NATIVE PLIGHT INVESTIGATED

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28179, 18 January 1957, Page 5

NATIVE PLIGHT INVESTIGATED

CONDITIONS OF ABORIGINES (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) PERTH, January 17. The plight of the Warburton Ranges natives was worse if anything, than the Western Australian Parliament had been told, the Western Australian Parliamentary Committee chairman (Mr W. Grayden) said today. “Where else in the world in 1957 would mothers be forced to kill their infants to save older children from starvation? “Where else are mothers forced to breast-feed their children until 5 or 6 years old to give them nourishment?

“Where else would people be dying of hunger within a few hours’ flying time of a capital city? “Where else would people be going blind through lack of medical attention? “The committee refrained from saying many of the things that should have been said.” Mr Grayden, who has just completed an independent inquiry into the conditions of other natives in the north-west, attacked comments on the Parliamentary report by the Commissioner of Native Welfare (Mr S. G. Middleton). The Minister for Supply (Mr Howard Beale) has ordered a comprehensive report on the plight of the aboriginals. Mr Beale said that he would not comment on a suggestion that the Federal Government was responsible until the report had been I prepared.