HUGE SUM SPENT

Hokitika Guardian, 18 August 1932, Page 8

HUGE SUM SPENT

CONTROL OF NORTH. AUSTRALIA, ANNUAL. LOSS OF £500,000. SYDNEY, August 15 Addressing members of the Syd’ey :Miliioi(is ptub, th© Australian Minister ijfor the Interior (Mr Parkhilf) -said that ■fiince' , |jinr > th Australia >yyap taken over .by the federal Government in 1911 jthere, ,had Been spent.,on it annually ,allnut £590,C()0 more than had come out jof- and in some years, as much # ,as £1,000,000 jhad been spent. The terri-, tory iiad ithus always been , a liability ,to the ;Fod>r'ra,l 'Government. Mr fP'arichill suggested that .North Australia; should providet opportunities 'ior tiiosfe interested in the new .JState .movement to carry out. their experiments. He commended then, territory to all his new State “friends” with th’s object ,jn view. He said'that he did not life©;,the idea of their experiment! being tried out in New South Wales. He,denied that his tour of North Australia was ,a “holiday jaunt”, as had been stated in some quarters. He said that he bad suffered considerable discomforts, and had not yet fully lepoverqd his voice, as the result of a cold which ;he caught through sleeping out.

Tracing the history of the control of North A'uftjrallk, Mr Parkhill said it jvvas unfortunate that Queensland did not accept the, administration of the ; t •’ritpry, .bemuse a great pa.it of the land y r as"similar to that in .Queensland. Nor many, years South Australia had administered the territory, and had spsnt.considerable money upon it. It might surprise many people to learn that, on two occasions’ the State offeree! to, jihe Japanese and Chinese Go ver.iimcnjis certain. ..poppessjons r tp. induce the'poi'.onisatiop of the. territory by Japanese, and Chinese labour. Negotiations were also in progress at one time with: the Indian Government for the settlement of Indians there. Extravagant demands were made by various sections of the community in North Australia with respect to the provision of governmental services, Mr jParkliiil declared. b : The difficulty, of controlling, the territory to the satisfaction, of ( all concerned was intensified by the.size of ;! .the territory, the mixed and scattered population, and its distance. froq) : the. centre of government.