And, finally, there is the development of minerals.
There are tin mines in Tasmania which have a world-wide reputation—the Mount Bischoff and the Mount Lyell. They have both proved to be a means of fortune to the shareholders. During the half-year ended December 31, 1911, the ore smelted at the Launceston works yielded 1,417 tons of fine tin, and a good proportion of this came from the Mount Bischoff mine. The dividends for the last half-year amounted to thirty thousand pounds sterling, and when it is remembered that the capital of the company is only sixty thousand pounds, it will be seen that the earnings are remarkable. These mountains of tin show no sign of diminution. Tasmania stands third in the world of tin production. Beyond tin, there are copper, gold, iron ore, and coal worked in the island, and it is practically known that the unexplored part of the island contains minerals in abundance.
These three things, then, hold abundant promise for the future of Tasmania from the commercial point of view, while the salubrious climate establishes the claim of the place to be a grand health resort for the southern and other peoples.
As I went from place to place in the island, and observed the sparseness of the population, the situation assumed something of a pathetic aspect. There is room enough for immigrants up to a certain number. An influx of 800,000 persons would make Tasmania one of the most prosperous places in the world. With such a population the limitations of the island would always prevent the growth of those disproportions between the classes which obtain in the great areas of the Old and New Worlds. Tasmania might, well governed, become a model State. Its situation in the sea puts it in touch with Australia, New Zealand, and the islands. In the fruit season the great liners call at Hobart for fruit. By means of these Tasmania has a direct connection with Europe. That connection will be immensely strengthened when the larger population arrives. On the other hand, the isolation of Tasmania from the mainland will always preserve for the island a degree of quietness of which hustling centres know nothing. The union of repose and commercial and agricultural activity would be ideal, and it is possible in Tasmania as in few places I have seen.
These facts are surely worthy of the consideration of the British people.
CHAPTER XXXIII
REVIEW
A period of five years is sufficiently long to enable a man to correct or to confirm his earlier impressions of a people. Looking backward, I find I have very little, if anything, to correct of my first impressions of Australia and its people. It may be an advantage, therefore, to set down in better order than is possible in fugitive correspondence some of the deepened impressions which a careful study of Australian life has created. During my sojourn under the Southern Cross I visited the capitals of all the Australian States—Tasmania included—from Brisbane to Perth and Hobart. This has meant a good deal of travelling by land and sea. But travelling on the main routes in Australia is rendered luxurious by means of corridor trains, with sleeping, observation, and dining-cars attached; and also by means of a remarkable service of coastal steamers, second to none in the world. The luxury of such boats as the Indarra and Canberra exceeds by far anything of which the P. and O. or Orient companies can boast. It is off the track that travelling becomes a weariness and a torment. But it has been my lot to travel off and on the main routes, with the result that the very first impression which Australia made upon me has been immensely strengthened, namely, that of the vast territory of the country and its enormous natural wealth. A map enables one to understand a little of the vastness of this lone land, but the reality does not actually seize the mind until a person begins to travel over its wonderful spaces. Upon this continent I have experienced every kind of climate, from the tropical, with its enervating heat, to the frigid, with its bracing cold. What other land can grow the varied fruits that flourish in Australia? What other country can boast the possession of more than half the kinds of precious stones in existence? Think of the sugar-cane, the pineapple, the mango, and the common English gooseberry growing upon the same soil! Think of gold, silver, tin, and coal cheek by jowl! When it is claimed that Australia is naturally the richest country in the world, who that knows the facts can deny the claim? Its possibilities are unbounded. The merest fraction only of the natural riches of the land has thus far been touched, and out of this fraction men have made enormous fortunes. It seems to me that Australia may easily become the granary, the dairy, the orchard, and the wool supply of the Empire. Capital and labour alone are required to develop the land. There are millions of acres yet untouched, while the northern territory is crying aloud for men to come and unlock the treasure house of Nature, hitherto hidden from the whites.
But here the question of a White Australia presents itself. The Commonwealth is committed to this policy. Meanwhile, what of the great north? It is admitted that white men cannot labour to advantage in that terrible climate. There are many of our fellow-subjects in India who could work there, and would, if they were permitted, but then they may not cross the colour line. Australia is to be reserved for a white population. It need not necessarily be British. Already it is, in small parts, Spanish, German, Greek, and Italian; but it must be white. It is only fair to say that Australians, in deciding upon this “white” policy, are not animated by selfishness, as is sometimes supposed. They honestly fear the appearance of a negro problem such as exists in America, and many of them fear it upon moral grounds. But such a problem does not present itself when it is the question of coloured persons, who in intelligence, diligence, and morality are quite equal to the average white man. It is better not to press this question of “white” morality in the north, even in Australia, or some very ugly stories could be told. Looking at the matter dispassionately, in full view of all the factors—the northern climate being the chief—it would seem that Australia must yet modify—if it does not abandon—its “white” policy. Economically it will have to do so, and politically it may yet be forced to do so, for “coloured” nations like Japan and China, which admit whites into their countries, are not likely to bear for ever the insult which is implied in their exclusion from the midst of a people to whom they are in no way inferior.
The other question concerns labour. Unless there is a speedy, amicable understanding between masters and men, the productive power of the Commonwealth will be seriously hindered. Labour here, as everywhere else, has had to fight for its rights, and, so far as Australia is concerned, it has won some notable victories. In no place is the working-man so well-off as here. His hours of labour are fixed upon the basis of an eight hours’ day. Wages Boards determine his rate of pay. His health and limbs are protected in every possible way. There are really no “dangerous” trades for him on this account. He can claim equality with his master. He is never called upon to grovel to a “superior.” He is a creature entirely independent. More often than not he owns his own house, while he has a substantial sum standing to his name in the savings bank. His daughter can earn her thirty to forty shillings a week behind the counter or at the typist’s desk, and yet, despite all this, there is scarcely a week without its local strike. Upon the least pretence tools are “downed.” Ferment is nearly always in the air. Professional agitators take care to keep strife stirring. In a word, labour is tending to become a tyranny. And it is due to the fact, largely, that amongst the leaders are no such strong men as Britain has in Philip Snowden, Ramsay Macdonald, or Arthur Henderson. The strife is often unreasoning, and it nearly always ends in a reverse for the striker. The present temper of labour in the Commonwealth—especially that phase of it which is hostile to religion in any form—is a distinct menace to the prosperity of the country.