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We arrived at Zamboango,
the principal city- of Mindanao, shortly after dark, the day after
leaving Manila; saw the lights and that was all. Our course took us
through the Sulu Sea and Archipelago and the Celebes Sea and through
several of the Dutch East Indian Islands, thence to Torres Straits. We
called at Thursday Island, which is in the extreme northeast comer of
Australia. It is a small village of about fifteen hundred inhabitants.
The only industry is the pearl fisheries which is carried on principally
by Japanese, so the settlement is made up mostly of that nationality.
They intend prohibiting them from engaging in the work, but as the
whites cannot dive to the depths that the Japanese can the industry-
will likely die out. This is one of the benefits arising from white
Australia.
The channel is well
buoyed, but we took a pilot and went in alongside the wharf, although
there is good anchorage near it. One thing I noticed was five old hulks
of vessels dismasted and partly submerged that had come to grief in the
vicinity. The water is very clear and of a very light blue color. The
tovra is well laid out with very wide streets, but still in their
natural state. The buildings are one-story shacks of very light wooden
frames and corrugated iron roofs and sides, giving the place the
appearance of a new mining town that is anything but stable. So if the
Japanese must leave, they would not leave much behind. It is very hot
here all the year round and it is anything but a pleasant place to live
in. The British have a strong fortification here, the reason for which I
cannot understand, as there is nothing in particular to protect.
From here we sailed along
the coast of Australia inside the barrier reef which extends one
thousand miles along the coast, from five to twenty miles off laud. This
is the most peculiar freak of nature I ever saw. In most places the reef
is made tip of low, flat islands covered with small trees; in other
places it is partly submerged, but always connected and only in a few
places are there deep channels that a vessel can use. We coasted along
three days close to land and often close to the reef. In many places the
passes are quite narrow and the scenery is beautiful. Our pilot from
Thursday Island went right through to Sydney with us.
We called at Townsville,
three days from Thursday Island, a distance of about seven hundred
miles. This is quite a smart place, with very good substantial
buildings, fine wide streets, and a population of about four thousand.
They have some very good stores— -mostly English goods, When we were
ashore it was comfortably warm, but they told us that the week before
had been a scorcher. The general appearance of the place gives one the
impression of prosperity. There are several good mining camps tributary
to it. also a good cattle country. Our steamer laid to anchor about
three miles out in four fathoms of water. Six coasting steamers were
inside of the breakwater There are seventeen feet of water at: low tide,
going in, and at the railroad wharf twenty-two feet. Three dredgers were
at work, and two large scows had a row of drills fitted on their sides
and were drilling holes eight feet apart, as the bottom is rock and has
to be blasted out—a very expensive way to build a harbor, but the only
way to do it. They hope to make a uniform depth of seventeen feet at
dead low tide, and with the six feet rise, twenty-one or twenty-two feet
draft steamers can get in at high tide. Then they will blast alongside
the wharves to twenty-two feet at extreme low tide so that vessels of
twenty-two feet can enter and lay afloat alongside the wharf. They have
a big job ahead of them as at three miles out there are only twenty-four
feet, so it deepens very slowly.
I have gone into this
description fully as they attach considerable importance to the place,
and also because there is no authentic information obtainable except by
coming
here. At present all
large steamers lay off three miles. The coasting steamers are the only
ones that come in. They are a good deal like the Pacific Coast boats, of
six hundred to fifteen hundred tons net register and fitted to carry
passengers.
BRISBANE
From Townsville we
coasted along not very far out at any time, although the Barrier Reef
dues not extend any farther south. Brisbane is six hundred miles from
Townsville and four hundred and eighty-five miles north of Sydney. The
approach is buoyed out, showing several shoals and is very crooked. The
distance on the course is almost double that on a straight line, and is
well lighted by several lighthouses and range lights.
The city is about twelve
miles up the Brisbane River. There is a small place about four miles
from the mouth of the river at which there are some meat freezing
establishments, but nothing more. There is a railroad wharf at which our
steamer landed, and I noticed the price for wharfage was $2.50 gold, an
hour, for vessels over one thousand tons. The railroad connects this
village with Brisbane, trains leaving every hour. We had only two hours
in Brisbane, but we drove around and saw the residences They are nearly
all unpretentious and no really fine ones. All the buildings are roofed
with white corrugated iron, which gives the town a cheap appearance. The
business buildings are solid and substantial, giving one the impression
they are put there to stay; all are of stone and brick. The public
buildings are a credit to the town. Parliament Building of Queensland,
Treasury Building. Land Office. Agricultural Exposition Building and
Post Office are all fine buildings. The streets are wide, well paved and
clean. Outside of the wooden buildings the town has a very distinctively
English appearance. The people, their speech, carts, wagons, cabs,
railroad equipment, all sneak very plainly of their origin. They look to
be a prosperous community, and there is certainly a great future in
store for it. All they appear to want is people.
