The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-08-23
WHITE CANE FIELD LABOR
A FAILURE IN QUEENSLAND

contemplated U.w mills were not pro
ceeded with Machinery manufactur
ed for the purpose was offered AT
very low price without its being re
! moved from the packing cases. Mel
bourne capitalists who had invested /,
! Mackay sugar fields foresaw that IN,
, Industry was doomed In Queensland
, and in tn. year 1890, therefore, joine,
with others and erected n sugar reflm
cry at Port Melbourne For four year,
the company refined sugar made il
Java by black labor, not only in tn,
ilaids. but iu the mills This meant
That the VICES for white men for man
ufactulihg $1,000 tons of raw sugar
We're diverted from Queensland It
Java, and given 10 Javanese, Chinese
etc. This amount of raw sugar. it
must be remembered, represented 600.
600 tons of cane. Had this amount OF
cane heen grown in Queensland II
would have been of great benefit tc
the State in the early nineties."
on the change in the legislation, tn,
sugar industry at once expanded
again; the refining OF Java sugar Ia
Melbourne ceased, and the company es.
tablished a refinery at Brisbane. Will
the Millaquin company erected one AT
Bundaberg. These two underta kings
pay out yearly for cane, coal and other
materials, general manufacturing
charges, packing materials, wages. etc.
about G5o0,600. an annual expenditure
in the State which has directly pro-
ceeded from the restoration of KanakI
labor The increase in the output OF
sugar tells its own tale. Ii goes to
show that while the immigration of the
kanaka was held in allegiance, the in
dustry also remained in allegiance, and
when the embargo was removed. the
output of sugar increased the following
year by nearly fifteen thousand tons. e
The following extract from an artl-
Gle in the Queensland Agricultural
journal is interesting. as bearing upon
work on the sugar fields OF tropical
Queensland:
1T has been stated that crashing Is
unnecessary, and the controversy on
that point Is as old as sugar growing
but all | can say is that the planter
who does not trash runs tire. risks AT
least, One Is that during continued
wet weather the rain lodges at tn.
joints of the cane just ar the buds.
and is held there by the trash. The
next thing is, the buds swell and quick
ly grow into suckers all up the cane.
thus reducing the density of the juice.
and causing more labor to dress the
cane for the mill. l have had "a whole
field of cane in this state owing to
want of hands to trash, and to the re-
fusal of the regular hands--plowmen
horse drivers, etc to save the crops
by doing the work
The second risk is that the. ira sh
harbors numbers of insects, such as
borers, which injure the cane: and the
third is that, at a time when the cane
requires all the sun and air ii can get
to rlpen ii and raise the sugar contents
OF the juice, 1t is smothered i'm a mass
of dead leaves which effectually keep
of light, sun and air. Again. when
cane cutting is going on, the heaps of
trash collected at the foot of the cane
stools give the cutters harder work to
do. Now, picture to yourself a so or
lOO-acre field of well grown cane. 1t
stands from eight to ten feet high In
serried rows some six feet apart with
half that distance between the stools
of cane, which number from SIX to
twelve canes per stool. Much of the
cane has been blown down, and lies in
a tangled mass under foot. Every
single cane is clothed with a casing of
dead leaves from the ground to the
green crown. This is the so-called
trash which has to be removed to
enable the sun and air to act directly
on the cane.
ENTER this field. and "a few yards
from its outside edge you will find IL
difficult to force your way further.
Overhead the pitiless blazing sun OF tile
tropics. Should there be any breeze az
all, not breath of it can find its way
further than II few yards into the
thickly growing cane. The thermome-
ter stands at from 800 to $50 degrees
Fahrenheit in the sun, and added to
this there is a deadly muggy dampneas
everywhere which renders the heat
more oppressive.
The trash is easily detached from
the cane stalf--a child can pull a dead
leaf off with his finger and thumb. All
that the laborer has to do is to throw
himself upon the stool of cane. plunge
both arms into the accumulated trash,
drag it clear of the cane, and deposit
It in the clear space between the rows.
The canes are thus left quite bare from
root to crown. Easy enough YOU saw
the trash is neither heavy nor prickiy.
No. but as the work is usually done
in dry weather. clouds of fine dust rise
from the cracking leaves. The Iabore,
Is smothered with this dust, which gets
INTO his eyes and nostrls, covers his
whole body with streaming dirt and
rhokes up his bronchial tubes as badly
as If he were working a cotton gin In
a close room. In addition to this an
noyance, there Is a still greater one,
arising from the hairs ringing each
Joint of the cane stalk. These become
detached in the process of trashing,
and stick into the skin like the fine
hairs on certain caterpillars. or the fine
spiculae on the fruit of the prickIy
pear. These cause intense irritation;
the skin burns and itches, and there
Is no possible escape or relief from it
till Knockout time. Then. as I have
said, the blazing sun overhead beats
oitilessly on the unprotected worker,
he dust chokes very pore, and by the
line he has worked half an hour or so,
T he be white man, small wonder
hat he fights shy of trashing cane
mt. Sugar Journal
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES