108 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Jury, 1901. 
these men now are, and spent two days amongst them. I talked with them, and — 
reminded them of what they had said in the railway carriage coming to Brisbane 
eight years before. I asked them how it had panned out, and they went into — 
the details of the matter with me. There were no two opinions among them, 
and while they admitted that white men could do the work in Bundaberg (they 
were not talking about further North), still they would not do it. They say, 
“Take away the boys, and you can take away the farms; we cannot grow 
sugar without black labour, and we will not try.” You may take this for what 
1t 1s worth, but these are white men, reliable men, Englishmen, men whose word 
you can take, and that is their verdict after seven and a-half years’ trial. People 
are always coming down South and telling us there are a lot of Simon Legrees — 
on the plantations, and that such were the class of men who employed kanaka 
labour. What I have seen in Bundaberg and the class of men I haye recognised 
employing kanaka labour give that thing the lie. We have a class of men in — 
Bundaberg of a high social standing, men who would not ill-treat a kanaka any 
more than they would ill-treat their own wives. I have heard members of | 
Parliament say that the kanaka introduces leprosy, and that they set a moral 
example that was degrading to the men who employed them. I saw a church 
at Currajong Creek totally built by kanaka money, and I heard it on the best 
authority that 800 boys gather there every Sunday. Further than this, T am 
assured that a lot of these boys set an example that might well be copied by 
white men. TI can see that the kanaka question in the hands of such men as 
the Gibson Brothers is in safe hands, and that it cannot be in any way dangerous | 
to the moral health of the community. 
Mr. H. Hernemann (Mount Cotton): I feel it my duty, as I have been a 
canegrower for this last twenty years, to state, although I have no personal 
interest in the matter whatever except for the welfare of Queensland at large, 
that I consider it absolutely necessary to retain the Pacific Islanders. It is not 
that they are cheap, but reliable labourers. I certainly think if we are not 
permitted to retain the concession of being allowed to use the islanders, the 
result will be the downfall of the sugar industry. White labour, in its present 
we in Queensland, is altogether too unreliable for the conditions of the sugar _ 
industry. 
Mr. G. R. Mayers (Cairns) : I would like to give you a little idea of the 
way the sugar industry is being carried on in Cairns. The delegates to-da 
had an object lesson in the splendid show seen at Bingera, but we in the Nort 
have also made great progress during the past six years. It is a little over six 
years since the Sugar Works Guarantee Act was passed. Six years ago there 
was situated about 14 miles from Cairns a strip of land on either side of the 
Mulgrave River, in the possession of some six settlers. They had a few head of 
cattle, and there were also a few Chinamen growing a little maize. Between 
that time and now we have erected a central mill on one bank of the river. On 
the other there is a large estate called the Aloomba Estate, which is laid out 
for farms, and originally intended to haye a central mill also. At the present 
time, however, the cane is going to another mill which was established 
previously. We have built the Cairns-Mulgrave tramway, and that tramway 
extends into 16 miles of very rich country. It has paid its way from its 
construction, including both interest and redemption. The Mulgrave Mill is in 
a very good position financially, and we have paid all our interest, and redemption 
money also, except £400, which would have been paid, too, but for a mistake, 
to the 80th of June. We have now a settlement of about 150 farmers. A 
township has sprung up on the Mulgrave River, besides several smaller villages. 
We have a settled white population of between 300 and 400 persons. All this 
has been brought about through the help we got from the South Sea Islanders. - 
If anything is done to stop this labour, I am afraid that land will go back to 
the condition it was in seven years ago, when its whole white population 
consisted of the families of half-a-dozen settlers. Ido not think Mr. Coulson _ 
has had much experience of the Northern climate. I have been ten years in 
Cairns, and yet if I got a good chance to-morrow 1 would not have much 
