townsville — separation — the frozen meat trade — james morril

next morning, by ten o’clock, we were within sight of townsville, the far-famed, and also widely advertised capital of northern queensland when separation shall be granted. they are a pushing, ambitious people these townsvilleites, almost american in their go-a-headness. and certainly they deserve to succeed. considerable rivalry exists between cairns and this latter place; each seems to fancy that the other is endeavouring to steal a march upon her. however, townsville may certainly claim to be the most important town of the north; in fact, it may also claim the supremacy (if one excepts the capital, and perhaps rockhampton) in all queensland. it has, besides, many advantages over other competitors, and is not slow to turn them to the best account. of these advantages more anon.

situated in cleveland bay, and sheltered by the bold outline of cape cleveland on the one hand and magnetic island on the other, townsville commands a fine expanse of natural harbour; while, now that the breakwater has been completed, vessels of large tonnage will be able to find a safe refuge inside the artificially-constructed one.

the town itself is not picturesque, being built on the banks of an insignificant stream, called ross creek; but castle hill, where the fashionable suburb is growing up, presents a very agreeable appearance, and, if one can forget the exertion entailed by the climb to reach it, must be a pleasant spot in which to live.

as soon as we come to an anchor, and have collected our baggage, we descend to the launch and steam ashore. arriving at the wharf, we are persuaded to try the imperial hotel, and thither we accordingly direct our steps. one thing strikes us immediately: it is hot; a muggy, steamy, oppressive heat, more like that of singapore than any other, and almost insupportable. we express our opinion on the matter to a resident who accompanies us, but he immediately commences an elaborate explanation to prove that although the heat is — well, perhaps warm — nevertheless, there are so many other advantages about townsville that such a small matter as the climate is hardly worth taking into consideration. we have heard the same argument before.

the imperial hotel proves all that can be desired, a commodious, pleasant place, admirably situated and managed. like the majority of buildings in queensland, it is constructed almost entirely of wood, a material which is found to be cooler, and of course much less expensive than either brick or stone. fires, fortunately, are not of frequent occurrence, but when they do come along, half the town, as a rule, has to go.

there is an open-handed hospitality about queenslanders that one seldom meets with elsewhere; a simple introduction, and often not even that, is sufficient to serve as a pretext for showering kindness after kindness upon visitors. before we have been an hour in the place we are made to feel quite at home, and have accepted numerous offers from kind-hearted residents to make our stay pleasant.

after lunch we walk out and inspect the town. the main street is a fine thoroughfare flanked by good buildings, in many instances of quite imposing architecture. it follows the windhigs of ross creek, and lies on the flat between that watercourse and castle hill. it is too steamy to hurry, so we stroll leisurely along, noting as we go how even in this little out-of-the-way spot everything is up to date. in spite of the much-talked-of depression in trade, business seems brisk enough; clerks hurry in and out of merchants’ offices, most of the shops seem to have their fair share of customers, telegraph boys run hither and thither at speed quite unsuited to the climate, a labour agitator is gesticulating wildly to an attentive audience at a street corner, while now and again bronzed and bearded bushmen loiter by with every sign of being down on a much appreciated holiday.

thanks to the courtesy of a resident, we are introduced to numerous influential citizens, to whose ideas on important subjects affecting north queensland, and more particularly townsville, we listen with unending interest. one thing strikes us, and that is the wonderful unanimity that exists in every mind on the vital subject of separation, of which movement, be it remembered, townsville is the head centre. the word is in everybody’s mouth, and we, who are strangers and but little posted in such matters, wonder what on earth it all may mean. when we are more conversant with the subject it evolves itself into something like the following; but perhaps it would be better if i give the views of the special correspondent of the london ‘times’ on the subject, who is better qualified to speak than i.

