Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 161, 31 March 1891 — Australian Plantation Labor. [ARTICLE]

Australian Plantation Labor.

In the sugar districts of North Queensiand an agitation for the division of the colony into north and suuth is being maintained by the sugar interests. The Queensland legis!ature whieh has its seat in the |southern city of Brisbane, has legislated the importation of 'black labor' out of existence. Recently the Premier. Sir Samuel (lriffith has been makmg a tour of the North, where the sugar men clemanded "that they s'noulcl have f jll control of their alien labor;"

in other words, that they shall be liberty to again reopen the ma!i-ftealing business in the South Heas to supply them with labor.

The Houth«rn press and people are £rm iu declaring that the "biackbirfling" trade is_at an end, iht' hlaek question belongs to ■Aiistr:ili'a aud not rnerely to North Qiieensland.

The plantors- had some hope of 'lal>or ir.om ltaly. but the

<»f Australia have united in l\ n.'-nion'al to the Itahan gov , ri]i!ifnt ]>rote.«ting agninst. tbeir c<!untryiiien entL'ring Queenslaiul ill any ether capacitv than that of free nien, at, liberty to choc»su their inode of living. X.ext in s'ight, as a i)]antation lahorer, appeared the Lascars of Kast India, but the Indian govermnetit wil! insist on mueh the same protection and supervision that the sarne government intimated to the Hawaiiah government in 1882 when the question of East Indian labor was considered by this country.

To this, the Legislature of Queens!and will notbeaparty. The Bydney Bulletin says; It is not a question of hating or loving the Lascar. We don ? t hate him. We ]<>vc nim—at a distance. As interloperH amongst loeal white labor, v;o don't want ihem at all. It is jio <|uestion of love or hate, but mereiy one of protecting the right of our whites te live up to a free inan'? standai'd."

The largest lan<l-owner in the world is Czar, whose priV3te landed estate comprises an area equai to nearly the whole of France. In Korth Queensland the plantations inake most of the loeal rura whieh mav account for the manner in whieh editorial eomplments are uncorked in that warm region. A cooktown editor descrihes hjs loeal rival in big type as " a priine snivelier, driveller, liar v uneducated blackguard."

Bill Nve says Battenberg bolted fiway from home, because ma-in ]aw übp(l to employ him to rub her imperial back when she had the iumbago.

The " loyal" British editor who fil{B his paper with joyous knowledge about 4he shirts and hair and hash of the aristocracy, is f a weariness and a dcsolation. He Buffers frotn an incurable conviōr tion that the solar system revolves around the pimple on a monarch's spine. and tliat the asis of the earth pa»ses thrmigh his big feei* t&at,his sore ear is the prind|£fc«ifi ecoration of Paradise, and when some superfluouB p9Uotātcr f or h*s son or h's eleven handredth unele ie graciously

pleused to piek his back tooth wiUi a carving knife, he prints the i«formation or telegrdpbs it over the earth. Also he cafeles aboiit the oiutment that was used on the royal corns, and appeals to the nation to bear up and meet misfortune with nhristian fortitude when BattenbergV dog's brotuer has g©t :i cold; and if some royal $unkey has lost his derange& aunt he 3tates that, an unscrutable Providence has been pleased/ to inflict a heavy sorrow on the" nation. The following from Londt)n Vanity Fair is a decent sample of this most awful sort of slush:

"I notice that my cont*mporaries say nothing of the fact that Prince George did really dine with the Prince of Wales on the night of the first levee. Prince George arrived at Marlborough House trom Portland at 7 o'eloek that evening. Yet when Vaxlty Fair said beferohand that Prince George woukl witji his fathf r on this oeeapeion Vaxity Fair- wna vio■lently conti\idicted in the usual f;lFhion."

Anel vet there was no wiM crash among tlre Btars, neither eliel the siffi tear its hair, or thp })!anetary systcin break its neek as it boltf?d in affright. In fact nobody cared whether George raged ii ke a devouring pestilence a:nong his fathers hash, or wheth<"-r he ate a pie under a tree, or cf.nsumed a carrot on top of the great pyramid, or assi|amilated a stolen hen down a eoal-mine. The pauer that worries over things like these ought to buy a rattle or some eandy and ge£ waßhed by its mother and put to bed. No wonder England is at heart, Republican.

An Austrian warship is sent around th© earth in search of a iiiifising eon of the Emperor. anybodv seen an Archduke ? Has anyone seen an Archdook Secrf ted in corner or nook ? His name in Hawaii is Donltess an alias — Possibly Bimpson or Snook. By his royal expression alone Can such a voung be known, lf, like 2Cauki Poo. He adoptß when on view The disguige ofa u second trombone." If anyone drops on his nibs, The hero of scandalous squibs, (With fr(Pedom and juliity D@n't mind his quaiity) Give him a dig in the ribs. And say with a nod and a look tl You've got to go back my Archdook" Then write to his puppa " He's coming for supper. The calf that is fatted, please eook."