It is a large country
with less than five million people. They have many natural resources and
all they need is a population to develop the great continent. An
arrangement was made with a steamship company to bring in two hundred a
month. This was denounced by the labor unions, stating that the country
could not stand so many. They want a monopoly. The unions seem to have
control of the Government, and it appears to have some able men. They
don't appear to have taken to graft as our labor leaders have done, and
while wages are high they are not nearly as high as in California.
The weather is very much
like that of California; being south of the equator, the farther south
we go the cooler it gets. We left the "Yawato Maru" at Sydney.
PORT ADELAIDE
We next visited Port
Adelaide, which is situated to Adelaide as San Pedro is to Los Angeles,
connected by rail, with a half hourly service. The port is up the river
ten miles. What is called the outer harbor is inside the mouth of the
river, but is only an anchorage. Then there is the outer anchorage. The
inner harbor has several channels dredged out where ships load and
discharge at various docks. As the steamer "Bessie Dollar" was going
into one of those channels to go to the lumber yard she grounded going
through one of the bridges which was only five feet wider than herself.
She could neither go ahead nor back, so she stopped all traffic for one
tide, when she floated and went ahead. The bottom was soft. Vessels
drawing twenty-five feet can go into the inner harbor and if the
channels were dredged out properly vessels could go with full cargoes to
any dock.
On the way to Port Pirie
we called at Port Lincoln. This is a small town of one thousand
inhabitants. It is an old settlement but did not prosper until recently,
when the Government built a three foot, six inch-gauge railroad forty
miles back into the country, which opens up a good farming district.
They are now exporting wheat and wool. The buildings are solidly built
of stone and brick, but it is a quaint old-fashioned place. There are
two banks, a good wharf with thirty feet of water at which a four
hundred foot steamer can d«>ck. The railroad owns the wharf, or rather
the Government, as all the railroads and wharves are owned by the
Government. They claim it will be a place of some importance when the
farming country is developed, but everywhere we go we see a great lack
of people.
The entrance to the
harbor :s very good. A large island is in front of it and it can be
entered from either side. It is perfectly land locked. This port is one
hundred and seventy-five miles from Port Adelaide.
We next called at Tumbay,
thirty miles further on, which is now a small country village without a
railroad. Very little, development work has been done, but they have a
good agricultural country back of it; in fact, from the deck of the
steamer we could see a tine level country, white with the crops of ripe
grain. This would apparently be a fine fruit country, but they have not
tried it to any extent, yet.
Wallaroo, which is on
Spercer Gulf, was our next port of call. It has a wharf one hundred feet
wide, and much exposed. As it was blowing a gale of wind it was not easy
to make a landing. Three sailing vessels and a steamer were here loading
wheat; the steamer, about seven thousand tons. The farthest out berth
has thirty feet and the inside one twenty feet at low water. The total
length of the wharf is half a mile, of which one thousand feet is used
to load and discharge. There are smelters here, and we got one hundred
and fifty tons of copper. The town is small and scattering and doesn't
amount to much, but it is the terminus of a narrow gauge railroad which
runs through a rich country. Large quantities of wheat are skipped from
here.
Germain is a small
village, with a wharf one mile long. There are twenty-two feet of water
at the outside berth. Two square riggers were loading wheat here. Great
quantities of wheat were piled up in vacant lots in the village, thirty
feet high, and wagons with six yoke of oxen and some with three teams of
horses were hauling in large loads. No railroads run into the interior
although a railroad is on the wharf, but it terminates in the village.
This village is backed up by a beautiful rich farming country. A range
of low hills was in sight back of it. They told us it was a rich, level
country producing wheat and fruit. Steaming along the shore to Port
Pirie, eight miles distant, we could see a tine farming country all the
way.