the politics of queensland are so entirely the outcome of the development of its natural resources that to speak of them intelligently without first describing the country as it is, would be almost impossible. with few exceptions, the best men in the colony are employed in developing it. they are not in politics, and take little interest in political movements, unless the prosperity of the industry in which they are engaged is in some way affected. most political questions have their origin in the material necessities of at least one section of the community. if these are or seem to be at variance with the interests of other portions of the community, the movement which springs from them becomes a subject for contest, which is more or less hotly and generally maintained in proportion to the number of people affected. no political interest is long sustained unless it involves material loss and gain. none can touch material advantage without becoming a matter of importance. a theory of federation falls dully on the public ear. the mass of the electorate is just as indifferent as it is willing to vote either way. but a question of coloured labour, which involves the life or death of the sugar industry, will bring a number of the most influential men in the country at fighting heat to the polls. planters, of course, desire it; the mass of the mining population living and working in districts where white labour is perfectly possible are opposed to a practice which will, they believe, tend to lower alike the dignity of labour, and the rate of wages. the introduction of coloured races becomes a question between labour and capital, and is fought on that ground with certain modifications. some of the labourers are beginning to promise the double advantage of encouraging a thriving industry which gives employment to a great deal of skilled white labour in the factories, and of passing individually from the condition of employed, in which they now are, to that of employers of the new cheap labour, which under the small fanning system they can easily become. on the other hand, some of the capitalists, who are not personally interested in tropical agriculture, are disposed to vote against the introduction of servile peoples upon a continent of which the population and the customs, notwithstanding the existence of a few aborigines, are for all practical purposes purely european. they fear that the small beginning may result in complications of such magnitude as those with which the united states are now called upon to deal.

if the conflict of interests between two sections of the community suffices to keep the question of coloured labour on the list of permanent political interests, and the same cause operates to keep reorganisation of the land laws and construction of railways to open the back countries also constantly before the public mind, it follows almost as a logical deduction that a question which involves the interests of all sections, no matter how much divided, of the community will rise to the rank of supreme and universal importance. there is but one such question in queensland, and that one is the question of separation. with the exception of perhaps one man, and that one the author of the constitution bill which has been just rejected by the upper house, there is probably no one in queensland who cares about the matter in the least on the ground of abstract politics. it is purely a question of practical interest, and in proportion as the interests of any influential body of the population are for the time being affected or not affected by the actual condition of affairs, separation fever passes through its acute or falls into latent stages. the desire for separation is always, and, so far as it is possible to judge, gains persistently in force and steadiness through the many fluctuations to which it is subject.

to understand the desire in its general lines it is only necessary to look at the map. brisbane, in the southern corner, lying almost upon the boundary of new south wales, decides the smallest details of government of cape york. the distance is very nearly the same as that from london to gibraltar; the time which it takes with the present means of communication to go from brisbane to the furthest point within the colony is within a few hours the same as the time which it takes to go from london to south africa. anti–separationists contend that time and distance are alike annihilated by the electric telegraph, and that for practical purposes brisbane is within five minutes’ communication with cape york and burketown. it is hardly necessary to point out that there is an immense amount of business which cannot be transacted by telegraph. the fact that all government stores are kept at brisbane is in itself enough to indicate the serious inconvenience to which outlying centres are liable. and if distance alone could indeed be annihilated by the cheapness and rapidity of telegraphic communication, the map has still another natural cause of division to indicate. the tropic of capricorn cuts the colony in two. no argument can unify the needs of a tropical and non-tropical community. queensland alone of the australian colonies has attempted the systematic development of the tropical part of her territory. she has, therefore, to deal alone with the questions which this development has raised, and it is not surprising if, in the endeavour to do so, she finds herself in opposition to the present experience of temperate australia. nor is it surprising if the tendency of the leading public men, cradled in australian tradition, educated in australian thought, should be opposed to the recognition of new necessities and the modification of constitutional customs which they seem to call for. it is with the utmost reluctance that such a man as sir samuel griffith, whose mind is attuned to the australian pitch, can reconcile himself to even the temporary admission of a class of labour which cannot claim or exercise the hitherto proudly vindicated australian right of self-government. concession in this respect has been forced upon him by the logic of facts. it is none the less distaste-ful. any legislation which he might ft el called upon to initiate with regard to it would all be of the safeguarding preventive description which the spirit of compromise suggests. no boldly creative measure of the kind could ever be looked for from him or from any politician of his type and training. tropical australia has yet to breed its own public men, and this is very generally felt. before it can do so there must be a tropical community. there will probably be many in the future. north queensland claims the honour of being the first.

