Queensland

Parliamentary Debates [Hansard]

Legislative Assembly

TUESDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER 1934

Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy

Appropriation Bill, No. 1. [4 SEPTE~m:rm.] Questions. 85

TUESDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER, 1934"

:\Ir. SPEAKER (Hon. G. Pollock, Gregory) took the chair d 10.30 a.m.

APl'IWPRL\TION BILL, Ko. 1.

ASSE;>:T.

I have to report that last l presc•utcd to Ih3

Govcmcr "\ppropriaiion Bill, 1934-1935, for tho Royal "\ssent,

I1is Exf''llcucy was 11lea~nd, in 111y

prc.;;cn'"c. to suh~criLe his ,' thereto in the name and on behalf of 1\Iajesty.

, .:\ ~n('.~-c;;;~~-,c\ ;,va~ abo rrcc_i·n:.tl f1:on1 Iiis Jl.yr.d1cncy tno Cor :-rnor, 111t1n1atlng lTis Excellency's asscllt to the Bill.

QUESTIONS.

LocAL ~~ cTHORITY Lo.ms AXD IxrEnEsr RATES, 1932 AXD 1934.

~-Ir. KEXXY ('>ao.~) aske'l the Trea-Hll'Cl'-

"1. \Ylwt m1s the total inclcbtcdnrss at 30th ,J nuc, 192'2. and 30th ,J uuc, 1934,

all loc-al authorities (a) loaLs by tho (u) !oars guaranteed by

GoYCTl1lllE'! t? '; 2. \Yhat was

Lf iltiCl'(':-:.t ill total avE'rago rate

CJ,'-'C 'f n

'TTIE{\ST~TIEH. (IIon. \V. Forgan Jiaf'l.·ay) repli£>r1-

ir:fo:·maticn i~ r:.v\\~ being pre· and "ill bo hid on the tf1blo of

as soon ns po:o::sibl(',

RKL1Et OF S:rxGLE L'xE:JrrLOYED, '}.fAY TO

~'· n;c;,:T, 1934.

for 1\I!'. Se rcLary

·' 2. \Vh .. tt Ullf'lllPlOYC'd

rrliP( w~rk or rntinns scheme durjng

last Sa.tnrday in Au~nst?"

Tht: SECRET~.\RY .-\:'\D I'\DL~STRY (1-lou. J1L 'l'ouns-,-illc) replied-

" 1. \Ycck cnclf'cl 26th ).fav. 11,0')1 v;·r ck cncl0d 30th ,JnPC, 11,380; ended 28th ,July, 10,753.

"2. Week end< cl 25th "\ugtFt. 10,283."

:ilr. BR),:-\D (his), for :\Ir. 'iL\LKER oora). a,_,kcd tl1c SC>rrc-iar_y for 1;ublic

"Doe:' the amount of :81.078 687 -iatcd in tlto Oprlling SpeC'('h to 1HlY;

rxpc-ntl0d on main roarh \V:JrkF> ihe £250.000 h·ansfcrrecl from the ::\Iain Horuh run cl to con:-olidn tf'cl l'('YC'YlHl'? '~

The SF:C'RETARY FOH PGBLIC \YORKS (Hon. H. A. Druce, The Tableland) replied-

" :N'o."

86 Sugat· Experiment, Etc., Bill. [ASSE::'.IBLY.J Address :n Reply.

GovERx;~m::-;·r GuARANTEE oF LOAN TO Mo-cNT Is< Co;\IPANY.

l\lr. TOZEH (Gympic) asked the Trea­surer--

" \Vhat a,n1ount has been guaranteed bv the Government of Queensland foe l\lount Isa, and on what conditions? "

The TREASURER (I-Ion. W. Fo,·gan Smith, Jlackay) replied-

" I lay on the table of the House copies of bvo agreements in connection with the guarantee given by the Queens­land Government, upon the recommenda­tion of thP Bureau of Industry, and in pursuance of the provisions of 'The Industries Assistance Acts, 1929 to 1933.' with respect to a loan of £500,000 obtained by Mount Isa Jliline' Limited.

" The agreements have been signed on behalf of the Government and forwarded to 2\Iount lsa Mines Limited for comple­tion."

SETTLERS ON L.\ND 0PEXED FOR SELECTION IN 1933-1934.

Mr. KE:\'NY (Cook), for 2\Ir. 2\LUIER (1F est 3[ orcton), asked the Secretary for Public Lands-

" Of the 910 selectors who a·cquired the 5,075,319 acres made available for ')election ]ast Year, \~:ill he state ho1v n1an:v \Ycrc gen~inely land:o:;:;s, at ti1ne of selection? "

The SECRET~-'<RY FOR PUBLIC LAi\DS (Hon. P. l'c2se, Hcl'b•rt) replied-

" The 910 selectors are classified as follows:-

293 who acquire·d priority prickly­pectr developmental tenures ove1· lands formerly held by them without developmental conditjons;

89 \vho acquired priority addi­tional areas to work with their existing selections;

528 who acquired the selections at public competition. In these cases selectors who undertake personal residence arc given priority over other applicants. 'The great majority of this group would be landless at time of selection.

Total 910."

PAPER.

The following paper was laid on the table, and ordered to be printed :-

Hcport of the Director, State Children Department, for the year 1933.

SUGAR EXPERIMENT STATIONS ACTS AJ\IENDMENT BILL.

IxrTIATION.

'The SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTURE (Hon. F. vV. Bulcock, Barcoo): I move-

" That the House will, at its next sitting, resolve itself into a Committee of the \Vhole to consider of the desirable­ness of introducing a Bill to amend 'The Suvar Experiment Stations Acts, 1900 to 1923,' in certain particulars."

Question put and passed.

DISEASES IN PLANTS ACT'S A::\1END­l\IE.:-!T BILL.

INITIATION.

The SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTUHE (Hon. F. IV. Bulcock, Barcou) : I move--

" That the House \Yill, at its next sitting, resolve itself into a Committee of the \Vhole to consider of the desirable­ness of introducing a Bill to amend ' The Diseases in Plants Acts, 1929 to 1930.' in a certain particular."

Question put ancl passed.

ADDRESS IN REPLY. RESU~IPTION OF DEBATE.

Question stated-" That the following Address be pre­

sented to the Governor in reply to the Speech delivered by His Excellency in opening this, the 'Third Session of the Twenty-sixth Parliament of Queens­land:-

' May it Please Your Excellency,-' \Ve, His JY1ajestv's loyal nnf1 dutiful

subjects, the ::\Icmbcrs of the Legis­tivc ~-'<sscmbly of Queensland, in Par­liatnent assembled, desire to assure Your Excellency of our continued lovaltv and affection towards the Tl~rone and Person of Our Most Gracious Sovcrci gn, and to tender our th:1rtks to Your Excellency for the Speech with which you have been pleased to open the prE,cnt session.

' The various measures to which Your Excellency has rcf(•rrcd, and all other matters that mav be brought before us, will receive our most care­ful consideration, and it shall be our earnest cndc·.wour so to deul with them that our labours may tend to the advancement and prosperity of the State.'"

11r. S\VA YNE (JI!:mni)' [10.44 a.rn.]: I am sure that we an appreciate the good work that His Ext,:llency is doing in making himself thoroughly acquainted with the resources of our State. It bring·s homo to us the adYantagc of having a GoYcrnor fron1 the centre of the Empire instead of an Australian. After all, A mtralia i> but a part of the En1piru. and on the retire­ment of a GoYLTn0r it cannot fail to be of advantage to us to have at the centre of that Emnire tt mun \vho has n1.ade him­self thoroughly acquainted with our resources and our need.:=. On nwre than one occasion a Governor of the State. and oven a Govcmor-General of the Oommonwcalt.h, have been of immeasurable hencfit to us when matter,, of interest to the Dominions were being considered at the centre of the Empire.

I think that I have now listened to t\ycntv· Rovcn Speeches dr1iYered by varioi1s GoYcrnors in opening tho Parli8ments of

but in view of the present deplor. in Quccns1clnd I non~id('r that

none illnn ',Yas more fnt]lc than that which \Ye arc 110\V considering. The big qnostion confronting· Governments to.day is that of providing employment for our people, and ,,,,e all know that the problem is becoming accentuated under the administration of the present Government. :Much has been said about the Moore Government and their alleged indifference to unemployment during

Adtlress in Reply.

their term of office, bnt I would remind hon. members opposite that tho position improved during our term of office. \Vhile the ayerngc unr-rnployrncnt throughout the Commonwealth \1 ts 19.1 per ctmt., in Queens­lane! under the Moorc Government it was only 12.3 per cent. ·uEder the present regime the pc -ition has bc...:otno still \VOrsc. The impro\ ement throng·hout tho Commonwealth hos been 97 per ct•nt .. but in Qu ·onsland tho impc·ovcmcnt has been only 72 per cont. \V e shonld h:cvo smne intimation from the GoYennnont thnt thev aro anxious to bring abont a betterment of the conditions of our worldo-·s people, that they aro aE,·o to tho sitt~ation and t.rc l'eady to do son1cthjng to 8.f'S1St.

The first part of tho Speech deli,·orcd by His E cellcncv '"vhich has reference to Govcrnn1ent nd~ninistration refers to vYhat is regarded as one of the n1ost irnportant n1at· b·rs under th0ir eontrol~that i~ the erection of a third bridg-e acre"' the Brisbone River. [n my opinion, a third cross-river facility of this nature is not required. There are already hYo bridges <HTO~s the riv-er; yet it is propmrcl to erect a third bridg-e at an estirn.ttccl cost of £1,600,000. TlJG GO\·crn­nu:nt \Yill b::: Yerv luck~· lf the con:-truction co.st doe, not n:ce.ed £2:ooo,ooo. At the same time the producing- disteiet:o are cn·ing out for the satisfaction of various needs. \.Ye \vant, for instance, monrv for 1·oad construe· tion to rc'duce the cosb of tnnsport to enable us 1-o rt::t our produce to n1arket as cheaply as possJ hlc. Ill the second plarc\ rnoro assist· ancr ronld be rnaclc n~:ailnblc' to tl1o ~ettlers by the c\gricnlhtral Rank. In that respect the r. cc ·d of the ~loon:: Gon:-rnn1ent curn­pa.res Yer.v favonr.Lbly with that of the pre~cnt Achninistration.

Althoug-h it is hrrrdlv connected with the subject nnclcr discussion, I sec that aO'ain a Bill is to be introduced to amend the "'Indus­trial Concilidion and Arbitration Act. vVo know \Ybat a great factor the court estab­lished under that statuto i~ in the industrial lifG of our State; but I fail to soo in the Speech any evidence of improYoment in that direction. Wo havo thirteen Bills listed for consideration this sc'-'sion, and of the-.o no fewer than nine arc an1cndrncnts. If ever proof wore prm·i dod of tho nood for a revis­ing Chamber in Queensland it is to be found !n .tJ:is. fact-that tho. greater part of tho leg1slatJon of th1s sess1on is to recti[, mis­takes \vhich have occurred in rushinO' .. loO'is-lation throug-h this Assembly. b "'

Xo scnsib1e per:::.cn ran snv that tlH re in the programme outlined 'in tlw much prospect for tlw ho:p of tho in the clirc'ction I have indicated. Premier, when last thr> hc·1p

\YOuld l1irn ~ ·~'H1C

ta>:aiion. Xcth-ruorr; nothinrr

is Gln,-r· fondncivc to the dcplontb1c po:-.ii io~; v:c are in ilwn tlw oxcc:.:-~i·.-o laxation of private enterprise. ~Tf?ne.v ~rhich should go 111 pa~·in.Q Into the dcn'-lopn;pnt ('f Yarions Govc:::n· InPnt aud is rP!id work B· nndc'r that llcn.rling has Ko if'S than £134.774 more is rcqnind 111

tho f'OJning year for that purpo::;;c than in the year jnst past. I21 het, the work on

Adrlnss ,;n Reply. 87

which that monev is now being uti:isecl is tuking the place ·of useful Pmployment. ::'\:o one can sav that intenniticnt relief work is to a .. n: ircat extent prodnctiYe. Ila1 her can it be said \Yith couiideuce that the grc~atcr proportion of the rnoney so expended is thro\Yll away.

toltl that the raihvav revenue is H that is the c1so there is most

ccL't.ainlv no rea:::on whv the excessive cha.rgc6"' \Yhich uow ~to be borne by

products on \Yav to marke't net ho reel need. IT mvf'ver, as tho

rc,·cnuc is increasing lnorc rnonc .... ,~ ~hould be , JWnt on our re-eds. I ha.-e' alrc"cly pointed ont ,,·hat a big good roads are in o~1l' pro._:neing di The rail· \' ~J,ys arc ea ruing rnorc n:oncy. L~so ~ha.t uwncv Oll Lchalf of priruary procl'l~tion by C't1ah!ln~r, us to get our prndnce t0 lll:-trk,~t at luwcr frroights than the excc •sivo rates now impmed! \Ye shonlcl then find ihat tho ncccs-.ity for reotriction of our produc­tion \Yould to a certain ex:Lnt not be~ ncces~ ><tlo. Afler all, the inabilit'· to ~ompcte in the m.:nket" of the \YOdel is larg'-:l:v due J-o onr high ccst of production, an(l our tr." nsport charges .arc a bi: factor in that CO't.

I noticC'cl rcccntJv in prrss a very pr:- gnunt uti c~rance' 111adl~ }lr. J. S. Seidnw11. acrou_ntant, barrister. and -econo­Jnist, of Kew ·~{ork, who i~ making a special inYostig-1,tion of the taxation systerns of Aw:-tra1ia, tJ.nsa, Snnu1tra, a.nd the Orient~ llc ;tn.ies~

-.. r

Australi,l has passed it be regarded as

Th{ s1ate:rnent continue;;-" The l'8l10!.ot thn t ho ~,~,-ill furnish 'Yili

be considered by Congress in l\ove1nbcr1

ancl it \Yill be referred to the Com­rnittcc .a£ \Yays and l\Joa.ns, v.hich is giYing consideration to the sin1p1ifica­tion and inter-relationship of Federal nnd State tax:ation in -\rncrica.

'' 1-.Ir. Scidman said he \Vas astoni5hoc1 to find tlHtt a country ' not quite socialised ' could collc,ct cnch high taxa-tion without a re,·oJt bv Thev had learned in Amcr;ca, tha"t neithc1· a policy of \Yhat they called ';;caking the rirh/ nor one of continu­a11y increasing the ta.x rates, could pro~ clucc the l'8YPnuc required. The point "-as rcuched ,-,here nigh taxation dc1noralisecl a connnunity

It scoms to me that the point referred to by that has been reachocl. \VhercYcr

\YPii-qTounded ro- 1plaints blxatio·-J, a:1cl ~o far

bci!Jg' any prospect. of 1·olief tlw lH'f,~.c 1t Co -untnu:_:nt 1s

l'Y"r, ind;cn-1-ion that ta".atior1 be \\ye know. too, that a cousidcr-

propo(ti'CJll of the taxation rert~ipts rr:qnircd to interC'st on io<:tn:::. TIYhich

191.5 r ncl 1926. in the inten ;;;t burden ,,-rl s in-

ctppro>:inwtely £4.000.000. an ir;crc<1;;;':'cl bnrdcn ha\·ing

to bm:ne b.Y a cnnlp.ctratiYc handful of 700,000 people! ;:\m will the po.sition be improycd by the actions of the present GoY_~rnment, for tho increasing non·pro­cluctn·e loan CX[Wnditnrc will acld to the intel'est burden, and in turn '\vill necessitate tho in1position of incrr·ascd taxatio11,

JI:Tr. 8-wayne.]

88 Address in Reply. [ASSE:IIBLY.] Address in Reply.

\Ye arc confronted at this period par­ticularly, with the prol,\em of restriction in nHLll.V of ou1· prinutry producing Indus­tries. In a young country such as oui~s-a. of gr('at l'<;source", produnng n1anv {hat n.rc urgcnt]y required b- the rest of the world-it is deplorable that thoro should be any ne cc, sity for re­striction. It is all Ycry wC'll to say blandly that there shou 1d be JJO restriction. Thcoreil­callv one v.·oulcl agreo 1: jth that statement. I a'csirc to address myself to the problem a:; jt affct ~.~ an industry Y1:hich hus canto u1ore protninently the public in thi:l connection than any oiher industr~\v, First of all mv h" -, been to a Ftutcn1cnt 11r. Federal producing el{~C'iorato is totally opposed to any tio11 in the sugar industry, \1.

is wrong. Thrtt may be so, but l think I an1 right in "iaying that ~.-Ir. ~\~Ia1·tcns has neycr been in the position of having to meet costs of production. Never has he be n in the position of haYing· to go to a bankel' to arrange for an overdraft iu order that. he n1ight pay his cutter~ cu the next p8.y day. It is only vrhcu a 1nan has bl·cu in that nosition 1 hat he realises ti:e dif!icultics associated with producing at a loss, and comes to the conclusion that no prodq_ccr can continue p1·oducing at a loss. That is the position \Ye arc in to-day.

I E:c1nbcrs of ~e nn this a circulat \vhirh their 11otice. Thnt ('llla1Ul ted fron1 one of the snga1·~n1jlls, urged upon the gTo\YGl'S the ncce::.sitv for a reduc­tron in acreage for plautiHg~ so that the n1ill \YouJd bP r0quircd to take only that qnantit.v rcqnlrcd to giYf' it it:- "penk" proc!ucticm. I can do no bdtor thau quote the follo'" ing cxt l'act h·mu tho ,. Conricr­L\Iail " of the: 2ht .August dealing with the matter-

" I~QUIRY 0~ 44 HOURS?

"EFFECr 0::\ SCG.\R IX:lJVSTRY.

":i1crnbers of tho Inclustricl Court consider that there should be a nublic irl\'C'_;;t·igrrtion of the Rngg('~tion l'Dl;ortcd in the 'Conri"r-1\Jail' on Friday, that sn~;:Jr-canc plunhugs should b0 curt•ilecl ~1s rcn1~t. of the introdnction of the

wct>k at the South J ohnstone

been aLlclrc-sccl b.- the at. the dircctio'r of

nlPrnL(TS cf the coart to the parties to Industry Awarcl. It states cttcni,ion of nwmbcrs d the has been callccl to a the ' Couriel·-l\Inil ' of stated

the mill

fiU!}l)lier~, view of the l'l'clnction hours to 44 <-L \Yec•k, thnt no greater cane than

to the rnlll nrodnctlon pc~~ k should be -cuH iYat.Jd

1935 ~c ,1S•Jll. The- circnlar sng-that farnwrs should culiivate for

nr'ct season no more thn n~ 65 ]1Cr cent. of the area used for the 1934 season; and stated that tlw reduction in wmk­ing hours meant a lo1Yering of the mills

[Mr. Swayne.

crushing totals bv 1.400 tons a \YCt:k or 35,000 tons for tl;e soason.

" SHOULD BE INYES'l'IGATED.

" ' :Members of the court,' sa0·s the letter 'do not beJic,-e that the recluction in ho'urs \vill seriously curtail plantin;;s Cl' Cl'U~hing~. rrhett! is llO l'C.lSOll ap­

parent to the courlc \\hy the mills should not work twenty-four hour;:; a clay for six days a wr~ek \Yithout payrr10nt of ovcrtiuic to n1ill hands, provided a pro­P£ r roste-r S"',"Stcrn is introdnced. In~tcad of pa;;ino· o'Yertim,; the mill can employ extra~ mL~n and so reduce the an1ount of unc:nlplovincnt. Howcyer, the nH11nhers of the cc'nrt think the allcgat.ions in the }1l'Li:iS p<Lra~Taph referred to should be IJnbliC'l,v in~cc. tiga.ted j£ those allegations arc supported by any party to the Sngar _A,vard.'

"'At this inquir1' the whole of the revenue ond costs of the mills \YOnld be exa::.11incc1 so that it 1night be st~cm }Jow far wage flnciuations snbstantiall:, alfcct the n1llh' operations.'"

rrhat bring;s n1e to a .Point I rnadc last ses:-.ion, nn-rnc]~y, t l1at, as at pr?~ent con~::.t__i­tntcd. tl1c ] nclustrlal Conrt is uH·apitLle of Yicwing thc~P nl<:"tttcrs in their true perspcc­tive-~nd I sov that without any reflection upon the per:;O"nal integ1 it:v of all~' rner~~ ber of I told that bv the repre­

!hat the. l"CJlrCsenla­is c1 Yerv flne t~··rw

statement

no f,;,]t to find tion \\·hil'h I mach~

,out the court wou]d tr1c \1 on1.d

ern­That soln­have

"On !he merits of our claim there is the outstanding fact that so far as this court is concerned, it has invariably

Address in Reply. [4 SEPTEMBER.l Address in Reply. 8!);

flxnrl forty-eight hour~ as the general standard for the inclnstry. In 1919, an exban:;;tiYc inquiry into thi.'3 qncstion '.Ya.s

hl'lcl by tho prr•sicle•1t, ancl although the "\\"'" or1:::Pr~' G nion plT~:::cd

a giYc Ycnt to n1~T

for a forty-four-hour week, v-a~ rf'fn:''cc1. The onlv

~n tcd in thi~ being of fort"-fonr for

slack season.

conclusion the sugar

should have care-

of fkptombcr. f'ompriscd of

pr0:"t ·~t court. the judg­

tho position

c~nployees OYc:riimc.' ., bn cffcctiYc a:-; late a~,

(•ut it is no~ in the thn burden tlwt it 'va"

1921 the prico of raw per ten, whcrc,l;:-. £or

price was onl:· £16 15s. a

cc;rt .. ody 12 per cont.

1York1nen in thi;) well protcctPrl,

tha11 the 1nen conduct of the

noy· said that thE~ ! l\lr. Speaker,

own co11clu::>ion; I pmceccl to

n1ight bP d i ~l'C':'l]l0dful COUl't.

I ~hould nO'iY like to quoiT for maiion of the Home have been b~ J)i trirt Cn.nr~ Council ~-on kno\V, :\fn.r!~rrv th.c largr.-;t sugar~ proch~,·~n~ ar1·.'l anrl t1Je figure:: \Yore pn'pnrcd acconntn,nt. (l

vr·r~r rapab1· 1nnn Th0 n ·~,J lt cho'i\-·..:; that. throlP. h O\~C'l'-pro\lnclion in 1932 \Ve havo got into this position-

gTO',\C'I'

year) Gro~ ~ r0tnrn to prod uccr .

472 t·m" c rrno £716

Out of th1s return of £716. O\\ i11g to thf) avrard rates of \VRge", £236 1vas paid for harvesting. may s1y that tho average gro\YCT of a crop gcncrallv dof>'-' not employ lnbour except for hnrwstin'g. although at varion~ time::; ~uch rr~ planting time hu has to p:1y for so~Y!O as~istnnce. For tbi~ vvork extending o\·er, say, t1velve w~eks he

has to pay £47, in addition to tho £236 which is paid for harvesting. Then ho has to the relief tax arnounting to £3 15s. I

the valno of his farn1, inclucljng iHlllfOYC:nents, vvorki;Jg plant required for

tho production of his Cl'Op, at £2.500. c 'lite l thnc fmo is £125. The

coc.t £25 an acre. He ilorse~ at a Ya1natlon of £30 is £60 for the dcpr0ciatiTr1 of

lwr.-;.c". inq::-lcrnent~ [l1H1 rcpl.tCCITIE\!1ts. ar0 at r•:orb~tnnt nrlce~: the

Fertilizer £50 • .l,ficr

\VOl'ko

lrtbourers is £3 19'. 6cl. a week. Cam­

with tho wceklv wago who) for lJjs"ye1i='s

it bo argued arc in a.

inroad the pro­

>.ve nJay object pcopl{J cannot go on ·working

nnder thc:;;c conclitions. Sugar for the ::-:o. 2 sug·ar sold nt London 11ricc ,, is-

at et which !mrclly and noth1Hg- for land, providi!lg cane

:rLanurc, etc. fT 0\Y C,tll anyboc1~7 ur,·_.;·e ns to rontinuc pro­

fluciPg 11:1rl I' ~nf'h cJndition~? It ·is all verv well for politicians like ::\L-. ::.r cl'tons to that \>'8 ·honlc1 produce, bn-s how ]ong

\Ye conl inne to IJi'Orlnc;~ nndPr those ' lt is ,-ell that the whole

be thotoughly ckfnr:d up. thn qucstio11 of \Vork-

I candidlr~~ .ud1nit if tho industrial' \\·orlcl accord

could, pro­

wee-kly hoars than \YO have done in the

produce the 3an1o (flHtn­

but it would be madness for slr:·tll comrnunit~~ like _-\ns·

6,ooomo to 7,ooo,coo the pare for industrial coun-

United Stales of America, and sonH of the Errstcrn

poymlalion reaches as high I cancliclh admit that there

rrductlon in ~yorking hours) but '"" cannot lead tho industrial countries of the v:orld in this respect. If 'iYO dirl so \ ' should l1o ccnsidNn b!v handicapped on

of the worl,:l in rmleavouring our rneat, \Y001, and \Yhcat, bt'causee

high costs of production in Australia, bro about 1arge1~~ by ~,uch inst-itntioJls as Industrial Courts, the members of which seem to be l]nito unable to grasp the true pm:jtion in son1o of the cases that thev have to con:-ider. I deo•11ed it my duty to' vcnti­ln.tc the matter in this Chamber in the hope that something· effective Yvill be done.

Before I leave the mbject I feel that I should quote an extract frotn a :::.taterncnt issued by a mill in my district. This mill, of mcdinm size, produced 24,000 tons of sugar la--t year, 6,000 tons of ihat output bcinv produced at a loss of £12,000 because it had to go into the export pool. The statcm ·nt referred to points out th"t there wus a locs in re "J1CCt of the 6, OCO tons of £2 ou cYery ton of sugar produced) ::Lft{~r cal~ culating working expense-; such as wages,

Jlr. 87cayne.]

90 Address in Reply. [ASSEliiBLY.J Adclrcgs in Reply.

-and cost of lubricants only. No al'owance wa··' n1adc for ~aJarics, oRice C:<i>CtH:lCs, or depre­ciation on plant or rnachincl'y. .1 u ·t ponder for a moment on a lo:.s of £12.000 in the pro­duction of 6.000 tons of sug-ar for the over­sea·"- pool after C.J,lculating Y;orking e:s:pC'n·ci alone, aud neglecting oycrhead costs! The court ,.;;uggr<:.ted th:~t -tlw n1ilb should en1ploy extra rncn or arrange for the IYorking uf a roster. In l'C'l11y the mill referre-d to state;;--

" I* Y. n l.vcro to extra rncn to {)bviale the pa,\n>eni oycrtirnr:, nH:n \YOUltl not get in .·, fnll \Yt~ck

hmtr.::, ancl, fnrLlY'nnore, n1uln that t h.~ ruill

~hifts. so tbat in trvinr . to meet the cliflicull y of onl'timo

fact \vould ha1·e to be kept in view.'' The very a\\ is,ucd bv i.he court it-,clf con~titutcs an in {he \Y:r,T of carrv-ing out th-~ very surrgcstion by'"' tho cou1:t. The ~tatcu1ent C;ontinues--

" \Ye arc no crushing 65 tons per h '111', and twclvr> hours (thr0e shift,) cut off t!lc wed< we lose 780 tons, or, in a S( .1· on uf bYmJty weeks, ;ye vvill cru~h 15.600 ton~ le---, than if we are v.-orking fort .. -ei.o:ht hcurs. r:rhc approxi­rnate co:-:t of running a shift. including \Ya,-..-cs of cng1necrs and iltters. works out at about £116 pc;· shift, :~alaricd n1en were included in this."

T1H' 3ngg-t=: ,tJon by tho n1caus th:-_ en1plo~ 1nent of thn·(~ 1norc per week. Is there any wonder that it should be sug­gestccl that the constitution of the court should be altered that least one ITlCJil­

ber of the 'oun. pctcut to consider trv in t}wir trne re~a30!l '\\·hy tho ~~ugar singlc(l out for the .action b:- the conrt; it i~ no bet-ter many othl'l' f:tnnin?' indusL:i<~ . ~\.Hogctber h;n, n1elnbc1·s ·\\ill rcali'"D tlw Yita1 bc'1Xi ng \vorl::ir;_-:; h0urs hrlYC' on of Jn·cdudion. and cmlRCCJUPntly on ottr to 3--,l] out side _,A.ustra li.J..

pa~si:1g to dr8.~'- attention t.o bc·bn:en the jnh~l1Jl'Ctaiion the ::.\tini::;tPr 1Yhc11 dealing Ilousc, and the interprela­

upon 1t by tho judge 11rcsiding court. In regard to the nu:Jtoi'

44-honr ,..-cck, I pointed out jn Chn.n1hcr that jn cPrtniu brtuch"· ~ of indu~i l'~- would and th~, for and Indu:-;r,rv infol'nH·d n1o the court wou1c1 ha\TC poi'\'B.l' to clcal \<. ith them. \Yhcn the matter came before tbe court it said that the wording of tlw _l~.ct wa:; such that it bud not. the po\ver.

ScYPral Bill• to <lcnl witb the sale of prin1at.·- produn~ on a, pooling basis arc forc­sh::tdo\\ 'cl iu the Speech deiiYel·ccl bY IIis Exc<'!IPlli'y. It is as ) et too earl,\' to express an Opl.illO!l ;~bo'...1t t.hcrn, bnt. tl1cro i~ no c1C'nv­ing th0 fact that a good .deal of similar legi"s­lation passed :in recent YCar·s has had a strlnrr tied to it. I onlv hope'" that on thi occasio;'; we shall not find history repeating it'<!lf.

It is Yery difficult to dissociate ourselves from the big qucdion of the day-namelv Federal politics. When an hon. member wa~ referring- to the position of banking under

[Mr. Swayne.

