Queensland

Parliamentary Debates [Hansard]

Legislative Assembly

TUESDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 1936

Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy

Address in Reply. [1 SEPTEMBER.) Questions. 167

TUESDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER, 1936.

Mr. SPEAKER (Hon. G. Pollock, Gregory) took the chair at 10.30 a.m.

QUESTIONS.

rrE)IDERS FOR AIR CONDITIONING PLANT AT BRISBANE WoMEN's HosPITAL.

Mr. MAHER (West Moreton) asked the Secretary for Public Works-

" 1. ·what tenders were received for the air conditioning plant, Brisbane Women's Hospital, and what was the amount of each tender?

"2. What tender was accepted? " 3. Whv was the lowest tender not

accepted?''

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC WORKS (Hon. H ... \. Bruce, The Tableland) replied-

" 1. Tenders were received from-(a) Carrier Air Conditioning Ltd., £2,848. with alternatives; (b) H .. Platt, £2,176, with alternatives."

" 2. Carrier Air Conditioning Ltd. "3. The report of the architects to

the Brisbane and South Coast Hospitals Board (Atkinson, Conrad, and Powell), to whom the tenders were submitted for review, recommended the acceptance of

Mt·. H. Willia.rns.]

168 Questions. [ASSEMBLY.] Questions.

the higher tender, which included all features for the complete work, and which were not all included in the lower tende1·, and also as it was considered that the Carrier Company's tender would supply the best results. 'I'his opinon was endorsed by the Hospitals Board.·'

AuDIToR's REPORT ON FINANCES OF CoMMITTEE

OF DIRECTION m· FRUIT MARKETING.

Mr. HILTON (Carnarvon) asked the Sem·e­tary for Agriculture and Stock-

" Will he lay upon the Table of the Home a certified copy of the Auditors' Report dealing with the finances of the Committee of Direction of Fruit Mar­keting, which led to the retirement of Mr. W. Ranger from the position of Manager of the Committee of Direc­tion ?n

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC IN­STRUCTION (Hon. F. A. Cooper, Bremer), for the SECRETARY FOR AGRICUL­TL:RE A:c\D STOCK (Hon. F. W. Bulcock, Barcoo), replied-

" Yes."

Whereupon ::VIr. Cooper laid upon the Table of the House a copy of the Report, supplied

-~-

Repayable by Settlers.

----i s. d.

Austinville .. .. .. 7,723 1 11 l\fount llfee .. .. 4,548 8 6 llfount Pleasant .. .. 1,985 4 4 Belli Park .. .. .. 2,146 0 6

£16,402 15 3 ___ ,. _____ , _______

"Included in the above Not Repay­abce Expenditure is the cost of Access and Settlement Hoads for all settle­ments, amonnting to £15,219 17s. 6d. The total expenditure also includes the Yalue of rations supplied to the settlers for themseh·es and dependants. the bulk of which is not classed as repayable expendi­ture, and amounting approximately to £15,000. Rations arc discontinued when crop returns warrant it.

"2.·-A ustinville Mount Moe ::Yiount Pleasant Belli Park

"3.--:'\o. of

Original Settlers.

42 Austinvillc ::VIount :\Iee 32

Pleasant 12 Mount Belli Park 11

50 blocks 34 blocks 12 blocks 11 blocks

Xo. of Settlers

at,,28-8-36. 28 13 9 9

" Manv of th@ ,ettlers vacated their blocks to accept more remunerative employment, and their blocks were reallotted in some instances to existing settlers and in others to new settlers. The access roads charged against tho

by the Auditor-General, of the Audit Inspec­tor who made the examination of the books and accounts of the committee for the pNiod from 1st July, 1934, to 30th June, 1935.

UxEMPLOYiiiEXT RELIEF-BANANA SETTLDIENTS.

Mr. WALKER (Cooroora) asked the Secre­tary for Labour and Industry-

" In reference to the banana settle­ments established by the present Gm·ern­ment for the relief of uncmployment-

1. \Vhat has been the total expendi­ture on each such settlement and what amount has been repaid by the settlers respectively?

2. IIow many blocks of land have been made available at each settle­ment?

3. How many settlers have been placed at each settlement, and how many still remain on their blocks rospecti vely ? "

The SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND INDUS'I'RY (Hon. M. P. Hynes, Towns­t·illc) replied-

" I.-

EXPENDITURE.

Repayment. Not

Repayable. Total.

£ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 22,215 17 5 29,938 19 4 729 u 8

7,559 18 2 12,108 6 8 1,204 5 8 2,746 16 0 4,732 0 4 445 !3 1 2,471 16 9 5,617 17 3 1,105 9 3

£34,994 8 4 £52,397 3 7 £3,484 ± s

settleme!!ls proyided relief worlc and also improYod the districts generally for settlers other than those on tho ~-.,:pen­mental blocks."

FIXANCES OF RACE CLUBS.

Mr. GODFREY MORGAN (Dalby) asked the Treasurer-

" 1. \Vill he have an audit made by the Auditor-General's Department, under the powers conferred upon him b:.- sec­tion 25 of 'Th0 Racing Hegulatio11 Act Amendment Act of 1930.' of the books and accounts for 1935-1936 of the Q.T.C., B.A.T.C., and the I.A.T.C.?

"2. Will he lay upon the Table of the House a copy of the audited receipts and expenditure and balance-sheet of each of these racing clubs for the year mentioned?" ·

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC I:\T­STRL:CTIOJ\7 (Hon. F. A. Cooper, Br•_mer), for the TREASL:RER (Hon. W. Forgan Smith, Mackay), replied-

" 1. The auditors of the clubs men­tioned by the hon. member are com­petent and have been approved by the Audit~r-General, as provided b,- · 'l'ho Racing Regulation Act c\menclment ~-\et of 1930.' I an1 not avvare of any r<'nson whv I should order an audit of the books and accounts of these club' to br·

Papers. [l SEPTEMBER.] SaU'mills Licensing Bill. 160

made by an officer of the Department of the Auditor-General.

" 2. I suggest that the hon. member apply t~ t~~ clubs concerned for this 1nforn1at1on.

c\PPLICATIO:<;S UNDER FARMERS' ASSISTANCE (DEBTS AmusnrEXT) AcT OF 1935.

Mr. CLAYTON (Wide Bay) asked the Secretary for Agriculture and Stock-

.. Il'ow many applications have been received for assistance under the pro­...-i~ions of ' The Farmers' Assistance (Debts Adjustment) Act of 1935? "

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC IN­STRCCTION (Hon. F. A. Cooper, B1·emer), for the SECRETARY FOR AGRICUL­TL'RE AND STOCK (Hon. F. W. Bulcock, IJarcao), replied-

, Six hundred and thirty-two.''

:\I JCRDERERS SERVING LIFE SENTENCES.

Nlr. EDWARDS (Nanango), for Mr. BELL (Stanlcy), asked the Secretary for Health and Home Affairs-

,, How many convicted murderers are at pn•sont serving in Queensland sen­tences of life imprisonment?"

The SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND HOME AFFAIRS (Hon. E. M. Hanlon, lthaca) replied-

.. Twenty."

TRUCKING OF CALVES WITH PIGS.

Mr. NIMMO (Oxley) asked the Minister for Transport-

.. 1. Has his attention been drawn to reports of cruelty inflicted upon young calves by including them in railway trucks with pigs?

·· 2. Will he take steps to ensure the discontinuance of this cruel practice'?"

The MINIS'rER FOR 'I'RAKSPORT (Hon. J. Dash, Mundingburra) replied-

.. 1. and 2. The regulations provide that senders forwarding calves and pigs together are requested not to load savage pigs. which are likely to cause injury, ,,-ith calves. The attention of the staff has frequently been drawn to the regu­lations and to the necessity of prevent­ing, as far as possible, injury or cruelty to live stock during transit by rail.

·' The refusal of the department to accept mixed consignments of calves and pigs would greatly increase the freight to certain primary producers, as it vrould necessitate sepal·ato wagon:::> or tiers being ordered. The senders ha ye always the option of ordering ~?pnrate wagons."

PAPERS. Ti11• follov\'ing papers \Vere laid on the

table:-Heport of the Royal Commission on

Public ·works on the proposed exten­sion of the Great Northern Railway to Camooweal, together with a copy of the Minutes of Evidence.

H•TOrt ordered to be prir;ted. Order in Council uncle_:_· •· The ::Vlagis­

trates Courts Act of 1921.'' F arty-eighth ~\nnual Hcport of the Direc­

tors of Qucenslaml Trm.tces Limited.

SA vVl\IILLS LICE::\SI:\fG BILL. INITIATION r;.; CO~I11ITTEE-RESUMPTlO;o; OF

DEBATE. (Jir. Hanson, Buranda, in the chair.)

Question stated-" Th><t it is desirable that a Bill be

introduced to make provisions for th0 stabilisation of the timber industry by the licensing of sawmills and veneer and plywood mills, and for otlw,· purposes.''

Mr. EDWARDS (Xanango) [10.40 a.m.j: Before progress was reported on Thursday last I had mentioned that the small saw­millel'S are not likely to receive much con­sideration under this Bill. After hstenmg to the speech delivered b:y the hon .. member for Cook I made sm·eral wquines m regard to different aspects of this matter, and I am convinced that my contentwns are absolutelv correct. From information I have obtained from the small sa wmillers I am firm! v convinced that this Bill is introduced ~vith the defmite purpose of bringing about a monopoly of the sawmill­ing industrv of this State. One wonders what has !lappened to the policy of the Labour Partv. At one time it was thought that it aimed at helping the small man. This Bill will afford assistance to the big monopolies, but will be detrimental to the interests of uumbers of people whose actin­ties in the industrv are of immense bencfi t to the people living in the far outback place_, of the State. Let me illustrate m~' point in this way. There are many small bolts of timber, each of which is sufficient to keep a sawmill going for one, two, or perhaps three years, but if this Bill is passed it is quite possible that permission will not be granted to erect a sawmill in such a centre to handle that timber. 'The result will be that in some case, logs will have to be hauled 40 or 50 miles tu another mill, and the milled timber carted back to the area from which it came.

A policy that results in that state ol affair-s is of no help to the people in the back portions of the State. Every regula­tion made bv the Government in recent years appear~ to haYe had the object of attracting a greater population to the larger centres. At the present time timber. particularly pine, is being hauled . many miles past small sawmills, because m the past the latter have been ,o cruelly treated as a result of the rationing of timber that they have hac! to cease operations. Last Saturday I saw three trucks of pine from the Bunya IVIounta.ins going ou to the road 16 tnilPs frmn ~anango, and past three or four small mills on to the N anango milL That is typical of whflt the people in the country districts have to put up with: vet 1\Iinisten; make statements to the effect that it i' <ksirable for the people to ,tay on the lancl and develop the country! The Bill will not bcnd\t in any- way the people• scrtlNl in the outside districio.

The g·encsis of this l0gislation is to b0 found ~s hr back as 1934. 'The :Yfinister 1·i~itccl ::VIarvboroug·h on the 2nd June of that veal'. aiHl in his honour a luncheon wa" giveti. d which ::Vlr. H. J. IIyne ectid, inLr nlia-

•: Thouo'h the Price-fixing Commis­sion could fix the maximum price for timber. on the other hand it ought to be empowered to fix a rninirnunr price

Mr. Ed1vards.]

170 Sawmills Licensing Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] Sawmills Licensing Bill.

m order to assist the workers and millers. In justification of this he stated that many of the smaller mills were able to undersell the larger ones, because the award rate of wages was not being paid to employees. Another method of . dealing with this factor would be the licensing· of 1nills . . . "

Evidently that was the origin of this Bill-it was born when everybody >Vas in a spirit of jollification at a luncheon party giwn in honour of the Minister. l'\o doubt the hon. gentleman gave a promise that he would ha vc such a measure enacted. The report rontinucs-

" ... As a result of which he claimed that the Government would be saved many thousands of pounds."

The Secretary for Pllblic Lands is reported to have said on that oc~asion-

" Every man he had spoken to had created the impression with him that he "as not in the industry for what he could get out of it, but for the love of the industry."

The hon. gentleman n1ust have been in a particularly good frame of mind when he could hclien' that they were in the business merely for the love of that industry.

The Sccretnrv for Minc·s, the Hon. J Stopford, in reply to a toast on the same occasion, rmnarked-

" Mr. Hyne had referred to the matter of fixing a minimum price for timber. He had taken action of that nature in regard to the coalmining industry, and it was working satisfactorily."

Hon. members know how satisfactorilv the Coal Production Regulation Act is v:m:king. Bodies of coalminers wore prepared to club together and work mines-which is the kind of thing ono would naturally expect the Labour Party to oncom·age-but what has been the result of its legislation? These coalrniners are gradually being driven out of the industry, which has become a great monopoly. The public has to suffer. That is exactly what will happen m the timber industry.

One of the effects will be to induce our country citizens to come to the larger centtf'l of population. That should not be encour· aged in a primary-producing State such as Queensland. On the other hand, it is the public that will have to foot the bill for the condition of things that will be brought about by the combination of the Government with the timber monopolists of Queensland. Many sawmills ha,-e been established some distance from the railway lino, and are of untold b0nefit to the selectors in their neigh. bourhood, who thus have the opportunity of having their timber sawn adjacent to the sites of their future homes. This Bill will drive such mills out of existence.

Furthermore, a number of inspectors will ha Ye to be appointed to police the provisions of the Bill, to see amongst other things that unlicensed mills do not operate. This also will have the effect of bringing people into the larger centres of population. Does it not follow that no matter >~hat distance timber has to go to be milled, people in trye districts where it is milled will be able to purchase it at a lower price than will the residents of the centres where it was felled?

[.ilfr. Edwards.

From these facts it can be seen that the Bill will be of no benefit whatever to the small man or to the country people as a whole. It will certainly benefit the big timber interest& by creating monopoly and driving the small man out of business. The hon. member for Cook made that very dear the other clay . He said that many small mills were in opera· tion and that the carriers for those mills were having a bad time, and that it was necessary in their own interests that the majority of those small mills should be put out of business.

The hon. member for Cook made it clear also that he believed tha.t some of the small mills were not paying the award wages, as the larger mills were doing. Such a state· mcnt is wrong. In many instances the smaller mills are compelled to pay award '' agc.s, if for no other reason, becansp the rnen would not work for the lower rate. or, if thcv did, would not work satisfactorily.

I hope that the Minister will reconsider this Bill and 'prove t<J the cotmtry that he is not standing only for the monopolist. If the Yrinister is justified in bringing such legislation as this before the Chamber would ho not be justified also in driving small store­keepers out of business so that huge concerns like \Yoo!worths might flourish? I should have thought that such a policy would have been vigorously opposed l<y the Labour Partv. I am sa.tisfied that it would be a thousand times better to permit a number of small businesses to work successfully than to have great monopolies in the State.

The measure now before the Committee will do no end of harm to the country districts, where the timber is growing. That timber will have to be carried great distances to be milled, and then carried hack to be used in making the improvements needed by the people in the centres from which it originally came.

Mr. LARCOMBE (Rockhampton) [10.53 a.m.]: The hon. member for Nanango has simply put up Aunt Sallies to be knocked down. His argument has no relation to the facts, no relation to the proposed Bill that has been foreshadowed by the Secretary for Public Lands.

It is remarka.l)le that the Opposition are at sixes and sevens, that they are logically and oratorically confused over this proposed Bill. The Leader of the Opposition said he would reserve judgment, that he would wait and ascertain the terms of the proposed Bill before c:mdemning it. That is a sound atti­tude to adopt, hut mctny of his supporters have taken up an entirely different stand. They have condemned in anticipation a Bill of which they do not know the exact terms. There has been much ado about nothing in the opposition to the proposed measure.

The Opposition pas.sed a measure through this Parliament when they were in power tha.t was similar in principle to this Bill. It dealt with the meat industry. (Opposition dissent). Did not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, when he was Premier, pass a measure providing for the licensing of the butcher shops in Brisbane? Of course he did.

Mr. MooRE: We did nothing of the sort. We established a public utility where every­body could kill at the same price. Don't be silly.

Mr. LARCOMBE: A stupid, silly inter­jection of that nature does not dispose of the argument.

Sawmills Licensing Bill. [1 SEPTEMBER.] Sawmills Licensing Bill. 171

The CHAIRMA?\ : Order !

MR. MO ORE: You do not know what the Bill is if you say that.

Mr. L.AiR.COMBE: The ex-Leader of the Opposition is very irritable and impetuous this morning. I say that when he was Prernier he introduced a Bill similar in principle in many respects. H0 cannot deny it. Of conrse, he forgets a good deal of what he has said in his speeches. I carefully followed the speeches and the legislation of the ex-Leader of the Opposition betw<>en 1929 and 1932.

They passed a Bill through Parliament that dealt with the slaughtering industry for the metropolitan area, which is similar in principle to this Bill, and which licensed the butcher shops in the metropolitan area.

MR. MOORE: Don't be sillv ! \V e wanted to know where they were. "

:VIr. LARCOMBE: The Leader of the Oppo>ition says they wanted to know where they were. That is true also of the proposed Bill. The Secretary for Public .Lands does desire some form of control of the sa wmilling interests of Queensland. He desires to sec that there is an elimination of waste, and that planning is introduced into the industry, and in principle the board that is to be constituted will be very similar to th<> board that the ex-Leader of the Opposition and his party were responsible for con>titut­ing under the measure they passed in this Assembly.

Their arguments smell of political propa­ganda. They are not concerned about the principles of the Bill but about the destruc­tion of the Government party. When it is a case of the organisation of the farmers, thev are very anxious to secure board benefits, the' elimination of wastE', and careful plan­lling and the a voidance of over-capitalisation, but when it is a case of the organisation of a section of the community that they do not immediately represent, they complain.

The hon. member for Oxley said in the course of his speech that the Bill emanated from the Timber Merchants' Association of Brisbane. How absurd and ridiculous that argument is! That is what might be termed body-line r.actics in parliamentary debates. It is most unfair and most improper. It is very close to an abuse of the parliamentary rights and privileges of this Chamber to make a statement of that nature.

1n his speech, the Secretary for :eublic Lands outlined several recommendations of the Timber Industrv Advisorv Committee on whose recomme~1dations this Bill is based. and the chairman of the advi­sorv committee is an ex-member of the OpjJosition, Mr. G. A. Duffy, who sat with the 'v.-Leader of the Opposition and his partY in this Chamber between 1929 and 1932. The Bill, therefore, in essence emanated from careful inquiries' into 'the industry that were carried out by a disintere~ted and competent committee.

rntil WE' can ascertain the exact terms of tho Bill we should not indulge in criticism of the nature we have heard from hon, members opposite. The importance of the indu>try ' .. an· ants a measure of this kind. Logs cut on CrO\Yn land and private land for 1935-36 amounted to 180,000,000 super. fed. a r,,rure that indicates the importance of the industrv and the need of careful control. wl1ich is the principle of this foreshadowed

Bill. The same principle is contained in many measures that are law at the present time, some of which were made law by hon. members of the Opposition.

Hon. members opposite assert that if this Bill bPcomes law it will mean a monopoly and will lead to higher prices for timber. These are stupid, irrelevant, and absurd contentions The board will exercise its powers intelligently and fairly in the issue of licenses.

MR. MooRE: What about the Plywood Board? It increased prices by 50 per cent. in two years.

Mr. LARCOMBE: The Bill proposes to deal with the licensing of sa.wmills, and not with prices. The Minister has already given his assurance that ~xist~ ing mills will be licensed, and there 1s no intention whatever to set up a monopoly, yet hon. members opposite brazenly, glar­ingly, and unfairly assert that the Bill will lead to the establishment of a monopoly. The Minister has also intimated that any additional mills that m a v be considered desirable in the general interests will also be licensed. The whole subject will be considered fairly and honestly, but appar­entlv a sma.l! section of vested interests fear' that they may be affected by the Bill, and so have prompted some hon. members opposite to object to it,

Fancy hon. members opposite complaining a bout the establishment of a monopoly ! Why, ono of their ex-political leaders, an ex-member for Toowong, was the legal representative for the Swift meat monopoly in this State at one time and while he was Leader of the Opposition ! Monopolies have bronght hon. members opposite into existence. They serve the monopolistic interests, and could not exist without them, financially or otherwise, but by the adop­tion of cuttle fish methods of discussion endeavour to obscure the true position. 'They are the real reprc,,entativcs of the mono­polistic interests in this State, There need be no fear that the Bill will e"tablish a new monopoly. vV e know that the party opposite has always adopted a favourable attitude towards monopolistic interests. W c know that they were responsible for the boss­Ba.dger tramway monopoly, and the evils that it entailed, and that it was the Labour Government that ended that monopoly.

There are ample legislative safeguards in connection with prices at the pr0scnt time•. There is nothing that I should dread more than a bureaucracv of boards with monopolistic power suffi;ient to enable 1t to defv the Uovermuent and Parliament. Ko such proposal is involved in the Dill or in any other measure contemplated by the Government. There is the salutary safeguard of the powers of the Commissioner of Prices and his administrative machinery, aud we know that those pow0rs will be invoked if any attempt is made to take an unfair advantage of the proposed legisla-tion. ·

Thcr0 is also the additional safeguard of tripnnial election. Anv Government whu abuse their powers, fai'! to shoulder their responsibiliti. ,, or indulge in improper practices, will meet their political doom at one of those elections, and the present Government are as rnuch irnbued ·with tho jn~tlnct of self-preservation as any other political party. They are careful to avoid anything that is improper or unfa.ir, or

Mr. La1·combe.l

172 Sawmills Licensing Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] Sawmills Licensing Bill.

is likely to terminate their existence as a Government.

