THE RIVERINA CLAIM.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 125, 19 July 1911, Page 3

THE RIVERINA CLAIM.

Unless there is something convincing hi tlie letter i rum btr 1 nomas Miumell, which is said to Have caused the Acting-Premier or Victoria- to claim toe ivrverina lor iris (state, tlio ilaim seems to he quite hopeless .wane years ago tire Imperial Parliament described the boundary between .New (south Vv ides and \ ictoria as a

‘•straight line drawn from Cape Jiowe u> tiie nearest source ol toe river Aim-ray.” For titty years it has been taken ror granted mat tno.se words described the existing boundarv line, W-hiQh is drawn rrom Cape .Howe to a point a little south of Mount ivosciusKp, at the source of the river Murray itselt. lint tiie \ ictoi ian claim is that the word "Murray'’ really covered every other river a iiicii flows into tiie Murray, in that case it would include the Murrumbidgoe, which runs much ncai or Cape Crowe than -the Murray itself does. A line drawn Iron. Cairn iJowo to tiie nearest source ol the Murvumbidgoe would run away north oi tiro existing boundary and cut off tiie Urverma rrom Newboath \\aies._ in New South Wales tire claim is not taken seriously, it is pointed out unit it is by no means a new tiling, but lias been made more than once before. When in 1882 Vic-t-O! ia talked oi claiming the ixiverina, the Premier of .\ew South Wales said emphatically that they could not have it, and that, if necessary, the State womd resist the claim by force ot arms. In 1900 Mr. Thomas Bent, the Premier of Victoria, took up the question, and obtained legal advice on rhe point. ’That advice, however, was chilling, me two counsel were clearly ol opinion that Victoria would not succeed if the affair went before a Court. Nor does the claim seem to be regarded with an enthusiasm in Victoria. The “Argus” thinks that if the newly discovered letter of Sir 1 nomas Mitchell’s is not overwhelm-. i ;gly in favour of the claim (and ft does not think it can he), the claim should not have been made. A message from Melbourne suggests that the revival of the controversy is due to a desire to obscure other issues at H'.o forthcoming elections, though Low this is to benefit the Government is a mystery, seeing that there does not seem to be any enthusiasm about the matter'among the people.