EMPTY SPACES

Hokitika Guardian, 12 November 1925, Page 3

EMPTY SPACES

SYDNEY. Nov. <>. Hie present Federal election campaign lias emphasised Australia's vastness and emptiness. In the moresettled States of New South Wales and Victoria, the electorates outside the metropolitan areas are large enough to make the political inmiidatc's work strenuous and cNiici'mg, but it is when one turns to t-lie ••empty” States that the task of the prospective M. P. becomes stupendous. Some of the electorates are as large as countries. Queensland has some good examples in Maranoa. Capricornia. and Herbert, but these arc insignificant compared with the Northern Territory. The whole of this vast, almost empty area is one electorate.

Until three years ago the Territory had no Parliamentary . representative. As a. result, of alleged grievances, dis(oiitnl became rife, culminating in a ery of "No taxation without representation," and a near-revolution. It was then given the right to elect a member of the llou.se of Representatives who could he its spokesman on proposed legislation, hut could not vote on it. Mr Harold Nelson, who had been the radical Mayor of Darwin, was elected the Territory’s lirsl member. Although he was an excellent champion of the north ill the House, Mr Nelson at times made injudicious utterances, and it was one of these that indirectly led him into one of the most unenviable adventures that has befallen any politician. Towards the end of the last Parliament, Mrt Nelson hotly attacked the reputation and character of the Government Secretary at Darwin (Major Story). The Government proved these allegations untrue. Major Story’s friends and soldier-comrades urged him to even matters l>v opnosing Mr Nelson at the poll. This he decided to do. Consequently when Parliament was suddenly dissolved. Mr Nelson found that instead of being unopposed or with a weak opponent he would have a battle to retain his seat against a formidable rival.

CANDIDATE ‘'BUSHED.” The electorate is roughly a sixth of the Commonwealth's area, lull it contains barely 36C0 people, of whom fewer than half are entitled to vote. In an electorate where every vote counts, Mr Nelson realised that he would have to interview almost everyone of the scattered voters oersoiiallv. Me decided to do so by motor-cycle. Last 'Monday week he left Darwin and in the afternoon icached the settlement of Stirling. Having completed his electioneering there, he set out for the next outpost. Barrow Creek, hut he had not arrived there hv nightfall. He was still missing the next morning. The alarm was raised and scare.i parties set out. It was not until Thursday afternoon that Mr Nelson was found in an almost-uncoiiscious condition. He had wandered from the ill-made track and became “lushed.” His tracks i*i n hopeless fashion and this proved Ins salvation, for il enabled a l,!:i -k-Trntker to catch up with him. AVithouL food and with onlv a half-pint of water when lie set nit’, he had drunk lubricating oil, which at first- made him violently ill. Then he made bush-fires to attract attention and dropped nieces ot pa pet along his track. On one of these was written a farewell to Ids wife which conceded with an assurance that a Power stronger than the e.ectors hail taken a hand in his destiny. ’ He wafonnd Iving in the ashes (.1 a m 11 had made. His mouth was cok-d with congealed oil. which had to > removed lie fore water could he jiouieo down his throat. AVestern Australia also has some hui'o electorates, of which t l, e largest is Kalgoorlie. One of the candidates j there is nothing if not thorough. Out I in the spin ilex desert lives an old pmsjpeetor. whose vote the energetic candidate determined to secure. He hire a buggy and two camels—t'-c usual mode of locomotion in those parts —and spoilt four days in jolting across a trackless, waterless waste to earn that solitary voter’s support at the polk The advertisement gamed hv l-.is enterprise won him many more followers, and he deserved them.