A White Australia 209 



sand South Sea Islanders, the bulk of the 

 remainder consisting of Hindoos, Japanese, 

 Manila men, and Afghans. 



The reasons that induced the Commonwealth 

 Parliament to decide that no addition should be 

 made to these numbers have frequently been 

 rehearsed. The exclusionists point to the dif- 

 ficulty thrust upon the United States by the 

 presence of a large negro population. The low 

 standard of living adopted by the coloured races, 

 the undesirable intermixtures of race already evi- 

 dent in some parts of Queensland, and the absence 

 of due regard for morality and sanitation, are 

 further arguments advanced by the advocates of 

 a " White Australia." Even those who admit 

 that coolie labour is best suited to tropical Aus- 

 tralia shake their heads over the impossibility of 

 confining the coloured alien to the North, and so 

 arrive at the conclusion that it is better the North 

 should suffer than that all Australia should be 

 overrun. It is not proposed to enter into the 

 discussion of this question, but rather to describe 

 some of the very interesting occupations in which 

 the coloured alien is already engaged. 



It should first be understood that the ex- 

 clusionist legislation of the first Commonwealth 

 Parliament deals with two aspects of the coloured 

 labour question. One Act, dealing with the 

 indentured labour of South Sea Islanders, sets a 

 term to the employment of this labour. The last 

 boats carrying indentured labourers from the 



