“WHITE AUSTRALIA”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 304, 21 November 1936, Page 2

“WHITE AUSTRALIA”

CASE FOR THE COMMONWEALTH. CLIMATIC FACTORS. “It is not that we are not prepared to do anything in the matter, but that Nature says the territory is not suited for the type of development the Western world wants. We believe in the purity of the race as a standard of Jiving. As far as the matter of Asiatics coming to Australia is concerned, we say we do not want them. Let them develop somewhere else.” With this unequivocal declaration, Mr R. H. Nesbitt, Trade Commissioner for Australia in New Zealand, concluded an address delivered to the Palmerston North Citizens’ Lunch Club, yesterday, on the problem of the development of Australia’s tropical belt. The Commonwealth, he declared, had spent millions ,in an attempt to render her Northern Territory habitable and profitable, but she had realised the futility, of the effort in the face of natural realities, and, instead, was now making scientific soil tests to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. “Millions of pounds would have been saved if this had been done years ago,” Mr Nesbitt added. Not one voice would be heard in Australia condemning her policy of excluding Asiatics, he asserted. “We say we do not want them,” he reiterated. In his opening remarks, Mr Nesbitt said the problem was naturally a burning one in the minds of the rest of the world, although Australians generally did not recognise that a problem existed. In the belt situated between 23 degrees north and south of the Equator were situated the tropical areas of the world, of which the Northern Territory formed a part. Australia’s tropics were quite different from those of other countries in many respects. The total area of the Australian continent was 2,964,800 square miles, and in the centre Tess than 10 inches of rain fell in a year. At Darwin, however, 80 inches fell in a year, GO inches falling in two months. One rarely talked of closer settlement and development of Sinai, Arabia, and similar countries; but one frequently heard such talk by thinkers in connection with Australia. It was alleged that she was becoming a menace to the world because of her refusal to admit European races. By the standards of physicists, however, more than half of Australia lay in the desert area; 1,000,000 square miles received less than 10 inches of rain in a year, and in over 1,900,000 square miles not more than 20 inches were recorded. AN OLD PROBLEM. That the problem of colonisation of desert areas was no new one was illustrated by the fact that since the year 1500 attempts had been made to face up to it, Mr Nesbitt continued. The test of success was permanent settlement, but in British India, the* Dutch East Indies, Tripoli, Morocco, and similar regions the whites simply resided in the tropics as directors of native labour. , Australia .had been known as a country for only 300 years and for 140 years as a settled country. Only since 1820 liqd squatters from Sydney sought to develop the Queensland area, This State had boundless possibilities, but in ten years, throughdrought, had lost nearly 19,000,000 sheep—almost the total of New Zealand's sheep flocks. From the 1860’s the culture of sugar cane had been attempted with Kanaka labour drawn from the South Seas. The sugar belt, to-day, was 1000 miles in length and varied in width from 10 to 100 miles. To-day, 150,000 white people controlled the industry, with an entire absence of black labour following upon the deter-' mination of the “White Australia” policy when the Commonwealth came into being. By the aid of science, north-eastern Queensland had been made one of the most healthy areas in the world. It was true 1 the people might work lethargically, blit the fact that famous footballers had been produced there pointed to their physical welfare. Within 20 degrees of the Equator, on the higher areas, there were magnificent dairy farms and rich forests. Of the 45,000 miles of plateau country within the tropics, only 14,000 miles were cultivable. West of Queensland, continued the speaker, there were only 380,000 white people. White and Chinese labour had been tried ; a chartered company had been planned; but the poor soil and variable rainfall had rendered settlement unattractive, cattle raising being the only (and partially successful) industry. In the Wyndham district there were big mountain ranges covered with stunted trees, and supporting only cattle and sheep. One station owner ran only four cattle to the square mile and one sheep to 28 acres. These factors, Mr Nesbitt concluded, pointed to the natural difficulties with which Australia was faced, and which determined her policy. Mr R. W. Priest presided over the gathering, introducing • Mr Nesbitt and subsequently moving a vote of appreciation to him for his address. Visitors to whom a welcome was extended were Rev. J. H. Allen (Feeding). Mr E. Earwaker and Mr W. Pluto (Western Australia).