THE TREATMENT OF NATIVES IN WESTRE AUSTRALIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1433, 16 December 1886, Page 3

THE TREATMENT OF NATIVES IN WESTRE AUSTRALIA.

The Primate of a .-atralia (Dr Barry) has published the result of i is invest!" ttion into the native quevion in W stern Australia He states that ever sine i the Rev J. B. Gobbis laid hefo-e Mm the complaints ag inst He Mis ini Bond in the diocese of Peith, and statements as to the c-ueby to wh ch iho ns ives had been ‘U jecied in the Gascoyne disfc’ict, he had been oru ! eivmiriug to oht ia ir.f, rotation as to the state of the law for the protection of the na'ives. He received a letter from the Governor of Western Australia, giving the fullest Information as to the laws relatina to the protection of the natives, nnd expressing an opinion that a v- ry an atainal p o tr-ction of the na'ives is exercised by the Government and their officers, and that no charge of remissnees can be sustained. Mr F. Broome tays that cases of ur fair or cruel treatment do, no doubt, occur now and then, but the settlers as a body aru entitled to great credit for their just tnd humane conduct towards the natives. He admits defects In the law which are now In process of being remedied, but he dors not ad 'it that wholesale wrong, or anything like It, has been it fiicU’d upon the natives under the p'orent circumstances. In commenting upon the iof'rmatlon given, the Primate says that, perhaps the difficulties which surround the relations of the nati’va and white races cannot be bodily removed, but t'ey can be, and ought to be, minimised A deep debt of gratitude was doe to anyons wh> boldly came forward to exp so abuses wh'ch ho believed to exist, and to invoke the only forces which could rem dy them. These forces appear to he, first, unce sing vg - lance of supervision by the contra! authority, and the restate infl cHon of a severe peaalty wherever a chaiga of cruelty is brought home, sod next, the raising of the tone of pub! c opinion and a fuller awakanlng of the pub''c conscience of the col ny on the whole so’jret. To the last all-importar t result it ;s hoped that the recent etlniog up < £ the eu! j-wt will contribute. It appears, from ir F. Napier Broome's letter, that the Bid now efore the West Au trahan Legislature provides for the estab'ishmant of an Aborigines Protection Board, under whom native inspectors will be appointed. The Bill regulates contracts of service entered into by natives, and makes special provision for the welfare of native children and pri»nnpra. Freni h ro bles in To’ quin are inc-caso ing- A detachment of Tonquiueee, rifTmen has been dett nyed near Paiin-h ' in the province of Namdioh. The party, which numbered thirty men, fell int > an ambuscade, and in ei doavour ng to cross a river were shot down almost to a man by some hundreds of t hincse, mopt of whom were armed with reyeating rifl s Leieotenant Fou.eres, who was in command of the Tonquims 3 , was killed About the same tuna the French po?t of Done-trim, near Dong-song, was c.Uacmd by 1.200 Cain-se coiriog fr> in the nor h. The Chinese were repulsed after i asperate fighting, in which they lost forty-five men. On the French side only one man was wounded.

Reports have icuched Lisbon th*t the petty King of Gonguuhiinn, on the Zvmbesi, revolted with 30,000 natives against the authoßy of the Governor of M< z >mb ; que. The Portuguese c 'tvsub A foas > de Albuq erque fa about to sail with reinforcements for ‘Mozambique It is sought at L sbon to establish a conned ion between this rising and that of the Pondoa