I repeat that this Bill does not deal with the subject of price", and-quite apart from any proposed legislation on the subject­we have the Commissioner of Prices as an arnple chock on any urnvarrantcd increase in the price of the commodity. The argu­ments by hon. mombrers opposite .arc not only illogical and unfair, lmt on the sub­ject of priecs they also haYe no relation whatever to the proposed Dill. Their fears are purely imaginary. They havo set up .an arg<:ment hoping that by demolishing it they make some political capital. ='io price­fixing proposal is embodied in this Dill.

Mr. EDWARDS: You agreed to it up at Maryborough.

Mr. LARCOMBE: We know that at Marv­borough and Hockhampton and in other parts of the State there has been a strong demand for a measure of thi" character for tho ?rganisation of the industry, and also for 1ts protectwn. If that principle holds good in relation to sugar, fruit, and other commoditir:". whv not in relation to timber? If the principl,;- em bodied in this Bill is similar to that adopted in the organisation of other industries, although there may be a difference in application and detail. there can be no valid reason for the protests of the - Opposition. Lot them accept the adYice of their own leader-wait until the Bill is broug-ht down, and reserve their criticism until they have studied it.

Mr. CLA YTO"J (Tridc Bay) [11.6 a.m.]: 1 have some doubt as to the desirability of the introduction of this Bill. After listening to the speeches delivered from both the Government and Opposition sides of the Committee I am inclined to the conclusion that when w" se(' the Bill we shall find it is one that will materiallv interfere with the timber industry. •

I know that the Loader of the Opposition has asked the Minister for a copy of the Bill. No doubt that request is rather pre­mature, because, I understand, it is custom­ary sometimes to give thn Leader of the Opposition a copy of a Bill after the first reading. Nevertheless. it is strange that I was talking recently to a man who repre­sented a large sa vvmi11ing association, and asked him what he thought of the Bill. Hb replied, "It is all right; I have been through it; it is up in our office."

The SECRICTARY FOR PuBLIC LANDS: That is untrue. That is one of vour usual insinua-tions. •

Mr. CLAYTON : Will the Minister deny that a copy of this Bill has not been sent to any ·,awmilling association?

The SEORETA!lY FOR PUBLIC L\XDS : Abso­lutely. I drmy that a copy of this Bill has been sent to any sawmilling association or member of our own party.

"ielr. CLA YTO='J: Will tho Minister denv that a copy of this Dill has been sent t~ any sawmiJling a".:;ociation?

The SEO!lETARY FOR PUBLIC L.\NDS : That 1A

untrue. That is the kind of insinuation that usually comes from your dirty mind.

Mr. CLAYTON: I must take the word of the man who informed me as against the Minister in charge of the Bill.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC LAXDS: Of course, you would. I repeat, no one has

[Mr. Larcombe.

had a ropy of the Bill yet, not even members of our own party.

l'vlr. CLA YTO.:-J: As I said. I will take the word of my informant against the wor<l of the Minister.

The SECRETARY FOH PuBLIC LANDS: Tlnt is your dirty rnind.

Mr. CLAYTON: 'l'his Bill seeks to doal. with the granting of licenses to "''. mil Is. Possiblv it will be so framed that for the time being licenses will be issued to existing· sawn1ilh, but I venture to say that in a short space of time the sm"ller sawmiller will not be able to carry on, because he will not be able to get from tho Sub-Dc•partmc11t of Forestry the supplies of timber he will rcqeire for his operation..- rro crush out the small sawmiller would b0 detrimental to men who have invested their capital in these r·orwNm. Many men have put their life­~-a\~ings into thes0 srnall sa\Yn1ills, and \York thern on a co-operative basis. '11hcy are doing an excellent service in supplying ti1nber to meet the rcquirernents of rnany 0f the smaller townships, and thus obviating the need of the residents there to get ~upplies from tho larger centres.

There rs talk that the large ~a wmills cannot compote with the smaller one That 1'3 entirely wrong. Sorne Years ago I iutro­duceJ a deputatiou to tho nx-Premie1. 11r. 1\leCornutek, at which a rniller in u large way in the :Yiaryborough district told Mr. 1'.1cCormack that we should do something to prevent these small sawmills from operating. as they could not compote with thoem. He went on to sav "In addition, there is a groat deal of wa~te of timber in these countrv mills." Mr. McGormack said, "Is there a"ny waste in your mill? " The miller replied. "None whatever." Mr McCormack said to him, " ~'hat do you do with what would be waste in the country mill' ., The miller replied, "·we cut it into fruit casos or sell it as firewood." '\fr. McCormack said, " Do you do that for the good of your health? Get on with your arugument, but don't put that sort of thing up to me." I contend, rather, that the small millers in the country areas are not in a position to compete with the large millers in the cities.

Government members have declared that this Bill will not in any way have the effect of increasing the price of timber. I say that the prices of timber will be increased as a result of it. If some of the licenses are to be can­celled and the small mills crushed out and the larger mills have a monopoly, there is not the slightest doubt the price of timber will be considerably increased. The following statement appeared in the " Telegraph" of 27th September, 1935, and contains extracts from the report of the Brisbane Tim­ber Merchants' Association dealing with the question of taxation. It indicates that timber will become .clearer and clearer on account of this Government's giving the larger saw­millers a monopoly of the trade. The state­ment in the "Telegraph," quoting the repre­sentative of the association, is as follows :-

" As taxation is a trading expense which should be pa,ssed on to the ~on­sumer it should not he expected to affect profits. Unfortunately, the possibility of passing it on depends upon the advantage which our neighbouring State possesses in some spheres of taxation enabling saw­millers in New South Wales to market

Sawmills Licensing Bill. [1 SEPTEMBER.] Sawmills Licensing Bill. 173

their timber m Queensland, competi­tively."

Thoro is a11 indication that the larger millers anticipate a rise in the prices of timber. It is this combine that is gomg to l;mng about the increase in the prices, especially when It can crush out the smaller man who to-day IS able to. trade in some of the larger centres of population, because he can perhaps supply timber at a cheaper rate.

Further on tho report refers to the licensing of timber traders-so that as early as last vear the questiOn was fully discussed by the- Brisbane Timber . Merchants' Asso­ciation. The report says m connectiOn wtth i(-

" The c';ntinual increase in the number of new and smaller sawmills throughout south-eastern Queensland, rather than tending· to advance the timber industry, has the opposite effect, inasmuch as such competition, often. earned on outside of wages a\vard conditions, ca~lses le"s w?rk in the lar"er and more efficient csbtbhsh­ments entailing a higher ratio of over­head ~xpense therein."

I ask hon. members to take particular notice of the following:-

""\\1hen an excess of traders in any industry creates injustice, a moral claim !or their licensing exists."

They claim these smaller traders are causing an injustice in the industry and that a moral claim for their licensing exists. In other words when these small mills come into com­petitibn with larger mills a justification for their licensing is established; and the corollary is tha_t under similar circ~mstances it would l;Je nght to refuse to give them licences. I predict that regulations for the withholding of licenses from such mills will be framed.

I am wrrv that the Government are once again ;;Iterfering with private enter­prise, in some insta~ccs the entorpr_tse of rnen who have run rn1lls on a co~oporattve basis for a very long time. J\iot only are we dubious as to the contents of the Bill itself; we also fear the regulations that \vill follow in ih train. J'\o doubt, these \vill be framed in such a manner that it will be difficult for the small timber mills to continue the supply of sawn timber.

I cannot sav that I welcome the BilL but I am su~'e that it will be a very interesting document and give rise to much comment on the second reading stage. I regret that the larger sawmills should have been given a copy of this Bill before hon. nwmbers of the Opposition have rPceiYcd it.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLW LANDS: That is a deliberate untruth, and only a man like yourself is capable of saying--

J\lr. CHAIRMAN : Order !

l\lr. GLEDSON (Izmoich) [11.17 a.m.]: I chd not intend to speak at this stage of the Bill, but I cannot allow the statement made bv the hon. member for \Vide Bav to go unchallenged. Ho has stated tha:t he is prepared to take thu word of a man outside this Chamber rather than that of a Minister of the Crown. Such a state­ment emanating from a member of the Opposition shows that there is all the more necd for the licensing of sawmills in th•o industry.

The Secretary for Public Lands has explained tho object of the Bill. and definitely stated that it has for its purpose the licensing of timber mills, and not, as hon. rnembers opposite assert, the licensing of !he large mill and the crushing out of existence of the others. Moreover-and this, too. concerns hon. members on this side-in addition to protecting the miller it will give some measure of protection to the workmen employed in such mills. It (·annat be argued that the employees have no rig·ht to protection. The hon. membel' for \Vide Bay has read a report-which is now in "Hansard "-that shows that cer­tain s1nall 1nills arc a rnenaco to the industrv because they arc not giving to their employe~: the benefits of award rates and condition~. If hon. members opposite support such concerns it is_ just as well that the people should know •t. They take up the attitude that the timb•·r industry should be allowed to carry 011 at its o\vn s\Ycet will, and that there should bo no protection for the workers. In a word. thPy .advocate the '• ope11 go." Thcy believe that men should be allowed to establish mills c\·cn thon1,;h they will not pay their employees award ratos of wages, or give thcn1 industrial a\varcl conditions. The Bill will put a stop to the denial of award rates and con­ditions to the employees in the indu,,trv. It will enable the m"ills to do onlv tho~e things that they have a right to do.

Hon. members opposite do not accept the statement of the l\1inister that no one chc ha,, '" copy of this Bill. :\fembers of the (iovernmcnt Party have not vet recei,-cd a copy. ·They w{ll get them ;It the same tmw as hon. members opposite, that is to say, when the Bill is printed and i'·mecl b hon. members. \Ve know no more than hon Incmbel's opposite in this respect, and an.\· one ":ho makes the statement that a copv of !his Bill has been sent to the millers before it is pre,ented in this Chamber doe·' not know what he is talking aboat. Had the hon. member been a member of the Cabinet of the l\Ioore-Sizer Government he woulrl have known that Bill8 cannot b" broadcast until thev are finalised. Onr might have a draft copy. but until the rnattor icl finalised one cannot .:-:av that it is going to be the law. The sanie posi­tion applies here.

The Minister has toed hon. memben the facts, yet-as the hon. member for Rock­hampton very aptly said-they persist in putting up Aunt Sallies and knocking them down. They say that this Bill will be the n1cans of driving out of business n1a11y of the small sawmills and so prevent thelll from supplying timber e"t a cheap rate for the purpose of building homes. No cimbc,· mill in Queenslaml will bo driven out of bw<i­mss by this BiE.

:Mr. :YIAHEH : You support increased prices for timber'?

Mr. (~LEDS(r';: I support " fair price for any eonunodit.Y, a pnce that v.-111 allo\v economic production by the workers in the industry concerned.

Mr. MAHER: A higher cost for horn s, higher rents!

Mr. GLEDSON: I do not believe that any worker or an:v 1.msincss or profes.>51onal man ''ants to build a honu c,r do anvthing at the expense of the workers engaged in a particular industry. I believe that nll are prepared to pay fair and reasonable

Mr. Gledson.]

174 Saunnills Licensing Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

prices for their commodities. Here we are not concerned with getting an article at the lowest. possible price and at the expense of somebo.dy else. Hon. members oppo,ilte should realise that unless we can protect them the weakest in the industry will suffer.

:VIr. BELL: They are not suffering. The:: are making plenty of money and you know it.

Mr. GLEDSON: If anyone is making more mc•nc,· than he should, we can, under legis. lation that we have alrendy passed, take steps to prevent it. This Bill does not deal with that phase of the matter. As was pointed out by the Minister in his intro. ductory remarks, it deals with the licensing of all mills now operating in Queensland, the bringing of them under orderly control. and the prevention of the duplication of mills, which would mean an increase in the price of timber to persons who want to build homes.

:\fr. MAHER: Why should you prevent a man from starting a mill if he wants to?

:VIr. GLEDSON: Even under this Bill there is nothing to prevent a man from establishing a mill if it can be shown that that mill is necessary. If it can be shown that it is necessary, that it will justify the expenditure of capital on machinery, and that it will be a benefit to the district, there is nothing to prevent that mill from being licensed.

::\1r. MAHER: Nobody outside the ring will have that chance. You are making a ring.

Mr. GLEDSON: I do not know where the hon. gentleman gets his rings, but he should realise that instead of establishing a ring this Bill proposes to license every mill in Queens:and at the present time. We hear hon. members opposite saying that we should giYe certain mills an opportunity to pay the workers any wage the;r, like and to work them any time they like. Hon. members opposite want to work employees all hours and to pay them any wage at all in order that they may give cheap timber to the people who want to build fowlyards, fowl coops, and things of that sort. That is all they are concerned about. They want to go back to their " freedom of contract" that will allow a miller to do anything he likes. pay his workman anything he likes, work him any hours he likes, and so enable him to sell cheaply a few sticks of timber to put up a stockyard or something like that. That is the gist of their speeches this morn1ng.

::\Ir. PLL?\KETT (1!lbert) [11.26 a.m.]: ThP meech of tlw hon. member was astound­in,-. -lie >avs tho miller wants to \York the ·,,;rkers rom1d the clock and otherwise break the industrial laws. That is abwlute non. ~ell:<, because the Industrial Court controls all this busiuess and the millnrs a re all pay· in!..t a\\ a.rd ~.,.ages.

I protc;t against this Bill because I think it will create a monopoly. The speeches made on the other side of the Committee are contradictory. One speaker said it would not create a monopoly, the next said it would not increase the price of timber, and another Raid it would.

The SECRETARY FOR Pt;BLIO LAKDS: This Bill ;, framed on cxactlv the same lines as the Bill rciating to butter' factories.

::\Ir. PLLNKETT: The two things are different. The timber trade is only Aus.

[ 111 r. Gledson.

trnlian trade-the Minister cannot get away from that. It makes me boil when I hear hon. members following the Government talk­ing about the capitalistic dass. Goodness me. if anything is being done for the capitalistic class, then this Bill is doing it. I can understand the Minister's support of this Bill, be,;ause he supported the Coal Produc­tion Regulation Bill, which increased the price of coal; he is also supporting those ~reat capitalists, the breweries. (Government dissent.) They must be capitalists because they arc buying up a lot of the hotels in Queensland. At election time we shall find members opposite attacking the capitalistic class. although the Gm·ernment are hand in glove with them the whole time.

I protest against the Bill, especially on behalf of a sawmill in my own district. It has been there for forty years, and is close to Government timber, yet that timber is hauled past that mill although the owner is prepared to pay t.he same price a.s anybody else. There has been a monopoly in the purchase of Government timber, and there is going to be a greater monopoly. This Bill is not in the interests of the whole indush7 at all. It is going to increase the price of timber and it is going to damage the small man in the country and create a monoplv in the big timber interests in !he citv. I am opposed to it, because I thmk it is absolutelv wrong in principle.

The SECRET,~RY FOR PUBLIC LANDS : It is the same principle as the butter factories. only the Crown owns the raw material here.

Mr. PLr:I\'KETT: It is quite a different matter. There is no analogy between the two things at all, because one stabilises the prices of conunodities sent overseas. which does not obtain in the timber~milling industry at all. vVlw is it that members of the Government say· this is not going to increase prices? It is brought in for that one purpose. Its only effect will be to increase prices and squceZ<' out small millers. The Government claim thev are against monopolies. \Vhy, thf•n, do they bring in a Bill to creat<;J mono· no lies? \Vhy do they pass Ads hke the Liquor Act Amendment Act of last y<'ar, and the Coal Production Regulation Act.

At 11.30 a. m ..

The CHAIRMAN: Order! In accordance with Stanclin'l' Order No. 17 and Sessional Order agreed t:o bv tho House on the 12th A u~·u•t last. T shall now lea.ve J.h<> ~hair and make my report to the House.

Th2 House resumed. Tlw C'uAIR1IAX renortod progress and asked

lcayc to sit again. Rcsnmntion of Commilt('C made an Order

nf the Day for to.morrow.

ADDRESS IN REPLY.

RESDTPTIOX OF DEBATE-FIFTH ALLOTTED DAY. Qucst;on stated~

" That tho following Addre's be pre· "ented io ihe Governor in reply to the Speech ddi>ered by His Excellency in opening thi,. the second session of the twcnh·seyenth Parliament of Queens· land,:_

'l\Iay it please Your Excellency,~ '\Ye. His Majesty's loyal and duti·

ful subjects, the member" of the Legis­lative Assembly of Queensland, in Parliament assembled, desire to assure

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 175

Your Excellency of our continued lovalty and affection towards the Throne and Person of Our Most Gracious Sovereign, and to tender our thanke to Your Excellency for the flpeech with which you have been plea,ed to open the present session.

'The variouo measures to which Your Excellency has referred, and all 0thcr matters that may be brought before us, will receive our most careful consideration, and it sh<ill be our earnest endeavour so to deal with them that our lauours may tend to the advancement and prosperity of the State.' "

?vir. PO\VER (Tirzroona) [11.31 a. m.]: At the out~et I should like to congratulate the mover and seconder of the motion the hon. member for Brisbane ar1d the hm{. member for Bowen respectively, on the very credit­able manner in which they acquitted them­selves. Both these gentlemen have had a verv close association with the Labour move­merJt, and the people of Dowen may well be proud of the fact that in their represen­tative they have a man with a first-hand knowledge of the sugar industry, one \Vho 1s

thoroughly competent to state their case in this Parliament should the occasion warrant. I ~hould also like to take the opportunity 0f congratulating the Lco"dcr of the Opposi­tion on his elevation to that important position. I hope he will continue to occupy it for many years to come, because, l believe .that will be in the best interests of the people and the State.

The Speech delivered by His Excellencv the Governor, contains many items o.f

interest, but it is particularly pleasing to note from it the improved budgetary posi· tion. The deficit for the last financial vea._r was £420,558 less than the estimated deficit, which goes to show that the wise policy enunciated bv this Government has resulted in a very rrui:rkcd improven1ent in econo1nic conditions; and as that policy will be con­tinued we may loo!~ forward with pleasure to an even greater improvement.

It is the duty of any Government pro­gressively to develop the State, and I pro­pose to show what the Government have done in that connection. During the last financial year tlm amount expended from loan funds was £4,219,630, including loans and subsidies granted to the Brisbane City Council and other local authorities thronghout Qucenelan.d for the purpose of carrying out necessary works in an endeavour to relieve unemploy­ment. l're are all well aware that hon. n1Cinbers opposite were returned to power in 1929 on the strength of that notorious promise to find £2,000,000 to provide 10,000 jobs. so as to relieve unemployment. I propose to snbmit some figures to show exactly what they did while they were in power, and contrast it with what has been achieved bv the present Government by means of these loans and subsidies since they assumed control in 1932. My comparison will also distinguish between amounts advanced in Brisbane and those advance-d outside. IN e have oft<m been accused by hon. members opposite of being a Queen Street Govern­n1cnt, but even a casual consideration of the figures that I propose to submit will con­Yince tho most sceptical that the assertion by hon. members opposite does not contain an a tom of truth. The figures are-

BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL. OUTSIDE BRISBANE.

Financial Year.

Loan. Subsidy. Total. Loan. Subsidy. Total.

£ £ £ £ £ £ 1932-33 .. .. 144,450 130,750 275,200 467,641 298,381 766,022

1933-34 .. .. 229,250 229,250 458,500 1,366,975 757,969 2,124,94±

1934-35 .. .. Nil 264,502 264,502 669,905 961,871 1,631,776

1935-36 .. .. .. 330,000 330,000 954,078 542,751 1,496,829

£373,700 £954,502 £1,328,202 £3,458,599 £2,560,972 £6,019,571

SUM:II:ARY.

Outside --- Brisbane. Brisbane. Total.

£ £ £ 1932-33 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 275,200 766,022 1,041,122

1933-34 .. .. .. .. .. . . .. 458,500 2,124,944 2,583,444

1934-35 .. .. .. .. .. . . .. 264,502 1,631,776 1,896,278

1935-36 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 330,000 1,496,829 1,826,829

£1,328,202 £6,019,571 £7,347,773

Mr. Power.]

176 Add1·ess in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

The total amount of loans and subsidies granted to the Brisbane City Council during that period was, therefore, £1,328,202, while the amount of loans and subsidies granted to all local authorities outside the metropolitan area of Brisbane was £6,019,571. Those figures refute the statements ma,de from the Opposition benches that we are a Queen Street Government.

I pr.opose now to make a, few comparisons as to the terms and conditions laid down in connection with these loans and subsidies. The only amount the Moore Government made available to the Brisbane City Council for the relief of unemployment was a loan of £163,240 from the Loan Fund. I was an alderman on the Brisbane City Council at that time, and I had some experience in the matter. The Moore Government imposed terms and conditions when granting that loan. They stipulated that the hours to be worked should be 44 hours a week, and that the wages paid to those men who wore for­tunate enough to get jobs under the scheme -who had to go and work in the bowels of the earth-should be £3 a week. I heard the Leader of the Opposition interject in con­nection with the Sawmills Licensing Bill that the workers in that industry were pro­tected by an industrial award. 'l'he Govern­ment of which he was an adherent removed theso local authority workers from the pro­tection of the court and laid down conditwns and wages that were not in consonance with the awards.

