Page:A few facts in connection with the Employment of Polynesian Labour in Queensland.djvu/14

11 The London correspondent of the Scotsman, writes on January 8th, 1894, "There is pleasant news from the island of Ambrim, one of the New Hebrides group in the South Pacific, which the Presbyterians of Scotland, Canada and Australia are civilizing. Little more than a year ago Dr. Lamb, a graduate of Edinburgh University was landed on the beach, not without misgivings among a crowd of naked savages. Thanks partly to the temporary efforts of two brothers named Murray, from Aberdeen, and soon to his own medical skill and Christian teaching Dr. Lamb reports the results of a year's work: four churches, five more to be built, 37 villages brought under his influence and half the island changed; Dr. Lamb's best assistants have been natives who returned from Queensland where they became Christians &hellip; Dr. Lamb and his assistants have never lost a pin though for a year at the mercy of the people."

Finally Miss Flora L. Shaw, the Times Special Correspondent, a lady well known for her exhaustive and graphic description of scenes she visits, and whose sympathies would undoubtedly be on the side of the oppressed if oppression existed, writes as follows:—To the Times, dated Brisbane, Nov. 10th, 1892, after a thorough enquiry made on the spot into the whole system of Polynesian Immigration into Queensland.

In connection with Miss Flora L. Shaw's visit to Australia, one of her objects when in Queensland, was by personally visiting the plantations, to ascertain the actual conditions under which the Kanakas labored, as the Times desired to have reliable information on the subject.

"I had read accounts of the sufferings of these unfortunate aliens, of the disregard for life which was shown by their temporary masters, of the want of food, the bad accomodation [sic], the overwork, and the ill-treatment by overseers to which they were subjected, that I was prepared to give the most careful attention to the subject. Having now visited plantations throughout the whole length of the sugar belt, including some of the principal plantations of Bundaberg and Mackay, and, I think, almost every plantation north of Mackay, having been allowed everywhere to inspect the Kanaka quarters and rations, and to have perfectly fair talks with the Kanakas, I am in a position to say that not only are they not ill-treated, but that I have never in any country seen the lot of the average manual labourer so well cared for. The more I have seen of them the more I have been at a loss to comprehend how the absurd stories which have gained currency regarding them can have originated. One fact in itself speaks volumes. Two-thirds of the Kanakas now in Queensland are time-expired. Most of them have been home and have re-engaged for a second term of service. Some have preferred never to leave the colony.

It has been said that the system is liable to abuse, that as a matter of fact Kanakas do not know where they are coming nor what