COPY OF A DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR SIR G.F. BOWEN TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. Government House, Brisbane, Queensland. _Jan. 6th, 1860._ (Received _March 12, 1860._) My Lord Duke, In my Despatch, No. 3, of the 28th November ultimo, I mentioned that extensive districts within the colony of Queensland are well adapted for the growth of the sugar cane among a variety of other produce. 2. Since I wrote the above Despatch, I have seen three specimens of the sugar cane, which have been grown near the town of Maryborough. These specimens, which were finer than any that were shown me at Mauritius, were forwarded to Sir William Macarthur, a gentleman of large property, well-known ability, and great experience in scientific and agricultural pursuits; and who was Commissioner for New South Wales at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. I have received permission to transmit to your Grace the following extract from a letter containing Sir William Macarthur's opinion of the samples submitted to him:--"I yesterday made several trials of the juice of the sugar cane forwarded by Mr. Aldridge, of Maryborough. "As I had to extract the juice by pounding the cane in a mortar, I only experimented upon the largest and the smallest of the three forwarded. As they appear to have excited some attention, I may mention that they were quite ripe, of a bright, yellowish-brown colour, with the joints from two to five inches apart, the largest being about ten feet long, not quite eight inches in circumference, and weighing just eighteen pounds. About three feet of the upper end, however, was too short-jointed to yield abundantly, and hardly ripe. "The walls of this cane were exceedingly thick, giving it great stiffness, and solidity to resist storms of wind. It proved to be hardly so juicy as I expected. "I understood you to say that these canes had been produced in eight or nine months from being planted, and without any particular care. "Taking this for granted, there can be no question, I think, that with sufficient capital, and under efficient management, the cultivation of the cane for sugar ought to prove one of the most profitable arrangements which offer themselves in Australia, I mean at Maryborough, or other places equally well situated on the North-eastern coast. I have for many years thought that sugar plantations to the northward of Moreton Bay ought to be highly remunerative. The climate is favourable; there is no lack of good land, and unlike the Mauritius, we never hear of the ravages of hurricanes." 3. The opinion of so high an authority as Sir William Macarthur coupled with a number of facts within my knowledge, leave no doubt in my mind that, when Capital and Labour shall have been introduced, the cultivation of sugar may be carried on in this colony, with at least equal success as at Mauritius, and on a vastly more extensive scale than in that island.