The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 9

A FAMILY LIVES IN THIS The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, Oct, 27, 1960 Herald" Survey Of Aboriginal Life 4 4 I lU.l II 4 a 4 (. Mllltttl fct. Hi4Mi i(lilii kA It t.4lt ft 4 4 k-BJ MlM 4 4.4 4 4 4 a 4 tKMIIMHO pM I IHUmWIH III' CHILD DEATHS "FOR YEARS" IN WALGETT DISTRICT From A Special Reporter WALGETT, Wednesday. For years undernourished aboriginal children have been dying near Walgett, the Rev. A.

R. Ewin said today. il7 (IT oi i VM "I know of cases where He said apathetic Gov- eminent authorities and the public had shut their eyes aborigines have paid 5 for a few ounces of methylated spirits and up to 1 for a oy oottle of wine, he said. 'It would be a cood start to set up wet canteens to serve beer on Government on them should be lifted immediately because it was a contravention of human rights. Freedom to drink would help curb the "plonk and methylated spirits orgies" in which a few took part.

Beer Sales At Stations Proposed Also, it would stop their exploitation by some unscrupulous whites who sold them liquor at blackmarket prices. stations. Waleett (population 1.500). 435 miles north-west of Sydney, has three aboriginal settlements with a total population of from 600 to 7UI. One is the Government W( lin ziLJ station in which about 200 I 4.

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Collarenebri residents say conditions on the reserve are shocking and that it is a breeding place for disease. Appeal For Housing A petition calling on the State Government to pro to the tragedy. Mr Ewin, who is in charge of the Walgett Presbyterian parish, conducts weekly religious classes at the Walgett Aboriginal Station, five miles from the township. He said most of the deaths had occurred on unsupervised reserves on the edges of the town, where aborigines lived in substandard conditions. He said: "We have had tragedies similar to the recent deaths of the Armidale children and no move has been made to improve the situation, "It is going to be a long, heart-breaking job to assimilate these people and lift their living standards.

Lack Of Hygiene Causes Prejudice "But we cannot continue to treat them with the present indifference. "We have made them the 'Lazarus' of white society. "The public anti-aboriginal prejudice is mainly against their lack of hygiene rather than colour." Mr Ewin said he had grown up in western areas and had seen at first-hand the problems of assimilation. He said that the hotel ban vide "decent housing" for aborigines in the Armidale and other districts was presented in the Leg' islative Assembly yesterday by Mr Davis Hughes live in houses. Another is a reserve, a half-mile from the town, established more than a year ago by Walgett Shire Council, Here about 200 aborigines have essential amenities such as community water taps, toilets and showers.

Eight Children Die In Year The other settlement, a mile from the town, in which another 200 live, is without water, garbage or toilet services. Dilapidated tin and wooden shanties with earthen floors dot both reserves near the town. The Walgett Shire Clerk, Mr A. M. Trevallion, said that eight or nine aboriginal children died in one year in the area some years ago.

Armidale), The Armidale Assotia "Confession" By Son Inadmissible At Pressler Trial BRISBANE, Wednesday. Mr Justice Wanstall, in the Criminal Court, today ruled that an alleged murder confession by Neville William Pressler could not be admitted in evidence at the trial of his mother, Mrs Enid Ethel Pressler. tion for the Assimilation of Aborigines organised the petition. It referred lo the recent outbreak of disease at the Armidale aboriginal re Serve, in which four chil drcn died. The petition was signed by people in a week.

SORDID RIVER RESERVE in drunken brawls over the years. Residents said a few fights still occurred, but social behaviour had improved in recent years. Each day the children of the station are. given two vitamin pills by the station manager to help make up for their unsuitable diet. On the council reserve some of the aborigines have abused the sanitary facilities.

But here, too, is evidence of individual attempts to improve family living standards. There had been a high mortality rate among them for years. "But I believe the position has improved since the council established its reserve," he said. Federal Finance As Solution believe the Commonwealth Government will have to finance local authorities to handle the situation. "Councils could then employ male and female social workers to teach the aborigines hygiene." The inhabitants of the reserve without any amenities, beside the Namoi River, live in sordid conditions.

