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native and half-caste children. On June 30, 1910, the number of inmates was thirty-seven, of whom eighteen were boys and nineteen girls. "When the boys reach seven years of age," says the manager, "they are usually transferred to the Swan Orphanage, a neighbouring institution of the Church, where the dark-skinned inmates have exactly the same status as their more lightly-coloured companions. The control of the Mission is in the hands of the Orphanage Committee, the local manager being the clergyman of the parish, while there are a matron and a teacher resident at the Mission. The girls do the work of the place, including the gardening and dairying, and frequently gain excellent reports from their mistresses when they go out to service. Old girls, several of whom are married, are continually to be seen at the Mission, which they consider they are privileged to regard as their home. Quite recently the Mission buildings were extensively repaired and enlarged; and at present there is ample accommodation for further inmates; but it is not always possible to induce native women to consign their little ones to the care of others, however much it may be to the advantage of themselves as well as of the children. The Church is making an effort to induce settlers in the Nor'-West who have the control of young half-caste children to commit them to our care, and the zeal of one of our workers there has already met with success, which it is hoped will continue."

This mission for the benefit of the aborigines of the Kimberley district was founded in 1890 by the Right Rev. Dr. Gibney, the late Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth. It was begun by the monks of La Trappe, who did a large amount of arduous and useful pioneering work. In 1900 they were recalled to Europe and their place was taken by the Pallottines, who are at present conducting the Mission. Under the Pallottines the area of cultivation has been much extended, and besides the ordinary vegetables, cocoanuts, dates, pawpaws, bananas, and dhurra are grown with satisfactory success. Rice, taro, and the pineapple are being experimented with. The originally small herd of cattle has increased considerably, and pigs have been introduced. In addition, a new monastery and further accommodation for the natives have been erected, and two luggers, good sea boats, have been built of native timbers.

The present staff consists of four Fathers, eight Brothers of the Pious Society of Missions (Pallottine), and six Sisters of the Order of St. John of God. The most important work of the Mission is that of educating and training the children, of whom there are over a hundred in number, while some sixty native men and women are employed in various callings in and round the establishment.

In the early part of the year 1897, with the assistance of a grant from the Aborigines' Protection Board, a Mission was commenced, under the auspices of the Anglican Board of Missions, by four lay members of the Anglican Church—Messrs. Hale, Ormerod, Lennox, and Gatheroole. This Mission was devoted to the interests of the natives of East Kimberley, and is situated at Camera Pool, on the Forrest River, which flows into Cambridge Gulf. Owing, however, to the extreme hostility of the natives, who wounded and nearly succeeded in killing the leader, the Mission had to be temporarily abandoned. Another Mission has since been started by Mr. Hadley, associated with Mr. Ormerod, at Sunday Island. It is now under the entire control of Mr. Hadley, who carried it on at his own expense until June, 1903, when a grant of £100 per annum was made to him in recognition of his untiring endeavours and considerable success. Since then the amount has been still further supplemented with the increasing usefulness of the work, and for 1910 amounted to over £400. At this Mission there are from 112 to 115 permanent inmates, practically all of whom are full-blooded natives.

In addition to the splendid efforts of this religious organization in other directions, a home for aboriginal girls has been established at Kalgoorlie, which contains some seventeen inmates. Other missions for the care of native children are the Ellensbrook Home and the Australian Aborigines' Mission, the latter a non-sectarian institution supported by public subscription, aided by a small subsidy from the Government. The most recent movement on behalf of the aborigines is the

now being established at Walcott Inlet by the Presbyterian Church. The work is to be under the charge of Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Wilson, who have gained large experience among the aborigines of Queensland.

A careful consideration and review of the money spent upon the aborigines in this State, and of the results achieved by the self-denying labours of those—more particularly the missionaries—engaged upon the work, must force upon us the fact that Western Australia, at any rate, is fully alive to her obligations toward the original possessors of the land. Many, no doubt, are of opinion that money and labour are both wasted. To them we would commend the words of Cicero in one of his epistles to Atticus:—"Do not," he says, "obtain your slaves from Britain, because they are so stupid and utterly incapable of being taught that they are not fit to form a part of the household of Atticus."