the elements of size and diversity of climatic conditions form the basis of the demand for separation by the north and central divisions. before passing on to the details by which the demand is supported, it is worth while to glance at the map and realise that the subdivision which is asked for would create three colonies, each of them, roughly speaking, of about the size of france. queensland, as it now exists, comprises 668,000 square miles. the proposed district of the southern division would absorb about 190,000 square miles of this, the central division would have 223,000 square miles, and the northern division would take 255,000 square miles. each division would have a share of sea-board and of back country, but the north, by its geographical conformation, would get from four to five times more sea-board than either of the other two divisions. the south would keep the rich agricultural districts of the darling downs. the north, by way of counterbalance, has the rich, though undeveloped, agricultural and mineral district of herberton; and the centre gets, behind rockhampton, agricultural areas for which it claims that they are as good as any in the world. the respective populations of these three divisions are at present — south queensland, 279,000; central queensland, 50,000; north queensland, 81,000. their relative representation in the brisbane parliament is — south queensland, 45 members; central queensland, 11 members; and north queensland, 16 members. on any question of taxation, distribution of revenue, expenditure of public money, raising of loans, land legislation, or other matters closely affecting the development of the country and touching the material interests of the electorate, the north and centre can be out-voted by the south. this at first sight may seem fair, in view of the difference between the population of the south and of the other two divisions combined. but there is another aspect of the question, upon which the north and central divisions lay great stress. they contend that, while the greater number of people live in the pleasanter residential quarter of the south, the wealth of the colony is produced in much larger proportion in the north and centre; consequently that the north and centre ought to have at least an equal voice in legislation which affects it. here are the figures of the export trade by which this argument is supported:— the total value of the export trade of queensland for last year was 6,890,861l. the value of the contributions from the different divisions were: from the south, 2,032,196l.; from the centre, 2,232,446l.; and from the north, 2,626,222l. that is to say, the export trade of the south was not only relatively but actually smaller than that of either of the other two divisions. the total value of the import trade of queensland was 4,592,357l. of this the respective values were:— to the south, 2,956,406l.; to the centre, 666,418l.; to the north, 1,200,059l. the exports, consisting generally of natural produce, either mineral, pastoral, or agricultural, are considered by the people of the colony as the wealth by which their bills are paid. the imports represent the objects for which the bills are presented; or, in other words, imports are the value received for exports. considered in this light, the fact that the south contributes the smallest amount to the exports and receives the largest amount of imports, appears to the other two divisions as a very significant aggravation of their grievance. they hold that they are in their public capacity paying the cost of all those luxuries which contribute to make life in the southern division more agreeable, and consequently more attractive to population, than life in the northern and central divisions of the colony, and that they are by this means forced to maintain against themselves the voting majority which ignores their necessities, cripples their trade, and lives upon what are still the indestructible results of their greater energy and wealth. the large proportion of the public loans which has been spent in the development of the south, the want of interest and lack of knowledge which are displayed by the government at brisbane in relation to the affairs of the north and centre, and the damage consequently suffered by the industries of these two divisions, are the proofs upon which the accuracy of this view of the situation is based. it is impossible to travel through the north and centre without realising the acute nature of the irritation to which the situation gives rise. the interests which are affected are too important to sit silent under the injustice, and, as they grow year by year in volume and vigour, it is presumable that they will be less and less disposed to tolerate the continuance of present conditions. the details of which the two divisions complain have been bo often embodied in petitions and addresses which have been laid before the public, that it is unnecessary to enter into them any further here. the matter of interest is the remedy proposed. none seemed possible but separation, for the reason that it was not feasible under any constitutional form of english self-government to redistribute the voting power of the queensland house of assembly in such a way as to give equal influence to the small populations of the north and centre, and the relatively large population of the south. the principle of a property or intelligence vote on such a scale is foreign to all our institutions. communities of which the conditions are so dissimilar that it is within the power of 50,000 individuals in the one, to produce more surplus wealth for export than can be produced by 279,000 individuals in the other, evidently call for a different basis of representation. but the dissimilarity of conditions which exist between north queensland and south queensland is typical of a dissimilarity between tropical australia and temperate australia, which there is a very natural reluctance on the part of temperate australia to face. hitherto there has been only southern queensland and there has been only temperate australia. the change which is desired foreshadows a much greater change than is involved in a mere readjustment of balance between the interests of 81,000 people and 279,000 people. the creation and development of northern australia follows too evidently upon the creation and development of northern queensland for a politician of sir samuel griffith’s australian experience to ignore the importance of the difficulties with which it has fallen to his lot to deal. his constitutional bill embodied an endeavour to grant all the reasonable advantages of separation without conceding a dangerous independence. in framing it there can be little doubt that its author regarded the subject from the standpoint of australian rather than of merely local politics. it represents a fine attempt to conciliate the conflicting interests of a part of the community with the whole. it fails only because the interests of the whole are so much more dominant in his mind than those of the suffering part that it grants no remedy to the fundamental evil. it proposed to create, in the first instance, three, in its revised form only two, provinces, ruling themselves in certain local matters, but subject to a central government. the disproportionate representation of north, south, and centre remains just where it was as regards the supreme government, and when the bill comes to be examined in detail it will be found that every matter of importance is reserved for the decision of the supreme government. all that it offers to the provinces is municipal organisation of an extremely expensive kind. this did not meet their requirements, and a memorandum of objections, drawn up by the townsville separation league, shortly summarises the principal grounds for the rejection of the bill. the right reserved to the central government to borrow money upon the credit of the united provinces deprives each province of the right, which it would gain by separation, to raise loans as a first charge upon its revenue for its own development, and lays it open to a continuance of the old injustice in the matter of the distribution of the benefits of public loans. the reservation of the control of the customs tariff prevents any province from entering into such free trade conventions as would, it is believed, be profitable to colonies which have everything to export and nothing to protect; the control of railway tariffs prevents them from utilising the high profits from the main northern and central lines to write off the capital of their railways if they are so disposed, and reduce the burden upon the colony to the mere cost of working expenses. these lines, it is pointed out, are the two paying lines of queensland. the regulation of the immigration of persons not of the european race, and the control of the affairs of people of any race who are not included under the laws applicable to the general community, are of course directly intended to prevent the north from making any such laws with regard to the introduction of cheap alien labour as might be judged desirable for the development of its tropical agriculture. to have the questions of public loans, customs, railways, and coloured labour, besides many other less essential points, retained for the decision of the southern majority, was to gain little for the north, and the conclusion of the committee of the separation league was that:

