THE NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 98, 13 March 1875, Page 8

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA.

A correspondent of the Melbourne, 'Age' writing of the above, says : — " The resources and natural advantages of the place are truly wonderful, and, vinless all the go and pluck of the colonising races are exhausted, the Territory will soon become one of the largest and most important colonies. No country ever started before with a telegraph uniting it to the civilized world. None can have a finer or more beautiful harbor, not excepting Sydney. The seas teem with fish of great variety and excellence The coasts abound with pearl-shell, with pearl and trepang. The prosperous colonies of to-day had no known gold or copper to start with, as the Northern Territory has, to help it in its early struggles j they relied entirely on their pastoral lands, and that, too, without any apparent; market for their beef and mutton. The Territory has not only the largest reefing country in the . world, but rich copper has been found j cool formations are also known to exist on the Victoria River. Vast tracts of agricultural lands are reported on the Daly. The Victoria Biver has splendid squatting country ; the Alligator River and the Adelaide have excellent pastoral lauds, which are free to anyone, with long leases, at 6d per mile. Agricultural labor is at the very door. In the adjacent islands, Malay men and women can be had in thousands for 6d per day, and men accustomed to field work. I paid 10s per week to those I imported, but this was caused by the want of any law to regulate such labor, or to bind them to their agreement, and they paid their own passage. The island trade in coffee, rice, sago, spices, pepper, and timber, is now done by native proas or Chinese jtinks, with Macassar, Singapore, or Batavia, all free ports ; but now that Palmerston is to be a free port, there remains no reason why this important trade should not be diverted by the superior energy of our race and the near proximity of the Territory. These are a brief outline of a few of the known advantages possessed by the Northern territory. If South Australia carries out the proposed overland railway with the foresight and pluck already shown in planting the overland telegraph, the rise and progress of the place must be mavellous. and the permanent union of the South and North thus cemented will form one of the greatest and most prosperour colonies, outstripping all competition.

During a secret session of a Chicago board of commissioners, one was astonished to see an augur-tip projecting through the carpet, and, upon an examination, found that a party of reporters had bored through from the cellar for the purpose of hearing what was said.