The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1923-06-13
Shearing Sheep in West Queensland.


prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington. D. c.
That there is a constant evolution
in government is pointed out many
times, with our 4S states and their
peaceful experiments as illustrations.
ing place, equally peacefully, in other
parts of the world. Queensland, Aus
tralia, has made the most marked
change Of recent years in govern
mental machinery in the English
speaking world by abolishing its SEN
ate and making its legislative body
into a one-chambered parliament.
This commonwealth, which has al
tered so strikingly the traditional Brit
ish idea of a parliament, is one Of the
six sovereign states Of Australia.
which, like the units of the United
States, are bound into a federation
yet are free to shape their own affairs
with relatively slight limitations
Queensland-and Australia, too. for
that matter, loses in apparent size be-
cause of its great distance from US
In reality 1t is a huge state. COM
pletely dwarfing Texas, our largest
commonwealth. Its coast-line is more
than 300 miles long and is equiva-
lent to that of the eastern United
States from northern Massachusetts,
down the Atlantic, around Florida
and TO Mobile. 1t has an area of
6T0.000 square miles.
Since Queensland is located in the
southern hemisphere, its hot regions
are to the north, its cooler regions TO
the south. Its northernmost projec-
ton, Cape York Peninsula, may. then,
be compared roughly to Florida,
though Cape York is much closer TO
the equator. To be as close to the
equator as Queensland, Florida would
have to be moved some 300 miles
farther south until Key West touched
the Isthmus of Panama. If Australia
could be towed TO our part of the
world, where we could compare 1t with
the regions we know, ii would have
to be turned about so that the warm
regions would correspond. If 1t can
be imagined that this were done and
Cape York placed near the Canal
Zone, so extensive is the state Of
Queensland that 1t would cover most
of the vast expanse of the Gulf Of
Mexico,
Best Developed in the South.
Naturally, colonization in Queens
land began along its southern coast.
its mildest region dramatically. Thanks
to its mountains which parallel the
coast, the climate of the state is not
as hot as its latitude would indicate
The far northern section, however, is
truly tropical and it has not been de-
veloped to any great extent. In the
southern and middle sections are
thriving ports and cities Brisbane,
the capital, is about the size Of Bridge
port. Conn.,. or Houston, Tex. The
States population of about three-quar-
tiers of a approximately that
of Oregon-is almost wholly of British
origin.
The development of the tropical por-
tons Of Queensland has been slower
than that of similar regions in other
parts of the world because of the de-
termination of the citizens OF the state
and of the entire commonwealth TO
maintain a white Australia" The
black and yellow races have been ex-
Guided in recent years Not more than
10000 Of the black aborigines remain
in the state, and they are steadily de-
creasing in numbers.
To help the development toward
white Australia the federal govern
ment grants bounty on sugar-cane
raised by white labor. and sufficient
sugar Industry has been built up In
the fertile coast vA'seys Of Queensland
10 supply Australla's needs. Aus
tralia's handling of Queensland's sugar
,rop indicates thaS the federal gov
,rnment. as we'll as Queensland. is |
.an.bIe of striking out into new fields |
All the sugar is
AIKEN over by the Australian govern
nent. and virtual government mo-
lopoly created. Contracts are made
or the refining Ind both wholesale
md retail pricJ are controlled.
Cotton growing Died Out.
Some daYoueensland may sS,.,d deve, Top
and soil are favorable
-ust at pGs u, however, the white
Asstrap % makes this as oi"- |