Half-caste Problem.
The report of the Chief Protector of Aborigines (Mr. A. O. Neville) for the year ended on June 30 last, gives the native population of the State at that date as 26,066, against 25,371 nine years ago. The increase for the year was 709. of whom 364 were classed as full-bloods and 425 as half-castes. The percentage of children under 12 years in the case of full-bloods was about 15, and in the case of half-castes 44. There were now 3,001 half-castes in the State, compared with 2,086 nine years ago. Of the half-castes 2,188, or nearly three-quarters, inhabited the country lying between Geraldton and Albany, eastward to include Coolgardie, Mullawa, Merredin, and Ravensthorpe, where there were also 688 full-bloods. Of the half-castes 1,030 were under 12 years of age. In the past nine years the half-castes within that area had increased by 1,153, while the full-bloods had decreased by 160. The nine-year period was taken because it was in 1921 that the present method of enumerating the native people was begun. Last year there was an increase of 33 per cent. in the people of mixed blood between Perth and Albany, who now numbered 1,688, and at the same rate of increase the number would be little short of 10,000 within a decade.