2\ir. MAHER: Were they relief works?

2\Ir. POWER: They were not relief works? :\lr. MAHER : Of course they were.

Mr. POWER : The works were initiated as a result of a loan granted l;ly the Moore Go,-ernment to the Brisbane Citv Council for the relief of unemployment. Those works consisted of sewering certain areas of the city, and the construction of storm-water sewers. I and several other members representing the Labour Party in the council at that time, sitting in opposition, moved a motion to the effect that a ward rates of pay and conditions should apply to such jobs. The reply we received was-and it can be seen in the minutes of the council-that the conditions of employment were laid down by the Govern­ment. that the council had no ]JO\H'r !u alt.t:r those conditions, and if they did the Govern­ment could refuse to advance the money.

:\Ir. DEACOX : It was relief work. .'\1r. POWER: It "as not relief work.

There is a difference between relief and rota­tional \York, but if the hon. member cannot understand that it is no fault of mine.

:\Ir. \YALKER interjected. :\lr. PO\VER: It was for rotational work.

The present Government have made money ava.ilable to the council for the same class of \York. and the conditions laid down are that award rates of pay and conditions must be observer!. As a result of tho Government's policy the rnincrs are ·working forty-fon1· hours a weok, for v:hich thc:v receive £5 ls., the a\vard rate for n1incrs. The n1en crnploycd on the storm-w::tter sewers are also receiving the award rate for such work, £3 16s. a week, \Yith an additional 1s. a day for mixing concrete, plus ls. a day for working in wet weather. When hon. members opposite were the Government they would not allow those conditions to operate in favour of the men.

:Hr. M.UIER: Many men had no jobs.

fMr. Powe1·.

Mr. POWER: That was a result of the administration of the Government at that time. The terms and conditions laid down by the present Government are that a ward rates of pay and conditions must apply.

Much has been said by hon. members opposite about the action of the Government in causing· people to leave the land. Every­one will appreciate the fact that numbers of people have taken up land without pre­vious experience and with very little capital, and they have failed. That is true of any industry. Numbers of people have started to conduct small shops, but owing to an insuf­ficiency of ca,pital and limited credit they have failed. On investigation I find that 553 new selections and 247 new pastoral holdings were taken up during last year. Those figures refute the statements of hon. members opposite that men are going off the land.

The policy of the Governm~nt in buildi!!g acce.ss roads to Crown land IS a very wise one. We have heard some criticism of the Public Estate Improvement Branch. I had the pleasure of visiting the Eunge!la settle­ment recently, and I am convinced that with­out the building of access roads to such settle­ments it would be impossible to develop them; one cannot expect a man to go on the land and make his own roa.ds. The con· struction · of access roads to the Eunge!la settlement has resulted in its prospering and I commend the Government for their action.

In reference to the Training Farm for Boys at St Lucia, it is regretta~le that many farmers are applying for lads Without success. It is regrettable that the pa~ents do ~ot avail themselves of the opportumty for tram­ing their boys. One can only conclude t~at the parents and their boys h.ave been .~aymg too much attention to the dismal wailmg of members of the Opposition about the condi­tions under which the poor h rm<>r has to exist. A visit to the recent Brisbane Exhibi­tion afforded conclusive evidence of the pros­perous state of many of the farmers to-day.

In his policy speech the Pro~ier said that the Government would do then best to relieve unemployment. I propose to show where at least an effort-and a very success­ful one-has been made in that direction. The Department of Public Works has pla:yed no small part in it. The branch controllmg workers' dwellings made 231 advances under the building reviYal scheme. This _branch was also responsible for . the er<:;ctwn of 562 new houses. Many skilled arti~ans got work as a result of the expenditure of £393,000 bv this department under these headings and increased employment has resulted 'inclircctlv in other directions. The popularitv of ~ the workers' dwellings scheme can be gauged by the fact that this branch is unabfc to cope with the number of applications made for financia,l aid.

Mr. MAIIER: Evidently they want to get in before the price of timber goes up.

1\Ir. POWER: We will cross that bridge \Ylwn ,,t-·e corne to it.

The Main Roads Commission, another branch of the Department of Public \Vorks, has alsc1 taken a, p1·orninent part in the relief of unemployment. In the year many miles of main roads were constructed, at a cost of £1,503,000. We must admit that many more miles of roads require attention. but it is pleasing to note these results, and to know that the activities of the Commis­sion will continue unabated.

Address in Reply. [1 SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 177

The· revenue of the Railway Department tshowcd a dcc:ine for the past financial year, but it would be idle to suggest that there­fore any branch line that does not pay its wav should be closed. If it were not for this department the State would not be dewlopcd to the degree it is. It has played no small part in the progress of Queens­land. and any hon. member who had the temerity to suggest the elimination of a non-paying lino in his district would not remain very long a member of this Parlia­ment. It must not be forgotten, too, that oven though the revenue for the year shows a slight reduction, the railway earnings have contributed no small share to the general revenue.

The Department of Public Instruction has for its paramount objective the welfare of the futuro citizens of Queensland: the moulding of their character and assisting them to choose and equip themselves for their vocations. \Ve maintain that it is the right of every child, irrespective of the financial circumstances of its parents, to have adequate -educational '·faQilities pro­vided for it. Our present educational sys­tem is the host that has ever existed in the State. and will compare more than favour­ably with any in Australia. Every child who i.~ prepared to study will have every as~ista.11ce fron1 this Government.

Mr. :MAHER: We, also, will do that.

Mr. PO'WEE: "'o; the hon. gentleman's party will not I remind the hon. gentle­man that his Government took away a number of scholarships from children, and a number of poor orphan children were deprived of their allowances.

For some time I have been advocating the amalgamation of the separate schools for boys and girls at Petrie Terrace. I again commend this matter to the Secre­tary for Public Instruction for his very serious consideration. Ccrtainlv the schools han been getting some attention, but I draw at.tention to the deplorable condition of the grounds at the boys' school. I hope that finances wi:l enable something to be clone during the present financial year.

The policy of the Government regarding public health deserves commendation. Eecent.ly I had the opportunity of accom­panying the Minister on his inspection of hospital buildings at approximately twenty towns in Queensland. I was amazed to see the state of repair of some of the hospital buildings, a.nd I WftS forclbtv struck b~v the fact that often the hospital was some distance from the tcnn1. In one the hospital was ttbont 3 miles out although the ccmeterv was right in the centre of the town. 'The :Minister has spent a g·oocl deal of time and paid a great deal of attention to every detail affecting hospitals and health matters generally, and as a rc .. ult of hi~ actidties it has been decided that new hospitals will be built in many towns.

As a. further contradiction to the accusa­tion that we arc a Queen · troot Government. son1e infonnation I hayo received concerning the hospital policy cf the GoYernment may be of intore"t. \V c know that some time ago base hospitals were established in many parts of the State. It is proposed to estab­lish in the near future what will be known as the South-Western Base Hospital, at Char:cville. The hospital there was found upon recent inspection to be badly in need of repair and improvement, and it was

decided that a new hospital should be erected there at a cost of approximately £35.000. It will contain all the latest equipment, and the Government will make a substantial grant-in the vicinty of 40 per cent.-towards its construction. It is proposed, also, to establish a Central--West Base Hospital, at Longreach. Some time ago a conference was he;d of the shire coun­cils concerned, and the Secretary for Health and Home Affairs submitted proposals to which it unanimously agreed. I understand that the proposals are being sent to another shire for its approval. The proposal is that the hospital be " districtecl " to cater for the needs of the shires of Longreach, Ilfra­combe. Barcoo, and part of Aramac. T-he base will be at Longreach. These facts prove that the Government are establish­ing hospitals in various countrv centres of the State as well as in the cities.

Mr. BELL: And leaving the settlers to 11av for them. ·

Mr. POWEE: As u. matter of fact the proposals to establish a base hospital at Lon!l'reach were agreed to by the settlers. It I~ proposed, also, to establish a base hospital at Cloncurry. The hospital there is a long way !'mt '?f t-he town, although the cemetery IS ngh~ m the middle of it. Years ago, when hospitals were conducted on the voluntary system, it was often decided to ?U!lcl them some distance out of the town because they w<:re regarded as eyesores. They were establishments for the treatment of paupers _only. Under the Labour pocicy hospitals will be established in places easv ?,f access by the side The Cloncurry schem~ I' a very extensiye one. It provides for an aeroplane service at least twice a week to such far-out places as Boulia Kynuna Camooweal, Burketown, Croydon' Norman~ ton,_ Forsayth, Einasleigh, Georg~town, and Juha Creek.

It has been pointed out for some time that because of their inability to offer attractive salane~ the hospitals have had great cliffi­cult:l:' m obtam_mg the services of efficient mcd1eal p;actiti_0ners, and even more diffi­culty m mclucmg them to remain there. A·s a result of the Ministers activities facili­ti:s Will be provided and encouragement g_;ven to doctors to work in country districts. Under the old ~ystem of small district hos­pitals that could be controlled bv matrons :he doctors would get out of prii.ctice. B:-: ,he mtrocluctwn of the pn'sent scheme the doctors will be able to attend the patients suffer m~ from the . most serious complaints, and s? mcrease then knowledge by practical expencnce.

"\n 0PPOSlTIOX MEi\IBER: The,c fcllow.o would be all dead before they got over in tlw aeroplane sPrv1ce.

Mr. POi-VER : I am quite satisfied an aC'ropl~nc st;rYice twice a week vvould be a splcJJcllcl t~_mg .. E_vcry man who gets sick c!oe.3 not cue vnth1n a fc,v hours.

I should like to refer to the good work thnt has hc·cn done by the Dental Hospital T have .some flgurcs here which make ver.v Hltc-rcsbng reading:--

='\unJbcr of now cases treated la.'t vcar was 16.401

'<umb~r 'of attenclan~~s .. . 39.892 Sets of artificial teeth made·:· 7.002

::\l[r. M.IHER: \Yore they paid for'

Mr. :t:O.WEE: Let the hon. member wait until I fmish my figures. These facilities are

Mr. Pou·t r.]

178 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

not confined to Brisbane. for clinics are operating at Brisbane, Mater Children's, Toowoomba, Maryborough, Rockhampton, Gladstono. and Towmville. The financial aid approved towards providing accommoda­tion for dental clinics is £7,650. Approval has al~o been given for the establishment of clinics at Mackay, Cairns, Ipswich, and Bundabcrg.

Approval has also been given to the establislnnont of a new dental hospital tit Brisbane, incorporating the Denta I College, at an estimated cost of £50.000. The plan.s aro no.,, bL'ing prepared by the J)epartmC!lt of l'ublic Works in collaboration wrth J'ro­fe"or Helmore, of the UniYcrsity, and Mr. Vidgen, superintendc"t of the Dental Hospital, a.nd it is expected that this work will be commenced at an carlv dale. :\Ir. Vidgen is a very con:prtr>nt a;1d courteous officer. He is always there when lw is wanted, and is always prepared to do the right thing by the people with whom he has to deal.

I want to refer to the outstanding wmk that has been done in the dental clinic at Ruckhampton during the twelve months it has boon in existence. The demands that have been mado on the scrvicPs. of tl1c dental staff, consisting of dentist·, t" o Inochanics, and nurse, haYe been great. '\ otwithstanding that the treatment has been absolutclv limited to relief workeeo and their families a11d people in casual employment, there is at present " list of 900 awaiting attention at the hospital. 1 understand the difficultv has been overcome by additions to the stO:ff.

The child welfare or baby clinic son-ice has also been largely extended during the last financial year. Branches adjacent ro Toowoomba exist at Gatton, Dalby, Oakey. and Pittsworth. Adjacent to Warwick clinics have been established at Killarney, Stanthorpe, Inglewood, and Goondiwindi, and in the central-western district. at 13arcaldino, Aramac, and Longreach. and at Ingham in the Northern division. I under­stand that since the 1st July, 1936, sub­centres have been established .at Chinchilla, Mitchell, Charlcville, Cunnamulla, and Quilpie, and that arrangements have been made at the Augathella and Springsure hospitals, whereby the matron, who possesses a child welfare certificate, will advi'e mothers in those centres. I mention these facts to refute the statements made by members of the Opposition that our activities are centred in Brisbane.

I also desire to refer to the improvemer.ts that have been carried out in the Police Department. Further progress was mad" during the year in the provision of modern motor equipment. The system of patrol ears has proved to be very successful. One haB only to peruse the newspapers to find out the good work that is being done around Brisbane. I understand it is pro­posed to extend the system to various parts of Queensland. Another very fine innova­tion in the department has been the estab­lishment of crossings 'for pedestrians in Queen street. Many drivers of cars believe that pedestrians have no right on the road at all, or no right to cross it. I am satisfied that the introduction of the white lines and other safety precautions has been a great boon to the pedestrians. There was some objection to them at the outset, but I feel safe in saying that if the pedestrian was given the opportunity to

[Mr. Power.

revert to the old haphazard method ot crossing the main thoroughfare at an)­poi':t he would decline to accept tlw oppor­tLuiit;-. I hop0 that those important safety measures will be extended to other placPS.

Another welcome safctv device is the installation of the traffic" lights at A!bert Square, \Vhcro they appear to be \YOrking vc1·y catisfactorily. although I believe from my obserYations that the reel lig;ht remains on a little longer in Brisbane than in i\Iel­bourrw. 1-Io,vevcl', that i-:; a 1ninor rnatter that can be Yery easily acljmted. I shoctld like to ec'e similar lights installed at other d-1ngcrous point·-~. I hn.vc in rninJ tltc corner of College road ancl Countc~.J street, a. flYe­"''-'ay trnHlc c- ntro. ..A policcn1an superintends th• traffic at this intersection during- the pPak hours in tllf' rnorning and eYening, but I should like to sec the new safdy ,ig·nal light Nectcd there. ~

Mr. ::\IAHER: Does this not have a tendenev to throw men out of jobs? "

1\.Ir. PO\YER: That is not necesoarih· ,o. became it rclici'Cs policemen from that ;,-ork and thcv arc ayailable for other duties.

I should like to bring under the notice of the Socrctarv for· Heaith and Home .\!fairs cet·tain r!olice rnattcr.s that in my up inion, dcrnand urgent attention. 'In coffi­pany with the Commissioner and the Chief Inspector I made an inspection of the Petrie terrace police' barracks, which are in my elQctorate, a ft~\v weeks ago, and I ·was con­yinccd that there vvas urgent need for an ll1tpr0\-ernent in the quarters and <·onditions gc>nerally. I suggest that a new police statiOn should be erected therB. vVe are dPveloping a very fine police force. To continue to do so we must attract recruits of good type from good homes. In order to join the police force to-day a rccruil 1nust pass an educational test. in some cases equal to the University junior standard. This means that the present day entrants to the police force a re attracted from g-ood homes, and it is only right that we should provide them with good living conditions. The Fortitude Valley police station is a model police stat:on, and the present barracks at Roma street should be discontinued and a modern police barracks erectod at Petrie terrace. I commend the suggestion to he Minister for his earlv and favourable con-sideration. ~

Mr. MAHER: Did you read what the ::-;iew South Wales police had to say?

Mr. POWER: At tho present moment I am concerned only with the Quecn,Jland police. . In 1929 the party opposite promised that, If they were returned to power. they would provide employment for the boys of the State. I propose to quote some figures show­mg the number of juniors that were employed during the life of that Govern­ment and the number that have been engaged srnce the present Government were returned to power in 1932, dealing onlv with the Railway Department. In 1929 when a Labour Government left office, the number of employees in the railway scnice was 21,363, the number employed in 1932, when the Moore GoYernment vacated office, was 15.533, and the total number employed at the present trme rs 16,994. The nmn bcr of trade apprentices employed under the Moore regime, despite their promise to " give the

Address in Reply. [1 SEPTEMBER.) Address in Reply. 179

boy a chance," was nil, but the number of trade apprentices engaged since the Labour GoYernment were returned in 1932 is 169. The number of juniors, excluding trade apprentices, engaged by the Railway Depart· ment during the term of the Moore GoYern· ment was nil, whereas the number appointed by the present Government since th0ir elecrion to office in 1932 is 223. I have made those comparisons to prove that the present GoYermnent have lived up to their promise to do what they could to relieYe unemplov· ment in this State, particularly amongst youtL:3.

I propose to make a few compariwns also as to the treatment meted out to relief workers by the Moore Government and the Labour Government who succeeded them. I do not think such comparisons will be out of placP. l~nder the 1\1oore regime a married man without children received one and a-half days' intermittent relief work. and was paid 17>. \Vhen .Labour were returned ro power in 1932. that amount for one and a-half days' work was increased to £1, and in September last the amount was further increased to £1 5s. \Ye have heard a lot during the pre:"otn session of Parliament~--we heard a lot Ja-r session also-of \Yhat the }',lom·c Governnwnt did and what this Government should do for the relief of single men.

ThE' Moore Government made them walk from police station to police station in order to qualify for 6s. worth of rations weeld:c. Some parents would not allow their sons to leave home and travel many mile' to get that help. and. as a result, only 2,500 single men received rations under their regime. One of the first acts of the Labom Goyernment in 1932 was to abolish the need fm· any man to walk or travel to g·et rations. They also improYed the conditions pertaining: to the relief of single men and grant0d them one day's work a fortnight at 13s. a dav, and ratiom in the alternate week. As' a result, 10.000 single men. who were. pern.Iitted to rmnain in their parents' homes. became eligible. At a later stage the Labour Government gaye further con· sideration to the position of single men and increased the rate for the dav's work to 13s. 6d. ·

In this debate, the Leader of the Opposi­tion and his supporters have made refer!'rice to the Breakfast Creek works dispute. The_v ha.Ye triPd to -delude the Breakfast Creek \Yorkers into a belief that they are sympa­thetic. to\Yards them. I unhesitatingly sa,· the~T are only using these \Vorkers as a cloak for a deliberate attack on the Australian vVorkcr: "Cnion.

J\1r. J\Luum: Only to the extent tint it i"' in the wrong.

:VIr. PO\VRR: The Australian \Yorkers' "Cnion and its officials have been ardent criti<~' of the ::\1oore Administration. Those official" are men of high character a:1d calibre. They aro men, too. who haYo alwa:vs stood by the principles of arbitration. It i.; hardlY ncce~:-.arv for me to rai~c rnv voic(' in their' ddence, '{or. despite the attacks of tlw Opposition. this union an cl its official' will. notwithstanding tho aid the Opposition nrc receiving frorn the Con1rnunist Party. continue to criticise their policy. It will n1so coutinne to progrtSS

1 Lccau;;;;c it i:' c~tnb­

lislu'c1 on a solid basis. GoYERN)IENT JY1E)1BERS : Hear. hcai· ' :VIr. :.VlAHER interjected.

Mr. POvVER: The administration of the :Moore Government was a tragedy. Under their Government no fewer than 1,154 people became bankrupt, and it was only their defeat at the polls that saved the State from becoming generally bankrupt.

'\1r. .l\ILUIER interjected. J\1r. SPEAKER: Order! I have already

explained to the Leader of the Opposition that an interjector has no rights, but he seems to be a long time in learning it.

Mr. PO\VER: It is very necessary that a reduction of the hours in the working week should take place, but any such reduction should be universally applied to Australia. I congratulate the Premier upon his efforts at the recent Conference of Premiers at Adelaide to bring this reduction about. I trust that those Premiers and other represen­tatives of the Federal ·.Government who successfully defeated his attempt will receive thP reward that is due to them when they come before the people.

In conclusion, I trust that the many Bills forecast for introduction in this session will be advantageous to the State.

Mr. \YALKER (Cooroora) [12.10 p.m.]: There nre many matters on which I intend to speak, and to criticise the Government; but like other hon. members I intend to support the motion before the House. It is the customary thing to do so, and it is fitting that we should make a proper reply 1 o the Governor's Speech. It is a voluminous document, but it contains vorv little that will be helpful to the unemploved. It con­tains a historv of the work of the Govern­ment for the year. It glorifies many of their actions, and in glorifying them makes staternent~ that ,are greatly at variance with the facts.

The record of the Government is very disappointing, because of their omission to clcal with the great problem of unemploy ment. which must be grappled with not only by the States but also by the Common­wealth. It is no use, howaver, endeavouring to shift the whole responsibility on to the shoulders of the Commonwealth, as hon. members opposite appear to be endeavourin,; to do. The hon. member who has iust resumed his scat ;;poke about the :Mo~re Govern~ rnent and the unemployed. If it is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to deal with the question of unemployment to-day, then surely the rcspomibility rested with that Government when the Moore Government were in office in this Sta tc !

It was int,•rnting to listen to the speeches made by the new members, who I con­sider did vcrv welL I offer them my con· gra tu la tions 'on their excellent efforts. l realise that thev enter this Chamber faced with many problems, with which they arc unfamiliar. An hon. member may be a close student of economics, but there arP certain problems whose study is peculiar to Parliament.

