TROPICAL INDUSTRIES 75 



failed. Fortunes have been made and are being made out 

 of sugar lands ; immense profits have been earned and are 

 being earned in the production of bananas, and from other 

 easily grown tropical fruits, good incomes are realised. When 

 private enterprise invests many thousands of pounds in the 

 building of jetties and tram-lines to facilitate the shipment of 

 fruit, evidence in support of these statements is unnecessary. 



The prosperity of the farmer and fruit-grower in North 

 Queensland does not unhaply depend upon himself, but 

 upon the existence of large populations within reasonable 

 range. Land of unsurpassed fertility and meteorological 

 conditions which represent perfection for the growth of 

 all fruits, ranging from the tomato to the mango, and, 

 with few exceptions, all the commoner as well as all the 

 more delicate, but none the less desirable vegetables are 

 the heritage of the people. If the coast of North Queensland 

 does not in a few years support a large, well-to-do, lusty, 

 and therefore contented population, it will not be because 

 of the lack of any of the essentials, but because the popula- 

 tion has failed elsewhere, and that consequently there is no 

 demand for the easily grown fruits of the earth. 



Each and all of the branches of cultured industry 

 mentioned (with the exception of the growth of sugar-cane) 

 were at disposal for trial here. Soil, climate and aspect 

 are extremely favourable when not approaching absolute 

 perfection, while the advantages of direct communication 

 with the markets are unique. But my disposition, "that 

 rash humour which my mother gave," impelled me to dis- 

 regard all the encouraging prospects of fortune, and to 

 easily tolerate circumstances and conditions under which 

 few would remain content. True it is that some few acres 

 of jungle have been cleared and various sorts of fruit-trees 

 planted, that corn and potatoes are grown, and that there 

 are evidences of work ; but no one is better qualified than 

 I to realise the insignificance of the results of my labours in 

 comparison with what they might have been, had the accom- 

 plishment of them been undertaken with harder hands and 

 more determined purpose. 



