168 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Juny, 1901. 
No doubt there are many sensible men among the Labour members, but JT am 
afraid that there are also many who consider Labour only as opposed to Capital, quite 
is! forgetful that, without capital. the country would be of as little use to Labour as it was 
MY to the aborigines previous to the advent of the European, and having no conception of 
a happy blending of the two; for, without Labour, Capital would be equally useless. 
i There are also many who loudly proclaim their political creed as ‘a White Australia’ | = 
; simply because it sounds well from the mouths of stump orators, and seldom fails to = 
secure applause from the crowds which surround the hustings. 
A White Australia might be a very good thing, but they had better stop to consider 
! whether it may not cost too much. To ruin the chief agricultural industry of the 
North by rough or viclent measures which it cannot bear, and depopulate the country, 
would be a very serious matter, and would not be felt alone by those who are 
hi immediately engaged in that industry. 
In the North, sugar is the principal crop, and those who devote their attention to 
it produce little else. Hence, immense quantities of produce and goods of all kinds, 
machinery, and implements, horses to till the fields, and cattle to feed the labourers; 
i fodder for the horses, and many other commodities are continually being purchased 
ty —and mostly from the Southern markets. A large fleet of vessels is constantly 
employed carrying produce, goods, and passengers up and down the coast. 
=| Take into consideration the value of the sugar produced in the State (about 
fi 170,000 tons), when refined and placed upon the market (whether the colonial or the 
home marketis immaterial),and remember that thatamount has been distributed in trade- 
The farmer is paid for his cane and spends the money in wages, implements, 
—f horse feed, and so forth, and in the maintenance of himselfand his family. The wages 
=i paid are spent by the employee who receives them in a similar manner—in food, 
i clothes, tobacco, &e. Trade.—The implement vendor and the farmer who produced 
ri the horse feed are in the same category as is also every man who is in any manner, 
‘id directly or indirectly, employed by the trade, even to the capitalist who provided 
the capital till the sugar is refined and sold. All make a livelihood by it or a portion: 
of a livelihood, according as they are more or less employed in that or in any other 
business which is benefited by the trade. To trace the money through all the 
= ramifications of trade were idle and would prove a Herculean task, but a_ little 
i consideration will show that the money rolls on from hand to hand till the whole is 
' disposed of in the necessaries or luxuries of life, less anything withdrawn by any of the 
| many hands for increase of capital; and the more of that there is the better, as its 
H use gives further employment for labour and increases the market value of that labour. 
i The greater portion of the money being eventually spent in the necessaries of life 
must have drifted to the Southern markets, for the North produces no breadstufts, and 
most of our clothing and other goods come from the South. I know of no store here 
where Neighbour's boots are not sold, and years ago, before the heavy import duty was 
laced on boots. the same thing could have been said of Hunter’s of New South Wales. 
he South, therefore, is just as much interested in the prosperity of the ngs industry 
as is the North, but, not being so directly interested, the fact is net so evident. 
Destroy the principal industry of the North, and not only is a valuable customer 
lost to the South, but a strong competitor enters the lists against it; for we of the 
North are here, and although, no doubt, many would be ruined and drift southward to a 
swell the ranks of the unemployed, some would remain and return to the cultivation of 
; maize and such produce as the North will produce; and as wages would naturally be —_ 
at} ess, we would probably find it to our interest, for instance, to manufacture our own 
boots and a few other items rather than send the cash South. 
Cane sugar is a tropical or sub-tropical product, the principal source of supply 
for many years having ei the West Indies, and the Clyde the principal seat of the 
refineries. It is needless to say that, in those days, sugar was a money-making 
business, and the capital acquired in the trade no doubt materially assisted in giving 
the West of Scotland an impetus towards the position which it to-day occupies. Now, 
however, I may say, cane sugar is produced in all tropical countries. The field 
cultivation requires to be more thorough than that of most field crops, and the soil 
requires constant stirring till the crop covers the ground—say for six months. Thus 
there is a great deal of horse work required—suitable work for the white man. The 
mills and refineries also require a considerable staff of white labour—tradesmen and 
intelligent labourers. There is also a good deal of labour hoeing the cane rows where 
horse implements cannot reach, which certainly does not require much intelligence ; 
but the great difficulty of all—that which requires a heavy staff of low-class labour— 
1s the trashing, cutting, and loading. This, in all tropical countries, is and has always 
been done by low-class labour, and nearly always coloured, as the lowest and cheapest’ 
available—in fact, so nearly always, that the exception, as being such, is, as usual, the 