I am sure hon. members and the public ::renerally are pleased to know that the Uovcrnor has bt~en reappointed for a furthm~ term of fiyc vears. I am firmlv of t]-,p opinion that it' should be the prh~i)cgo of the Kin<; to appoint anyone he choo,c.; to that offico. It should be his priYile;;e to send whomcYer he likes to Australia, and not for u~ to n1ake a recommendation to him. I quite agree that thNe are many mea

Mr. Walker.l

180 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

in Queensland who could fill the position with equal ability to that of anyone sent from overseas: my point is that it is tho right of the King to appoint his reprcscnta­ti ve to this State. That practice has hitherto been successful. It is plea sing to know that the present Governor has gone to almost everv corner of this State, and has aJw travel fed extensivolv m-er th,, other Stnt< s of Australia. Durmg his travels he l1as become acquainted with all sections of the conlrrlunity, and }Jas been equally at ease conver~ing ·vrith the children or thP aged. l-Ie is an inh.Te:sting S]Jl'aker on alrnost any subject. !Iis cxtcn8iYc knowledge of Queensland must be re,-c,a]cd in thr reports that he send; to the Imperial authorities, and rnnst rc~.-,u]t in good to this State.

There is no doubt tlLJ.t nnc:rnpJo~.Ttnent ~s the don1inating questiou of the present tirne. The l\loore Government have never denied i hat the unemployed \V ere ver.y nunwrous during their term of office. \Ye had no alternative but to do what we did. Similar a et ion \Vas taken by evel'y C overnmont in Australia and the re<ct of the world. with the common object of plltting tho -State; a11d other countries in a good position again. The fact that this State and Australia ha ye l'eCO\?ered is cogent evidence of tlw efficacy of our policv. That fact was admitted by the Prcn1ier when speaking u1 London during his recent visit home.

\Vhcn the Moore Uovernmcut assumed office, a.ccording to the figuresJ supplied by the hon. member for Ipswich (who was then Secretary for Labour and Industry), there were 46,000 people totally unemployed and 69,000 partially unemployed. It will be seen that there was a considerable num­ber of unemployed to be dealt with, and there was very little money available to iuaugurate schemes to absorb them. It i,, no use the Government borrowing large sums of mouey and spending it in the manner in which they have done during the past five or six years. The fact that there are still 34,000 registered unem]lloyed to-day indicates that that policy is not an effective one•. If by borrowing a few more thousands of pounds it would be pO."·ible to eliminate that 34,000, then I would c•ay, "Let us borrow it." But that would not solve the nroblem. Nor would the adoption of tho 40-hour week do so. To establish the 40-hour week in industn· and t? try at the same time to meet our obliga­tions abroad would be the ruination of the country. Any person who expects Austra­]Jan producb to compete against the world, tf we adopt a 40-hour week, should in schoolboy language, " Geo his head read." Austr·alian industry can never be cst<tblishcd on a. 40-hour week. Unemployment would he .mcreased. . Our competitors include forctgn. ~ountnes where labour is cheap. The tanff would have to be wholly reviewed. The -\ustralian consumer would have to pay higher prices. All th0· e and other matters have to be taken into considera­t;on.

I say again that we can get over our difficulties, but only by spending loan money on reproductive work and producing moro primary commodities. The onls wealth of Australia, including Queensland, is the money that we get m return for our produce exported overseas. The Unemployment Relief Fund, which incidentally is over the requirements for its purpose, is being used

[]11'. Walker.

in other directions. It could be much bcttct· expended in the proper development of the State, by means of greater co-orclir]ation than exists to-dav between the varwns State departments.· A largQ amount of that money could be used for dPvelopmental purposes. At no time in the history of Queen·land h<ts there been a greate-r opportunity for the Go..-ertnnent to launch out on a big L:nd :;:.ettlemcnt schernc, because to-day the prices for our primary products are Luoy':nt. \'Vill anvone tell me that the present IS not an op],ortunc time? But thc•re must be co-or­diEatiell between the expPrts of tho Dcpart­lllents of Agriculture and Stock, Public Land;;;. and other dppartnJents with a Yicw to rucrea."rng production and crp.:--.,ting, rnarkets.

nnc .naturallv ask~: But ·whC're are thot:c markets to be found? During the last three or four vear~ Britain ha:3 taken an cnornwus quantit_;. of our surplus production. Tht, has bo<'n tho effect of the Ott<twa Agreement. This, backed up by the action of the <;'om­nlonv-..-ealth Government, proves -conc~ns~-n~~y that tho policy is sound, and if Great Dntnm is prepared to grant a greater rneasure of fr00 f'ntrv to Australian products, then Australia ·has nothing to fear.

I do not '"ish to be thought to make any special charge against the Sub-TJepartln0nt of Fcll'f>;;;fr"- in t,hj rernarks I arn about to rnakc. T}l~t would not be fair, but we rnn-::t take the position as it is. Owing to the tin1c it takes tirnber to grow we can never hopn to ~olYe our present econornic difficultjcs with timber just planted, but the policy now being adopted is a good one, and the monev can he said to be well spent. We shall ·,·cap our reward in year" to come. As a matter of fact a similar policy should ha.-e been embark~d upon fort:; or fifty years ago, when our huge timber belts were being pioneered. I only instance that fact in order to he fair in rny critieisrn.

In the relief of unemployment the Depart­ment of Labour and Industry should exerciSe a little more care in tho grading of the reports from police officen. Recently I read th(tt certain men in the Cooro:1 district refused to take work bcanpicking. There are a number of unPmpJoyed in that area. EYen in the Tcwantin district they number not fewer than fifty. Will anyone say to me that these men should not accept work when it is offered them' Hm.-evor, work was offered and th''Y refused to take it, but no doubt are still' in receipt of unemployment relief. Some action is called for. Any man who refusces work should lose his right to relief. Certain! v the wife or children of such a man should be helped, but he should be remoYed from tlJG list of cligibles. No doubt such a state of affairs exists in many other districts.

T-he Government continue to clamour for more and more loan money. It may be wise to obtain more but the point is that the Government ard using it in such a way as to d<stroy the confidence of those who sub­scribe to the loans. Here we have a Government who have never had any diminution of revenue-it has always been buovant-but are yet asking the Common­wea'Ith Government to give them money for health and education purposes. I want to know where it will end if the Federal Government are to be asked to finanee these activities. Money should be used for repro­ductive work, but that should come out of

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 181

ordinarv rc\·enuc. The Labour Governn1ent seek to "shift the responsibility to the Federal GoYernment, and for what reason 'I Surely thov realise what the Federal GoYernment a re" doing for the St,ates ! First of all we have the tariff protecting our industries. As a. resu:t, also, of the good work of the Federal Government, Groat Britain takes all of our export trade at the present time. T'hen the Federal Government haYe been remarkably good to the States directly, as is shown by the following table of money granted to the State Governments during the year 1935-36 :-

Interest contribution Sinking Fund contribution Federal "\id Roads Unemployment Relief \Vorks Metalliferous Mining Forestry Special Grant Assistance to \Vheat Industrv Artificial Manure subsidv " Assistance to Fruit Gr:owers Grants for Local l'ublic Works Grant for Maternal and Infant

\Velfaro

£ 1,096,235

176,479 522.433 90,000 30,000 20,000 75,000 42,835 41.290 77.069 14:450

8.000

In addition, there arc items In which expenditure cannot be rcadilv allocated amongst the Statee. but a good d:~al of it has come to Queensland. Th<'y an•-

Tobacco Investigation Banana Industry Cattle Tick Control in New

South Wales and Queensland

£ 20,000 1,500

54,500

Not one ·hon. member on the Government side quoted the generosity of the Federal Government in advancing money they need not have grven.

I should like to see much more of the grant for the relief of unemployment being used to help farmers to get on to a good footmg so that pTOduction will he increased and unemployment reduced. By increasing production we must benefit in other direc­tions.

The hon. member for Fortitude Vallev compared Australia. with Canada. As ~ matter of fact Australia is better off than Canada at the present time. The compari­son the hon. member should have made was between the Lyons and Scullin Governments. If the hon. member blames the Moore Government for everything that occurred in Queensland, surely it would be fairer to compare the Lyons and Scullin Govern­ments? I think that Mr. Scullin showed himself one of the brayest men in Australia at the time. He is ridiculed by the rank and file and others who do not understand the position, but a man who sinks his prin­ciples so that his country may benefit never fails to arouse my greatest re•.pect. He had to reduce the old-age pension and the wages so that the country would be lifted out of a difficult position. If he had done what Mr. Lang did the country would have been bankrupt, the rest of the world would have lost confidence in Australia, and people with money would have invested it outside of the Commonwealth.

We hear the Government saying they need more money from the Federal Government for State purposes. They say that the Com­monwealth surplus should be distributed for

the improvement of health and education. In aboLtt another twelve months they will he say­ing: "\Vhy has not :i\.1r. Lyons increased old age pensions? With so much money over, that should be his first duty." I say that is his first duty to-day, rather than to giYe the money to the States. Rather than do so, he should restore them to what they were, and give the public serv.ants hack the money that was Ltkcn from them. On the othct· hand, if the State Government thinks it is wise to raise the basic wage let them see that it is done. If the country can afford to pay, it should do so, hut on no account should the State talk about getting the money from the other fellow.

Qucenslaud has a golden opportunity. Take wooL The Japanese were competing for it, but stopped-and I say that the Federal Government are to be commcndc.cl for what they did-yet, we arc still getting 1s. 2d. a lb for it. And we are getting 3.6d. for beef, 6.5d. for lamb, 4.2d. for mutton, and butter has a very good market. Tobacco is at 4s. a lb.-and I should like to remind hon. members, in passing, that the Commonwealth Govern­rnent spent an enormous amount in research for the benefit of that industry. Then take th0 export of pigs. With the- price at what it is to-da.y we could plough up a lot of land and rear pigs .on it, because it would show a profit to export pigs. The cotton industry rs so buoyant that people are coming out from Lancashire a.nd other places, and making inquiries as to the advisability of establishing mills in Australia. If they come to Queens· land what will they do? They will imme­diately hear all this silly talk of a 40-hour week. Having listened to it and knowing the strikes that are continually occurring they will immediately switch over to Victoria, where they can get the work done at a cheaper rate. Then wheat. It is worth 4s. a bushel here. Why can we not supply our own requirements? All these things can be done provided there is co-ordination between the departments concerned.

I was surprised to find that there was noth­ing in the Governor's Speech about the Electric Light Bill that was to stop the City Electric Light Company, Ltd., from lighting up the North Coast with a view to immedr­ately supplying the small towns there with electric current.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC WORKS: Have you not had the information that we are going to light them with a hydro-electric scheme?

Mr. WALKER: I do not know how the Government are going to do it. It is an impossibility. As a matter of fact, it will take the Barron Falls all its time to meet its difficulties-water in a drought time. Why <hould not the people in the country have the same convenience of electricity as the people in the towns? We want them to. Surely it is their right? If the country people had a supply of electricity, separators. and milking plants could be driven by it, as they are in New Zealand. Why should we not have all these conveniences? Men are looking for work. Here we have a company with £750,000 lying idle, with a scheme to give us the convenience and find those men work! Surely a clause could he inserted in the Bill to protect what the Government term the interests of the community.

Then we haYe the wonderful dairy regula· tions that have been recently gazetted. Only this. morning I noticed in one of the papers

Mr. Walker.]

182 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

that I was taken to task for a statement I marlc the other day in Cooroy. My state­ment is perfectly sound. There is only ono wav in which we can restrain the Govern­nlCilt in their desire to give effect to these regnlations, and that is by pointing out ln the metropolitan and country Press that these sillv provisions should never have been adopted,· because they are not in the best interests of the industry. I will be quite fair and admit that the present Minister has done a lot in its interests. From time to time he has stated that Qu<'ensland can boast of a bigger percentage of choicest butter than anv of the other States. But that has always been the case. It may be news to some hon. members to know that we have always led the other States in the purity of our product and the cleanliness of our dairies, but when ridiculous regulations are fra1ncd, rosulting in turmoil in the industry, we are left with no alternative but to expose their ridiculous­ness in this House. 'l'hey are not in the interests of the industry, particularly at the present time, when it is we!J known that dairy farmers on the Darling Downs and in the coastal districts are having a very rough spin. Some people may claim that condi­tions in the country are prosperous, but that is not so. What appears to be prosperity arises from the fact that men, women, and children must work very long hours; and all this despite the advocacy of a 40-hour work­ing- week in industry! I ha Ye gone very carefully into the figures and I am satisfied that an expenditure of 'at least £10 would be l"cquired on the average farm to conform to the regulations. There arc nearly 28,000 dairy farmers in Queensland. and the cost would be equal to about £280,000.

:Mr. TAYLOR interjected.

:vir. WALKER: If the fanner had to employ men of the type of the hon. member the cost would probably be increased to £25. Let us consider the position of the average dairy to-day. I have already been twic0 compelled to pull down my dairy at the instance of a dairy inspector, and now I am threatened with a similar order on a third occasion. My dairies are constructed of brick and compo. This is no mean task. Tt means that we must pull off a cappiug 16 inches wide, take away the fly-proof arrangement and install ~-inch netting wire to keep out the swallows and let in thf', flies that we have kept out up till now. V\'e mnst also provide greater ventilation underneath the building in addition to erecting a fence round a 30-foot square for both the " A " and "B " dairy. If we wash the dail"y utensils neat"b;- then we must construct a 30-foot concrete drain. The dairy utensils should JJot l1e washed near the dairv-therc should be no mess or muck about the place to attract the flies. In many instances at thr present time the dairy utensils are washed and scoured some distance aYYav from the dairy. and that is the correct p!·actic•,'. It is also provided in the regulations •hat if ,separating takes place within 6 feet of the cows the building must be moved a further 6 feet. '{ou know, 1\Ir. Speaker, as a practical man. that that would mean the removal of almmt the whole of the plant. (Govern­ment laughter.) Hon. members O!JJJOsite laug-h, but they do not know win tl1cy laugh. This 1:::: a serious 111atter, and it is C'rea,ting no end of trouble in th\) industry, because manv m on ha vo not tho money to carry oul

[Mt. Walker.

the improvements that are required. If the place where the separating is done has to be moved a further 6 feat it means an addi­tional length of concrete drain and an additional length of wall and floor. All that costs money. The dairy farmer must construct a 30-foot drain as well as erect 'l

fence round the dairy. Here is another silly provision. W o are not

allowed to wash or boil water in a kerosene tin, we must provide a 12-gallon boiler.

Nrr. JESSON: Quite right, too.

Mr. "\YALKER: It is all very "':?ll ~or the hon. member to s1t here and say, Qmte right " but how many dairy farmers are able to find £4 or £5 for a copper boiler 'l.nd stand? Quite right, too r It is not the class of material, it is the type of person that makes for cleanliness and "mother " Is JU"3t as able to keep the utensils clean with water boiled in a kerosene tin as in a copper boiler. Why should the dairy farmer be comp.,llcd to go to this extra expense?

The regulations also provide that t!J_e cream must be stirred every four hours. That is feasible! This regulatio)l is gomg to. be responsible for a few divorce cases ansmg from the question of who IS to got up m the middle of the night to stir the cream. " l\!Iother," perhaps, has to hrrn out m the mi-ddle of thil night to stn the cream. (Laughter.) .

No, the.se regulations a_rc all JUst about a~ foolish as the brandmg of the little ,;hite pig which we heard so much dr_s­cur~sion about a few years ago. .The p1g has to go through so ~any handl~ngs and branclin~s under the yarrous regulatiOns that a s!aughterman c•n looking_ at the_ carcass can hardly determine whethe~ It rs "; p1g or his mormng newspaper. We shoul9 not promulgate, still !ess enforce,. so _many regulations concerning our pr1n1ary Indus­tries. Greater improvements could . be effected if the Minister set about cduca~mg the people interested to attain the desrred standards. I admit that in the dairymg inclustrv as in all eections of the com­munitv ·'there are a few dirty people, but cducati~n on the part of departmental officials would convert that 1 per cent. to oh,scrYing tl1e standard of clcanhness no\V

adopted by the other 99 per cent. in the industry.

A short time ago I contrasted what hon. members opposite have said in this House with what they have said in other places. Rocentlv in the waiting room of a rnedrcal practiti0~1cr, I pick~d up a 1nagazi!1C called, " The United Empire," and therem read a statement by the Premier, which I intend to put into "Hansard," because It Is a specially good one. "\Vo want statements like this made not only at the seat of Empire. wh0re the position is so well nnde_r· stood, but in Queensla!"d also, as. they wdl load to the elimination of pohtrcal dis­satisfaction. The Premier. when spcaking­·at a conference of the, United Empire Association. which was presided over by a gent!cwan of high distinction, said-

" DurinrJ' the depression price le,~els feH an~ounting in ~-lustralia to £200.000,000 per annum. Financial crises tcok place, and had to be tackled.. n is not my intention to-day to go _mto detail about that. It has been explamed to you many times before. Suffice it to say" that the people of Australia have

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply, 183

faced up to the position. v;e have solved n1any of our difficulties, and 1\'C are on tho high road to a return to pros­perity to-day. Considerable sacrifices had to be made, and thev were borne b:r tho whole community in proportion to their capacity to bear the burden. Our financial position is such that we can look fonvard in every GoYcrnn12nt to a steady return to uorrual condition".

"_Queensland, being very largely an agneultural country, sufferetl less prob­ably, than the rest of the Common· wealth, and we are in the happv position to-day of having a swallor percentage of unemployment than in other parts of the Commonwealth. 'l'he late.ot f"wrc" of normal employment mowed that the problem is lPss acute in Queen.sland that1 elsewhere. 'I'his is a rnC>a."ure of sue­cc cS in developmental prospects.

•· In _\ustralia the Uovcrr rnent:'. worked t'?gcth01: on a public policy, after havmg g1ven full consideration to all its implic>ttions. The success of that polic,Y lai? down a few years ago was arnphfiPd m 1932 and thP rceoycn­thaL has taken place' in all th<· Strrt<;, may be seen «t the present time.''

That is what v;o \Vaut the Prcn1icr to Hi~~ in Queensland.

I want to show what Britain has dom> in regard to the export trade of Australia. The figures I am going to quote are a wonderful testimony to her aid to us and I should like thorn' inserted in "Hans.arcl." I will be as brief as possible in making the _comparison, and I will not quote any considerable number of instances as thev arc of a similar character. I h~ve heard hon, members, not only during the present scss1on but also in other sessions, speaking about markets for our products. Certainlv there ".'as difficulty in marketing a great proportwn of our producLs before th<J O~tawa Agreement, but the position is different to-day.

Consider the following increases in our exports to Groat Britain over the past fivo

Wool ·wheat Butter Beef Lamb Mutton Fruit Lead-pig Wine

335.100 bales 531,800 tons 68,490 tons 49,230 tons 33.130 tons 13,320 tons 26,210 tons 77,552 tons

1,173,000 gallons .

Per cent. 43 92

166 141 123 106 22 77 58

Those figures prove conclusively that Great Britain has extended the helping hand to all the dominions. As long as we receive that amount of protection, it is our duty to buy more products from the old country. We do not want hon. members to buy Ameri­can motor cars. They shonld follow your example. Mr. Speaker, and mine; and get an English car.

Since the Government have assumed office, they have enjoyed many advantages that were denied their predecessors. During the last year of office of the Moore Government, arrangements were made by the Loan Council for loan monev and when the Labour Government assumed 'office they reaped the benefit of it. Besides having abundant loan money available, the State enjoyed the bene­fit of the reduction in interest as a result of

the loan com ersions, for which great credit is due to Mr. S. M. Bruce. Everyone must recognise that he is a man of outstanding ability who has performed great work on behalf of Australia. The interest saving to the State as a result of those conversions amountc•d to £536,000 a year. During the depression period, some people thoug·ht that t2uecnsland was going bankrupt and that the State might follow the example of Xew ;.;outh \Yalf's under the Lang C~oyernmcnt in reference to investrnents. ShlC'e times have become more prosp-Tons and the Stevens Covt~rnrne11t hayo restored confidence in ~\ew South Waks. which had been destroyed by tl1e Lang Government, a greater sense of security prev.tils throughout Australia.

lJming the twriod the Moore Government Wl're in power. the public debt was reduced by £540.000. but since the advent of the Labour Govcnuncnt, it has been increased by £10,000.000. If the expenditure of loan money 'vould e1i1ninate unen1ployn1ent, then it "·ould only be a matter of borrowing a little more in order to solve the problem: but the fact that we still have 34.000 regis­u·red unemployed in Queensland is proof that Jt i!' not a ren1edy.

The restoration of confidence in Australia that took place when the Lyons Government a,'trmed office. and the SteYens Government replaced the Lang Government has created ~1 good in1pression overseas and that has reqtJtcd in benefit to Queensland. Althongh thcrP has been an improvement in conditions in QuePnsland, it has been less than the improvement that l1as taken place in the other States. The following table of figures relating to the percentage reduction of unem­ployment between the second quarter of 1932 and the first quarter of 1936 is interest­ing:-

~ew South Wales Victoria Queensland South Australia Western Australia rrasmania

Percentage reduc­tion of unemployed.