‘the burdens placed on the north under the 34 clauses dealing with matters assigned to the united provinces would be too heavy to bear, and that the relief, if relief it can be called, offered in the eighteen clauses dealing with the matters assigned to the legislatures of the separate provinces falls so very short of complete self-government that the north is justified in refusing it. and we further say that to assume such an expensive form of government as that foreshadowed in the proposals, with its one governor, three lieutenant–governors, eight houses of parliament, and four civil services, with no guarantee of increased revenue, would be little short of ruin for queensland; while, if territorial separation were granted, increased prosperity to both portions of the colony — the result of better government — would more than cover any additional expenditure.’

the scheme, in its subsequently-amended form of two provinces, was rejected by the public opinion of the north for the same reason, that, instead of granting the self-government demanded by diversity of conditions, it maintained government by a southern majority on all points of essential importance. the objection is so fundamental that even if the bill had passed through the brisbane parliament it was foredoomed to failure in application. the central division obtained nothing by the new bill, for the centre remained by its provisions attached to the south, and the evidences of feeling on the subject which met the governor during his late tour may be taken as an indication of the boiling-point of indignation to which separatist opinion has risen in rockhampton and the minor central towns. addresses praying for separation were presented to him at almost every stopping-point of his progress, and in rockhampton at the time there was literally no other subject of conversation possible. men and women alike appeared to guide all their actions by the effect which they might have upon the prospects of separation. rockhampton is the cradle of the separation movement, which first originated there in 18(36. the sense of grievance of the centre is no less acute than that of the north. it claims that in the last 80 years more than 2,500,000l. of its customs duties have been appropriated by the southern government; that since the construction of the railway line the whole profit of the central railway has gone into the brisbane treasury; that a yearly surplus from its general revenue goes also into the brisbane treasury; that the sale of its public lands is conducted in a manner of which it totally disapproves, and that these valuable assets are rapidly disappearing, while the proceeds of the sale go to enrich the southern division. the alteration of the customs tariff, rendered necessary in southern opinion, partly by the decreasing revenue,of the south, and partly in order to protect the embryo of southern manufactures, presses no less heavily to the disadvantage of the centre than to the disadvantage of the north. with all this, added to the consciousness of having endeavoured to obtain separation before the north was in existence, the centre has no doubt some cause for a feeling of exasperation, when it sees its claims ignored and itself excluded from even the very partial measure of relief which the government had declared itself willing to offer to the north.

so far i have endeavoured only to recapitulate the case for separation as it is felt to exist by the advocates of the movement. it would be difficult, i think, for anyone to travel through the north and centre without realising that it is very strong — so strong as to be practically irresistible if a determined majority of the always increasing population persists in the demand for it. but in presence of the almost unanimously expressed objection to the compromise embodied in sir samuel griffith’s provincial bill, the question arises, how came the bill to be accepted by almost all the northern members? in seeking for the answer it becomes clear that the demand for separation has not been up to the present time the persistent demand of a united majority. there have been large majorities in favour of it — the mass of public opinion probably gives at this moment a large majority in favour of it — but the absence of political ideals, and the substitution in their place of a simple practical regard for material interests, has operated to prevent any systematic cooperation between different sections of the population. a little while ago the interests of the sugar industry were very serfously affected by the labour legislation of the brisbane parliament. separation seemed at that time to sugar planters the only hope of escape from ruin. the whole sugar industry was for the moment actively separationist; but the mining industry, fearing that separation would involve the indiscriminate admission of coloured labour, with a consequent fall in the rate of wages, stood by the south, and their vote overpowered the planters. at this moment the mining industry is ruffled by the tax of 25 per cent, which has been imposed upon mining machinery purely in the interests of the south, and i was told at charters towers that not only was every man of intelligence and education in favour of separation, but that if a poll of the town were taken separation would be carried by an immense majority of the working population. just now, however, the repeal of the prohibitory law with regard to kanakas has soothed the sugar