THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 136, 26 October 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

DIFFICULT!MS OF SETTLE.UENT. A CLEAIi-EYED VIEW. It is so difficult to get .1 dear-eyed view of the Northern Territory that a report presented to the Presbyterian Assembly of Australia is of peculiar interest. It is by the Rev. .John Flynn. Everyone has heard of Mr. Flynn as the "Shearers' Parson." He has spent a year as the Ralph Connor of the Territory, and he tells the graphic, unvarnished truth. His report was confidential, but permission has been given for the publication of its salient parts in the Sydney Sun.

A VERANDAH EXISTENCE. "Darwin is built mostly of iron. In some cases even the frames of the houses are of this material, on account of the white ant pest. The site is level, but is fairly high above the sea, and the foreshore is very beautiful indeed. There the vegetation is of a tropical nature, but back from the shore the gum asserts its claims, as in all parts of Australia. "The Government offices stand mostly on the esplanade, which runs along the edge of the cliff. They are of substantial stone. At the end of the esplanade, just where the coastline turns away at right angles, leaving Fort Hill to run into the sea on its own account, stands Government House, which is as picturesquely situated as heart could desire. "The iron houses are not so lacking in charms as one would expect. They do rouse a southerner's critical instinct at I

first; but, later on, as lie begins to learn charity, he realises that the south has not a monopoly of wisdom.' The fact is. that the house itself is a detail—a handy, rain-proof corner in which goods may he deposited safely. For the rest, one eats on the verandah, sleeps there, reads, receives visitors," and lounges there. And there one simply absorbs philosophy. Why do silly fo'lk of the south wear their hearts out accumulating odds and ends, which, in their turn, spend most of their time accumulating dust and other troubles?

"The Darwin ladies have escaped from the conventions of other places. They I accept the hint of Nature—a sort of Irish hint—that their air is best for dwellers in tropical countries. Then they put their taste into a few pictures, a few pot plants, a few Ibooks and magazines, a few easy chairs, a»d a portable aerated water factory. The result is ideal in its way, and a visitor will need much prejudice to retain his preference fof the rainy, shivery, depressing winter which he has known elsewhere, even with the conventional drawing-room and fireside thrown in. The verandahs, which are thus made so attractive, generally surround the house on all sides, and are closed in with bamboo lattice. They are made wide, sometimes quite 14ft.

I "'Darwin is the business centre of the Northern Territory, as well as being the political hub. It has Customs offices, post and telegraph offices, cable station, police station, a hospital with a doctor and six nurses, gaol, courthouse, public hall and reading-room, loco, works, three hotels, several Chinese stores which carry big stocks, a butcher, two cordial and ice factories, baker, blacksmith, combined dentist and barber, two Chinese tailors, two banks and quite a number of smaller business. The gay find pleasure at the skating rink. There is a public school and a convent school. Three churches are represented. The 'Lovers' Walk' is one of the most beautiful things of its kind in the country. "Darwin has a future. Before long a wireless station will be established

there, and it cannot be long before a military defence station and a naval base follow.

"The freezing works are being discussed. Already Bovril Estates, Ltd., of Victoria River, .have guaranteed 5000 cattle per year to such an enterprise, and other stations will soon complete the total guarantee of 10,000 which is considered necessary before the Government erects buildings and yards. The railway is also to be extended at least 70 miles to Katherine River, and no doubt the guage of the existing 146 miles of line will be increased to the standard adopted lry the Commonwealth for the east-west line.

RAILWAYS TO SYDNEY. "'Beyond these things one cannot speak. But two tilings must come if ever the Northern Territory is to find itself. One is the extension of the railway to connect both with Oodnadatta in South Australia and Caroooweal in Queensland —thus with Brisbane and Sydney. The other is a regular lino, of steamers to the East, if not another also to Ceylon. To-day we call Darwin the remote corner of our land. To-morrow, we, or the possible new Australians who may occupy what we despise, will call Darwin the Great Front Door of Australia. Whichever way it goes, Darwin must become great. "I believe there are great things in store for the Northern Territory as a whole; but citizens of Australia must be prepared to purchase the future. The Territory can be established as a rich land only by experts. It is no place for primitive settlers. In any case much of the country is really poor.

"The first difficulty of the Territory is the rainfall. Up to sixty inches of rain falls within a quarter of the year. The balance of the year is drought. In consequence of this, the grass simply bounds up in a few weeks. Some varieties attain over ten feet in height, and three feet is dwarf. Of course, this growth is too rank. Even the natives learnt to burn it off as soon as the dry season sets in, and hundreds of years of burning off have left only coarsest grasses for the settler of to-day. After the fires a second growth starts at once, but it never attains maturity. Tins state of affairs is too crude altogether. Eat-ing-out must replace burning-off; but how is the grazier to maintain during 'the dry' the immense herds necessary to keep down the growth during 'the wet'? Even the poorest land seems capable of producing abundant grass, but there will be a long battle in replacing coarse varieties with nourishing kinds. TOO MU/CH AND TOO LITTLE RAIN. "Another consequence of the rainfall is that the ground become incapable of carrying traffic. Even agricultural implements get bogged. The Government experts consider that much may be done with traction engines, but even these modern aids to the farmer must stand idle at a critical time of the year. A third consequence of the rainfall is that fertile flats along the rivers become flooded for a season, and many of the valuable grasses which might otherwise be introduced would be killed out through prolonged immersion. The same trouble must interfere with agricultural operations. But experts have conquered great difficulties, and they will surely' do go again. They will defeat the. awful growing habits of the native grasses during 'the wet.' They will make the hard distinction between wet and dry seasons one of the virtues of the land, by adjustin" operations to harmonise with it. They will make the floods useful servants, and conserve the rains for future use when really wanted. Tn the meantime they will wear out much of our patience, and spend more money than we can cheerfully give; for we Australians are neither as patient as we might be, nor as ardently given to pioneering as our grandfathers were.