:b'c"loral control, a Minister interjected, " \Yhat about the de11ositor in the Qucens­hnd .:\"tional Bank in 1893? " I remember somcth'ng about that, and all I can say is that lhe depositors in the Qtloensland National Bank were infini tclv better off than the <lepositors in the N c\v South Wales Savings Bank a few short years ago. The dcpcsitors in the Queensland :l\ationa] Bank have been paid in full. They were paid something at the time the bar;k cc::tsed payrnent. The small depositors-up to £50 in cash-wore paid in full, while the larger depositors received £50 in cash and extended deposit roceipls bearing- interest at the rate of 4,!: per cent. per annum for the balance. All these obli;j·ations "ere subsequently met. The share'JOldcrs offered to turn the bank over to the dcpooitors, but the depositors did not ''"'m to be suf!icie;1tlv enamoured of the offer to acuopt it. In 1897 this m-ran!Icmcnt was Ynried, and no cliYidcnds were p~id till the dcpo;:jt.ors' claims wore n1et in 1918; so that in t\venty years CYcr:vbody was paid off. Contrast that with the position of the depositors in the New South V\...-ales Savings Bank~ Those depositors were in dire dis-trc;;..., .. Tlw\~ ('Ollld not p:{'t <: cf thPil· deposit::-:. They H8Yl'l' thonght OllC 1nonH:nt

that a Saving-s Bank would cease pay-nlcnt. 1vcro golr1g to privatf-; banks seeking -udvanccs on securities which 'l\·cre locked up in the State concern. 'l'hat com­pari,·on should teach the people that the Stnte bc·nking· system is not all that it is " cracked up " to bc-th~t such institutions under GoYcrnnwnt coutrol ;\ ould be run in particular interPsts, nnd that the general m ·nag-er would be compelled to take instruc­tions from his political supLriors. Under such a. st('m of banking an advance \Yotlld net be made on the value of the security offered. but on how the applicant had voted at tl1o previous cl_ec.tion. That fact probably would be the dccJdmg factor, as to 1vhcther the applicant rf'coiycd an advance or not. I rp;itc bd-icYc that YvlK'L the time comes \VC shall find that the people of Amtmlia will not be taken in '' nd commit themsclYes to such a. fuiure as. would be theirs if politics "·ere mtroduced mto matters of that kind,

I ask the Government-now thcv have the ; their re;Tnue has increased; they had add1hons to their revenue of

£2~6.000 fr~nn the Commonwealth 'ln<l a. big sa,Tlng' In 1ntcr0st-to devote a little more a ttcmion to tho requirements of the nri­Hlflr~ producers' intere·~ts than thcv h"'ave done in the past, and reduc2 railv av freio·bts and g-rant more money to the Ag-.ricu!t~ral Bank. The Government havo included jn roPsoli·datod rcn•nuc ~On"!ething like £500.00n wh1f'h hns llcf n trtk0n frnn1 the n1otor pc•ople in tnxation. o::;t.Pnsiblv for the pnrpo:;::c of irnproving roach. Good ·roads are nn important fartor in 1notor transnort · thev :~rf' of yjtal irnportnncc to the g~'azic~· and former. I trust, therefore that their con­stn~::tion a.nd in1provomcnt \vjll rccciyo n1oro dfecti I'O assistance than has been the case in tho vast.

'.[r. FOLEY IXormanlii;) 1'11 ~·1H ,,-lJ dc•l}\~Cl"·r\ };y fti;;;; L

GoYC'I'110l' i~ a spleiHlid ·. or1 achie,-,,c! the! La bm:r dnrln ~ the la~t :nl :Tear. :--~o jTiatter fro:--:--1 what jt be- Yic\vt'cl, the

tbPrc br-cn a gcnerJ.l on'uH~nt in f'onditions.

Tho most important matter dealt with relate' to the bL>dgetary position, and it is

Address in Reply. [ 4 SF..PTE"MBER. J Jlddrcss in REply, DI

pl0n -ing to not0 that the financinl year ju~t concluclcd, viC\Ycd h·orn Hw a~pcct of expcn­ditnrc frotn tbo Consolidutccl HcYcnuc Fun'Cl. shows an inq1l'OYf'J11f'nt of £426,000 as corn­pared with the preYion ycttr, rmd £947,000 as y,~ith th0 financial vrar 1931-32. Tht• for 19?1·3-l. ·which isu a reduct-ion of 27.39 per cent. on the dciicit for 1932-33. indicote3 a better state o£ affai1·s than that cxi,·.ting in <llry other State of the Comrnon­wealth. Thus, the Government are to bo COl1gTntu1atcc1 for haYillg' THU'::-UPcl YigorOU-,

of reht:,Lil-itation at tho in1proYcn1ent 111 ih0

1s one of the n1cwt irnnort­conhonting- Hs to-cl--y. J\Juch

has been done ln· this Gon•rnu1cnt to',,-arch; alleYiating the p·o,..,ition of t]lo~e individuals who !bel thcrn"'h-cs unable to obtain en1ployrn:ont. and ill thi~ connf'ction I 1'Pfer hon. lfl('Illller~ to U. report in the "r_rolo­graph " of the 20th _\ugnst concerning thcc activities of thr' Cl~arit:v Organisation Society, of wl1ich I\[r. S. Carl':Y Carter i.; the general secrctarv. That report reads-

" FEvYr:R I\!Ex AT I-iosTELS.

'' rXEJIPLOY:\IEXT POST'riOX DIPROVI:\G.

"There an: indications of an improve­lnent in economic conditions.

·' ~~lr. S. Cart0r, gcner.ll ..-cere-tar."' cf the Organisahon Society. :;:t:1h'd at the TCc,._•nt anuual n1octlng ot the Brislunc Benevolent Society that there had been a reduction of 10 per cent. in the applications for c],aritablo relief during tho hst two years.

"lnnniric:> rr1aclc at hostel for the uncmpfoyccl and of church org:wisations as~i~tin(r in relief activities l'·,vral that la!t'l· there had boen a falling off in the ·rnunbcr of rncn :3eckiug food anrl shelter.

•' For example at the Church of Eng­lctncl ·:.'en's Ho,tcl (St. 0-\Yald's) in Brumwick strc·c~ Valley, hst. week, twcntv-cight beds unoccupiPrl, Thio is prarticallv the time that there ha Ye been any vac:mt beds in that institution. Tl{c hotel proyiclr• accom­lnodntion for 175 rnrn. 150 jn 1 he n1ain building and 25 jn a cottag0. It is 11ow po'5ible to confine operations to the ho~trl prnpcr, h''lYing thr cottage unused. T'he r•othgE' acr-o:nmodated the casunls, n1ostlv mPn ,,,ho .~ta·,,rcl for a day or two on their way th;·ongh the city looking for work."

That in it-:~lf iR tangible- CYidrnce of the great irnpro.-cmcnt that tlw policv of the present GoYcrnnlPnt has had or't affairs generally 'rhc GoYernmcnt arc genuinely desirous of irnproving the position~ and as the Spend1 points out-

" The agg-regate an1ount of GoY0rn­ment funds. through which employment has been promoted. either directly or indir0ctly, expended during- the past f:n aneial vear tolels £.). 921,476, as com­p;nPcl with £4.610,134 riuring- 1932-33, and £2,602,020 during 1931-32."

The lastrnrntioncd figure is that for the final vear of the :'1-Ioorc Admini·-tration. \Ye haYe bcPn criticised bv Yariou:;; hon. n1embers on tho 0\lposition be"nchec for thP expcmcli­tnre of those funds, and we have been con­demned for tLc taxation that is imposed

througlwnt Queensland to-day; but I nlant­tctin that the Gm·ernment arc unde:· an obli­gation io those ... ,Yorkers \Yho find thc:nse~ves unab1e to ~ct:urc employ1uent in priYatc indus­ll'\'. Hn.thor tban a criticisul of the GoYern­mcnt, the Yiewpoint of the Opposition should b·.~ a n·iticisrn of pri..-ate incL.~try, · ,·ith a vievv io creating- a public opinion -which reali~ed that rn·iyate enterpr.sc and industry generally o•,vcd an obligat1on lo ihc Stato as well as to tl1e GoYcnuneut. It enjoy~ all t.he priYi­l( )'CS nncl protection tbat tlw State ran give it: ~et ·,,c find H18 inrli\·idual n1anaging indnstry r:t t~1'e Ilrst ~ign of n falling off in nrofit, ~till nwre in t!mcs of crl:-;is lndis~ C:ri1ninately disn1iss their mnployL, '), :;nd the bnrclcn of proYicling for tlH'rrl is tlnown upon the GoYe~'illlh~nt. of t.ho State. The Go, crn­lll011t ha \·c Yaliant.ly rnct th0ir obljgations, but tho tirno i~ not far off wh0n a GovcrHn1cnt ~particnlarl:y i1 LotbOlJr Govorruncnt-will han~ to giYe considcra bly n1orc consideration to thi, qur,tion. I think the Leader of our part_;, realises that ~.·.·e cannot go on in the

\Y<lY for ever. llt: hn~ dmnons±t·ated publ{'c utterances thilt it is noL intended

lo continno inrleliniteh the of unem-ployment relief. \Yhen one the posi-tion of the aYerag-e relief worker ancl the conditions nndcr which he rntut. be liYing, one can be excused fol' ad·-;ocating revolu­tionary action to deal \Yith this qne~tion. A 1nan \vho is in rercipt of £1 3s. 9d. per week, 14s. or 15s. of v:hich \vill go as rent,. has hut a n1oagre balance \Vith \Vhich to pro,·idc thf:' of life for his fan1ily and hi1nself. th·~ po~ition in reg-ard to unmnp1o_vrneni relief v:ork has irnproYcd a l ittlc. The obj,,ctive of the Gov2rnmcnt ~hould be the olimin'l.t.ion of uncn1ploymont from our midst; and the only "ay that can be achim·cd is not onh by prosecuting their ,-ig-orous prog-ranune oi public works expen­diture, but also hv organising and controlling· indu~try in this State, In akin g fir~t a proper surYe_y of it. and then la_vilJg down proper and definite plans for the ab~orption of onr n1an pO\\·Pr. That i~: tl10 great problem that confronts us, and it will hane to be tackled lw Labour Governments of the future if we llOJ;e to den! adequately with this all­important qlwstion.

Interjections from tho Opposition have sug­gc~~-tod that ut the present time the GoYorn­mrnt are intc•d('ring too n1uC'h in induAry. I n1aini.ain that in a conntrv lilm Australia, c·1pccialh· in n. State like QtJeeJbland. where 1ve haYe an abundance of natural resources for the production of "ealth nnrl the neces­saries of life. no man should be in such an in~cc11ro po~.jtion that he cannot provide for bimc-elf and his familv. The old out­look t!utt mna.iled in rcgrn·d to the rights ~~rHl privil0.ges of pri·c'l"ate P'nt0r;nise will have to be fi\Y0pt vsiclc ru~d a moYc rnade to,;;-ards the defmite control and manag·emcnt of inclus­tr;/ by s0mi-goycrnn1ent or son1i-pnblic bodies~ TLat method is being adopted in other countric'. In America at the present timc--

J\Tr. GoDFJEY :"v1oRG~\"': \Yhat a meo.s they arc 1naking- of it!

:VIr. FOL"EY: \Ve rio not know \Yhether thPv are rna king a n1css of it or not. \Ye do know that in America at the present time tbev bavo cndea.-ourcd to control industry n.nJ to bring- about a g-reater nu~asure of improvement bv these means .. In ItalY at ihn prc2ent time nndor ~1nssohnt :t deftn1te system of co-opemtion has been laid down,

Mr. Foley.]

'92 Address in RLply. [ASSEl>IBLY.] Address in Reply.

bringl.ng employer.3 all under one control, groupmg industries, and placing those indus­tries under dcllnitc tribun1ds. They will be 1n·lnnged, not by the inrliYidual ~n1ployers alone for the e1.1plo,·crs' interest, but with a vic1v tn giving a fail' dPal io <:-Yc1·yone in the ccmntry. A \though I disagree •,.ith the ba~js of that ~clrcme, I refer to it as an instance of vd1at is being done in other countries towards grappling with this pro­blem.

Sornc rcforcnco has been rn;J.tlo to the rcl1r{ giver; to cotton gro 1 ~ cr.-:l in the Callicle and Upper Burnett districts. During the last financial year £17.CJO 1-vas adYaucL·d in short term lo"·-rls to a~si~t th. n1. The ac1Yunc:;, and others rnade in previous years aH'ordcd a consiclcmbio an10unt of relief to the settlers, but the term of such ach-ancc'<-·of one y~:_nt--is ftltogeilJer too ~h01t. ThJ mininnan an1ount 1·equircd ln- an pplic-:nt i::;. ca.lcu iatccl Ly the dqw1:tmental officer ad1ninistoring the sehen1o and the settler, and then lit'n is taken over the crop, Lut although womlorful relic£ has afi'Orded, the ·~ction of the Gover1Hn('nt in enclC'avotuing to recoup thcn1scl q~-:. for the vvholc amount out of one crop falls rather he,_,~ Y il: uvon lhe settlers.

Jl.lr. KE:-;xy: Do the (;o;-ernmcnt clemand that scttlNs appoiJJt them their attorneys?

J\'Ir. FOLEY: Tha.t po,;·cr is onh" n"cd in cases '"'hero individuals have recci,:cd loans, then oLtainccl cxtc-ns.io:LJ owing· to failure of crops, and ihcn-ha ving hac\ a succc, ~;ful sea~on·-still refu:::ed to give the UtJYCrllllH~nt a lif'll on their crop:" for the an1ount o'-.ving. It is then only th<Jt the UoYcrnnicnt exf'r~ cise the vo·~yer of u.ttornt'Y over the crop and re-coup themseh·es, and thoro ha\ t. br•cn Yel'"r/

fe\v iJ 1 Jtances in tho cli~trict I an1 ::,peaking of in 1vhich tl10 CoYC'l'IHncut haY(• :30 rrctLd. I 1vi,:;;h to :3tre::~s particularly one~ point. n_.t~d for 111y purpost~ 1 tnke the.~ Callidt• \~all~'Y district. Ono or t,so lllcr{'hants in Rock~ hamptOJ; lw \'C had to sn)1port pract:~olly the w!wte of the siorekocpon throughout the \ 7allcy 1n ca1T~·1ng on o\·cr the la:'.t h'To or three yPai'S. Thi~ 1HLS inYol' c·d the (' rnerr chants in a YCr.;T hoavv outlav. Because the advances by tho Gover~;n1cnt ~~l'f' for too short a b rm there is Ycrv little kft aftN the settler has met his debt to the Go, cmnwnt to mC'Pt son1c of 1J1s obligation-: to private prrso~~. _ I IYould suggc-.·.t to PrenYicr, ':,ho '" lil the Honse, that ho ill,irur-hons that ll1 the future. "here it fuund ncce~",arv to o'iYP to cottL,n &;!'01' e1 s the tcrn1 Of 1l1c loan Dlaflp -:light~\ longer than twdye months, and that t-he amount be rrc>oupcd O\~cr a longer period.

I\Iay I also n1cntion the need for sorno further action than ho.s been iakPn up io the prc'rllt b.,- the li'ederal GoYenHtL YJt jn the maUcr. of a stabilised price for the product of tlw mdCJstry? An effort was made in this d ircct ion dnri11g the ,;ulmini~tration of the Scull in GoYernrncnt. It had sfu l resnlts. The c·lfcct. of the n1err~ snrcs then taken re ultccl da bilised price, the Cotton Spinnr·rs' of per lll. Furthermore, these antcecl they IYOuld take the "·hole of the Queensland crop. l~nfortunat"lv. as a result of int~:r_f~rcncc by the Lvons ~ CioYCLdillf'nt, the posthon has been cor;siderablv alier~,cL There was C)Uite a panic at tbc iin10 sorne of the llrotecti;-p duties II'Cro rcmoYed. Prices slumped to bedrock and notwith-

[1111·. Foley.

standing the bounty system inaugurated by the Federal Go,·crmncnt on the CI'C of the clcC'tion, tlw prier~' realised hasc Hot corne n:nywhcrc near il10:.;e ruling during the Scnllin lTgirnc. Follo'.ring the aJoptiou, under the Scullin GoYernmm1t.) of a stabi· lised price for the grol' Cl'S the manufac­tan~rs a~kPd for ac1C'1H'1te protection for their yarns and cotton piece good::-; IYith a ~;ratlnal extension of the dutv to other specified yarns and pi0ce goods.' That was giYCll. rrhcro follO\Yl'd flll jnerca~C in the capacity of tlw foctories from 12.00-J spindles in 1926 to 64,000 ~pindL·, 1o-rla,", Lut, not­withstanding ibis great Qxpausion in plant -which io ~nfficient to snpply the whole of .Australia's cation yarn n~qnireuwnts~tho L~'ons Govornrnent l1Crtnlt1cd an inct.ease of 41~ per ceut. or 2.000.000 lb. in the importa-tion of C'Otton into ).~cw Ronth \Ya1t ~ and Yictoria fol' ''""" 1932-33. H c-ufli-'""ic11t protection \Ye re .:~llo',·ed to en a blo these ln1portccl :yan1~ to b0 111annfactured in ... ~us~ tralio thoro would be a lo' "l market for another 7.ooo.r-oo lb. of locally--ru:> ancl 8.000,0~10 lb. of cotton lint. Tn tbore, wonlcl be a 'narket for 24.000.000 lb. of cotton which has to be exported oyer-

there is no local for it to-dav. It wiil be clcarlv soon the point~ that I haYe made 'ibat there is an UI',;t•nt Il''Ccl for a ::ta bilisecl price to be paid to the crs instead of the t'ric" which rult .~ , one th::~t 1nakcs it iinpPratiYc that the gro\Yer shall :.:ccuro a bumper crop each year. V\'ilh the price ruling to-day the g-roVY('l' CfilllJOt nJford to have one fa1lurc~ ·with }Ji..; crop, hnt, price ruliug chujJlg the of CoYernrncnt 1rcrc once coiton farmer could y, ith periodical re'"t'l':-'( s. \Yonlcl be able to proYidc the i h"llt~anch o[ cod on \YOl'kers be required dnring the

.. At. the' prY-'(Y'.lt hrnc ihe indn~tr.v C':l .. nnot to naY the: cott rn nickc~r a we '~e co1Tin1cn~ ~u:·t~tc" ~~·_.,ith the '\Vng( indus~

1.0 .c::.um up, exploited and oi her

aL'o --all cnce by the Lyons Governnu:nt wl1l1 rrw protcctiYo polic·y laid dom1 by the Scullin Government.

J\Ir. I(EXXY: Did you n~ad .the, snggcs6_on front Lanca~hire in this lllOrEing s paperY

it. After all, part of GTent

a::rreeuu•nt upon as f'he done on other

countri0::-, and JJO cloulJt ·will cmnc: about not onlv in tl1e cottoYI in Qupnns~ lnncl, l;.ut a1c:o in oOH'r Great Brit.1i11 forc0d Dt•nnwrk to tah:o 8J ncr cent. of lH r and coal rcq~1ircn1cllts fro1n

in rctnrn for the r1£tht to products to the latter c~untry. has c1oue thr ihing with

ScnndinaYian ~11~ . hrts nvmoeuvrcd ~ sirni1ar IYith Jaran as a re<n!t of a m India. a11d I hase no Britaln \Yill pur~no a tralia in t1Jc not verv kr:ow that under tb<> · of it is r, n utter for one countrv to expect to bo 1- rod uce and sell- the whole of its prodnct; to odwr countries \Yithout purcha~ing ~orno of the products of

Address in Heply" [ 4 REPTEI\!BER.] Address in Reply" 93

tho-," countries in return. I arn not so fooli~h 1hcrcfor1 ne: to suggu;t for one momoni that there shonlcl Le otw-wrrY traffic in •. ,·oriel I raclc. Lnt the cotton indt;strv in Qucen,lancl is of such imporbncc from' the Yicwpoittt of !he employmc nt of our people that least srnH:- mcasnrc of protection should giYPn to thP fanner as \Yell as to the cotton manufacturer.

intere.'-lill[-; to noto t1lP result of the of private cn1npanif's i:1 · ·

<:nd tlic endc;JY01ll'S of ibc revive figurPs.. certain!;.

i m porta ut indu~t >"-ith gold

----~~-----'------·------

19~3-3±

53,:::J6

101,094

EY(·r~~ pchsib:(' o£ practi,eahility h~t:=;

£ 2:3-J,OGS

to inu=: ... ror::. n..;; nn induccrn:·:nt to opc-11 np many throughout the Quite a a1n nnnt of work bePn done i)~· the Sccn:tal'Y fol' :\line~ erH'OUI'n.~illg p; ::J·,1H" tm·~. n'nd the rc:ondts ach1evccl fnlh· ju ... rify that lion. gcnt1C'rnan's labour..; in t!-t<:-; c1irection. j\s an j]]usirD~ tion of oulv one kind of result obtaiuecl I quote tllc fo1ln-..:ing artide takPJl frmn the "Tt•1cL;raph" cf :28th August, 1:rhich points ont ho-..Y ;J::. giYt~ll under tbe uncrn-ployLurnt J has dcfi nitt_'ly placed cnc nu1n

r,:iff f'chPnlc has on lt is feet. \'.!to l'CC• n!lY

his ~Iid~tus near Char-

he has been rc·lief \York

\Yhich pays relief pa:­i!tcv

>YhcJ!e'

" ~·\fr. C:or;.fu1on's last cru~h1ng of 24~ n:-tnrn of 128 oz. of geld,

himself with £1,000 noel>:(· thrc·e nwn in

tlw

That i;-:; onl--· one jn~tanc-0, but n1anv n1orc could lw (juoh'fL I ha' 0 an ~

taken frcm1 the L:, L i~ ne "~,lining Jour11al."

,. c:-:c:'.lPUY\')fExT n-:r.lEF FoR PnosrEcnxG.

•· ~~rotoblt: R·'· ults at Clcrmont."

I ;•ctn<Jllv knn\Y of thPsc C?,:-'CS, but advan­ht£Yf: ha~·r ~lcrTnr·d :-) 1na11v other 1nincrs .1lso in thr ·district. The artirlc reads~

'' '.n inten"' i1ng report fro1n th0 \Yar­dcn at CJcrn~c·nt C:Hr. n. Po\Y: r, i\.C.T.S.JI.) u.·iyc_~ particular cf the Ynln0 of J·hp L}ncmplo,-nncnt Relief Pro3-pecting Sci1cme to that district and

in~irlentallv to Qur,"nslan<l. The r:old viclcl for the field from 1st September, i933. to 30th Jun0. 1934, ''·'"' 1.166 oz. 17 rhYt. 19 gr. of et ndnc of £14,748 (illclmling premium), Practically !he \Ybnle of this gold \Yas obtained f1·orn 264 rniners \Yho \Yore a"sistt:cl bv thl' Co­YcrnnLnt. Smnc of the mor~) noi..ablc yic•lds included Apslcy 58 oz .•. Ap,· ley (Eight 1\li!c) 65 oz., Dlnck R1dgc 107 oz .. Curnbcr~and 562 oz., l'viiclere 745 oz., and Oak<'y Creek (reef) 94 oz.

l\lilc) was the only 'lnd sincp Fcbru­

pro<luccd ovrr £ '80 worth v·arious leach 011 the !idcl

prosp0ctc 1 and tl1"_ ]s th(' rnost in1p01·tant)

6{) and 70 lTI('ll \vorking on number of ·

]un.T',~ 1'- conw

others. thon~h a highb·-profttab1n nature.

have nlana:,..ed to cnl'rY or- wjrhout ihe.:; aid of a - for so:rlH) time. _At the

lead Stevcu~on and 1H1l'i. · af'si.f-:t u1ce .in i he :o:inkinf!'

f-haft and n'fnndcd it \\"hen gold \Yas \Von) han~ rocovcrccl

~la;·, 1933, oYer 897 OL o,f, gold frun1 tncu Last 11I>Ourcc c1ann.

That 'lrticle ilJn:;irnJes of five rn1ncrs prcYiPn ly cnter-prl:-;e in ihe Bl_alr ..:\thol ha\TP, h~- nlC'rtnc:; of 1emporar.v ns.3Bt­ance proYidNl h.v the Dcpartmcd of Mine o, succCC'(1ecl in adding wealth to the State. Thc-,0 111Pfl ruevlously V ere Clllplo:·ed for one dac' " •ycek only, \Yhich forced them to go ont do son1c prosrv c1 ill~ in it:Jolnt~~d 11al'ts of d1~trict. Eventually tbou.- \\·cro fortnuato Pnough i_o discover \Yhat is uo~,v realis"cl to l1o n, decent daim. Their laLonrs

cnab~c-d then1 in 1u-...~~ O\TCr t 1sClYo to obtain gold v.aJUcll at over £1,500

each. I suggP(;t to the ~.lilli:"tcr, anJ throu~_,h hin1

(o the GoYennncnt, th:tt of mcnc'"c' be allocaL d

Yious cicnt fol'

' of

f-.itlf'rat~on lw cf the llro· \·l~ion ()£ ft~cili~ ic;::; gcstcd. In ·would haYc a

of the

SL1g­

lH"0:3llC ·tors Cl l'l': lllg' 011

what i::; at }Jl'('S~'nt au UlHClnunor.at.iYc opera­tion.

I raise those points because I realise that to-day gold is ono of the commodities for

J.lr. Foley.]

94 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Rrply.

which an easy market can be found at a remunerative price. Difficulty is being experienced to find a market for manv other mineral and agricultural products a"nd for some \Ye are at our -wits' end to k1~ow where we shall find retnuncrative rnatkets. An rx:pa1~1sicn of the prospecting scherne I have ment10ned >' ould create no difficult" in the marketing of the product, and would defi· nitely result in the employrnent of a greater number of nwn. It might cYcn lead to the di;;:~ovcry of first-class n1ini11g propo3itions, wh10h woul? benefit, not merely the persons concerned, out the State gencrallv. I trust that du<' attention will bo given to the sU"'· gestion I haYo made. .o

The Speech also makes reference to land :,•ttlernunt and to xnonevs \vhich haYo been <:d\-anecd < [- low n1':- ~Jf intrl'f'r.j- to rn,;hll' Rcttlers further to improve their properties and Increase their productivitv. 11ention is also made of the ea rrying ottt of an exton· s1ve land settlement scheme. when land be.comes available at the expiration of cer· tam leases.. ~ do not. want to adopt the atti­tude that 1t Js madnsahlo to-dav further to incrense Lnd settlement in Australia, but I would str, ss the importance of navin~ duo consideration to the mitahility of the bareas made avallablc: for selection and the question of the marketmg of the produ~ts that will result from the increased !ani. settlement. ~Ye have an illustmtion in the Thcodore 1.rngat1on scheme. That scheme v. 1s launched m all good faith by a previous Labour GoYCJ'!)n~cnt; y~t a~tor a number of ycnrs a co~ru_ni~s!on of Inqnll';y~ found that the arPas o:lgllEtlly made [1.\-niJabl~' \Yerc not :::uffi­cicntl, largo to cnabl0 r-:;dPrior~ to mal.::c a prof\J:ahlo liYing. J\Ioroover. the SPttlor-; there \YCl'C lH'OYni:-..P,} a11 ki11Ch of fa·cilit1es to n1ark0t thPir procluch, but nothinp- was done to_ jHOvidc them. I do not wish 'to see a rcrct_HlO!l of surh n ~t ~tc of atTain~ brought ahmJt 111 other part:; of Qnccn-=lnnd. En'n thP Crdlirk Vallcv. the an f1 to 'vhich I refer h,acl n Yisit f~ol{t a 5;on1~1i~·wion of inquiry~ 'lhC' gen~rul unprr -:;~1on tn U:at c1i:;;;trict i~ tbnJ a 1111~t.=:l~e 1-ras n1::~rle in ~r•any part~ of lhat at·ra l>y having: the land di;,idcd into n rea s wh !eh prayed to b0 too small, making Jt tmpos'lhlf' for thf' .3cttler \Yl1o '' ns P.nccC'~"'­ful i~1 drawing a block W make." liYing on 1 t. Such a sma 1! area could eas1lv be over­~apitalisC'd b? t.ho nccessar~,T expeTiditure in tn.tproyerncnt::o, etc. I trust the Governtnent ~nll bear ihcse matters in mind when settling .and in the future.

rrhc prospects for the mnrketlng of our pr~Hluct~ do not appPar to 1ne to be ycrv hnghL The ov9rs:as m~rkcts. including those of Great Bnt>un, reahsmg the position they arn faced >vith. are introducino- all bnds. of quota schemes to limit th,; im"i1orts cd pr11r:.nr,v products, and at the same time ltro u~11tg ever:v possibh means, such as bounties anLl assistance to their producers to extend their own production of agricultt;ral and pastoral prodnds. To the extent to whlcb they arc successful in Pxpanding their <Jgncultural and pastoral indu~tri0s, so will tlwy t Mur"lly ha,-e to limit the amount of product' 1m~ortc'd from abroad. These are all matters !11at require to be taken into con. SJderation in an,v big land settlement scheme.

I trust the GoYernment will take notir<' of .the r:uggc~tions which I haYC' off0red: \:-lnch arc the prodnct of k0en eon:o;.idcra­Lwn of some of the ])rohlems ,_.ith ,Yhich we arc faced. I feel sure they will

[21-Ir. Fol(y.

receive provcr consideration, as the n1anv othct' problems han' ,,·ith which thcv haY~ been faced during thcjr tcrrn of oHicC.

