Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 438, 22 April 1892 — Italian Laborers on Queensland Plantations. [ARTICLE]

Italian Laborers on Queensland Plantations.

The folkming clipping hom Uie Sydney Bulletin of Mareh may prove inBtrootive to ti»e er as well as to onr working elnoiaa and ali who object to making th»e fair islands a dumping ground for the offscouringsof the earth:

The Itallan immigrattoa aeheme in Queenaland is already sbowing t&gaa of eollapee, and in ite oollap»eanother woe i§ added to the troubles of the pro\'ii»ce* The Romaa organ grinder ie on etrike and the coantry haf> only the ftatisfactkm of knowinjr that it ha« imported, at the expen«e of the overbnrdene<l taxpayer, peveral huedred unempioyed in additk« to the gre*t rrav already in ex!ftence. Ah the event proves, thie elieap alien it> mu» h le«« fitted than the Auntralian to work in the malarioun atmoephere of the tropiitil eane-Aehl!». The one and oniy reaeon for h\e exi?tence in Queeneiand ia hia alleged eaiwidty • for toiling 12 hours per diem for an infitiite«tiiftal pittance per week and a microecopic r*tion, and now that thia alleged capacity is utterlydiBproved, there ie 110 reaecn for him &t all. 411 over C*nt ral Quee«gland gangsof de«titute and dteeperate ItalianB aretmmpi&g southward, ready to work at half >iptgee and thue cut down the pay of the dietreßsed AU9* tralian eti!l low«r—ready to beg. borrow or »teal, or to do anything, in fact, save go haek to labor at lees than Chinese rates on the Nortbern plantatione. Moet of them will presently vanish inlo tthe eeume of Brifrhane and Hvdney, and help to Hwell the c hronic <lemand for relief works or puhlie charity, an<l their plaeee: wili be takon by freeh swarat< of Italianx who wil! lx? «iite<l through the planter's sieve in like iuann*»r, an«t then I KO out :o Ik' hurdt»n oa the rominuniiy" j at !arK*e. Tht» rountrv j»«ys the freijrla j u;x>n thrac stran£ere. ttn* pUnter ■ oin* month*H work out of them, an<l thdn l the nation han to Hui»j>oi't. the m lor ever | afterwardt<; and ii a!l Ita!v wer« impon» ' tetiby inPlalmenN into Northern Queetisj lan<l. the r>lantatioue wouid !>resently 1>« l»re of emp!oyee« a» they were when the o|»erAtion coTiiuence<l. The storv of eheap tropical labour it> all a hollow deception and an impoB*ibility» The very term implies that there is somewhere on thi» earth an inaane coma>unity, whieh a< tuaHy wantf tt> work in an unhea!tiiy atmo*phere for neariv twice tlle ordinary hours at leet» ihan hal! theVuß- i tomarv rate of Aages, and it U abottt a« < r*a«K>nableio as«ert that there is a na» tion in exiftence whieh wanto to be ged, and rather prefers beißg hanged thaa otlierwiee. The only ao'.ulion of the eugar problem liee in th« adopfelMi ol the «tame honre «mI wag«B aa in other ialnHHw oI a aimilar er, aad in iho trsat»it oI tht plini»' tioa lahom tko mm aa appliee tooo3rolkarcllbMi try. SoloagMtt»plMflKM*iape» rnmmf i«tfeMaa*atte«)* «apTt» bertoppedwh«nitr»iß», aad who «a btfmtaAMd|MMfort)int MIIi — achaq»«f hfa liwial «e--ratitlr>n M mhmmm hm Uh lo tora up ia tfca iimrwlßM. 10 hm? tkmm will be a m*ttii«Hjlinnl the ttal the while the «prlßiHtoT. Aai mv ltal tha iauf ltolnMßrtMi'

paujKTB t aiul tho l'ke. the cviftooittiy rate of watfe* m«y be no re<luce«l, an<! the hoirrfi oi toil be *o lengthened, thāt :he t<-ri»if oftVre<l dy the «Teat «ugar mono!H»lis*t« will bwx>me . Qnlvert»Uy atwptable through prefsur«i ofneces«ity. Uutil tiien the imporiation of labor is merely a vain *nd pnrpo«e 1688 atieznpt to «ilt the whole wewlil intc| Anatraiia through the medium of tlie Q»eef)«>taod pl*ntations r