15.8 16.2 9.8

23.2 19.8 15.8

Those figures relate to unemployed unionists and probably do not reflect the actual condi. tion in any State, but they are of value for comparative purposes. According to " Eco­nomic News," issued by the Bureau of Indus­try, the percentage of unemployment in Queensland in June, 1936, was 13.6. if relief workers are not counted as unemployed. In New South Wales, the percentage of employment obtained by exactly the same methods as those used by the Bureau of Industry is now 11.3. New South Wales has reduced her proportion from 33 per cent. in 1932. to 11.3 per cent., while Queensland has reduced hers from 19.3 per cent. in 1932, to 13.6. So Queensland shows up very badly when judged by the improvement shown in employment during the past four vears in the other State,.

Taking factory employment as a guide, we find the same thing-that Queensland has shown the least improvement. _Between 1931-32 and 1933-34. the increase in factory employment per 10,000 of population, was 98 in New South Wales, 146 in Victoria, and only 37 in Queensland. Those figures indicate the investing public are not putting their money into industries that would be of great help to Queensland.

Mr. Walker.]

184 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

Queensland reaped more thau the average advantage from the rise in prices of export­able farming products-that is borne out by a speech made by the Premier in London­vct since 1932, it has shown far less improve­ment than any other State. "' e could do an enormous amount of good in this State if we worked together. Our policy should b0 to encourage production. The best unem­ployment policy for any country to pursue­unless it mines enormous quantities of gold­is one of greater production.

If I were a young man I should embark on tobacco growing. The Department of Agriculture and Stock has greatly helped the industry by scientific research. Here is a wonderful opportunity for a display of that co-ordination between the Departments of Agriculture and Stock and Public Lands to vvhich I have already referred. An enormous amount of what might be termed second-rate land in the Central, Mackay, Atherton, and Mareeba districts could be thrown open for tobacco growing. The area allotted to each grower should not be too small. Years ago the Queensland leaf was '• pooh-poohed," whereas an enormous amount is being used to-day. The wonder­ful exhibit at the Brisbane Exhibition of Queensland tobacco was equal to anything in the world. It is to be regretted, how­ever, that if the tobacco were openly labelled Queensland it would meet with much dero­gatory criticism.

And why cannot Queensland expand her cotton industry? Is there anything to stop us from capturing the whole of the Aus­tralian trade? At the co-operative ginnery they are turning out a staple equal to any imported. Machinery has been installed for the making of by-products. English capital could be attractjd by a revision of the tariff hy the Commonwealth Government. What would it matter if we had to pay perhaps 2d. or 3d. more for our shirts if it meant providing work for our own people? I should like to see a committee appointed to investigate these matters, or the re-establish­ment of that body on which there was a representative of each department, with a Yiew to a consideration of such matters and the making of recommendations to the GoYernment..

In conclusion, I repeat that I should like to see the Government pursue a vigorous land settlement policy for tobacco growing and other crops too numerous for me to mention. This is the only way in vvhich we can overcome the present unemployment.

:"vir. CONROY (Maranoa) [12.48 p.m.]: I also desire to offer my congratulatiom to the moYer and seconder of the motion for the adoption of the Address in Rep!:;·. The appointment of His Excellency Sir Leslio \Vilson for a further five years. I am sure, meets with the approval of the people of Queensland. In the past four years the Governor took the opportunit;<- of visiting almost the whole of the State. thcrobv getting acquainted with the conditions an~l the people. His Excellency has seen Queensland both in what may be termed her lean times and in her period of progress from the mora ·s of depression. He must have noticed a considerable improvement.

'C nemploymcnt has been fully debated, and I do nut intend to discuss it in detail. Figures have been quoted by members on this all(] the other side of the House that show that there is a diversity of opinion as

[Mr. Walker.

to the percentage of unemployment, but the fact remains that unemployment in Queens­land has been eonsiderabl v reduced. The main issue is not whether the figures given by the " Economic News" or the Registrar­General are correct; it is that we still have unemployment. I believe that there will always be a certain percentage of unem­ployment in the country. Nevertheless it is t:he bounden duty of any Government to reduce that unemployment to the abso­lute minimum. vVe claim that Queensland has the lowest percentage of unemployed, and that that happy state was brought about by the activities of the Labour Government. Sir Archdalc Parkhill, speaking at a meet­ing in 'I'oowoomba on Monday night last, said that employment was the barometer by which the soundness of a Government was usually judged. As Queensland has the lowest percentage of unemployment, surely this Government, judged in that way, come out very creditably?

vVhen speaking a few days ago, the Leader of the Opposition quoted the case of an orchardist wbo wanted a man to help in the picking of citrus fruits. He complained that no one would accept the work. It was found, upon investigation, however, that the wages offered were only 25s. a week. I do not blame any man for not taking work at 25s. a week. vV e have a basic wage, <md the amount offered for the work was con­siderably below that wage. The hon. member for Fassifern, in an tmdea vour to explain the remark away, suggested that perhaps the orchardist himself was not receiving 25s. a week.

Mr. BELL: Quite true.

Mr. CONHOY: 'I'hat may be so, but surely that does not mean that the worker must sacritlce himself in order to help the orchardist ! The Leader of the Opposition stated that he rec<'ived that letter whilst he was in the North during the Bowen by­election. In all probability it was only a bit of poht1cal propaganda. Evidently the hon. mpmber for Fassifern did not under­stand the position, because he said that in all probability that was so. The hon. member's intention reallv was to smooth over the clifficultv cause~! bv the statement made bv the Leader of the" Opposition. Queensland does not want to revert to the policy of low wages. Such a state of affairs e""nnot be any gootl to the worker, the people, or the State. The only result it can have is to create further unemployment.

The hon. member for Aubigny, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, brought up the question of government by regulation. vV e all know that in every Act of Parliament there is a provision for regulations to be made by Order in Council, but although I admit that in many oases such regulations are necessary I think far too many regulations are issued under this heading.

0PPOSI'f!OX ME}IBERS: Hear, hear!

Mr. CONROY: Many of those regulations do not interpret the intention of the Act. vVe pass Acts of Parliament that, in some cases, although not exactly worthless, are very little use a.t all, owing to the regnlations that are issLwd b;' Orders in CounciL And, in my opin'on, and I think in the opinion of quite a number of people in the country, they are al.<o very irritating.

OPPOSITION YlE}IBERS: Hear, hear !

Address in Reply. [1 SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 185

Mr. CONROY : Recently we had a regula­tion regarding the jetting of sheep and preventing the use of Cooper's sheep powder. I have received several protests in connection with this matter. In particular I received a letter from a man I have known for many, many c·ears, and who has been in the sheep indw;try for at least twenty years, and he assures me-and I Jwyo llt' reason to doLJbt his assertion-that during· the whole of thot time he has not used any other powder for jetting and dipping sheep than the Cooper powder. One of tho regulations-I cannot see how it can be put into force­is, that reqmnng three days' notice to be given to the clerk of petty sessions before any jetting or dipping can be done. That recrulation I really cannot understand. Of cou;se, I am not well up in the sheep busi11ess, still lc~s an1 I a sheep owner, but when one hears such things from friends and people who have been connected with the industry for many years-people who ono believes would not do anything that was wrong-one must doubt whether the right thing has been done. My friend also assures me that during the whole of the time he has been using Cooper's sheep dip n_o :nan he h~s employed ever contracted any lllJury or. ali­ment through usmg 1t.. Whe;1 a, fly ~tnkes, it is necessary that 1mmedmte actwn be taken to counteract the probable damage.

11r. MAHER: Hear, hear !

Mr. CONROY: Three days' notice may be all right only if the fly . gives similar notice to the sheep-owner of hts mtentwn t~ get busy. I have a vivid recolle~tion of the passing of the vV: ater Act and the promul­gation of regulatwns thereunder some years ago, and I re;nember t~at although the Act itself was JU.st, and mvolved no hard­ship, the regulatwns promulgated under 1t made it look sillv. At once there were indignant protests 'against them, and I ~m glad to know that they were never. carn?d into effect. Exactlv the same thmg wtll happen in the future if we cm;tinue to issue such large numbers of reg'!latwns by Order in Council. \Ve have qmtr, a number of Acts on the statute-book, but they are not always properly administered. I. ,~elieve that if they were properly admm1stcrecl there would not be thcl same need for the large number of regulations that arc issued to-day.

Much has been said by hon. members oppo­site concerning the economic position of the State, but despite their criticism there is ample evidence that under Labour Govern­ment unemployment has been reduced, the purchasing power of the commumty has been increased, confidence has been restored, and generally the State is on ": sound foot­ing equal to that of 1929. Thts statement, which appears in " A B C of Queensland Statistics," bears out rny contention~

" TnE TREND OF BusiNESS AND I'ROSPERITY.

" The decline was part of the general Australian experience. The direct loss of oversca income from loans and the slump in world prices had cumulative effects throughout trade and industry. Queensland suffered the indirect effects less t-han the States more dependant on manufactures, but the dctcri~ration was general. Government expenditures were partially maintained through emergency (Treasury bill) expanswns of Common-

\Yealth Bank credit, but the situation had adverse effects on busine,'S confi­dence.

"As unemploym<'nt increased wage rates \Yere reduced, and in 1931 drastic • cuts ' were made 1n Governrnent expenditures. The flow of spending from en1ergency credit "\vas reduced, but business confidence recovered. and by 1932 stabilitv had been achieved at a low level. ·

" Three vears of recovery followed, stimulated bv public works expenditure. Employment· was largely restored, both directly and by increasing demand for the products of private enterprtse.

"The most notable progress has been made in building, which had fallen to verv low levels in the depressed years Pa1:t of the general improvement 11as been due to the overtaking of arrears of construction and maintenance and the replenishment of stocks.

" In Queensland the impetus of recoynv in 1935 was strong enough to cancel 'the general effects of a serious drought early in that vear, happ1ly relieved by extraordinary winter 1 ams "

That, J\fr. Speaker, sums up the position in Queensland,

Another matter en which we have heard some criticism is the state of our secondary industries. \Ye have been told that Queens­land's secondarY industries are not progress­ing as fast as· those of either. New South \Vales or Vtctorw. Vtctona 1s the St~te mostly quoted by hon. members oppostte. 'ro rn y n1ind three factors govern an nlCrease. in secondarv industries. The first is popu­lation. vve" have a population of approxi­mately 970 723. The second is area, and we have a;1 area of 670,500 square miles. The third is that Qneens:and has al¥,~ys been recognised as a primary-producmg State. That cannot be without significance. Compare the5e figures with the populat10n and area of Victoria, which has a popula­tion of 1.820.261, and an area of 87,884 square miles. If Queensland had the same con­ditions as Victoria her position would be equally as good as that of Victoria. Not­withstandin" her hand1caps, however, Queensland~ is becoming a very irr:portant manufacturing State. Our factones are increasing every year, as the followmg figures for the last fiye years show :-

1929-30 1930-31 1931-32 1932-33 1933-34 1934-35

No. 2.172 2,104 2,013 2,165 2,345 2,470

The nntnber of r•rnvloyees C'ngaged in our factories in 1933-34 '-''as 40,083, as compared with 43,048 in 1934-35. So that the number of factmics in Queensland has increasc>d considcmblv aboYc that in existence clurmg the last n·ar of the Moore Administrahon. Th<> position at present is that of tho'e fartori{'~.

1712 employ 10 or fewer persons, 371 employ 11 to 50 persons,

98 employ 51 to 100 persons, 88 employ over 100 persons.

The avcraO'o wage of male workers fro111 1931 to 193'2 was £204, and from 1934 to

J.I!Ir. Com·oy.]

186 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

1935 was £220. Them has also been a con­siderable increase in the purchasing power of the community, as IS e>Yidenced by the following table:-

Year. 1930-31 1931-32 1932-33 1933-34 1934-35

Purchasing pow"r £

7,529,311 6,557,205 6, 719,155 7.421,286 8,389,896

The business index of a country is a sign of its prosperity or otherwise and the following table illustrates the position in Qneensland during a period of years:-

Year. 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935

Percentage. 99.9 88.6 R2.4 R3.4 84.8 92.3 95.1

Those figures clearly indicate that Queens­land has been steadily progressing, and is gradually reaching the position that obtained lll 1929.

It is not out of place to remind hon. members Lhat the recent Exhibition held in this city was regarded as the .. Show of shows .. , It was a record.

The following article appeared in the "Courier-Mail " of 24th August, 1936: --

"THE SHOW El<DS ON A NOTE OF HOPE.

" The Show is usually a reliable index of the prosperity of the State. It may not be as exact as the economists' figures and graphs, but in one respect it is a little ahead of them, because entries and attendances are influenced bv the com­munity's state of mind which mav not have been fully reflect~d in the routine of business. If the Exhibition records indicate the ooi?plete passage of depres­SJOn-and that IS a reasonable deduction from its general temper as well as from its statistical results-and trade returns do not yet show a lOO per cent. recovery, the infprence is that the outlook is suffi­ciently hopeful to have tempted the State in its carnival mood to anticipate still better thini's· The psychological factor " of 1tself Important. Fear and timiditv wore one of the factors of the lean vears. Confidence is not onlv a result of the marked improvement 'but is itself a veiY useful contributing ~ausc." '

These last two sentences are verv important and indicate that the confidence of the people has been restored. The article proceeds-

" The pro~pects are encouraging. Sea­sonal cond1t10ns are never ideal over an entire territory so vast as Queensland at the same t1me, but on the whole thev il.re good. As Professor H vtten stated in the 'Courier-Mail ' on Saturday, the expo!t markets show increasing strength. The whr;atgrower~ have ln·ecl down their long penocl of cr!Sls, and if the wool market holds, the trade balance should he satis­factory."

The position is fully dealt with in that article. Jf we are to judge by the recent Brisbane Exhibition, therefore, Queensland is in a very sound position indeed.

[Mr. Conroy.

The important matter of a Queensland land settlement policy was mentioned in the Speech by His Excellency. In 1923 the Prickly-pear Land Act was passed, and a Prickly-pear Land Commission was created with power to cause surveys and investiga­tions to be made of prickly-pear infested lands, or lands likely to become infested unless precautionary measures were adopted. The activities of the Commission resulted in the importation of an insect known as the cactoblastis, whose work enabled lands densely infested with prickly-pear, and use­less to all intents and purpose's to be reclaimed. The land is good agricultural land, and 17,000,000 acres thereof have already been settled subject to developmental conditions. During the past year 2,341,961 acres were selected. In addition to the selec­tions of one-time prickly-pear infested land, 553 new selections, comprising an area of 1 357,233 acres, were taken up. In the past n;any selectors were given areas of land that were altogether too small. At that time 640 acres, or 1280 acres at the outside, were. c~m­sidered ample for a man to make a hvmg from. It was dif!icult for a man who pos­sessed a piece of land to obtain an additional area. Additional areas in general could be granted oulv after land had come back to the Crown. Prior to 1934, a man wbo had a selec­tion that \YUS not eontiguous or adjacent to land that wa.s being opened for selection was unable to make application for an addi­tional area. In 1934 a Lands Acts Amend­ment Act was passed enabling a selector to make application for an additional area if his present holding was within a _30 mile radius of the area opened for selectwn. To show how selectors have benefited by the granting of additional areas, let me say that since 1934 1.200 land owners have been granted priority to additional areas totalling 3 750.000 acres. As I have said already, the ].;,nd ·settlement policy of the Government is a very important one, and I am pleased to see that the officials of the department are taking a keen interest in the settlement of people on the land, and are doing all that is possible to see that selectors have an oppor­tunity of getting living areas.

1n conclusion, I repeat that there is a marked improvement in the condition of Queensland, as shown by the reduction in unemployment, increase in secondary indus­tries, stea,dy progress of th~ lllnd settlement policy, the increased spendmg power of the community, and the fact that the confidence of the people of Queensland has been restored.

:Nir. HEALY (Warwick) [2.24 p.m.]: I feel sure that every hon. member in this House shares the sentiments that have been expressed already with regard to th<; loss that this House and the State have sustamed smce the last se"ion of Parliament through the deaths of Messrs. Collins, Funnel!, and Daniel. It is gratifying to note also that in the bv-elections that have taken place the people have placed their confidence in such young n1en as l\iessrs. Mann, R1ordan, buggan, and Daniel, whose ages aggregate but 140 vears. By the return of such young, active, a:nd virile men, it is evident that the old tradition that grev be,ards were a neces­sary qualification for "election to Parliament has passed and that the people of the present day are prepared to trust mode>rn problems to men with modern ideas.

To me one of the most pleasing features of this second session of the Twenty-seventh

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 187

Parliament of Queensland is to find our Premier back in harness again after his successful mission overseas, fully restored to health and quite up to his usual good form in debate, as was evidenced by his spirited and crushing reply to the motion of no confi­dence submitted to this House a few days ago by the new Leader of the Opposition. I well remember on the occasion of th<l PrPmier's departure overseas last year read­ing an editorial in the Brisbane " Courier­Mail" on the 17th December last, which said-

" The opportunity does not often fall to a State Premier to take two trips overseas in the space of two years. By many politicians, and possibly by some of his ministerial colleagues, Mr. Forgan Smith will be regarded as very fortunate. But there arc> few who will grudg0 him the trip upon which he will be embarking this week, for its prirnary purpose is to render service to the State at forthcoming international deliberations of vital importance to Queens] and.''

Tn the smne editorial it was admitted that the Premier was thc> ablest man "·e could S('ncl ovcrs('as to fPpre>scnt thC' sugar inten~sts of this State. Despite the fact that the International Sugar Confcncnce did not materialis0. the representations made bv our Pren1ier during- his Yisit overseas , ha Ye resultPcl in the~ saving of a market which. for this vcar alone. will mean at least £500.080 or £600.000 to the great sug·ar industry of Queensland. Tt is quit<' obvious that som0 mrmbcrs of the Opposition arc a.mongst the few persons who begrndgcd the Premier that trip overseas. lw0ause this Hous0 had hardlv settled dov·n to the busin0ss of this sf>ssion ·when we had the spectacle of at lf'nst one n10mb0r seeking- infnnnation l'f'!2,·ardincr hi~ expense-.;. It is unfortunate that in the public life of this State we have some rnf'n with minds so sn1alL and Yiey:s so JHlrrO\Y, that thr':Y aro precludPd frorn thinking about tlw higgf'r things of lif0. th<' thin!:(s that really matter. "~ll they can think abont are ·the small things. 'Their whole public career is devoted to wrangling over tlt0 smaller things, which matter little. These persons arc quite oblivious of the benefits that have accrued to Queensland as a re"'lt of the PrPmi<>r's representations in the oltl countrv. 'l'h0v are also unmindful of th0 fact that as a i·esnlt of thP e--,;:pendi­ture in<:urrcd, QueC'ns1and has gainPcl OYer £500,000 more thftn otherwise would haw be0n the casP. I wonder what amount of expenses would he allowed to a rPj)l'C?"'nta­hvo of a private businr~s concP.rn or financial institution who got such results in 110unds, shillings, and pence. After all, the business of go,·ornmrnt is identical with the busineh of any priYatn concern. There is no reason ''"h~~ the Prcrnjer, a;;; n1anaging flircctor a~ it were of this State. should not he entitled to expenses incurred comparable with those thAt wonld be allowed without question by e. privat0 firm. I express ihe hope that it will never be the unfortunate lot of the sugar industry of this State to han' as its overseas ambassador, anv hon. Ine1nber sjttinrr in Opposition to-da.v. b

During this debate reference has been made by hon. members opposite, particu­larly the Leader of the Opposition, to the alleged stagnation in secondary industries in Queensland, but their assertions are a. erross libel ou this State. It has already

been pointed out by the Premier-and it is a well-known fact-that the recorded pro­duction of Queensland for the year 1934~35 was £52,562,000, or £1,250,000 in excess of that for the preceding year. Of that, manu~ factures were responsible for an increase of over £1,000,000. It would be well for hon. members opposite to digest those facts before rising in this House to speak of the alleged decline in our secondary industries. If they are sincere in stressing the importance of secondary industries in this State, then I suggest that they go out into the highways and the byways, and impress upon the people the need for purchasing only Queens­laud-made goods, for thus they will do more to improve the position of the secondary industries in this State than by anything they haYc said during this debate.

'I'he Leader of the Opposition has almost outdone Bing Crosby as a crooner in con­nection with taxation. One would imagine, listening to his remarks, that the Govern­IJwnt. gloried in levying taxation. There is not one hmt. member on this side of the House \Yho "·ould not relish an opportunity to re duel' it if such a course v. ere pos­sible. If we were to reduce the wages of the intermittent relief workers to a fl.at.rate of 25s. a week, as has been suggested by one hon. member, and if we were to mako the Industrial Court function as the l\1oore Government did, and reduce the basic wage throughout the State, no doubt we might reduce taxation, but as a Labour Govern­ment we do not propose to adopt such a ('Ourre.

;);fr. MooRE: I rise to a point of order. I object to the hon. member saying that the Moore Government made the Indus­trial Court reduce wages. vVe did nothing of the sort. The conrt was at libertv to make its own decision. ~

:Ylr. SPEAKER: Order ! l\Ir. HEALY: It is not the intention of

the Government to resort to those tactic", because we have had the very bitter experi­ence of the effect that wage-slashing had on the li ;-es of the people. vV e know how busin<:c3scc declined, how bankruptcies bec ... me rampant, and how the State was faced with stagnation and ruin as the result of the Moore GoYernment's application of those methods during the three years they were in office,

It is w0ll that we should take into con­sideration the inroads that have been made by the Commonw~alth. Government i;:tto the field of taxatwn m thrs State. Durmg the last financial year the Commonwealth Government <>xtracted by way of taxation from the people of Queens:and over £2,000,000 more than was received ,~rom the same source by the Queensland l reasury, and in these difficult times, when the spend­ing power of the commnnity is reduced by virtue of the fact that 250,000 Australrans are still unemployed, it should not be the aim of the Federal Government, or of any Government. to accumulate surpluses. The verv fact that the Commonwealth Govern­ment amassed a surplus of approximately £4 000 000 during the last financial year indicates clearly that the peoples of the States haYe been bled to the extent of that amount by unnecessary taxation on the part of thP Commonwealth Government. I would therefore suggest to hon. members opposite who have dealt with this matter that they direct their complaints at tberr

Mr. Healy.]