:'.lr. GODFREY l\IOHGA::\ (Jiurala) !12.3 p.n1.l: I dc~uc i..o join IYith other 1nmnbcrs llt 1-Iis Excellency tbo Go­

\York h~e On behalf

people iu thr_~ far 'resrcrn districts I t) a-. ·Ure His E,;:cellencv that his .-isits to thcn'l haYc been appn:_'\~~atccl bY tb0 poonl<=' \Yho reside there. u ~

I also to refer to tlw Premier's to conntrY. 1 enu as-;urP the

tlw memucn of the to obsct'Y<J thai he

to p:oorl hra.lih. If the trip 1vas a hrn.lih one <~lone \VC ha.vl~ nothing to complain about. I m:clrrstand the · tion that the l'rcmi.'r should go to Britain origi.t atcd at a cor1f~rcllce of iniC"re -t-" vvhich werP dr -il'Olh that Protnjer should a IY1H t her it \HiS

i.ntf'JHL ,~ to n:pudi _tC' .<::ngar nt. and al-;o the LD:'l'eemc11t..:.. DHldc· at Confc,rf-mce. -

The PRE::\IH~TI: There ·was ncYl'r tion of repudiation.

?.Ir. GODFHEY 1\-lOHGA::\: I am wry pleased to havo the a~surance of the l)ro­rnie~· ~hat there v. as no sngse~tion of rL­pudmbon, or that the sugar intrn b in Queensland thought thP Tiriti.-;h Go-..-crnmf•nt \Ycro going to ropnd1atc its ngreernt-nt; because Rnch a sngg·cstio:a Y>oulcl be tanta­rnount to a vvant of confidence in the I3riti.h GoYcrnmcnt, ami tl1e trip of the Pren1icr to a suspicion that so1nc such thing ,,,-as going to l"c {~one. I arn pleoscd to know that the PrcLliE:r ]Ja·., assuretl the J-1ou:::c that his trjp v:,ts not due to a sns­picion on his part or <'Il thC' part of the f:U~ta r-grovn:rs that tliC {)oy(:nnnent of Crcat Brjtain woulJ look upon an agTt:C'Dl(nt as mcrclv a of r per. \Ye hat :if thc;'t' is ot~P 1\·hirh Gn'at FLin 11ridcs itsr·1f it that au agrcc-111onl_ IYhrthcr other1~:ise tc that

tr:'. will be' until its B ·.- rnceting the pcoplo in

I;ritain the Prernicr has been able to nny sugr;estions of r0pud:iation. \\.,.c dn not :n quire -that assurance because vyc~ knovv that th0 111Pll conee1'nC'd in G-rrat Hrita.ia vYill carrv into 0ffC'ct. the trrnl'3 of nnv agrcmncnt tl1at has 1Jecn rnn de. Th0 pre~ rr{'t Prcn1icr ldrilc in Grc·at Britain had the opportunity. 1ikf' previous Prern:iers who vi:::itnd that r:ountry, of a~sociation with dukes and duchP~,-es.

;\h. CL-IYTON interjected.

~1r. SPEAKER: Orcler!

Mr. GODFHEY J\IORGAN: He. like those others IYho went to EngJancl holding com­muni~tic or eoci!1listlc yjcws, came back modified in yery many rcepr:ct,. So much 1vns this so thrtt. one r, uld ahnost term tbern Tories or CoiJ~C'I'Yati-..-cs on their re­turn. From this point of •;iew rtlonc the an10~1nt requirC'd for his expense-" can be consJClered well and trulv eJH:nt. 1\o rloubt the Premier took tl1e opportunity of the very many facilitie;;; for Pnlnrging his rnind and ihus enabling him to deal more dfcc­tivdy with the conditions obtaining hen~. The Premier Yery forcihlr told the people of Great Britain that lw dicl not bc!,e.-e in the restriction of production in any shape

Adc',·ess in Rep'y. [ 4 SEPTEMBER.] Address in Repl;i. 95

or form, that the people of .\mtralia YiCl"C

una11itnously against it, and '.'"Oldcl not stand ~or it. ~;ot\\'jthst_e,nding "uch utu_•nulccs tlw PrC'n1ier. as Leader of the Co-.;,-ornrnent at the pn sent time and for past as a ldinister Df the Cro,yn Riblc for the introduct1ol{ 111

lcgi:,latiL.n 1

let JHP refer to rest -·icti0n of out put ihe of the Labour GO-..~ernincut. It is no dou1}t, by so1ne of the people Jn th~· illdu::;;try, that such r been nroduct.iv;J· of we kn;w that thi3 in -) 1nanncr t.i1at it era p 1 oy n Pllt to rnon')

othc·l' primary indtr(, ;- 1n

• 1 rE' thon ..__~nd;;; of DLT~s of saitc:.bl(' land in the l!ort!u·n~ Jl<tl'i:-' \'f tl:c State \\hich could be rtlltiY;Jlr·rl

ancl of 1non that the

Yith hi1n r. \Yh, is

the lhPi·p should {)I output 111 othPe pnu1a• y pro­

\\.,.c nl::o fiucl that th0 on]y Co,crn­rnr-nt in :\n::-1-ralia 1o pnact a. la'., \Yhich had for itc: ('{[eeL et rf'striction in thf' n~odJ-r•tion of con l >ras the Labour GoYeJ:nn';cnt of

To-day shonld coal bE dis­in_ < n?~ p~l rt of <;·1_ccndan~l it can­

not he 1Hil1C'_-t Ithout trlC ~aucl'loa nf a board. That is (LllOther lndn~tr:v' hich c1Yes ~mplo~~nH'nt to a lal'gc nu1nbcr of rncn. Tfw n_·~triction in tl1c ontput of coal I from a ]lrC3S rc·port. had !he

tenders l'PreiYt'd by the Brisbane Council for the supply of coal show

of 4";. to 6s. ]Wr ton. The i:-: t ,trr.:ing- on its ViTOrk for the

good of tlw [ eoph in it~ area and thercbv for ihe good of !he Slate as a ,,"lw!P, bl!"t

to th0 rcstri(·tion jn the ontput of burden of ihP extra 4s. to 6s. JWr

cvenluallv to he shonldet'cd bv the neon le of this SL. tc. Tlwt is cnothm· · ill!!s-tration that, the is not sinrcro in his uttcranres there shonlr1 be no rcstt·iclion in production so fae in Queens­

and :\u~tralia.. The proof of th0 pnd­i·--; in the ea tin~·; yet \\-c find that

the Pn•mier t01ls t1F• 11C'onle, not but in Great Britain. that

the pccplo of _\ uctralirt rcstrictiml of production,

dec•ds proye other-been p,· bv the

Govf--rnu.C'nt in the pnst to p{·odnc-sen·ral industries in Rtah'. l ahclltiYoh to a deliYPrccl

~for ..._t\0-ricn1hue '-vhen a ill /H'OQT('SS at th0

sbt,,d that Australia \\"ClS Pntiilccl of the rn·rLcts of the '"-0dd. I con rN''ll tlw cheer from tho nw0t jlC'onlr::~ \Yhich g-n ·.:>tPd l1i~ RtatcmPnt. I that is t'nt 1-o a sbnrc d lmt, I rrlso kno\\ thn'l 1-he J\Iir.-i.-.:tt·l' }!old-, 1hP vie-w ihat }Jjnh Jll'OU•cj ion. a11d in ~ r !lH' r.•~ ::;, l)roblbi­tior t:.!I::-.in,;.;t imnort.1tion ~hould lw c;dcntled a-; a n:":=:t.-"lll'f' o£ nrotc.:'<·tion to ccrt·1in inclns­tric"'. f)nrin.r; tiJ0l1· yery f!r~;t b. ,.sion thP pr€'· r--•r:t Go-...-rrnn1C'Jlt cxprr ,;,:cd t.heir tion to t}H agree nlt''lt that had been into b.,. thr Fe' ::e· nl GoYcrnrncnt d0c:!ling ·with tbC' in1port.~tion of Fijian 1Jananas. "'"'he Prt>1nicr of 1-lli::; Rt-t.tc thought it adYis-

-fol' poiitica] purposes at the time-

to have a resolution carried in this Chamber con(~nnnlng t.he Federal GovC'rn1ncnt !or dari1:g to achnit a fl",>; bananas into Aus­tt·nl~a for con~ntnption by tho Australian

i.fr. l(LOGH: the " C'Juricr-=.\Iail "

Did You read what had t~ say about it?

:\fr. GODFHEY l\'lOTIGA:=\: I a1n not con­ccrn0d aLout the Yic-..vs of the '' Courier­

" or any ot}Jc.lr papPr; I an1 coucerncd -..vith 1nv oven Yil ws. I un1 to

th<Jt whCn the re."'olntion -\·.ls by I vas perhaps the onl~.' men1ber

n1v yoto in the ncgatiYo. I VYaS to ihs:: rC>.solpt-ion. an r:l l ttlll fit ill to it. Ex:pcrioncC has shown that

or thr intrnclnci ion of a {( \\' JTijian into .' n.;:.tralia being a. detrimrut to

it has lJc•'n a ;._ ('neflt to the g-ro-..vcr.,. I).TO"'.Yers detennincd to t1roclucc a bf ~LC r fruit and to lll0l'8 a.Ltrac.ti\"C \YR.V ~,Q that Inig!J+. exte-nd o:r le,' '-t. relain the trade they h:..td Southcn1 Si,ttc-:. As rece>lJt.ly

L ,t 1 Victori!l and I SJH'cial to 1uq tire into

_ oppo:;itioll 1nt1 c'luci 1011 of banana~. I 1 a.; inforn"!cJ b~,-- J. nurn­

bc·r of traders that Hw fruit de;:;pn.tc'hccl frorn C1Lwen ~lnnd had coll:)idcrab]v in1pro...-ccl siuco

Ott 'wa Agrecwent, ~lld tl""t if the continued to ' ·rld fruit

· tf!.nclarcl thev ha Ye no 1.1' c;f Fiji. It, is \YPll 1 knon~rl '.vn e~~).?;r

n. YC'l fa\·ournule traue bawncc Ti.TLh lj !Jl.

1£ \Ye i ,lJed lo continue to enjoy thrrt adYall-]t ,,-a~~ cquit 'lllc that Fijl would

to c-qwrt certn in products to Tt is aQTCcd bY all err1inent

thPre ~'ou.ld nOt be one-\Yay tmclc>. One of the very

mn de lw the Premier on his 'a~ to condc~1n1 one-way

trade. He pointed ont that the onlv wnv which -,,;e conld retain onr

nCrs irl other parts of the \vodd \i as the adontion of a, sYsten1 \\'l1ich would

nro-..,idr: fot: an CYen 'flow of comn1crce iJcb "CCll tho countries. The only product v,:l!ith y~-e cou1d purchn ·B from Fiji ·was banan1s. and as I ha',"C alroo~dv coa;d this did not provo to be a disa<.lYant.aP,o, but rather a benefit to the industry in this State.

has proYeL1 to be a IH"dion of ·v;onder-to _-\nf'tra]ia. C.:1oYf'l'lllllents in

credit to them· i~w di.~tre._,,]ng

but if t 1 e truth -..vo:Jlcl lw nchnitted. that the cnjo'"ed th roughod . \'"t,.alirt

hYo voars CilH bo att1·ibutcd tlw fact that there has boon in1proYe1nent in the price paid

hv- errs iut-' re tR. \Ye n1ust " the fact that proballly the

-, llv our ,., ool has incrca~ecl 'is duo to the splendid

product b:v JajlaiL ,Jnpan our during- the recent, >':ool sa1es

v;hun \YC and trcrn-\Yonl once .:1gain

of our for splendid

of t.1 a nun -..vool nriccs , gnin t:o tho a...-Crag'

1' hid1 ruled in 1931, and \\odd haYe been

than thc;v Y>ero at that arC' to enjo~' the cornparn­tin1c~ tl18,t prC'vail to-day bec.:tnse

JYir·. ifforgan.]

D6 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Rc~Jly.

Japan }ws 1r~cn an e'~:-ccllent cu.::;:torner in purchasing rnnch of lH:r \Ylw:1t an(l \YOol requirements from this (·ou.ntr::. \Ye as ~\us­tralians should t.ako oft our hats to .Ja1w.n. In fact, tho:-:e who bC'nofit(·t1 fron1 the inl­

to the follmving officials in that rncnt :--

depart-

iu tlw \VOol Jlo::;ition shonl.d · hno.:.t blc;.- ~n." There i~ no doubt

it \Y0l'C not in a pcculiD r po

It is intf'nl-ion BO\V

or t\YO in rcr:o·arc1 Labour PartY. ~rhe thut rile~; opp·o~ccl the pro,·irlcd for social in tlw th,, 27th

po· Cl'

to tho p00i)lo the had b· ''" filchNt from

pn ~-.t th rcc yea.P.) 1

th0 0\)lJCl'tunit~y io ca;_~ry lie ha-; 11 1t done so. Th(-:'J ~t £3 '·cek, the

dtu;11g of the 1n it

to rc<'all tllc followinz I-Iis lJ onour :\fr. \;age he a ring

"011e .shudders to think what tl1e posi­t~on \\onld haYO been had the basic \Yar;e lJt:('ll nllcn\ ed to rernain at £4 Ss. per week."

Notv;,T;,thstandin(l; that fact. and not.with:--t.and-in.~, the fact that number of pt•oplc arc still on ~~cd ju

pn rt-tirr:c t~-, adopt

1 lwt J:".

who bigh

of the: I1onsc. "I-Ian.;:<··trfi,H I intenfl pcr<::.ons who read

to Cfilotc ~orne of the Go\~Prnrncn t. during that

dncle bv th" vd1·pn a 'great

nun:L,~r of tior1 th:rnugh

kr :-\cc-,•ci'•nT

Ycr;;f' of darya­no 0n1plo\·rncnt. Tl1c thn C'!Jicf Sccrf'tnn,-'s sal arv in crf'a~0d frOrr1

annurn: I(, id(nth, £950 tl1aJ indi\·i!-~qal 'to Jiyc

upon. sufTcrec1 a great dE 1.l from tl'e ,,-hile of1er peopL' wCl'e Oll t}~(' Y01'~~0 of tarY<Ltion ;•_nd looking for cnlp1o\Tnf'nt'. 7bis 1r Co\-C'lT~ntcnt-. sup-l10~cdl>- the' of v;·orkcr. ~aid that a mn~l in receipt £950 \Vn uot ~cUing- snfl-1-clcnt <mcl f:honl.cl h8YO his :;alarv lnrrcar,Pcl io £1.000. The Cmnn1ission0r, of PubJ-ic Hen!th ; '" recei,-ing a salnn· of £1.050, but cxidentlv tl1c Go,~ornmf!nt con~jdeTI?d that ho T\'8 s not l'('cei ,-ing snfficjcnt~hc ·waf' suffer­ing ('normon:;;ly fron1 the depre~f;;ion~::::o they increased his sillarv to £.1.100 nor vrflr. Thcv aJ,o incrr1wd cthe .~rrln.rv of tlw 1~ndcr

, for La bonr and ·: nclustry from £1.100: the salurv of the l:'nclrr to tiJr' Tn-asurv ,fron1 £1.000 to

~ nl<jr·~ c'f the' Conl:ni:;.c:ioner foJ~ from £D50 to 21.C01): the sal::rv

SurY0~·or-Gcn0ral from £250 to £9fJd, and the sala1" of the Chief l\f, dical Ol:lcer from £9'i0 to £1,000. A :;rcat mnnbrcr of men in (ho Raih·av Tlenartment were >vork­in~ short tin·lc an(,l T-ec~~iving only sufficient wages to keep the >>olf fro:n the door. Yet tho Govcrnrncnt •:;ranted increases of salary

[ Jfr. ill organ.

(),'

I

01Ll Sal::n:y.

£

'I<]nginecr :: I Ccntt:l

900 700

1,000 950 750

of the Gcr,;•ral =\~8!1 1011 V ,:;; i iiCl'f:'U:'-t cl

Jn­rrr•ascd

to.

U50 /,)()

l,OoO 1,000 1,000

of the

l\irrin 11oads ConnnL.::·:ion­Chicf Engineer f)(:crrtarv . . . . · ·

Stat·' Govf. Insnran(;; Uffi<.:c­l\Ictiical Oflic- :

the ork

In

p~'r

a -~!'eat

verge of

I thi stao·e to tho cattle ind nst;-y, tcr7uilwt1on of the \Yar. haS on the verge of rnin. Ye:.-.,

representing as yo1~ do a~~ elec­ron( .::rned >sith tl..1s partiCular

some appreciation of the the indu::1trv clunng the

~.·c.trs, [lntl vou will k110W tLt' for FOlll'~ ac~i?nv by thy GoYcnlnL'nt to lrnproYc the pos1.hon. It lR

\\-011 kr::u..,.,-n tlwt n rno-;cinent vYns 1naugur~tod and conferences held at which all secbor' of the cattle inrlnstry >Ycre rcprc ,ented, and ac; a resu1t the GoYerrH11Cnt ''"ere as1~ed tc ... nlac(~ this industrv oL the s<nno footlng as ~thet· prin1arv incfu~tri0s~that ~--. to allow a bonrd to he" appointed ~o that the cattle­growing industry would hayc the snn1e ~-reat­n1r-r.t as has been n1r-ted out to ::;:ugar, butter, pcnnnt banana, wheat. and numerous other prccluc~rs: for. after .all, the cattl? industry ic: just as much a pnmary_-procluc;Ing· Jndus­trv as an-, of the olher mclustnes I haYe n1~nt1oncd~ The GoYcrnn1cnt turned do\vn the woposition. 1;\-hv should lh~ G:ove:·nmont di~criminatc in this >Yay? If 1t 1s nght to n1low one 11rin1ar~--producing industry to

''""ith a yicv,r to inlfH'OYing the con-of that iw!udry and allowing b 0 ttcr

yyages to be paid to tho pcopl~ in it, why should tho cattle industry not enJOY the samo conditions?

l\1r. O'KEEFE: The people in that industr~ will not support it.

Address in Reply, [4 SEPTE}1BER.] A ddre,, in Repl?J. 97

::\Ir. GODFHEY MOTIG A?\: At a confer­of l'ClJ!'l'~C'nla.tiYP;") of the cattle i11dustry~

\Yr..; dPcidPd i o ur:;l,:: tlw GoYenlmr•Jn to ugree to a definite policy, but the Govern­ment would not acquiesce. The abattoirs h~tYP nnr ht'IH fit l thP c ,Jttlc-~rroY:cr~ in anY shap0 or forn;. ~-\dn1ittecH~Y f'\\;lf' one of th.P principal ach-ocates for the establishment o£ the abattoi•·s; but apart from the fact that the con~mner j') now getting a pure article, the cstnblishmc•nt of the abattoirs has not proYed beneficial to cattle-growers. It seems to 1nc that ,,c,-('l'-:1 of the Lig n1eat exporting

:-::.uch a~ Sv,rifts and others, haYe m\Jll<JrJ(JJ" of tlw n battoi rs. The cmployPes

arc rcrciy_ing fair v,·agcs for pedorrn; bnt my point is that

ab~1ti·oirs rrre jn 1·hc hanc1:;; of 1ncat trusts ccJnbi11r-J to a gT .. 'ab:r cxte11t than eYer

before in the hi;;;torv of ..t\ustra1ia. The dutv tlJC', GoYernnwnt o£ altering

unquestionably cattle l'"reiYcd no benefit

fron1 t·hc' 0stnblif'innent of the abattoir~. althongh rhr 'l' facilities >Ycro created so that stocko\Yncr~ coll!cl SC'Curc b0ttcr prices for th0ir proclnc!s.

Tlw ehillc'd n:cai indnslr~· 1~ in its 1nf.anc.v, «ncl we all hope i( "<ill succeed; but it is sir1:nifirant that r hf' \Ybo}p of the cbilling ~pace has hr" --J l'( r-rYPcl for tbc 0xportcrs. If I, or r;th,. r indiYidual cattlt~-g··ower, d"ired to my moat chilled anrt sent OYf'rsc:-1, I rould nc~t do it. \YlH:·ll i]'-e Catth1 -

Gro\'-7Pl':-4' _\~:-:o('iation ruadP rc'prr-sentr:tions 1Yith .a Yif'"':; 10 :-'t a co1npanv that woulc1

<Chill rueat on lwhalf. th~~v vvere tolc~ that it conlrl not be done. as all tlw space had been allortr•cl (o the exporters of chilled 1nrat. \-;'hich rncant the trn~t.s ancl con1bincs. According to the press, chilled mPat in Great Britain i~ renlisinR 6d. Pf'l' lb. for hinds and 3~r1. pPl' lb. for crone; but the cattlr<owncrs of tll£' Rtat0 :;:n0 get.ting 110 better return fer lhcir cattle· t1Pll1 "·hf>n frozen n1cat was rrtdi.-,i!I.Q.' on an flY(~ragf' 3d. pPr lb. in Grrnt B1·itt1il1. Th0 incre'l_se in value of the chilled prorluct. as compared with the frozen pr?duct,, has not been rdlectccl in any higher pnce parcl io tlw catile-e:rowcrs of ihP State. The incrc'' <cd ]>rofits <arc going into the pockd' of the monopolies which at the p!'l'"<'lli I!lOillP!It ('a J'l'_Y 011 1 hP cxrwrt traclr>. For tlw information, especiallv o£ those hon. members who arc• JJot rom-ei·"mt with the industry. I propose to quote tlle following fig·u~·rs. suppl:cr) hv Mr. Bourke, the presi­dent of the t:nrtPd Grazif'rs' Associ:-~tion. in r,efcrcncc io a con;::,ignn1cnt of fat cattle and tlw proceeds tlwrcof:-

Railag(' from ICajnbhi Trurkcr;;;' nttcnclrtn(·f> Dl·o,·ing to rrnck:::..

£ s. rl.

624 17 7 267 17 7

6 11 11 17 12 6

£292 12 0

£ s. d.

'\et rr'lill'li 332 15

_\ftc'r paYing ;_;_ll {'Xpf'n.::c. ihC' O\Vllt>l' rcrl'iYefl £1 8>. ?d. n hracl for ],;, cutile and th,, Tinihva~- DrpnrtrneJJt':-; dJnt"_-:··:-;;;; am'oqntecl t; £1 2;;;. 9d. a 1v-'nf1. Do not tho"f' figurL'.-; d"n1onstratt' that :-:.on1p rcli0f should lw >afl'orcl0d to t}lr> t::'?lttlp indu::.tr....- ln- \Ya~- nf a rpdnction in rr1il-wap ft·f'itrhts :· ~--\lJ HH~ other indn;-:;;trir'~ },nyr• ~()llC' r-n th 0 Co-,·er;lnH~nt a-:1'--ing for u~~i,.tan'cP. The wool industr~- ·was ~n< e-- fu-: lu ohtn iniJJg ~l red net ion il1 the

19.34--E

frpighi on \Yoo1, yet thr- cattle industr,v~,vith the e:s:<·cption of a reduction m a de by the :\loorc (~ovcrnnll.:·nt in frt>i.9.:ht.;.: on fat c;ll tle, which were inC.'('a::-:.ecl again by th" lll't':~P1Jt CoYc'rnmc-nt-·did not receiYc nnv relief. y;:,-hL'll the prc {'nt CoYcnuncnt ·1~:"utl:cd ofJicl~ th0:.- ir1crcaserl ilir fJ'(?1ght on both fat cnttlc 8 nd \Ynol. ..t\ft-cr ~omc tlnJP thev n duce cl the

on wool bnt clid 11ot rc<lncc t]H, on fat cattle. I--Ion. lllCrnbcr~ cannot

f'll.~rg·r--::::t that il ],; fa-ir ancl r(·a~onable llwt i hP ea(!]<' men 'honld 11ot benefit bv reduc­t1ow; in f1·cigllt the :--.antf' as o1 her i'nten ~t

Hc('c1nly a comr~'tition fo1· 1Ju1lock n·t \Yas conducted

1n so111C' of the ilw. 't \ Llllio('k-. tl1at conld l)(_~ .-.t•en in auy p~trt Auqrnli~l pHl·ti<'ilH!i'L'lL and the lllfljni'ii~r \YC'l'' uot hand-fed. A gcntlc•man jn rn~· Plce[oralr- :-eJE clovrn a truck of tr-n bnllo('ks, aud tht> clrc'~"cc1 \Yri·~flt >n, 593 lh. The' ,o]d £5 l2·,o. 6c!. 1H'acl. \rliicb is :'di~htl~.· lr-:.. ih,lll 19s. a lOG Fr~ ig·ht and othPI' ('harg'CS ; 1!10l!lltcd to £12.

t1H' llt'1 retnrn -to tlw owner IYH:-'-6d. n 1H •(L Ol' 15~. a 10() lb. OrclillUl'Y

were bl'ingiu;:r rwrhaps 17:-:;. or tf ;;~. \\'(' "l'C' rall('d npon to pa:· Ycry high

for H1Prt1 in ihi~ cit.v. I ha \<C arh-oen L d l he

at the vve haYc on t Loanl a tllft;l IYho

!s snprJo~f'c1 io look nf1er thp iutPrr·~b of .he> stoeko'. ·nc'r::-. ] ran not get an) satisfaction. Jn n.ll the hi(~ cattle rna!'k~ i-...; in ~\me:;_·ica \>:Pig1JbrldgC';-; ~li'C' proYidPd and the O\Yn~r \.'all IYPigh his ~to('k antl ~PH it by 1vtjg-l1t. lf0rc cY<-'rYtllil!g js 1eft, to gucs:::.~,\·ork, Tho (JJJly Ql·ca:-.ion 011 which raHlc are wc,igbed i~ \Yh('n then' i::; a cornpct.ition at tho abattoirs. Tl1P pigoiYn(·r kno1Y:-:: ht• \\·eight of hi-.: pig and n'f'(';\T-., ntln0 ac>cordingly. TlH' ('att]o Jll'oclncer..; arc <'ntidf'd to --:mne1hinp; of that de"( ri]~tion and the ~oO!l('r ; ·p g-et it the better.

l en"L"' 111~- proicsi :1gainsl t-br- runount of 11101H'Y th1t ha~ bcPn ~prul" b.Y the LalJour GoyernnlPllt in the n1etropolis and other :arge citi{ as compar0rl wiih the insignifi~ rant snms expcndecl in thf~ country districts. ThnJtl,u-h(;nt ((nconslanc1 protest;;; are being In a( if' bv i he workL'rs ill the ~nla1ler to1n1R of th<'i;· treatnw11t bY the Labour Party. The'.'~ rornp:ain tbat th0y are lJeing neglcch'd. Rf'cPlJtl:v. ill Roma. a nH'cting of \YOl'kers r·alTird n resolution protesting against the small amount of monc''< being spent on relief work in that district. Th0Y wPre of the opinion that the people in the large centres of :1npnla.ti( 1 !1 IYcre g-etting all the phuns. \Yr• lnlO\\' that is o bet. ancl 1Yhat. is the l't'sult '? UnPmploy('d far11ilics are rnigrating to (hP largp;· citir's, knowing that thr•c- 1Yill then• rccein· heH"r rclir'f conditions oncl. rnor~'OYf'l", the co·t of 1i,·ing \Yill lw con­:-;dPn~hJ)· 1c~"· There <11111cars to be plent? of n1one~- for PXJlf'lHliture en \York:;:; in the citv. but Yf''l'Y little for thP CC'~Ullt rv dis­tri(+s. The l~xpcnditurc of largr> sulns of horro\YCd mour-y and 1hc in1po~ition of a l1i~h rat-e of ta"'{ation is not goi11g to so1Ye tlH' prnblctn of tlllCl11ployH1Pllt. The Pre­rllicr lHt;;; th0 idra th.at b)· thn f'XPCIHlitnre of c ll i he bnrrowccl mo1101< he can la v hi' hand:-:; on and bv thP incrras(' of ta '-::atiOn he 1Yi11 soh·0 the ~~rrnt problJ. nl of nnernp1oy­l1H'nt. Thr1t \\'as the polic.\· adopted by PrC':--;idt>n:- F. D. Roo:--;c\·(<t. in .Arncrica, but it hds hPPll fon~ld io bt- di~astrou~. The ;. Te1r-granh ") ba5 puiJ1 ;:;heel the followjng

Mr. Jlorgan.]

98 Address in Reply. [ASSE:VIBLY.] Address in Reply.

news iten1, dated '' \Y ashington, 31st. Augu~t" -that is only scYeral days ago:-

"A}rERICA's HecE DEFICIT.

"Tau· £1,000,000,000.

"\Yashin;,;ton, 31st .\.ugnst. '· The total deficit, of the Roosenlt

Arlministration is 5,000.000,000 dollars (£1,000,000.000). The Gowrmncnt has spent at the ratp of 540.000,000 dollars £108,000.000) a month since President Rooseyc)t \\'aS inaugurated. The total umY is close to 10,000,000.000 dollars (£2,0~0.000.000.

''~.\gain"'~ this the GoYC'rnnwut has collected taxf''' and nthf'l' l'f'YC'lllF' f'Xcced­ing 4.GOO.OCO.OCO dollars (£:ro.OOO,OOO).

HISJ::\{j rrrDE 01' (_:'"~.;-E::\!Pif))'.\IE:";'r.

"LabtJitr· l~f (,dn·',-: F( rrrs.

"\Yashington, 3ht .\ugnst. '· :\h. \Yilli •.n. Gn•ell. Presiclcnt of

the )unericau Federation of La11our, a~sol'icd to-day that the ~teadil~. ri:..;ing lid(' of Ull{'rnplo.\TrtC'llt \Ya~ nullif:.·ing thl' car1it'r a(h-aucc:o; lo\\ n rtl incln:-trial rcco\·c·ry. lie .:;:,aid that if jt \rU:'i not c>hccl...('(i it. \YOtdcl creatr a wor ·O prob­lc!n than tlrtt which cxi;.,tcc1 la-.t yl r.

