THE EMPTY NORTH.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1414, 15 April 1912, Page 5

THE EMPTY NORTH.

+ AUSTRALIA'S PROBLEM.; lly TdecrfDh-Presa Association—GoDrrielil Melbourne, April 13. The Northern Territory expedition found tho blacks peaceable and well disposed. The leader, who is not a mining man, hesitates to express an opinion on the mineral resources. Thcro aro hundreds of miles of highly mineralised nnd gold-bearing country, the surface of which had only been scratched. lie is confident that expert opinion will justify heavy expenditure 011 water conservation and improved communication. The development of the mineral resources will become a big factor in .stimulating progress, BLAZING THE TRACK. DR. GILRUTII ON lllS GREAT TASK. Dr. Gilruth, tho now Administrator of fho Northern Territory, and formerly Chief Veterinarian of New Zealand, was interviewed in Sydney 11 fortnight ago, prior to his departure for his new post. JIo said that 110 had unbounded faith in tho future of tho north, but recognised that lie had one of the most difficult pioneering tasks ill the world ill front of him. Tho Territory was 110 placo to dump tho settler ahead of developmental works. There would be plenty of room tor him, (hough, along tho blazed track, "and I," 110 said, "am going up to blaze tho track." About the productivity of tho Territory 110 man who had had any experience of it could liavo the least doubt. There were immense areas of fertile land without, people, stock, or even fences. Counting in all the white people, all tho cattle, all the horses, all the pigs, there was not one domesticated animal to the square mile. Much of the land was not even surveyed. 111 days gone by a square was drawn on tho map, and that was declared to bo tho area leased. As to the prospects of production, it had been demonstrated that cotton, rice, tea, sisal hemp, and other tropical growths worn well adapted, but it was a question whether under white labour conditions Australia could successfully compete, as far as cotton was concerned, with other countries unless machinery such ar cotton-picking machines could Tie worked. If these machines did prove u success, then the cotton industry .should be a very profitable one. Tho Territory might also turn out to be 0110 of the great granaries of Australia. The wheat would have to bo of a different variety from that grown in tho south—perhaps the same sort as was grown in India. If wheat could be produced in that country, as it was, why not in the Territory, too? For the present, however, cattlo and sheep would have to bo the mainstay, and 110 intended to devote early attention, to the regulation, and, if possible, the extermination of tick in cattle, and so rid the Territory of its greatest scourge. The Small Holder. Tho new Administrator was emphatic upon tho maintenance of tho leasehold system, and upon tho first call of the small holder to the consideration of the Government. "The more small settlers wo can encourage to go there tho more we will bo pleased," lie said,'-"for. the more valuable will the country bo to Australia as an asset and for defence, livery effort will ba lmvde by the Agricultural Department on its experimental farms to demonstrate what can best and most economically be produced by the comparatively small settlers." But they would, of course, encotirago pastoralists also to tako up the land that was purely suited for pastoral purposes. He lwlieved that in the neighborhood of tho MacDonold Ranges, which he intended to .visit as soon as 110 got things properly organised, there were huge areas well suited for sheep-breeding. Horse-breeding and pig-raising should also be valuablo adjuncts to other industries. The Territorywas a magnificently watered country. There were at least six rivers up which coastal steamers had been a hundred miles, and with a locking system tho Roper and of her rivers might easily bo made navigablo for a much farther distance. "White Australia" Policy, "Is it a white man's country? Well, among the men who have been thorn for years—2o years, some of Ilium—l saw a greater proportion of healthy, vigorous specimens than one would see elsewhere. There is, as far as I could ascertain, jio other tropical disease than malaria. If people livo as the conditions warrant— frequently in the open air, plenty of exercise, work in the cool hours, rational clothing—they will get along just as well there, I think, as in the temperate zones. If tho British troops could go to India at tho time of the Mutiny, and beat tho black man 011 his own heath, with none of the scientific assistance to living'such as we have to-day, it will bo strange if they cannot adapt themselves' to the better conditions in the Territory. If we get the notion that peoplo can't livo ill the Territory don't forget that there, art plenty of others willing to try.