November i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



375 



seen at Kyneton, cutting the top and both sides of 

 a furze fence, while pulled by a horse only on one 

 side of sucli fence. All was done by the adjustment 

 of the guillotine apparatus. What we said on that 

 occasion occurred to ua again and again, and we deem 

 it not impos-ible that a modificatiou of the hedge 

 cutting machine may largely supersede human labour 

 in the mere catting of sugarcane, and even in trim- 

 ming off the tops wliich the Kankas did on the field 

 with their cutlasses. Indeed we believe Messrs. 

 Hornby & Sons' machine has ab-eady been used to 

 shave oif at the surface tlie grass tussocks which 

 in lai-ge portions of New Zealand render the clear- 

 ing of land for agriculture so difficult and expensive. 

 The era of cheap as well as eifeetive machinery to 

 supersede human labour in tropical field work has 

 not, however, yet arrived, and clear it is that 

 if, now that the Pacific field of labour supply is 

 about exhausted, while cultivation, is largely ex 

 tending, the sugar planters of Queensland are not 

 able to procure a supply of cheap cooly labour, they 

 must retire from competition with Mauritius, Guiana, Java 

 and Cuba as sugar growers. 



We have mentioned ' ' separation, " a political cry well 

 known in Australia. Tlie latest community to raise it is 

 that of Townsville, the Australian Naples, " beautiful 

 for situation ' and destined to be the capital of 

 Northern Queensland. It will, in the future, pro- 

 fit largely by the sugar and other tropical culture 

 in the deltas and alluvials of such rivers as the 

 Burdekin and the Herbert with the hill and mountain 

 ranges in which those streams have their origin. But as 

 yet its prosperity has been mainly furthered by the 

 pastoral interests of which Mr. Towns, after whom 

 the city is named, was one of the pioneers and 

 the minmg enterprize of which Charters Towers, 

 to which the railway is rapidly approaching, is 

 the centre. The cry of "separation," raised by the 

 Townsvillites, has, therefore, no reference to a desire 

 to obtain coolies as labourers : quite the conti-ary. 

 Nortli unites with south (except the small but influ- 

 ential body interested in sugar cultivation, including, 

 we believe the present premier of Queensland), in de- 

 nouncuig the introduction of black labour to com- 

 pete with white, after a fashion which raises grave 

 doubts in our mind it the Legislature of Queens- 

 land will sanction the scheme which the Macllwi-aith 

 Ministry have settled with the Indian Government 

 tor the introduction of coolies ; and we only trust 

 our Sinhalese friends will not find that their " lines " 

 have fallen to them in the reverse of pleasant places, 

 if public opinion develops as it is doing. Capitalists, 

 large and small, who contemplate sugar planting and 

 other tropical culture, will welcome tliem, and especi- 

 ally those v.'ho have " scrub " (that is tall, dense forest) 

 to fell : but cursing instead of blessing will be meted out 

 to them by the white labouring classes and their friends. 

 The main reason, it is alleged, why, headed by 

 Aldennan Simpson, the residents of Townsville liave 

 raised the cry of separation, is that the construction 

 of a jetty or breakwater, which Townsville urgently 

 needs to facilitate her commerce, has been tempor- 

 arily stopped. At present an ordinance is in exist- 

 ence permitting the introduction of Indian coolies, 

 but it remains to be seen it even Mr. Macll-m-aith's 

 Ministi-y can induce tlie Legislature to sanction the 

 rules imder which tliis law is to become operative. 

 Until such sanction is given and the consent 

 of the Indian Government is obtained, no coolies 

 from India can be introduced. But we suppose 

 the present laws suffice for Sinhalese as well as for 

 Kanekas. The wages are exclusive of rations, and 

 while meat is plentiful and cheap we fear there 

 may be some difficulty about rice, on which an im- 

 port duty of we believe one penny per lb. , is levied. 