·' Accordinc; io -:\fr. Green r•--cmplo~·-lllf'ttt ha:-:; lH·t'll ~t ,_Q.·uant :-:iucc October. 1S33. uncmplo~-mcnt ha::;; iucn'a"'cd ~tcadily last ~[ay.·'

On the authority of 1\Tr. \Yilliam Grceu, J:>rcsidPnt of tht> FC'clcration of Labonr in Amcrica-aud hon. members opposite should recognise 8U('h an anthorit;; inasrnuch n:-; thf'v hold si1nilar Yicw~ far as labour is Con('erncd---Wt find that nothwithstaucling the fact that thP Arnerican Government hayc gone into debt to tlw 0xtent of manY, n1a.ny n1illions of pounds-tnore than, pe;,_ hap::;;. any conntr~T in the \Yorld-alld also taxed tll('ir [ll'oplc to a !(rcatcr extent,, their policy has proYrd abortiYP. ThP Pre­mier should take heed of tho warning- that his som~what 'imilar policy will not soh·c the problem of unemplo:;mcnt, but will meet with a similar fatf' to that of th~ l:nitPd States of America. If it is his desire that nnem­plovnwnt should c0as~. he must aclopt a dif­ferent policy than that of increasing tho national debt to the extent he is doing, and b~T tln1s continuing to add au enormous amount of taxation to the people of this State.

::\Ir. GLEDSO;\' (Izmcich) [12.42 p.m.]: I warmly support the motion that has been moYed by the hon. member for South Bris­bane and seconded hv the hon. member for Nundah. I cong-ratufatc both hon. members on tl1c Ycry fai-c and ten1.perate 1nanner in which thov dealt with the manv matters of State and' upon the able way i1'1 which they put tho case for the Government and outlined their attitude as 111cmbers of this grC'.at party.

'I'he Sp0cch delivered by His Excellency proYidcs food for YPry much tbought. an~l presPnts a \VOnclerfu 1 opportnnitv for hon. m.e1nbcrs to 0x0rcisc their 1nincb ·in dealing With mrmy of thc problems that are calling to-clay for solution. His Excellency said-

" I lHtYC a )so trayc!led lhroug·h the nMlh-\,'estcrn 'hires of the State. and, with reJard to that part of Queensland known as the Gulf country, no one, who

[ 1l:l r. jJ1 organ.

has had any experience of it, can have anrthing. but admiration for the spir~t ,dnch amrnatcs those who h,-c and worK thr•rc under conditions of great diffi. culty."

I had an opportunity of travelling through thr Gulf country at the same time as His Exrellenry \Yas there. I was in Crosdon, .:1nd again at Gcorgctown, ·whilst. His Excel­lcncv was passing through to Croydon, and I tool; the opportunity to visit the scene of many 1niui11g operations. I :-:pent a little tin1e on a cattle station, passed through other cattle ~tations, and generally discus~crl 1natters of illtcrest \vith people who, in the words of His Excellcncv, !i,-, and >York under conditions of great difficulty. Xo one can deny i,hat ihese people arc descrYing of the grcatc..-t ad1nirot-ion for tbe dctcrrnincd way in whirh th0v arc carying- out a llYclihood for thcmsc]yc~s in the far .Northern parts of ihe State. Thcv ,arc far remo,·cd from tmYns a.nd othPr centres of civiUsntion. yaliantly ~trivinQ" to win ntincral wf'a1th fro111 the soil. I wa~, ~for in~tancc, 1blc to \Vitnf''S~ the efforts of rniniEg lUCn engaged jn 1ninjng for gold along' the becl of the Gilbert Ri.-cr. 'l'he cmnilany C'011Cf'l'llr-d bas the right to carry

boring test~ along a stretch of 75 1niles the riYer hPd. ami il: is ver,v hopeful that

it \Yill be a blr> lo crup1o:~ quitP a nurr1ber of run: on thi:; \'rork.

The hon. member for '\furilla. who, no cloubt. i::;; nn authoritv on the f'attlc indu~try, dealt at l0nrrth with 'this ind1Ftr:c this mori1· j11g, and follo\Yin.Q.' n1y 0xp£'ricncP jn the far 1\orih and n1v f'onn'l'~rti;ions ,yjt,h the men f'ngngcd in thC cattle induRtry iu those remote part-:. I can agree with hirn that th0 indus­trv is still experiencing the Ycry bad time which has been its lot for a considerable number of vcus. I ",ts infornwd bv one cattle-gro.,-el~ on the Gilbert River that' until this c.pason he had sold no cattle for practi­ca ll~, three years.

~Ir. PrxXKETT: lie was doit•g well.

Mr. GLEDSOK: I did not say that at all. They arc carrying on under 1;10st difficnlt circumstances. and they are not doing well at all. This man hPlcl on to his stock in the hope that highPr prices would be realised. but eYcntua ll,v he was compelled to sell. He drov0 a mob of <·nttle from CroYdon to Rich­moml. and soh! them thrr0 at £2 10s. a head 1-l!lclcd on the trucks. The cattle were on their >nrv to the mcatworks. Ko one can justifiably claim that that is a pavable price for cattle. In fact. the gro\vcr~ .an:- carrying on at a lo'". Is it anv wonder that the c.attle­g-ro\YE'I'S ar~ nnablc t'o <~ngage any labour on t h0lr propertic~ '? I ar:n sati~fi0d that if the inc1n~try \YCr£"' to regnin a rcnsonabl;-7 pros~ 11£'/'0US sh1nding·, ITHUl_\- nH·n wonld her Pmplo,-('[] in the industry. Tt c1nnot b0 gain­said thrlt anvthino: which a G,lYPrmn0nt can do io impro~-c th'at 11osition ~nd enable the cattlc-p:row0rs to get a. fair for their ca111f' :--llotdd llf' dmH', ;1JJd l;{'i{'()1<iC'd.

-:\[r~t of ns tnkc rrn intrrf••-·t in ihc:;:"r' 1n2ttcr~. E\"'l'V lllf'I111Jf•r of ParlianlC1lt :-;llonld int·f'r(•E""t in qupstion3 conf'erning the of the StntC' as n \\ holP "\[ost 1110111-

hcr. are int0rcstrcl in of thn :\fcc1t Inrln3try Boarcl. tl1c ab ·tioirs. rsnr-rialh- 1n -it"' cndo~1Ynnr~ to !xw't c nrl ,~xt< ,;d tltc~ chilled meat tradr. \Yt• haYC' 1Yrn YC'l'V l;:t'('',lh· \YctLhin-:£ ih 0Xpcri­lliC'llts, nnd bopc·· 1hat ~omcthin~-' ,yjll con1e

out of thPlll in ordPr thnt IiH' groy,·crs "\vill

Addnss in Rep.y. [4 SEPTEMBER.] 99

'have an cxtcnclcd market for their product and thn;;; b0 ahlP to carrv on their busines;;;e~ profitably. I agree with that part of the Speech of Hi> ExccllL•ncy which states that those people who arc carrying on the busi­ness of ea ttlc-growing in the Gulf country and throughout our far vre~tern areas are to be commcndecl for their enterprise. especially in seeking to do their job in the face of the numerous clif!icultics surrounding them.

Mr. SPARKES: ',Ye shall not get anywhere by talking.

}lr. GLEDSO:'\: If hon. nwmbcrs can show suffi< icnt s.nnp8illy i11 lf'gislatiYc and adrnin­istrativc acts. thcv will enable the cattle­grow<~J·s to get av living and df•velop the industry alnn!:!; tho;;;c line~, for which we are all hopinQ·. I am trving to point out that that should lw om· goal. Any hon. member who can n'·~j;;;t in that direction is assisting, not only thP inc1u;;;tr~v, bnt also the State, .and is thPn•fore accomplishing: something. I do not claim that we shall g-ot anywhere lw talkir.g-; but if we all do our part to assist the Go.-ernnwnt and thoso responsible le bring a bout the better conditions I >tlludo to. \H' shall be doing something to assist and not retard the industry.

}h. \VrEXllOI.T: Land taxation will not help them.

:\Jr. GLEDSO:'\: T knO\Y land taxation will not help tlwm. Land taxation will not help thom at all: bnt quite a number of growers a re not conc<'nwd bocanse thev pay no lane! tax at all. Tlw~r are not earning suflicient to pay income t_ax. If they can get a paying pnco for then· products, they ha.-e sufficient interest in the welfare and administration of their countr:-· to pay the noeessarv taxation which 0nables them to do so. If thev o-et for their product a fair and reaso'nable return. they will not ~queal about paying £1 or £2 through tax>tbon for the administra­-tive services of the State.

}Jr. i"NRKES: They pay land tax whether i:lH'Y got a pa,·able price for their cattle or not.

Mr. GLEDSOX: 'No are certainly very pleased and proud that the Consolidated Re.-enue Account shows tht> financial position to be better than was anticipated. It is all verv well to sav that we still have a deficit· but· the point i~ that thr clefi6t is not near!~ 8'3 large a" '"a~ anticipated nt the b:-!Yinning of the financial vear. That shows th1t the Stat~ is improving. We hope thP time is close at hrrnd when the rPcoipts 1vill balance expenditure-, ancl that the Gon•rnment will not ha\'C to prm·ide for deficits such as we have hac] in rc'Cent vcars. Until that time arrive' tiw Government will br wise not to restrict tlwir cxncnditure. but to continue along- the lines of de.-oloping the State as in the r-:tst hwh·c months. for it is onlv b-v such a dPYe!opmental polic:. im·olving- 'increased expenrhtur.-•. that \\'8 can increase trarlo and revcmw and thus c,Jntribntc to a buovant rcvcmw. \Y 0 shall overcome our diffiCl{ltios much soonr·r by pnrcning that nolicv than bv rrn~tinnin£T n 11olir~Y of rpstricteft cxlJen(ljtur0.

Cn:11in..-- TIO\Y to tl1C' qn0~t;o11 0f un0n1ploy­Tilf't1L ~~-c' And t1Ji.:c pnra[Ira11h in the Speech-

" }~'i:n:'ndihtl'() from the 1Tnc •11plo~mf'nt Relief Funt! an:,,,mted to £1.903.888 clm­

thr- :n ,'r. }I~· ach-i5C'l':-' haYo ron­Lroo.•lenccl tlw oasis of rlio·i­

,-.:uch a;;;si--tancc\ and lut~-e

removed hardships which previously obtained."

am sure all hon. rnemlcers hope that th<> tirnc \vill shortlv come \Yhf'n the ll(~ccs~irv of paying that, large snn1 of n1oncy fo'r intermittent rc1icf ViTork and rations \vill no longPl exiH \V c know that the amount of relief n'one_v actually paid to each incli­,-idual in receipt of it i~ just sufficient to keep body and soul together and does not allow for any comfort.

~Ir. :\DDIO: l~ne1uploynH~nt is gTow1ng to-d,l\- .,

i\h. GLEDSO::-.;: I am 11leased to say that 1lw policv of the present Government has anested tho growth of unemployment figures.

}fr. M.\XWELL: You aro pulling your own leg!

}fr. SPEAKER : Order !

Mr. GLEDSOX: The hon. member for Too­\Yong may be an authority on pulling legs, but let n:e assllre him that those unfor­tunate people who have to secure relief work in order to liYe .do not require any leg pulling to appreciate their position. . It i'< e-ll vcrv \Yell for hon. members opposrte vn1n 1HlYe ~ neY<'l' gone through the 1nill, who ·_a ,.c n0\·er had to walk from place to place in ecarch of work, to sit on comfortable benches and give Yoicc to inane interjections. Perhaps if thf',e members 11•ad e.-er been in search of ,_,·ork thev would have some svmpathv for those wh-o arc unfortunately the victims cf unernploYment. (Opposition dissent.)

~Ir. SPEAKER : Order !

l\Ir. GLEDSO'-J: Only those who ha Ye gone through tho mill can appreciate the posi­tion. Although we arc reducing unemploy­rnent--

}Jr. :M.UWELL: \Vhere?

:Wr. SPEAKER: Order!

Mr. GLEDSO:'\: Unemployment is being reduced throughout tlt(' State. Statistics sl1ow thnt the nnntlJC'l' of nnPlnploycJ ha~ considerabh, decreased f<·om the time that hon. memb.ers opposite controlled the affairs of this State.

Yir. M \X WELL: That is not so.

}Jr. l\L\HER : There is an increase.

Mr. SPEAKER: Order! The hon. mE>m­her £or Too\Yong ntust cease interrupting the hon. member for Ipswich. Interruptions are not cnly in contravention of the Standing Orclcrs. but exhibit bad n1anners.

:\h. GLEDSO:'\: 1\I_v statement ha.s been chal1en"ecl bv the hon. nwmbe>r for '\Yest :Vlorcto';;_ and 1 propose to bring- to my aid the ' Economic Kews ' for August last. In J nne, 1931, thoro \verc 38,730 nnemplo_ved. and in June. 1932. 38.320. Ih:.o.r in mind that on tl;at elate the Labour GoYornuwnt had onlv hoen in office a few clavs, the election c1~1t.c lK'ing the llih Ju1~e. 'B:v Junf', 1933, the mrmhN of nnomplovcd had been decreased to 35.310. which inclnciecl lmnclrccls of sing-le EIC'H wLo \YCtc unrc \Yh211 ihe l\loore Gon"'l'nrncnt V\'C'rP bnt who lla.d become registered in 1933 in ordc>r to recei,-o the relief 'that \'as prm·idcd lw the Labour Government In .Ttm0. 1934. the number of L!ll<'rPnloc·ecl had dropped (o 30.750. I quote tilo;;>c flgTu'c.;:; in rcpl~, to rl~t' In!.::statcrnent lllacle by th8 hon. mctnlJE'l' .for \Yest j\·forrtnn

Jfr. G?cdson.J

lOO Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

that the mmd.1cr of unemployed had in­creased. The follo-wing figurr•s an• also sup~ plied b~· the " Economic "\e,vs" for the three months periods ended rbpccti ,-ely-

January, 1934 33.810 February, 1934 32,530 J\larch, 1934 33.100 April, 1934 30,340 Mav. 1934 28.060 ,June. 1934 26.640

J uuc, 1931. till J unc. 1934. the number unc·mploH•d had dropped frolll 38,730 to

~6.640, nOt '\'-idt,-tnndinQ· thc fact that a con­~itlerablr> nnutber of ~.ing1c men hall regi~­tercd since tlJC Labonr GoYf'nnnent took ofil_,_~c. r_r]JOSt~ fjgnrcs arP all efti'Cilvc an~IYer to t<lC' critic~ of the Labour PartY. It ls f11hle fnr 1:on. lltC'mber~ to crldeavou~l. to rnis-kad the pnblic quoti11g figures \YhPn tllt exact ore for any-one to :"t'c.

1}nL'mployrneut 1, the lHO important qtlC'"· tiCJ!l faein!:!" uli Go\'f'l'HPlC'!lt:o-; to-daY. I think it b2' ad1nittc'Ll that tl1c rn.ain rcaso11 for g'i'owth of uncrnployl!:!Cllt thronghout tlH' world i:-- catl:-:Pcl by ilw gTeat ad n1ade bv ~cience duri;tg 1 he'- ·war 0\Yill!..!.' tO tlH' <-H-lYaJJ<'l' of \\hen~ OlH't~ hnnd~;ed:-> of 1111_'11 \\ere C'nlploycd in iuclH~trY the lllllllher l'C'llllcl'll to h'n-.:. TlHlt appll(':--; not only to secondary, but al~o to priruary inrlustt·ic -· Tlw appli~a­tion of science to indu~ir,~ thf'n js tl1c out­!-ltanding· reason for th·• 'nundJt'l' of nnC'rn­ployPcl 1 hroup-hout the '' orlcl to-clav. Tlw hon. n:('Hilwr for 1\Iirani f'l!deaYOlUC'd to 111ake it npp0ar that this GoYenuuent had be-en l'P'-pon:ible for rcdu('ing production by jntroducino: tlw fortv-four-hour \\'f'Ok. Tn ~UllTlOrt orhi~ argnnl~nt he quotPd a JlUlllber of 8tntemPnts f1'0lll 1nill rnanagcrs and others "ho\l·ing that a rcclnction ha.d taken place in the productive capacit0' of the mills owing to the introduction of the forty-four­honr wcuk. \YP admit that where machinPs arc eo nee rned there has been a {'Crt.ain reduc­tion. \Vo admit. for example, that a 1nachinc running- for forty-four hours will not produce tl1e ~anw an1ot-int as ono running forty-eight hours. hut we also a'3ert that we should go cycn fnrtlwr in tlw reduction of tllf' \l·ccldy worl<ing hours. A reclnetion in this l'OS)Jeci is the onl 0- solution for the 1UlPillplo~'ment. probkn1 in C\'Ol':'' con11try in t1H• \Yodd. JHcn \Yho aro engaged in either prin1ar:v production or sPcondary production shoulcl b' employed only !he number of hours nece::;;sary to produce the needs of thPir own pe-oples. Tbc ~ooncr \YB recognise that the ~ooncr will we hP al1le i.o proYide work with ~OnllnensuratP wag(•s and conditions of cnl­ploymont for lh0 people of a countn. Xot­with"tanding what. tlto hon. n10n1ber for :\iirani sai(l. the utilisation of jmprmcd machlncry nnd the application of ~ciencc to production rcsnltPd in t1 n:-cord crop in tha sugar indnstr~~ lo"t sc·a~ml. Can it not be said tJ1at thP Labour G(JY0!'1lllH'1lt of Queens­land, so far as tlH' \Yorkers arc concf'rned, han• done ~omc liltk. at· any rai0. by tile redudion of four hour~ iu tlH' ~\'Orkiug- 1vcek to ofT:->ct the impl'OYCll1l'ni in tna.chillf',l'Y nnd in science': ·

I al':'o conurH•t:cl thi:-' CoYernin('nt for nction in rnakin.e a.Yailablc. tln·ougi1 and other aYenuf's. n1oneys for thr P!'~ 1 nrgc­lnPnt of the lJllblic \YOl'k~ \'OtE' of thi~ :-)tatc. Cln L('lla!f uf nHn~v n1cn in n;..-,- G\Vll clec:­tora.te r dP~il'(' to thank the pre;c.ct Gov.:: 'il·

[ JL1. Gledson.

n1cnt for their assistance. Since the ach·ent of thi~ Governrnerlt thc:3c n1ClJ ha ,-e been able to obtain sonH' little \York, wherpas pre­,·iouoly during the whole tenure of the ~\loon_' UoYCt'Ill11C'1lt tlw:-- \Yf'l'e able tn 0~1tan1 only mw period of ('iglli- \Ycck.:' rotattonal wo1·k. Thi:; snf, dill!!' np of pnbh·~· \Yorks ha..; Pnablcd a nu;HbPr of Iucn in lll.\· di3rric~ to nbtain c1nployn1ent at the full \YC·rkl)T \vag~·.

Dnring tho hst lwa rcl quite a ( lpposition side 1·cspmbibic for the· in (lnecn-hncl. Tlw Leader

'-- '" of the ~ationalist Part)' and .. A.u~tralia Pal·t~·, und al~o l he

for ).Iorcton in the L'on1mo1nYcalth P:trlla~ ntL'llL t lainu~(l iH i11~wich not. Ycl·y 1onb ({,go. that it tl1e L'-'Olls CoYcl'lllnent \Yllo '·

for tlt'--• incrc•[t.3t'd activity cnJplo.vmPil~ in Quel'Hsland ancl thFtt the3c hon. gl•ntlc-nlt'Jl W\'l'r rcspcn:---illiP toe the 1nen to ·work in rail~ wa)· \Ye~ knoTi-f-itE wallt to \ritnc::s 110Lod v During tlw last few claYS , Bri-::bar:c- a fn~n1 G. on . ~£8 l1nitc'rl Part~-. ~fr. ~fo,;Zlcs was at onC' tin1c Attol'lH'Y-{;eneral iu the YJC:tOl'l<l.n Lcgi-.Jat·uc. J--Ie {pft. S~a1e politic, ,anf1 JS

nO\' cln-lrm_P of C'ntcl'lug thF Feltt-'J'Bl <:'!."Pna a~ n HH"3InbPr o£ i.he l .. ~nitt'd Australia Part v. Let us sec from our !oral press of the '28th 1\ugn~t. 19341 >Yhat on0 of l11S -::ollen ~·ues La~ to ::.ay about tlw nlatier-

.. ' Tiw Fcclpra] C:ovcrmncnt ha> played an -iHsignifica.nt 11art in relit•ying une::n­plo0-nwnt,' said the '>ntiono list Ch1Cf Secretary of \_,.ictoria (lHL l. ~1acfadru at :vrclb;nn·nc on 30th :\lay. 193-'1."

He· pointed out that the :'\ationali>t Govern­ment harl made no attempt whate,·er to solve thP problc:rn of unrmplo~-mcnt. that it had lwen left emircl;. to State (;oYf'l'llmenL.

Mr. XDDJO: I,; that all ihat !Je -aid on that occa!3ion '!

:Hr. GLEDSOX: Hc· proba hh· ',ven' o" to slate the Lvons Governrnc-nt. but I ha. Ye read all that is-~ contaiucd in the f'XCPrp~ that I hast' lH'rC'. On auothC'l' occa~ion he l'CIJeatcd his cornp1aint and even 1rcnt so far a~. to a~:-;ert. that the L\-oll~ GoYcr111nCnt had faded lo assist the Yic~torian GoYcl'lnnent to cope '" ith the 1Ul,'IlliJ1oYHlCEt proble1u in \l~c-Lona. I-Iundnd::s of nH~n arp now enjoying add~tiG.H1J "mploynwnt in this State followmg the i~erra~_.Pcl activitic~ of the ]Jl'e'3,_'llt (_;OYC'l'J1-

lllP1lt ju ]H'O\·iding· a ,-C'ttll(-'~ of 'rnplo~-nwnt. I1· 1night be ;;;aid that. that i~ lllt'! ';'·1:- <~ ba1d ~tatPlllCllt and tl1at I can cff.:~· 110 ~'\ 1dcnc~ to confirm it. LC>st that lH' srcid. I >houlcl like to point ollt that 1nan.\· cngngcd 1n the railv,-av ·worluhOl~' i1t 1 \'i-ho [Jff-'Yjousl:v '\'- orked ha1f-tinH· r~h a 1 lf're -\YOrking ~f'\"E'Il n for~n1ght-~.:-~-"o been pruYidecl with for t!tc• full io;T hours per \YPck.

n1en are l10'' railwa--

ancl, in~ ndclition. lll('ll 1

J\Iool'f' GoYcrnnH':Jt re-Pluploycd and al'(' al~o a working \·;cck of forty-four C':1n anYOlll' clnj1n lha.' tho"e HJP·:; 1 t' ;• h c•n l'('-~£'nlploycd b)· the -:\-Ioo!'r: CoYi_'-l•'_l 1l.'1l·, ;-Jt

can an;;onc {·1a1m ibat LlH'\. }Ja' c• LePn re-cr11pl~ycd throu~h the 111- 1

! 'l!J 'nt 1ht c;f

Address in Reply. [4 SEP'l'E111BBR.] Address in Reply. lOl

the Lyons Gover11n1P1 t? 2'\o. They baye been reabso1 bed m to full-tune cm11loyment following the policy of the present Go,·ern­mcnt to launch an e>:tensi•:CJ puhlic \Yorh progTc:.1nn1c. Tho . .;e arc the facb of the (';t-;'

a11d th''Y caunot bP dl·nled.

The Speech ddivcrcd by His Excellency foreshadows the introduction of an Aboriginals Act Amendment Bill during the present SC"·siou of Parlian1ent. I e:ott!.(Ta tu­late the GoYcrnment upon their proposal to amend the Ad so that fnrihcr nrotc ·t'nn may Le extended to the rrborigincs of this State, and I cong-ratulate them also for thrir ic tn•atnH'llt of this dying

\Yhat has br~en done bv the Govcrnn1cnt to Ztssist

Hati\~c race' )._uAra1in? .F'crhap-:; it lw ns ell if T "-"1'' to the

of a n)cent Yi:-;itor to on thi.3 polut. The "Dnil:v StantLtrd '' of 28th ~\ugmL 193d, con(a incd !hie l'P(lot't--

" BLoT ox Xnmx. '· T"RE.\T=HE~T OF :SLACK~.

"Shumc for Rac1 .. wt,l_/s Prraclu r. ;. Speaklng in the Allwrt

dist Church, the RcY. C. Bunoll. Sccrrta l'\~ of tlv }lcthodi~t .:\Jis::-:.ion, ~said thc'rc \YL'l'C tin1P~. read of the tcrriblL' thing~ that do11e the poor dcfcnceles:, Jll in1 T 111rl, ltC'.l he ~-t.,lr a-dJ~Hued that he "\\as a Briton."

lie goes on to say-·• The Pv.s-tc1n of education of natiYe~

was unot.h<:r 1nattcr that ~hould l1c altc'red considorablv. \Yhat '"'" '"'cclc'l \\·as a practical Cdnc·,_tion t.J fit the aboriginu for the need, of lifc'. The rnanncr in '''hich thcv \Yerc trc,ltcd in Queensland was an c.xample to the \\·hole of Australia. If Queensland's lend hul been followed some of the terribL' things ,,-hich had happened in the Xorth \Yould ha.-e been aYoided. In tcaching­natin.'s to obscrYe law aud orclC'r full consideration should bo f:"i..-en to tribal \a,vs. The ti1nc was -cornu1.:; when natives rnust get justice."

He c:oucludes by saying-,; T1le Gov0r111110nt sald it had no

money, It could flnd £2.500,000 for a wcuship, yet it was impossible for the llll',SIOns to get £50 for medicine for a dying race."

The rcYerend gentl€'uHin really coJnpli· mcntcl ilH~ QuPcnsland GoYernnn~nt upon what the,- had doJJe in the intN0·ts of the aborlgiue',s, but hr vvas Yery can~tic in hi:-; comment 1111011 the failure of th(~ l'\"d0ral Xationalists Ol' United Anstrnlia Pariv to lmYc sonw regard for thP \\·elf:n·-3 of· tbis unfortnuatc race. He' l'oint.dl· that tlw Feeler.,! Co,-cmmcnt coulcl a hug~ snm for i.hc n1annfacturc o£ ~t

of dc:-.iructioa and that. t hPv had to proYiclf~ a enrnparntiYeJv '"'s1nalJ

snm for tucdirint"S a11d other beneflt....;·~ for the nboris;inp:-; of r\nstrnlia. Thrrt i.:; not n1v stntPnH"llt, it 1::.: a staterncnt bY ;1, gcutiL~n1afJ Yi:-itor fron1 \~ictoria. ~

There .1rc other nwttrrs 1ncntioncd jn the Speech 1Yhich \Yill be of arlnmtrrgc to the pcop:c, and I an1 plL'aseJ. to St'C Lht'lll included in tho ~,es"-ional prograrnn1o. One of tbc Bills nrmnis('c1 is a RaihYaY Act . .;; Amendment BilL The Government "are to

be conmwndccl on amending the Act which \Vas placed upon the statutc-lJOok by th-e :\Ioore Gm·emment. That Gm·crnmcnt prac­ticalhT took a\Y.a' h·orn the railwa)lllt:n right~ which they ·had held for years. This a1ncncling· Bill will go a long way to restore to tl1l'In ~s::une of tho:3r, rights and conditions iikhcd from them by the preceding Govern­Ineut and I arn g]ad that the Go\Tcrnincut are l'cgi~lating in this direction in this :,G3-~ion of their first l)arlimncnt.

Another [Jl'Oiniscd i6 and l\linurs the CoYern­

thc l\IoorP atl kllO\Y

l'CCPiYctl tin1e lhc~

\Ya::c introLluced in E<24. Th<> d'l tht·

Quitt' <t nun1bcr of oth0r Bill~ included llJ

'"ill b: for the good of hope will not

"e h<kY<: thcrn U> for c1;p, and rhttt the: Uousc by i_hr:-c> 1neuus \Yill n'-,[nre to the ~urp of dw <'ouJitions bv 1lH'1lL fol' ~o e;n1c din~'-' to tlh'_Y ar,: cntitkd.

u 1:nca~

('lljoycd but Le

\\·hieh

:\Jr. J. G. B~\YLEY (11',1/lllilfJn) L2.21 p.uJ.j: A t~o~ iH:l' n\·('1YP ~.1onUh iHlSP 1Ja · ~t'd, and \\ c ;ne in a po~ition to rcvie'\Y ho\Y Wt' :-.tand in

>xilh dle position that obtained lllonths There is HO qne:;tlon

c:ondii icnts inlprO\"('d. Bnsinc-3,· tban it "'"' then, but i hac hnwgln about in·incipa!ly

nm thi"gs: Fi:,- the rebirth of conli-iu tl1f' reop\p of thi:-; nation, nnd,

secondly, by arl irilproYcmcnt in the prices ,d1irh Wt' have obt~.iJ:{•d for onr \Yool OYC'r­

~ca.s. But, uufortln:.at,cly, tl1L' position IS 110t as favourablf' as son1e hon. llH~1nbcrs ~itiing bt,hind t.he Govcnnnent \YOuld haYo n:;: b~:~ieYc. Thcv ha'-Te quoted figures to show that tlw u"nculployruent position has greatly iurproved in this State. rrho f~gurcs they haYE' quot,rcl are taken frorn tbo frgures supplied by the union~.

:;\Jr. \Y. T. KEG: l\ot all.

:\Ir. J. G. BA YLEY: Th•at is Hot a fail C'Otllpal·i~Oll.

