1 Jury, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 97 
we SIXTH SESSION. 
Tuurspay, 13rn June, 1901, 7°30 p.m. 
Proceedings commenced by Mr. R. C. Lurirsrrpce (Mitchell) moving, and 
Mr. P. Hosxry (Hodgson) seconding, that Mr. W. Miscamble’s paper on 
Experimental Wheat Plots be referred to the Committee of Resolutions. This 
was carried. 
The Hon. D. H. Danryupus: I find there is a deputation of two or three 
gentlemen outside, so I must ask your permission to absent myself for five or 
ten minutes. I shall therefore, with your permission, ask Mr. Mahon to take 
the chair. ; 
Mr. Mazon accordingly assumed the chair. 
POLYNESIAN LABOUR. 
Mr. A. Morrar (Radford) : I beg to move the following motion :— 
That this mecting of 160 delegates, assembled in Bundaberg from all parts of 
Queensland, and representing every agricultural and pastoral interest of this State, are 
alarmed at the action proposed to be taken by the Federal Government against the 
employment of Polynesians on our sugar farms, and we therefore ask the Federal 
Government to postpone legislation on this subject until a Royal Commission has 
reported to the Federal Parliament upon the whole question. 
Mr. T. Burerss (Forest Hill): It is my duty to second the resolution 
proposed by Mr. Moffat. I may be pardoned for saying if I had been asked to 
do this before I came to Bundaberg, I should have refused; but I second it 
now because I appreciate the sentiment and believe it is the right thing. 
The motion was then put and carried amidst applause. 
Mr. Morrar: I would like it to be distinctly understood by everyone 
what we are doing, and I would like the Chairman to ask if there is any dis- 
sentient voice against the spirit of the resolution. 
The CHatrman therefore again asked if there was anyone opposed to the 
motion, and, meeting with no response, it was declared carried unanimously. 
The next paper on the business-sheet was one by Mr. E. Denman, of 
Etowri, Mackay. Mr. Denman, through indisposition, was unfortunately 
absent, and his paper was accordingly taken as read. It was as follows :— 
THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
[By E. Denman, Etowri, Mackay.] 
Mr. Prustpenr AND GunriemEN,—The pride and pleasure which I feel in. again 
being present at this Conference are marred in a large degree by the sad reflection that, 
since we last met, the Department of Agriculture has lost a most capable administrator 
and the agriculturists of Queensland avery sympathetic friend by the death of the 
late Honourable and still honoured J. V. Chataway. I also regret that on the 
present occasion another was not chosen by my association to bring to your notice the 
woes andthe wants of the Northern canegrowers in particular and sugar industry 
generally, seeking your aid and co-operation to soften the former and to secure some 
of the latter. 
I may here say that my colleague, Mr. Swayne, and myself have also been 
deputed to act and speak for the Proserpine farmer on this occasion. This will compel 
me to refer to the past. When possible, the very best thing that can be done with 
the unpleasant past is to divide it into two halyes—forgiving one and trying to forget 
the other. My excuse for resuscitating it on this occasion is that I am going to apply 
it io its only legitimate use—viz., as a warning; for the past is ever the only true 
prophet of the future. 
On the Proserpine there is a large and well-equipped central mill, erected under 
the provisions of the Sugar Works Guarantee Act. ‘here is a large debt due on it to 
the Goyernment, and a course of action is being pursued which, if persisted in, will 
drive the cane farmers off the land (the only source from which the wealth required 
to meet the debt can come), leaving the mill machinery and building a costly 
monument to one man’s folly. / 
Ten shillings per ton is the price fixed for cane. I say that the Proserpine 
farmers cannot grow cane profitably at that price. Ten shillings per ton of cane is 
G 
