8o WAGES AND EMPIRE 



Generally. — With more population and development 

 the three Dominions could supply to the United Kingdom 

 nearly all the articles contained in the third category 

 just as well as they are now obtained elsewhere. 



Fourth Category 



Here cotton is the outstanding feature, and the 

 consideration of the production of this commodity 

 raises the question of whether the Dominions can 

 grow cotton. The Royal Commissioners answered the 

 question affirmatively. They say that Australia is well 

 fitted to be a cotton growing country, and that the area 

 of land available for this cultivation is enormous. 

 Cotton has been planted in Queensland and New South 

 Wales for a number of years, and at times as much as 

 60,000 pounds in weight has been produced. 



Australia possesses two advantages for cotton 

 growing : the quality of her cotton is high — superior to 

 that of America — and it ripens over a longer period than 

 in any other country, and the Commissioners think that 

 these advantages will enable the present difficulties in 

 the way of estabhshing the industry to be overcome. 

 It is said that Australians regard the work of cotton 

 picking as mean, and fit only for black labour, and that 

 in any case Australian labour is too dear ; but the 

 Commissioners do not admit the validity of either of 

 these objections. They point out that at the home of 

 the cotton industry in Texas and California white labour 

 cultivates and picks most of the cotton, and that, 

 alternatively, the higher quality of the Australian cotton 

 would support a greater outlay on labour. The em- 

 ployment of special labour for harvesting makes the 

 picking of cotton in Australia expensive, and the Com- 

 missioners say that if advantage were taken of the much 

 longer ripening period and of the drier weather of 

 Australia this casual labour could be eliminated. In 