PORT PIRIE
The entrance to Port
Pirie is mud, dredged out one hundred and fifty feet wide and fifteen
feet, six inches of water at extreme low tide. It is crooked but very
well buoyed and marked out. It is dredged wide enough at the town at one
place so that the steamer "Bessie Dollar" turned around, but altogether
the channel and harbor are narrow and cramped. There were eight steamers
here, one larger than the "Bessie Dollar," and two large square riggers.
Considerable wheat and wool are being shipped, and the smelter (second
largest in the world) ships a large quantity of lead, and uses a great
quantity of coke and coal. All the mineral from the Broken Hill country
comes here to be treated.
It is a well built town
of ten thousand people, w ith wide and good streets, but is entirely
controlled by the labor unions. Stevedores commence at 8:00 a. m.; at
9.00 they have twenty minutes to rest: dinner 12:00 to 1:00; at 3:00 p.
m.. twenty minutes to rest. Overtime, -f less than half a day—we pay
half a day. An agitator was lecturing the men to strike for six hours a
day. Timber is piled with one and one half inch strips between layers
and dried, to save freight on the railroad, as it has to be freighted
some fifty or sixty miles and they carry it by ton weight. The rates on
the railroads are very high. The Government has no competition, and will
allow none so they charge what they like. Each state has a different
gauge, so in crossing a state line you have to change cars and all
freight has to be transferred, which makes cheap rates impossible. The
gauges are three feet, six inches; four feet, eight and one half inches,
and five feet, three inches.
Before the confederation,
each state had a tariff against the other, and even now a postage stamp
bought irt one state will not be accepted in another It costs two pence
for a letter from here to Sydney and from Sydney here one penny;
Queensland postage is one and one hall' pence. They all appear to be at
sixes and sevens, and there still is a good deal of antipathy shown
against each other This state (South Australia) is two thousand miles
long and has only four hundred thousand inhabitants, but they have two
Houses of Parliament, an upper and lower house, besides the Federal
Parliament for all the states.
MELBOURNE
Going into this port by
sea I had a good opportunity of seeing the entrance of the bay and
river. Like all Australian harbors there are plenty of lights and buoys.
Melbourne is especially fitted up with range lights and range beacons so
that a stranger could make no mistake in going in. However, as pilotage
is compulsory a captain is not supposed to know anything. I have a very
poor opinion of the pilots. One of them stuck the "Bessie Dollar'" in
the bridge at Port Adelaide; another ran her into the mud going out of
Port Pine, and still another, in trying to put her in the drydock at
Sydney, a clear straight course for two miles, landed her broadside
across the entrance, but did not manage to hit anything. And the worst
of it was the captain of the steamer told him what would happen before
he got near the dock. I told them they should have the dock entrance
four hundred feet wide, then their pilots could get them in broadside,
if they could not end on. However, there is one thing to be said in
their favor, and that is their excessive charges—they can't be beaten.
The entrance is quite
wide although half the distance is blocked by a bad shoal, but it is
well marked. Robson's Bay is the lower anchorage where sailing ships
lie. The wharves are situated on each side, at the head of obson's Bay.
On the left side going up
is Williamstown where there are a number of good-looking wharves, with
railroad tracks on each. This place is connected with Melbourne by
street cars, and is distant from the center of the city nine or ten
miles. On the right side is Port Melbourne, about four miles from the
center of the city. There are only a few wharves, which appear to be
used mostly for mail line steamers. The Yarra River, which goes right
into the heart of Melbourne, is dredged out twenty-four feet deep, about
two hundred feet wide. They are widening it to three hundred feet. The
distance from the head of the bay to the head of navigation is from four
to five miles. After the first two miles the wharves commence and are
continuous.
The river banks are well
protected with rip rap rocks, well placed and showing a smooth surface.
In two or more places large basins are dredged out which accommodate
many ships, but most of the loading and discharging (including lumber)
is done alongside the channel and alongside wharves. Lumber is loaded on
wagons at the wharves, which are tout feet higher than the ship, the
bottoms of the wagons being level with the floor of the wharf. It is on
the same principle as the railroad sunk tracks at San Pedro, California.
The wagons are left to be loaded and horses haul them away when loaded,
replacing them with empty ones. About as much as one firm can handle is
one hundred and fifty thousand feet a day, but, by loading consignments
separately and at different ends of the ship, much quicker dispatch can
be made.
Much better dispatch,
however, can be gotten at Sydney, where the ship lays to an anchor and
all goes on lighters, and there is no dockage to pay. The yards are all
near b> the timber quay so the haul is very short.
