The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-24 00:00:00

LANCASHIRE AND QUEENSLAND.

The Bury Times publishes a letter from a work-
ing man who left Lancashire for Queensland some
years ago, and who is of opinion that the land of
his adoption affords valuable opportunities for the
relief of Lancashire distress. .The following are
extracts from the letter., dated Ipswich, Queensland,
July 14 :
The sun is still shining on us, and our home is still
the abode of peace, happiness, and contentment. We
are in the enjoyment of plenty, and our cornucopia
to all appearances is as full as ever. Of the solid
and substantial comforts of this life we have all we
need, and to spare. . .I am still working—hard
as ever—earning my bread by the sweat of my brow,
and though the drops sometimes fall thick and fast,
yet I feel no sorrow, for my spirit—aye, and body
too—are sustaided with the fact that I am able to
earn enough for the wants of a numerous family
—that I can help to soothe and soften the old age
of my widowed mother at home, and besides all
this, to make a step or two higher up in the hill
of prosperity. There is one thing that affects my
mind very much, and that is the cry of distress at
home. The cry seems by every mail that reaches
us to be growing deeper, louder, and more extended.
It is heart-rending to hear it, but 1 am sure it must
be terrible—maddening to see it. And all this
for want of cotton. Well, I have the pleasure to
inform you again that the experiments of cotton-
growing in Queensland have proved a success. The
gentleman who has a plantation of 12 acres
.close
by my door tells me that it will pay cent. percent_
On all sides there is a growing disposition to enter
into cotton-growing. One gentleman is about to
bring under cotton culture 500 acres. He is im-
porting African labour, or escaped slaves from
Canada. Our great cry is—We want labour; we
have millions of acres of rich productive land that
can be turned to growing cotton, sugar, &s., but
we want human hands to do it. What, then,
ought to be done? A bill has passed our Parlia-
ment legalising the importation of coolies from
India for this object—growing cotton, &c., but the
people are sending a petition home to the Queen
to disallow the bill, and at the same time suggest-
ing the advisability of sending white labour from
the distressed counties of Great Britain and Ireland.
This week 200 bales of Queensland cotton, grown
by white labour, have left our shores for England.
It could be made 2,ooo—ay, two millions, as far as
the capabilities of land and climate are concerned.
It is a farce to say that white labour cannot stand
the climate ; it does stand it, and accomplishes work
far more laborious than cotton-growing. I do not
deny that it is hot, and for two or three months
summer extremely so; but the clear, bouyanz,
elastic atmosphere, the healthiness of climate, make
us bear up under it all with comparative ease. Our
heat is better to bear than your cold. You know,
and all that know me know as well, that I am not
a strong man, that I have been a pale-faced,
delicate creature from my childhood; but I can
assure you in point of health this climate to me
is infinitely better than yours, and I am work-
ing almost every day in the year in the sun. There
are eight months of the year that are delightful.
Let therefore no one be deterred from coming to
these shores through fear of the climate, which I
believe to be one of the best in the world. The
temperate, the industrious, and sober, may come in
thousands; there is room and labour for all. When
I stand on some of the hills, and look on the ex•
pause of country that lies before me—anreclaimed,
uncultivated and wild, covered only by trees, and
then think of my friends in Lancashire—starving,
walking about idle, not from choice, but from ne-
cessity—a feeling of sadness comes over me which
I cannot describe. Ever since I came oat here 1
have been convinced of the capabilities of the
colony to support in comfort and prosperity millions
upon millions of inhabitants. I suggested, five or
six years ago, the idea of the Lancashire operatives
forming an emigration union. If that had been
done, how many hearts that are crushed and almost
broken now by poverty and suffering would have
been sharing our comforts, and rejoicing in our
prosperity and our success ! And nuw let me ask
you to send me the names and ages of any of my
friends who would like to come, and I will try to
raise the means to get them out. Starving opera-
tives of Lancashire, this is the land for you. Here
labour and good wages are to be had ; here boys can

earn as much as most men at home; here are no

poor or poorhouses; the greater part of the people
are freeholders, living on their own houses or on
their own farms, surrounded with the comforts and
necessaries of lite in abundance; and, so far as my
experience goes, I know of no class of colonists who

have been more successful than persons out of the
cotton-mills of Lancashire. If they pay their own
passage, they will get 18 acres of land given them
when they arrive, and 12 more at the end of two
years' residence in the colony. Those who are too
poor to pay their own passage, let them apply to
the Colonial Land and Emigration Office, West-
minster, for a free passage to these colonies. 1115
own opinion is that the Government ought to be
petitioned to send out all or such of the distressed
operatives of Lancashire as are willing to come.
Let them be sent out here to grow cotton ; let them
come in thousands, and soon the manufacturing
districts of England will be independent of Jona-
than and his niggers for ever.