The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-04-16
WHAT Of
THE FUTURE2
Sugar Interests Of
Australia are
Endangered.

the kanakas, who viii eventually quit
work The planters are opposed to
the importation Of Aslatics, and yet
there seems to have been offered no
suggestion as TO what other labor can
he obtained white laborers have been
tried, but the experiment seems doubt
full. The white men, IL is stated In the
Australian papers are physically ca
pabe of doing field work, but their
mental twist is such as to make them
almost unbearable, No mention is
made of importing the American ne
gro to perform the work but there
seems Il disposition to bring in labor
ers from Polynesia The South Sea
Islands will be SECURED in the attempt
to secure more field workers. Col
cured" laborers with the Australians
means persons from the South Seas.
The Quecnslandcr hints at the ami
hilation of the sugar industry unless
the proper class of laborers can be re-
tanned. 1t believes that the industry
will be killed unless the sources of
labor are left as they are. and is firm
in the belief that the salvation of the
industry lies in the continued impor-
tation of South Sea Islanders.
This opens up a new field for the
Hawaiian sugar planters in case the
present importation of Porto Ricans,
American negroes, and Louisiana 1taI-
ianS do not come up TO the standard
expected of them.
The Queenslander in recent issue
says:
The employment of colored alien la
Dor in the sugar industry of Queens
land has long been fruitful theme or
controversy among Legislators and 9TH
ers who, not being COntcrsant with the
actual facts of the case, have been
prone TO view the presence of the Poly
nesian laborer more i'm the light of
sentiment than in that OF practical
utility The portentous announcement
of the federal prime minister anent the
eventual abolition of the kanaka la
borer has kindled anew feeling OF
great concern among planters both
great and small 1t has created feel
ing of unrest which in its intensity
shows that the planters are sincere in
their belief that the determination of
the industry is inevitable if the only
reliable labor available is, at this
stage, withdrawn.
Is there any danger of the annihila-
ton of the industry, or even the stay
ing of it's progress for an Indefinite
time, if the means of maintaining the
present labor conditions are cut off?
This and many other contingencies
which converge on the sugar industry
in Queensland crowd upon the mind as
we embark on an errand OF invest ga
tion among the planters. 1t is the in
tention to visit the whole of the sugar
districts of the State, and to give as
far as practicable, the details associat-
ed with the cultivation and harvesting
of the sugar cane; and as the story Is
unfolded ii is hoped that many who,
while discussing the desirability of a
white Australia" will learn that pref
udCe has in a vast number or in
stances usurped the place of honest in
quiry.
In every part of the world where
sugar cane is produced the mental
III Will Il 10 cd
by colored labor. The reason is OBJ
ViOus because the climate conditions
essential to the growth of the product
form the natural living element OF that
class OF the human race. The colored
man being indigenous to parts of the
earth so circumstanced maintains his
powers of endurance under conditions
that the white man, nurtured in tenn
perate Climes. finds impossible. HIS
toriC facts go to show that Queensland
is the only country in the world that
has tried the experiment of sugar cane
growing without the aid of black labor,
and that experiment, as is well known
to those engaged in the industry, was
a dismal failure. About thirteen years
ago a royal commission appointed for
the purpose of making a thorough in
quiry into the black labor question in
this State, reported that "if colored
labor be withdrawn from the planta-
tions the extinction of the sugar in
duStry must speedily follow" We must
therefore, while keeping in view the
facts then existent, ascertain how far
the present condition of the Industry
would warrant the exclusion of kama
ka labor from our sugar fields, even
along the lines suggested by Mr.. Bar
ton.
With the possibility of the extinction
of the sugar industry-an industry
which forms the chief producing ele-
,,,ept IN O,r trnnics-a r,Irphar 81 COL
lateral issues crop IN. suggesting pos
sible events of great national impor-
lance to the Australian commonwealth
Setting aside for the nonce what may
be considered the parochial aspect or
the case, the maintaining and fostering
Of the sugar and other tropical indus
tries presents a feature in our rural
and political economy that should
command more than passing attention
from Australian LEGISLATORS. Australia
as a commonwealth has acquired a
great heritage in her tropical lands,