The river is their only water supply, although Government health officers have certified that the water is unfit to drink. Wieir homes are not weather-proof and many of the shacks smell. Residents said many adults and children have hair lice and wash themselves rarely. I saw a coloured baby lying on filthy blankets on a bed without a mattress, sucking a greasy bottle. Many of the mothers sit on the dusty ground to cook over open fires.

Family Trying To Raise Standard In striking contrast, one tin "It is axiomatic that the Crown and prisoner must get a fair trial, and where there is occasion for doubt it is a better rule to lean in favour of the prisoner than of the Crown. "I think it will be better to exclude the document." The Crown began to call evidence late today in support of the admission of documents, allegedly signed by Henry Edward Pressler, and which have been challenged by the defence. The junior counsel for Mrs Pressler, Mr F. G. Brennan, has lodged objections against a number of Crown exhibits, some of which are a cheque for 115, a memorandum of transfer, an identity card, a fishing permit, a will alleged to have been made by Henry Pressler, bank documents and seven cheques.

Mr Justice Wanstall permitted the admission of an electoral card which the Crown claims was filled out by Henry Pressler. The trial was adjourned until tomorrow. the things it contained and wrote it. It would then be open to the jury to consider the possibility of the truth of the alleged confession by Henry Edward Pressler in view of its being a copy of a previous statement. Mr Justice Wanstall said he rejected submissions by Mr D.

Casey, counsel for Mrs Pressler, that the alleged confession of Neville Pressler infringed the rule of hearsay evidence and that it should be excluded because it was vital evidence in other proceedings. He said that if the "confession" was admitted as evidence it would be necessary for him to give the jury a "strong warning that they must use extreme caution in their approach to the question." "Must Get Fair Trial" The Judge said: "The uncertainties and doubts surrounding the propriety of letting in the document are perhaps seen most clearly in the fact that the question of its being admitted has ben exercising the minds of counsel and myself for nearly 12 hours without there having emerged a clear-cut solution He gave his ruling after nearly a day of argument in the absence of the jury. Mrs Pressler, 53, widow, of Bundabcrg, is charged with the wilful murder of Henry Edward Pressler, 67, her brother-in-law, at Bundabcrg on June 7. She has pleaded not guilty. A document produced aflcr Henry Pressler was found shot dead at Mrs Prcsslcr's home purported to be a signed confession by him lo the murder of Clifford John Golchcrt.

33, and his wife, Marjorie Frances Golohert, 30, at Kalkie, near Bundabcrg, in May last year. Mrs Prcssler's son, Neville William Pressler, 30, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Mrs Golchcrt. Answering a question by the Judge, the Crown Prosecutor, Mr T. Parslow, said that at his trial Neville Pressler had not appeared to be "sheltering anyone." Giving his ruling, Mr Justice Wanstall said he had considered whether he should allow the Crown to introduce the alleged confession by Neville Pressler "for the limited purposes already discussed." Mr Parslow said yesterday he wished to tender Neville Prcssler's alleged confession, not as proof of its contents, but as proof that Neville Pressler said Danger Of Slums At Botany Bay Port shanty, fenced off, has flower The Leader of the Oppo gardens about n. Here, one family is trying to lift its standard of living.

The aborigines told me their children were constantly ill. At the Government station the inhabitants have smashed windows and damaged walls and ceilings of their homes sition, Mr Askin, suggested last night that development of Botany Bay as a major port may lead to the appearance of "waterfront slums" to the problem. Board Decides To Hold Inquiry Into Callan Park The Public Service Board yesterday decided to investigate allegations of maladministration at Callan Park Mental Hospital. A meeting of more than 250 It will appoint a committee for the inquiry. The decision came after two days of long conferences members ot tne callan faric staff last night carried a vote of no conhdence the ad Two For Trial Over Shooting The City Coroner, Mr C.

