AN AWFUL INDICTMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 227, 7 January 1911, Page 9

AN AWFUL INDICTMENT.

TREATMENT OF ABORIGINES. Th(i treatment of our blacks in North Australia is dreadful in the extreme, and to lie much deplored (writes \V. .\l. Burton in the Sydney Morning Herald). 1 spent four years in Kimberley (W.A.), tliu Northern Territory and North Queensland, in the open, amongst stations and mining tamps, and therefore have some 'knowledge of the treatment of the aborigines, in Kimberley the native is merely a dog, and used by all classes of the community as a slave and rouseabout. On the station the natives are shearers, drivers, pressors, pickers up, etc., for which work they are paid in kind, in the form of a stick of tobacco or cast-oil' garment. But the atrocious way these poor blacks are driven from pillar to post, and accused of cattlekilling, is appalling. One man with whom I camped for some time told me that to get rid of the rubbish, he made them a present of a poisoned bullock, and then watched the corroboree. The blacks died in dozens round the camp lives. In certain distorts, where there are a number of blacks, a Government servant, such as a telegraph operator or police officer, is allowed Is a day to feed and clothe the natives. What kind of feeding is it? At most of these places 1 visited the food consisted of boiled rice, with a piece of kangaroo or goat, and a stick of horrible tobacco on Sunday. 1 witnessed a feeding of these poor wretches. I shall never forget it. A large number, male and females and picaniunies, rolled up to the police station, each one carrying some sort of disused tin, into which, the sergeant dumped a spoonful of Hour and water, made into paste. This is called '"bubble, bubble." A couple of goats had been killed, and the entrails and bones were also distributed amongst the. crowd. Some men made fortunes at this game, and are now graziers or publicans. "BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA." I have seen the gaol in Wyndham filled with blacks, all chained together by the wrist—a veritable 'Black Hole of Calcutta.' The police made a practice of nigger-hunting, because they were allowed 2s 5d per day for taking them long distances for trial. The manner of this man-hunting is most awful. The police would form a camp on a waterhole, and send their boys (Territory Uacks) out fully armed to run in any natives they came across. They were then coached, when asked to plead by the magistrate, to put up two or three fingers, meaning that they had speared that number of beasts. Three years on the roads was the usual time allotted as imprisonment. This was going on three years ago, and 1 believe is still going on. OUTCAST AND PARIAH. But the treatment in the Northern Territory is worse, if anything. The Government of South Australia is to be severely censured. No provision is made for the native in the Territory. He is the outcast and pariah in his own land. There are no reserves or mission stations, except the recent Roper river station. The black is the tool of everyone, white or colored. They prowl about the Chinese camps, doing odd jobs for the Mongolians, receiving square gin or tobacco in payment for their labor. The money allowed by the Government for their support is a mere bagatelle, consisting of a yearly dole of a blanket and hospital attendance. As regards opium, that is used now in the Territory just as much as before prohibition. The blackfellow gets the charcoal. 1 have seen dozens of natives smoking this in a disused battery at Yam Creek and other places. BARTER OF FEMALE CHILDREN. But the most heinous crime in the north is the bartering of the young female children. I am not exaggerating when 1 say I have seen half-caste girls sold to Chinese for a few pounds of provisions. The old blacks will sell their young wives, bringing them long distances for the purpose. Not only do the Chinese and Malays buy the children, but whites also. On the large cattle stations the children growing up are becomiig white. The black gin is now discarded for the yellow gin. No one interferes or protects these poor little mites, who are being brought up without education for one purpose. It is a scandal on our socalled civilisation. The police patrol amongst these stations, and know what is going on, yet nothing is done to improve their condition. At one station on the Barldy tableland I counted 20 half-caste and three-quarter-caste piccaninnies, all in the state of nature. In one camp on the overland telegraph route I saw a 1 libra nursing a child, nlmost white. There is no law to prevent such things taking place; in fact, they call it the "custom of the country." A nice custom, surely. The population growing up in the problem province would defy an expert in ethnology —it is hybrid of hybrids. The Federal Government should certainly take immediate action to remedy the evils existing in tile Territory. Queensland has done so, and to-day the same, evils do not exist as they do in No Man's Land. The mode of living is staggering. There girl-children are sold from one man to another for a few pounds. I have seen this done times out of number, A man came to me once (a white man) and wanted to sell his lubra for a bottle of rum. Every man, or nearly every one, travels or lives with a dusky consort. Disease is most prevalent, and'is sapping the life out of the rising veneration. These are statements that cannot be denied. •SHOOTING BLACKS FOR SPORT. The, worst case of callous cruelty that came to my knowledge was near Mararthur river, where a man used to shoot the blacks for sport. He called it "shooting on the wings," that is, they had to run, and he shot them while running. The police at Anthony's Lagoon, of whom I enquired, acknowledged snch to bo the case, but they could not bring a case home to the murderer. In the outlying country many atrocities are committed, but it is in the small settlements where the degrading life is to be see of white and black living together in harmony. Tn no country i» the world is the same tiling to be eeen. Tlk> question of the aborigines i= one that few people in the south are aware of. The Territory blacks are a fine race, and by careful training could be made useful citizens. They are fine horsemen, and could be taught to work in cotton fields and other forms of labor which voiild not oll'end the susceptibilities of the Labor party. The idea i- well worthy of tvinl. The lack of protection of our black brethren in North Australia is a -landing disgrace to Australia.