:\Ir. G. ('. T\YLO/l: \\'hot iignrc~ clicl friend.:;; usc> ju regard to nnernp loyn1ent

Yll'. J. G. BA\'LEY: [ au1 'taling !hat GoYernriiPilt nwtnhpr' u~l'd n11ion lip;HI'(\~ to :--hoy.; thni ('ll11llo.nacut La-.; jncrca-Pd, twd th1'y are not n~liablo h0can:-;e i.l1e nncl nto~t po·.-, t'ditl union iu t iti-.; St atP, tralian ~\Yo1·k\'l''i, t·~li0!1. doer: nut stati~tics for that purpose.

_\ Gon_~H~:\lEXT ::\IE2\1BEH: Jt doe~.

i."' fnnu tlu1 lllJLJn of 11!1ClllnloYil1t'llt.

of lts ;nc~abt'r-. :-.!w\Y t 111-' real

position, let us take bYo gronps of n1cr

C0t11P"'

arc

jn one \VC haYo lCO unionists of whmn 20 nre cf cn1plo~7mrnt. The pc·r-C'f'lll fl :..•;c' of unc·11 rherr:'foJ·P. 20 per CPllt. \Ye haYe group of 111en 40 of \Yhmn-beinf, in \York und clc·;;irous of nra intaining theie llositions-~owing to

Jlr. Bayley.]

102 Address in Reply. [ASSE:\IBLY.] Address in Reply.

th,, legislation of the Government. \vhich in~i~t~ upon compulsory unioni:-.tn, take out ticket~ in variou~ union~ and are now inducleu in the lmion group. Therefore, we ltriYe 140 nnioni~t:~, 120 of vvhou1 arc in employment Hnd only 20 unemployed. Our friends opposite then State that 1he C'nlployulcnt figures haYP irr1proycd. \Ylwreas previously only one in five was out Df \York; to-day one in soY en f-Inds it in1pos­sibl,, to obtain employment. Tlwy claim that the flgurc~ havt~ in1proycd fro1n 20 lH'l: f'cnt. 1l) 14 per cent., ·whereas. as a nwt t0r of fact. noi a single n1an has obtained fresh employment. because the forty men ··who went O\~cr iut.o the union rank3 ,,-ere lH"C'Yions~y \Yorking a-; non-unionists.

:\fr. KEOGH: \Yhat figures arc you taking? ::\lr. J. C. B.\YLEY: I am tnkiug thP

trade union fi . .!.tnrcs, \Yhich are nsPd through­out tlw Commonwealth.

TlH'l'e are othel' means bv which \V8 n1aY dl'('ide whcthcr Ltn€'n1ploym'ent is or is nOt decreasing, and one of the best means at our dispm~al i:-: to cxan1ine the a1nount of n1oncy whieh has been spent b,y the GoYern­lEeut on lllletnplo~vment relief during the past h•:o years. \Ye find the amount spent during the yea/' 1933-34 i~ grpa.tf'r by ap­proxin:ately £134,000 than the amount that "·as spellt in 1931-32. although the payment ;.., upon the :-;anle ba;;;is. L-:-nll'~'3 the C~-overn­Jccnt can prove to me that the natural increase in Queensland during those two ~-cars was sufiicicntly great to \Van·ant the increase in unemploynil'nt expenditure•. l To-main unconvincC'd that unemployn1cnt has decreased. The fact that £134.000 moro was spent in 1933·34 th:tn in 1931·32 disproves that daim.

There is anot!wr proof. and that is the proof of one's eyes. As I go through my own electorate e.nd also through other parts of Queensland I would say that If thPre be an in1111'ovrn1ent it is so slight as to b0 irnpQrcr>ptib1e. So far as one can see there are as 1nany nH'n out of e1nplo·yn1ent to-day as there were a year a~o. \Vhat are the Government doinp; to relieve this posi. tion? '-

-~n OPPOSITION ::'v.!E:I!BER: Borrow money !

::'vlr. J. G. BAYLEY: That is ono of their 1n·opo~als. Another proposal i~ to 1nereaso taxation, if one can accept the hon. mem. ber for Norrnanby, the whip of the party, a3 being one \\·ho speaks on behalf of the party and knows what the party stands for. \Yhen speakin~ the other da v that hon. Jnc•Iuber said that wo cannot ~hop0 to get out of our difficulty until conditions improve o1·erseas. which meant that if the prices orf'I':"Paf' did not in1provc there wonld rf'main but two ways by which the g·ap could be bric1grrl; one by jncrc~ascd borrowing and the otl1cr by inri·ca~cd goycrnn1Pntal E'Xllen­ditlH0 on publie works. Both of those rcn1Pdi< 1vill onl.\~ rnake the patient '\YOrf'c. \Yhnt \vas the po~ition thrPe year~ ago, not <ml)· in Queensland but in the \Yhole of Aus· tra1ia? l\Tr. Seu1lin, who was Prin1c ::\1inis­ter at that time, tolu the people of this countr" that the position was so bad that unle-ss they called a halt \YC sbould not br' a b1c i·o pa:v In ore than 12s. or 12s. 6d. in ihe £1. He told the people of \mtralia that they could no long0r afford to pay ilw of interest \Yhich the'.' harl nro·

l -!H'll t1H'V t0o\:: r\ut Go>:~'rn­anc! tlH'Y t:i1.1e{l u·-,r·;l :lH~!n frDlTl

[Mr. Bayley.

patriotic moti n s to convert and accept the lowPr rate of interest. \Vhat has happened in this countrv since that time'' \Vc have failed to live· within our means-I do not sav it \\as possible for us to do so-we have added to the national debt of this country, and of our State in particular. many millions of pounus. I do not know the exact figure but I uo know that at various times there have been floating around the countr:v Trea· surv bills to the extent of £100,000.000 which \vill ultimatclv be added to our national debt. and that· in Queensland a lone we have added £8.000,000 or £9,000.000 to the national debt of the State. That can only do· one thing; that is, make it more difficult for priYatc industry to rehabilitate itself.

Loans for Govc>rnmcnt expenditure, in the main, will not be spent fm reproductive pur. poses bec~tusP that is not the object of the UoYl'rnn1cnt's ~pending. The GoYerum?nt sav deliberatelv t.hat they are embarkmg on~ a ln1ge u;Ovornn-:c'nta1 expcr.lditurP for the purpose of finding emplo:nner~t for peopJe who ano our of work; so that It must aad to the interest burden of the State. although there will bo no cross entry in the shape of earnings.

Additional taxation has been placed on indust.ry in two ways; first, directly, and. secondly, indirectly. Industr.': has been called upon to pav more than It c~n afford to pay. It has been twi?e penahse_d. ~t is taxPd on profits, and pnor to the Imposr· t.ion of that taxation its profits have been reduced bv certain re"'ulations and awards that it should pay o~t more than it can afford to pav. How can the country be rehabilitated?

Mr. \Y. T. KrxG: By low wages?

:vir. ,J. G. BA YLEY: I do not stand for low wages. I am glad the hon. member inter· jected at this point, because I am remmded that he quoted mf' the other da:c in an endeavour to show that I stand for low wages. I clo not stand for low wages.

A GoYERX:\IExT ME:\lBER: \Yhat do you stand for?

:VIr. J. (~. BA YLEY: I stand for the highest wagP that industry can _11ay, and no 1nan can dcr:nand Inorc than tndustry ran afford to pay.

A GovERXMEXT J\IE'\IBER: You arc prevari. eating.

ML J. G. BAYLEY: I am not prevari­cating. I do not sta]j(l for low wages. repeat that I stand for the highest wages that industry can pay.

The PRE:\IIER: How is that to bo deter­mined?

~.Ir. J. G. BA YLEY: If I hat! my waY l would abolish the Arbitration Court fo~ a period. (Government laughter.)

::\Ir. \V. 'I'. KTXG: Of course 0 ou would.

1\Ir. ,T. G. BAYLEY: If hon. mcmhers want my opinion let them listen _whilst I giYe it. I wonlu abolish the Industnal Court for fivo or ton n ars. not because I am opposed to that cotirt, but lwcause I realise the position i~ :' D serious to-da v that industry cannot bo caniod out under. anv hard and fa ,t rule. I -would br.ing in ~a. n1ini1num \Yage; 2nd that wage wonld be fixed at th~tt l;nig·ht that \Yould enable any man to livP. ~\t the same time I would bring· in a nHlYirnutn nurnber of hours so that no n1:an conld b~ con1nL·Hcd to work tnorc than a c£'r­t1 i:1 time. f would then lea\'c it to those

[4 SEPTEMBER.] Address 1:n Reply. 103

in industry, and let them form shop com­mittees, or \YhatevC'r they liked to term them, and decide how much aboYc that minimum wage should be paid out to the 1ncn engaged in the various calling~. If that were done we should haYc industrial peace in this country such as we haYe not known prc,·iously. (Interruption.)

JHr. SPEAKER: Order!

Mr .. J. G. BAYLEY: If hon. nwmbers oppo,ite are prepared to say that those \Yho are out of work to-dav shall remain out of \York for all tin1e let then1 sav ~o. Arc they prepared to sit or ·land icllv bv ancl SC'O ono-fifth of the producers of this·· coun­u:y denied the opporinnit~ of c,·:rning snffi­ClPilt to enable thPnt to keep the·ir farnil.lt's in cle,;enc,v '! If the hon. membon of iho

thi11k £1 Os. 3d. a \Yeek is sufli-for. a \Yorking lH<Ul aud hi~ \Ylfr, I

do nut. I a.:- it is f.ctr br-ttcr, if t hi~ conn­ll')-' is faced \Ylth econollJic condition;:; that are hard, for U::l all to face 1 hc·1n togr·tlwr. "Brill£ d(J\Yll ihc sta.ndanl uf li\ in0' 1

"

smneb~dy sa.y~. l do not wa11t to brin!Y ·c1~,;.n the .·tandan! of living I \Yant. to nl~tintain it. Wiil hem. mcmb~rs opposite cay that the :;;.LlrHlard of livl11g i~ !H'lu~: nwinta·iu( d by thuSt' men in J'(,'<'ipt of £1 Os. 3d. a \H\Ck, Ol' £1 7-:; 3c1. <l \YC'C'k fOl' thO~l' 1\'ho lwve orw o1· h\ o children·: There i-3 no stonda.rd of li,-ing for those Jl<'ople.

'l_Thc G?~·enuucnt nn:: Inttking the garublt>r's ~hro',Y. Ihcy nrc \\<.Uting for c-onditions to llll])l'OVr' OVPl'SCUij SO thn,t theY \Yill not haYC

t.o do tho~c thing-.;; 't,·hid! theY knoY: in thr•ir !warts they should do. If the Labour l'arty stood £or anytlling in tl1e p.a~i it ~toad for the brotherhood of man. But does the brotherhood of man mer.n that four men 1nay rcceiYc n1ore than industry can afford to pa,v, ancl because they receive more than industry can pay the fifth man has to go without? Xo parent wOldcl do it. .i\io parent, faced with the pos1t10n ,,-here he had to feed and clothe hvc childr(>ll. would say that four should be \\·ell clothed and the fifth go without. He ""'"uld see that the food and clothino· we_ro di,-iclerl equally amongst his fiy~ chlldren. If thJR Government or any Go­v.ernn1ent: or this Prtl:liament, or any~ Par­hamcnt, 1s out to. do .'ts dL<t:v to the pNlplc who sont 1t here 1t wlll not rest content till it has done son1ething to equa]i::)c conditions amongst the people under its care.

\Yl:wt urh-antag:e_ 1~ thPr~ io bo gai1wd by ;~:[utn1g for con.ditlons t? 1111proYe overseas? _._hrr? ,;-_a:-; .a? Hlcrca~c 111 our \Yool price,;;;; but F· It VlSible at tne present time'? ?\o. :\o OllC knoWS what rn·ices will lH~ obtaiw:d for our wool next season. \Yhnt are the indications at tirnr· '! Y\~hat is the po_;;;ition jn io-drJY? EYPrv hon. mcmlwr who hi'lll,L'lf with the po:-::ition. i11 Germany is prepared ·when ltc O}JC11 hH~ paper to find that G('l'nlan\·

has l'<'pncliatcd not on!· hc1· c•'Ci:<'rnnl dc,bt~s but her dornestic debts Hi' ,,-.,11. Cj-tTnwuv InU:-'t crash. \Yh('ll ::o h0 cra~h0s i ho;-;p conJ~­rrir·~ that <ll'P lH'l' 1wighhnnr-.: \\-ill .abo f<'l'1 the C'ffert~. and tlH' rcyf•rbera riol!~ \\ill b" felt. tln·ougho11t Europe. \\1,_ 0. in :-\us·~ traha. may feel the effect of it. But \YC' lwYC' been ftn'ourcd in t l1e pa,;;t ·with _p:ood !".ensons. \Yhen pric.;~ 1vcre lo-w we !l.aYr had abnorn1al seasons, \Vith excep~ t1onnlly heayy crop.;:. Tl1js ha~ eu.abl0d n~ to plough on_r \vn;: forward, but how nre ·we g01ng to Lr1dge the clifJicully of the r1ay~

ment of subsidies' How ha Ye these sub­sidies been financed? From borrowed money. This has added to the burden which we are canying and which we shall be com­pelled to carry for 1nany years.

The PHE:\JIEH: The exchange rate is the chief burden.

:\Ir. J. G. BAYLEY: Of comse, there is the exchange, but the Premier must admit that although the PXdJangP i~ a burden for GoYernincuts it has bcPn of gTPat a::-sistauco tot he primary producers. If we were deliber­l1tcly ain1ing at default \YC could not have done better than \YC ha\'E' done in buildintr tip and adding to our national debt. Thre~ ,"E. ars ago th(' bn1·dcn was n1orc than '"''e­could carrY. and to~dav \YO bavc rnade it cYcn l1cav~E'l'. .:.\re ;,ye; t,o Yiew that- faet v;ith U)lHlHimit:? Drought is ever present -v ith us, aud if the good :-?asons we l:avc had -hou~~ ~uddcnly end, what \\-"ould hap-. I'''" to tlns '! If 1\"C were in tho

lhPn \\0 \YOUJd ha yr

of OUI rx:ports ir:!. real ea ruc.-:t. riftht that \Yt' shonld ju~t v. a it

to turn np. \Ye c)\Yf' it to onl'~Pln'S thi~ countrv i.t) our~

1?~'P!)<!n-' the ~ll!p c~f Siato bd-.:n1g a ~al I lH'n'. u rpef 'hen·, o that \dH_'n

::;torru breaks npun us \Yf' shall he in n ro::-ition to '\YCathcr it. If \Y(' lJl'ing the· coo;.t of production 1·-J the le ,·cl at v:hieh ''"c (·nn :-;ell our goods 01-ersc1s at a profit ull \Yill bp \YelL and when conditions ovcr~eas IDlprOYC. if thev CYCl' clo. Jpt, u~ \Yin hack .agaii~ to th" j)osit~on \\-c once occupied. But If IYC arc to Will bac·k l-et u~ ~ee that \H~ are on tl1c san1e footing and that f ach ha~ a11 cqnal chance to \\·in back to nros-pcrity. '

..L\.lthough it. is one thing to reduce tho cof't. of liYlng as :far d the ordinarv 110ccs~ siti<'S of life arc eonccnwcl, food an'cl doth­inp-, then' i~ scarcch- nn indiYi.dual in this Stale, and there is n'o Stale, that is not free fnnn another burcku which it is ycrv difti­cult to dccrcasf'. I rder to the bur~-lcn of debL whcihcr the debts be priYaic or pub­lic. The majority of men and the majority of \Yage~earners incurred debts during pros­perous years, thinking they would be in a po,i!ion not only to pay the interest as it fell dm'. but also lo meet the pavmem of principal \dwn it should mature'. TJw,e people 110\1' find thcui:;;<~lYe:-. \\·ith a clccrf'a6inr:r incon1e and called upon to 1neet con1n1i~ rnents Vi-'hich th<~y incurre•l in Inore pros­pcrOLIS davs. That cannot be done. \Yhv cannot it be clone? It cannot be don.o· Lecanse \YC haye, a fa~sf' concC]Jtion of \Yhat mono;: really means. \Ye du not fall into a ~in1ilar error in regard to goods. Should I bon'O\Y a sack of seed pot.atoes from nn­neighbonr I do not worrv what thov cost or \Yhat the market price, mw· be. Should nota toes f,,]l to half i he price ·r do not give hi1n hYo ~acks in rC'turn for the one I bonowccl. I rcplac0 the quantity of goods I borrowed. Tho same should be clone and mwt lw done in regard to momn· transactions if 1 bis country is to sec its wav out of the

. IY<' mu% ,nbstitutc for the face of n1011ey the purchasing- po1vcr of

H101H':V, and the cqniya.Jcmt purch<.1sing power olwuld be returned.

:\lr. IV. T. Kr:-.:G: Is thi, an argument in favou1· of rednr·iug interc-="t.

'\Ir. J. G. JL\YLEY: LN Ill<' gi1e an lnstanc<' of t\YO men. One r11an '·A" .~.!:0<'., ]-c)

another llHUl " B ,. and boJTo\\·s £600 on

J/r. Brnr!ry.l

10± Address 'in Reply. [ASSE~IBLY.] AddTe.ss in Reply.

pcr,onal :-:t'ctn·ity. ~-\t t-in' Pnd of tf•n vcars thP 1oan fall~ dne a1ld he ha~ to pav :8600 in cash to liquidiltc his debt. A t hini ll!all goes to the --n.n1c 1nan ·· B" nnd sa\·.-: ... I 1vnnt to bon• .w £600 from von in o.rder to builcl a house .. , lie grauts~ hin1 the loan and the hou:"c is built. 1'hc borro\n'r i5 able to

up his interest payn1cnts Lut he i-, to wipe an;<·thing ofi his Cilpital

inLlf'l~tcdnt5:3. Bear in n1inJ thnt "B') has accepted a C\.CT the building as 111~ ~ccuritv. cnU of i('ll \Pars he

onPn \Y.onh hono· £600.

V t1H~ boust' in ~C.ttlemcnt ln the nH :1ntin1e lllOlH'Y has

it will buv wore it1 the conseqll~='lltlyv the house l ~

Ilo\YCVCl', he the <'karnJL·~~ of l1i-:. of

the other banc1. if iinH.., \\'Cre a.1Hl n1oncv v.-ould b1n· le-;~ on

(\pen nlarkf't the 'bon:'e wouhl Ytdue to probably £800, but ii wonld [!(·ceptecl in fn!l s0ttlenH'nt of a d('bt of

That princi!)lC' is <1pp1iPd throut)iJut. 15:;:.:. \Yi11 nurchasc as rnuch as coulJ

be' lH!rchasl~d •Yiti'1 £1 ten ~-ears ag·o. whirh mr·~tn::i that if a 111an borrowed £100 tcu ycil r-.: n~,'O he' ~houlcl ht' callPcl upon to repay onlY £75 to-daY bc'r lll'--f' the £75 \Yhich he

· r(~}1a\' to~ch~~ \Yonlc1 purchn~c a.s !nuch £100 '··onlcl pnrchasp when it was

If. on the other l1a11d. O'" ing to . rnonev wt'rP to decrease ln Yalue lx' HCC~~,ar: for H n1an io repay

n1or~' thaa the face Yaluo of the orjginal amount that he borro"·cd, bllt he Yvould be nl(Tely paying back the sarnc Yolurne of purchasing po\vcr, which would not be a burden U)lOll him.

:\Ir. \Y. T. E:r::m: It would not be a burden?

:VIr. J. G. B.\ YLEY: :'\o. It is jr>'t as diffictdt for a man to sa,·c £75 to-tlav as it >Yas fo1· n 11:an to tYe £100 tt'n ycai·~ ~tgo. Tt (·a.ll~ for jnst :)s tnnch Pifon to rnakP £75 to-Uav as wa-. ncc·c" -'ttr\· tl, earn £100 ten ycnr~~ ago. In othrr words, in tin1<'s of prO."-pcrity it is just a .. Pasy to earn £125 as it is to earn £1no \\·hen times arc more difficult.

:VIr. FOLEY: It ,youid Le nec-ssHy to ha Ye a uew rneasnro of Yalue'-'.

:\ll'. J. G. B.\ YLEY: TlH' measurP of \·alnt' tl1at i:::. requin•d is tltt> cll't'('ti \·encss of purchasing powPr. lf lH)tL HlC'Dll)('rs ·won1cl turn to the Cornmon•,\·palth •• Y..,.car Book" the,· would f111d the relative value of £1 at ~tiltNl period.'. There would be no diffi. cnltv about the matter at all and I cannot und('l'.'3tand \Yhy it has not been done before.

:\Ir. FOLEY: Tlwre must be some good reaso11.

:\lr. ,J. G. BAYLEY: lt l"" not lw<'ll done in the pa~t bccan~c thP fluctuation in Yahu·~ has been so s1nall. ,..-\ 1nan perhaps realised that hP wilS paying back a little greater Ya1ue in purchasing power than hP bor­rowed. but the difference was so small that he did not caYil at it. On !he other hand a lender would probably rcrdise that he vvas rccci\'ing a little less in purchasi11g power than he loaned. but tho clifiNcnce was so small that he ·also did not bother about it. I <1sk c·ou, :Mr. Speaker, and hon. mcn1bers: ho"\v arc rncn going to extricate themselves from the nosition in which they find themselves to-clav? How is the Stat'c going to extricate its-elf, how is the nation going to extricate itself 9 It cannot be done

[}Vir·. Baylcy.

un]p::;s sotn0thing along thl ~e linPs i:J adopted. I have given considerable thought to this importilllt problem and I ask hon. 1ncrnber,, to cxnrr1inP thE~ suggestion ·which I haYc crud<•l.'· placed before them this aher· noon to :::r-e if son1cthing n1ay not bo clone I o ha ,.e the value of rnonev determined '"'<'ordinl" to its -true value_:not its face ,·aim•. \Yhv should a man be called upon to rcpav £100 to-clay which ho borrowed ten

J'~ <Hro if it really tncnns that he is rcpay­nn inc:rf'H~~'cl purchnsi11g power? Iie nlrt~·

]· l'"'·i11~· th<• r·quivalent of £125. or at ~lllnthel' tin1P jt 111ay be i.hc cquiYalcnt of £85.

;\[r. \YATr:n;c.: If Labour memlwr sue:· gt .sted that he \YOnld be Lrandcd ns u-n adyocato of repudiation.

1\lr. (;. fL\YLEY: I tm,l that I :u11 suftlciPJlt broacl-JnilHlC'd--~ts are other hon. rncntbC'r~ i!l this 1-Iousc-to accept anything that will bear Investigrtion. I mu satisfied that in no od1cr \Yay can we g(_•t out of cur difliculty.

T!w Pnn11ER: To ap[lly yonr methocl t h Pro \YOU ld lm \'O to be a rise as \Yell as a fall.

:\h. ,J. G B.\ YLEY: Of COllu('. hrLw :;;aid that \\hen there i~ a fall in thP Yalnc of IHOIH~v a per~on wou1d haYe to repay tnor•' in tl1o liquidation of his debt ilnd that \Yhen there \\'as a ri::;c in the value of money be shoulcl be called upon to pay less.

The~ PRE\IIER: In applying that method or principle the c1ifficulty would be to an'lYe at a 'ta,·ting point, to fix the date from \Yhich anY ri~e or fall \\'Onld con1n1cnce and to fix the' Lilsis of value.

Mr. J. G. BAYLEY: Tl, Con>momw,,lth Stari:;;tician ~ets ont th(' Yahw of thP £1. For instance. he shows that in 1934, 15s. 7d. would rurchas<• '"hat £1 purchased in 1924; that m 1919 it took 18s. 9d. and so on. That 1s thP real Yahw of money: that is !he teot of money-what it "·ill bl'ly.

The Pnt:::.rrEH: In the nliimatr- what ~von are adYocating is what j,, lniO\Yn as the goods standard.

::\lr. ,J. G. BAYLEY: That is ,o. What I want i~ tnotlev to be ba~ccl on it~ purchasing. not on its faCe Yaluc.

ThPrc arc other rnattns 1 had intended to spc ,k on '"hich I shall lr aYe to a later stage. I a:-,k hon. n1E'111bers to consider rny remarks, becrLuse to mv mind anything is better than ddault and 'I clo not see how we can pos­sibl~, 11~y ihe~e cnorrr1ous debts unle~s sorne equitable .;cheme is thought out.

::\1<'. LLE\YELYN (Toou·oomba) [2.50 p.rn.]: I dc-~ire. with hon. members on tlus sicle to YOlCE' n1v ronrrratulntton.::. to tlw ~noY'cr and scconde'i· of t!~e .AddrP~s in Reply, and to expres~ lll:V agtcen1ent \Yith the senti­lllC'nts in the rc~olutions.

TllC' hon. n1c1nbcr vvho has just resumed his eeat shlccl that yyhc•n,thc ~loore Gm·ern· rrwnt \Yere in po\vcr t11C'? had sho\vn con­si(lcration and svm11aihv for th~-. unemployed. I challcn~c the- hon. rnember for \Yynnum in taking bus to task in that connection. The adminidration of unem)Jloyment relief by the Departm0nt of I~abour and Industry. which givee effect to the policv of the Govern· men!, at all times shu\YS the greatest regard. con istentlv with the finances at our disposal. and does the best possible for the unfortunate

~1·1d ·,.38 in Reply. [4 SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 105

men out of wade The hon. member for \Vnmum challenged us to say whether >YC a•;ree that £1 ner week is sufficient to keep ac-man·if'd 1nan

1

and his wife, in addition to paYing· rent. ~f'\-er in the hiP-iory of the La.bo,;,. Partv haYc we e1·er contended that r-uch a snn1' would proYide anything like the n h~olutr nePds of a n1an and hi::; wife'. I rc~ent the irnplicatiou conting frorn the hon. n:PJnLcr for \Yynrnnn that we han~ not at all times :-3hO\Yll tbe g-rcate:;;t syn1pathy for the n'licf workPr. \Yhen ,~ e lC'ft offiCl' ;n 1929 as official records show, 14.000 men ~n•rc ~'ntcrccl as unmnployed. Iu 1932 these f1gurn had increased to 24.000. Tlwre were 14.000 men \'. ho could not n•,·ciYc anv benefit from the Moore-Barnes G01·ern· ment relief scheme. The Labour GoYernment made the conditions of the unemployment reliPf scheme much more liberal. which enabled these 14,000 married men to qualify for intermittent relief work and ration allow· ance. \Vo, as a part~~, again consi:-tontly Yrith tbe resources at our disposal, have done all that is humanly possible for the rmetn· played. l join with hon. members on tlns ;;;ido and sorne hon. mon1llers on the other ~idc of the Honsc in hopin~r that COllditioHs will :::o itnpl'OYC' as s>.:ill enable the Sccn-·tary fer Labour and fndustr:v to do eYL'll mort• than is l:cin!.!,· don0 at the ]H"C'scnt tin1e. l-1ow often have,_ '"-p hPtu·d thP phrase, ''The brotherhood of mctn ':'' \Ylmt an empT)' ph:!:ase it iP ~ -Cndcl' the lat Gove1·nn1ent'~ adtninistration !-'in'r1e IlJPn v.,Tl'f' COllll>Pl1cd

to trnvel 20 iuilP-: in onler to qualify for a 1·ation a11owancP. J-lon. ntctnbt'r~ 011110::>itf' ta 1k "\Yith th0ir tongues in their check;3 about the brothNhood of malL

i\lr. ::\'nuro: \Vho introduced that system'!

-:\lr. LLE"WELY:\1": The Government which the hon. member supported. It was a com· mnn spectacle in the city of Brisbane to see group.s of young me1:. standing at <?orncrs \\"flitina· to hail pass1ng 1notor lorncs on which "thcv could b·a,-cl to Ipswich so that thc:v 1nigh.t secure rations. The acid test of the principle of the brotherhood of man has been well applied to both sides, and the Lnbour GovernmPnt haYo erncrgcd frcnn the test much more succcssfrdly than their prede-CC':-)-::,Ql'S.

I notice >Yith some pleasure that the foreshadowed for consideration by

Parliament include a Landlord and Tl•nants Bill arod an .\pprPnticcs and :Minors Act ~\menclnwnt Bill. Although I am not in possc::.«ion of information, I '\vonlrl express the ho11C that the amcnctinp; lPg-isJntion in refer NICC to the law of landlord ancl tenant o)!Ollld pl"L"'Cl'YC the C'C]Uity Of husinecs people who ,,,ll furniture on the crE·dit system. The present law on th,-, subject, which was enacted in 1867, is antiquated. having regard to modern conditions. Tt was my pleasure to hand to the Attorney-General a petition from the lmsinc•v, people of Toowoomba urging thnt thi~ amending l('gislation be enacted during the current session.

iYbilc we cannot expect all that \YO would like to have embodied in the Apprentices nud -:\Iinor.s .Act .AmenclmenL Hill which is foreshad<liYecl, I \YotJld express the hope that the repugnant features of the "junior jour~ nPynlcn " bl' eliminated. Onco a person has serYccl 1-lve vPars at a trade and has cmn­pletcd his i;1dentures, he should be recog­nised as a fully qualified journcn11an and paid the full award rato applicable to his trade.

Reference has been made in this debate to tl1c recent East Toowoomba by-election, and because that electorate adjoins my own, I feel the duty devolves upon me to make s'lrne commer:t on the matter. Certain state. ments have heen made which I certainly challenge. 'l'he statement made by the hon. member for Oxlev-that the Government spent £2,500 in trying to win that by-election -is untrue.

Mr. Nnnto: How much did they spend?

Mr. LLE\YEL YN : I do not know the exact figure, but it '\Yas a nominal an1ount only.

Mr. Nnmo : Y Oll. could get free beer there au;·~ ti1ne, you know !

