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Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2716, 10 March 1916, Page 4

"This country is not fit for white people to live in," is one of the striking plirascs in a report presented by tlio chairman of the Aboriginal Mission at Hermannsburg, m the Northern Territory of Australia, to the Federal Minister for External Affairs (Mr. Mahon). The wlioio report is gloomy and pessimistic. 'l'he past year, it states, was tlio driest oil record since 1876, when the mission was established. Cattle 011 tlio run arc starving and unable to defend themselves against the attacks of wild dogs. Water has become more and more scarce; and there is a plague of mico, which are doing .great damage in the store. "Nothing," says tho report, "is safo from their attacks. Anyone who has lived long enough in this country will soon be cured of trying again. It is only fit for raising stock, and even that at times is venturesome. The missionaries consider that tho 0110 thing that makes the sacrifice worth while is to raise the statiis of the aborigines, which is the purpose of tho mission. There arc Gij children on the station, tho offspring of 100 adults. The percentage of half-castes is infinitesimal, and there is 110 sTgn of a declining birthrato. Singing linds great favour with the blacks, all joining heartily in singing tiie National Anthem and 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary.' The services of the police have not been required on the station for many years, tho Natives placing implicit trust' in tho ' missionaries."