Apart from a small amount of Melanesian labour imported for the beche-de-mer trade around Bowen, Towns was the major exploiter of blackbirded workers in Queensland prior to 1867. He was also well known for paying his Kanaka labourers in trinkets instead of cash at the end of their three-year working terms. This was despite the Polynesian Labourers Act of 1868 stipulating the workers should have been paid in coin.
Towns, apart from employing Melanesian labor for beche-de-mer trade around Bowen Island, was a major exploiter of blackbirded workers in Queensland before 1867. He was also notorious for paying his Kanaka laborers with trinkets instead of cash upon completion of their three-year contracts, despite the Polynesian Labourers Act of 1868 mandating payment in coin.