whether it would not be better now to 

 have liibour introduded under proper regulations thm 

 to compel people to emploT, as they now are doing 



in large numbers, a class of labour to which the pub- 

 lic expressed such marked aversion, namely, the 

 Chinese, and also to put a stop to the introduction 

 of all sorts of mixed coloured labour without any 

 regulatious, confining them to tropical agriculture, 

 and regulations compelling their return home 

 after the expiry of their agreenients. He felt 

 certain that if immigrants were asked at home 

 to come and work in the caaefields they would 

 decline, and he considered it would be au in- 

 sult to o9'er to put them to work of such a descrip- 

 tion. During the past twelve months 1,100 immigrants 

 had been introduced into the district from Europe, 

 and when the great estates were cut up and sold, 

 or leased, which they eventually would be, and cen- 

 tral mills formed, they might be able to do away with 

 colored labor. At the present time labor for tropical 

 agriculture was in great demand all over the Northern 

 districts and the readiness with which European im- 

 migrants meet with employment proved conclusively 

 that colored labor was opening up a gigantic field 

 for Europeans that would otherwise not have existed. 

 Plantations were being formed on the Burdekin, the 

 Johnstone, the Tully, the Herbert and the Mclvor 

 Rivers, and for all of these planta ions a large amount 

 of labor was required, and; if we intended to keep 

 our own district pre-eminent, we must supply it witli 

 labor — but only labor under Government regulations. 

 In ten years' time our supply of sugar will more than 

 meet the requirements of the colonies, and we 

 shall have to go to the old world for a market, which 

 means an immediate reduction in valueof £5 per ton ; 

 therefore, he would have them pause before they at- 

 temped to do anything detrimental to their own in- 

 terests. The .South Australian Government passed a 

 Coolie Bill, last session, for the regulation of this 

 kind of labor and they intended to open up the North- 

 ern Territory for the cultivation of all kinds of 

 tropical produce, Mackay having conclusively proved 

 the value of tropical agriculture to the colony. The 

 Pandora Sugar Company, in Rockhampton, was started 

 with the distinct understanding that no black labor 

 was to be employed ; what was the consequence? The 

 shareholders have been compelled to admit that the 

 estate cannot be carried on with pi-ofit unless black 

 labor is procured. The district of Mackay at one time 

 was only a cattle ruu, which gave support to only a 

 few Europeans ; now it was developed into the greatest 

 sugar-producing district in Australia. This result had 

 been arrived at by the judicious employment of 

 European and colored labor. At first the introduction 

 of colored Labor was looked upon with great suspicion, 

 and it was considered necessary to protect the interests 

 of the colored laborer by the introduction of the 

 Polynesian Act. Since then that Act has been amended, 

 and was known as the Pacific Islands Labourers" Act. 

 It regulated the introduction of colored labor, and 

 it restricted the labor to tropical and semi-tropical 

 agriculture. Under these restrictions he had seen the 

 productions of the district of Mackay increase to the 

 value of half-a-millioii. Formerly the exports were 

 little or nothing ; at present the value of the indus- 

 try at Mackay was half-a-million. In the course of a 

 few years the value of the exports alone would be 

 not less than one million in money. It was a most 

 remarkable thing that in fifteen years they should 

 see an industry sudd''nly spring up in their midst, 

 doing no harm to anyone, developing to the value 

 of something like a million sterling, Hud adding to 

 the agricultural wealth of our colony. Had it de- 

 prived the working man of his means of subsistence; 

 had it brought about the aggrandisement of the rich 

 or so-called rich, to the detriment of the poor? It 

 had not. It had been the means of securing abund- 

 ance and prosperity to every man woman and child 

 who had settled down in the districts iu which sugar 