S. Rodgers, S.M., yesterday committed two men for trial at the Central Criminal Court on a charge of murder. He found that Alfred William Barker died from the effect of a bullet wound feloniously and maliciously inflicted by Leslie Arthur Walker, 30, driver, and John Maurice Bernard, 28, process worker, both of Drummoyne. Barker, known to police as "Nigger Fox," was found dead outside his home in Mitchell Street, Alexandria, on October 2. Detective-Sergeant R.

W. Kelly, C.I.B., said Barker was reputed to be conducting a sly-grog shop. Kelly saia Walker said that about three weeks before the shooting Barker had broken his nose with a blow after an argument about the price of beer. Kelly said Bernard made a statement that Walker suggested they scare Barker. Both of them had been drinking.

Bernard allegedly said: "Les drove down the road and blew a couple of pips on the horn. "Nigger came out of the front of the house. "I could only see the top part of him across the wall and I shot him." He had meant only to wing Barker, not kill him. th ministration of the medical superintendent, Dr H. R.

Bailey. Thcv claimed that the vesication by the committee in now attractive residential areas. Mr Askin was resuming the debate in the Legislative Assembly on the Maritime Services (Amendment) Bill. The bill provides for the reconstitution of the Maritime Services Board as a board of seven instead of five and for the ports of Newcastle and Botany Bay to be vested in the reconstituted board. The Treasurer.

Mr J. B. Renshaw, introduced the bill into Parliament last week. Mr Askin said the Opposition would accept the principle of Newcastle port being administered by the Maritime Services Board as a stepping-stone to complete autonomy. The Opposition would not oppose a proposal to bring Botany Bay within the board's jurisdiction.

"We are seriously concerned at statements that the Government has large-scale plans affecting the foreshores of Botany Bay," he said. "It is all very hush-hush and it is not known what is planned. "But if some reports are correct, it goes a lot further than just passing control of the port to the Maritime Services Board. "We fear that some of these plans could lead to a lessening of residential values along the foreshores. "Waterfront Slums" Not Wanted "We do not want waterfront slums in attractive areas such as Kogarah, Rockdale and other points around the bay." Mr Renshaw: "I can dispel your fears immediately on that." The debate was adjourned.

'Sympathy' For Native Businesses The Aborigines' Welfare Board will sympathetically consider any practical proposals to help aborigines establish co-operatives, the chairman, Mr A. G. Kings-mill, said yesterday. He was commenting on a report that aborigines at Woodenbong Aboriginal Station want the State Government to finance a co-operative sawmill for them. They say this would be preferable to "spending a lot of money to pay a white man to look after us." Woodenbong is on the Queensland border, 26 miles by road from Kyogle.

Help To Cabbage Tree Island Mr Kingsmill said the board had not granted money so far to help any aboriginal co-operative, venture. But it had helped the establishment of a co-operative store run by aborigines under the guidance of the Australian Board of Missions on Cabbage Tree Island, near Ballina, The director of co-operatives for the Australian Board of Missions, the Rev, A. Clint, said representations were being made to the State Government to help set up more aboriginal cooperatives. Co-operatives made aborigines self-reliant, he said. would show that the administration, not the staff, was to blame for conditions at the hospital.

Six miles dom i i The meeting endorsed the inquiry move and pledged the support of staff members for the fete at the hospital tomorrow and Saturday to raise funds to improve conditions tor patients. Eight tons per square A Rolex Oyster on the outside of the bathyscaphe Trieste! with the N.S.w. Nurses' Association and the N.S.W. Hospital Employees' Association. The conferences were called to discuss two articles in 'The Sydney Morning Herald" on Callan Park administration.

The articles said that large-scale thefts of food and other hospital provisions had taken place. They also reported grave inadequacies in the care and treatment of patients. After their publication, employees' union representatives alleged that spies had operated among staff members on behalf of the board. They demanded the cessation of spying. "No Confidence" In Administration The secretary of the board, Mr K.

J. Trott, said yesterday the committee would report to the board, which would take any further action required. Membership of the committee had not yet been The general secretary of the Nurses' Association of N.S.W., Mr A. L. Hart, and the secretary of the Hospital Employees' Association.

