SETTLING THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 199, 11 May 1918, Page 8

SETTLING THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS,NECES- % SABY. . •-]

After efforts, covering five years, to establish agriculture as a paying'industry , in the Northern Territory, Dr. Ciilriitli, the Administrator, has been driven iO . the conclusion that success is likely to bo secured only by the establishment of communities of immigrants'from Southern Europe. In 1912 a-large number of farming blocks were thrown open on tho. Daly River and at Staplelon, near' the railway line. Numerous applications were received and adjudicated on by tlia Land Board. It was found.that few of tho applicants had any capital wort l mentioning or any knowledge of. agriculture, and none had any experience ot tropical conditions. , _~.v This was sufficiently serious, Dr. harutli remarked, but it was worse when it was found that none o those with capital or experience too:; blocks allotted to them. This was a grave-handicap to a voung settlement. To those who did take up blocks every assistance and encouragement were afforded, both through advances to settlers and by giving assist; anco on farms to help them over .the first'vears. It soon became manifest, however, that advances were not looked on as loans, but as money earned by tho erection of improvements, which seemed, in too many eases, to bo regarded as means of immediately securing monej. Later on, high .wages paid in connection with railway works and the erection of freezing works drew some of the seltleis from their blocks entirely. Considering the high rate of wages (Said in the Northern Territory, it was a matter of surprise, the Administrator said, that any settlers remained on the .and.As much as .£SO a month had been earned on piecework. Owing to the official instruction that demonstration farms must be made to pay their way, the whole of the work of these farms had been done for the past year or more by natives with the help of an occasional white labourer. Farms thus become more like aboriginal stations than actual demonstration stations. Yet they were doing good work in showing what tl<e =oil could produce. There was no need, h'owever, for keeping two farms going, and Dr. Gilrnth recommended; that the Batchelor Farm should be retained, and that the Dalv, River Farm should be a subject of recommendation at a later stage. It had been demonstrated r;,.: maize, cow-peas, sorghum, peanuts, rice, and even rnpe would grow well. Broom millet grown in the territory had;been reported 'equal to anv crown elsewhere.. Dr Gilruth considered that with pigs and cattle a small farmer employing no labour could make a decent living now that the freezing works had been established, as some of the crops mentioned could be used for fattening for market. Dairving would pay, also if carried on as in some other parts. of Australia, where no outside labour was employed. U present there were onlv ten agricultural settlers on the land. Unfortunately, one of the most energetic settlers wns' drowned nt Darwin.