QUEER LIFE IN DARWIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1919, Page 6

QUEER LIFE IN DARWIN.

FOOTBALL IN SUMMER. j •JURIES WHO NEVER CONVICT. | Sydney, Dec. 10. An official inquiry into the condition of allairs in the Northern Territory has now commenced, and it is believed that the tact and capacity of the new Administrator thcro, Mr. Staiiiforth Smith, will quickly put order and law in the place of the recent chaos. A representative of the Melbourne Argus, who has been sent to Darwin, tells some quaint stories of life there. He snvs that, as he writes, with the tempen(tuve at f)0 degrees, a vigorous football match is in progress. The barracking is being done in tongues as far apart as Greek, Maltese, and Chinese. Here, football is played in summer, which is the rainy season, and cricket in winter, when the ground is more consistently dry.

Thousands of pounds have been spent by the Government here in "promoting agriculture." To-day, the only agriculture is represented by , market gardens, from which come an insufficient supply of vegetables.

The Government maintains in the Territory a full-blown judge, to atteiv.' to the litigation of 4000 people. P>*;v for years past the juries here have absolutely refused to convict anybody of anything. No matter what was the evidence, the verdict was acquittal. So now prosecutions' arc initiated with reluctance.

This is the glad home of the sly-grog shops. The people strike against paying Is fid per bottle for beer at the hotels (which are conducted by the State); but they go like lambs to the fily-grog shops in the evenings and pay 3s and 4s per bottle. They sent up frofn Melbourne at great expense a launch for the use of the Administration. It arrived without some essential part*, and is still lying there helpless. The wharf has an electric light equipment, but all night work is done with flares.