NORTH AUSTRALIA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 42, 18 January 1938, Page 12

NORTH AUSTRALIA.

CROWN COLONY PLAN. LONDON, Jan. 4. In a letter to the Times, Lady Apsley, who has travelled widely in Australia, says:— “The fact that the Northern Territory is a heavy liability to Australia is due to the mistakes of Government officials and the wild-cat schemes ot the Government. “The money has almost all been sunk in the Darwin area,” she states, “whereas the healthier and coolei inland tableland has been almost entirely neglected by past Governments. “The crying needs when I journeyed over the Territory in 1925 were, and still are, water conservation, roads, bridges, rest houses, schools, and hospitals. The Northern Territory is at present being carried on on Rolt Bolderwood lines- The cattlemen are some of the finest types I know, but, while Australian policy prevents the importation of reasonably cheap labour, any sort of enterprise, Government or private, is becoming economically impossible.

“COLONY WITH GOVERNOR.” “The Territory’s obvious markets are Java, Malaya, India and Siam, which cannot afford Australia s high production costs. As it is questionable whether the Commonwealth Gov-ernment-will ever be able to develop the Territory, many" consider that the area north of the 20th parallel of latitude should revert to the position of a Crown colony, with a military Governor and an Elective Council. “Dare one suggest the settling of picked migrants from India under white management or the making of part of the north a haven for white Maltese or Assyrians? Empty spaces and weak Government are terrible dangers to-day. “If the Territory was developed as a Crown colony I visualise happy homes and a valuable asset which, would be returned to the Commonwealth in 20 years’ time, instead of the present liability.”