36 



AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 



tion in July, 1882, and 174 miles in the course 

 of construction. The length of telegraph lines 

 completed at the end of 1881 was 4,946 miles. 



An intercolonial railroad is projected which 

 will connect Adelaide with Melbourne. The 

 Murray Bridge or Callington route, chosen by 

 the Government, is criticised by many. The 

 large falling off in the grain exports has had a 

 depressing effect on the colony, and has affected 

 the revenue. A proposed property tax of a 

 penny in the pound is strongly opposed. The 

 land law has been amended so as to allow pur- 

 chasers on deferred payments to surrender 

 their holdings, with remission of the remaining 

 installments. 



Queensland was separated from New South 

 Wales and endowed with responsible govern- 

 ment in 1859. The Legislative Council con- 

 sists of 30 life-members nominated by the 

 Crown, the Legislative Assembly of 55 mem- 

 bers elected for live years. Every tax -payer 

 has a vote, and every property-owner or lease- 

 holder one in the district in which the prop- 

 erty is situated as well as in the district in 

 which he resides. 



The Governor of Queensland is Sir Anthony 

 Musgrove, formerly Governor of Jamaica, who 

 was appointed in 1883. The late Governor, 

 Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy, who held the 

 office six years, died after his recall, on the 

 voyage to England. The Ministry is composed 

 as follows: Colonial Secretary and Premier, 

 Hon. Sir Thomas Mcllwraith ; Colonial Treas- 

 urer, Hon. A. Archer; Secretary for Public 

 Works, Hon. John M. McCrossan; Secretary 

 for Public Lands, Hon. Patrick Perkins ; Post- 

 master-General, Hon. Boyd Dunlop Morehead. 



The area of Queensland is 668,224 square 

 miles. The coast line measures 2,250 miles. 

 The population in 1881 was 213,525, divided 

 into 125,325 males and 88,200 females, includ- 

 ing 11,229 Chinese engaged in the gold-mines 

 and 6,848 Polynesians, but not including the 

 aborigines, estimated at 20,585. The capital, 

 Brisbane, had 31,109 inhabitants. The immi- 

 gration from the United Kingdom declined 

 after the introduction of Chinese and Polyne- 

 sian laborers. 



The total imports in 1881 amounted to 

 3,601,906, the exports to 3,289,253. The 

 leading article of export is wool, which is 

 shipped to England to the value of over 800,- 

 000 a year.. Preserved meat and tallow are 

 also exported. The cultivation of cotton and 

 sugar-cane, recently introduced, is growing 

 rapidly. The total area under cultivation in 

 the beginning of 1883 was 128,875 acres, of 

 which 28,026 acres were planted to sugar-cane. 

 The live-stock at the beginning of 1882 num- 

 bered 194,217 horses, 3,618,513 cattle, 8,292,- 

 883 sheep, and 56,438 hogs. There are several 

 coal mines worked in the colony. The value 

 of the gold product declined from 1,306,431 

 in 1877, ten years after the discovery of gold, 

 to 925,012 in 1881. 



At the beginning of 1882 there were 800 



miles of railroad in operation, and 200 miles in 

 process of construction. A trans-Australian 

 line from Bisbane to Port Darwin was begun 

 in 1882. The telegraph mileage was 6,279. 



In Queensland, besides the appropriation of 

 the land by monopolists, there exists the form 

 of slavery 'known as "indentured labor," an 

 evil now found in no other Australian colony. 

 The culture of sugar in the sub-tropical por- 

 tion of the colony is so profitable that free 

 white settlers who penetrate beyond the occu- 

 pied districts to raise the cane and evaporate 

 the juice are better repaid than in any other 

 occupation now open in Australia. Yet the 

 laws allowing bound labor are kept on the 

 statute-book by the influence of the large 

 planters, on the plea that the product can only 

 be cultivated by colored labor, and that colored 

 labor can only be made effective by special 

 sanctions. Until recently, veritable slavers 

 supplied the labor market by enticing away or 

 capturing in violent raids the natives of the 

 Polynesian islands. But an outcry was made 

 in England which led to a parliamentary in- 

 quiry. The revelations of these piratical raids 

 and of the cruelties and frauds practiced upon 

 the Kanakas in Queensland, which resulted in 

 the appointment of a commission, consisting of 

 Sir A. Gordon and the two naval commanders 

 on the station, to consider means of punishing 

 crimes committed on the Pacific islands by 

 British subjects, discouraged further importa- 

 tions of Pacific- islander s. The planters then 

 turned to Ceylon and Southern India. Cinga- 

 lese and Bengalee coolies are brought by specu- 

 lators, to whom they have, or are supposed to 

 have, contracted their labor for a term of 

 years, and are by them transferred to the sugar- 

 planters. The employment of colored labor is 

 restricted by statute to the sugar-estntes on the 

 northern coast. The term of service is limited 

 to three years, after which they have to be 

 sent back at the expense of their employers. 

 The white laborers, who through a low fran- 

 chise exert great political power, and to please 

 whom a tax of 10 a head is imposed on Chi- 

 nese immigrants, are in favor of restricting 

 colored labor. The laborers are subjected to 

 official inspection: Nevertheless, as the na- 

 tive races are not permitted to testify in the 

 courts, they are not protected against any form 

 of cruelty or injustice. According to a statis- 

 tical statement cited by Lord Lamington, there 

 were imported into Queensland, within a com- 

 paratively few years, the large number of 17,- 

 329 black laborers. 



Tasmania, constituted a self-governing colony 

 in 1871, has two Houses of Parliament, elected 

 by suffrage limited by property qualifications 

 of different degrees. The Govornor is Maj.- 

 Gen. Sir G. Cumine Strahan, transferred from 

 the governorship of the Windward Islands in 

 August, 1880. The head of the responsible 

 ministry is Hon. William R. Giblin. The rev- 

 enue in 1881 was 502,417; expenditure, 466,- 

 313 ; estimated revenue in 1883, 530,000 ; ex- 



