AN EMPTY LAND.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144198, 15 September 1913, Page 7

AN EMPTY LAND.

AUSTRALIA’S BACK DOOR. A NEW ZEALANDER’S IMPRESSIONS. Probably no part of Australia has been so much discussed in recent years as tho Northern Territory—tho great area of emptiness in tho North, which Australians feel so necessary to populate, yet which is being populated very slowly. Opinions have differed in tho extreme about this part of tropical Australia. It has been described as a useless torrid desert, fringed by an unwholesome coast, wherein the white man cannot live and continue his race. That is one extreme. Tho other is that which pictures tho Northern Territory as a sort of earthly Paradise, not only habitable, but eminently desirable as a place of habitation, by White Australians. Tho truth, of course, must lie somewhere in between the extremes, and the impressions of a New Zealander who went tbrro without any preconceptions or predilections may lie accepted as conveyatg something like tho real condition <it things in tho empty North. Mr. Walter Young, of Wellington, after retiring from tho Police Service, spout some three months over in tho Northern Territory, and had an excellent importunity of seeing tho real thing. Ho has lately returned, and, with a view to preventing any misconceptions on tho part of intending immigrants to tho lono land from this country, hasv.placod his experiences and observations -before a rcproswv|ativo of the Post. First, in regard to climate, Mr. Young states that tho weather was perfect during the timo ho was there. There was practically no rain, hat tho

heat was never excessive. In Uau summer, however, especially about tthrislmas time and tho New Year, iLb climate is undoubtedly a littlo tiering, but still it could not Ixj dcsorfliad as

unhealthy As evidence of tho fact, Mr. Young saw many white Childs an in Port Darwin, tho capital of tho IWritory, and tliey appeared to bo fill of .life and health. The general lioadifc of the white population was also excel Lnt,. and Mr. Young, who himself did a ■good deal of outdoor work in tho'Territory, feels quite sure that tho white race can not only live there, butthrivo and Work, with, of course, tho noscssary precautions that circumstances require in such a latitude. Tho principle of tho siesta in tho middle ot tho ■ day should bo followed, when tho heat is great, and work ho done chiefly in Jho cool of the morning and the «a!nTilg. Mr. Young declares tho cbildam were as lino specimens as over ho saw, -big, strong, and well made, without any suggestion of tho weakness width is alleged to follow birth in tho t-1 opics. The climate should not proactit any difficulties that could not bo siivby tho exercise of a litfilx-common-sense. Tho quality of tho land varies a .goo d*’ ideal and tho worst of it appears to so along tho railway to Pino Creek. Theta are a number of outcrops of barret »> quartz in ridges, but in tho bottoms between thorn the land is quite good. There is ample rainfall for a diatanax) of 160 miles from tbo coast in th*Y regular-monsoonal rains. Tbo winter* season is dry. Water can. usually bo found' by well-sinking, but tho wind*mill pump is not satisfactory hero od«account of. tho long periods of calm... Pumps driven by oil-engines would solve the problem of-water in tho* inter* i ior regions. Sheep do well in many j places if proper supplies of water can bo secured. Cattle, from what Mr. Young saw, do not do so well, but ini I other parts of tho Territory much better results are obtained. Pigs thrive* immensely, and Mr. Young thinks a< big industry is likely to,spring up in* [Kirk and bacon in tho country round j Port Darwin. There aro already thousands of [rigs which liavo run wild intho country,, many of them from wellhred stock. Two crops of maize can lu> raised a year on tbo flats and tho pigs fatten very readily in tho warmclimate. Tobacco-growing is another industry which promises to succeed. Mr. Young was informed by an American visitor that tho suitable for tobacco, bettor in foot than n\any parts of tbo United-States, which furnishes tho bulk of tho world's tobacco to-day. One acre-of ground in. the Territory produced as much as1201bs. of tobacco.

What tho country really wants, if it, is to go ahead as it should, is capital and railways to develop it. At present it is languishing for lack of either. Money is short, and without money 'it is impossible for tho administration to do much. Tho country Is being starved at tho present time because no money is forthcoming. Mr. Young things that if a thousand men wore kept at work continuously extending the fine from Pine Crock south tho country would develop naturally. Settlors would come in and take up land as soon as they could got communication to a port to ship their produce. In any ca.se, no man should go to tho Northern Territory at tho present time without ample capital. When Mr. Young left there was very little worir offering anywhere. Tho Administrator of tlio Territory (Mr. J. A. Gilruth, ■ w»U known in New Zealand as exGorerumcnt Veterinarian), was doing all he could to push the country ahead, and ho was ably assisted by an enthusiastic staff, including Mr. V. H. Clark, Director of Agriculture, who, at Batchelor Farm, is carrying out interesting experiments to determine tho kind of agriculture most suitable to tho country. But tho handicap of lack of finance was too heavy and the country, with its immense area of 335 million acres, was not advancing as it should do. Though its future was assured, if only capital was provided by tho Stato to make initial developments, and if only the railway was pushed on, Mr. Young does not advise anybody to go there from New Zealand at tho present time and until tho railway is started again, unless ho has plenty of private capital.