social life of the community. They feel this deeply, as do their white companions in sport. This state of affairs will have to disappear.
To do all these things into which we in Western Australia have put our hearts, will require much greater expenditure than is at present allowed for native welfare purposes. The present level of expenditure for this purpose in Western Australia is ridiculous. My calculation is that, excluding the 10,000 full blooded natives in Western Australia who are considered to be outside the influence of civilisation, the cost incurred to ensure the well-being of each native is 30s. 2d. a head. In other States expenditure a head on this account is as follows: Queensland, £2 10s. 7d.; New South Wales, £5 5s.; South Australia, £5 10s. 10d.; and Victoria, £13 4s. 4d. The per capita cost of educating a white child in Western Australia today is about £l0 10s. a year, yet in that State 30s. a year is supposed to cover everything, including food, clothing and education of our native population. It is a ridiculous sum, but my State is not in a position to expend a large amount of money on these people, and I think the suggestion made by Mr. Bleakley, that the Commonwealth should render assistance in this direction, is excellent. In my State there are certain institutions, such as cattle stations, on which the natives are housed. These are almost self-supporting, so we do not need capital for them; but money is needed in other directions. In conclusion, I emphasize that Western Australia has no native problem. Its problem is a financial one. If we had the money we could embark upon the policy I have outlined.
CONDITIONS IN VICTORIA.
Mr. BAILEY.—A citation of the conditions obtaining in Victoria may be of interest in view of the statement by Mr. Neville of the desire of Western Australia to absorb the half-caste population into the white population. Victoria's coloured population is small, and it is concentrated at Lake Tyers, whereas, formerly, there were three aboriginal centres in the State. The intention behind the establishment of the Lake Tyers camp was training of half-castes to enable their absorption into the general community. This is where the difference between densely populated and sparsely populated States becomes evident. At Lake Tyers we have a school at which three Education Department teachers are employed. There is a sewing class for the training of the girls who are very apt pupils. We also train the boys and men in farm work. I agree that it is difficult to get them to do any such work; they have to be kept under constant supervision. They are employed on clearing land, road construction, dairying and similar pursuits. Our principle difficulty is that as soon as a girl becomes competent to take a position as domestic servant and enters domestic service, it is no time before she comes back to the Lake Tyers Station either pregnant or, worse still, with two or three little children. It is difficult in a State with a large white population to prevent such things from happening. Shortly after I become Chief Secretary I investigated the case of a girl who had been with the Salvation Army for eight years and the cases of two other girls who were in the Oakleigh Convent. The lady in charge of the Salvation Army Home told me that the girl was thoroughly domesticated and a magnificent cook, capable of taking a position anywhere. Accordingly I decided to give her a trial outside. I obtained a position for her with a farmer in the Western District. The two girls at the Oakleigh Convent were doing splendid fancy-work and I also decided to give them a trial outside. Within six months these girls were just about as degraded as they could possibly be. They all came under the influence of some hoboes and went off with them, with the result that not long after they came back to the Lake Tyers Station diseased. These are not the only examples I could cite; they are three outstanding cases which I have in mind and they exemplify the difficulty of absorbing this class of people amongst the whites in areas where there are large white populations. The half-castes get into the hands of degenerate whites, and that is the end; they go on breeding in the same way.
Mr. NEVILLE.—We have had much the same difficulty in Western Australia. Every administration has trouble with half-caste girls. I know of 200 or 300 girls, however, in Western Australia who have gone into domestic service and the majority are doing very well. Our policy is to send them out into the white community, and if a girl comes back pregnant our rule is to keep her for two years. The child is then taken away from the mother and sometimes never sees her again. Thus these children grow up as whites, knowing nothing of their own environment. At the expiration of the period of two years the mother goes back into service so it really does not matter if she has half a dozen children. Our new legislation makes it an offence for a white man to have sexual intercourse with a colored girl. About twelve prosecutions are pending for contraventions of that provision of the new act, and before long I am sure that there will be a diminution of that trouble.
PROPOSALS BY QUEENSLAND.
Mr. BLEAKLEY.—I make the following suggestions for consideration by the conference:—
1. That the conference recommends the determination of a basic living wage for all male and female aborigines and half-castes throughout Australia, and that a uniform sliding scale of remuneration below such basic wage for old and inefficient workers be arrived at.
2. Following the determination of a basic wage, all aboriginal and half-caste women not in receipt of State aid shell be eligible to receive Commonwealth maternity allowances pro rata to the determined basic wage and proportionate to the existing basic wage for whites.
3. All aborigines and half-castes over the age of 65 years male, and 60 female, not in receipt of State aid, shall be eligible for the Commonwealth old-age pension, to be assessed on the determined basic wage for aborigines and half-castes proportionate to the existing basic wage for whites.
4. Effective measures shall be taken by the Commonwealth Government to prevent unlicensed foreign fishing vessels working in Australian territorial waters to the detriment of aboriginal seamen; also to prevent abuse of aboriginal women by foreign indents by establishing an effective armed patrol for Northern Australia.
5. That representations be made for the establishment of a leprosarium in Northern Australia for the reception and treatment of northern aborigines.
In Queensland we have minimum rates of wages, but the rates for aborigines are considerably lower then those for white men, and we have a certain amount of difficulty with employers who recruit native labourers in another State and introduce them into Queensland.
ECONOMIC PROBLEM.
Professor CLELAND.—An aspect of the native problem which I should like to have considered is, that the still fully tribalized natives who have not come into contact with the white man should be kept intact, either by means of reserves or in some equally effective way. I make this suggestion essentially on economic grounds, because it does not pay to have these people detribalized.
