SUGAR 155 



The rainfall on the coast in Queensland where cane is 

 grown ranges from 130 in. at Innisfail to 40 in. at Bunda- 

 berg. Irrigation is only used in one district, viz., the 

 Lower Burdekin, where the rainfall is small. Good 

 results are obtained. Cane land varies in price from 5 

 to 60 per acre. 



The sugar-cane plant in Queensland is subject to many 

 pests and diseases. The most serious of these at the 

 present time is the grub pest. The larvae of Lepidiota 

 and other scarabseid beetles attack the roots of the cane, 

 causing the stool ultimately to fall and perish. Thousands 

 of tons o'f cane, particularly in the north, have been 

 destroyed, and a high price per Ib. is now paid for the 

 beetle. In Mackay over 15 tons of beetles have been 

 captured within so short a time as two months and 

 destroyed. The weevil borer (Sphenopherus obscurus) and 

 the moth borer (Diatrxa saccharalis) do a certain amount 

 of damage, but have not so far called for urgent repressive 

 measures. The gumming disease of the cane caused by 

 Bacillus vascularum, Cobb, is at times a very serious 

 trouble, both in the field and in the mill, but, so far as 

 the writer's experience goes, gumming of the cane is not 

 found to any extent north of Mackay, and appears most 

 prevalent in cooler climates. Certain varieties of cane, 

 particularly the older sorts, such as Rose Bamboo and 

 Striped Singapore, are particularly liable to the disease, 

 while in the best of the New Guinea canes no traces of it 

 have been found, though the poorer kinds are far from 

 immune. 



Apart from its great economical importance, however, 

 the sugar industry in Queensland possesses a phase of 

 far higher significance. In 1911 a Royal Commission on 

 the industry was appointed by the Federal Government. 

 This body sat for upwards of twelve months, and collected 

 a mine of evidence in all parts of Australia. Their report 

 was finally handed in at the end of 1911. That report stated 

 emphatically that the Queensland sugar industry was one 

 of national importance, the maintenance of which vitally 

 affects every citizen of the Commonwealth. By no other 

 means at present visible can our vast Northern littoral 

 be peopled and defended, and for this reason alone, apart 



