Northern Times (Carnarvon, WA : 1905 - 1952), Thursday 27 May 1948, page 4


(BY OUR CORRESPONDENT)

PREMIER'S VISIT.

I The Premier tMr, McLarty) and Ministerial party, accompanI icd by Mr. D. Farrell (Chairman of the Broome Road Board) and Mr. Coveriey (Member for the North-West), arrived overland from ^roome at 5 p.m. -Sat

urday. En route they inspected i two mobs ot cattle which /.were

being driven from Gogo Station j to the-Broome Meatworks, a dis- j

tance of over 3.00 miles.

Due to the late arrival of the

party here, the Board meeting was postponed untii Tuesday ni&ht. Tuesday afternoon the Da 1 ty will:'Visit the* school, Hospital, public,Buildings ahd meet residents wishing' to e.ate their individual problems.

At the best attended Public

Meeting tor years, Mr. MeLai-ty j

? address the public, after which Mm* chairman of the West Illm-' iKilcy ltoad Board {Mr, Fallon) a^ked a few of the main questions to foe {jilt to the party.

In ii?.:; rocech, Mr, TvlcLiarty s:iid that he' had interests in pro

perty in the West Kimberleys and i'rora hjs brothers, Who lived on

tli'8 .stations, he had gained a [ firit-hattd knowledge of the fci vere hardships in the North and had long ago determined to do Ills utmost to improve the conditions for Northern residents. *

Largley through the efforts..of Mr. Coveriey insisting that more could be gainad'toy a visit to the North than sitting in his Perth j Office, was this trip made.

Tiavelling overland through

! the North-Vvost the ' pasty had

se-?n thousands . of . acres buf

| fle grains which impressed them

i yieatly as a grass which might

be introduced to more Kim barley prcncrtics, thus opening up country now classed as useless and increasing the carrying capacity of existing holdings. He will request the Agricultural De: ,;utm< lit to explore all liossibilLties of this grass. (

Mr. McLarly emphasised that the first interest he ha« was research, particularly in regard to pastoral and mineral prospects, and, as was stated at Carnarvon,

j lie was willing to take risks in ' thte rcspeet. An-example oi" tills

is the State Government's further £15,000 loan to the Frcney Oil Coy. ,

U\)on his return to Pert a Mr. McLarty will- make representations to the Transport Board to have; the air freight on perishables subsidy extended as he had found that perishables are extremely difficult to ' grow in the North. He was greatly impressed with the Experimental* Gardens on Millstream Station and on Mr. A. "Davcy's property near Broome and said that encourage

ment would'be given these people

and others who needed . assist- j

anae. I

The IJu'vcrton would be o« this eoast .liy the end of June, hut the Ivyhra would not bo

taken off until all accumulated j

caifto had been cleared.

Representations had been made

to managers of Eastern States j Wire and piping firms for an in

creased quota for this State and | results had b<?en achieved. 1

Mr. McLarty had met three of j the five doctors which the State |

Government had brought- from'; England to ease the position In ! the North-West and jaid that they were settling * down well and J people were pleased with them* j

Every effort was being made to j

slop Wp supplies of building ma- , terial but it would -be some time

before the lag was caught up.1

Th. re is a building contractor j

working in Roebourne., and the Premier would be pleased to know the name of any building contractor willing to work in the North-West and would supply that contractor with, all the work h^ could handle.

Subsidies for school * children to enable them to attend schools down South had been raised to £50 each and would cost an esti

mated £1,200 this year.5 Helpj

would bo given to deserving cases where it is necessary to'

transfer a medical patient to Perth- for treatment. .

Mr. McLarty replied to Mr. Fallon's question that from the

| Naval Survey completed last year,

Point Torment (about 20 miles north of Derby) had shown en

j couragement as a future deep

sea port and engineers Stevenson

j Young' or Tydt/man would soon

come here to inspect Pt. Torment possibilities.

It was req"ues?tod that the State j Electricity Commission will take aver the running of the jiower i house and roduce the rates to

that of Perth consumers. This would make possible the installation of . electric stoves, fans, ivat?r pumps, freezers, etc, but would only impose a small bur: den on the Statc as a whole. This

j matter is held over tor further [discussion Tuesday night.

I Win n Mr. Wise was in power

[ he promised a grant of £2,000 to

! repair ihe storm battered Derby

Itoad Board Hall and a request

! was made that Mr, McLarty do j

i fikeu-i.se. Mr. McLai'ty had no,

I knowledge of the promise, but

.would malce enquiries upon re

turn to Perth.

I A motion was passed unani

mously nt the meeting that Mr. j McLarty should request the Prim(> Minister to publish the Dundas Report. The Premier said that the report had been oniy supplied to him by Mr. Chit!oy on a .confidential basis.

Mr. McLarty" concluded his address with some facts about the forthcoming referendum. - In support of the ''No" vote, Mr. McLarty emphasised that price control should be decentralised, i.e., !;e controlled by the States. He did-not explain, however, why his Government had reduced the number of N.W. seats' by one and i the number of country seats by

| two and increased the number

of Suburban seats by three.

A request that entertainment

j ta:: on admission Iprjce at the I picture show was made, but the

j Premier replied that this Vas a |

matter for the Commonwealth

j Government.

The Kybra arrived from itmome at midnight Saturday and sailed for Pt. Kedland after discharging 180 tons °f cargo, iv.fiit of which was aviation

luci.

Mrs. 'Norman Williams returned to Derby on the Kybra after several months absence, during which time she visited England.

\ Lloyd Collins and Boh White, j members of the' staff on Cocka

. too Island passed through on

I Tuesday on thear return to the J I Eastern States, after spending 21 '? years and I year on the Island

| res] actively.

! Whaifies handling- the Kybra 'cargo saw a croc swimming ' ai cund the jetty for 15 minutes I after daylight Sunday morning. ; It looked to be about 12 feet long I and is probably sufficient to stop

' any with ideas- of a swim, from , | ffo'ii# in.

j The - Gorgon arrived from

Singapore at 10 a.m. Thursdaly and sailed for Carnarvon at 11 I a.m. Friday. She loaded 800 odd

brtles. of wool, 450 Gogo bullocks and ,a few, ton's of general cargo

for Fremantle.

[ Miss Nancy Batird is in the I Hospital recovering; from a recent

appendk's operation.

| ? Doctor Herz is absent front the

I,town quite a bit these days. He ! is travelling by car to a number oj- stations in the West Kimberleys to examine the natives on

the stations.

Line Inspector Christensen left for . Broome Tuesday with Lineman Morry Hubbard; after spending a few days in. Derby. :

Mr. R. Duncan and Engineer Gottde are jn Derby at present.

A petrol lower pump unit for I the Derby drome arrived on the j Kybra. This should ensure speed

ler refuelling of -the planes as] well as a Godsend to Wally:

Nickels.