Page:Feilberg.djvu/47

Rh that a certain number of these condemn the treatment that the blacks received from the Native Police; others record horrible stories of atrocities alleged to have been committed by white men against the blacks; others maintain that although from time to time a few white men have been guilty of great barbarities in their dealings with the blacks, still on the whole their conduct has been only such as has been necessitated by the fact of the former occupying the country of he latter and that consequently neither they nor the Native Police are to blame in for matter, but that the operations of the police have on the whole been conducted with as little severity and irregularity as was compatible with a due performance of their duty in protecting the flocks, herds, and lives of settlers and miners in their various districts. It appears to me that, with reference to the atrocities related as having been committed white men, many old stories of bygone days have been raked up, some from mere hearsay, and have nothing to do with what is going on at the present time. And if by any chance the interest taken in the colonies should be sufficient to cause these things to be copied in the home papers, the readers of such stories could not fail to entertain ideas very much to the prejudice of Queenslanders. It seems to me that we have to do with things as they are at the present time, and not with with what has passed and is beyond remedy. The matter appears to have started with the question—Are the Native Police s at present organised suited for the proper performance of their work, or is some alteration necessary? But, because we may have had amongst us men who have been guilty of cruelty towards the blacks in bygone days, I fail to see how the raking up of such atrocities, which no possible surveillance could have checked, can assist in answering the question. At the present time, with the exception of the goldfields above the 19th parallel of latitude, and about the Gulf of Carpentaria, the blacks are not molesting either settlers or their stock to any serious extent. The Native Police have in consequence been withdrawn from many stations they formerly occupied, and where their presence was so needed a few years ago; bush townships have sprung up in the centres of districts where blacks were troublesome, around which they now congregate, instead of running about spearing cattle; so that if atrocities are committed by the whites it is only in certain limited districts, that they would pass unnoticed. A good deal has been said bout the indiscriminate punishment of tribe of blacks, but those who find fault in this way evidently do not realise how difficult it is to find out the real culprits amongst a tribe of myall blacks, who after committing depredations generally take refuge in mountainous or scrubby country. It is true that sometimes they may be rounded up, but far oftener has it happened that they have broken before the police could surround them, and moreover the bailing up of mob of blacks has not always been found the simple and safe operation which some people seem to imagine. I have known personally or by reputation many police officers, and, although there may be black sheep in every flock, I do no believe that as a class they can be justly accused of having exercised unnecessary severity in punishing the blacks. Nine out of ten of those who like myself have suffered continually from their depredations in former years will bear me out in saying that, generally, any attempt to fix the blame on any particular members of a tribe, when all had more or less a hand in the depredation, would have been simply unsuccessful. The assertion that the Native Police shoot men, gins, and children promiscuously, probably is made in ignorance, as it is well known that on no account will native troopers intentionally fire on any but the men. With regard to the proposal that a force of white police could effectively take the place of the black troopers, I believe no body of white men could in practice be got to work with sufficient efficiency to be of practical use; and the following up of a retreating tribe of blacks under a blazing summer sun—often through waterless country—would be a strain which only men well inured to the work by constant practice could go through—and even then considerable portion of black trackers would be required. What is really necessary is that care should be taken in the selection of officers for the Native Police, and that, instead of men who have sometimes been appointed to the command of detachments without any ascertained qualification for the appointment, those only shall be placed in command in whose temper, judgment, and ability reliance can be placed. In conclusion, I say that any attempt to ameliorate the condition of the blacks—beyond supplying blankets, which is very insufficiently done—appears to me quite hopeless. We cannot prevent their coming in contact with a white population, by whom they become demoralised, and whose worst points they imitate. Unlike most races in the world they appear never to have advanced in civilisation one jot; as soon as they come in contact with Europeans they lose the good qualities they may possess a savages, and pick up the worst in those with whom they come in contact. Experience always teaches that a race which cannot