Potatoes And Guns

Northern Advocate, 18 March 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

Potatoes And Guns

Potatoes have always been a worry to Australians. A political move to purchase New Zealand products instead of Tasmanian, resulted in a flooding of the New South Wales market with potatoes from the island dependency of Australia. Tasmania is essentially an agricultural land, stock raising being an important adjunct to the island’s activities. Mining is also indulged in considerably. Smelting works, breweries, jam manufacturing, flour milling and cloth manufacturing are important industries. Originally Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmania has a total area of 26,000 square miles. It is mainly rocky, and inhospitable on the west coast, but there are three good harbours, Port Davey, Pieman and Macquarie. There are also safe bays and anchorages oh other parts of the coast. The island abounds in rivers ,the principal being the Derwent, navigable 20 miles above the capital of the island, Hobart. Discovered in 1642 by the Dutch navigator Tasman, the island was first colonised in 1803 by Lieutenant Bowen with a party of soldiers and convicts. Five thousand natives lived on the island 100 years ago, but by 1876, there was not a single, pure blooded native alive on the island. In addition to taking part in the controversial potato problem, Tasmania, where Labour rules, has been forward in reminding the other states of Australia of the need for defence unity.