Perhaps Dr. Morris and Mr. Pettitt, who is our most knowledgeable delegate, as secretary of the board, will be able to amplify what I have said.
CONDITIONS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Mr. McLEAN.—I find that the problems outlined by the previous speakers are very similar to those which we have to face in South Australia. The difference is chiefly in degree. What Dr. Cook had to say is to a large extent true in our experience. People who are protected, especially those who are less than full-blooded aborigines, multiply very quickly. Until twenty years ago the two settlements in South Australia, at Point Mcleay and Point Pearce were under the control of missionary agencies, but they then came under the control of the Government. At that time the population was largely full-blooded aborigines. To-day the population is practically all half-caste. On one station we have only six full-bloods and on the other only 26. It appears essential to merge these people into the white race, and a start should be made without any great delay. Most people, I think, are of the opinion that the half-castes and those of lesser degree of aboriginal blood should ultimately be absorbed. People of other races are being absorbed in Australia to-day and are becoming part and parcel of our general community. We have Greeks, Maltese and Italians, in particular, entering into the communal life of our cities and country towns. Colour is lost fairly rapidly when there is a mixture of white blood with the aboriginal, but unfortunately racial characteristics and habits are not so easily laid aside. This is particularly true of half-castes herded together in institutions. Children, two or three removes from full-blood, have blue eyes, fair hair and other features which, if they were mixing with white people would make it difficult to distinguish them from people of full white blood. The difference in reliability, independence and ability to maintain themselves is very marked in half-castes from institutions and those who have grown up in outback areas and have had to fend for themselves, more or less. The half-caste who has grown up in the bush is able to take his place as a workman and is generally considered by employers to be fairly competent. That is not so true of half-castes who have grown up in institutions. This leads to the conclusion that half-castes should be encouraged to leave institutions and mingle more freely with the general public. There are, however, many practical difficulties connected with this progressive step. When I say that the half-castes in institutions have inherited their lack of ambition from the full-bloods, I do not speak deprecatingly of the full-bloods who, under natural conditions, use the means of livelihood at their disposal to the fullest extent. Under the sheltered conditions of the institution, the half-castes increase quite rapidly. The population at Point Pearce, for example, has doubled itself in seventeen years. The people who grow up in institutions seem to have deeply embedded in their minds the old story that as the Government took their land from them it is responsible for their future existence. They resent interference with any unhygienic mode of living, are not willing to adopt proper conditions of sanitation and will not take steps to protect themselves or their families from infections diseases. They seem to be incapable of sustained effort and have many other peculiarities. Whether these unfavorable tendencies are accentuated because they are herded together has not been definitely proved, but I am of the opinion that this herding is one of the chief obstacles in progress. Families and individuals who have left institutions and settled among white communities have nearly always been the cause of trouble, involving white residents, local governing bodies and the department responsible for the care of the aborigines. The usual request is that they be removed from townships and sent back to reserves and institutions. It is only among the lower order of whites on the outskirts of country towns that they can mingle. It is generally said that the locality in which they settle becomes a hotbed of immorality, and that the low-class whites take drink to them and encourage them to lend their women to the white hoboes of the town. Lack of employment has been one of the main stumbling blocks. We have not been able, in recent years, to find employment for our white population, and this makes it very difficult to find work for aborigines. Moreover, when work is found for them it is difficult to keep them at it constantly. The men are very ready to leave one job for another, or for no job at all. I am not altogether in favour of controlling the children in institutions. Parental control, even though it may be doubtful, is better, in the end, for a child than institutional control. I have given very careful consideration to this subject and am of the opinion that the best time to take half-castes and quadroons away from mission stations and aboriginal reserves is when they marry. If you take away a couple just married and find employment for the man in a country town and also provide him with a home, he will be able, in some fashion at least, to control his children. They will be able to attend school with white children, and will have a much better opportunity to live a successful life than children who are kept together in an institution. I do not say that very much progress is likely to be made by the father and mother. They will always be a difficulty, but their children will have a better opportunity than if kept on an institution. The ultimate result will be that the children will attain to a degree of self-reliance and self-respect that will give them a definitely improved status. In regard to what Mr. Bleakley said about half-caste communities our experience is that these people are quite unwilling to do any service in return for what is done for them unless they receive payment. That is a stumbling block. We also have difficulty in dealing with these people when they commit breaches of the regulations. The only method available to us is the law, and if a prosecution is instituted the penalty can only be imprisonment or a fine. Mostly, the people concerned go to gaol because prison life is not altogether disagreeable to them.
CONDITIONS IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
Mr. PETTITT.—The crux of this problem is the adoption of some means of merging the half-castes into the general community. Our experience has been that when these people are put to it to paddle their own canoe they have not made much of a success of it. They leave their reserves and generally reside on the outskirts of some town or village and there they are very apt to become a reproach to the neighbourhood. Some provision should made by which we could
say, "This particular man and his family should be given some opportunity to settle outside a reserve". We should then be provided with the means to make such a transfer possible. It seems to me that some scheme, such as that in practice at Hammondville, might have possibilities. Cannon Hammond obtained an area of land near Liverpool, which he subdivided. He secured a certain amount of money, with which he built cottages. Into these places he placed unemployed people who were down and out and who were likely to become pariahs. The result, I am told, has been very good. I suggest that this conference should consider the possibility of evolving a scheme of that kind for dealing with quadroons and others who naturally fall outside the four corners of our regulations. If these people were put into a settlement of that description I think something might be done with them.
