606 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



in the shade — and then the white cutters commenced to give trouble. 

 Twenty-seven were paid off in one week. A whole gang, on one oc- 

 casion, laid down their knives and took a holiday. A very common 

 thing was — and still is — for the whole gang to stop work about some 

 little grievance they might have against one of themselves. At the 

 end of four or five weeks there was not a single gang that had not 

 changed its ganger or members. Nine thousand reliable men are re- 

 quired for the mills. Where are they '^ I have not 50 reliable members. 

 I really do not think that importing European labor will help us much. 

 No European with any self-respect or regard for his health would 

 cut cane from choice. It was never intended that whites should do 

 outside manual work in the tropics. The black man has a skin pro- 

 vided by nature to resist the heat. It has been proved that the white 

 man does not get inured to the sun. Look at the white .residents of 

 India, or of any other tropical country. My idea of relief would be 

 to allow the natives of New Guinea to come on the plantations for 

 coffee, tea, sugar, spices, cotton, &c., and let them be returned to their 

 homes at the end of the term of their agreement. Or let the ' Tamils ' 

 of India be introduced and confined strictly to the plantations. . . . 

 This (1906) season, up to October 27th, the mill lost 168J hours, and we 

 are only about half way through the season, with our greatest troubles 

 ahead when the weather becomes warm. Some of the canecutters are 

 earning £4 to £5 per man per week, exclusive of rations or bonus." 



Mr. A. L. Anderson, a sugar-planter from the Herbert Eiver, 

 North Queensland, interviewed at Brisbane, said he had tried Avhite 

 labor in the canefields, and had come to the conclusion that the sugar 

 industry without black labor was impossible. North of Mackay the 

 white labor in the north was not only scarce but utterly unreliable, 

 and, as a result of that and uncertainty as to the future of the industry, 

 the farmers were not increasing their acreages. 



Mr. George Kerr, a Johnstone Eiver farmer, when interviewed, 

 said the crop in his district next year would be a record one. He 

 remarked that most of the statements of the conference of white labor 

 delegates should be taken with a grain of salt. The majority of the 

 people on Johnstone Eiver were opposed to white labor. They would 

 never have sufficient white labor to take ofE the crop necessary to keep 

 the mill going. 



Not the least important and gratifying incident connected with the 

 conference of the United Australian Chambers of Commerce, held at 

 Perth a few months ago, under the presidency of Mr. Knox, was that 

 the first resolution passed on the occasion urged " the necessity for 

 developing the tropical parts of Australia by suitable labor, white 

 labor being deemed impossible." 



The collection of opinions I have quoted against the insane poHcy 

 of excluding from the enormous tropical and sub-tropical area of 

 Australia the only kind of labor adapted by nature for its effective 

 development would be incomplete without including the sentiments 

 expressed by Asiatic peoples on the subject. Smarting under the 

 indignities to which they are subjected by the Immigration Eestriction 



