43a["The Pearling Industry", The West Australian, Friday 27 October 1911, page 6]

THE PEARLING INDUSTRY.

ROYAL COMMISSION ADVOCATED.

SPEECH BY SIR JOHN FORREST.

Melbourne, Oct. 26.

In the House of Representatives to-day Mr. Bamford (Q.) moved that a Royal Commission should be appointed to inquire into and report on the Australian pearl shelling industry. He gave a number of details concerning the industry, which, he thought, could be conducted by white labour. Mr. Sinclair (Q.) seconded the motion. Sir John Forrest (W.A.) said the thanks of the House were due to Mr. Bamford for bringing up the motion. but he did not think that the Commission should be restricted to members of Parliament. The latter had much to do, and would not be able to go to Western Australia. He was, however, in accord with the views of Mr. Bamford as to the necessity for an inquiry. The industry was an important, one, the exports in 1908 being valued at £300,000. The White Australia policy had hampered the industry slightly but not to any very great extent. It was certain that if the people of the Commonwealth did not carry on the industry those of other nations would by fishing outside the three miles limit from shore. The work was hard, but remunerative. It was difficult to get divers, who earned good wages. The question was whether, white men would engage in the industry if coloured men were kept out of it. His own impression was that the industry was not a good one for a white man but if he could engage in it there was no reason why he should not be allowed to do so. Australia did not want the purity of the race interfered with, but coloured men in the industry stayed away at sea. and could only land under a permit. They must always remember that they ran the risk of destroying the industry if the restrictions were made too stringent. The Government should try an experiment by starting a boat manned by a white crew and divers.

Mr. Thomas: That is Socialism.

Sir John Forrest: That is what you believe in. I do not advocate it, but if you do, you should try it.

Continuing, he say that if members of Parliament were appointed to the Commission they would be loth to bring up a report that the industry could not be carried on by white labour. He would prefer to have as members of the Commission those who were unbiassed politically. They wanted the views of experienced men. He did not agree with the policy adopted by the Government, and thought that an inquiry should be made. At the same time he, was of opinion that the Commission should not consist of members of Parliament. The debate was adjourned.

43b[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bamford-frederick-william-5118]

Bamford, Frederick William (1849-1934)

by D. W. Hunt

Frederick William Bamford (1849-1934), by Swiss Studios

National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an22931526

Frederick William Bamford (1849-1934), politician, was born at Dubbo, New South Wales, on 11 February 1849, son of Frederick Bamford, builder, and his wife Mary Anne, née McKay. He was educated at Toowomba, Queensland, where his family lived from 1854. Apprenticed to a carpenter at 14, he probably worked round Toowoomba for nearly twenty years; he was married there on 7 September 1871 to Mary Ann Miller.

Bamford and a partner began cabinet-making at Mackay in July 1882; they quarrelled and dissolved the partnership in December and Bamford was declared insolvent in April 1884. He was employed in September 1885 as inspector of railway bridges around Cairns and was discharged from bankruptcy in November. In 1892 he transferred to Bowen and early in 1894 became licensee of the Sportsman's Arms. He joined a Democratic Association in December 1895, was its candidate for Bowen in the general election next April, but was narrowly defeated. He moved to the Railway Hotel, became local secretary of the Licensed Victuallers' Association, joined the Chamber of Commerce and was elected to the municipal council in 1897; next year he was mayor of Bowen. After failing in a second parliamentary candidature in March 1899, he resigned from the municipal council in July and worked on a Townsville newspaper. In 1901 he became the official Australian Labor Party candidate for the Federal seat of Herbert. Campaigning against Kanaka labour on the northern sugar-fields, he won the seat narrowly.

Bamford was soon known in parliament as a competent speaker, an advocate of White Australia and a keen and consistent supporter of subsidies and protection for the sugar industry. He was a member of the royal commissions on old-age pensions (1906), the Tasmanian customs leakage (1911), chairman of the commissions on the pearling industry (1913) and the New Hebrides mail services (1915), temporary chairman of committees in the House of Representatives in 1911-22, and a member of the standing committee on public works in 1920. In 1902-16 Bamford was vice-president of the Waterside Workers' Federation, and established a friendship with W. M. Hughes, who was president over the same period.

Bamford had always shown his concern for Australian defence, which to him was founded on unquestioned loyalty to Great Britain and, after 1914, on vigorous prosecution of the war in Europe. He urged conscription for overseas service as early as July 1915, being the first member of the House of Representatives openly to do so. He was expelled from the A.L.P. on 30 October 1916, joined Hughes in the walk-out from caucus on 14 November and became minister for home and territories in the National Labor government of 1916-17. He was connected with no important legislation, however, and his brief spell in the ministry was more a recognition of his personal ties with Hughes, outspoken support of conscription and general popularity than of noteworthy ability. His widely appreciated affability, together with respect for his age and parliamentary service, brought him appointment as chairman of committees and deputy Speaker from 1923 until his retirement from parliament in 1925. Although not very active in the position, he was reasonably efficient and impartial.

Bamford's career was remarkable mainly for his continued electoral success as a Nationalist after 1916 in an electorate normally safe for Labor. This was chiefly a consequence of his widespread personal popularity, as well as his earnest support of the sugar-farmers' cause. He thus exemplified a political tradition of North Queensland where personality is often a particularly important ingredient of electoral success.

After his retirement, Bamford spent nine years in comfortable obscurity in Sydney, where he died on 10 September 1934. He was cremated with Anglican rites, and was survived by three sons and two daughters. 'Everyone likes Fred', the Brisbane Worker had declared in 1914, and this judgment was shared by colleagues and constituents.