The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-01-31

you will break down in a month the
landlady Of your hotel informs you
But you do not try. Almost before one
has been an hour in its streets the spirit
of Brisbane has laid hold of you. The
sun is hot, the verandah is cool, and easy
chairs are all about Why stir? Half
consciously, the Eastern saying comes TO
mind: 1T is ~etter to walk than to run,
better to crawl than to walk. better sit
than -'' But here is the chair inviting
you. Why trouble to finish the sentence?
Then. if heaven has denied you a mini
mum Of sense, the mind dwells on pegs"
long drinks, well iced which present the
shortest and suTest cut to the cemetery
known in the tropics.
1t is not so much the high temperature
in Brisbane as the great humidity of the
atmosphere which makes it SO oppres-
sive brisbane folk have rev decisions
about the permanent settlement of white
Iaborers in tropical regions. They are too
near actually to be the sport Of theorists.
The present year is admittedly not a
good one in which to see the capital of
Queensland. Brisbane is scarce regain
ing its first breath after the terrible dis
asters of the drought For seven years
this northern capital has been the sport
Of fate. The lack of rain has made many
rich men paupers; and the politicians,
Federal and State, have accumulated dis
aster. European money circles have be-
come alarmed, and there has been for
some time a steady withdrawal OF Eng
lish capital My orders are" said the
head of one large financial institution,
that when any security falls in I am to
ol..ain the capital and remit it to Eng
and, no matter how good the invest
ment.'
They were twenty-one million sheep in
the state ten years ago; there are only
seven millions today. In the period Of
his success the pastoralist is a great CAPT
talist. He counts his investments often
by the hundred thousand pounds. and
his profits are gigantic. He is rarely
contented with his own capital, bat Dor
rows TO the outside limit from the banks
Then when the rains cease and the fiocks
die, the rich man finds inevitable ruin
has hold of him.
On all sides in Brisbane you hear tales
Of such men. This one, ten years ago
worth a quarter Of a million, has his land
now in the hands Of the mortgages.
while he himself is glad of work as an
assistant overseer on neighbours proper
ey. That one not long since master of
the prettiest estate for a hundred miles
around. is now living in a cheap board
ing house in a back street His daugh-
tiers. who dreamed Of emulating some Of
their girl friends. and marrying into no.
bic English families. are now looking for
work as companions or typewriters. There
are scores of such instances.
No wonder the elder man here are pes
simists. The drought is over now. but
everyone knows that before this genera
ton is past there viii probably be another
great drought Perhaps before then the
Queenslanders Will do as older nations
have done, and by great water preserva-
ton schemes make ready for the evil
day.
The second scourge of the people. any
orthodox Brisbane citizen viii tell YOU. is
the politician. Three years ago. when
federation was arrived at. the leisurely
men of this state put UP their candi-
dates and then apparently went 10 sleep
The Labor party kept awake, worked
hard. and secured the return of all its
nominees. These. speaking as the elected
mouthpieces of the state. demanded and
secured legislation. the Pacific Laborers
bill, which. if human experience in other
lands goes for anything. must within five
years convert the greater Part Of tropical
Queensland into jungle.-London Mail