146 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
QUEENSLAND SuGAR PRODUCTION. 
— Acreage Cane, Tons Sugar, Tons 
1900-1 : : : 108,535 848,328 92,554 
1906-10 : : a 134,107 1,415,745 152,259 
1910-11 : ‘ i 141,779 1,840,447 210,756 
1916-17 c : : 167,221 1,579,514 176,973 
1917-18 : F 175,762 2,704,211 307,714 
1918-19 : ; : 160,534 1,674,829 189,978 
1919-20 : i 3 148,469 1,258,760 162,136 
1920-21 : ; eid 162,619 1,339,455 167,401 
| [The sugar yield for 1922 is reported as 288,000 tons. ] 3 
It may be said that the increase in output and area ought to have been 
larger, but it should be understood that the Queensland sugar industry 
is not situated under specially favourable natural circumstances, as the 
land suitable for sugar occurs in relatively small isolated areas. Hence, 
the cane has to be treated at forty scattered mills, and the work cannot 
be done as economically as if concentrated in a few places. 
The Australian adoption of white labour for its sugar plantations has 
been the greatest contribution yet made to the practical solution of the 
problem whether the white man can do agricultural work in the tropics. 
The experiment shows that white labour can be employed successfully 
in such an ultra-tropical industry as sugar cultivation in even the ultra- 
tropical climate of the Queensland coastlands, provided the settlers are 
protected from infectious disease and from the competition of people 
with lower standards of life. 
6.—RATE OF PROGRESS AND THE DRAWBACKS OF THE TROPICAL CLIMATE. 
The results of the Australian decision in 1901 to discard coloured labour 
have shown that the daring policy then begun is practicable ; but it may 
render development slow and costly. The slowness of the progress may be 
amply compensated by its surenessin the end. Some American authorities 
on migration (cf. H. P. Fairchild, ‘ Immigration,’ 1923, pp. 215-225, 342) 
maintain that immigration during the past half-century into America 
has not added to the total population, as it has lowered the birth-rate of the 
older American stock, and merely substituted a very large foreign for a 
native element that would otherwise have come into being. An immediate 
increase caused by the introduction of a large number of Asiatics might 
mean a reduction in the European proportion in the Australian race, with 
in the end no increase in the total population. 
The conclusion that white settlement of the tropics is possible should 
not lead to the drawbacks of a tropical climate being overlooked. The 
conditions where the wet-bulb temperatures are high are uncomfortable 
and unfavourable to mental and physical activity. People who are not 
keenly interested in their work should avoid the tropics. Ellsworth 
Huntington in a valuable series of works has called attention to many 
facts which show the dependence of Western civilization on the stimulating 
nature of the temperate climate, for the frequent changes in temperature 
and wind are conducive to alertness and general efficiency. 
The enervating effect of the tropical climate is no doubt counterbalanced 
by various compensations. Man needs less in food, fuel, clothing, and 
housing, while the same amount of exertion will produce a more luxuriant 
