expeditions have no right to hesitate in meting out such punishment as will most effectually deter such bloodthirsty savages from repeating their aggressions. The lives of such men, and of the party under their control, are of more value to the nation than those of a hundred blacks. Any leader failing to secure immunity from danger to his men is simply unfit for his post. As it turned out, we owe to a native who accompanied the hapless Kennedy the rescue of his expeditionary papers, when by the well-timed use of their rifles both he and his boy might have been saved, in spite of fever.
I will forward you a list of murders committed in this district by blacks, as contra account to your column of "How we Civilise." I trust that you will succeed in bringing about the much-to-be-desired reform you advocate, and ameliorate both white and black, the former into unquestioned possession of the vast area of the colony, the latter off the face of the earth which they do not even serve to ornament. Having done this you will be in a position to exclaim with Hugh Miller:—"Thus the experience of more than a hundred years demonstrates that when a tribe of men falls beneath a certain level its destiny is extinction, not restoration."
William E. Armit.
Normanton, July 26.
—Queenslander, Sept. 4, 1880.
Sir,—For some time past you have been drawing attention in your columns to a dreadful state of things as existing in our midst: I refer to the treatment of the blacks by the Native Police force. Week after week articles appear giving descriptions of outrages perpetatred by the police, and so far as the public can see there is no attempt made to deny their correctness. Some letters certainly have been written with an apparent idea of excusing the police, saying either that these outrages are necessary or that the accounts are exaggerated; but it seems only too evident that the horrible details given in the Queenslander are correct. In the issue of the 7th instant is a matter-of-fact letter signed "J. C.," giving specific details of outrages committed by different Native Police officers on unoffending blacks. Now, what the public wish to know is: Are these accounts of dispersals (murders) correct or not? In any other country than Queensland the head of any department, when his officials had the hand of scorn pointed at them in the way the Native Police has, would quickly take steps for an investigation to prove the truth or falseness of the charges made. So far we are not aware of any steps being taken by the head of the Police Department for an enquiry; and what are we to consider—that he connives at these dispersals, and dares not have an investigation? or that he is simply incapable of carrying out the duties entrusted to him? If neither be the case, why does he allow the present state of things to continue? The force looks to him for protection from unjust charges, and if the charges are correct why does he not put a stop to such a fearful state of things? If he is incapable, the sooner a capable man is appointed in his place the better, as till this matter is satisfactorily settled the people of Queensland will stand ou a very unpleasant footing as regards their moral character.—Yours, &c.,
Clermont, August 14.A. X.
—Queenslander, Sept. 11, 1880.
Sir,—I am glad to notice that the question of our dealing with the aboriginals is receiving ventilation through your columns, and that all its phases are being fairly represented. Having lived since my arrival in this colony, and for years on the New South Wales and Victoria borders, where the blacks were most numerous, and their misdoings most frequent, I have had good opportunities of forming an opinion as to their natures and inclinations. My object in writing is not to propose any scheme by which the "native difficulty" may be settled, but to urgently recommend the appointment of a commission to report upon the most feasible mode of bringing the aboriginals to a sense of their relationship with the white occupants of the soil. In recommending a commission, I would say let it consist of men whe are acquainted with bush life, who have had the experience of frequent contact with the blacks in their wild state, and, above all, men who have a reasonable blending of humanity and decision in their characters—human instincts to prevent any measures of extremity not absolutely necessary, and decision to control any morbid sympathy with