188 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

political brethren m the Commonwealth Parliament.

It is not alone on the score of increaor.d taxation that the Commonwealth Government stand condemned in the eyes of the people of Australia, bui also by their action of departmg from the spirit of fedcratinn. They also stand condemned by permitting the Commonv. ealth Bank Boanl to increase the price of money, and thm, as one of their supporters declared, aiding the domination of the hanks and slowing down national recovery. The Federal Government have themselves proved the charg-es that have been levelled against them by almost every section of thought in the Commonwealth. They also stand condomned for remodelling the tariff, ''hereby they placed in jeopardy the greo.t >Yool industry in this country, which is worth to Australia approximately £1,000,000 ster­ling a weok That action demonstrated their deficiency m Australian outlook and also Australian sentiment. I belieYe that if those grand old men, now gone who thirtv years ago fought so hard to bring about the 'federa­tion of the Australian States could Rce what is happening in Austra!iar't politics as a result of that federation thev would· turn in their graves. It is daily becoming evident to the present generation how birth wac' giYen to the secession n1ovement so1ne n1ontln:; ago in another State, and unless the Com­monwealth modifies its domineering attitude towards the States it will not be verY long beforA a sece::;sion movcrnent bcconu~s appar~ ent in other States.

I feel sure the people will welcome e.nd endorse the action of the GoY.,rnment since last session in appointing a royal commis­sion to make a comprehensive :inquiry Into the transport problems of this State. I belieYe that as a result of those investiga­tions a ycry satisfactorv solution of this vexatious problem will be .. arriYed at. \Vl1ile I am on this subject it probablv is worth while making mention of the phenomenal increase of motor registrations in Qucenslanrl. The following figures, compiled by the R0gistrar-General, show the increase of motor nhicle registrations in this State;-

1930-31 90,831 1931-32 88,966 1932-33 89,217 1933-34 92,835 1934-35 101,053

These figures show an mcrcase in registra­tions of 10,000 over a five-year period. an aYcrage of 2,000 per annum.

In Yiew of these figures, which uo doubt must grow as the years go by, the time has a_rrined when we should give serious con­sJderatwn to the adoption of a policy that will provide for the construction of our roads with concrete instead of bitumen. In the final analysis concrete is cheaper than bitu· men or any other surfacing material for road construction. l understand that the life of a first-class bitumen road does not exc0ed thirty years. On the other hand. a concretn road is almost a permanent struc­ture. IV c can assume that in the march of progress that must occur within the next thirty years the GoYernment and their road constructors will be using concrete instead of bitumen, and when it becomes necessarv to renew the present bitumen roads the pe;;ple of the age will be amazed that we of the present generation failed to use concrete. It

[)VIr. Healy.

must be remembered that 90 per cent. of the expenditure incurred in the construction of concrete roads is labour costs. Another aspect of the matter that should appeal to all hon. members is the fact that the cement used is entirely a Queensland product. So that every penny spent in the construction of concrete roads woulJ be retained in this State. That is much better than sending our money overseas for imported bitumen.

The figures quoted in the Governor's Spe•'ch in regard to thP activities of the Main Roads Commission during the last twelve months reflect the greatest credit, not only on the Government but also on th~ Comrnis-;ioner of Main Roads and his staff. There is no doubt that Queenslanders are particularly fortun11te t;I having a man with the undoubted ability of Mr. Kemp as head of its Main Uoads Commis-sion. The roads being constructed by the Corn­mission are a credit to the State, and stand out in bold relief to the roads that are being constructed by some local authorities. Since last session I availed myself of the privilege of visiting many parts of the State with which I was pro­nously unacquamted. As a result of my obscn-atJOns I feel satisfied the time has arrived when the road system of this State shoulcl be vested in the Main Roads Com­!IlJSSlOll. The commission should also be gi vcn. the rospqnsibili.ty for fu1;ure eon­,tructJOn and future works on all roads in the Stllte, irrespective of whether they are 'lnrc roads, town, or city streets. To carry out such a plan it would no doubt be necessary to increase the ~ngineering' and general staff of the Main Roads Commis­siOn, and that could be done by absorbing those competent engmeers and overseers ~<t. present m the employ of the local authori­ties. At the prc.,ent time the commission is paying supervision fees to the extent nf 3 per cent. for engineers and 1 per cent. for overseers to the local authorities, in -:vhose areas hig:hways arc being constructed. By the adoptJOn of the arrangement I ouggcst that expenchture could be avoided a .. nd considerable suving to the peopl~ SJtuateJ m those areas would result. Con­stn~ctJOn cost would fall, because of better des1gn, .:md unified control, and the people would have the benefit of improved and perrnanent roads.

The tourist traffic is being developed in this State, and we are receiving a good adverbse'!'ent from it. Quite recentlv we ~1ad a v1sit to this State from the South 1n the person of the Reverend T. C. Rcntoul, D1rector of the Federal Methodist Inland Misswn. who was tendr>red a luncheon at the Canberra HoteL Brisbane. During thn course of his remarks at that luncheon he said-

"I don't know of any GovNnment m the Commonwealth which is taking such an interest and doing so much to help the people of the outback as is the Govomrnent of Queensland. Queensland was the Stab1 where tho visitors from 1 he South came to be sweetened up. Press d<,l<'gates from the South had gone back to their scYcral homf~s delighted."

The Press report of his remarks continued­" He appreciated the facilities of tran.s­port offered him by the State. Such facilities were not available iln Vic­toria."

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 189

I wonder what the reverend gentleman would have thought of some of the little Queonslanders in this House had he been hero to listen to them lauding Victoria am! defaming Queensland. I think it is c,sential that hon. members opposite should travel extensively in order that they may realise and appreciate the benefits of living in Queensland. Possibly, as a result <lf the State election of 1938, the necessary tinw off for that travel will be available to hon. members opposite.

In connection with tourist traffic I stress the claim as a tourist resort of my .own city_ \Varwick, as hon_ members know, is the newest city in this State-it was pro­daimed on the 29th June last-and is well­planned and progressive, the centre of the richest and most ferti:e district in Southern Queensland. I recommend to those in charge of the tourist traffic that when day trips to Toowoomba arc being planned they he extended to include a visit to \Varwick and Killarney. Visitors would thus he giYen an opportunity of seeing some of the fmest agricultural land in Australia. Favoured by a genial climate the whole year round, \Varwick can lay claim to being a health re~ort. This is an additional reason wlrv the tourist authorities should give ful 1est

0

con­sideration to tl:te claims of the city. The authorities should not allow the tourist trade. to Queensland to cease with winter merely bec:tuse the passing of winter sees the end of the Northern tourist traffic. Southern Queensland has many attractions; in particular, the ·warwick district affords Yisitors a great insight into the wheat ind nstr;.- of Queensland_

The Governor's Speech made reference to two additional Sunshine trains for the ~orthern traffic_ Those who haYe travelled to Cairns in these trains are very loud in their praises of their comfort, As an ex-rail­wayman, I agree with them. The Sunshine trains are the acme of perfection in rail­way travelling in Queensland, but whilst we are providing every comfort for our Southern visitors we should not lose sight of the claims of our own citizens. Those Quecnslandcrs who have helped to swell the revenue of the Railway Department, and who have to travel to our distant towns and districts, are entitled to the same degree of comfort as is afforded to our Southern friends. 'I'he present mail train in use between the metropolis and Cunnamulla should be replaced by modern coaches giving similar comfort to that of the Sunshine train_

I feel compelled to reply to some of the statements made by the hon. member for Cunningharn vd1o, in hi~ speech 011 tht~ amendment to the. Address in Reply stated (vide page 39, "Hansard ")_that the Secre­tarv for Public Instructwn, m company w1th me. visited an area in the \Varwiek district wh~rc the number of children did not roach the number considered necessarv hv the department before a school can be opened. J\ir. Speaker, first a,nd foremost, and, unfor­tunately fo1- the hon. member, the Secre­tan- for Public Instruction has not visited anV: area in the \Varwick district during the pa:t fifteen months with a, view to opening a schooL The hon_ member said further-

" Nevertheless, the Minister had a school opened at this centr<>, and made a great boost of it_"

Unfortunately for the hon_ member, the Minister has not personally opened any

school in the \Varwick district during my term as parliamentary rcpresentatiYe. The only school that has been opened in that electorate is one at Wynola, a well-settled cl istrict some miles out of Killarney. I had the privilege of opening this institution myself on the 26th October last_ Naturally, the people of that loca:ity made a gala day of the occasion. If any boosting wr-s done I probably ><as the author of it, becaus<> I shared in the delight that it gave the people to have a school openecl, a,nd because I regard the establishment of a school in any locality as a sign of its progress. The hon. member further said that cvPry school that was closed in the Cunningham elec­torate had a larger attendance than did the school that was opened in the 'Varwick electorate_ 'y ynola, to which I refer as the only school opened in the \V an\ ick elec­torate during the past fifteen months, opened with a roll of twenty-four pupils, and during its ten months' existence has maintained a,n average daily attendance of 17.6. I challenge the hon. member to name any school c!osed in the Cunningham elec­torate that had an attendance better than, or even equal to that of Wynola. The opening of a school in any locality is a definite indication of increasing- population, and if anv hon. member of this House chooses. either by his own example or by words of encouragement, to inspire his elec­tors to propagate in order that they may have new schools, other hon. members who ea nnot or will not adopt such methods should not take exception to the opening of schools in his electorate.

The recent decision of the Government to abolish rotational relief work and place such workers on full-time employment is i;1 con­formity with Labour's policy of placmg as many men as possible in permanent work. Such a change will he of immense benefit not only to the workers concerned but also to the State. Whilst the change w1ll have the effect of improving the morale of those fortunate relief workers who will be placed in full-time employment, it will have a reverse effect on those who are relegated to intermittent relief work as a permanent institution. Those of us who have visited the homes of and mixed with the intermit­tent relief workers know what a joy it is to them and their families when they are selected for rotational work. I hope that side by side with the change for the better that has been made bv this Government some improvement in the ·lot of the intermittent relief worker is contemplated.

I desire. also. to utter a note of warn~ ing concerning the change-over to full-time employment. I hope that the regulations will be so framed as to prevent what has ha,ppened and is happening in the obtain­ing of full-time jobs in this State. I know tha,t in some places it is almost necessary for a man to be either a friend or a reb­tive of some particular person before he can get a job_ I know, also, that many truck drivers receive employment on road jobs by passing a few pounds to the engineers or overseers, as the case may be. It is also within my knowledge that in one town in this State, where a man went to buy a motor truck, and said he had no chance of emp:oyment if he bought it, the motor firm guaranteed him three months' work on a main roads job. I hope that the regu­lations will prevent such practices in the

M1·. Healy.]

190 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

future, and that if possible it will be pro­vided that those who take part in them will bring themselves within the ambit of the Criminal Code.

We, as a Government, owe a duty to the people of Queensland who sent us here in such large numbers in 1932 and ~935. \Vo promised them that never agam woc:ld Que"mland return to the state of affaus that existed during the term of the Moore Government. V\' e promised them also that we would improve the living stand':'rd and thus rehabilitate industn·. V\' e cla1m that we are fulfilling those promises so far as is humanly possible. The policy of this Government has always been to bmld _up rather than to break down, be construct! ve rather than destructiyc-a policy quite in contrast with that of our opponents on the other side of the House. That reminds me that T had almost forgotten to mention that during tho recess we sa-..v the demi::;o of the Countrv ).; ational Partv. a part-; that after elm:en years of existence died an inglorious death, inglorious becausr; it larked initiatiYe, because it lacked courage, and because it lacked <>nergy. It seldom broug-ht any new proposal forward; it rarely accompliehcd anything. Because of its clestructi;-e policy it died, and from its ashes have arisen two ]Xtrties, the United Australia Partv and Countn- Partv. and jLtdging by the~ speeche13 fron~' the n1~embers of those parties it is verv clear that the only ch:cngc in their policy has been a change of name. They are still the ~arrlP destructive critics, stiJl the sarnc nnt:nlightenPd Opposition \VC haYc had 111

this House for the past fonr years.

'\Ir. O'KEEFE ICairnH) [2.58 p.m.]: desire to offer 1ny congratnl«tions to tho new members of this Chamber '"ho have already spoken on tho Add res~ in Reply. They made a Y0l'y good fist of a fir,t appearance in this House, and th re1 is not the slightest doubt that thev will be a Yaluable acqni,ition to it. ··

As to the criticism of our friends on the Opposition bcnclws. the hon. the Deputy Leader of the Opposition seemed to be Yt.>rv m11ch couccrnPd about the CXlJensos of ~the Prctni~~r's vis-it to London, VYhere! he f'tatcd then~ was no ner0ssitv for th0 Premier to g-o to look after the interests of the sugar industry. I disagree with that hon. gentleman. because I consider that the sugar industry is a Yery important industry. not only to the StatP of Qupens­land, but e lso to the whole of Australia. and that whaL,·er work has been done bv the Premier tho whole of Australia will benefit bv it. I should like to ha.-e some fad-::i recOrrlcd in "Han:-ard" a-" to the \ alnc of the sugar industry. as lt js just as well that <'Onwthing should be said in support of the visit overseas b,- the Premier as a sot off to the remarks by the Deput.v Leader of the Opposition, which ma" appear in tho Press. There are near!:~· 10.000 sugar cane growers in Anstralia. the majorib- of whom. of course, are in Queens­land. \Ye haYe thirty-/he mills. I admit, of courst>, that n1any years ago \Vo had as many mills at l\Iaokay alone as we have in all Queensland to-day, but the:- were Yery o;rna I! mills and Yory expensive to run. \~Yith the great Ol'Eanisation vvc have in the sugar industry to-day it is not nec~'Sary to hav<' a large number of small mills. In addition to 10,000 farmers, we have

Uvk Healy.

OY'cr 20.000 men employed in the raw sugar inclustrv. The industry also finds employ­ment for numbers of men on the railways, whar.-cs, and ships, and in other occupations. The capital sunk in the farms is estimated to be something like £20,000,000, and the mills, with their plants, are worth at least £10,000.000. In addition to this, a .-ast amount of capital is invested in the wgar areas. such as jn raihYavs. \Vharves. and other. undertakings that depend for their 0xistenoe on the industry.

Two-fifths of Australia. lies "·ithin the tropics, but this is the only country in the world where sugar is produced under white labonr conditions. I should like ro Qsk hon. members opposite who are disposed to criticise expenditure by the GoYcrnment in the intPrests of the great sugar industry, how they "·onld replace the enormous agricul­tural acti,-ities and development along the coa::;tal belt if the ~ugar industry wa:; \Vipt•d o"t. I shudder to think of the utter desola­tion that "·ould inevitablv follow such a happening. Any money expended by the GoYcrnmeut in furthering the inter-ests of the ;:;ngar industry~ boih here and oYers£as, 0-f\pceiall.v vvhPn legi~lation rr1ay bt• }'EL:'-iS0d

restricting- the quantity of Australian sltga.r that eon!C! be exported to Great Britain­which was "·hat we feared last year-is monc0- "·iscly spent. In a normal year the quantit:v of ~ngar rano produced in Aus­tralia approximates 4,000.000 tons anrl the quantity of raw sugar nearly 600,000 tons.

Unckr the Sugar Agreement the iJOdnstry prm-idcs £216.000 per annum for the benefit of the fruit industr~-- :'cfany people arc under t ht~ in1yn·es3ion that industries engaged in the canning o£ fruit for both the local and over­~eas triu1e n1ust pay· the Australian price for their sugar requirement~, 1vhcrr-as under the Sugar _-\.grcerncnt they are able to o1Jtain t1w?ir snzar reqniren1cnts for oYcrst'a' trade at \Yorld parity pricC>s. QucPnsland i~ a Yery good cns1 on1er of the other parts of _-\ u~­tralia as well as for the rnanufactuH'rs of rnachincr ... - in other countries, and it ill becon1cs Unv hon. n1c1nbcr to critici.sc rhc co~t of tl1e Prcrl1ier's trlp. \vhich v,ras undertaken nri1narily in the intcrf"<>ts of thB ~-.uf;~ar industn-. \Ye should not have been able to populate this great State along the tropical belt if it had not been for this industrv. De~pih~ all our agricultural experi1nent~ ~e have not Yet been able to launch a new agrienltnrai industry th:1t would give the satisfador·. remlh that have f"llo,ve-1 the dPYelopn1el1t of the sugar indust.r:v.

Dnring his contribution to the del1ato cbe hon. member for Oxley asscrterl tltat the Speech clelivNed b:c His Excellency did not contain anvthing of importance-or \\·ord~ to that effect-or of anv intere t to the SiatP of 0ll(cnsland. I think he said that clnrirw tlw course of His Excclknoy's a tldress he "'as tempted to intr,rject. but desisted onlv because it was against the rules to do· so. It is only natural that nwmbcrs of the Opposition should not rr;ntl'd a speech delivered bv His E-xcellency with fa;-our. It is well known that the maJor part of the Speech is prepared by His Exod­lencv's ach·isers, and it is only natural that mon1bers of a political party that is opposed to the Government and their policy "·onld contend that it contained nothing of interest. Therefore. I am not the least bit surprised that the hon. member for Oxley should ,a.y

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEl>l:BER.] Address in Reply. 191

that there was nothing of importance in the Speech.

I did not fail to notice that the hon. membo1·, along with other hon. members opposite, shed quite a lot of crocodile tears concerning taxation. Nobody realises better than the members on the Government benches that onr taxation is high. They recognise too. t~at t_he time is not opportune for any reduction 1f employment is to be found for t.he many thousands of our citizens who are unemployed, together with a very big per­"e:'tage of persons amongst us who have mH(ratcd from other States to eke out an <existence in this State.

The hon. member for Oxlev claimed that it was time the Government 'brought about a cess a twn of the salary and wage cuts imposed bv his Government in 1929-32. I am agreeable to that course. I am one of tho-o who advocate that salaries and wages reduced by the lYioore Government should be full.\· restored. I cannot understand, how­ever. how hon. members opposite advocating that course,_ should, at the same time, com­plam of h1gh taxation. Money must be found before these restorations can be made by the GoYernment. The Gm·ernments in otlwl" parts of the Commonwealth have more or le" restored the salarv and wage cuts and I n m in hopes that this Governrnent' will a ho considc>r making a full restoration of +he cuts made by the Moore Government. J was surprised that the hon. member for Oxley did not have some criticism to make of his own party in power in the Commonwealth sphere in respect of those cuts also. Ho would be well advised before advocatin" this ~ourse on the part of the State Goverr~ mcnt. to get into touch with his party in the Federal sphere and recommend that the Fcc!cral Government, ins~e>:d of carrying out then· purpose of rem1ttmg hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxation. should ,·esto1·e the reductions thRt were made in the old age and invalid pensions. I have JleYCr heard him or anv other member of his partv advocate that course. To-dav the Australian taxpaver is called upon to f{,;·nish approxJmately £19,000.000 per annum for pensions, including soldiers'. im·alid. and old aQ'e pensions. TheRP ar8 an ab:.;:olute neces­sih·.. ?'here . are 264,061 people receiving sold1crs pcnswns, amounting to £7,367,067 per annum. There are fullv 43,154 female and 33,698 male invali-d pensio.ners and 113,047 f"malo and 00,079 male old age pensioners. 'fhf' total amount per annum paid in old age and im·alid pensions amounts to £11.762.000. The e.vcrage pavments to these people is onlv £1 l3s. 5d. a fortnight. We knO\\' that no old ag-e or invalid pensioner receives more than 18s. a week. Therefore, it behoves the !ne m bcrs of the Opposition to exert their mfluence by mea~s of their organisation thronghont Austraha on the Commonwealth G01·rrnment. :who, edmitted!y have a surplus of some m!lhons of pounds. to restore the rerluctwns that _wc;re made in thos<' pensions hE'fore any ren11SS10n in taxation is made.

I believe, ho:-·ever, that the present system should be abolished. We should introduce a system whereby every adult would be com­pelled to pay _into _a. fund to provide against old ago and _mvahd1t:;-. "C ncler the Pl"E"'ent system-and 1t has been tried long enough­only a starYatwn allowance is paid at the end of a n1an or woman's working career. ThousM ands of people i'; Queensland are suffering as a result of the madequate old age p2nsion.

I bring this matter under the noticB of hon. members opposite, who are prone to complain about .the non-rBstoration of the public service cut~, m order t~at they may be reminded of the1r aged and mvalided brothers and sisters in distre,s.

Mr. MAHER: We have no power to deal with that here.