"The above remarks apply only to the coastal lands of the Territory. lit the southern half the conditions are vastly different, though here, again, the rainiaii 'is a difficulty—it; is too iigit. •'Thus, in the interior, it is a problem to find silllicient water for the or. rather, suliieient watering-places, and the rain is so uncertain that it is unsafe to stock up to the ordinary carrying capacity of the country, for a drought would then mean ruin. This interior is capable of producing stock equal to anything in the world in quality; but the number of head to the square mile must remain absurdly small in the «yes of a coastal grazier. "A second difficulty which confronts settlers to-day is the absence of markets. Ordinary farm produce cannot be sold in Darwin by more than a few men, for Darwin is only a village. Nor ean farm produce he sent south any more than eoals can be sent to Newcastle. In the cast there are farm laborers working for sixpence a day. Dairying is an industry of promise, but quite untried. Darwin folk, babies and adults alike, use tinned milk for lack of fresh, and butter is mostly tinned also. Some herds of goats exist. Pigs are also a hope of the°Territory, and they do well. But at present neither butter nor pork could be exported by a new settler.

A SETTLER'S EXPERIENCE,

"Jlaize does well, even on poor land. Here is a record of operations by Thomas and Roberts, two hard-working settlers on the Daly River, who are also so methodical that they keep a complete diary showing everything that happens on their isolated farm. The land 'culti-

vated' looks equal to anything I have seen, but not a great deal of the Daly land is go high in quality. Originally this land was covered with dense jungle, 1910. •>■ . „.., fe July.—Scrub felled on ten acres. October 23.—Scrub burnt. Remnant picked up by one man and one boy in two dajs and a-half. A few stumps left. October 26.—Without any ploughing to prepare the land maize was simply 'dibbled' in a hole—three grains to the hole. Holes in rows three feet apart each wav - .. u - 1911. -.-■- : January 25.—Started harvesting. Yield proved 40 bushels per acre. Rubbish cleared slightly and left in rows to rot. February 18.—Second crop "dibbled" in as before. June 6.—Started harvesting . Yield ! about same as former crop. October 9. Started'planting; same method, but rows now put in between old ones. 1912. February 10.—Started harvesting. Excessive rain damaged the crop, but again forty ibushels were finally gathered. (March 15.—Last shower fell. April s.—Started planting on same old lines. As time went on without the expected showers all idea of a harvest was abandoned, and the crop narrowly escaped being eaten down in consequence. Kangaroos also began to invade the farm at night, and worked havoc. The blacks became troublesome, and made several raids during the night. But the crop matured in spite of the fact that its last shower fell three weeks before it was planted. July 30.—Started harvesting. Well over thirty bushels per acre was gathered in. I saw some of the crop, and better maize could not be desired.

"But the costs of marketing these crops amounted to'nearly 50 per cent, of the proceeds! "It must be remembered that the dry season in the Territory is in winter, and some parts enjoy fairly good dews. For instance, on my way out to the Daly River I camped at Pleasant Creek, about 120 miles from Darwin. There I was much impressed with the fresh, attractive look of everything, in contrast to the country further to the south-east. It seemed the very place that one might seek in which to found a frontier home. The grass was still growing about the flats. That was in the end of October, and the last rain had fallen in March.

"Tobacco also grows well. It is said that years ago some leaf grown in the Territory realised 10s 6d per lb. "Sugar also grows well. The farmers already mentioned—who, by the way, have grown everything from arrowroot to rubber—have some canes growing well. Mr. Thomas was foreman on a plantation at Mackay, Queensland, in 1881, and he is enthusiastic about the possibilities of the Territory as a rival to Queensland. But he uses his cane only to treat his black workers, who appreciate it as children do sugar-candy.

BOLD POLITICIANS WANTED. "A third difficulty at present is a scarcity of labor. Men cannot be sure of work where no labor exchange exists. The question is: Will our politicians be bold enough to plunge into three great undertakings simultaneously? Freezing works; shipping facilities to world markets; immigration, both settlers and laborers. Unless all start together, I fear that each will wait indefinitely for the other.

"The Territory will progress, but 'unless large sums are spent in producing a forced and artificial growth, which would be the better policy, I believe, that progress must be very slow indeed. A discovery in mining, however, is possible at any time, for minerals are widely distributed. Such a discovery would transform everything, partly by direct effect, and partly by the general impetus it would give to speculation in general. "Mining in the Territory has not been satisfactory. Too much was spent in some of the best-backed ventures in the past in mere show on the surface, and serious work underground is yet to be done. The fact that no working has ever been attempted deeper than 300 feet is enough to show how much may yet be discovered. ' In spite of all the unsatisfactory working, however, the few miners in the Territory filed returns from 1004 to 1911 showing a total yield for that time of £1,500,000; and all returns do not appear in the State records. One difficulty which troubles all small companies anxious to test fields is the absence of white skilled miners.

"The total white population of the Northern Territory in 1720, of whom 451 i are females. Almost all of the men are engaged either in the two townships or in pastoral pursuits. The miners who understand their business are typical Australian rovers, who detest working for wages. They will only stay with a master until they work off their lebts consequent on ill-luck, and get together a new plant of horses and general gear. Then they go away prospecting once more on their own account. Thus small companies are more or less helpless. They cannot afford to import men, for fares and compensation for time lost on the journey are too severe; and Chinese do not understand mining on proper lines of development, for they are satisfied so long as they 'scratch out' the metal actually within reach."