THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 11 October 1917, Page 1

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.

The administration of the Northern Territory of Australia was transferred to the Commonwealth Government on January Ist, 1911, and up to June 30th the expenditure on it has been £2,750,000, and the revenue £457,000, which, with the debit balance taken over with the Territory, makes a total deficiency of over £6,000,000. The responsible Minister, in a report to the Federal House, recalled that in 1914 he stated in his outline of policy that the necessity for and justification of the expenditure on the Territory in the earlier years "must be determined by other than purely commercial considerations." He submitted the following comparative figures to show how the expenditure is increasing:— 1911-12 1916-17. £ £ Salaries '21,813 66,963 Buildings and other works 25,238 48,342 Lands and surveys 1,219 7,704 Goldfields and mining 10,402 23.69,1 Contingencies 18,177 44,215 The development of the Territory, the Minister explains, is likely to be on pastoral and mineral lines, and on June 30th, 1917, the number of square miles comprised in holdings was 139,287, giving a rent of £11,Sl3. The Minister said the establishment of freezing works at Darwin by Yestey Brothers at a cost of about £600,000 has induced the improvement of cattle stations. The company, which holds in the Territory about 14,000 square miles, and in West Australia about 10,000 square miles, had spent about £500,000 in the stocking and improvement of holdings in the Territory.