30 JUNE 1894, Page 10

The South-Sea Islanders and the Queensland Labour Trade. By William

T. Wawn. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—Mr. W. T. Wawn, "Master-Mariner," as he describes himself, was engaged for sixteen years in the Labour Trade as master of a recruiting vessel. He gives the public his experiences in the-hope of proving that it is a legitimate business, carried on to the mutual profit of islanders and planters, that misdoings on the part of the white man are exceptional, on the part of the natives, the rnle,—their principle being to kill and rob a white stranger whenever they get the chance. Mr. Wawn seems, to be quite candid. He does not conceal his contempt for the missionaries, with whose religions belief he has no sympathy. We do not wish to deny that he puts together in this volume a mass of evidence on the question

which ought to have its proper weight. To allow that this evi- dence counterbalances what has been brought on the other side is a different matter. It is to be observed that Mr. Wawn has but a

poor opinion of the labour traffic carried on by other nations. "I call to mind," he writes (p. 190), " the free and easy manner in

which skippers of German vessels were wont to treat savages ; " and again, "Very, very small is the number of islanders I have met who have returned from Samoa, in spite of the many taken there." Whatever we may think of these matters, it is certain that this volume is entertaining and full of information. Mr. Wawn has visited many places which are out of the range of

ordinary travel.—At the same time may be mentioned Letters from Queensland. By the Times' Special Correspondent. (Mac- millan.)—These letters appeared in the last month of 1892 and the first two months of 1893. Their point of contact with the volume noticed above is in what the Correspondent has to say about the treatment of the Kanaka labourers. He took special pains in examining this matter, and has an altogether favourable report to make. He thinks that they are better off than agricul- tural labourers elsewhere. On other matters—as the sugar industry, the mining, and the sheepfarming of Queensland—he has much that is interesting to say.