POOR DARWIN!

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 116, 19 May 1930, Page 10

POOR DARWIN!

COMIC OPERA REVOLT!

HOW IT ENDED

\<From "Tho PostV' Reprewntative.) SYDNEY, Bth May.

An unhappy fate seems to pursue tijo Northern Territory of Australia and its metropolis, Darwin —Darwin the Damned, as it has been called.. But the latest disturbance* that has taken place- at Darwin has all tho elements of comic opera, and people of tho rest of the continent have refused to take it seriously. • But it must havo been fairly serious for tho unfortunate Government Besident, who was locked in by the unemployed because their demands had not been acceded to. Following a demonstration, Government House was picketed, and all bank officials were told to remain at their bank and stand guard over the money. Meanwhile tho. unemployed camped on the verandah of Government House, and all through the night—several nights— danced to tho tuno of a number of mouth-organs.. , Finally, after it had been in progress for loss than a week, tho "revolution" collapsed through Red Croup. In short, tho Bed Army developed sore throats, and the five constables'—reinforcements from £he outback—then had 110 -difficulty in securing tho upper hand. Sinco then all has been qa\t. How much their hearts were- in the rebellion can bs gauged from tho fact that the whole fabric of their prole-' tarian uprising was shattered when the police arrested a few of their leaders for being illegally on tho verandah of Government House. The final humiliation came when a man was sent with a broom to sjveep up tho signs and symbols of the revolution—cigarette butts, match heads, paper, and food Tsci'aps. The general headquarters—a tent with a Bed Flag and a cook's galley—opposite Government House was pulled down by the police. '

Those who were most prominent in the rebellion have apologised to the Federal Government for locking its'representative in Government House, but all the same there are to bo some prosecutions' for trespass. On Friday night last panic reigned' for a whilo in the Communist camp when some joker, sneaked out of the scrub and stole the Eec] Flag from the headquarters tint. Ho 'was chased into the gloom by the speediest of- the Commissars, but he escaped, and another Bed Flag had to be secured. This is not easy in Darwin—and then "■ to think that the police'l should have- unceremoniously torn it down tho following day. How-t ever, when tho police raided the Bed fortress there was not an atom of fight left in. the revolutionaries. Now there aro two policemen held in reserve in case there should be a fresh outbreak.

All this goes to show up the serious side of tho Northern Territory—the failure of successive Governments to bring Darwin and the vast area of the country behind it out of tho slough of despond. Tho Commonwealth Government has now been in possession of the territory for two decades. About £10,000,000 has been sunk there, not counting the huge- sums that have been lost, by private enterprise. Innumerable: reports have been.made— and pigeonholed; and visiting experts have expressed' their viows in return for largo fees.. Many attempts .' have .been made to. get v the Territory '' going,'' but they have all failed. Today there are fewer inhabitants than there were fifty years ago; tho expenditure exceeds the revenue by about £400,000 a year, and no progress is being made. .

These repeated failures are due to a multiplicity of causes. The Territory is isolated and cut off ' from the rest of Australia; communications are poor and distances are great;' labour is scarce,: expensive, and inefficient. There has been 110 continuity of policy. Its unhappy record has had a depressing effect on private enterprise despite the rich prospects of the pastoral and mining industries. But they are "prospects" only. In 1928 the total value of all minerals produced was about £14,000. The cattle industry is ravaged by the prevalence of tick's and by the difficulty of travelling stock through the waterless country. Agriculturo has made little progress. Why,in Darwin it is difficult to obtain a greon vegetable. And casting its shadow over the whole of tho territory is Darwin, tho Chinese-Abo township, tho. resort of tho riff-raff, of tho East, and the scene of so many comedytragedies. :It is still- the cloud on Australia's Northern horizon.