1062 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION [PART V
been very defective, only £1,400 being spent on the natives
there in 1909. Moreover, legislation has been hampered
by the prospect of the transfer of the territory to the Com-
monwealth of Australia, which has now been accomplished,
but a Bill was introduced into the Parliament in 1910
making elaborate provision for the safety of the aborigines
in the state proper, and their prevention from obtaining
drink, and protecting them against illegal and unsatisfactory
treatment.) That Bill was dropped to be reintroduced in
1911, but an elaborate Bill regarding the Northern Terri-
tories natives became law as Act No. 1024 and the Common-
wealth promises an active policy.
In Queensland the aborigines are quite an important section
of the people, and many of them are employed in the pearling
industry. There is a department entrusted under Acts of
1897 (No. 17) and 1902 (No. 1) with the protection of abori-
gines, which looks after them when destitute, and endeavours
to secure that suitable lands are placed at their disposal.
The expenditure in 1909 was £13,200 for 20,000 natives.
In Western Australia matters have been different. During
the discussions which preceded responsible government it was
laid down by the Governor, Sir F. N. apier Broome, and
accepted by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, as an
essential arrangement that the control of aborigines should
be entrusted to a Board, which had been created in 1886,
and that this Board should remain under the Governor
independent of all control by the Government? The
arrangement was naturally not very acceptable to the
people of the Colony, whose inability to manage their affairs
in this regard was thereby proclaimed. But it was inevitable
that the steps should be taken at the time, for there had been
too many cases of flagrant disregard of justice in the treat-
ment of natives; the natives were often without lands. and
' House of Assembly Debates, 1910, pp. 647 seq., 673 seq., 696 seq.,
709, 721. The annual reports of the Protectors of Aborigines in Victoria,
Queensland, and Western Australia give full information as to natives
there ; see also Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1910, pp. 1032 seq.,
1610 seq. 2 Parl. Pap., C. 5743.
