“ ONLY A DESERT.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 643, 22 December 1932, Page 5

“ ONLY A DESERT.”

Gloomy Picture of Central Australia. STATIONS DESERTED. fSnecial to the “ Star.”! MELBOURNE, December 14. 1 With the view that Central Australia 1 has seen its best days as pastoral coun--2 try, Mr William Hatfield, the Australian author, reached Melbourne to-day, = after a 10,000-mile car tour from west I Queensland, through the desert coun--1 try, to Broome and down to Perth. 2 Mr Hatfield visited all of the outstanding towns, including Daly River, r Alice Springs and Newcastle Waters. 1 His purpose was to renew acquaintance s with old identities, and secure further . literary atmosphere and data. * “In my opinion, Central Australia i j has been overstocked,” said Mr Hats field. “In the first place, it is really only a desert, and deludes investors 5 into developing the country on the evi- . dence of a few good seasons. 3 “ It is quite evident that from a geoi logical and botanical point of view the l country is going back from the steppe j country to the desert, as has happened in many parts of Asia and Africa. Central Australia is going further back into desert. “ From a pastoral point of view there is nothing in the future. As regards gold—there is gold there, because men have been making a living year after year, but there is a possibility that in the future less spectacular metals will f be developed. “ At Barrow Creek there is the silver f lead. Seventy miles east of Alice Springs there is a deposit of mica which is the biggest in the world. * Within eighteen months or two years 1 I think it will dominate the world ’ mica market. r “ But Central Australian country is 2 definitely barren. Stations have been i deserted, and the whole story of the r Central Australian pastures is one of complete failure or 4 just getting by.’ ”