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SUGAR PLANTATIONS IS THE NOR THERN TfcRRITUKY.TO THE Bl fTUR.Sir—About four r»™ ago I n* * olever tn thr South Australian afwrarwarrtcie tn the Sooth Austre and the Adelaide Qua 7s4u%lt;j oo the Northers Territory (Pert LWwm/ oountry, and siaaking of the nch laud to he bought, wh.ch -m fit tor growing tropaoal crops, ra.c a* sugarcane, oottoo, maiae, coffee, wUtoce, and nee-for all these arops was the land and ctunaU suitable, beside* which thrm «u pianty erf tieactiful graxing Land. It wa* not the IYwb ■ fault tnat such a yam was m these two ;*i*Te—it *u th. fam; cd thoee w no ea i loml the countrw and made the i-eople m all Um colonies !*e;je« Soeth Australia believe that many million* erf acres of each splendid land were lying idle, and was a bidder that th* South Australian Gmeet u unable to cake money out of the ■ i always wished for a chance to tee this beautiful count*y— this goolt;! land. In theof wA I bad a chance, through a M'.bourne Comjany, who had taken up X,000 acre* in the Fort Darwin District for■ugar growing; and one of the ciplorere named Wiliam Owston had picked the land3ifar the PP. Company of Melbourne. As won a* I arrived at Fort Darwin with the impletr. at*. Ac., by the stoamerWilliam Mackinnon, on March 7. IS8I.trade eot/iiriea for Mr. Owrti'n offt Fort Darwin man. The man saidhe kn«w (It'lun, and that this old esI'lorcr had baaa hanging about Port Darwin ’or two y*ars at the n(«aw of theSouth Australian Government, and nad cost them between WW and C70U.By the newupaper accounts 1 found that Mr. Ow»too Sad made a living out of the South Australian (•overnmcnt and the F.F. Com-jany, Melbourne.The F P Comjany pul Owston on the plan tatilt;m as mana*r, ..od made a star, forsugar growing in 1**1. The manager made the Company believe that there was any quantity of cheaj. labour to be got in Port I tram at 10a. per week. He made an agreement with the Lnineee agent,Sam Sing, for men at ins per week and to !;nd tbcmeelvw. The Manager (Mr Owston) and the Chinamen ware not fit for plantation work, nj-ecially for sugar growing; the lluDamen are dear luboorua tor a Eurojwan working at cuhiration. s* they are so u-inbiy hey. The country up there is Dot fit for Europeans, standing all the v*nr roend in the broiling sun and working i— t nhhltioo, the Min* heat has it*, .r -rage ol JtO thrangh the year. 1 ha*, my own thvruioinctcr up t‘.« re, w I know for myself. The horses art not able to stand the work, as the beat in the shade averages 1CW.I ann-tf sec in what waj p. is possible to make a place jay for any Company, as there i* n.v rain one* in a year for two or three months, and then the whole land is flooded. 1 The wlt;-t season generally commences ; at Christmas and raiui from then to 1 tn* latter rod of March. After the dry . Season k!* in the sun makes the poor black I clay land as iard as wood. .Sa,arcaut waot* ' the richest black or horolaU soil, and will | not lumd frost in the winter, and wantsNIlt;DUV luum iruev in nt »IUWI, mu »»uie -|plenty of showers in the summer months. |For sugar trowing the land is never too rich, i p1long n it gets suitable soil an 1 \ p liir.atv jay* well. In such a country it is no aondi-r that the Sugar jdantxmr Com 1 a iiea go hang, and lose thou money am! j nq-rrtv under wion* management.1 aiJitbc public and the wheat growina fanner* n* -reth Australia to take notire ol n.y Icttei I !«eliev* the centra fro.e Adelaide to Palmerston and Fort Darwin is at Alias^•rttifcs—the T-lejra^h Station. Itis 1,136mil** from Adelaide, on the Northern Telegraph line, and id this direction there mu*t be bcttej country for sugar growing.according to my Australian liandlKiok foilffr2. HoV-n , aiiout Brisbane, the Logan auc. Albert Hi vers in the aouth of Queensland, air the greatest nugar-growing oonntne*. and !:• on or acor th. :*4th :*rallel of south lati tude 1 anived here on April 10 from the iMly Rivw, Nortberu Temtorr. The day after I bung my thtrtnometer out on a jkwi in the field, and it is *uli hanging them lt;lay and ni*,nt I l*»jk at it every morning be I I fore tunrw It Rands witn alight vans tior.5 at rrf*. and at 12 o’clock noon ICC. and *mc lays at 102 of boat 1»o weeks ago we had a lew days cloudy weaiiw r. with heavy shower? of nun. The thsrsHMMter r- 'iateml 70 on those days.My thsnnoiwu-r is marked as S2 freeang j^Hnt I niceii to -ay u lon„ as :t doe* not go below H) in the uighl then- is out *u:b ilent cold to hurt th« cane. I wish the ‘I ubUc to take notice of tin weather by the ,theniioirctw the sair.e as I do during the ib-ixt four months—June, July, August, and September.My babcf if that the same country I men* i-d UiJors at Alice Springs is a better y country to climate for sugar growing than the Northern Territory, so lung aa good rich land is to be got Scroti laud i» generally the l»#t for *ucari3tiwing. Two too* mvmiactured sugar ready for the market at from £ to £36 r*r too !*ys far better than two or mt bushels of wheat off an acre, selling at• per bushel I nave u, make another remark. Any rosmr planter who plant* sugar eitensfvsly it bound to put up a sugar mill to cro*h the cane, boil the juice, and mauufac tur* rugar. and must nav® plenty of wwi arid sufficient water os long as the crushing last*. The mill must stand on a swamp, lagoon; yr running creek : there must be no lack of wood and water to keep the millgoing, a jfood capital of money to keep‘ practicaltiiv n * o going, and an esperieoccdn.ariu.tr, that the money be not thrown end in the bankruptey of theaway and so Bu.ar planter I will give any party ir Com j ant a *tart in sugar planting with my prac ti:a! rvr-erwace. My knowlmlge i* not got freon eitner «ooks«r newspaper* . it is l-irne-i i; r: y own workoo plantation* Tl». country her* :» a,-II fitted for surar growing. *nd win.-IU |« *.iu- South Australian Co*- rumen? P. make the railway Vn re far better than to lie Northern Tvmtory. 1 hope th-. public will take uc.tiee of my dtr**ctior.*Mr HARRY MILl.RR,Carr lt;«i Mr. GusU'e Wolff, Beemt-igb,Queensland3
Newspaper Details
Adelaide South Australian Register
Adelaide, South Australia, AU
Mon, Jun 05, 1882
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
GB 17 Apr 2023
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