industry to a condition of quiescence. it is in favour of separation in the abstract, but is no longer keen or active. political agitation generally interferes with material prosperity. so long as no material want is pressing, the inclination is to let the matter alone. and thus it happens that, while each industry in turn feels the spur, there has not yet been that long pull and the strong pull all together which alone can bring about a successful political reconstitution. ‘che fluctuating sentiment of constituencies has, of course, been reproduced in the members who have represented them at brisbane, and there has been a lack of unanimity in the northern votes, which created a general predisposition for compromise. to this must be added the fact that all the strongest feeling about separation is concentrated upon the event in the mining and agricultural centres. the great wool-producing back country cares little or nothing either way. it has the principal lines of railway that it needs. it likes the favourable terms upon which it has obtained public lands. the capital which it represents is largely foreign capital, with no personal or sentimental interest in the colony, and on the whole, it rather fears that the tendency of subdivision would be to put the smaller local parliaments dangerously under the influence of democratic ideas. the pastoral industry, as i have endeavoured to show in an earlier letter, is bound to consider first the interests of capital. the agricultural and mining industries are, so far as these mischievous distinctions have any application, representative of the interests of labour. it is likely enough, therefore, that the vote of the pastoralists generally would be given against any disturbance of existing conditions. upon all these disintegrating causes there fell the fiat of the imperial authorities that the demand for separation ought to come through the already established legislature of the colony. the most ardent separationists of the north and centre could see no hope in view of their numerical inferiority in the house of assembly, and the fluctuating nature of the support upon which they could count outside, of carrying any proposal for complete territorial separation through the brisbane parliament. they had reason to believe that sir samuel griffith’s scheme would obtain the support of a sufficient number of southern members to insure its passing, and though the very conditions which commanded the support of the south were the conditions which made it inadequate and unpalatable to the north, northern members decided to accept it on the principle of half a loaf being better than no bread. in doing so they incurred the very strong displeasure of their constituents, and the final rejection of the bill by the upper house has been received by the general public of the north with, i think i may say, universal and hearty satisfaction. everyone feels himself to be well rid of a scheme which nobody liked, and the ground is now clear to fight the question on its true issues. the approaching general election will be the battlefield. if the north and centre return a large majority in favour of separation, the full weight which attaches to any emphatic expression of public opinion ought to be given to their endeavours to obtain the reform they need by the only constitutional means which are open to them. for it is a very essential factor of the situation that every reason which impels the north to seek separation is a reason binding upon the south to oppose separation, and though the north and centre should vote to a man in favour of a change their united members number only 27 against 45 in the house, through which their prayer to the imperial government must get itself passed in the form of a bill. unless some great change of opinion can be brought about in the south, it is practically an impossibility for any separation bill to pass both houses of the brisbane legislature. the clearer the issues become, the more insuperable will be the difficulty. this fact is recognised in the north, where men ask with something like despair, ‘how is it possible for us to comply with the imperial condition?’ the answer for the present may fairly be that the first thing which has to be done by the north and centre is to place on record, by the result of their elections, an irrefragable testimony that there does exist among their populations an overwhelming desire for the privilege and responsibility of self-government. if they cannot sink mutual jealousies and surmount passing causes of indifference sufficiently to bring all the forces that make for separation into line, and so to insure this result, they cannot claim to be yet ready as a people for the exercise of the functions of a separate political existence. nor can it be a matter of wonder or regret to anyone who is in full possession of the facts that the imperial government should move with the greatest caution towards the creation of a colony which, if it contains, indeed, the elements of future greatness that north queensland believes itself to contain, represents nothing less than the first step in the revolution of the hitherto accepted principles of australian constitutional life. the erection of north queensland into a separate colony will be equivalent to a decision that tropical australia is to be developed. a glance at the map of the southern continent is enough to demonstrate the importance of such a decision. — the times.