 Now Queensland is suited for rice culture, and we feel 



confident will become a great rice-growing country. The 

 Sinhalese immigrants would be the very men, if they 

 could be spared from the work of the sugar plant- 

 ations, to establish this industry. Initiate it they 

 cannot, for trials have already been made and with 

 perfect success. Our old Scotch friend Mr. Alexander 

 Macpherson shewed us some fine specimens in the Queens 

 land Court at Melbourne grown by himself. But even 

 Macpherson and other growers of rice* were anticipated 

 by nature, for the rice plant is indigenous in the swamps 

 on the borders of the Gulf of Carpentaria(whither a trans- 

 continental railway, with its terminus at Point Parker,- 

 a sheltered port, whence steamei-s can make direct 

 for India, is likely soon to be extended). So plenti- 

 ful and so prolific is the rice plant in these swamps, 

 that at certain seasons the pigeons from New Guinea 

 (less than eighty miles distant) are described as flock- 

 ing in million>i (that is the word used in an official re- 

 port) to feed on the gi-ain. What a paradise of rice 

 as well as pigeons would the Sinlialese deem the 

 river-fed swamps on the borders of the Gulf of Car- 

 pentaria ! To convert those swamp into cultivated 

 rice-fields, as well as to profitably grow sugar, 

 cotfee and other tropical produce, the one great want 

 is latjour. White labour, aided by science, can do 

 much, but we strongly suspect that to the people 

 of India and Ceylon remauis the task of subduing 

 and rendering fruitful tlie alluvials aud swamps, the 

 hills and the mountains of Northern Queensland and 

 tropical Australia generally : always, of course, under 

 European guidance and command. Coffee, like rice 

 has been tried in Queensland, and there can be no 

 doubt of its success, as far as soil and climate are 

 concerned. Bonwick, in his valuable compendium, 

 " Resources of Queensland," states that " cotfee plant- 

 ations flourish at Tingalpa, Redbank, Eightmile Plains, 

 Mackay and the Lower Herbert ;" but to dignify 

 the small patches of coffee which exist at the places 

 named with the title of plantations, reminds us of 

 what .James Boswell's father said of Dr. .Johnson: — " He 

 keepita schule an ca'ed it an Academy." The goodness 

 of the soil in those parts where disintegi'ated volcanic 

 rock and coral are saturated with decayed vegetable 

 matter, will compensate for occasional prolonged 

 droughts. But rich soil is as favourable to weeds a;? to 

 coffee, and for weeding, as for the other branches of cof- 

 fee culture, cheap labour is necessary. Weeding c j.st 

 our good friend, Mr. Costello, the real pioneer of cotfee 

 in Queensland, at the rate of £20 per acre ! Of 

 course that expenditure on a large scale would never 

 pay, and a proper system of regular weeding would 

 render it unnecessary. We met Mr. Costello on a 

 sugar estate which he superintended, but his patch 

 of coffee, lying a dozen miles away, we were unable 

 to visit. From our inspection, however, of branches 

 on which leaves had yellowed, which Mr. Costello 

 sent for, we were able to say that the dread fungus 

 had not then affected the trees. But how long will 

 it be absent if coffee is cultivated on a large scale 

 in Queensland ? We should fear disease and also the 

 effects not only of drought but of frost, from which 

 sugar, even within the tropics, often suffers. While 

 the larger portion of the estates in the Mackay dis- 

 trict are exempt, a plantation opened by a Mr. 

 Jack at some distance and at a higher elevation had 

 a crop destroyed at its commencement. 0( course a 

 crop of canes, if injured by frost, can still be utilized 

 and if a crop is destroyed it can be replaced. Frost 

 aS'ecting coffee is a much more serious evU. 



Tlie Queenslander in noticing the unusual weather, 

 distinguished by a heavy fall of snow, wrote on 

 August 12th : — 



' ■ The effect of this exceptional weatlier has not on the 



* Bonwick states that ' ' Rice, both on flooded and 

 dry soil does well ; theie are twenty varieties known." 



