Some of the contemporary white men definitely are trash. Wasters who hang around, doing little in the way of work and lowering the prestige of whites in general. Social legislation, gone haywire, is responsible for some of this. Take the wharf laborers for example. There is one regular boat a month, and seventeen wharfies who will do nothing but work ships cargo. Under the law, these men get paid 12/- for every day they report for work. Every morning they gather in the shade of a shed at the end of the pier, sign the book an official brings along, then go home. All wharfies in Queensland come under this system. The money comes from a tax of 4½ pence a ton on cargo. The men are demanding a 2/- increase in no-work pay, now the 40-hour week is in force. Thursday, February 12 The "Lochiel" returned to T.I. yesterday. Expects to leave for Cairns tomorrow. Have arranged with Capt. Smith to pick me up at Portland Roads Sunday and drop me at Cooktown about Tuesday. Wit- nessed a set-to between Smith and a colored crew man (Da Costa) fol- lowing refusal of the latter to obey an order. Today the crew man was given fourteen days suspended sentence for assault. Out on a boat trip with Charlie Mills, Fred Mills, and Roddy Bruce (the latter a resident of Murray Island). Landed on Friday Island where I collected several plants and picked up a wallaby skull. Wallabies said to have been introduced here from the mainland. Deer were let go on the island years ago. Said to have come from Java. Caught a fleeting glimpse of a group of several as they made off in thick cover. A loud snort from one as they started away. Island evidently overstocked with deer. Tracks everywhere, grass scarce; shrubs and bushes eaten. On this island coastal sand四五es with trees of rain-forest type in clumps and strips--soil almost bare of herbs, savanna-forest (eucalypts, tea-tree, grevillea) back of dunes on sour sandy flats, dry rain-forest on rocky hills. Trolled with several lines, no fish. Anchored and fished for an hour or more at Butternin, off Prince of Wales Id., one small snapper caught, by me. Friday February 13. From T.I. to Iron Range by ANA plane, and on to Portland Roads by lorry. Staying with Mr. and Mrs. Doug Fisher. Had to report at the office of George Assange at 6.30 AM, which meant getting dressed and finally packed by the dim light of a bor- rowed flashlight. The T.I. power plant closes down at midnight and starts again around 7:00 AM. Water supply still out, after official messing about for two weeks. Took off from Horn Id. drome 7.45, arrived Iron Range 9.18. Clouds and rain; visibility only fair. See small book for flight notes. Young Barry Fisher drove me to P.R. in a most neglected and almost broken down Chev. truck--the "Red Horror". Heavy rain soaked us before we got to Iron Range proper, seven miles from the airfield. Sheltered there with Mr. and Mrs. Bert Connell until rain stopped; teal talk with this gold miner and his wife, living in the sole remaining building of a former AAF radio station. Connell getting course gold in small vugs in hungry-looking iron-stained white quartz.