AUSTRALIA'S EMPTY NORTH

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1690, 5 March 1913, Page 6

AUSTRALIA'S EMPTY NORTH

INVADING ARMY NEEDS NO COMMISSARIAT.

In the course of a report, lie is furnish- . ing 011 the Northern Torriiery of Aus- , tralia to the' Welsh settlement in ' t'atagoiiia (who jtr<> contemplating a miration); Jli\ Kob?rt Williams, late Customhouse export of Wellington, says:— ' "1 left t'ho farm (a Government experiment farm on tlio Daly River) on the morning'of Saturday, September M, rencliing Darwin on- tlio following Tuesday. On the Sunday -©veiling I caini>o<l at the 'swamps billaliong,' and hero met Mr. K. J. Brady, tlio > well-known Australian writer. H' was a great treat to moid a man who knows Australia as Mr. Drady dons, and to find that.; lie, too, was sx> immensely impressed with the Territory, for his Intimate knowledge of (ho continent, as well, as of the East, gives his opinion great value, lie realises, as unfortunately few Australians do, tlio great nnd immediate need of peopling th'cjs'cmpty spaces of the North, and that if t'liey wore not soon occupied by white people they will fall an easy prey to Eastern nations. ' , "To visit the Northern Territory is inc'ritably to fomo face to f«co with the imminent danger- that. thwMens us. For lisre is an unlimited food supply ready to hand, mi that an invading army would actually have no commissariat problem. When camping on the Adelaide Hivor, wo counted buffalo within sight by the sroi'f. With food and water t'o hand evnywliere, it would be impossible to dislodge a foo that once secured a footing."