TROPICAL AUSTRALIA.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LX, Issue LX, 31 October 1910, Page 3

TROPICAL AUSTRALIA.

Dr Danes, Lecturer in Geography at th' University of Prague, beneves firm'y that tropical Australia is suitable for white settlement. Jr. Australia some time ago, and travelled in Northern Queensland, and he remarks that the mortality of the white raoes in the tropics has been reduced by the introduction of modern sanitation and the of private life to the exigencies of the climate. Over-indulgence in liquor is one of the most important causes of ill-health among white people in hot countries, and the- doctor remarks on the prevalence of this evil in tropical Australia. He quotes the Director of the Tropical Diseases Institute at Townsville as saying that this and other bad habits do more harm to the sugar- cane workers in that state than the hard work they have to do. Dr Danes urges Australians in the north to pay more attenion to their houses and their diet. "The houses and the hotels are generally badly-fitted for the climatic conditions, especially the corrugated by "humpies" wljch are the most inappropriate and tiie most numerous of all kinds of architecture. The general diet can hardly be called good for the exigencies of the climate. Meat of one and the same kind is the chief nourishment, but is consumed in a state which baffles description. Vegetables and fruit are scarce on the table, especially outside the laiger towns. This kind of diet is certainly very unhealthy, especially for women and children." The water used for drinking is often very bad, being isometimes muddy stuff from a hole roisnd which dead animals lie scattered. Tropical Australia, in the doctor's opinion, is much healthier than any other tropical country, but if dreaded diseases of the tropics should spread through the North, the ravages among people living under the conditions described would be simply stupendous." He remarks that the Australian patriotic " associations have in the spreading of a knowledge of better conditions a vast field of activity.