Expensive Territory.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 August 1921, Page 4

Expensive Territory.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TRIES TO ECONOMISE. SYDNEY, Aug. 9. Drastic reductions in the strength of the public service in the Northern Territory, and a reorganisation of the administration, are being carried out, as tt result of the recent visit to the Territory of Mr Poynton, Federal Minister for Home and Territories. Mr Poynton hopes to save, at once, nearly 120,000 tt year. Further proposals, liberating the Government from some of the costly undertakings with which it has- been associated in recent ycats, are under consideration. The position ot the Northern lenitoiy- is one of many scandalous things which stand to the discredit of the Federal Government. Several million pounds have been sunk there by the j Federal Government since the leruI tory was taken over from South Aus- ! tialia, in an attempt to build up a populous and flourishing State there at “the hack door of Australia.” Hut there is nothing to show for the huge expenditure except a number of moribund Government enterprises, a railway lino Which lines not pay, a number ot Statcowned lintels, which are in a rhromc condition of muddle, a meat works which is closed up, an army of highlypaid and apparently useless public servants, and a civil population of a lew hundred people, most of whom are out-anil-out Bolsheviks. The Government now proposes to I abolish the State hotels, and reorganise the licensing system; amalgamate the Mines, Land. Police, and Aborigines Departments: rid the Government ot the costly shipping service with which communication is maintained wit) coastal settlements; abolish Government activities which savour ol commercial undertakings, and make room for private enterprise; remove the Darwin municipal council trom the •'( ministration of Bolsheviks, by substituting a ratepayers’ roll for the present adult franchise; mere police, borrowed ftom the adjoining States, would he sent to the Territory to maintain order. It appears that the Government is going to do what should have been done years ago—namely, abandon the attempt to develop this great region by the Government, and throw its wondetlul opportunities open to private enterprise. Tf thiit is done promptly and intelligently, the Northern Territory :imv yet take its place among the flourishing States of the Commonwealth. The history of the last ten years adds \et another instance to the many wo have of the utter impracticability ol State Socialism.