the conquered in outlying places, where men are not under so much constraint; and shall await with some interest the unfolding of their scheme.
In conclusion, I wish it to be thoroughly understood that I am not defending the acts of individuals. I, in common with other bushmen, am regretfully compelled to admit that deeds of blood curdling atrocity have been committed by white men, but parallel acts are to be found in the history of the subjugation of any barbarous nation; and my object in writing is to condemn the wholesale slander of the whole white race in the colony for the acts of the few.—Yours, &c.,
Brisbane, May 4.
Never Never.
—Queenslander, May 8, 1880.
Sir,—It may be owing to the "obtuseness of my moral sense" that I fail to fully appreciate the beauties of the scheme propounded in the Queenslander of the 8th instant; but I must frankly confess to a feeling of disappointment. I hoped that at any rate some better elaborated idea than the mere substitution of white troopers for black would have been suggested, but, although it is but a ha'porth of bread to an intolerable deal of sack, we will take it thankfully. What will be the result of employing white police instead of black? Let us see. They are "to consist of course of good bushmen:" that looks exceedingly nice upon paper, but where are you going to get your good bushmen? From my experience of them you would find few good bushmen willing to become policemen, and fewer still willing to join a force that has lately been manned by the black boys; but that has nothing to do with the theory of the plan, which is wrong from the start, and evidently broached in entire ignorance of the real facts of the question. To anyone who has had any hand in black repression, the calm statement that white police should be used for the purpose is so wildly absurd that it seems like tilting at a windmill to reply seriously to it. No doubt there are many parts of the outside country where white police could be made use of—assisted by black trackers—with some reasonable show of overhauling the natives they were in pursuit of, but only in some parts; in the generality of districts we must have savages to hunt savages, and that fact is tacitly recognised by every man who knows anything about it, and will be, in spite of a thousand columns of words in the Queenslander. But, having captured the offender what are our white police to do with him? Follow the example of the South Australian Government, and have him taken, at great expense to the country, to the metropolis, confined in comfortable quarters in a gaol, and at the expiration of his twelve months present him with a new suit of clothes and a tomahawk, and send him on his way rejoicing, ready for more crime; or tie him up and flog him, or give him a short and easy shrift with a pistol bullet? Surely the Queenslander need not have been so vague in indicating the nature of the punishment to be dealt out. Then, again, another outcome of adopting the system advocated by the Queenslander is so plain and palpable that it is strange it should have escaped the notice of the writer. The Queenslander says "the officers in command should be compelled to report their operations," &c., &c.; now what would be tile result of this? For some fancied or real grievance a man would report his officer for undue severity, or some humane station-holder would do it, if a favourite black boy got punished, the officer would probably be cautioned or reprimanded, and if a wise man, would—the next time he had to go in pursuit of an offending tribe—take good care he never caught them. Cattle slaughtering and shepherd killing would go on with impunity, because the officer in charge of the district would have the fear of the gallows before him if he used decisive measures to stop it. As for he cowardice displayed in shooting blacks as a punishment, it would be as just to call the judge who passes sentence of death a coward, or the members of a firing party at a military execution cowards. No doubt the old tale of individual atrocities will be raked up, but, as I said before, with that I have nothing to do—they can be found anywhere. I maintain that the blacks require shooting, and it is better to get the work done by blacks than by whites; one you cannot degrade lower than he is already; the other you possibly may (following on the line of argument pursued by the Queenslander). But the scheme mooted is so vague and ill-defined, and is altogether such a lame and impotent conclusion to the blare of trumpets that heralded it in, that it is hard to criticise. Any one who has had experience of several districts knows that in many places whites are useless at black hunting; if the writer of the article had ever tried following blacks through mangroves, or in a basalt wall, he would know so too. That a better plan could be worked out than that in vogue at present, I admit, but