Melbourne is probably the
best laid out city in Australia: fine wide streets, a number of small
parks and squares with trees and shrubs, lawns, etc. It is a residential
city, and many fine homes are in evidence. It appears to have a very
good street railway system, although the charges are higher than in
other places. There are many sea beach resorts, Coney Islands, etc. It
was a different looking city than when we first visited it, as everyone
was off on holidays and the city seemed deserted.
The entrance to this port
is the same as Melbourne. Turning off to the left, about twenty miles
inside of the entrance, it is dredged out so vessels of any size can go
in at high water. This port is forty miles from Melbourne, with frequent
train service. Little or no lumber is landed here, but as it has a
population of thirty thousand no doubt some will go soon. A large amount
of wheat and wool is shipped out, and it can be considered as one of the
ports of Melbourne.
The population of
Melbourne is about five hundred thousand. Sydney a little more, Adelaide
about one-third as many. Melbourne -s in the State of Victoria, and
nearly half the population of the State resides in this city. Adelaide
is in the State of South Australia, and has about one third of the
population of the State. The population of Sydney- is over five hundred
thousand, the entire population of the State of New South Wales being
only 1,500,000. So that one-fourth of the population of Australia
resides in the three cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Besides
there are several other large cities—Brisbane, Newcastle, Perth,
Fremantle and others.
NEWCASTLE, N.S.W.
We joined the steamer
"Bessie Dollar" here, where she w as loading coal. While this harbor is
largely artificial, still in the early days the river was deep enough to
allow the small ships of that time to enter. The Hunter River brings a
great deal of sediment down, and it requires constant dredging to keep
sufficient water for the large steamers using the harbor. The entrance
is rocky, but is blasted down to permit a steamer going out on high
tide, (medium) twenty-four and one-half feet, in spring correspondingly
more. The "Bessie Dollar" went out when the tides were low on
twenty-four feet, one inch
They have many wharves,
but the facilities are not up to the large amount of business they are
doing. The wharves could do a great deal more business if the railway
facilities were up-to-date. They have the old-fashioned English system,
using small-powered locomotives and cars that only carry six to eight
tons each. Some of the new cars carry ten tons, but the cranes in some
cases can't lift them and two tons have to be shoveled out. The body of
the car is lifted with a crane and tipped into the hold of the steamers.
Three new cranes are being erected that will lift fifty tons.
The manner of handling
coal reminds me of doing with a wheelbarrow what should be done with a
four-horse team The whole system seems to be wrong. The coal people have
to rent the truck for which they have to pay the Government $2.50 a
week. Then the mines have practically no storage facilities worth)- of
the name, and as the coal is all bandied direct from the cars to the
steamer at port of loading there is really no storage capacity, only in
the cars, and as the) only average about seven tons to a car it's easily
seen how delays to shipping are unavoidable.
To load the "Bessie
Dollar"' it took seventy-three hundred cars to carry her cargo and
bunkers, so you can see that we were depending on the cars being loaded
and unloaded several times and the coal being mined while the ship was
waiting What they should have is bunkers at Newcastle capable of holding
one hundred thousand tons at least, and also bunkers at the mines
sufficient to store a like quantity, then vessels could get despatch.
Until that is done Newcastle will be a slow and expensive port for any
steamer. Besides all this, the Government owning and operating the
railroads puts a stop to all progress or improvement in that direction,
as the Government does not differ from an individual or a corporation.
When they have a complete monopoly the manager can sit back in his chair
and laugh at all complaints and say, "Well, what arc you going to do
about it?" All this is a sad commentary on progressive white Australia,
when the longest we ever had one of our steamers m a Japanese coal port
was six days for seven thousand tons, but the ordinary time runs from
four to five days.
The lay days in the
printed form of charter party are colliery working days, that is, a half
day Saturday, and every second Saturday, which is pay day, no work at
all Time bunkering is not counted, first day twenty-four hours' notice
not counted, holidays don't count, so from Christmas until January 5th
are holidays, and they tell me that Easter is as bad. In a book issued
by the Chamber of Commerce which by the way is very instructive and well
gotten up, they speak of the fast loading done in this port. This may he
true of this port's own record, but comparing it with other ports in the
world, the comparison would be very much against Newcastle.
The city itself is well
built, good streets and stores right up-to-date. The buildings are good
and substantial. Altogether the place gives one the idea of prosperity
and solidity, and shows it has come to stay, and, if the railway
administration would only wake up. Newcastle would be one of the
foremost and best coaling ports Hi the world. Like all Australian ports,
the port charges are high.
