QUEENSLAND AND JAPAN

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21909, 9 October 1936, Page 15

QUEENSLAND AND JAPAN

NO IMMEDIATE Ffe

greater population felt NECESSARY

While there is no real fear of home* diate trouble from Japan, Queensland feels that unless it increases its population vastly during the next decide the territory may not remain- tmdgr the control of Europeans. This statement was made yesterday by Mr George Groom, a newspaper proprietor, of Innisfaii, Mr Grown is president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Queensland, and also president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Far Northern Queensland. “There is no real fear of the Japanese at the present time:” Mr Groom said, “but it is recognised that we cannot continue to control our territory unless we take steps to increase pur population. We feel that the next .decade will prove whether we will remain white and British.” A few years ago a scheme costing several million pounds was designed for the settlement of 1000 British farmers In Queensland, but the depression had caused its abandonment. Since then 50 farmers had been settled with assistance. . . , It was claimed that Queensland had the only sugar industry in the world in which white labour was entirely employed from the planting to the consumer. In spite of the high labour costs, compared with the cost of employing native labour, the sugar was retailed at 4d to 4|d a pound, conpared with 3)d in New Zealand, but this Dominion’s raw sugar was prepared by native labour in Fiji. In South Africa the sugar was produced by coloured labour and was retailed at between 3d and 3|d a pound. “The importance of the industry is in the fact that we produce 4,000,000 tons of sugar annually, and export 600,000 tons,” he said- “At the congress the other day the delegates from Trinidad sponsored a resolution seeking preference for colonial sugar. That overlooked Dominion sugar, but the congress was good enough to amend the resolution .so that the Dominions would not be overlooked.” At the congress a suggestion had been made by Mr E. S. Leatherby for the settling of colonies of British fishermen near the Great Barrier reef. That was of particular interest to the Australian delegates, because of tea vast operations being conducted on the Australian coast by Japanese sampans in fishing pearl and trochus shell.