HOTELS IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 99, 26 April 1917, Page 2

HOTELS IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

SYDNEY, 18th April. Something over eighteen months ago, the Commonwealth Government took over the hotels in the Northern Territory. Hitherto, certain of them had been badly conducted, and—such is the motley character of the Territory population—had developed into centres of drunkenness and vice. The action of the Government was bitterly opposed by various people, who do not ,take an unprejudiced view of such questions; and now, when the effect of this Government experiment is under review;., it is difficult to get a reliable and unbiassed opinion. The Government's intention was entirely praiseworthy; it wanted to put the drink traffic under proper control.

Mr. T. J. M'Mahon, who recently visited the Northern Territory, declares that hotel conditions there now are rather worse than better. He says that the Government control is lax, and that the periodical orgies which are indulged in "in Darwin are-a disgrace to the Federal authorities. There are three hotels in Darwin. One is a cold, gloomy, unattractive place, where liquor ia served only to boarders, but where the absence o£ riotous drinking is counter-balanced by a striking lack of comforts: The other two hotels appear to be only drinking- shops. He described scenes he witnessed an these places which are like some lurid page of Zola : maniacal, drink-sodden foreigners, howling imprecations and. ribald songs; men in the last stages o£ intoxication and beastliness lying in the .and vacant lots, stray dogs, and tropical flies their only attendants; a drink-maddened Bussian, partially undressed,' going shrieking through the streets of the town. He says that, since the'hotel managers and the police are equally public servants, the police will not prosecute the hotel managers ; they only report them to the responsible Department, and the Department seems to take no notice.

There are other things, too. The foreign' element has captured the- labourunions, and the labour unions are in command. The standard of wages is extraordinary. Hotel servants in ■ the Territory get nearly twice as much as they would under similar circumsfeVcea elsewhere. ' The consequence is ■ that hotel accommodation is costly, and the price of liquor high. . A case of bottled beer, which cost 32s before the Government took charge, is now 48s; gin waa 115s per case before, now it is 188s.