AUSTRALIA'S CATTLE KING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 177, 5 November 1910, Page 10

AUSTRALIA'S CATTLE KING.

MR. KIDMAN'S BIG HOLDINGS. Within the lust decade practically tin: whole of Central Australia, marked 011 the maps ns a desert, was a vast, howling wilderness, and the only sound that broke its solemn stillness was the mournful howl of the dingo or the wild weird scream of the curlew. The land was considered to be worthless; "only fit for rabbits." people used to say. But this lias been found to lie a mistaken idea, just as was the once-popular notion that our own "poor lands'' of the North could not. be turned to good account. Mr. Sidney Kidman, the Australian cattle king, was one of the first men to realise the resources of Central, and Northern Australia. "You know the interior better than most, men, Mr. Kidman. What sort of country is it?" This was a question put to him by a Sydney interviewer. '"'Well, there's a lot of very good land, a lot of fair, and a lot of no good . Like the rest of the Continent, it depends oil the seasons. Artesian water and irrigation .ire-going to be a big help in the development of the groat interior of Australia. There's water abounding everywhere. if it's only looked for—but it costs money. Yes: 1 spend quite a nice little sum on it every year. How much? Oh, a« mucli as I can spare. I have one place—it's called Owen Springs—right up in the MacDonnell Ranges country; a place I lived on for some years. There's always plenty of water thereabouts; it does not take much rain to make the creeks and rivers run up there, as the Ronges country is pretty rough. There are some big springs to the north of the ■bills, and although there is also bad country to be found between Hergott (Springs and the Ranges, on the whole it is surprisingly well watered. It is nearly all good country for stock of all kinds—including sheep. "At my station, 'Eringa.' are the furthest north sheep in Australia, and they are doing well. Bores? Oh, plenty ail over the place, and with' an amazing —don't believe in 'em. Nothing under flow. I don't put down any small bores (Jin, and I tell you a 6in surfaee flow gives a good stream. The force with which the water comes out may be judged when I tell you that the bores spout up to 40ft." "Do they decrease?" "No; increase, if anything. At a place called Maccumba I had three bores put down—one at 1400 ft, one at 600 ft, and one 1000ft —and we were getting an,v quantity of water. It is very good, tit to drink, but boiling hot. Many a time I made my tea without fire—just put a handful of tea in the billy, and held it under the bore, and the tea was made. People down south have no conception of the tremendous possibilities for development in Central and Northern Australia. The country should be seen; to talk much about it would seem like romancing. I have been up, round, and all along the Northern Territory. At present there is a good deal being said about its prospects. Well, they appear to me illimitable." Mr. Kidman broke off here for a few minutes while a friend spoke to him on urgent business. To that friend ttfe cattle king showed three or four telegrams he had just received from the great Australian "desert." One read: "Ooodnadatta, Tuesday: 17 points of rain fell last night; still raining." Another ran: "Clayton: Two inches rain; heavier north towards Mungooranie." Mr. Kidman smiled at the surprise of the pressman. "People don't quite realise the resources of Central Australia. There is actually real rain there, as well as artesian fountains." Mr. Kidman, lord of a hundred stations, 10,000 horses, half-a-million cattle, and uncounted sheep, with all his possessions, responsibilities, and big enterprises, has no time for worry. As he says, why should he? Here are some of his remarks: "People think that I've had a hard life." (A little laugh). "I've had a veryeasy life, and —I'm well satisfied. Never been ill for a single day. I feel well, and I don't go to bed unreasonably late. I don't get up too early, either. ' I haven't forgotten how to sleep or eat. "Where from? The North. Just dropped in yesterday frohi Townsville, and I leave for Adelaide to-night. Get there Thursday, and next week I shall start with my two daughters overland for the north of Qiyensland. I'm generally on the move—\>s, perhaps as much as most people. You might say more. I've been all over and over Australia—Queensland and the Northern Territory especially." "Yes, but your birth-place. Mr. Kidman? Where—and when—if it is a fair question ?" "Adelaide—well, only a few miles out anyway—May !)th, 18.iT. My people are English, of the good old farming class. They came out to South Australia in—let's see: I was born about eight years afterwards—oh, 184!) or 1859, where they went in for farming as at Home. Kapunda is the name of my birth-place, sind it's where I have my home now—when 1 am at home. I went to school at Norwood, a suburb of Adelaide. The first job I went to after leaving school was at Mount Gipps station, where I got 10s a week. Mount Gipps is now Broken Hill. I asked for a rise after a, time, but all I got was the sack! I took my swag on my back and went off to a place called Poolamaeca. where they gave me £1 a week. Tn the early days I was out at Cobar, and had a selection where the ! town stands to-day. T made my first start for myself buying horses." "You still deal in them, I believe?" "Oh, yes—and cattle. A few." (A smile). "By the war. the Bulletin said some time ago that I had bought a 14th share in the original Broken Hill mine for a team of 10 working bullocks, but 1 did better than that. They were only stores." (A smile). "It was this way: I went back to Mount Gipps station and found Philip, Charley and George MacCulloch there—one storekeepinsr. the other managing. David -Tames and Jim Poole and Charles Rasp were tank-sinking on the station, and they found out what the place was. They pegged out Broken TTill. I was going by just. then, and they offered me a 14th share for E(10. or 10 bullocks. T closed, and gave them the bullocks. Afterward* T sold my share for £1(50. T only got £lO0 —the agent got £■so—not a bad commission! Fourteen of us paid .-GO apiece as a call in order to put down the first, shaft on Broken Mill—Rasp's shaft, it was called." Mr. Kidman's holding comprise 40.0011 •miles, and he is "interested" in at least as much again.