S4:6 Professor Henry E. Armstrong [Feb. 19, 



Imperial people. The Australian Government is now in a peculiar 

 position — practically in the hands of men who represent the interests 

 of only one special section of the community — the labour section ; 

 bearing in mind the complexity and difficulty of her problems, this 

 cannot be to the advantage of the country in the long run and it is 

 to be hoped that a broader policy will prevail eventually. We found 

 everywhere a deep and growing sense of patriotism ; Australia seems, 

 indeed, to be now fully aware that it is vital that we should hold 

 together and row together. 



She is bent, however, on making the experiment — a vast experi- 

 ment — of remaining a white man's country, notwithstanding the 

 great scarcity of labour and the great relief an influx of cheap 

 coloured labour would bring. At present only about two per cent of 

 the population is non-British in origin. 



This is the crux of her situation. From the point of view of 

 our President's Address, the action she takes in forming a race is a 

 matter of absolutely vital consequence and her action should be 

 guided, if possible, by the dictates of science. She will need a great 

 influx of ability to form a strong race. The problem is one that 

 concerns all countries that are formed by colonizing. 



Will she prove that the white man can deal successfully with 

 tropical conditions ? Much will depend on the attitude, on the 

 reasonableness, of the labour party ; more, perhaps, on the scientific 

 study of the problem. After discussing the subject with natives in 

 India recently, I have been led to think that coloured people are 

 almost as much affected as we are by extreme conditions of heat 

 and no more inclined for work during hot times ; the advantage lies 

 with them mainly because they are grown accustomed to the condi- 

 tions and have learnt how to accommodate themselves to them 

 better than we have : they work very early in the morning and in 

 the evening, even at night and can be quiet in the hot daytime : it 

 rests with us to imitate such native methods more fully than we 

 have done in the past ; but we shall never be so easily satisfied, as 

 we cannot escape the penalty of our more highly developed indi- 

 viduality and we have yet to learn if it be possible to run our race 

 under tropical conditions. As a matter of fact, it has been proved 

 in Queensland that whites can work there effectively and they have 

 done the work of twice the number of coloured labourers — but at a 

 much greater cost ; unwillingness to allow ckeaper labour to com- 

 j)ete is at the bottom of the question. 



The Australian towns are much like our towns and not yet 

 affected by the skyscraper, so fashionable in America ; but they have 

 about them much of the hideous litter of telegraph and telephone 

 posts which often disfigure the streets of American and Canadian 

 towns, though pills do not spoil the landscape. In Melbourne, 

 particularly, the streets are surprisingly wide, a rehc of tlie time 

 when great droves of sheep were passed across the couniry. 



