BLACK AUSTRALIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 38, 14 February 1905, Page 4

BLACK AUSTRALIA.

The excitement aroused in Western Australia by the publication of Dr. Roth's report on the condition of the aborigines shows no sign of subsiding. Dr. Hoth. a recognised ethnological authority, who has devoted many years to the study of the Australian blacks in Queensland and Xew South Wales, was asked by the West Australian Government to furnish a report upon the condition of the local aborigines and the treatment they receive from the whites. Apparently Dr. Roth believed that he was justified in making his report public property as soon as lie had finished it, and the Colonial Secretary is now calling upon him to answer for a breach of the Public Services Act, which ho has thus infringed. Tiie report is certainly not the sort of docui ment that any Croveriunent would care to see in circulation during its tenure of office. While admitting that in the settled districts there is no direct proof of actual physical cruelty to the blacks. Dr. Hoth considers that there is much oppression and injustice; while in the -back-blocks" he alleges that he has evidence of ''cruelties and abuses that can no longer bo hidden or tolerated.' .Most of his complaints refer to the power of the police to arrest any number of blacks on suspicion, receiving a reward for every prisoner and every native brought, in to give evidence. According tv Dr. Roth, this practice has | produced many shocking results. Children of tender years and helpless old men have been dragpoil before the L'ourts charged with killing cattle, they have been starved and beaten on the road, and forced to plead guilty or to give the required evidence by threats of shooting. In the gaols the blacks arc loaded with neck-chains and man aclos. often weighing five pouud.s oi more, and are compelled lo wear these fetters for years. On the uorUi-v.'est coast also, the investigation revealed proofs of many abuses in connection with the pearl fishery. As a result of their euslavcment by the white-.., Dr. Roth asserts that the aboriginal tribes an- decimated by drink, -\ic-e antl disease; and on the whole his report is strongly condemnatory of the treatment the blacks have received at the hands of the ruling race. It is only fair to say that several responsible authorities Jiave promptly contradicted Dr. Roth on several important points. The Commissioner of Police has declared that Dr. Roth's allegations as to the treatment of native prisoners by tbe police arc simply fables, derived from the gossip of "the scum and riffraff" whom Dr. "Roth consulted. •Mr .Join. Forrest has ikfcribed Ihe report as "inadequate aud mislead int.." and further complains thai Dr. Hoth got his information not from people competent to speak with authority or through long experience of the cmintry. but by casual visits to the coastal towns. Against this, however, we have to set two important arguments—the notorious fact that in most of the Australian States at various times the blacks have been subjected to cnicltv nnd oppression and the evil repu.alion that West Anst lTiliao settlors have acquired in the past with respect to the treatment of their aborigines. As to the first point we need not trouble to elaborate it: past history of Queensland and Xew ISout.li Wales, for example. supplies ample evidence of its truth. As to West Australia in particular, it is only within the past 12 months that stromr and well supported charges of cruelty and tyranny were brought against the Westralian sr-uatters by Mr. Maleolmson. Dr. Rintoul, and Bishop Cibiiev. of Perth. On that occasion the Protector of Aborigines and Sir John Forrest made the usual official rejoinder.*, deelnrinjr that evei-y«hinp went well with the blacks, and supplyin_. Ihe wholly irrelevant information that Westralian squatters as a class were equal to any men on earth in enlightenment and humanity. Unfortunately there are many instances on record in which men enlightened and humane enough in dealing with each other have fallen far below their normal level in dealing with an inferior race. Dr. Rpntoul's charges as to the '■'indenture'" system—a form of slavery legalised in Y\ est Australia—have neveT been answered: -mong other recorded facts, it would be difficult to explain how or why four squatters, who were all justices of the peace in the north-west, being convicted of "cruel and vile treat menf" of aborisrines under the indenture system, were let off with a fine of £5 each. The squatters of West Australia lire probably, in the main, all that Sir John Forrest believes; but so lornr as (he '•'indenture" svsicrj stands, anil arbitrary powers of arrest are penniKeil lo the police, il will take more than polite official evasions to counteract the effects of such a document as Dr. Roth's report.