taken as a whole and considering that its age is but slightly over thirty years, townsville is a very wonderful little place. of course there can be no blinking the fact that it is greatly dependent for its existence on the enormous pastoral west, and more still from being the port of the charters towers gold fields, situated eighty-two miles inland; but still, i repeat, it is a wonderful little place! nobody with such evidence before him can deny that.

to return to a pleasant subject — townsville hospitality. during the afternoon, in company with a member, we visit the townsville club. it is a neat little building, in a street off the main thoroughfare. there is the same air, the same homeliness about it, that attracts one in similar institutions in london, cape town, melbourne, colombo, hong kong, auckland, or anywhere else where englishmen do congregate. the talk hangs, in the same way, round each man’s occupation; but here there is an impression of being intimately acquainted with each other’s most private concerns, that is not quite like the clubs of other places. while we are its guests, faint rumours drift in upon us of droughts in the far west, of shearing troubles in the back country, of gold and silver mining news, with all of which things we are to become better acquainted later on. everything seems perfectly familiar excepting a few little phrases which we cannot, for the life of us, understand. presently, in our turn, we make use of a worcl ot common significance in the east. there is a polite stare and we see that we are not understood. that is the only difference!

leaving the club as the sun is setting, we climb castle hill and admire the view. it is indeed beautiful. below us, to our right, lies the town, with its acres of whitewashed, galvanised iron roofing, while on the plain, in front of us, are the botanical gardens, the gaol, the fine building of the grammar school, and, beyond that, the calm water of cleveland bay, shimmering like silver in the distance. the view is well worth the long climb.

early next morning a resident calls with a buggy and pair of horses, and we are whirled out of town in a cloud of dust, to see the new meat works, then in course of construction, at alligator creek. the drive is a pretty one, and at the end of about twenty minutes, we ford the creek and draw up at what will eventually be the entrance to the works.

