Very few are aware of the magnitude of the sugar industry, of its 
importance to the colony, or of the vast sum that has been invested in it. — 
From the report of the Sugar Commission it would be seen that between four 
and five millicns pounds sterling have been invested in it, and that the annual 
disbursement exceeds £800,000. 
The price of sugar and the cost of production have now met, and some- 
thing must be done, and done quickly, to prevent the extinction of the industry 
and the destitution and desolation which must-inevitably follow. 
The greatest aim of a true Statesman should be to scttle people on the 
land, and any industry which assists to do this successfully is worthy of great 
consideration. Look at the great sacrifice Germany makes in this respect; 
look at the immense sum she pays annually in bounties on beet sugar! Does 
she do this to supply England with cheap sugar? No. Her object is to keep 
her fighting men on the land, and to do this the people of Germany have to” 
pay 5d. per lb. for the same sugar that is sold in England at 13d. per lb. 
There are at the present moment 20,000 people actually dependent on the 
sugar industry of this colony. It provides a vast amount of work for the 
foundries in Townsville, Bundaberg, Maryborough, and Brisbane, and also 
affords a good market for maize and other feed stuffs, and for general farm 
produce. J’rom authoritative sources I find that in one year Mackay alone 
imported 1,500 tons of maize, 498 tons of potatoes, 104 tons of chaff, 70 tons of 
green fruit, 95 tons of pollard, and many other products of the south in large 
quantities, and at the present moment, on a single estate, 800 horses brought 
from South Queensland are being fed on southern maize. One auctioneer in’ 
Mackay disposed of 1,030 southern horses in one year. I merely mention 
these facts to show the far-reaching benefits of the sugar industry. 
Now let us see if that industry has assisted settlement. I think it has 
done so in a greater degree and more successfully than any other industry. 
As my object is not simply to make statements, but to adduce facts to support 
any statement I may make, I will try and do so by illustration, taking four 
selections conterminous with my own. 
After I took up my selection | had to wait eleven years for the erection — 
of a mill before I could grow any cane. In the interim I and my neighbours 
grew maize, and not only supplied Mackay wants, but exported to most of the 
inland and coast towns of the North, thus competing with Southern farmers in — 
a branch of agriculture peculiarly their own. In time, mills were erected on 
three of these selections, each of which in a single year consumed 1,000 bags 
of maize. Whilst engaged in maize-growing, the only persons on the land — 
were either the selector or his bailiff and from two to five Kanakas. Now, 
let us see the change wrought by the erection of mills and the advent of cane- 
growing. Mr. Paget says (vide Sugar Report)—‘t £60,000 has been expended, 
which last year returned no interest. The wages paid to Europeans amounted 
to £2,113 12s. 8d.; to Kanakas, £995 18s. 8d.” Mr. Robertson (Habana) — 
says: “We have invested £62,686, and we paid in wages to Huropeans 
£2,488 ; to Kanakas, £2,377.” Mr. Boulton says: “Including Foulden, we 
have invested £151,699 18s. 7d. We paid in wages to Europeans, 
£2,935 10s. 1d.; to Kanakas, £1,756 14s. 6d. 
To these sums must be added rations for both Europeans and Kanakas, 
and even then we do not arrive at the actual disbursement on these estates. I 
do not think anyone will attempt to deny that the expenditute of these 
large sums benefited not only the district but the colony also. 
I particularise these mills for several reasons. ‘They are on what are — 
known as “scrub estates,” on which most of the work is done by hand labour, 
and consequently the ratio of Kanaka wages to those of Europeans is much 
larger than on other estates. ; 
J will now illustrate what the closing of a single sugar estate means to a 
locality, and what the loss of the industry would mean to North-eastern 
Queensland. On the occasion of a lady friend leaving the Mackay district I 
drove her to a friend’s house, and our route lay through eight miles of cane- 