ZAMBOANGA
Zamboango is in Basalan
Straits on the highway between Manila and Australia. It is scattered
along the shore. In the center of the town are the Government buildings,
Army headquarters, the seat of the government of the Province of Moro;
General T. H. Bliss, Governor. We called in here with the steamer
"Bessie Dollar" on the way to Hongkong from Newcastle. Not having
clearance papers for this port, we were not entitled to land, but
through the courtesy of the Collector of Customs, Mrs. Dollar and I
obtained permission to land, and received every courtesy from the
Governor and the American Government officials.
An old stone fort wall
twenty-five feet high and about five hundred feet square, built some
four hundred years ago by the Spaniards, is on the water front. There
are two wharves, neither of them much good from a commercial point of
view, as all large vessels have to anchor. The harbor is an open
roadstead protected from the west by islands, but exposed on the north
and south sides, especially to the southwest monsoons, so in winter it
is a much better place than in summer during the southwest monsoons.
About four miles to the
eastward an estuary comes in back of the town in which there is plenty
of water. If wharves were built and the present excellent road was
extended one mile it would make an ideal harbor. If commerce increases,
a steam or electric- road could be built making it more convenient than
at present. Now, the chart shows twenty-seven feet of water at the
shallowest place at low water.
A great deal of work has
been done on the roads in the vicinity, and they have made some
excellent ones. If they only keep up this good work it will be of the
greatest benefit to the community and in the event of trouble a boon to
the military. However, no trouble is anticipated as they claim the
natives are getting satisfied and contented, especially where they are
in close touch with the Americans. The Moros in the mountains and
inaccessible places may give some trouble jet. If our Government would
adopt the policy that the Romans had in colonizing: that is to build
roads all through the country, this would have a more civilizing effect
than anything else, besides it would open up the country to settlement
and trade, and then to follow that up with railroads, troubles would be
a thing of the past—from natives at least. There was but one automobile
in the city, which was put at our disposal, so we saw all that was to be
seen n the six hours we stayed there.
By Government statistics
I see there is a considerable export of hemp and copra. For the last
fiscal year, hemp, 802,667 pesos, and copra, 399,460 pesos, but it looks
as if lumber would or should cut a very big figure.
MINDANOA
The Island of Mindanoa
and adjacent islands are covered with woods from the ocean side to the
tops of the highest mountains. Such a heavy stand of timber is not seen
in any of the East Indian Islands, except perhaps Borneo. None of the
Philippine Islands appear to have nearly as much as Mindanoa. It looks
as if young, energetic men would have a fine chance to engage in the
lumber trade in this new country, as the forests are practically
untouched,1 and, if the Government would give the proper inducements to
get the business started, I can't see why a large business could not be
opened up. There are some drawbacks, as in all new countries. Labor is
the greatest. They claim the natives will only work when they feel like
it and that is not often, and the best and most reliable labor for this
tropical climate (the Chinese) is excluded. It looks as if the
Government should allow a limited number of Chinese to be brought in to
open up a new country like this, especially when the natives won't work,
and, in view of the fact that there are not enough of them any way, to
carry on an extensive business. I see in the Government reports that
they will have to await the natural increase of population to get labor
enough.
In this progressive age
Americans are not accustomed to wait that long. We should live for today
as well as prepare for the next generation, and with a view of providing
for futurity we could not do better than develop the resources of our
country by cutting off a certain amount of the timber, building roads,
railroads, etc., and prepare for those who will come after us, thereby
opening up the country to other industries, especially the cultivation
of the soil; and above all to increase the commerce of our nation and
make us a truly great nation From the short time I had and the scant
information I got, those are the thoughts that came to me.
Mr. Corwine, of the
Industrial Department of the province, was extraordinarily kind in
giving us information and also in driving us around in an auto, which,
in the limned time, enabled us to see more =n a few hours than
ordinarily would have taken a day or two. He gave me the governor's last
report, which contained instructive and interesting information. I see,
in the estimates, it is proposed to improve the wharves at Zamboango. I
think it would be a mistake to spend more money there but it all should
be spent in Masinlac, that is if the Government ever intends making the
change. We never met a kinder lot of strangers in our life than we came
across in Zamboango. I must especially mention Mr. and Mrs. Corwine, Mr.
W. H. Tidwell and Governor Bliss. |
