IN ALIEN HANDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 997, 13 June 1930, Page 9

IN ALIEN HANDS

ITALIANS’ FIRM HOLD ON CANE-FIELDS AIARM IN QUEENSLAND United P.A.—By Telegraph —-Copyright Reed. 10.5 a.m. SYDNEY, Today. A message from Townsville, Queensland, says derisive comment has been occasioned by the statement made yesterday by Mr. F. M. Forde, Acting-Minister of Customs, to the effect that there was no risk of Northern Queensland becoming Italianised, for at least 75 per cent, of the sugar mill and field workers were British. Although 200 British workers offered themselves for employment as cane-cutters at the Goondi mill, not one was engaged. Thirty-two gangs were signed on and 277 cutters employed, over 200 of whom are Italians. The position is tense and the police are watching the situation closely. Townsville statistics show that, the whole of the sugar industry north of Townsville is in the hands of aliens. As an instance of the steady growth of the alien population in Northern Queensland it is stated that in the Ayr district 43 sugar-cane farms, valued at £1,500,000, have passed from British to Italian control or ownership. The Italians are working on a community basis. Sixty farms in the Tully district, which previously were leased to British subjects, have also passed into the hands of aliens. PROVOCATIVE COMMENT

A “Times” cable from London says the news from Queensland of friction with Italian. workers has caused some irritation in Italy. Writing in ‘Popolo d’ltallia” under the heading, “Egotism Overseas,” Signor Arnaldo Mussolini, brother of the Prime Minister, says the agitation against Italian workers is symptomatic of the attitude of the Dominions. Australia, he says, is a big country and work in the interior is disliked by Australians, nor will they allow other people to do It.

Unemployed men in Britain do not care to go either to Australia or Canada, says the writer. They prefer to remain In England and receive the dole. This is contrary to the old and noble traditions of Britain.