May i, 1889.J f ME TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
739 
land. Here ten days were spent visiting estates, 
riding or being driven to some new piace every 
day, walking of course being out of the question, 
as the managers and superintendents always ride, 
many of the estates are several thousand acres in 
extent. It was an agreeable change to find oneself 
in a country where all looked so green and flourish- 
ing, for Mackay is specially well favoured with rain 
compared to many other districts, and the canes 
far along the plains were shooting up rapidly 
under the influence of recent rain and present hot 
days with a gentle breeze which sets in from the 
sea about ten o'clock and lasts till near sundown 
about seven. And yet the canes had suffered 
very severely, I was told, from the drought before 
Christmas and the crops for the next crushing 
season commencing in July, was likely to be a 
very poor one and on several plantations would 
not be worth cutting at all. 
In fact, for the last two or three years, the 
seasons have been quite different from what is 
required to produce good sugar returns. There 
has been too little rain, and when the rain' 
did come, it was at the wrong time to suit the 
requirements of the cane. Then frost on certain 
spots lying far back from the sea nipped the 
growth and produced artificial ripening, so that 
the crop had to be hastily crushed to avoid com- 
plete loss. Sugar planters have had other difii 
culties than the climate, thus the great fall in 
the price of sugar, which occurred some few years 
back, changed the profits in many cases into an 
absolute loss, as owing to the opposition to the 
importation of cheap black labour, which the de- 
mocratic element of the late Government used to 
the fullest extent, the planters were compelled 
to fall back upon expensive white labour which 
for field operations in certain months in the year, 
is totally unsuitable in sugar growing countries. 
On the other hand a judicious combination of 
white and black labour would make Australian 
sugar growing a most profitable investment for 
capital. At the present moment the two things most 
required by Queensland are capital and cheap labour, 
and both of these are being effectually kept out of 
the colony by the strong democratic elements aided by 
manhood suffrage, where the vote of the loafing 
larrikin of the street counts as much as that of the 
man who has spent the best years of his life in open- 
ing up the country in attracting capital and finding 
employment for the surplus population of other lands. 
With cheap labour, irrigation and manuring 
would be possible ; but without it the sugar interest 
must come to a standstill ; in fact, I saw hundreds 
of acres of abandoned cane fields which had been 
allowed to go back to grass. How can it be other- 
wise : sugar must have plenty of water either natu- 
rally or artificially supplied ? With good soil and 
sufficient water, canes may be grown for many 
years without manure, as I had a proof on one 
estate, the soil of which was submitted to me for 
analysis some fifteen years ago by the late Mr. R. 
Daintree, then Agent-General in London for the 
colony. On this estate crops of cane are still 
being grown, but it is only on the best soil suc- 
cessive crops can be taken without manure. In 
Demerara, Mauritius, Barbadoes and the South of 
Spain manure of some kind is largely used ; the 
planters like the farmers at home knowing full well 
that to obtain good crops manure must be applied. 
The sugar planter's house is much like that of the 
j coffee or tea planters' bungalow of Ceylon, except that 
the dwelling rooms are all on the first floor, there being 
a space of eight feet between it and the ground which 
is used as a shelter for his bugi;y and other traps. 
With a broad verandah running round the house, 
more air is obtained, also a good view over the 
surrounding cane fields, while one is farther re- 
moved from the heavy dew, which, in ihe early 
morning may be seen hanging just over the tops 
of the canes. The roofs are always made of cor- 
rugated galvanized iron and large round tanks made 
of the same material and capable of holding 
several thousand gallons are fixed at the four 
corners, if a large supply of water is required. By 
this arrangement sufficient water for ail domestic 
purposes can be obtained to last all the year 
through in ordinary seasons, and is greatly to be 
preferred to the well water, which, on the rich 
vegetable soils where cane flourishes best, is largely 
charged with organic impurities. As in Ceylon the 
planter here, too, often has no vegetable garden 
whatever, everything being given up to canes, which 
are grown quite close up to the house, affording 
ample accommodation to mosquitoes, which are a 
sad torment to the workers during the day time, 
to the master's folk in the evening when there is 
no breeze. At a few estates, however, it was pleasant 
to see the ca^s kept at a respectable distance, 
and in the immediate locality of the house a well 
stocked fruit and vegetable garden, so that at every 
meal there was something besides meat, bread 
and potatoes to partake of. As a rule however, 
where green vegetables are obtained, they are 
purchased from the poor Chinaman, who, whatever 
defects he may have as regards his personal habits, 
possesses the ability to produce an abundant sup- 
ply of excellent vegetables for the table of the 
white man, who shows his gratitude by endeavour- 
ing to turn him out of the country. Jealousy 
however is always a sign of weakness, and as time 
fights ever on the side of truth, the period must 
come, if Australia is to act up to her motto and 
advance, when there shall be freedom of labour as 
well as freedom in trade throughout- this great 
Continent. At present next year will be the last 
during which the black Kanakas can be brought 
over from the New Hebrides and the adjoining 
islands under a three years' agreement with the 
planter who has to pay £30 to Government for each 
man, while to the labourer he gives an abundant 
supply of food, good lodgings and clothes, also six 
pounds wages per annum, which latter must be 
paid half-yearly in the presence of a Government 
efficial. At the end of the three years he will be 
sent back free of cost, or he may be re-engage at a 
higher rate of wages. I have seen hundreds of 
these black men who seem perfectly satisfied and 
well in appearance, and yet these are the men that 
the white emigrant wants to keep out, though he 
is physically quite unable to take their place in 
field operations. The Sugar Commission, however, 
now travelling about taking evidence, will doubtless 
see that a stop to such useful black labour 
shall not be allowed to come into force in 1890, 
and if so with favourable seasons a new era of 
prosperity may be opened up for the sugar industry. 
During my stay a large fire occurred in the town 
of Mackay, three miles distant, which resulted in 
the complete destruction of the principal hotel 
and 15 wooden houses in about 2 hours' time. As 
usual the fire originated in a small houso heavily 
insured, while many of the others were only par- 
tially insured, as the rates for wooden houses 
have of late become very high in consequence of 
the numerous fires, and the almost impossibility 
of procuring an immediate large supply of water. 
The weather is still very hot, the temperature, 
while these lines have been written, being 96° F. 
in the shade of a verandah, supplemented by two 
beautiful Ponciana trees with their fern like 
leaves, which furnish an excellent shade tree for 
gardens in North Queensland, while the Hibiscus 
(jrandijlortt with its rich red Mowers and luxuriant 
