210 Australian Life 



islands to Australia arrived in Queensland early 

 in 1904, and from that time, the Kanakas were 

 deported as their indentures expired. This Act 

 was supplemented by an offer of bonuses to the 

 canegrowers employing white labour on their 

 plantations, the amounts of the bonus being 

 proportionate to the quantity of sugar produced. 

 The object of these bonuses is the gradual sub- 

 stitution of white labour for coloured, so that the 

 deportation of the Kanakas may be accomplished 

 without dislocating the industry. The result of 

 this experiment will be watched with the keenest 

 interest, especially by those who contend that the 

 white man is physically incapable of the work 

 required on a tropical plantation. The second 

 legislative measure provides, among other things, 

 an educational test whereby undesirable immi- 

 grants may be excluded. The greatest merit of 

 this test lies in its elasticity. The test may be 

 reduced almost to vanishing point for the benefit 

 of immigrants whose presence is welcome, while 

 an undesirable can be confronted, if necessary, 

 with a stiff paper in Greek. The Common- 

 wealth Parliament has carried its opposition to 

 coloured labour to the length of abolishing it on 

 the boats carrying the mails to and from the 

 United Kingdom, and there can be little doubt 

 that this attitude represents the sentiment of a 

 majority among Australians. 



The reader has already been introduced to the 

 Chinaman at his cabinet and laundry works in 