Mr. O'KEEFE: I a,k hon. members opposite to use some of their time in bring­mg_ the matter under the _notice of the organi· satwns _that govern theu party throughout A;ustraha m an Bndeavour to persuade the Commonwealth GoYernment to bring about an alteration.

Much criticism has b<;>en levelled by hon. members oppos1te agamst the Australian ·workers.' Union organisation. Australia will always have working class organisations. It w!ll be. a sorry. day for the people of Aus­traha 1f anythmg occurs to break down Labour's industrial organisations. Appar­ently_ the Australian WorkBrs' Union which prondos tho silver bullet to keep Labour in power, is what is feared by hon. members oppos1te, for of all the Labour or"anisations the Australian Workers' Union"' has beBn ~~ngled out for_ their . unwarranted attacks. lire Breakfast Creek d1spute has been used in order to Yent their feelings against this big or.garusatlon, which covers most of the indu~­tncs of our State. I do not suppose there is a farmer m the sugar industry who is not ;:n·eparc'•l to accept the conditions laid down by the Australian ·workers' Union. The same thing applies. in the. mining industry, and in most of the mdustnes m the outback areas of the State. I have lived Ion" enourrh to know what the Australian Workers' Union with other organisations, has done for th~ workmg class people of this State. When I wa:" .a lad I worked in tne pastoral industry. I JOmed the Australian Workers' Union as far back as 1898, and evBr since have been closely associated with it. I can remember that a fe;v years before I began work in the pastoral mdustry there was a great conflict m the western part of our State--·[ refer to the trouble in the industry in 1891. A N ationa­list Party was in power in Queensland. then of cou_r~e, a separ~te colony, and controlled the m1htary ma.chme. Because the working men decided to refuse to work until the emp_loying class in the industry was prepared to g1ve them reasonable conditions and wagBs they were attacked. What happened? The Nationalist Government wished to compel the workers to accept the rotten conditions that then existed. They ordered the troops to fire on the workers who attempted to resist. Since then a changB has come over the scene. The ba.d masters of olden days have been replaced by the bosses of the pre­sent. This later generation of employers has grown up side by side with the Labour move­ment, and become more accustome.l to the conditions it has won. It would be a wrry day were conditions to revert to those that e~isted in the " ba~ old days " of the early mnetJes. but that 1s apparently just what members of the Opposition desire. They attack the Australian vVorkers' "Cnion because that organisation controls the destinies of the majoritv of the workers in our State industries. 'I warn such hon. members that it is better to have organised labour rather than disorganised labour work­ing in these industries. I see nothing wrong with Labour's having its organisation, nor do I see anything wrong with capital's doing

Mr. O'Keefe.]

102 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

likewise. And capital will have its organi­sation irrespective of what Labour may say. Labour is entitled to use the same weapon. Labour is entitled to organise and protect the interc,ts of the workers in industry. The criticism that has been levelled at the Aus­tralian ·workers' Union during the past week or so is entirely uncalled for. I represent a :'-! orthern constituency embra.cing the sugar industry, and I can say that there is amicablene'·· between it and the Australian ·workers' Union in that industry. During the sugar trouble in the North last year the organiser of the Country Party asked the present Deputy Loader of that party, the hon. member for Aubigny to take action in Parliament regarding the dispute between the farmers and the workers in that industry. But what was the reply from the sugar industry? It told the hon. member to keep his nose out of the business and have nothing to do with it. That was quite right.

Mr. MOORE: They did not reply to me at all.

Mr. O'KEEFE: Of conrse they did reply to you. Everybody in the industry knows they told you to keep your 11oso out of the trouble.

Mr. J,foORE: They did not. Mr. O'KEEFE: It was neither yours nor

the Government's business. The situatiOn was being carefully handled by t.he farn:ers and the Amtralian vVorkers' Umon agamst the conll11Unistic elen1ent.

An OPPOSITION l\iE:~ciBER : That is piffle. l\Ir. CYKEEFE: Of course hon. n1ernbcrs

,yould tnake such a rolnark. rrhey arc _cndc~­YOUriug to bring about disorgani~atlon Ill the ranks of Labour.

Mr. EDWARDS: You must be hard up for something from which to make a speech.

J\Ir. 0' KEEFE : The hon. member ml~st be quite satisfied with it when he si~s and hstens to it. Ho has every opportumty .to refute mv statements if he can. There IS a very greftt danger i,; interfering with that workers' organisation because it controls the de~tm1es of ma.ny hundreds of people, not onlv m the State, but alw in the Commonwealth.

The Deputy Leader of the OpposJtion had n1a.nv cornpluints rcgarchng the mono­polies that the Labour Gov<;rnrnent are sup'posed to be creat1ng. Ho referred to a so-called monopoly that we created by Olll' legislation for the regulatiOn of the coaln1ining industry. The hon. ITlClll­

ber had an opportunity to _attend a meeting that was called by the VI est More­ton Di~trict Coal Board on 27th J,lay 1 ast, and held in Ipswich-not very far from Brisbane-on 3rd J uno of this year, for the purpose of discussing any matters relat­ing to coal that might be raised by anyone attending the meeting. This invl~a iion ,yas extended also to ihc Press. The 1m press! on created bv the special articles that had ap11eared cin the " Courier-Mail" at tha" t inw was ono of 'vid0sprcad dissatisfa.ctlo!l with the Ad and the board's adrnini .. tration, and the board con;;iderod it nccc,,mry to call this meeting in order to give the pur­chasr-r of coal in Queensland an op por­tunity of hflaring its case. I notice from the report of that meeting that very, very few of th<l purchasers attended it. Therefore, they had no complaint. The proof of the pudding is in the eating of it. The com­plaint comes from members of the Opposi­tion simply because they arc opposed to

[Mr. O'Keefc.

cven-thinrr that Labour puts on the statute-boo!~. "

Mr. MooRE: Did tho Lord Mavor attend the meeting! His was the gro~tost com­plaint.

Mr. O'KEEFE : The Lord Mayor com­plained only about the difference bet\\ een the price charged by the Hailway Depart­ment for coal cony eyed to the ~ ew Farm wharf for u .. e by his council and that charged for delivering coal to the ::'i'ow Farm wharf for export overseas. The Labour Government give a conces.sion in order to encourage export trade. It was that difference that aroused comment from the Lord Ma~'or.

::\1r. l\IOORE: You arc wrong. Mr. O'KEEFE: I am not wrong. The

hon. member will have every opportunity later on to get up and point out where l am \\Tong. At present I an1 pointing out where the hon. member for Aubigny is »Tong. \'Ye shaJl sec how hon. members opposite stand concerning thi~ monopoly that is alleged to have boon created by the Labour Government. I quote from the report of the mePting I have mentioned-

" It is intere%ing at this stage to outline the attitude of the commercial community to the marketing or com­modity boards established under th1s Act. l\Ir. H. M. Russell M.L.A .. in h1s Presidential Address to the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce in September, 1933, spoke as follows :-

' It would be impossible to obtain any cohesion under a system of volun­tary pools, because there is ahvays the danger of a few sellish indi,-iduals for lllOnlentary g.1in selling the] r pro­ducts at a reduction on the fixed price and thus dragging down the rnarkct.

' Howc\"er, it must be admitted that generally speaking, the Queen:<land commodity board system h,u. been succes::;:ful in so far as it }ut~ achicY(•d results for the producers which "oulcl have boon impossible under a s.-stem of unrestricted cornpctition hei:ween the producers.

'In these days of intense organisa­tion of trade unionB agitating for and obtaining Yalnable privilegf s and COlH',_'ssions per n1cdiurn of arbitr:::ttion a\vanls. surclv \Ye rnust concede thn right to the producer b,. co-operation and cornbination to obtain by renson­able methods a fair return for h1s labour. I do not advocate control of pools b.v the Governments, but foe the sake of the primary producer we must allow him to control the mark<'ting of his own product.' "

That \Yr-. frorn an hon. member sitting- on the 0]1position benchm. ~

l\Tr. R.rSSELL: An cl good stuff. I agree with that.

~Vlr. O'KEEFE: Thf'n the hon. mcmb<)r n1nst agree with our legislation. The rer:Jort goes on--

" Mr. IV. A. Bra11d, :\I.L.A., expressed his Yiews in PiPrliarnent in the following; torn1s :-

' Those people concerned in the industry are to be congratulated ot< submitting to the Ministe~' the principles that wore ult!mateh' embodied in this Bill, which I trust will be enacted.' "

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEMBER.) Address in Reply. 193

"I do not regard this measure as being altogether extraordinary, because in these days of modern parliamentary practice it is almost a usual measure. Moreover, if I am to remain loyal to the sugar indu.try, to the dairying industry, and to the wheat and other agricultural industries in the action which they have taken to secure control of their respective industry by legislative means, then I must support a Bill which provides for a similar principle in the case of the coalmining industry. . . . Abundant proof is to be had that the coalmining industry is in need of legislative assist­ance. I submit that if the industry is to be saved from collapse immediate atten­tion must be given to the positionY

There is one of the hon. members sitting behind . the Country Party in opposition supporting the measure that \vas introduced on that occasion.

In reply to the interjection of the Deputy Leader that it was on the cost of hauling coal that the Lord Mayor objected. as a matter of fact had he attended the meeting of the West Moreton District Coal Board he would have found that until the board increased the price. the industry was losing on <:'very ton of coal that was purchased by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, and by many of our manufacturing concerns in Queensland. I will confirm my remarks in that respect by reading· from this report-

" Tho summary ::-o cornpi1cd coYers eighteen repre .. entative collierv com­panies with a total invc,tcd capital of £405.000 and ~ combined annual output of 365,000 tons. The average cost of producing coal in the period was 16s .. 04d. per ion, and trading operations in the two vear• covered bv the sum­mar:v rPsu1t('d in an aggr('g~ate loss of £11.174. The s1x colliery companies oupplying coal to the Brisbane City Council showed a loss of £4,156 in that period.''

Therefore. the board had the right-it was in fact bound-to see that the people in the industry got a fair price for their com­modity. Labour decided long ago that the people who are creating the wealth of the country havC' a rii'ht to have legislation passed through this Chamber on their behalf, and it ·yas because the coal industrv "-as falling to pieces, so to speak, that this, legis­lation was necessary. As a consequence, the men in the industry are getting a fair p!·ice for their coal. and the workers a r;casonable m·ico for their labour. Anv con­sumer or purchaser of coal who h~s an objection to the price, has the opportunity of going to the Commissioner of Prices and putting his case before him. Of course. I know that hon. members opposite say that it is not possible to get a fair deal from him, because the same gentleman who is acting as the Commissioner of Prices is also the chairman of the board. I do not agree with that view. I think that gentle­man is honourable enough to sec that the work he has undertaken on behalf of the Government is carrie-d out in a satisfactorY manner. 'The board has had no complaint-;, with regard to verdicts given by that gentle-n1an.

2\ir. :MoORE: Thcv arc useless, because he i1xes only the minimum price, and the be a rrl can aficrwards increase the price.

1936-H

Mr. O'KEEFE: That is where the hon. memucr makes a mistake.

Mr. MoORE: It is what the Lord :\Iayor says.

Mr. O'KEEFE: He fixes the maximum price.

Mr. MooRE: -:\o, the minimum.

Mr. O'KEEFE: I say that he does. and the hon. member will ha' e to bo·ing hette1· proof than a mere interjection before 1 d~all believe what he says. Hon. members opposite have alw complained that the high price for coal in Queensland is having a detrimental effect upon our secondary indu,tries, but again they are incorrect. It is a fact that the Queensland collieries are supplying coal to the manufacturing indus­tries in this State at a lesser cost than IS

provided for those in other parts of L\ us­tralia. and I propose to quote some figures in support of my contention. Hon. members opposite should take c.ue in dealing with this subject to make statements that cannot be refuted. The report that I have alrPacly used also states-

" It has been stated in the Press that nln1ost without exception coal is the ftrot requirement of a secondar,- indus­try. A general statemeut has also been m~de to the effect that power and coal in certain factories. represent at legst 20 per cent. of the total cost of pro­duction. bnt the factories concerned have not been named. :--;-o data has been fur­nished as to tho percentage which the cost of coal bears to the selling price 0£ sugar, bacon, sandshoes. and the host of commodities in the production of which our native coal is alleged to play wch an important part, and the pnhlic is po3eibly left with the impres­sion that the price of coal has an important bearing npon the inability of our secondary industries to compete with the products of other Australian States. 'Ibis insi.nuation is directly contradicted by the table published in the Commonwealth Year Book (:\'o. 28 of 1935), ,showing the percentagr' \Yhich power fuel and light bore to the total Yalue of output from factories in each Australian State in 1933-34. Tlw rele­vant portion of this table, showini' that the Queensland figure is the lowest in Australia, and apprcciablv lower tlnn thfl averag0 for Australia, l'eads as follows:-

"Pf rrrntar;e of Po?PCJ' In tlu tot,,/ 1:alu; Fru-torils, 1933-34.

State. ;-;-cw South \Vales Victoria Queensland South Australia vYestern Australia Ta,~:,mania Australia

Fu(/ anrl J>rtht of ouf1Jut frQtn,

Per cent. 3.84 2.83 2.29 3.61 4.93 6.86 3.40

"The table sp(_aks for itself. If our ~econdarv industries are unable to coln­pcte with the products from other States, the price of coal is not a contributing factor."

I have quoted those remarks to contradict the assertion by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Mr. O'Keefe.

194 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

Hon. members opposite have had quite a lot to Ray about taxation, and they haH> contended that it is killing industries in this State. The Leader of the Opposition contended that the number of manufactur­ing units had boon reduced during the term of the present Government, but let me give the figures-

m Factories Queensland

Hands employed Salaries and wages

and drawings Yalue of plant and

n1achincry Value of land and

buildings Value of output ... Value of fuel used Value of r:aw

1933-34

2,345 40.083

£ 7,421,286

16,891,339

9,461,870 42,442,785

971,680

1935.

2,470 44,778 £

8,389,896

17,114,417

9,942,803 46,381,323

material used 27 758 597 29 058 161 !Value of fuel includ~d 'with r~pairs.)

Thuse. figures suggest that hon. members oppos1te are prepared to L"e 0nlv those flgnr()fl that. suit their purpose of ~reating the 1mpress10n outs1de that the Labour Gon-=-rnnumt are incapable of governing and that they are overtaxing the people. I re1terate that no one more than the Premier would like to see taxation reduced. It would be much easier for him as Premier to declare that he could lighten the burden of taxat10n on the people, but so long as we have a great number of our people unem­ployed we must be prepared to accept the present taxat1on, as 1t is necessary that the unfortunate amongst us should have rPason­able conditions. if possible better conditions than they receive at the present time.

I regret that the time at my disposal will not perm1t me to deal with matters affecting my own electorate, but in condusion I draw the attention of the Government to the fact that there is an agitation in North Queens­] and for the construction of more harbours. I want to warn the Government, and ask them. before they consider proposals for more harbours, to take into consideration the report of the late Sir Gem-ge Buchanan on the harbou_rs and rivers of Australia, par­trcularly as rt relates to Queensland. If memory serves mo well. that report was i8'uecl in 1916. It would be a grave mistake if the Government granted facilities for the construction of additional harbours that would interfere with the trade of existing­ports. At the present time we have roads nmning narallel with our railwavs. vYe have also roads running from districts sene.cJ bv a partic~lar harbour board to a port out;ide the clrstnct. notwithstanding the fact that that harbour board in charge of the port has expended so_me millions of pounds in fitting 1! for slnppmg. I dare say that something llkc £3,000.000 has been spent bv the harbour b,>arcls at Cairns and Townsville on makin!l' un-to-elate ports at those centres. and that the present indebtedness of those. boards to the Government is something like £500,000.

C\Ir. SPEAKER: Order! The hon. member has exhausted the time allowe-d him under the Standing Orders.

C\1r. DE.\CON (Cnnningham) [3.38 p.m.]: I 'hould first like to congratulate the State of Queensland, the Government, and the people on the fact that Sir Leslie Wilson has agreed

[Mr. O'Keefe.

to accept a second term of office as Governor of this State. His Excellency is respected by m·erybody in all parts of the State. His decision to remain in Queensland for another fi,·e years has been very popular everywhere.

I wish I could congratulate the Govern­ment on their fmancial position and the gene1 a! management of the affairs of State. The hon. member for Cairns said he wished ho had time to show that we were not over­taxed. He also said that his party di-d not like to tax the people. Why, if there is one thing that his party has always gloried in it has been to tax everyone up to a maxi­nlum.

::Yir. T. L. WrLLIAMS: You know that is not right.

Mr. DEACON: Just look at the record of the Government from their accession to office! They have continually increased taxes year after year by Act of Parhament, . QY regulation, or by any method at a·l, oven gomg to the length of imposing small fees. Why, the one thing they have never been ashamed of the one thing they have always gloried in: has been their ability to raise taxation in Queensland to the highest level in any State in Australia. Their tendency has been to increase taxation on all classes every year. The hon. member for Cairns said his Govern­ment did not like it. He may be sincere­l haYe always known the hon. member to be sincere and I acrept his word that he is sorrv--but I am quite sure that he is not speaking for the whole party.

Hon. members sitting behind the Gm·ern­ment make very monotonous speeches on this subject. They were everlastingly remind­ing themselYes and us of the sins of the Moore Government. If it had not been for the Moore Government very few of the speakers would have reached their time limit. It would appear as though hon. members opposite spend more than half their time comparing the actions of their Gm·ernrnent with the actions of the Moore Government. Hon. members should go back further and compare the present Govern­ment with one of the past Labour Govern­ments. Thev should remember the difficulties the lvloore Government had to face, coming into ollice as t.hoy did after a Government who wasted millions an.cJ millions of money on foolish State enterprises.

The SECRETARY FOR PUDLIC LANDS : Like the Commonwealth Bank, the State Govern­ment Insurance Office, and a few c.nterprises like that.

:Wr. DEACON: The State Government never had anything to do with the Com­monwealth Bank.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC LAXDS : The Labour Party did.

Mr. DEACON: The State Government never ha-d anything to do with it. They had a lot to do with State fisheries, State butcher shops, and State stations. Ther0 \YaS vcn' little they did not meddle with. Altogether they cl1:oppecl about £6,000.000 before finding out they could not manage one of the enterprises they embarked on.

Mr. T. L. WILLIAMS: Mention some of the good .deeds.

Mr. DEACON: Hon members opposite should set an example and discuss the good deeds of the Moore Government and then I should be prepared to examine their !l'oocl deeds. Instead of doing that, hon. members

Address in Reply. [1 SEPTEMBER.] Address in Rep~'!J. HJ5

are always mcalling the deeds of the Moore Government that they consider wrong.

The SEC'RETARY FOE Pum.ro LA>rDS : They were all bad deeds.

::VIr. DEACON: That is the mind of the Labour Party speaking.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC LANDS: That is the public speaking.

Mr. SPEAKER : Order ! Mr. DEACON: The hon. gentleman may

put it that way. At any rate the wrongs committed by the Government that succeeded theJYlooro Government are far greater. This Government have not improved the situation They have st,,adily increased taxation. They set. out to balance the budget, but, during their fh-e years of office they have not succeeded. They set out to cure unem ploy­ment, but it is worse than ever. Thev have not succeeded in starting one fresh i,;dustrv in Queensland. ·

::VIr. HrroTON: Sir Archdale Parkhill does not say that.

:i\Tr. DEACON: I am speaking for Queens­land and the deeds of the Queensland Government. They have not started one fresh iridustry in Queensland. unless ono could call the construction of the ::\lackav harbour an industry. It could he appropri­ately termed another sink to waste good money in. The Stanley River dam and the ,Tubike Bridge arc years before their time. Those are the on! v industries the Govern­n_lCnt have started," and they are all expen­sive. V cry few of them ar0 likelY to return interest on the money expended on them. :"rmH' of them will give continuous emplov­ment. The Ma<>kay harbour will show ·a contnmous loss from the time of its com­pletion.

A GO\'ERW>IKXT ME>JBER interjected.

::\Ir. DEACOK: Tho hon. member knows ilc history. It has already cost verY much rnor0 tl1an "\Vas expected, and is likPlv to f'OntinuE' doing ~o. It is time thi~ Go;0rn­TilPnt said something about t.hf'ir ov~'n rf'corrl and enlightened us as to what thev have done. ·

"lr. BRASSIKGTON: You know what the Government have done.

Mr. DEACON: I do not know of anv­thing; perhaps the hon. member will tell me. Unemployment is one of the major difficulties confronting this State and the situation is not one whit better than it was. There are large numbers of men dependent on the Unemplo.vment Relief Fund, and they have a right to be considered. Thev have no permanent work to look forward to, and it should be the first aim of any Labour Government to find a permanent solution of the unemployment problem,

The SECRETARY FOR P"CBLIC LAKDS : There are more people working in Queensland.

Mr. DEAC0:'\1: There is a larger num­ber of mon working on relief work in Queensland ancl paid from unemployment relief taxation.

'I'he SECRETARY FOE PUBLIC T•AXDS: l-Jo. There is a larger number in full-time employ­ment~

Mr. DEACON_: Certainly there is a greater number on relief work than ever before in thf' history of the State-the number has increased over that of last year-but that IS not a permanent solution of the difficulty.

The Government should be able to show where they havn found some solution of the problem. I admit that the Secretary for Public Lands is creating some employment by going in for more extensive reforesta­tion. Certainly that will be of some per­manent benefit.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC LANDS : There is tho building of roads and a few other things.