::\lr. LLEWELYN: Such a remark is out of place in a deliberative As,'embly charged >vith the responsibility of passing legislation for the benefit of the people. Morcoyer, 1t is a reflection on the intelligence of the members of this House, and I resent it. I worked Yerv hard in that by-election to win the seat fo.r Labour, and I say quite defi. nitely that no one enjoyed beer or spirits at my f!xpcnsc. The remark made by the hon. member for Oxlev infers that Labour people can be purchased, and I resent such a remark. The campaign in the recent by­election was fought vigorously and fair]~, by both sides. Hon. members opposite talk about spending money, but I venture to say that if a statement of the amount spent in that bv-c!ection were available. it would dis­close that a greater sum was spent by the 1'\ationalists than by our own people. I know without any shadow of doubt of two can~ ;·assers who received £25 each. There was not 0110 canyasscr on the Laboq_r side v;ho f('C~iYcd any n1oney at all.

l\Tr. J\:1_\HER: I paid all nl:v 0'\Yll exrlcn~c:;:.

J\Jr. LLE\YEL Y~: The ho11. rn0m!wr \\ ao not n. canya.:.o:;cr: he wa:;; ihcre in the intcrPst:; of hi~ 11arty. Good luck to th(' l1on. rnc•n'Jher for he1pin£· ltis part.;~ 1 1hi11k tLP. l1ot1. g-e11tlcman probably rendered good SCl'\'ICe to his party.

A11othcr f'tatcn1ent tha.t was tnadc '\Ya;::. the number on the roll \\as LOOO ruorC'

the case at tlH• gc1wral clPrtion. There no1hing \'er.\- grayc nhout tlt It n1u:;;t

l:o r<'nH'mb,,rcd that hmu 1929 np to the recent election there had n<:'Yer boon an elPdo..al ca1wass by the police for the puq1ose of lJutting nan1f'· on thp rnl1. ::\otwith­~tanding the grf'rtt ach-nntage ancl pric£>les~ prlYilPg'P of Yoiln,g at the h:1llot-box. we h:c1·r to admit-rather mcllv-that th1're are a grr'~tt nnmbr'r of onr ppoplc who clo not ~n to thC' troHlJ!e of gd:ting their lHlrtleS

nlnn•cl on the ro11; and it bcconl('~ llccr".:::ary f0r the GoYrnnnrnt to :-:('"'1d ITiC'nlbcr~ of the police for< 3 to sc•c that the name of tlmso ]'f'op1c arc put on the roll. 1 arn ·;lacl to sa:v tllP Attonw,·-Gpnf'ral in thi~ in~tsncr did so. ancl it \Yas· four,d that a gn_'nt rntrrtbt:r of J1<'ople who \\'Ne cni iilcd to Yotc were not on th(' roll. Th(' ren;:;on ,vhy r.o police WC'Ht

round prior to tl1c c:encral c]pction in 1932 '\Yas to be fonncl i1,1 the parsltnonious out 1ook ef the }Toore Gon·rnment: or thev apJlarcntl~,- thoup;l1t th,ct the Labour ~llJj~ portr r, were too lackadllisica] to ha Ye their namc·c put on the rol! and that their own :-upportcrs vrould rlo so.

Yir. EowARnS: That statement coincid<'S with your aclion in the baekyard.

1111·. Llewelyn.]

106 Address in Reply. [ASSE1.\IBLY.] Address in Reply .

.Yl:r. SPEAKER : Order ! The hon. mem­ber for :\"anango has ddiberately disregarded my call to order several times this after­uoon. The hon. member will be named without further warning if he persists.

:Vlr. LLEWEL 'I"<: This is not the first time I have had interjections levelled at me <>cro'·s the House by the hon. member for ~ anango; perhaps, for the information of members, I should refer to what the hon. rnt'Inber means. Some tirne ago a certain Cash and Carry Companv in Toowoomba >vcre working their emplo'Yees at <>ll hours in the morning and aftct: hours at night and I felt it my duty to draw the atten: tlon of the inspector of labour to the conduct of that company. That is what the hon. gentleman is referring to when he speaks about the "back card." There was no back yard in the pictm:e at all.

I have explained fully in regard to the increase of 1,000 in the number of names on the Toowoomba roll and I claim that every elector on that roll was entitled to bo there.

It will be remembered that the Govern­Jnent appointed a royal coinnlission to InakP certain inquiries relating to the wherrtgrowers and the flour millers. The reason for the appointment of that eorr1n1is~ion \Vas that Southern wheat was being used in this State and no Queensland wherrt was being consumed, and there was no prospect of a reconciliation between the \Yhoat Board on the one hand and the millers on the other hand.

Thoro >Yas great danger of loss resulting from wecYils and mice as well as other factors. 1\o formula existed for the sale of wheat, but the Commissioner, M.r. J. D. Roes, cndea.-oured to find one, He made an exhaustive inquiry into all phases of the industry. There was a diversity of opinion an1ong the various interests in respect to the operations of the \\Theat Board. Unques­tionably grievances were ventilated before rlw Commissioner, but it resulted in a better understanding between !Joth tho wheat­growers and the "Wheat Board. From the information obtained by lHr. Ross it was po,sib]c, to formulate some scheme for nego­tiations hot>, ecm tho millero and the board vchich led to a favourable termination of the trouble. It cannot be denied that, largely dnc to tho wo1·k of the comn1ission. a svste1'l1 v:as C'Yolved for the sale of the Queensland "·heat which, I trust, will have a permanent ,-alue.

There has been considerable agitation on tlw Darling Downs in favour of the wheat­gr.o\vcrs owning their O\Vll co~operativo flour nnlls, and I cannot '"o whY such a venture should not be successfuL Up to the present co-opcntti.-e schemes in respect of primary products ha.-o been more or less successful, m1d I see no reaso~1 why the co-operati.-o ownership of flour mills should not meet with simiiar success. 'When we look back over the past fhe or six yenrs, we cannot but see that the flour milling indu::.:trics ]HlY0 rnado fabu­lous pmfits. \Yore the growers to make onl,· 10 per cent. or 15 per cent. on the capital invested in a co-operatiye mill it >Yould at least mean that"the gro>vers them­sch·es v;ould rr.,,ciYe a higher price for their product and the consumer would pay a lower price for his bread.

Mr. NICKLI:\ (llurrurnba) [3.10 p.m.]: I must say that the contents of the Speech read by His Excellency at the opening of this Parliament were not very inspiring or

[Mr. Llewelyn.

very .holpfLil to the people of the State. In the wording 0 f that Speech the Government went to a great deal of trouble in an endeavour to show how conditions have improved in Queensland. Metaphorically they patted themselves on the back in regard to achteYements which thoy said were brought about by them. I feel, too, that something more palp>tble than the legislative proposals emunera tecl in the Speech could ·have been presented to this House. Before proceeding fnr.ther I would like to add my congratu­latiOns, as ha.-e other members of this House to His Excellencv for the interest he ha~ shown in thi, State. its people and its industries. Sinc2 his 'coming to Queensland he has made every endeavour to ascertain the capabilitic> of this State from first-hand knowledge, He has mixed with all sections of the community. 'The people of Queens­land have taken him to their hearts. \Ve are indeed fortunate in having such a capable ;epresentativc of His Ma_jesty the King. It Is pleasmg to note the Improvement which has been shown in the budgetary position ~ut it is not pleasing to contemplate ho,.; It was brought about. Very little credit can be given to the Government for the improvement. Any improvement which has CO~(' about has occurred, in my opinion, in spite of the efforts of the Government and is a credit to the resources of this State. In fact, when we consider the burden of tJ.xation on the people, it is greatly to the credit of the resources of Queensland that any Improvement at all has been >hown.

vV e can never get out of our present diffi­culty by the expenditure of large sums of loan money. Some relief will ha.-e to be given to the taxpa,·ers of this State so that priYa!e onterpris~ :~'.1n carry out its proper func<wn of prov1dmg v. ork for onr people. Statistics show that the taxpayers of the Commonwealth are contributing- £14 4s. a head, or practically 30 per cent, of tho .-alue of pmduction, towards taxation. In Queens­land taxatwn amounts to £5 4s. 6cl. a head. Ju,,t r~'cently, the Atbtralian Fertiliser Com­pany 1n presenting its annual balance-sheet to its shareholders said-

" Taxation exceeds office and factorv C'xpenses and salaric3 of the organis;­tion."

That is a sad comment'tr" on the state of afbirs in Queensland. The burden of taxation "·hi,ch thi:s industry has to bear-dealing as It ttocs JHectl~ 1nth tho pri1nar.v producers of the State~Is passed on to the primary procl_ucet:s and thus adds to the cost of pro­ductiOn m industry.

To. sum up th'D political and economic position facing- u.s in _...\.nstralia to-day, I c mnot do better than quote this article, wh1ch recently appeared in a Southern paper-

" Is it better to keep our taxes high and ~naintain a large arn1y of superfluous pubhc son·ants and a still larger armv of unemployed or to roduco our taxes 'and trust that the reduction will lead to greater pri.-atc employment? It is quite obnous some GoYornrnents >Youlcl prefer to take the latter course. but are afraid to put the matter serioi1slv to the test There would be no risk if a reductio~ of taxes wPre made dependent upon an mcroase of employment. Under the pro­~ent la1v~ everrwhere in Australia a man IS penahs:cl, not fo: withholding- employ­ment which he might reasonably give but for gi.-ing it." '

Acldrtss in Reply. [ 4 SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 107

That is very true, and it is the only way in ''Thich we can obtain any pennanent irn­provcment in the State or Commonwealth. "\Vhen the present Government were on the hustings one of the main planks of their platform was that taxation would be reduced in this State, but since their return to power thev have increaoed that burden verv con­siderably. The super land tax was· reim­posed to yield £130,000. It is claimed by the majority of hon. nwmb0rs OllpositC' that this tax, in the main, is levied upon Queen sttc et properties. That may be so, but the fact is that it falls very heavily on some of our rural industries too. EYell if it did fall entirely upon Queen street properties, whv dwuld those properties be singled out for' a special form of taxation? The cost is passed on in lhe increased selling price of goods, and in tho long run has to be borne by the working people of the State. The Goverrunent jncreased inco1ne taxation to yield an additional £270,000 and increased railway fares and freights to return an addi­tional £325,000. The worst feature of the increased fares and freights is the fact that they have been extracted from the people in the country, and that when the increase was made the metropolitan area was ver" unfairlv excluded. Thus the people who a"re not ii':t receipt of regular incon1es and ha Ye to a verv large extent to depend 'upon the vagaries of the weather for their returns were called upon to bear this extra burden. Motor trans­port fees were inrreased to vield £48 045 and the unemployment relief tax \vas inc/ea-;ed to yield an additional £486.000. In addition, a sum of over £500 000 was transferred from the Main Road~ Fund to consolidated reYcnuc, n1aking a total increase in taxation inflicted upon the people of Queensland by the present Government of £1,759.000. That is no way in \Yhich to restore prosperitv and to improve the conditions of the people.

I should like to make a comparison lwtweni lhe efforts which ha 1·e been niade by tb" pre­sent Government in Queensland with the record of the Stcnms Government in J'\ew Sonth \V ales. The Stevens Government were returned to power in lhat State a bout the .sanw time as the prC'scnt Go-..-C'nnnent \Ycre elected in Queensland. but the former Go­yc·rnrncnt rcrtliscd tl1at a greater rnca::-nre of Hllpi'OYC'E1C'nt 'You1d be brouo·ht abont bv giY­

ing pri ,·at{' C'ntcrpr1sn a ch:nc,· to rel;abili­tate itself rather than bv a lavish expencliturc of loan l1101H'Y which \Yould re,;;.ult in increa-,,.:~d taxation. Fp to 4th March this vcar the annual concessions gin:~n bv the Ste~~cns Go­YPrnment to the tnxna''e.rs o[ that State amounted to £6.249.371. ·

This \ms ronsideralJlc relief indeed to the taxpayer and further reli0f }ws since· bPen giYf'n. The~ r0durticm;:, in taxation :•nd con­cessions are as follov;;s:-

HaihY;JY::; and trannvavs Gncmployment relief tax Incon1c tax Fan1ily cndowrnent tax Stamp duties Harbour bricl&c tax Svdncv Ha~rbour- export

· cha1;g-es Land settlement, rentals. etc. W a i·c r and Sewerage Board

interest Murrumbidgeo irrigation

area.

Total

£1. '·2=,20~ 1.900.0'(1

250.000 1.500.000

15(_).000 50.0~0

24.00'J 678,COO

245,472

68,699

£6,294,371

The total mnnber of unemployed in :\ew South \Vales has been reduced from 200.000 -a figure which it reached as a result of the administration of the Lang Covernmeut -to between 80,000 and 90,000, while 55.000 1nen engaged on Goycrn1nent relief work have been reabsorbed in ordinary occupa­tions. That is a very important point. How 1na1H~ n1cn in Qnecnslancl have been rcab­sorbcd in their ordinar,1· occupations? un­fortunately, too few. \\'e fmd also that as a result of the <mrk of the Stcvcns GO\·ern­ment in Kew South \Yales condition' haYe improved to such an extent that the number cf employees in factories is the greatest since 1929; that the Savings B:mk balances have increased, that motor registrations have increased, and that during the last eighteen months the new buildings erected in Sydney and mburbs cost IWarly £3,000,000 more than in the last eighteen months of the Lang Government. The relief workers of New South "\Vales get thirty hours a week work at award rate''· Compare those facts and conditions with those in Queensland,

ScYeral speakers in this debate on the Government side have claimed that unem­plovment in Queensland has been reduced. The last figures show a very slight decrease, but not so gTcat as we would like, and nothing to compare with the decrease in J'\ew South Wales. Against that slig'ht dccreaee we find that loan expenditure is increasing. Eventually~ of course, interest on this loan money will have to be met by the imposition of additional taxation. In Queensland taxation has increased, and the public debt has abo increased. The deficits for the three years of office of the present GO\·crnmcnt \vill be greater than the deficits of the previous Government. \Vhen we con­sider the position in 1\' ew South \Vales and the position in Queensland it must be con­ceded that the policy being Jmr,;ucd in Queensland will not assist to get us out of our present difliculties. l~ntil we can assist industry by relieving it of taxation we shall not acs~st industry to absorb n1ore \vorkers in its operations.

It is mv intention to deal with the unem­ployment· relief tax and its incidence on the producers. The hon. member for Maree claiHwd that there had been a vPrv con­sidc•rab1e r0durtion in the number of~ unenl-· plo:vPCl. llis figurPs ·he c0d that there were 26.000 uncmplo' ,,cl in Queensland at th0 present tiuw, although these figtues arc not borne out bv the "Econon1ic Ke,vs." Keve-r­thclc55. I hope they are ronect, because no one \Yishes to !JclieYe that unemployment is

than it really is. If unernp1oyrnent iu fact been re::duced then an excellent

ca:"e has been rnade for a reduction of the present burden of relief taxation. If there is not the ~alttC nun1bcr of unen1ployed to­day why should the present rate of uncm­plopnent relief t<1x bo continued, and why shoal<! £2.000.000 per annum bo extorted from the ]lockets of tlH' p<'O]lle when it could verv well be utilised in revitalising industry as \vcll as giYing son1c relief to thP burdens of the small producers'! In my own district rnan~7 producers arc seriously en1barrasscd. be the relief tax. Because of the low prices of their products these people are actually liYing on a lower scale than the unemployed relief worker, yet each year they receive from the Commissioner of Taxes an assess­ment for a considerable amount for relief tax. They have not got the money to pay it, yet

Jib·. Nicklin.]

108 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] AddJ"Css in Reply.

are asked to bear this ?urd~nsome tax. These producers arc cxpendmg m t~e neces­sities of lifil a sum less than that paid to the relief worker. I hope that when the Trea­surer brings down his Budget he wdl sho;v economies \vhich will result in reducmg th1s class of tax, more particularly_ as i~ affects the small producer. Such relief will assist them to live as they should.

I also draw attention to the policy of the Government in asking farmers and IT!en on the land to sign bonds that any ass1sta~ce they get from the Unemployment Rel!ef Fund will be repaid. Wh} the cliffere~tia; tion between sectwns of the commt:mty. The unemployed man in _other sp~eres Is not asked to repay money giVen to h1m by way of relief work, but the ma1_1 on. the land, who may be in a worse posi twn, IS asl~ed to give tho undertaking that I have mentiOned. I give credit to the department for that up to elate no man has been pressed to fulfil his obligations under such a bond; neverthe­less, the principle is wrong.

Reference is made in the Governor's Speech to the banana settlements ''"hi eh w<;>re estab­lished last year. I supported the maugura­tion of those settlements as a means "·hereby the men concerned would Le enabled . to establish thernseh·es in an inclqstry which offered ~ornr pro-.;pects. Cnfortunai<'ly, con­ditions in the last twel:ve months have not been bright, and the indications f?r the next twel:ve months are not 'ncouragn1g; but I firmlv believe, as do others in clos: tou~h with -the industry, that banana-growing \VIll

once again "cornc .good,'' and that th~se settlers concerned w1ll have an opportumty to succeed. Unfortunately, considerable hungling has milita"tecl against the succe"sful establishment of some of those settlements. \Yhcn the scheme was introduced, It was sug­,t.!'e~:tcd that tho co-011era tion of gro\vers ~n the recpecti:vo distric:ts should bo_ l!Woked m the selection and scttmg out of suitable are-as. Tt wns an excellent idea, S{'Ci11g that no one is better acquainted with ihe _capabilities of u district th~n lonl people With expol'lencc. It is regrettable, therefore, that the r~eom­mcnclations made by these local comm_Ittces ,,-ere not a !ways followed, to the dctnment of settlement. Through the co­

n£ the ba1Jana P..ectionnl grou11 con1· Monn t :\t[eo the scrub was felled

more rhenplv than \\'Onkl_havo ca!3-c under dcpartn10ntal Sllllcn~Islon.

\Yas proceeding splendidly a rroorl bnrn-off until some rain fell

the~ date selected for burning the scrub. The experienced person knmvs that it is no nsc burning ~crub jnst nfter rain has fn1lcn: but althongh advic(~ lvas giv0n that it would not be possible to burn for a woo!<, the scrnb \Yas set alight because a. ~orta1~ dr to had bPcn set down for the burmng-off. Thr result was that the settlers concerned took twice as long to get the land re'lcly for nlrrnting-, nnd that imposed a check from ;Yhich the settlement has not yet rcco:vcred. Sornrthing similar o~currccl at. Mndgceraba. In the first place. 1t was deCided that the sm·nb should be foll,•d by Hw men themselves. A consicierable number of these men, how­c:vor. had not eYen an elementary knowledge of scrub falling, which is a job for an expert. 1n consequence, just after the \York started, expert nxcm0n had to be brot!ght in to comM pleto tlw falling of the scrub, \Yit~ the result that a " burn " was not made until February of this year, about four months too late.

[Mr. Nicklin.

That settlement will be twelve month_s b_ehind in banana prodnction. These are mCiclents which discourage intending settlers. Ever:)' assistance should be given to such men, and I may say that local growers are only ~oo willing to assist in the way of helpful adviCe. If such ad Yice \Ye re sought and acted upon, a different result would be achieved. Further up the North Coast line, at Cooran and outside Eumundi, where expert growers were selected . for the carrying out of the banana settlmncnt .scheu1e~, the ~et.tl.0mcnt~ arC' going ahead. T!tcro \Yas 110 dcpar~rncntal int(~rference or Lnngling in the estabh8lunent of those settlements, and I sincerely hope that the results of the bungling which unfor­tunatelY occurred in the two settlements I have pl·eviously mentioned_ will prove . an object lesson on the necessity of acceptmg the advice of men who ,n'e competent and

illing to give it.

Another matter which is of serious concern to the fruit industry and which I desire to refer to the Home Secretary, is the proposal of the Brisbane City Council to banish fruit barrows from the streets of this city. Such an action would be detrimental, not only to the fruitgrowers, but also to the con­smning public of Qnccn,land. The _reason put fonYard for the 1:emoval of. frmt bar­rows from the streets Is that their presence there is detrimental to the free flow of traflic in the city. I am familiar with the location of the majority of the twent;~·-seven f'ites occupied by barro-ws in :pri~banP, a_nd I ,tnl unable to st•e how they mterfero with the free flow of traffic. _\s an illustration of the Y<duo of tho activities of tlwse bar­rowml'n to the fruit indnstry in Queens­land it should be remembered that each \·en r' tlw tiYcntY-seven barrowrnon in Bri~­baue sell owr £30.000 ''"mth of fruit. They rlo not lwndlc fruit of the lo,scr grades, but Lllit of good quality. rrhey oficr a quick ouCrt dur!11g a glut. pt:riod,. and ~hat j" Ycr,v in1110nant to the fnutgrcn; crs.

last deciduous fruit sca'1on there of in tho J3ri,bane mar-

ket. of .agcnh offered those grapes to \Yero acquainted IYith

palc1 according to the In

plns gn1jn'" IYCl'C' disposed 111011 <U'(' nf a, lstnllc-e to ihc·:v a]-,o t•uahle the' consu1ning obtaiiJ fl'Llii at a ohoapor mtc

the sur-

\Ymtld haYc at t.ho <hops. 'IlH' ro1. men prjnciplc of a qujcl-:

obscnod them agToo that the fmit \\·ell displaYed.

The hOn. nH~n1ber for Caruarvun has said that iht•rc occa~imJs 1: hen n1ight bo canght tho barro\Yl11Cn. n1ay Jw,~o bren case P ... fc·\v yca1·s ago, but

barrovanen to-day a."!·e cxc0llent types. City Council propose 0

" to limit them to thrC'c sit:-::;:;, one nt the rni~\vay 'ards, one 'lt \YoollooHgabba, and one <tt the Valley. I' that is done the Larrowmen will not sell 3r).~00 ncncc worth of frnit. let nlone £30,000- \\'Orth in twelve months; because 11eoplc arc not going· to tho:"c places to obtain !heir fruit the lionw Secretary, in the frnitgTO\Ycr~ of Qnernsland, 'vill UEA iuHucncc \Vith the City c·ouncil anfl prevent snch a ]n·opo~al f1:01n being put into opcrai ion.

Another paragraph Speech dc'als with the

in the Governor's proposed amendment

Address in Reply. [ 4 SEPTE~IBER. J Address m Reply. 109

uf the "-Iain Roads Acts to alter the terms of repayment by local at~thorities. Th;:t is ouc of the (rood legislatlYE' n1easures 1t IS intencleu to ''introduce this session. J\L:tny Jocal authorities in Queensland are descrying of relief from the high rate of payments which the .. · arc- making. In the early clays of the J\1aiu Roads Board mam: roads were {'GIHtruct.C:'cl, n;ore or loss of an ~oxperirncHtal nature, and cost considerably more than they would if they were uuilt to-clay. 'rhc local authorities are thus paymg for the knowledo-e o·aincd bv the l\1ain Hoach Board in those~ d~ys. I hope the object of this amending Act ,,-ill be to relieve those rate­payers and lon1l aut)1orities of the heavy burden they an: carrymg.

T'hcre is one item of legislation which was forecast in the GoYernor's Speech in the f'trc.t se<csion of this Parliament which has not vet ocen the light of day, that is, the proposed Milk Bill. 'That Bill canoed a con­siderable an1ount of discussion. No section of the prin1ary producer,, is deserving of more consideration than the milk producers. At t hA present time they arc receiving 6~d. and 7d. for theit colcl milk which is being retailed at 2~. a gallon in the city. Tho warrn 111ilk producer~ rccc·iY(' 2d. a gallon n1ore; but that is not snffieient eo1npPnsation for the1n ·when one considers tho arduous conditions under which they labour. That 6~d. per e·allon is not a fair price for the producers of n1ilk when it is being retailed in the city at 2e. per g-allon, and there is a margin some­where which calls for legislation designed to nssist the producers. In J'\ew South \Vales a :>.1ilk Bortrd is operating very successfully, That board fixed the price at ls. per gallon to the producer and the commodity was rt't.,~ilcd in the City of Svdncy at the same price as obtains here in Brisbane, whereas the Qw'cnslo nd producer receives only 6~d. per o·nllon.

The : What happene-d to the Bill L11at the n1C111be1~ for Cooroora \\·as going lo introduce':

::\_~r. :=--.~ICKLI:\: I con~idc1' that the party 1;-1 ·which I lJ:long ~hou1d haYe introduced that Hill. The tlwn Secretary for Agriculture did c-o to the e-xtent of framing legislation and

r1oubt hi~ efforts arc in the record.:; of T}~]Htrhucnt of AgriC"ulture. I-10 dicl all prol1rni11ar:v \York and the spade \YOrk left all his information for the benefit

Go\-ornnlent -who could lun~o in the Bill. One c\l'C:UlYWnt that has

achanccd i" that il. \H)nld lead to lhe of the cost of milk in this city.

not boc·n the ca:.c in other have controlled milk

is that 11y th(' pcop1C'. The

n1ado a sten fonYard

of snch

, the supply in the Yanous Qucensla11cl by introUncing " certificated •;Jilk." \lthongh that is a 8top in the right ,iirection, unfortunatelv it will not assist the milk industry at all. ' Then• are yery fe'V producers \Vho can afford the cxpen:::o of having their herds certified. The cost would be so great that it would increase the price of milk to the consumer. That is not \Yhat V\i8 de<:; ire. Our ain1 is to have legislation which will give the producer a fair deal, give t,he consumers a fair deal. and in addition give the latter a better milk supply than is enjoyed at present. The producers have despaired of obtaining a l\1iik Bill and are

ondea.Youring to organi:"c under the Prin1ar_y Producers' Co-operative c\ssociations Act and form a :Yiilk Board. I hope that when their proposals are placed before the Secretary for Agriculture he will giYe then1 every con­sideration and will agree to its formation. That course 1vould be of great assistance to the milk producers of Queensland.

The PRKC\IIEH (Hon. W. Forgan Smith, Jiackay) [3.40 p.m.], who was received with Government cheers, said: On the Address in Heply it is natural that hon. members should avail themselves of the opportunity to review and comment on the effect of the polio: carried out by the existing GoYernmen:. Indeed, that is the reason for this debate and from that point of Yiew it is a Yaluable part of the work of Parliament. I wish to take this opportunity of congratulating the hon. members v:ho moved and seconded the Address in Reply. 'Their speeches were admirable and to the point. They indicated a deep kno\l·ledge of fundamental political principles. I also, in common with other n1ernbers, recognise the value of the work of His Excellencv in his Yisits to the various parts of the s·tate. The present occupant of the office of GoYernm' has carried out his duties conscientiously and well and is doing good work in the interests of this State.

Hon. members opposite \vho have spoken during thi,; debate have reYiewed the past and have endeanmred to giYe it the colour !bat snits tlwm by offering their 0\Yn e'<plana­tion of its c\-ent,. The real test of the sue­cc:-;, or othcrvYiso of a Governrncnt is the rcsnlls that ha,·e been achieved. This Go­YPrnuicnt haYc bPcn in office for tvYo Years. Tl:cy follO\\'(>tl the :\Ioorn Govornnwn( and it is fair to appl0· the test of the condition of the JWople ancl the State at the period \Yhen thPv took office and that which obtains to-dcv. 'rhere <·an be no doubt that when we tOok ofR('o there \nb n:corcl Ullemploy-1nent, a lack of conftdonco ge1H'rally i11 the cornu1unity, busine''.; :-:~tagnation, and a deplC'tcd Trcasary as COlllparcd v,'ith the 1wnd;qnJc t ::t::-h balance ,--hich the }loorc Go·

\Yhcn they took office. to the fact that the l\loorc

GoYC'lTlnlcnt rncrol~~ pnrSlH'd a deflationist policy in all -its inh'nsity, in other in1portant rc~r:eeb displaying a supine ina{'tivity.

That wrt of policy was altered by the llrescnt Govenlnlcnt and a ( Dn11ncncen1cnt \i·as 1nadc \Yith a ne\\· policy at the first Premiers' Conference held immcdiatelv after \YC as~n1necl oificc. ~c-\t tlu1t collfercnc8 there Yi·crc three~ reprcsentutiYcs of three new Con~rnnH'nt-;, and, a.s a, con"CC1neuce, thero v a:-; iucvitabl5~ a change of policy. That chan-:-.~·e founcl its expression in a public 1vorks vrogntll1111(' throughout the ConH110nwealth of Australia. Whilst that, in itself, is not put forward as the remedy for existing social and economic evils, vet "JO definitely declare that it is a policy that is in the best immediate interests of the people of Aus­tralia. and so far .as recoverv has boon effected in this or in anv other State it dates from the time \vhcn tl;at policy was intro­c1uccd. The change in attitude on the part of the Australian Governments was summed up in my amendment to the effect that public policy be so conducted as to provide "\Vork and \vageq for those of our citizens _,-ho then had neither. That is the basis not only of the policy in Queensland but also of the policy being carried out by all the Governments in Australia to-day, and when

Hon. W. Forgan .Smith.]

llO Address in Reply. [ASSKY1BLY.] Address m Reply.

hon. members opposite condemn that policy thev are therefore, in son1o cases, condeinu­ing' the 'political parties to which they owe allegiance.

It is rather amu:oing to consider that fact in the light of quotations about what has happened in Queensland and in Victoria. It is claimed, and claimed with truth, that conditions have materially impro\'ed in Aus­tralia during the past two or three years. It would he stupid and wrong to deny that improvement. There has been a restoratiOn of confidence; there has been an increase in employment; t.he people look forward io the future with a greater degree of happl­Hess and equanimity than was po,sible before. And to the extent that improve­ment has been effected it is due to the rneasuro in which effect has been given to the Labour policy in this and in other States.

