The Daily News SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1933. AUSTRALIA’S EMPTY NORTH

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1933. AUSTRALIA’S EMPTY NORTH

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Two clergymen holding high office in their churches have recently addressed themselves to the problem of the “Empty North” of Australia. Dr. Duhig, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, who knows that a “White Australia” is a passion rather than a mere policy with most Australians, sees the menace in a possible invasion of the north by the Japanese or other Asiatic races, He suggests that an arrangement be made with Germany whereby some of the islands forming part of former German New Guinea should be handed back as German colonies provided Germany will undertake the settlement of North Australia and thus ensure its occupancy by white men. The Dean of Canterbury, on the other hand, would ensure amicable relations between the Empire and Japan by offering a portion of North Australia to Japan. It goes without saying that both suggestions will scarcely be treated seriously in the Commonwealth. Only a conquered Australia would abrogate the “White Australia” policy, for she has not forgotten the experiment tried in the Queensland sugar fields of developing tropical Australia with Kanaka labour. That experiment led to difficulties of interbreeding and other social questions. It took all the energy of the newly founded Commonwealth to bring the system to an end, and it is certain that so long as Australia is self governed she will not repeat the experiment. Nor is there any likelihood of Australia bribing mercenaries from Germany or anywhere else for her defence. She has welcomed many excellent settlers from Germany in past years, and some of them proved loyal to Britain when the supreme test arrived. Others did not, but the idea of establishing purely German settlements is scarcely one that will appeal. At the same time the problem of tropical Australia is one that must be faced sooner or later by the Commonwealth. Nearly half of Queensland, at least one-third of Western Australia and the whole of the Federal Northern Territory are practically empty. Queensland, which has the better rainfall, has the largest population of the three areas, but even that does not amount to one white man per square mile. In the north of Western Australia there are but 7000 Europeans in 300,000 square miles, while in the Northern Territory there are less than 5000 inhabitants, including aboriginals, in an area of 523,620 square miles. Seventy years ago, when South Australia asked that the Northern Territory become part of that State the Colonial Secretary, the Duke of Newcastle, demurred. He thought settlement of the north would be very gradual, and should come from the southern States, the policing of the north being left in the hands of the navy. History seems to have proved his judgment correct. Attempt after attempt has been made by Federal and State Ministries to settle the north by planting “colonies” there and ruling them from southern capitals. None of them has succeeded. Much of the north can be used for pastoral purposes, and along the banks of the fine rivers there are areas in which the soil is as rich as any in Australia. But to utilise them in a country with three months rainy weather, and sometimes less, with intensely hot weather for the rest of the year means enormous expenditure on water conservation, transport facilities, and the prevention of disease and loss among livestock before any scheme of closer settlement has a chance of success. Even on

the huge cattle stations ' much expenditure is necessary in sinking bores for water, making even small pastoral runs a very problematical success. North Australia is rich in metals, including gold, but transport and labour costs have almost killed the mining industry, . which, again, necessitates large capital resources if it is to be attempted with any chance of success. The gradual extension of pastoral settlement combined with public expenditure upon water conservation seems to have given the best results, though they are meagre enough. North Australia certainly requires population, but it must be given a reasonable chance of being self-sup-porting. There seems no quick way in which to bring prosperity to the north, a fact that is gradually being recognised by Australian and Imperial authorities who know the facts.