368 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



In the natural course of the development of Queensland, it so 

 happened that two new industries required the services of labourers 

 capable of working under tropical conditions on land and sea. On 

 the one hand, there were the sugar planters, who needed gangs of 

 cheap labourers possessing some knowledge of the principles and 

 practice of agriculture. On the other hand, there were the " fishers " 

 of pearl-shell and becbe de mer, whose requirements were more 

 complex, and necessitated the grading of their hands according to 

 their skill in diving, their capacity for handling boats, and their 



slaving and kidnapping. This is emphatically denied by Sir Charles Cowper, Agent-General 

 for New South Wales, in The Times of i8th December, 1871. Sir Charles shows that 

 Captain Palmer's case is based on his seizure, at Fiji, of the 44-ton ship " Daphne," 

 owned in Victoria, licensed by the Queensland Government to carry fifty-eight islanders, 

 which was claimed by Captain Palmer as a prize and sent to Sydney, New South Wales, 

 for condemnation. Palmer's action was disapproved by his superior officer, Commodore 

 Lambert, and his claim was rejected by the Court, on the evidence, whereupon he 

 accused, among others, the Governor and Chief Justice of New South Wales, of par- 

 tiality to slavers. Sir Charles remarks on " Captain Palmer's inability to understand 

 what legal evidence was.") 



"Labour Trade in the Western Pacific." New South Wales Blue Book, 1881. (Articles 

 by Baron Miklouho Maclay and others on Kidnapping and Slavery in Western Pacific, 

 Statistics of Vessels employed, etc., etc.) 



J. Langdon Parsons, M.P., Minister for Education, South Australia. The Sugar 

 Industry in the Mackay District . . . and the Advantages of Coolie Labour for the Northern 

 Territory. Adelaide, Govt. Printer, 1883. 



A. Mackenzie Cameron. On the Most Suitable Labour for Sugar Cultivation in 

 Northern Queensland. Prize Essay, N.Q.P. & A. Ass. Townsville, 1883. (Argues that 

 island labour is the only labour suitable for the industry.) 



A. J. Duffield. What I know of the Labour Traffic, a Lecture, Brisbane, 1884. (The 

 author, for the purpose of obtaining evidence against coloured labour, took service as 

 Government agent on the Recruiter " Heath." He insists that it was a mere pretence 

 that the islanders understood their contracts, alleges corruption of Government agents 

 and argues that no recruiting vessel could make the trade pay without a " side line " 

 of " trade" in worthless goods. Further alleges that " man-hunting " is an instinct 

 which, if uncontrolled, will inevitably be indulged in ; that Government interference 

 is harmful whenever it is not evaded, and that there is great mortality among labourers 

 on Queensland plantations. Regards Indian coolie labour as the solution of the 

 question.) 



J. Y. Walker in History of Bundaberg. Sydney and Bundaberg, 1890. " The Sugar 

 Industry, which includes a Practical View of the Kanaka Question, submitted to the 

 People and Parliament of Queensland by the Bundaberg Planters Association." (Argues 

 in favour of island labour as the most suitable.) 



W. T. Wawn. The South Sea Islanders and the Queensland Labour Trade J A Record 

 of Voyages and Experiences in the Western Pacific (1875-91), by William T. Wawn, Master 

 Mariner. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1893. 



Rev. Alex. C. Smith, Convener of the Queensland Presbyterian Foreign Missions 

 Committee. The Kanaka Labour Question, with Special Reference to Missionary Efforts 

 in the Plantations of Queensland. Brisbane, Alex. Muir & Morcom, 1892. (Derides 

 alleged high death-rate on plantations and claims that Christianising and civilising 

 influences are brought to bear on the labourers.) 



The Sugaf Question in Queensland. A series of Papers published (in the interest of 

 planters) by Watson & Ferguson, Brisbane, 1901. (Includes an article by The Times 

 correspondent on the conditions attending small white holdings side by side with 

 plantations employing island labour.) 



Mackay Federal Tariff Committee. Report to Brisbane Chambers of Manufacturers, 

 I7th September, 1900. (Claims that " Kanaka " labour is indispensable, but admits 

 that it should be restricted to agriculture.) 



The Sugar Industry t The Voice of Queensland Agricultural Societies. Brisbane, 1901. 

 (Unanimous condemnation of proposed abolition of island labour.) 



" The Sugar Industry: Conditions in Northern Queensland." Reprint of Articles 

 in Rockhampton Daily Record, January, 1905. (Argues that island labourers form an 

 insignificant proportion of total population and that, while they give employment to a 

 large number of whites, their expulsion would ruin the industry.) 



Labour in Cane-fields Conference. Townsville, February, 1907 



