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A further gap exists in the chronology until August 1893 when a letter
written by N.J. Gosling, schoolteacher at Milparinka, to his superiors in
Sydney, indicates the Chinese remained actively involved in the production
of vegetables, and in their sale to residents of the town.
15 August 1893...
I beg to apply for an increase of my special allowance...
Vegetables locally grown by Chinese are not plentiful and are far
from cheap - small cabbages 6d each, small turnips, carrots and
parsnips 1d each. Fresh fruit are very rarely to be obtained and the
following are the usual prices - small apples 2/- a dozen and small
oranges the same price.
Less than six months later the Sturt Recorder took up a campaign against
the prices charged by the Chinese gardeners. The first article read as
follows:
'Monopolies in Garden Produce
We are opposed to monopolies in any form and there is one which
the people in this district have submitted to for years, and which for
want of a little intelligent combination still flourishes. We allude to
the Chinese vegetable and fruit growers.
'We do not wish to underrate the value of the industrious little crowd
of mongolians that have settled in our midst but there is much
inconsistency in the fact that notwithstanding everything that these
people consume is reduced one half in price, and a serious
depression overcrowds us, and the rates of wages are reduced all
round, the same prices for vegetables are maintained that were
charged ten years ago.
'As to grapes, 2/- per pound is the price charged at Christmas when
the early sorts are just ripe. Then it takes as much higgling as the
thing is worth to beat the price down to 1/6 per pound, and so on to
1/9 which are the ruling prices today.
'We would not say so much about this matter did the system not
result in waste and a loss to the general community, which we
suggest from health standpoint it can ill afford. If the price was
reduced to a fair thing, say 6d, for a single pound, or three pound for
a shilling, it would be within the reach of all, and tons of grapes,
which season after season are allowed to rot in the gardens, might
be consumed and enjoyed by us who get altogether too little of fruit
diet.
'We think these circumstances justify a combination on the part of
the inhabitants to resist the exorbitant demands of the Chinese fruit
growers and to break down the system they have so long enforced,