once inside, we are soon able to derive a good idea of the importance of the industry which these enormous premises are being formed to undertake. the buildings cover an immense area of ground, and run for some distance along the creek. the scene is one of ceaseless activity. on one side, huge brick kilns are hard at work, while gangs of men are employed stacking the bricks; on the other, men are digging foundations, while more again are engaged upon the construction of the buildings themselves.

here, we are told, the cattle will be driven in; there is the race which will lead them to their doom; this is the place of execution; while this is the tramway that will convey the carcases to the freezing chambers. everything seems most complete, and after a brief survey of certain written facts, we quite concur in the belief that it is destined to be a gigantic enterprise.

in fact, the prospects of the frozen meat trade with england are, with the other matters i mentioned just now, among the most widely discussed subjects of the neighbourhood.

that night we dine out, and after dinner, while we smoke in the verandah, our hostess, who is a lady of many accomplishments, proceeds to the piano, and among other pieces, plays the waltz refrain of that hackneyed, but still beautiful, little song, ‘some day.’ i close my eyes, and what pictures the music conjures up! at first it is a moonlight night in england, and, i think, on bournemouth pier, a band is playing, and the clatter of promenading shoe-heels seems to keep time with the music. the next moment i am whisked away across some thousands of miles of sea, to a creeper-covered verandah in adderly street, cape town, where some one is singing to the accompaniment of a guitar; then there is a change, and it is a ball in government house, adelaide. but when i open my eyes it is neither england, cape town, nor adelaide that i see before me, but townsville, north queensland, and i am looking across the plain with its twinkling lights, to where the moon is just rising over a headland of magnetic island.

by the way, there is a strange story connected with townsville, many years before it was known to civilisation, a story which seems almost too strange for credence. it appears that as far back as 1846, a ship, the ‘peruvian,’ was wrecked on the minerva shoal, several hundred miles to the southward. as many as twenty-one souls, including a woman, took to a raft, on which they drifted for no less than forty-two days. by some inexplicable means, they managed to cross the barrier reef, but only seven lived to see the land of cleveland bay: the captain, his wife, the sail-maker, a sailor named james morril, the cabin boy, and two others. the last two died soon after landing. when they had been ashore a few days the sail-maker deserted, while the rest eked out a pitiful existence on such shellfish, etc., as they could discover.

this state of things lasted for many weeks, until, just as life was becoming insupportable, they were succoured in a strange and mysterious fashion. for some time past the blacks in that district had noticed, with considerable alarm, the presence in the sky of innumerable shooting stars, which invariably fell in the same direction. now, one of their most cherished superstitions appears to have been that, when meteors were numerous and always fell towards one point, it meant the presence of an enemy in that particular direction.

setting out with the intention of carrying war into the enemy’s country, they found and, instead of killing, succoured these unfortunate white folk. it was a strange enough fact that, with the exception of the captain’s wife — who, from all accounts, was treated with the usual indignity shown by the blacks to their own womankind — they were not ill-used. but, as time wore on, one by one they drifted apart, died or were killed, till only the sailor, james morril, was left, and his history is, perhaps, the strangest of all. here, there, and everywhere, for seventeen long years he wandered with the tribe, coming more and more to forget his nationality and mother tongue. hunting, fishing, travelling, and fighting, he lived with his captors, till one morning, old and infirm, he chanced upon a token of frontier civilisation in the shape of a stockman’s hut. then, suddenly, just as the occupants were about to fire upon him, taking him for a dangerous character, his memory came back to him, and he called upon them in their own tongue, and so saved his life.

the scene of the landing of that raft’s crew is now the important city of townsville, and where james morril once wandered, will be found thriving farms and all the evidences of an ever-increasing civilisation.

the following were the exports from townsville for 1891:—

￡

gold 836,399

wool 632,242

sugar 26,458

preserved meats 22,450

totalling 1,569,459

the imports for the same period amounted to 538,701l.

these figures show plainly the prosperity of the place, and, with the hoped for rise in wool, the alligator creek works in good working order, and charters towers’ unlimited wealth, townsville may certainly say that she possesses a good claim to the title of ‘the capital of the north.’