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To the Good Reads Club Pall Mall LondonJanuary 28 1904I pen this missive from Adelaide where I have for the last week been enjoying the hospitality of old Australian friends Familiar as they are with my taste for literature of all kinds they have taken pleasure in regaling me with the choicest flowerings of colonial culture and for all the sneers I have heard back at the Club as I write I see the Colonel before me brandy snifter in hand holding forth as he did at our farewell dinner to repeat whatever less well informed people may say to our brave colonists detriment I am delighted to report that they have produced than one writer worthy of our interest I have already begun to prepare the lecture I hope to deliver when I return but one of their authors has so struck my fancy that I cannot but introduce you to him without further ado. White questions black answers There are as we are all aware members of the Club who wax eloquent regarding their progressive and radical views and lose no opportunity to declaim the manifold virtues of Mr Wells Mr Shaw and their Fabian friends I address myself particularly to them when I recommend the works of Mr Edward William Cole The title of his short treatise The White Australia Question is I freely admit an unprepossessing one and when I opened it I was prepared for yet another outpouring of the vulgar jingoism that has alas become all too prevalent in the aftermath of the Boer War My friends I am ashamed to say that I had utterly misjudged the good Mr Cole From the very first page it is abundantly clear that he not only rivals but in many ways even surpasses our Fabians As you know I pride myself on my unprejudiced and open minded attitude and than once I had to admit that Mr Cole had got the better of me. Black and white question mark Enough of generalities The book consists of four pamphlets bound together as a single volume of some 130 pages the title notwithstanding its remit is far general and Mr Cole takes as his topic the whole vexed issue of the Colour Bar With passion and logic he argues that the coloured man is in no way the inferior of the white indeed he constantly reiterates that the colour of a man s skin is determined purely and simply by the climate in which he lives the warmer climate invariably giving rise to the darker complexion He adduces many curious stories to support his case one of the most astounding being that of Mr Gabriel a Mauritian of Tamil ancestry whose skin after his emigration to Australia gradually became white to the point where strangers introduced to him almost to a man believed him to be a European I would have hesitated to believe this outlandish tale but the numerous testimonials produced by Mr Cole make it impossible to doubt of his veracity On reflexion you will agree that many of our friends on returning from the warmer climes of India or Burma are noticeably darker in hue Mr Carr s arguments are by no means as far fetched as they may first appear. Kindle information and questions Some people will no doubt feel that the author oversteps the bounds of good taste when he tells us that nearly all the revered figures of the Bible up to and including Our Saviour Himself were persons of colour he even goes so far as to mention scriptural researches purportedly claiming to establish that Our Lord had Negro blood I pray do not discard my letter with a snort of disgust but investigate the matter yourselves you will find Mr Cole s protestations less fanciful than you may believe He is a sober and prudent writer who like Mark Antony only speaks right on. White questions black answers There is much else I could add in particular his harrowing but carefully laid out thoughts on the Slave Trade and the White Man s Burden but time presses I am forced to conclude here on pain of missing the mail pouch I think fondly on you all and impatiently anticipate our next meeting when I hope you will do me the honour of perusing the new Australian additions to my library. White questions black answers I remain as ever your humble and devoted servantEmmanuel RaynerAcknowledgementsI would like to thank my friends at Pioneer Books for showing me this wonderful book and allowing me to read it Their collection of rare Australiana is truly impressive. Black and white question mark The White Australia Question Red covered book The White Australia Question written in Melbourne by Edward William Cole and published by the Cole s Book Arcade in 1903 This is the fifth edition of this book Cole presents four essays on the topics A White Australia Impossible The Cause of Colour in Mankind The Whole Human Race is Mixing and The Negro taking the then radical step of arguing that a White Australia Policy and the associated laws were undesirable and unchristian The book ends with several pages of drawings and photographs of people organized by racial type including Negros of Africa Group of Kaffir Women Group of Educated Kaffirs and American Negros Edward William Cole was a bookshop proprietor and reknowned visionary who believed that education was the saviour of humankind and that all people were equal He dreamed of a world with one government and one language and of a time when war no longer occured The White Australia Question.