The question of unemployment has been dealt with by the Leader of the Opposition and his supporters. I propose to quote tho I a test figures dealing with the problem, the tables compiled by the Commonwealth Statistician It may bo argued that they aro not a complete index of the poc.ition, but if thcv are taken as between State and Stato over ~ period of years they are sound for comparatinJ purposes. The margin of difference between one vear and another in the various States or ir; any one State can be taken as accurate. These are the figures-

Second quarter, 1929 (Labour Government) -7.6 per cent;

Second quarter, 1930 (Moore Government) -10.1 per ceni.;

Second quarter, 1831 (l'doore Government) -16.9 per cent.;

Second quMtcr, 1932 (l\foore Gowrnment) -19.9 per cent.

rJ'}JOSC flgures sho·w a IJrogrcssive increase in unemployment for the periods of the years mentioned. On the of1er hand there has been reduced unemployment emce this Governrnent took office:-

Second quarter, 1933 (Labour Government) -15.6 per cent.;

Second quarter, 1934 (Labour Go\'ernmcnt) -12.7 per cent.

Compare that with 19.9 per cont. for the last quarter of the Moore Government! l:ltati·.tics < omp;J, d bv the Bureau of Industry shov. that the aYerago nuiPber employed in 1931 was 131,270 and that tho number of unemployed was 38.730. For "ho three months ended J uno, 1934, the number of employed had increased to 150,910 and the number of unemployed had diminished to 26,640. The figures show an ill(:re'"e of 18.640 in the IJUmber employed and a clecrea<·e of 12,090 in the number unem­plo: ·d, after allowing for tho increased population. 'l'he figures clearly show that the policy of Labour ha' romlt<>d in an increase in nor1nal employrnent and a considerable reduction in unemployment. That is the real test of the effects of tho policy of the pre~ent Government and hom that point of view we stand supreme in the Commonwealth to·day. \Ye have the lowest figures for unemployment and the greatest amount of average recovery.

GO\'ERl'C':I!EXT :\InrBERS : Hear, hear !

The PREMIER: One of the speakers to­day referred to the unemployment figures in Victoria and ="ew South \Yales. I \'·ant

[Hon. W. Forgan Smith.

to call the attemion of the House to Lhn fact that there 'Yas a questionnatrc In reference to employment in the cen,us taken recently by the Couln1onv1ca1th Govcnnuent.

The peopce were called upoll to state whether they \\'Cl'e in employment or not. The resulting figure, had not been pub­lished for the simple reason that those relating to New South \Vales and Victoria _,·ould show that a greater number of people were unemployed than was stated officially bv the Governments of those States. In Q'ueensland \\'8 ha,·e the most complete form o£ registration and the most complete method of finding O\lt tho extent of employment or unemployment that exists in the Common­wealth. The figures I propose to uso are made available by the Bureau of Industry, and are there for CYerybody to see. In Kew l:louth \Vales and Victoria the same n1cticulous care is not exercised, and n1en on relief work and men on mere temporary jobs are regarded as having been rec.tored to normal employment. I say again that the census figures ha Ye not been published for the simple reason that they show an excess of unemployment in those States in comparison with the State figures. That does not apply to Queensland.

Mr. KE":-<Y: It \\·ould be an advantage if those figures were published.

The PREMIER: It would be an advan­tage to us if the Common wealth Govern­ment did so, because they would show a considerable increase on the figures Issued bv those States. It. would, of course, be n<> ach'antage to i\Ir. Lyons to show that fact_ Reference was made bv the Leader of the Opposition to an increase of registrations. It is quite true that there has been an increase in registrations since Labour took office. Hon. membDrs who comment on those figures erroneously and dishonestly argue that they are evidence of increased unemployment, whereas they know full well ihat the increased registrations arc due to two causes. There is now available con­siderabl~ emploYment both under the Go­vernment's public works policy and in the local authorities' public wmks policy. That did not exist to anv extent while the MoorP. Gov(:rnment \VCro 'In control. They closed down many of the public \\·orks ancl staned local bodies and local authorities generally in regard to capital expenditure. One of tho causes of incroa3ccl registration; more ·work available through the labour bureaux than \.Yas farmcrlv the case. The other reason is ihc ob~·ious one) that single nwn are Pntit1cd to register and so obtain t.ho bc·nefit of unemnlm·nwnt relief mncle a\'ail­able (o th<'m !;,, 'this GoYernment. That condition of thir1gs did not obtain dming the period of onr predecessors. In order to be honest hon. memhor' who quote Lhose figures should carefully quote th~ footnote inserted by the Director, which is as fol­lows:-

" Commencing with i\lay of this year the figures have been swollen by the registration of single 1ncn who v;cro for­merly unc'mployecl, and who have been given inducen1ont to register "

That obYiously sets out one explanation of lncrcased registration.

'The August issue 'of the "gconomic Nc,ws" reccrds that the Queensland busi­ness index for the three mouths ended J uno

~4 SEPTr:~.JBER.] Address ·in Reply. 111

wos 92.9. the highest since 1930. The average for 1931 was 82.4. lt. is ve:·y pleas­ing thus to note that the busmces mdcx of Queensland has bPf'n very nearly restored. to the position of 1929. A good deal rcmmm to be dorw. a"' I ~aid on Thur:-,day last, but l1(Jthing will be gained by hiding: fro!n the 1_;ublic the iact that WC' are D10VIng 111 the ;·ig-ht direction and that irnproYernent 1s bt~lng effe{·ted.

There has also been an improvement in _the budgetary position. That, too, synchromses with the general economiC progrc'>s under a Labour Government. Our coming into office was reflected in the increased volume of employment, improved business cm;ditions uen0rallv and an improvement m the hu<!getai·y position. Last year's deficit was £947 000 'less than the Moore Government's rccm:d deficit of £2,075,180 in their last year of office a reduction of 45 per cent. con· trasted ~vith a percentage increase of 146.45 oer cent. in thB deficit for 1931-32, the last year of the Moore Government over that of the previous year. But the deficit for the financial year just concluded was a reduction Jf 27.39 per cent. on the deficit for t~e r;revious-Labour's first-year of office. Thts is a greater improvement in the budgetary position in Queensland over the period men­•ioned than obtained in anv other mainland State. as the following fig..ires will show:-

Queensland South Australia New South Wales Western Australia Victoria

Reduction in deficit for 1933-34 as

compared with 1932-33.

Per cent.

27.39 16.34

9.34 8.69 5.51

These official figures, which are made avail­able to the Loan Council and cannot be · efuted in any \\·ay, are :.L true index of the position and show clearly the trend of events. Furthermore, Q11eensland obtained less relief from loan com·ersions than any other State, but notwithstanding that the budg:etary posi­tion has been improved as indicated. The greatest advantage fron1 loan conversions which have been effected overseas has accrued TO New Sonth vValos, which has benefited v·crv materiallv from the lo\\·or rate of interest that has resulted. Such remissions '" New South vValos has been able to give in taxation or other charges ha Ye boon deter­tnined bv th0 extent to which it has obtained adYantai;os itself in reduced charges for 'ntcrest. I have said before, and I repe,at. 11at to i"l1e E1xtent that ,,-c secure remi"sions

in our interest burden we will pass advan­:nges on to our creditors.

Increased taxation has been referred to, ,,nd it is necessary that this question should be Yicwed in its true perspective. Listening to hon. members opposite, one would omagine that a Government which they sup­ported had never taxed anyone. They seem to forget that they were ever in power, or rerhap' they desire, by concentrating on the alleged defects of Labour, to obscure their :Jwn nauseous record in this re9pect. The stimatcd effect of increased taxation imposed

by the Moore GoYernment as compared with

the present Labour Government may be seen in the following figures:-

Moorc Iottbour : Government. Government.

j~~i:~eaax sli~cessiO~ Duties

£ 720,000 225,000

43,000 1,792,285

£ 505,000

1,1i6,ooo Increased Betting Tax t:nemp!oyment Relief

Tax -------! ----

Total £ 2,780,285 1,681,000

In other words, increased taxation imposed on the people by the Moore Government, as compared with that of the present Labour GoYermnent, totalled £1,099,285.

Land tax assessments are not included in these figures, and I propose to give particu­lars of these separately. The Moore Govern­ment imposed the super land tax in the first two years of their office, but decided for political reasons not to. reiml?ose that charge in the last year of thmr regtme. They pre­ferred to increase the budget deficit, and at the same time as they remitted the super land tax they made reductions in scholar· ships and other social services. The follow· inrr f1gurcs will show the total assessments in re~pect of super land tax for the periods stated:---------~---------~--------

1 ' Super Land Tax Period.

1

Government. I Assessments.

--1 --·-1 I I

1929-30 and 1930-31 I :lfoorc ' I

£. 283,088

236,675 1932-33 and 1933-~4~ Labour --'----

Thus there was a reduction of £46,413 in super land tax asse::sments for the latter period.

The figures I have given in relation to the budgetary position, employment and unem­ployment, and taxation generally, indicate yery clearly that the policy being carried out bv the Labour Government is placing Queen;land on the road to sound recovery, and that the people are receiving an immoasurablv better deal from them than they recoi,-ed during the period of their innncdiate pl<)decessor~.

I now come to deal with other important maltPrs that vitally al!'ect the interests of Qncensland. Reference ha.s been made dur­ing this debate to the Ottawa Conferenco Agreerncnt and to nty visit oYerseas. The Otta\'\'11 Confcrcncn AgTeen1ent was of supremo importance. It has had a very material effect on the trade of the Bnhsh Commonwealth of Xations and on the trad­in" relations of other countries in the world. It" is propP-r that a Queensland Parliament should deal with this problem because we arc so vitally afl'edecl. \:V e arc an exporting coantrv a \1ri1narv nroduciug country. so that o;J' world trade ;{nd our mYn participa­tion in that wodd trade to a very large extends depends the progress we may make in the future. I regret to note, hm,·ever, that ?Ome at least of hon. members who haYe contributed to this debate have little or no knowledge or comprehension of the Ottawa Conference Agreement. It is available in

Hon. W. Forgan Smith.]

112 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

the· library of this House, ancl is embodied in one of the Commonwealth statutes. Any­one who can read at all has the opportunity of making himself thoroughly acquainted with the implications of that agreement; yet statements have been made by hon. members opposite which indicates very clearly indeed that they have no comprehen­sion of the meaning of that agreement ancl what is invohcd in it; otherwise their state­n1cnt:::; V·lOtlid not have been ruade. The Leader of the Opposition, followed by the hon. member for ::VIurilla, askPd whether it was being sugge,red that Britain had signed an ag"rcernent '"hich at a later date she pro~ posed to repudi>tte. I took the opportunity whilst the hon. member for ::\lm·illa was ~peaking this rnornlng to say that no sug­gestion of repudiation was ever put forward by the sugar organisations or by rn:y:.1elf. That has never at anv time been involved. The sanctity of the agreement has !lOt at any time been questioned bv ancr responsible aut.horitv. Anv Governrncnt \vho n1ake an agreeme"nt or ;nter into a treaty are bound by the terms of that treaty, and they should carrv it out whether later on it is to their advantage o1· not. vYhat hon. members over­look is the fact that this treaty itself provides for arnendn;ent. The second section of Article 16 of the Agrf'emcnt says-

" In the eveDt of .c:ircun1stances arising which. in the judgment of His Majesty's Government Kingdom. or of His ji,fajesty's Government in the Common­'vcalth of Australia. as the case mrrv be. neccssitn h" a variation :n the tcrn1s of the Ag-n'cmcnt, the proposal to vary those tNms shall form the suhi<'ct of consult otion between the two Govern­Inents."

That shows clearly that it "·as contPmplated that if it was desired to ·1ltcr anything either or both pa.rties could entc · into con­sultation. one with the other, with a view to Rccuring a variation or alteration of the ag-reement. That is all that has been ('fain1cd. That is all ''"P arc consid0ring at the present time.

It was stated 011 excellent autho1·itv that Great Britain ''"as propo;:;;ing that Certain re~trictions be in1posecl on our export of clair: produc0. ~:\1rendy restrictions cxi:::t in refer­ence to the meat and one or hYo other indn~t-ric~, hut then~ is no restriction up to date in n'lahon to dairy prodnce. It wa.s ~ug-g-c:::tPd t hRt out• nwtcrial intcrPsts ·would bc"~-~C'rYC'ri bv an ilgreement \Yhich inYolverl what 1ni(··ht be dcPcrilwc1 as the• rationincr o[ the Eng-lish market. That has been serioitsly di,scn~."ecl in this country.

}Il'. S. '\I. Jlruce came to Australia ancl put c·prj <.1in matters b0forc tl1o Yarious Go­YPl"DlllPnt". So imnortant \VPrP thPv con­'iderccl that the Prime Minister called a cotJft•r<~nce of Pre1niers. Later on a certain matter was referred to a conference of ::\1inister, of A0Ti< crltnre. Th<1 cmcstion of restriction was clc~lt with bv both. thc>c con­f~'rcncr If there wn~ no titlk of l'Pstriction, if there "·as no talk of a variation of tlw Ottawa AgTren1Pnt, whv \Yas J\Jr. Bruce brought to \nstralia bv the pi·:•sent Common­\Vealth Go-.;;crnmcnt? TlH=- answe.r i.s obYions. He came hc1·e for the purpose of placing the position before not onh· the Commonwealth Government but also the Governments of the various States. Obvionslv the Commonwealth Constitution extends to trade and commerce overseas (virle section 51), but the State Uo·

[Hon. W. Forgan Smith.

Ycnuncnts have control of land, transport:> aud of agriculture. It \Ya.s never contem­plated by the framers of the Constitution that the Commonwealth should have the right to sav to a State, "\Ye shall allow vou to expo1~t only a given percentage oi the "butter you produce." Obviously the meaning of the Commonwealth power in relation to export is to establish grades and standards and uniformity. It was never conternplaterl that the Commom,·o~tlth should have the right to reduce the volume of the produce exported by any one State. pro-.;;icled it \Yas a stan­dard quality. It was because the State Go­vernments controlled production, distribution, and transport generally, therefore, that the Commonwealth Government called into con­sultation the State Govcrmnents. The States rcfu~f·d to agree to the 11roposal, and, in my 011inion, rjghtly ~o. A:-- the rnattcr is one that nltimatolv will haw to be tlecided by the people of this country it-is desirable that they should know all the fads of the case. The case pnt fony ard for the restriction pro­posal is somewhat as follows: The markets OYerscas are glutted at the present ti1ne; produce of all description from every coun­try is being ponn:>d into London and other Reaports in Great Britain, and the result is that. in the case of bntter, for example, price~ arc lower to-day than for very n1any years 11ast: if you regularise or place a reduced volume of your exports on the tnarket you will get a higher price for the lr'"'er quantity than ''"ould otherwise be the case. That is, briefly stated. a true summary 0f the case put forward by the restrictionists. It is a Yariation of the old law of supply and demand. It postulates restriction of supply in order to increase price. On the surface it is rather a specious argument. li is one "·it h ,dtich permns "·ho do not (hink deeply macr be inclined to agre<'. J >r<pctnous people in ihe f>arly stag·es of this controYerc.y agreed without much thought (hat the proposition was sound. But rhc probkm is not as simple as that, Mr. SpPaker. A rcr-;trictcd 1narket in the d irec­tion indicated. is not ncressarilv fol1o,Ycd b'" incrC'a~ccl ]lricos. \Ye~ are li\Tiu~g in a perio~l Whf'n ic{ca:3 in rch,tioll to prices and fi~cal po1ici0s are undergoing a rcvolutjon. At on£ tin10 it \vas argued that if ~-ou imposed a. tariff. obYiou~l~, t1H' price ·was increased to the cons-:.lmcr. It. wa:-' also arg-uod that tbe COll'!Jmcr paid the tariff. A tariff on butter OJH'rato.; i11 Great Britain to-dav. but it ha.s h:l{l no cfl'0rt 0n tbe consumer~ at all. The exporter pays it and ~\u--trn1ia g0t~ no ath-antagc. tflcreforC', in the n1a.rket for the l'f'mi~s~oll in d:nv il!at js afforded. In ~ ddi­tion to th:1.r, 1YiH're o1h('l' re;;trictions have b00n in1f)Q~f'cl-·aiJd I CJUOtc now tht' 1ncat inc1PstrY-·11ricC''-' lJaye continued to fall. ThPr'C has hC'C'n no banlrning of m0n,t price,._, since tho rcf'trici<:'{.l nHnkct \Yas impo· eel at OthuYa. Pri<ec" for frozen beef ancl chilled b0ef fron1 ..Au;;..tralin ancl other countries arc lower to-clav in London than thev haYe been for a long t.ime. There has been: 110 harden­in::: of a mah'l·iai ('bararter in the price. Thf'rf'forc tlH' clain1 pt:t forward of stabili~!l~ tion and increased return cannot be estab~ lishcd on a basis of experience or fact.

The E.trongf'•,t argumPnt against thP pro­po•al is the fact that, Queen~land and Aus­tralia arc in their infanrv so far as real cleYelopmcnt is concerned·. ::\o onP. not even H member of the Opposition. would be foolish enough to place a limit on the capacity of thi5 country to inrreasc real

Address in Repiy. [1 SEPTE~1BER,] Address in Reply. 113

wealth rxoduction. \Ve have not approached the limil of production in any primary industry, but othm: countries have. 'l'ho dairying industry m European countries, which is competing with the dairying indus­try in Queensland and Australia, has been in existence for hundreds of years. Their pastures are all fully developed and their carrying capacity is at its limit. Obviously anv rationed market would be to the benefit of- our competitors and to that extent to our detriment. An agreement in regard to a rationed market for butter would benefit Denmark at the expense of Aus­tralia and New Zealand because it would provide a stabilised market for the period for which the agreement would operate and Denmark yvould rmgcrly seize upon it. The European countries aro carrying {jvery hoof that thcv can to-day, >vhereas our in­dustry is merely in its infancy. It is wrong from the point of view of the >velfare of Australia to-day and in the future to agree to share the rrmrkot with the countries to which I ha,-e rdorred, and tho wholo argu­ment for a restricted market therefore falls to the ground. The idea that recovery can be accomplished only by establishing a. scarcity is ridiculous in the extreme. No one of any :-;tanding- and 110 one of an:v intellectual depth >Yould agree that such a restriction \.Yot.dd lf'acl to solYeiiCV or to in:proYccl rmJdit-lons. The 11roblen1 'to-day is the problem of spending power, the pro­blem of increasing soh-ent demand. The demand is there; tho power to purchase does not exist. To argue for a tJOlicy of rE'stridion where hundreds of thousands of people have insufficient food. clothing, and shelter is to argue fol' a policy of dcspail'. one calculated to produce the drastic actions that despair VNY frequently engenders. The Leader ,,f the Oppo-ition made a spc~ch at Crow's ~est in which he said that he was in fayour of the policy I an1 dealing with. Jt was renorted in hig head lines of the " Courier-Mail" of 10th :VIa.\', 1934. J.S

follows:-

" RESTRICTiox OF ExPORTS.

'' 1-IP.. ::\IOORE SFPPORTS PROI'OSALB.

" Speaking at the opening of the Crow's 1\'cst show to-day. 1\Tr. A. K :\[oore (Leader of the Opposition) indi­cntNl that he strongly supported the pro· r•o a! to restrict the export of produce to Great Britain."

The Lyons Gorcrnn1cnt are seeking to dei(\.,. the im]JPachment that thev CYer considered a rc~trictin-' policy~. __ \g;tin I a~k: \rho brcug-ht ;\lr. Brucc to Australia and for what )lurpose did he meet tlw Premiers rnd :VIinish re for Agriculture of the v;uious StaJcs' For "hat ]lUrposc did he traYcl the '\·ariou~ StaJ.cs? \Vo have arnnlo CYidcltce to indicate what was in the n;inds of the Federal Gov0rnmcnt. Dcf1nitc fiu-ures \Yere submitted bv Mr. Brucc to a cm;fcrcnco of l\linistcrs f01~ Agricultur~. Those figures indicate that the Commonwealth Govemrnent had worked out the effect of the proposal upon the Yarious States and in the various industries. ::Ylr. L,·ons supported the pro­posal in the beginning. The "Courier~ Mail" of 21st April, 1934, contained this report of the proceedings of a conference hdd in Canberra-

Mr .. Lyons, in a brief state­ment after Mr. Bruce had outlined the

position, indicated that the Federal Government had discussed the question from every angle with Jl.1r. Bruce, was in substantial accord with his views, and considered that some form of Federal organisation to control marketing to Britain was essential. He asked the State Governments to approach the subject from this angle and to frame suggestions for submission to the Com­monwealth regarding the form this organisation should take."

I haYe proved very clearly that a restric­tiY<' policy i~ contl'UT:'\7 to the interests of this countrv. I have also shown that restric­tion was contemplated by Mr. Bruce and the Lyons Go,-ernment by Yirtuc of the figures t,hat they placed before the conference. I haYe al~o :::.hown Yerv dearh~ that at one time :VIr. L,·ons supported th,~ proposition.

:iYir. PLPxKETT: To operatp prior to the expiration of tht~ Ottawa Agrecn1ent?

The PREMIER: The Ottawa .\grcement can be Yaried by agreement between two GoYernments.

Mr. PLUNKE'rT: I understand that.

The PRE:MII~R: Tho proposal was that b.v a greemcnt we should restrict the export of dairy produce.

OPPOSITION JI.1E1IB£RS : ]\' 0.

The PRECIH:'I:R: Hon. members oppositG tnay say, "No,n but \Yho \vill belieYe then1?

J\1r. EDWAHDS: \Yho will belieYe you?

The PHEMIER: \Yill auvoup take the wol'd of any hon. nH:>lnher ~ppo~itc in the f>teo nf evidence'? _\g-ain, J repeat, for what purpose >vas J\Ir. Bruce brought to this country? Is it not a fact that Mr. Brucc piaced befCJre the representatives of the \~ariou.:-.: Governments figure . .;; ·which sho\-red ho\Y thP quotas in dairy ~1nd other forn1s of produc,, would operate' There was an1plc cYidcnco thn.t S11ch a policY of restric­bon \vas in the air. It \vas thC opposition lo the IH'Ol1C>'al aroused by th" widespread publicity given h it that nipped it in the hue!; and that opposition >vas :cd b,- the Govemmc 1t of Queensland. -

:VIr. PLT}.XEETT: The sugge~tion \Yas after the Ottawa ,\grecmcnt expired. (GO\-ern-ment laugl1ter.)

The PRE'11IER: The hon. mem!Jer mav believe that, but it >muld be difficult fo"r anyone with the facts in hi-, possession to LwlieYe it.

J\ir. KENNY: You were not there.

The PRK\liER: I discussed the matter with !Wr. Brucc hoth here and in London. The discussion here took place in the pre­sence of two repr-esentatives of 1nv Govern­nlcnt. and I am in possession Of all figures. Restriction was in the air, but was nipped in the bud for the time being by the spontaneous opposition of the people, ,;nd principally through the lead giYen by this Government.

I would remind hon. nwmbcrs opposite of the proposal made to the Economic Con­ference regarding- wheat. At that confer­ence, called by the British Government, the wheat position v. as brought forward bv the representatives of the 1Jnitcd Stat<~s of Arnerica. which clainH.::.d to have a carrv oYer of a considerable quantity of wheat. , They

lion. W. Ji'organ Smith.]

114 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Riply.

declared that if an agreement \Yas not arrived at they would dump that wheat on the markets of the world for what it would fetch, and break world's prices everywhere. Mr. Bruce cabled that information to this country, and it was considered at a Pre­miers' Conference in Sydney that I attended. I am not proposing to give the figures, but I can repeat to this House the statement I made to that conference and the statement I made immediately after I left it. I said something to this effect: That no benefit could accrue either to Australia or the world at large bv the artificial limita­tion of the bounty o'£ nature that restric­tion was a policy of despair, 'and remedies could not be found in that direction. I con­demned the proposal about two years ago following the London Economic Conference and withdrew from the Premiers' Conference' refusing ~o have anything to do with such a propositiOn. That can be proven by reference to the newspaper reports of the time. That was the beginning of this policy of restriction. The Commonwealth Govern­ment agreed to it then and sought to impose it on the States. The Queensland Govern­ment refused to have anything whatever to do with a proposition which meant a restric­tion of cultivation and of exports from tl>ie State.

Hon. members. in dealing with this ques-­tion, have referred to the sugar industry. They speak of the sugar agreement as if 1t were part of the Ottawa Agreenwnt.

OPPOSITION ~lEMBERS: No!

Mr. SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has exhausted the time allowed him under the Standing Orders.

'l'he SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC LAl\DS (Hon. P. Pease, Iio·bert) [4.23 p.m.]: I ITIOVC-

" That the Premier be g1·autcd an extension of time to enable him to com­plete his speech."

:\Ir. SPEAKER: Is it the pleasurn of the House that the Premier be granted an extcn<ion of time to r·nable hirn to com­plete his sneech 9

HoNO'CRABLE MEMBERS : Hear, hear !

The PRK\liER: I thank hon. members fol' ihcir conrto'-'y. I-Iou. n1c1nbcrs in this House and members of the Senate, &s well as ?lhers, have spoken of the Pxport of sugar as If that commod1ty were dealt with by the Otta\va Conference _A.gTeernent. I\othing could be further from the truth. There is no reference at all in the Ottav . .1 Agree­m.ent to. the mg·ar industr'" of this country. \v e obtam at the present tune an advantage of 3.. 9J. per cwt. in remission of dutv on our sugar imported into Great Britain. That rebate in duty was first of all provided in the British Finance Act of 1926 and con­tinued again in 1929. It was not 01. sub­ject of discussion at the Ottawa Confer­ence, C_ommonwealth Ministers representing Austraha takmg the v1ew that Queens­lane] alreadY had obtained sufficient by the Sugar _Agreement in existence. However, Mr. Prke, the Acting Agent-General, dis­covered that South .Africa, a sugar-producing country, had obbmed an ~dditional year of that preferential tanff. Ne1ther Mr. Bruce nor ~1r. Gullett asked at Ottawa for a similar concessio~. Nothing was done by these representatives to assist or improve

[Hon. W. Forgan Smith.

the position of sugar exported <rom this country, and it was not until tile matter was taken up by the Queensland Government that ,imilar conditions were obtained for this country.

I wish to quote the actual mes'ages that deal \Yith the position. On the 31st AuO'ust, 1932, ?,fr. Pike cabled me as follows:- o

" In n1y interviews ,,ith Bruc('! at Ottawa urged han m event of differentia­tion not being adjusted to arrange by agreement for stabilisation present pre­ference for ten or five vears. Have seen Sir Edward Harding, ·Dominions Office, and understand that Australian draft agreement contains no reference to sugar, but that article No. 4 of South African agreement with United Kingdom stabi­lises existing preferential n1argin on sugar for period of fcve years. British Finance Act, year 1926, section 7, stabi­lises preferential duties for period of ten years expiring 30th June, 1936, and South African agreement therefore eccures another one year. I am of opm10n following conversation with Harding that amendments of our agree­ment on lines of South African quite pos­sible if thought acdvisable by you in which case suggest representations through Comn1onwealth authorities."

I immediately instructed the Acting Agent­General to make representations in London and also sent the following message to the Prime Minister :-

" Queensland Agent-General made representations to Mr. Bruce at Ottawa and urged him in event of a differentia­tion as between Crown Colonies and Dominions not being adjusted to arrange by agreement for stabilisation present preference for ten or liYe years. Agent­General understands that Australian draft agreernent contains no reference .sugar hnt that South Africa has secured some extnnsion. Qucens1anrl GoYPl'nJncnt urges that .Priln(' l\lini~tcr cable J\Ir. B1·ucc sup­porting Qncensland's reprc"entations as above 'ctatPd as it ·would noiN appear that not onlv is there diffe>rentiation behn:"en Cro\\~~1 Colonies and Do1ninions but al:-:o a'3 behvcen Don1inions.''

On the 15th S0ptember, 1932. the following further cable wa . ...; rccciYecl frorn tho .._\ctinrr .:\gent-General :- o

"Referring your telcgran1 of the 8th, haY: ::::ecn Bruce in London, 1vho agrees .'1dY1sablc arrange fiye ~~pars staLili~ation. He statcJ may be diflicnlt to amend Aus­tralian agrocn1ent which a1rt>ady sio·ned but if P.o, n1atter could be arr:lnge~1 b~ exchange of letters between COinmon­wealth and Imperial anthoritie~."

The following tc legram dealing with the rnatter \Yas sent bv me from l\Jelbourne to the Acting Premie1: on 29th October, 1932 :-

" Hefcrence Queensland Government's representations to CommoniYcalth re~poct­ing application of extension of preferen­tial duty h,v Great Britain on Australian produced raw sugar as \Vas granted to South Africa at Ottawa. Prime Minister advises me that extension for further pe.riod of one year has been agreed to. Advise prc:-,s."

These documents show cluarlv that South Africa obtained an advantage" which at the

Address in R€p!J'· [4: ~EPTEI\IBE!R.] Address in Reply. 115

beginning Australia did not ask for. It was not. nntil this Government took action and made direct representations that a further year \Vas obtained.

The position in regard to sugar is one which is verv important to Queensland, bcoause we export a considerable quantity of it and the resulting moneys represent an important item in our balance of trade. In accordance with the arrangement made under the Finance Act referr0d to, a duty is imposed on all sugar, a rebate being granted to Dominion sugar and an increased rebate to a quota of Cro.wn colony sug~r. . At all times the refiners m Great Bntam gtve the sugar producers of this country the full benefit of the preference. The variation ,in the beginning as between the Crow': colomeo and the Dominions was £1 a ton 111 favour of the Crown colonies, the argument being that the Central Government hacl more responsibility to a Crown colony than to a self-governing Dominion; but that was vat:ied this vear without anv form of consultatiOn. It was varied in the Finance Act introduced bv the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons, which provided for an increased benefit to Crown colony sugar, but confined that benefit to a definite volume. A definite quota thus was fixed for Crown colony sugar under the Finance Act of this vear. \Vhat the sugar industry and what this Government were concerned about was whether the British Government were con­sidering the application of a quota to Dominion sugar generally, and, if so, what was the position? That is what the industry desired to find out. and that is what this Go.-ernment desired information upon. The assuranre \\as given by the representatives of the British Government that during the period of this agreement the Imperial Government would make no effort to secure any variation. In otlwr \vords, the pe:ivd set out first of all bv the Finance Act and ihe further year agreed to on my repres0nta­tions would stand for the full time. \Yhat will happen following the expiry of that agreement no one can tell. The British Government ar0 not prepared to bind them­selvc; for the future. As was pointed out by one of thcm, they mav not be in po1ver; but. in any case. their attitude is sympa­thetic towards ,a continuation of that policy.