Mr A. Torkington, told the meet ing that the unions had been told bv the board that two alleged statement said. An alleged statement by Walker tendered by police said the rifle went off when Walker and Barker struggled outside the house. On the 23rd of January Jast, two scientists, squeezed together in the narrow cabin of the bathyscaphe went down to the bottom of the deepest ocean chasm known to man the Marianas Trench, near Guam, in the Pacific Ocean. In four hours and 4 minutes they reached the sea bed, exactly 35,798 feet down.

Por a full 20 minutes they stayed on the ocean floor in their tiny cabin which was exposed to a pressure of between seven and eight tons per square inch. The return trip to the surface took three hours and 32 minutes nd during the whole trip eight hours 35 minutes the two explorers carried out all the observations that they had planned. On the outside of the bathyscaphe, protected by a specially made watch case, was an ordinary ROLEX wrist chronometer move ment. It withstood the same tests as the bathyscaphe itself and as a result the following telegram arrived in Geneva on Monday, the 25th of January: "glad to report your watch as accurate at 11,000 metres (6.8 miles) as on land best vitshes jacques PICCARD" Were it not worthy of a museum (it is now in the Smithsonian Institute, United States National Museum, Washington 25, D.C.) the chronometer could be worn on the wrist relatively speaking its case is small enough. The tests the chronometer underwent were not attempted for any commercial purpose; it was merely anticipated that they would provide additional proof to the excellence of Rolex Oyster's waterproof qualities and this they did in no uncertain manner.

1,000 GIFT TO APPEAL A stift of 1.nnn rm members of the male nursing staff had been dismissed. Spy System "Admitted" The board had said the men were dismissed "for reasons not associated with the conference." After the meeting, Mr Hart said the dismissed men admitted operating a "spy system" at the hospital. He said the board had said neither would be employed in any similar institution in N.S.W. Mr Hart said the committee would comprise a member of the board, a member from the Department of Public Health and one other member, not associated with hospital administration. Mr Hart said the committee would begin inquiries within Metropolitan Taxi Council, an Lovable Lassie Is Now A Watchdog A friendly boxer dog yesterday scared a sneakthief into a quick retreat from a house he was robbing in Beverly Hills.

I lea clj jpjj organisation of taxi owners, has lifted the Sydney Opera House Appeal total to Other sifts to the nnrutal include: Oueen Victoria Club (2nd gift). 75. Board o( N.S.W. la! P.O.H. lnrlniHa a Eastwood ind niitrivt Uii.

5 each 50. a month. Half oroceeda of tnHal He said the board had in 'ven by Dance-Drama OtmS, the front of her home in Allambce Crescent. Lassie went inside. She is not the barking kind, but seconds later Mrs Noyes saw her dashing up and down the fence trying to get to a young man walking down the drive of the house next door, Mrs Noyes went into her home and found that 8 kept in the kitchen to pay bills had gone.

The bills were scattered over the floor. The thief got 8, but to escape with it he had to run around a block to his car with the dog in pursuit. The dog is Lassie, big and ferocious looking, but according to her mistress, Mrs Catherine Noyes, a "spoilt pet who normally would not hurt a kitten," Lassie showed her mettle when she heard a noise while Mrs Noyes was gardening at Mrs Noyes and Lassie gave chase. They caught the man, but he broke away while Mrs Noyes was questioning him. The chase began again, along Booragull Street and into Coolangatta Street.

There, the man jumped into an old model sedan car and drove off. Last night, despite her lost 8, Mrs Noyes was full of praise for Lassie's debut as a watchdog She spent the night spoiling her. E1 El OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND formed the unions that no good purpose would be served by the board attempting to get the "Herald" reporter to lay Anonymous (from Britain), 63 Joan Perkins. 5. Ramsgate Public School, 2, Mi Diana rhinman.

Uu. Heoedut dale of nrwra hMui.t eaclt 10. charges made in his articles Contributions may, be feat to tht Hrn Anneal'-ITufui. against individuals at Callan Park. Sydney Opei Town Hall.

Sydney..