CANBERRA

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 129, 4 June 1927, Page 11

CANBERRA

DISADVANTAGES OF NEWBORN CAPITAL

EVERYTHING IN PRIMITIVE

STATE

(From "The Post's" Representative.

'.:;.,:-. ... .SYDNEY, 26th May. ' Visitors to Canberra during the historic ceremonies th'jre were, outside the glitter- and pageantry of' the show itself, chiefly impressed with the-beauty of its aetting for a great city, the bitter cold in the early morning and when the sun set, the frost that mantled the ground like: snow and the fog that blotted out

the whole of the ■ landscape in the early hours, the fact that it is a place of such ilong distances as to make motoring or

movement by. 1 some other vehicle absolute'

■.. ly'essential it one has businpss, there,- and •:'the':further fact that; Prohibition there is )■»■ farce of the first; magnitude. That ■; the "bone-dry" law at the capital is a ' joke /is recognised by the Government, which, however, while proposing to alter ■ matters, before long, is determined, it is 'understood, to keep under its own control any hotels which are licenced. During ■the recent ceremonies, liquor .was con- > sumed, although.not at the official luncheon, with as much freedom as in any licensed "town; 1 It was brought into the capital, in cases and in bottles, according to one's pecuniary circumstances. The existing shopping centre does not befit a capital city, and the half dozen or so shops, only one of which is of any size, are hardly likely to appeal, by way of a morning "round the block," to the wives and daughter's of the Civil servants when the latter descend on the place and take „,'up ; theirabodeih! scattered and distant' suburbs which at present are in a very primitive state. For the womenfolk, and . especially, those with social pretensions, ■who have to plunge from the bright lights ■ and- amenities of Melbourne and Sydney : to this: newborn city, as black as pitch :. »t night* the! transition will be something of a-tragedy. Like all pioneers, they "are "going to find their path somewhat ■" rough. •■' ' ' ■ _J?or bachelors and .for married couples witKout ■; young families' the transference . fr'oiii Melbourne or Sydney to Canberra ■will be less irksome than to those whose youngsters, can,, at present at all events, get a higher education, such as at the Great Public Schools, only in the older capitals, and* who therefore have to leave their children behind. This is the chief lament ol a 1 number of officials already at the.capital. They are "fed up" even at this, early stage. They are suffering fromi .what is known as "Canberritis," which while ; quite innocuous physically, „- is'catching, like the measles and whoop- : ing- cough, They feel that they have been pushed away into a backwater, ■ where only motoring and golf, if they can afford it, can disturb the even tenor lof their placid way. The clear, pure ' air'of Canberra, is healthy, and its blue, sunny skies are good to fiook upon. But the officials who are among the pioneers are already beginning to compare the willowy, winding Molonglo, which trickles through the capital, with the dear old Yarra and the Sydney Harbour. Sydney and Melbourner are already beckoning' to them like a temptress.