116 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ava., 1899. 
Mr. Grvzoy W. Port (Proserpine River, Bowen) then read the following 
paper :— 
THE LABOUR PROBLEM IN CONNECTION WITH THE SUGAR 
INDUSTRY. 
In reviewing the progress of the Queensland sugar industry since its inception, 
we cannot fail to be impressed with the vicissitudes through which it has passed, owing, 
to a very great extent, to the difficulty experienced in obtaining the requisite labour to 
enable the industry to be profitably carried on. Since the repeal of the Act 
prohibiting the importation of kanaka labour, the industry has enjoyed a respite from 
the harassing labour difficulty, and being able to obtain a supply of suitable, fairly 
cheap, and, above all, reliable labour, has been carried on neon in spite of a series 
of by no means favourable seasons. To those who have watched the trend of events 
in Queensland and have listened to the voice of public opinion, it is clearly apparent that 
our industry will soon have to face probably the most severe crisis it has yet undergone, 
eaused by her stoppage of the present supply of coloured labour; and it is with the 
object of hearing the effects of such a crisis thoroughly discussed that I have under- 
taken to write this paper, giving my views upon the subject and showing what I 
believe and hope will be the ultimate solution of the difficulty. The question which 1s 
apparent in the minds of most sugar-growers, in connection with this subject is—Can 
our industry be profitably carried on without the aid of its present supply of coloured 
labour; and if so, what substitute can be found to take its place? Contronted with 
this question, it will be instructive to review the labour conditions under which the. 
industry has been carried on since the Sugar Works Guarantee Act came into 
operation in 1893. When money was advanced in 1888 * by the Government for the 
two experimental central mills, Racecourse and North Eton, a condition was attached 
that no labour except European should be employed either in the mills or in the fields. 
For four years this condition was faithfully observed by the farmers growing cane for 
these mills, and it was proved that during that period the uncertain supply and utter 
unreliability, coupled with the high price of the obtainable white labour, rendered it 
impossible for farmers to extend their operations beyond that amount of cane which 
they could themselves cultivate without the assistance of outside labour. That the 
farmers themselves were strongly in fayour of white labour was shown by the fact 
that, even after the aforesaid restriction was removed, and other central mills had sprung 
up, many farmers voluntarily abstained from employing coloured labour, giving the pre- 
ference to the expensive and unsatisfactory SiMe obtainable. In 1894 the farmers 
growing cane for Homebush Millin Mackay district protested through their association 
against contracts for cutting cane being let out to contractors employing kanakas, and 
urged members as far as possible to give their cutting to white men. The average price 
paid that year for cane cutting and loading to white men in Mackay was 38s. 3d. per ton, 
and even at that figure, which was profitable to the cutter, the greatest difficulty was 
experienced in getting the men to carry out their contracts. That the aforesaid figure 
is a profitable one for cane grown upon forest land, no experienced contractor will 
deny. In the Proserpine district, lina I haye the honour to represent, a large area 
of cane was taken off last season with a gang consisting mainly of white men, at a cost 
of 2s. 6d. per ton, paying 30s. a week to every hand employed. I have known many 
instances of working men from the Western country, staunch unionists and rabid anti- 
coloured labour men, taking up farms in the Mackay district and elsewhere, and 
employing nothing but white labour even at a rate 40 per cent. above that paid to 
kanakas, and, in every instance that I have known of, these men were forced, against 
their sincere convictions, to employ the kanaka, not because of the high wage of the 
white man, but owing to his utter unreliability. That most men cum work in the 
canefield, and in fact do all the work attendant upon canegrowing without injuring 
their health or suffering serious inconvenience from the heat, has been clearly proved; 
and that the industry can pay a fair wage to suitable white labour I am firmly 
convinced, but that the present supply of white labour in North Queensland is either 
satisfactory or in anywise adequate to take the place of our present coloured labour, 
emphatically deny, while to make the farmers dependent on such would be to utterly 
ruin one of the most flourishing of Queensland’s primary industries. The white labour 
which at present makes its appearance in the canefields at crushing time consists for 
the most part of the typical sundowner and swagman, ready to accept any sort of job 
and earn his £1 a week’ as easily as possible, and to spend the same at the nearest 
public-house, leaying his employer at a minute’s notice short-handed at his busiest and 
* The first advance to the North Eton Central Mill was made on 28th October, 1886, and to 
the Racecourse Central Mill on the same date.—Ed. Q.A.J. 
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