Page:A few facts in connection with the Employment of Polynesian Labour in Queensland.djvu/7

5 Then as to drunkenness. Of the 2,800 Kanakas in the Mackay district, 1,917 are pledged total abstainers and thoroughly sober men. (Rev. Alex. C. Smith and Rev. J. McL. Mackintyre.) Regarding the overwork, the same Rev. gentlemen found at Maryborough that the hours of labour were nine hours a day; at Bundaberg the same; and at Mackay ten in summer and eight in winter. As to food and clothing, all the ministerial witnesses certify that the government regulations are more than observed as follows:—Clothing per annum—one hat, four flannel or serge shirts, three pairs of trousers; one pair blankets. Rations per diem—1½ lbs. of bread or flour, 1 lb. beef or mutton, 5 ozs. of sugar, ½ oz. tea, 3 lbs. potatoes or 6 ozs. rice, together with 2 ozs. salt, 4 ozs. soap, and 2½ ozs. of tobacco per week. It is questionable whether 90 per cent, of the artisans in Great Britain are so well provided for as this.

As against the allegation that the Kanakas are "buried like dogs," the testimony of ministers of all denominations on the spot is that on all the sugar plantations the "boys" when they die receive Christian sepulture. The Statistics of the Registrar General show that the mortality amongst the islanders is far less than that alleged by Dr. Paton.

Quoting from a speech delivered in the Queensland Legislative Assembly by D. H. Dalrymple, Esq., M.L.A., on 7th April, 1892, the following statement occurs:—

" It is ridiculous to compare the death rate of Polynesians in the Colony with the death rate among Europeans unless you can show that the death rate of Polynesians under normal conditions when they are in their own islands is the same as the death rate amongst Europeans in the Colony.

"In Tonga in 1847 there were some 40,000 people, now there are 10,000.

"In the Society Islands in Captain Cook's time the population was put down at 68,000, now there are 9,000. There are no planters there but there are missionaries.

"In the Marquesas Islands in 1870 there were 50,000 Natives, in 1879 there were 4,000.

"At Anietam in the New Hebrides there were 12,000 people twenty-five years ago. There are missionaries there and the population now is 2,000.

"Take the Maoris. They are a declining race. The Tasmanian is practically extinct. The Australian Aboriginal is rapidly becoming so. In the islands where the conditions are normal and favourable where they have missionaries, where they have no violent wars and no recruiting these people are declining."