The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-21

About the same time as this Act was
passed the first commonwealth tariff was
also framed, and in order to keep this
big industry in existence as a field for
white wage earners, a protective duty
of &c per ton was imposed on foreign
cane sugar produced by cheap colored
labor.
The White Laborer.
Since the bonus on sugar grown by
white labor has been i force large
numbers of white men have found en-
ployment in the canefelds of Queens
land. The harvest lasts for five to six
months--from June to December in the
North, and from August to December
in the South White Iaborers can a.
ways obtain work during the crushing
season at contract rate for eane-cut.
ting of from IS. Sd. to rs. per ton, ac
cording to the weight of the crop and
the locality where it is grown. Occa-
sionally it may be somewhat lower or
perhaps higher. A good man can earn
from 9s. to 15s (more in many in
stances) per day at this work, and cut
out a nice cheque at the end of the
season. Since the introduction of white
IdbOl IL Aitto diLot DECL VIC AIM VI Liz
mills to start crushing as early as pos
sible, so as to take advantage of the
cooler weather for the white workers
in the field. 1t is, therefore, only to-
wards the end of the season when
workers have become somewhat ac-
climatized that the hot weather pre-
walls. The method principally adopted
is for several men to ehum together
and form a gang, the leader of which
engages to work right through the sea
son at different plantations. Many
farmers offer bonus, in addition to
! contract price, to gangs that work with
out a break until all the cane is cut.
Any thrifty cane-cuttar can save
/ enough cut of his earnings in few
+ years to make a start for himself as
/ a cane grower. In fact. many of the
most successful growers Of cane today
began with nothing Land can be got
/ on easy terms, as both the government
+ and large firms with sugar interests
sueh as the Colonial Sugar Refining
/ Company, Limited. and others-are do
/ ing their utmost to settle a community
! of small cane growers on the soil. Al
! MacKay, in 1907, over 100000 worth
/ Of sugar, eqpaling a producing yalue
of more than $500 per farm. was the
/ product of about a thousand farmers
fully three-fourths of whom came to
the district as agricultural laborers. In
this district their number now exceed:
| 1900.
Out of a total quantity of cane har
vested in 1908, 80 per cent. or 1,443.
315 tons, were grown by white labor
and only II per cent by c0lored labor
To show how the production of ''White
Labor Sugar" has grown. il may be
mentioned that in 1908 bounty was paiC
on POI, 40 tons only. The weight Of
cane grown by white labor for the wear
1905 was 1870, 236 tons.
The Small Cane Grower.
The leading feature of the sugar in
dustry in Queensland today Is the mum
Der of small farmers. living independ
emily on their holdings, engaged in i
as compared with the old plantation
system. There still exist some larg,
plantations: but. as before mentioned
they are being cut up as rapidly a
possible.
As to the amount necessary for ;
man to start cane-growing in a small
way. it has been stated bv competen
authorities that a man with from e20t
TO $500 could go into sugar very sue
cessfullv. It would, however, be bette
for him to seek work with some can'