Sugar J:?'C11Prnlly proYidcs an important problem for all Governments. During the period of the war the British Govcrnmenb found that the percentagP of their sugar obtained fron1 for0ign conniTies was very high. T1H''~V C'Dnsidrre{l it ncr0ssary as an item of m a jar national importance to increaso the volume nf sugar obtained from tho Briti~h Dominions. and, <as a consequence, this be110fit in dntY to which I have referred vas bronght a bout. In addition. they had a sca.le of bollnties which they applied to their home-grown beet. It is no part of the polic7 of this Government and it is not in anv way onr province to interfere with the domestic polio'• of Great Britain-that is their busi­nPss-but we cannot fail to be affected bv it. If tlw volume of sugar grown by mean's of those bounties increases, obviously the volume required from abroad to meet the home market becomes less. A select committee was appointrd to consider the whole problem of sugar. "nd has already made available its interim report. It is probabhc that a final policy will emerge which will be similar to what is done in Britain regarding wheat.

The home-grown wheat represents one-fifth of the total. That enables the British Government to give a subsidy or to fix prices for wheat. and the imports with the home­grown, taken together, enable the price of bread to be kept at a low level, the low import prices enabling the home producer to get a higher rate for hie product, That can be continued so long as the ratio of one to five obtains. If the ratio increasPs beyond that proportion the bounty drops. It is prob· able that something of a similar character will be done in relation to their beet sugar there. Sugar as a commodity has always been the subject of conventions and control, and is not in tho same categorY 'as other products. Hon. members opposite have so11ght to draw an analogy between sugar and other commodities in this respect. They forget certain very important principles. The sugar industrv is the vYlo•itc Amtralian industry. It is one of the major measures adopted in this country on which the policy of vVlnte Australia depends, and conditions have been carried out in the industry with that objective in view. It has never been anticipated that Australia would become a large exporter of sugar, but there has always been control in relation to sugar growing in Australia, having relation to the special importance of that industrv to the Common-wealth. "

The dairying industry cannot be con­sidered as being on the same plane at all as th0 sugar industry, and I am satisfied that there is no likelihood of anv change of policy in respect of it on the pa"rt of the British Government. Thcv have a"m·ed me that then' is no intent;on to move for a variation of the Ottawa Agreement, or to seek an alteration of th9 principles set out in the Finance Act in relation to it. In regard to other products there have been proposals for r0striction. Thoro have been proposals in relation to the n1eat industry, the agreement in rc,pect of which expired last .June. Fol~o,,·jng 1 he Ottawa Agree~ ment, unfortunately, a separate trade agree­ment was made with Argentina. That coun­trY a)!reed to a limitation of 10 per cent. of her exports of chilled beef. Britain, on the other hand, agreed that she would not apply any further l'cstriction during the currcncv of that agreement unless a similar r<stricbon wore also applied to the Dmninions. Great Britain also agrceJ to in1poso no lcYy or tariff during the curn~ncy of that agreement without the consent of the parties concerned. \Vhile I was in Lon­don I discussed this matter with the .Hig-h Conunissioncr, and a conference. rcprcsE'r'.la­tiYc of all th0 Do1ninions, \Yas bcinrr h0ld at that time. For the purpose of the

0

agr~c­ment \vith chgcntina, that I ha Ye just rdcned to, Great Britain 1'<'/Znrdod tltat country as being on a brrsis of oquality with tho Dominions. The conference sat foJ' ,,,eyer.al days, and Yarion~ proposah won_• pnt bC'fore it. ThP full cle!ails of tht'HJ proposals I am thoroughly acquainted with. but it would occupy too much time to vo into the position now. In the interests of this State. holn?ver, I felt it necessarv to plac0 before the Secretary ,,[ State for. ilw Dominions the case for Queensland. Of all the States Queensland is the largest prq· ducer of ('X port cattle, 83 per cent. of 1 he Australian export being sent from this Stu h'. In addition, we arc Ycry materially int<'l'· cstcd in the dcYelopmcnt of the chilled 1,, ,, f

flan. W. F'organ Smith.!

H6 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

industry. The agreement provides for experimental shipments, and it is necessary that in any future agreement provision be made for our right to consi,:n chilled beef. It has been proved definitely and conclu. sivelv that meat in n chilled condition can bE' l;ndcd in Great Britain in a sound and good mnrkctable condition \V c are now definitely in that market, and do not desire any handicap therein. The full case wae presented in the letter which I forwarded to the Secretary of St,a te for the Dominions, a copy of which I handed to Mr. Brucc at the same time. After a number of con­ferences had taken place and after exchanges of views with the Commonwealth Government, the latter, on the lOth July, ;,timatcd to the British Government that they would not agree to any of the pro­posals they had had under consideration. My letter was in their hands on the 29th June, and the Commonwealth Government's letter on th<> lOth July. The agreement with Argentina has not restricted their acce<s to the. market. Any reduction they have made m the DXport of quarters or hinds has been more than made up by their increase in the export of canned food, canned meats, and edible offal. The agree­ment has not been carried out in its entirctv. and the proposals for a furtheT Testriction will, in my view, be entirely unsatisfactory from the point of view of this State. vVe

opposed to it, and I am satis£lecl that clear expression of the position set forth

was of value. There can be no doubt at all that Australia has a definite right to be considered in regard to markets in Great Britain.

It has been argued that we compete with ~he local farn1l'l' in Great Britain, but that IS not the -ca'·C'. Our con1petition on the Briti:;;h 1narkct~ is -with fon'ign countriPs. lUorc produce .1..nd ravv n1atcrjul aro in1ported i:lto Creat Britain frotn foreign countries thnn con1es frorn all the Dorriillions, and all the ( ·rown culclljcs put together. There­fore. \VC c:tnnot a 1nattcr of 111ajor pnlicy

\vhj\p that continuf' n:-. I haYe ahYays recognised,

trade there must he two-·-vay hon. member for \Yvnnum

pointc<l out very clearly that money of itself is Hot wealth. Ho die! not use that exacc teem, hut that is what he conveyed to me. \Ye are indebted to people ovcneae, we are owe of the few countries that ha vc met thei,: obligations in fnll on the due elates, allcl it is our determination and our desire to continu3 to do that. But is it not obYious that t;1 payrn0nt of onr cbligations depends Ul10ll our crtpacity to sell? A fall in the ]lricc level n1e·1n~ tha,t 1.Ye mu~t ~en n1oro good~ than eVJl' bcforo in order to meet Hu= san1c cont­mitmcnts, and if we aro forced off the market lhPn in that proportion tlw a"ets held by mvrstors in Ausirnlia will cleprccioto. 'fhftt faet is rr~ogniscd by the city of London, ar::d nf; a con~C'CJUC'TI( c ''"e arc not likclv to hear in tho immediate futuro of any fm:ther arbitrary restrictions to which I have alluded.

I repeat that this GoYernment are in fa your of two-wa v traffic. I take the view that probably th'c Ottawa Ag-Teement was too a1nbitious a scbome. Countrif's '\Yero called into conference whose economic interests. to say tho least of it, cut acrose each other. It is Yery difficult to obtain an agTecincnt on econon1ic questions between countries so diverse in interests as, for

[Hon. W. Forgan Smith.

~xamplc, India, Canada, and Australia. My own vicnv is that better results would be achieved by direct lll'gotiations, by direct teade treaties. \Ye already have a trade treaty with Canada which is of advantage to both Dominions. I believe that Australi>t could secure a trade treatv which \Yould he of achantagc to both Australia and to Ureat Britain in the manner I have described. I believe in that form of trading, and in any case whether we believe in it or not, it is, in the last analysis, what will be brought a bout. :\' o country can expect to be a seller indefinitely without itself being a buyer.

I fennel no objection at all to Australia's controlling its own dom·cstic policy. \Ye must con\inuc to do that and th1·0ats of Yarious kinds should not influence us in uny wa:v. To control our domestic policy is the business of the people of this country. It is given into our charge to develop the Com­monwealth of Australia in the interests of the people who live here and thus we must encourage primary production and we must protect secondary industries. That is all to the good. But in trade relations, with our exports, we giYe preference to those countries which trade with us; and that policy should he continued io our mutual advantage.

Mr. R :'\1. KEG: vYe should concede tha san1e rights to other countries.

'fhc PRE::YIID;R: Of course. Apart alto­gcthet· from sentiment, it can be reduced to a very simple proposition. A man naturally giYcs his business to his own customers if he can. Trading within the family is done in evcry community every clay. If the hon. mcmlwr for Logan has a client he naturally is pl'<'clisposcd in favour of that client. But \H' n1n~t carry out our policy in our ovvn way and it is bPing carried out in the int<'reots of the people of Australia-souncl deY('·loJlll1f'nt iJJtcrnally aJJd the d(~velop1ncnr of our OYC'i'~ra trade in a n1ann01' that \.vill b·nPtit our producers.

CoYEJC\:\JExr ::\ILHBERS: :riPar, h· nr ~

Mr. EDIVARDS (.Yanango) [4.47 p.m.]: I IYish to nclcl rny quota of appreciation of thE' splendid way in which His Excellency the UoYcruor 1::~ carrying out hi'- duties in this \Ye arc Jlroncl to a Governor who, the short time lw been here. hrrs cndcaYourec1 to con1e in contact ·with all the people of the State and make himself acquainted ,,-ith all our industries,

At 4.48 p.m., The Cn \JR}TAN r::v CmDriTTEES (Mr. Hanson,

llurandu) rcliovcJ l\Ir. Speaker in the chair.

l>fr. ED\Y"\RDS' \Ye arc asked to believe everv statement \Yhich the Premier has nladC, and thnt eYPl'Y fi!?;ure quoted by hin1 is absolutely correct and aboveboard, but it doe< not matter "·hat other hon. members or public r.oan quotes figures, whether it he the Leader of the Opposition, an:• other member on this side of the House, or the Prime Yiinistcr, or any member of his Government, the public are asked to believe that there is something suspicious about it. In fact, the Premier \Yould lead anyone to believe that there is something about their statements which is not honest. It is rather amusing to watch the attitude of hon. mem­bers sitting· behind i,he Government as they listen to their master's yoicc. The Premier, as well as the Secretary for Agriculture, know that Mr. Bruco never at any time

Address in Reply. [4 SEPTEMBER,] Address in Reply. 117

made a etatement that Australia to restrict exports.

The SECRETARY FOR did.

it was necessary for production of her

:\liKES : Your leader

J\Ir. ED\Y ARDS: He ncyer did. The •hon. gentleman has misconstrued his state­ment. The Leader of the Opposition has always contended that the question should be left to the people in the industry con­cerned to decide. That is how hon. mem­bers opposite misconstrue every statement made from this side. The Secretary for Agriculture knmvs that to be a fact because he was in the chair when Mr. Bruce addressed the representatiYes of this Goyern­ment. and if he is honest he will say that Mr. Bruce never suggested any restriction ·of exports. (Government interjections.)

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

J\Ir. EDW _\RDS: Mr. Bruce came to Aus­tralia on a definite and specific mission, that was to inform the heads of Govern­ments in' Australia what was happening in the old countrv and what was likely to take t~lace on the c~pirat,iou of the OrtavYu Agree~ iuent. ::VIr. Bruce should be congratulated for 1\~atching and preserving the interests of ~\ustmlia. It is unfair and unjust not only to :Vlr. Bruce but also to our country to misc~ne.true the statements of our public men. It does not giYe Mr. Bruce the neces-ary assistance which he has the right to

expPct from members of Parliament i:' the 11~ork he is doing overseas for Austraha.

Other statements which the Premier made a1·e not to his credit. That is unfortunate. He should be big enough to refrain from ::::ontcnding t1H1t every p8rson "-ho disagrees po]iJ~ically \Yith him is dishonest and that :1 fignl't''' qnoted. by hinl, or any st:.ttPmf•nt

he n:a_·,· nml.:;:r is inrorrcct. (GoYern-ltll·llt 1-ntr rjf'c.tion~.)

The SPEAKER: Order! The l1on. N"anango is entitled to n1akP ''"1thout interruption. and [ n~k hon. n1e1nhers on the GoYcrnment

IY'l]ches to cease intr-,rruptillg.

=\Ir. ETH\T ARDS: Thank you, ::'ih. Deput_,. . The ])rc1nie1' furth0r contended

tl10 T~Yons G-oYel'JJDlcnt reduced taxation merelv for

0

political purposes; yet he himself c-rJ..clc~,Yours to explain that this GoYernrnent. more than the Go.-ernmcnt of rrny other ;-:)tate. ref1ut_ecl unemployment. Xo onE'! of ;_'OUl'Se, \17 ill beli0Ye it, neYerthcless hP con­:1tlth·...,· to 1tJ:1kc tho statcl!1Cnt. :YI:v 11ojnt is that aHhou:~;h he charges 2\Ir. Lyons vvith 1"edncin.r; taxation in ordPr to help h1Insc1f }JoliHc·'l"!Lv. he at the s~n1c tin1e 1nvkcs asser­

which will also help his CoYernmcnt How can he reconcile his charge

? The Pren1icr went on Leader of the Opposition

land tax in tht' last ycaT Go.-ornment simply for

pnrposes.

Tlwsc statomciCts are not only mean, but a lack of appreciation on the part of

PrPmier of the dignitv befitting his posi­Tho hon. gentlernai1 adopted that line

argument throughout his address. and the hon. member for Albert reminded

him that :Mr. Bruce simply told i.he people of ;\uotraha that they must orgamse to moet the changing conditions that \Yould 1rise when the ~Ottawa Agreement expired,

the Premier skilfully turned i.o another part of his subject. The Premier himself proved that he was wrong when he attributed to :V1r. Brucr' the action of coming to Australia to advise the _\ustralian people to restrict production. Such statements as the Premier made are not in the best interests of our State. and rrre to be deprecated, especially when. coming from the leader of a political party. Let us remember that a duty devolves upon us, in the light of conditions prevailing in other count.I·jes of the world, to show a united front on the question of marketc. for our exportable products. Only in that wav can we extricate Australia from her difficulties.

The Premier ancl other members of his Government have tried to proye that con­ditions now are better than when the Labour Government took office. Any improvement that has been effected has been due, first, to the fact that Queensland has had a won­derfully good season, probably the best for thirty years, and, secondly, because a reversed position now operates to that which obt,ained when the :iVIoore Government held offlce, in that the present Government are able to borrow largo sums of money, and arc, in fact, doing 80. That, of Gourse, is adding to the interest burden of the State.

'l'he SEcRETARY roR PL'BLIC IxsTRUCTION : 'l'hev can onlv borrov' if the Loan Council pennits. ·

Mr. EDW ARDS : But the hon. gentleman knows that when th8 :\loore Goyernment held office it was impossible to obtain money at all, a" the sonrcn of loan money, not only for the Moore GoYernmcnt, but also for Labour Governments \rhich held office at the same time in Australia, was completely dried up. As a mai.tcr of fact, for the three years in question £30,000,000 less loacn money was borrowed in the Commonwealth.

}\Ir. GLEDSON: Investors could have had no confidence in the GoYernmcnt.

Mr. ED\Y ARDS : The hon. member can SC1\~ \Ylwt he likes. but \Yhat about the Sc'uEin Govcrrunent [lncl the La11g GoYcrn­rnont '? .Had the countl'y any confidence in (h<'lll' The hon. member knows that they rcdncrd ,,-ages and ga-..-c Je.;;;s fa,~onrable conditions, besides increasing taxation.

One might put tho position of tb3 present GoYCmmeut on a parallel \Yith that of a farn1er '\Yho) baYing spent loan money, has been able to pay o±I a little of his indebted­nes~ by inrrca~ing his loan liability. Hon. members oppooite muct surely realise that sooner later a day of reckoning will come, and )lublic works ,d,iC'h arP being c1n·icd out- by tho c:x:peJ1clitnrc of loan 1noncy at t1lc pl·t•·;cnt time wiil be cornplr-tc'cl. As one hon. member yery pertinently remarked to~day, \Ye cannot expect a continuation of these conditions beuuse such a successful season as \YC haYo had is not the average of sea,ons in Queensland. The good season in this State has meant the employment of many men who otherwise would not have had \York. I want to know what tho Govern­ment haYe done to lay a solid foundation so that men who are being employed at the present time will continue in work for a de!inite period; and I say advisedly that the Government have done absolutelv nothinf!. Therein lies the danger of ou"r \Yholo position.

Mr. Edwards.]

118 Address in Reply, [ASSEMBLY.] Addrc~s m Rrply.

There is only ono method by which they can be assisted, and that is by the lightening of taxation. The Governn1ent have done nothing in that direction; on the other hand thev have increased it at eYery turn. Thev' ha,:e increased the income tax by £270,000; S\lper land tax reimposed brought in £130.000; and the increase in railway fares and freights involYecl £325,000. That taxation is not justified in this country at th_e present time.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: You know tho·e freight reductions were brought about by the l\loore Goyernment as an electioneering dodge.

Mr. EDW ARDS: I am surprised at the hon. gentleman. I was leaving that sort of interjection to the Premier. Hon. mem­bers know that increased taxation is unfair and unjust, and the Secretary for Agriculture in particular.

The SECRETARY FOR PuBLIC INSTRUCTION : The Secretary for Agriculture said nothing.

:Mr. EDW ARDS : I am referring to him now. He realises that the price the farmer gets for his product to-day is not a payable one. Many farmers after vears of work and heayy production find that they cannot pay their way; yet the Government increase rail­way fa res and freights to the extent of £325,000. The increase in motor transport fees amounted to £58,929; and the unem­ployment relief tax increase represented £878,710, making a total of £1,662,639. That increase in taxation at the present time is not warranted. It will haYe to he decided whether the GoYcrnment are going to do the employing in this State, or whether it is to be left to private enterprise.

The SECRETARY FOR PuBLIC INSTRcCTION : Private enterprise has always failed in the crisis.

Mr. EDiVARDS: The reawn it has failed is because eYory titne it sho,vs an i1nproYe­n1ent the G oYcrnrnent impose extra taxation. I> it not true that the imposition of the unemployment relief tax has been the means of keeping tens of thousands of men out of work in this State?

The SECRET.\RY FOR PcBLIC \VoRKS: Why did you impose it?

?.Ir. EDW_\UDS: That is a fair question. \Vo imposed it because at that time it was impossible to obtain loan monev and the prices of the products going overseas had fallen to the im,·est figures kno\vn. Imme­cliatelv monev was made available the Go· vcrnmcnt sho.nlcl have removed that burden from the shoulders of the people; and b)' so doing they wot~ld be assisting the employees in this State.

The SECRETARY roR Pc:BLlC ·woRKS: Is Enf land doing that?

:\fr. ED\Y ARDS: I do not know what England i~ doing and I an1 not going to worry about that. During· last session I ma.cle certain remarks ·which appPar in Yolumo elxiii., page 807 of "Hansard "-

" It would be a great advantage if the Govcrnm0nt would allow the uncmploy­tneJH 1·olicf tax--- "

Mr. \VATERS: I rise to a point of order. Is not the hon. member for Nanango indulg­ing in needless repetition?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order ! I am the judge of that.

[J11r. Edwards.

:\Jr. EDWARDS: '' It would be a gTeat advantage if

the Government would allow the unem­ployment relief tax payable by people in the rural districts to be used directly in the employment of labour. If a man had to pay £10 in relief tax, for example, he could be supplied with a slip from the Comn1issioner of 'ruxes pcrn1itting him to employ suitable labour to that amount. That is ono way whereby, CYC!l under the present conditions, the Government could assist the primary producers of this State. In some cases it might be possible to get a person who was liable to pay £10 in unemployment relief tax to add another £10 to it, and thus employ labour to the extent of £20. I believe that if assistance were giYen along these linoe· we would immediately start on the way back to prosperity."

I reiterate that statement as being correct. Knowing as I do the agricultural industry, I realise the difficl!lty of the farmers. The Agricultural Bank is in a position to give to members of the Government the true facts regarding our primary producers and the difficulties under which they work. And if hon. members were to interview the officials of that bank they would realise the necessity of removing the taxation burden from the shoulders of the farmers as quickly as possible.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC INSTRUCTIOX : What particular taxation-land taxation?

:\1r. EDW ARDS: That is one instance of a tax which should be removed. Many of the members of the Government-probably not all, but particularly those representing the large centres of population-appear to believe that it would be better that private enterprise should fail and that the Govern­ment should be the general employer o.f labour in the State. It would appear that there are members of the Government who a re prepared to "llow the whole position to be thrown into the melting pot, and are willing that the State be the employer of labour under a socialistic system. Queens­land is not a countrY in which it should be necessary for the Government to borrow large eums of money for the purpose of put­ting the unemployed back to work. \Vcre the Government to grant the necessary assist­ance and remove some of the oYerhead cost~ on primary industries. the latter would be rnabled to give all the necessary employ­ment.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC IKSTRUC'fiON : Arc you speaking about interest?

Mr. EDWARDS: Interest and everything; else. Allow me to give anothrr illustration. To-day our people on the land have to pay augmented prices for evnything needed in the development of the land. and this fact militates a,-ainst the dcYelopment of th.eir holdings and is not in the interests of pro­gress. A machine that previouslv cost £22, with butter at the same level as it is to-dav. can now only be purchased at an outlay of from £38 to £45. The same proportion of increase in price prevails in the case of other farming implements, fencing wire, and other­necessary adjuncts to farming. In other words. a !though prices for primary produco are considerably less to-clay, the producer is forced to pav an increased price for his implements. 'l'he mere statement that privato enterprise has failed does not show why it

Address in Reply. [4 SEPTE~IBER.] Address in RerZy. 119

1ws failed. The statement of the Govern­ment that they are helping this section and that section of primary industry is merely camouflage and is made for a definite pur­pose-i.e., increase of taxation and over­head costs until the whole structure of our primary production collapses, thus enabling the Government to introduce their policy of socialisation. Members on the other side of the House are constantly talking about the high tariff wall thev would erect in order to assist the secondary industries of ou.r State.

At 5.12 p.m., Mr. SPEAKER resumed the chair.

Mr. EDW ARDS: The arguments advanced h;· hon. members opposite are absolutel:y: wrong for the reason that the producers of <_)uecnsland and Australia are at a disadvan­tage as compared with other countries in the world. The tariff has added considerably to the cost of production in this State, and we are unable to produce and sell at a price -overseas which will provide a living wage for the people engaged on the land. That is the whole difference between success and failure. \Vhen the Commonwealth was estab­lished the big machinery firm of H. V. MeKay approached the Government seek­ing protection against unfair competition from agricultural implements manufactured overseas. The Government granted the com­pany protection amounting to 10 per cent. H cl valorem, lmt since that time the per­,·cntage of protection has increaeod up to 50 and 60 per cent. and the Australian price is now about level with the price of the article irnportPd from onrseas. Is it fair to pile those enormous burdens upon the people engag-ed in the development of this ·country? That is where the difficulty lies and that is where n1anv of our difficulties may be 'olYf'cl. Those <:osts will haYe to be remoyed.

The SECRETARY FOR PcBLIO IxSTRl:OTIOX: What is all thi·· hubbub in Lancashire?

:\h. ED\YAHDS: The hon. member should know what hubbub is because he has been hubbubbing all his life. Tho Government acted quite \Yl'Ongly in transferring a very largo sum of monev from the JYiain Roads Fund to consoliclat"ecl re.-ennfl. Following upon the recent ,,-et eeason hundreds of 111ik".; of roads jn countr./ djstrids in this

in a deplorable condition. It is that enorrnous 8ums of n1oney rnust

expended npon a road system to prm·ido rraffic fucilitiPs for our extensive agricvl-. ural areas. The cost of conveying produce from the farm to the rail.head or elsewhere ' a further item in the cost of production,

nnc1 I now appeal to the Secretary for Public \\"orb to embark upon a road construction prograrnmo that 1.vill avoid the in1position 'Jf the·e costs in the future. He will verv likely inform the country that more money was spent npon road comtruction last year than the year before. but that is not a reply to mv argument. The point to be remem­bered is that considerable sums of moncv arc expended upon road construction in th.c larg-e centres of population instead of in c·ountr·· districts where the roads could 'NH' ·a better purpose. The wcalt h upon which all industries dcnond is produced in th< counh-y districts, an-d it is only fair that the people engaged upon the land should receive the consideration that they descr;-e. Hon. members opposite may argue that the construction of the Kangaroo Point Bridge

will prm·ide employment for a certain numbGr of people for a certain time.

J\:lr. \Y. T. KIXG: For 800.

Mr. EDW ARDS: Apparently, the hon. member is proud of the fact, but what is to happen after the completion of the bridge"? Will the work lead to the per­manent employment of the men? \Ve are not getting out of our difficulty by spending large sums of loan monev in the big centres of population throughout the Common­wealth. I plead with the Government to embark upon a proposal that will provide men with permanent employment instead of a hand-to-mouth existence, which is the best that can be claimed for employment upon largo public works or upon relief work. If the unemployment relief tax were removed now that the Government have easier access to loan money, the primary producing centres would be enabled to employ just as many men as are employed at the pre­sent time by the Government from the pro­ceeds of this taxation. It is the duty of the Government to review the position and see if it is not possible to give this relief.

The position of the State is not what the Government would like us to believe. The people on the land are having a rough time, because of low prices for their pro­ducts, combined with heavy overhead costs in marketing their produce locally and over­seas. The arguments put forward by hon. members opposite are mere camouflage in the interests of their political welfare. We must not forget that this is the last session of the present Parliament. It would be preferable for the Government to place the actual state of affairs before the people and then let them decide the issue. Every en­couragement should be given to the organisa­tion of markets. That is a big problem and its pursuit would tend to cut the oyer­head costs to which I have referred. That is why I admire some of the statements made by Mr. Bruce while he was in Aus­tralia, particularly his statement that primar,· pwducers should organise in order to be ready for any emergency which might dcH·lop in the export position on the expiry of the Ottawa Agreement.

The difl'orcllco in the pnition of Queens­land during the three years of office of the J'\Ioore GoYernmont and the two years' occu­pancy of. the Treamry benches by the pre­SC'nt Government is so well known to the people that no argument adduced from either side is likely to sway them. It has been acknowledged from every public plat­form in Australia that this countrv has passed through one of the most d.ifficult depre;sions that e1·er occurred in Australia, and that even the great bank smash of 1893 was not comparable to it. That being so, the arguments of hon. members opposite as to what the l'lloore Government were alleged to hav0 done when they were in power are unfair. If the Government do not take some action to reduce taxation in order to relim·e the primary producers they will not secure the support of the people again. If the Gm·ernrnent reflected upon the diffi­culties tho'·A people are labouring under and npprecin.ted how difficult it is for them to employ labour they would see the necessity of giving that sympathetic consideration to our primary industries which is so desir­able from an industrial point of view in order that Queensland should come to the

JJir. Eclwards.]

120 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.]

forefront again and our unemplo:7ed might be taken off the streets of our cities and towns and absorbed in industry. The hon. member for Ipswich, with tears in his eyes, said the Moore Government drastically declared that single men should walk in order to get rations. I have looked for work and so has the Secretary for Public Works, but I say it was a good thing to have done so.

Mr. WATERS: Ah!

Mr. EDW ARDS: 'I'he hon. member would not like to work ! (Laughter.) Since the present Government have altered the posi­tion, the men will not walk at all, and do not look for work, but are congregated in large centres of poptdation or at the sea­side. Admittedly thousands of men are workless to-day who have an honest desire to find employment if possible; but can employment be found by waiting at a street corner to bail a lorry that will take a man to Ipswich to collect rations and then teturning to Brisbane? Let me illustrate the position by some of my own experiences. As many as ten men have called at my farm in one day in search of work, but perhaps four, or five at the most, will take the work. Two might put in the whole day. I do not say that we should drastically say to a body of men, " Go out in the country; we are not going to give you rations while you stay here," but we should educate them to the necessity of looking for work in times like the present.

Mr. WATERS: Cheap labour!

Mr. EDW ARDS: Cheap labour is better than no labour, and I am satisfied the hon. member would not be worth ls. a week to anyone. (Laughter.) This is a serious sub­ject. Let me cite another case; and I a.m quite sure that many farmers have had similar experiences. One day a young man came to my farm about ten o'clock in the morning, and asked me to give him a job, which I agreed to do. I said to him, "How long have YOl.l. been out of work?" I was surprised when he told me eight months, because I could not understand why a man of his apparent capacity should be out of work for that length of time. I gave him breakfast and set him to work digging potatoes. An hour later he said, " I don't think I'll take on the job; I'm getting stiff already." I said, "What are you going to do?" and when he replied, " I'm going to take the track," I said, "If you do, I'll telephone every police station within twenty miles, and see that are not fed." He

to work after two he My argument is the

Government's policy at the is young able-

men to resort rations and work on two days a of stable, solid work.

Mr. SPEAKER: Order! the hon. mem­ber has exhausted the time allowed him under the Standing Orders.

Mr. WATERS (Kelvin Grove): I move the adjournment of the debate.

Question put and passed.

Resumption of debate made an Order of the Day for to-morrow.

The House adjourned at 5.28 p.m.

[Mr. Edwards.

Questions.