The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER, 12, 1907. AUSTRALIA'S PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 41, 12 November 1907, Page 1

The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER, 12, 1907. AUSTRALIA'S PROBLEM.

The Lord Mayor's banquet in Melbourne on Saturday night was richer than most of such functions'in speeches of great public importance. The Gov-ernor-General, the Prime Minister, and tlie Commander-in-Chief of the Squadron might, without any loss of credit, have confined themselves to the bland platitudes common at banquets, but they chose instead to discuss the most urgent of the problems exercising tho minds of Australian statesmen. The speeches of the Governor-General and Mr. Deakin appeared in our issue of yesterday, and to-day they are supplemented by the utterances of Admiral Fawkes. Taken together, the three speeches have almost tho aspect of a little controversy, Lord Northcole leading off with a statement of tho need for- immigration and a defended Northern Territory, Mr. Deakin replying with an assurance,.that his Government was aware of the gravity of that need, and Admiral Fawkes. winding up with a warning to Australia not to so closely concentrate attention on an Australian torpedo boat flotilla as to forget about the crews to man the vessels. What most impressed Lord North cote on his recent visit to the Northern Territory .was the dancer t-o Australia in a trreat

empty country fronting Asia, and possessing " a magnificent harbour," unprotected, and of enormous value to any enemy who landed troops there. It is what has struck every observer, and it may safely be said that all Australians are thoroughly alive to the fact that the Territory, in its present condition, is " a standing menace to the peace and integrity of the Commonwealth." For half a century, and through thirty-six Governments, South Australia has administered the affairs of the vast province, and has failed dismally and disastrously. A debt of £3,250,000 hasbeen piled up, involving an annual drain of £142,000, and for set-off there is a brass gun, an iron pier, a small, useless railway, a few ramshackle public buildings, and a population of 3500 settlers, of whom 2300 are Asiatics. It became apparent long ago that the national safety of the Continent could not be thus left in peril, and a draft treaty was arranged between the Premiers of the Commonwealth and South Australia for the taking over of the territory by the Federal Government. That treaty was ratified a fortnight ago by the State Parliament, but it is doubtful whether the Federal Parliament will accept its terms. Briefly speaking, the agreement proposed that the Commonwealth should assume the public debt and liabilities of the Territory,. take over the Port Augusta-Oodnadatta railway—now run by South. Australia at an annual' loss of £82,000 —and construct a railway connecting this line with, Port Darwin. The objections to the latter provisions are twofold: the want of equity in South Australia's demand for profitable terms for being bought out of debt and clanger, ana the absurdity of expecting to develop, to populate, or to defend the Territory by means of a railway running for more than a thousand miles through the uninhabited and uninhabitable wilderhess which Professor Gregory calls the " Dead Heart of Australia." The only effective way of defending the northern gateway of the continent is by settling the coastal belt, and for that purpose serve but a great scheme of immigration. Mr. Deakin is -confident that the Commonwealth can " find the men," and he proposes, for a beginning, to set aside £200,000 for the purpose. The cost of the transcontinental line of the Deakin-Price agreement is estimated at £5,000,000, and it is urged that such a sum, expended on immigration and coastal development, will do more for Australia's safety than the railway can do in a<century. The problem of the Territory is a problem of defence, and not merely one of development, and every day it becomes increasingly important that the problem should be taken in hand ; at once. An empty country, rich, and of just the ' right kind, aiid a few days' steam away, be a strong temptation to' overcrowded Japan and China. The task before Australia is obviously enormous.^--As-Lord Northcote pointed out, it is'not a simple question of building a destroyer fleet. Admiral Fawkes noted a second problem—the manning of the fleet when it actually is constructed. Herein is the largest obstacle in the way' of the Australian Navy project. Plainly, it is an obstacle that, must be surmounted' before the Commonwealth is committed to any definite scheme, and, if it can not be surmounted, it would be infinitely wiser to expend on immigration the millions that would be sunk in, a skeleton navy of crewless cockleshells. In respect of those contingencies which all these activities hint at, the fortunes of New Zealand are bound'up,in those of Australia, and it cannot but be satisfactory to New Zealanders to observe the serious attention which these matters are receiving from the leading men in the Commonwealth.