Mr. SPEAKER: Order!

:i\1r. DEACO;\i : Some of the roads are uoce•sary, but the return will not be as groat as that from the reforestation. The Minister could proceed further m that dll'ec­tion. It would be a factor in ere a ting permanent employment. The timber indus­try affords a large number of men contmuous work and bnngs m revenue to the State. The ~amo cannot be said of road construc­tion. Certainly it is of some help, but it must not bo forgotten that after the com­nletion of the roads the men arc thrown back into the ranks of the unemployed. Roads are necessary to the settlers in our country districts, but their construction does not give permanent work to the unemployed. They help in primary production, and thcrebv increase the wealth of the State, hut very little of that goes back to the wm·king men at pre,ent out of a job. The Governrnent have had the great Mivantage, especially in the past year, that a large amount of loan money was available. Had it not been for that they would not have been able to cany on. There would have been a grcatr r degree of distres.~. Th.c Actin" Premier knows that loan money B

not lil<ely to be so easily obtained in tho coming years. The last flotation showed a falling-off. There was difficulty in obtam­ing the amount required. I hope tha.t the Treasllrer will take heed of this and take precautionary steps. For the next. few years it must be so, when one considers how income from primary production has fa:Jen off owing to drought. vVe shall have a much smaller wool cheque during the next two or three years, until the sheep are fat­toned up again. \Ve shall ~have a much smaller return from ea ttle. The only other industry that has been steadily incrc tsing is dairying; but tho cheque coming in from that source for the whole of Australia will be much smaller in the next two or three years than it has been in the past.

vY e arc all hoping for a rc.Juction in taxation. The Governor, in his Speech, chd not forecast anything of the kind, not even a IT-duction of the relief tax. \Ye hope that such a rechtction is rnade, because rnuch of the relief n1oncv is 'vastcd around the to\Yns. A largo nu1nbcr of people who are ~ot entitled to it :uo getting relief. Man~· who could do something ebe prefer to liv" on il. ln addition. we are attracting a steady stream of people from the South \vho remain here by beg-ging or doing odd jobs until they qualify for relief. They have not to be here very long before they may vote, and bv that time sustcnan<>e or relid cannot be denied them. vV e arc suffering all theoe disabilities because we arc giving easier con­ditions and more money to men on relief, and in 1nany cases expectjng nothing l.n return.

Another matter referred to by prcYwu; Rpeakers is the hospital tax. Peopie ii,-ing in small country towns and shires hav-e to

JJfr\ Deacon.]

196 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

pay a much higher hospital tax than resi­dents in the cities, in some cases more than double. In some instances shire councils have tried to get on to a level footing with the to,Yns by reducing their valuation;, to a basis comparable with those of the latter, but wore prevented from doing so by the Secretary for Health and Home Affairs. He has refused a reduction of valuation in some cases. Valuations in the countrv towns are on a much lower basis than those in the sh!ircs. The shires have gone on the prin­ciple that they had to get so much money, and it did not matter to the ratepayers whet her the valuation was high and the rate low or the valuation low and the rate high. That was so until the hospital tax v. as imposed. At the present time the country people arc paying a great deal more than a fair proportion of the cost of hospitals, am! that must be rectified. It is not fair to ask the men in the small countrv centres to pay a greater proportion t'han the men in the big towns for services out of which they do ;lOt get anything like the same benefits as the latter. For instance, take 'l'oowoomba. Not one of the reHidents in the shires round 'l'oowoomba can e'<pect the s~tme benefit from the hos­pitals as the residents of Toowoomba get. The same applies to places round Brisbane. vYl1ercver there is a large town the resident in the town gets more benefit from the hospital and pays much less than the resident away out in the country, who perhaps cannot g.et to the hospital. It is time that that iujus­tJce was removed.

The SECHETARY FOR PuBLIC LANDS: You nevci' did it, when yon were in power. You had three yea.rs to do it.

:'11r. DEACON: The svstem then was on trial. It should have been remedied in that timt'. That is no excuse for the present Government persisting with it when they know that the system is unjust, and that each town council or shire ought to pay the same proportion for e~tch inhabitant towards the hospital. Five years have gone by and this Government have not mad" a single move to remove that injustice. Kot only that. bL!t they have made it worse than it was before.

:'llr. KAKE:: What is that?

Mr. DEACON: The hospital tax. The hon. member for East Toowoomba lives in the city, and he does not feel the tax. He will say it is quite right, as he represents the town; the people in the country have had something H put over then1," and something has to be done about it.

Another infliction is the latest reguk"tions of the Secretary for Agriculture and Stock. The Minister has the best intentions in the world, I admit, but he has be•.m responsible for some regulations, the bull tax and stallion tax, and other little trifles that have been no benefit whatever to the man on the le.nd, and are very annoying, but in his latest, the dairy regulations and the sheep dip regula­tions. he has gone further, and has <iono more harm than in anv other branch of industry he has touched.· One hon. member on the Government side, the hon. member for Maranoa, spoke about the impossibility of administering the sheep dip regulations. Everything he said was quite oon·ect-it is quite impossible. If you see a sheep flv­blown in a paddock and you have to go to the ne a rest stock inspector and give him three

[Mr. Deacon.

da.ni notice that you are going to swau the sheep, the maggot will be full-grown and gonu, and the damage all done. lt is quite impo'"ible to observe the regulation, and no sheep owner is going to take the slightest notice of it. Do you think he is going to wait and notify ·anybody if he sees sheep fly­blown! He will just do it and have done >vith it. Graziers have been using the sheep clips that are banned by the regulations for yery many years, and very few contplaints have boon made about them. Thev have been tested by time and experience. an~l the sl•Gep owners arc unanimous that they arc effective. They are the only effective ones that they have tried. and the Minister has not car"icd out any experiments to prove that there are more effective ones that do not contain arsenic. He has prornnlgatc'd a r•·guhtion that will make it impossible for the sheep owner to carry on if he conf01·ms to it. The sheep would be dead long before a stock inspector could make a visit. or the owner could obtain a reply to his notice. In three days the thing is over, and only the odour is left. (Laughter). \Vhen a sheep is well stung by the blowfly the only thing left to do after three days is to bury, burn, or otherwise destroy the carcass. There is no need to worry further about the sheep.

During the past few clays I have heard quite a number of opinions from dairy farmers concerning the dairy regulations. and thev were all of one kind. I could not express "it here. (Laughter.) I do not think that you would allow me to get near it, Mr. Speaker, but I can assure you that their opinion about the Minister and the regulations is a pretty sultry one, and their reference to future actions was not very complimentary either. I am sure that it would have done the Minister good if he had talked with the dairy farmers a little. These regulations mean much expense to every dairy farmer in the country, that is, if they are carried into effect. Everyone will have to alter his sheds and dairies, and then have nothing better when they are finished. In addition, there is no guarantee that in a vcar or two there will not be a fresh set of ~egulations ordering something- else to be done. It is not so many years ago that there was a campaign ag-ainst the fly to prevent his entry to the dairies. Inspectors were very insistent that fly-proof gauze must be affixed to every opening-that the flies must not get in. Now the dairy farmers have to tear that down and give the flies an open door so that whole swarms may go in without obstruction. They must now affix ~-inch nPtting rfhe farmer lTIUSt also raise the roof of his milking shed to a standard height. At thP present time every milking shed is high enough to allow a man to work underneath in comfort and without bumping his head. Of course. the rafters are not high enough in some cases and if the farmer bumps his head then it serves him right. It does not cost very much more to make the roof a little higher when the b•rilding is being constructer!. Now, the farmer must go out to the bush for new posts to raise the roof of his dairy to the standard height. He must pull the whole thing down and rebuild it. At the same time he has no guarantee that in a few years time the same Minister will not come back and say, " The roof must come down again. It is a bit too high. He may say that it is letting in too much daylight or too

Address in Reply. · [1 SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply. 197

much air, or it is out of reach of the cleanf'r and cannot be swept down." In my opinion 99 per cent. of the dairies are pretty clean. There is an incentive for the dairy farmer to keep his dairy and utensils clean. The first indication he gets that somethino- 1s lacking in that re•,pect is second-class cn~am returns. If his place is dirty he cannot have firf't-c1ass crean1 returns, and must content him-elf with the price for second-class cream. The :Ylinister can casilv sec for himself that there are not many 'farmers who in the wimcr time continuously supply second-class cream to the butter factories. In the summer time the distance some cream must travel will turn first-class cream into second -class cr~am, especially if it is conveyed in closed-in railway trucks. Taken on the average the dairy farmers keep their prr•mises clean and conduct their business well. That is admitted uy everybody. \Vhy ask them to go to the expc'"'e and trouble of doing all the things demanded m these regulations?

The only reason that I can see is that the A?stralian Workers' Union is taking a hand m the matter. The other day I saw a parag-raph in the Press from the Australian Workers' l_;nion organiser apportioned to the Darling Downs district. He complained that "ork was very slack on account of the drv weather. Unfortunateh· the weather has been ve_ry dry, and COilSCCjUently work IS sc-arce. i\ c nannot help that. It suddenh­struck me that this organiser possibly sent a telegram to the Secretary for Ag-riculture and Stor-k sug·gesting that a lot of work could be done in altering the dairies. The alterations cannot be for the better. The Minister can­not show that the factories recommended the suggestions. He has not told us that his stock inspectors recommended them. The suggestions for alterations are just the re_sult of a desire to have something Llone wrtlwnt any real reason behind it.

One hon. member opposite commented on the fact that on the first day of this session I moYed for a return showing the expenses incurred in the visit of the Premier to London. That is information we, as the representatives of the people, are entitled to ha,·e. It is not required necessarilv for criticism. It is just information that every­body in the country is entitled to. It would have been better if the information had been given immediately. As it is, people will eay, "Oh, well, he had a big jaunt." I do not begrudge the Premier of the State reasonable expenses when he goes on a mission from this State overseas. And to say the sugar growers got £500,000 as a result of it is not true. As we all know. no eugar conference was held and nothing was done. There is no difference in the price of sugar. although the Premier attended one conference and went to attend another that did not meet. The Premier's going home and remaining there for many months did not make the slightest difference to the price of sugar obtained by the Queensland farmer. Hon. members are well aware that son1c years ago an agreement was reached whereby a certain amount of sugar would be admitted to England from Queensland. 'That agreement has continued over since and there has not been any suggestion on behalf of the Home Government that it should be altered; nor did influence of the Premier lwYe any effect on it. I do not think the last visit of the Premier to London was nccc~~mry. There vvas a reasonable excuse for his Yisit the year before, because a

sugar conference was about to take place, and the State had a perfect right to b" represented. The Government could have appointed :VIr. Pike, a much more capable representati,-o than the Premier, to attend the last conference which eventually did not take place. In view of that it is difficult to understand an objection by hon. members opposite to my asking for a list of his expenses. To sa;) the least of it. such an attitude on the part of hon. members sitting behind tho Government was cheeky.

The hon. member for \Varwick objected to n1y making a co1nl)arison between a school in his electorate that was not closed and schools in mv electorate that wflrc. The hon. member s,;:id that the school in his electorate I n1Pntioned is no'v a vcrv successful onE'. I am glad to hear it. I d-;, not wish to see country schools closed anywhere. I should like to see them kept open. I hope the hon. n1embcr, representing a country elE>ctorate, will help me to have country schools kept open. I did not expect that any member on the Government side of the House or on the Opposition benches r·epresenting a country electorate should object to the keeping open of country schools. The minimum number of children that must attend a school in order to have it kept open should be lowered. '\Ve are endeavour­ing to cure the unemplo~'ment evil and induce men to go on the land, but it is not reasonable to ask them to take their children to the outlying districts where the only s_vstcm of schooling available is the corres­pondence classes. I am astonished to hear a couutry mernhe1· representing an electo­rate adjoining mine raising objections because another country member claims the right to have schools kept open in his electorate. One would have thought he would have been more neighbourly. Had he required my help to get a school opened, or kept open. in his electorate I should have given him it wholeheartedly.

:Yir. BROWN (Loqan) [4.15 p.m.]: I con­gratulate the hon. · members for Brisbane and Bowen on their speeches as mover and seconder, respectively, of the motion for the adoption of the Addre·""S in Reply. I tender my congratulations, also, to the hon. member for West Moreton on his appoint­ment as Leader of the Opposition. Like the Premier, had I had the selection of an hon. member for Leader of the Opposition, I should have chosen the hon. member for \V est Moreton. One naturally looks for the weakest man in the opposing party for such a job, the hon. gentleman is the weakest in the Country Party, and consequently, as a member of the Government Party, I naturaliy congratulate the Opposition on their selection. It recalls to my mind an incident that occurred thirty-five years ago in a by-election in Bulimba. There were three Tory candidates standing for e:ection, but none for the Labour Party. The Labour organisation in the district decided that as they had no candidate the best plan would be to vote for the weakest of the Tory candi­dates, inasmuch as the weaker he was the less likely was he to be a thorn in the side of Labour. So the weakest man topped the poll. Hon. members can see in this inci­dent my analogy to the appointment of the hon. member for \V est Moreton as Leader of the Oppositon.

I aJso tender my congratulations to the leader, secretary, and whip of the United

Mr. Brown.]

198 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Add1·ess in Reply.

Australia Party, the hon. members for Hamilton, Oxley, and Toowong, respectively. No doubt the selection of officers was diffi­cult, and contingency voting had to be resorted to.

Tho main issue in the debate has been the unemployment problem. I commend the Government for what they have done. No Government can solve it permanently. The introduction of machinery in industrv has caused production to increase far beyond consumption. vVhen a boy, forty-two years ago, I went to a bootmaking factory at Stone's Corner. At that time everv pair of boots was made entirely by hand." Only a few years ago the statistics of the indus­try in Australia showed that, with the adoption of modern machinery, the boot­makers could produce five pairs of boots annually for each man, woman and child in Australia. The consumptio~ w.ts only two paus, and consequently the surplus was three pairs of boots for every Australian man, woman, and child. The bootmakers are faced with unemployment because of the introduction of modern machinery. If that machinery was scrapped and those boots made by hand I am satisfied that every bootmaker in the Commonwealth, working full-time for hvolve months could not pro­duce enough boots to meet the needs of one-quarter of Australia's population. It must be evident that the introduction of modern machinery is the chief cause of unemployment. So long as we continue to work the present hours of labour we shall haYe no improvement in that state of affairs. Every country in the world has spent millions of pounds in educating its people to invent sometlnng that some other country has not got. But that education has not beer. com­]llctc. It ]w, not gone so far '" to teach the people lww to cope with the output of ~nndern rnach1nery. I arn a strong believer 111 machinery, but it has been a rnillstone round t hr> nerks of n1ankind because the hom·s of labour have not bePn reduced to offset its capacity for greater output.

It jg not, l1owevcr, for Queensland alone to reduce the working hours. That IS a world-wide matter. Until those hours ar-e reduced we shall always have unemploy­ment. One man I admne-and he happens to be a member of the Tory Party-is Sir Frederick Stewart, of Melbourne. He employs about 600 hands. Recently he went to England and purchased the most modern machinery available for his purpose. Upon the mstallatwn of that machinery he found that by reducing the hours of his emplovees by four a week and not reducing their wages he . \Yas. able to make more mon3y than. he chd With the old machinery. :Men of h1s type arc an asset to any country. If the hours were reduced in every industry to combat the extra producing capacity of machmcry unemployment wou:d not be as great as it is to-day. It should be the duty of every pubhc man to endeavour to bring about a umversal shorter working week.

At the time that I was elected a member of the Brisbane Tramway Trust the work­ing h?urs for trannvay 0mployees \Ycro forty-e1ght a week. The Labour Govern­ment reduced those hours to fortv-four a week, and it was found that 'as a result the trust was able to give employment to eighty-three more men. 1 have adYocatcd this view for over thirty ;<-ears. I have seen unemploymPn\ becom­Ing n1oro and more af'ute '' iih the increas-

[Mr. Brown.

ing me of machinery. I was a memlJer of the Metropolitan W'ater Supply and SewPrage Board when it was a party to the making of water meters in Queensland, and modern machinerv \Vas introduced bv the Inter­colonial Boring Company, which got the contract. I inspected the machinen- th~re f01· making certain parts of these , meters. There was one machine that turned out the \'arious screws that were used in the meters. A boy simply set it going and put a long length of brass rod into it, anrl that machine looked after itself and conYerted that long·th of brass rod into screws. There was a guillotine at the bottom of the machine. which cut the screws off to their proper l<mgth and mad? a perfect job of them. 2\ obody was lookmg after them. the httle machine was doing the job. That machine "'"'' doing away with labour.

An 0PPOSITIOX ME1IBER: ·what about the labour that makes the machine?

Mr. BROWX: I admit it takes labom to make the machine, but that machine you ha,-o for a number of years. I refer the hon. member to the trade I am in, blacksmithing. where machinery is con­stantly replncing labour. One 1nachinc in particular, the oxy-acetvlene wcldincc nlant cost .. ,-cry little to pr~clucc. 'i\'henb f first ontt'red the trade if you wa ntcd to cut a piece ofi a g1rder ,-ou would take a hammer and chisel and hammer away until vou chopped a piece off. Later, a hack saw :was used. which was quicker. Then the oxv­acchlcne welding plant was introdmed \vhi~h could be cUrried an~y,Yhere. ~nd could chop a piece of steel off alnwst as quick as an hon. n1cmber cou1d cut a ~lice off a loaf of bread. That one small machine has di,placed hundreds of men in the: iron ~radc. l~ f'erl b.v boilt>r-n1akcr:;; and r/thcl\S, 1t has put hundreds of men on the Ull0l11-

ployecl liM. If the hours are hrougbt clmnJ the unemployn1ent problmu "\Youlc! 110t b(~ so acute as it ls.

I Jarc ;;;ay that I not.icr rhc cTil :non;: than the arerage rncrnbcrs in thjs Chrunbcr, for I haye been tho starter foe· the secondary schools sports for a ntunber of years) a11d I see a great numb0r of ':oung men con1ing up o\·ery year. and I~ ha.Ye oftr•n thought: what is going to become of hundreds of these bovs vvho are just turn­ing eighteen years of· age? It iS true <1f girls also. \Vhat is going to become· of them' ThC'ir plight is simply the rc'sult of the machine, the machine that is doing their work. And we arc still '' orkimr the same number of hours ! It ,,-ill lw fortv­nilJe yea1.::; ago next February that niy father landed here from Scotland. Hr• was then working fifty-seven hours a week 'When h•• arrived hero it ''"a' forh--fouv hours a wec~k in the iron trade. anrl' it. is still fort:'-four hours a week. although we have all these machines working fm us. \Vo cannot expect to employ the same number of hands. following the introduction of Jnodcrn 1nachinery. so long as we conrinue the present number of working hour~.

At the present time tho ship-building rrado in the old countrv is fairlv brisk. becauw of the sc'lre of war: but ten years ago it \Yas very slack indeed following the introduction of labour-saving machinery, About ten ,-ean ago a cousin of mine, who had sern:-d his time in one of the ship-building yards in Scotland, arrived in this country and told me that tho shipbuilders were not able to obtain

Address in Reply. [l SEPTEMBER.] Address in Reply, 199

<>nough orders to keep the full complement of men employed, because labour-saving machinery now enabled them to turn out the work more expeditiouslv. Ten years prior to his coming to this cou-;,try he worked for Denny Brothers, ship-builders, who had built some of the finest ships in the world. He iold me that ten years before a certain number of workers could build a decent-sized 'hip in nine months, but just prior to his departure the same number of men working 011 a shrp of the same type could complete it wrthm five months or not much more than half the time that' it took ten years before.

:\Ir. EDWARDS: More ships are required to-day.

Mr. BROWN: More ships are required because there is a bit of a war scare all oYer the ·world, but the present-dav labour­saving machi~ery can produce n10re ships than are requrred even now as in the illus­h'ation_ I gave a few minut~s ago in connec­twn wrth the bootmaking trade. The diffi­culty will not disappear until there is a univerf:al shorter working week.

:.\lr. :\1.\HER: Who will do all the paying •

. :\I:. B)10W_2'J: That_ will always rectify nsPl!. \\ ho drd the payrng when the butcher shops ceased to open on Sunday? At one tnue butcher shops were open for business on Sundays, and it was contended that if that was not allowed the master butchers would not be able to carry on at a profit. However, the shops were closed on Sundav but _were allowed to remain open until 11 ;; 12 o clock on Saturday mght. Later on they >Wre closed at 6 o'clock, then 1 o'clock, and now they cease operations at half-past 12. Butcher shops are still being conducted, and t~e oame would apply to any other in-dustrv, \\ e need not worry very much about the c1:v that businesses will become unprofitable if tl1ey arc compelled to work a shorter working "er•k, or that they would not be able to pro<.luce enough goods to meet the demand These things will all rectify themselves. i have _already quoted the case of Sir Fredenck Stewart. He is doing better now than he drd before, and he is the tvpe of man that we want in Australia. Lo;k how Henry Ford made good ! He is a great lwlJever m rngh wages and a shorter working \veek .. \Ve have neglected to e-ducate the people m power both here and in other parts of th-· world to the need for reducing the w<;>rkmg hours so as to combat the evil effects of labour-saving machines.

Another feature of the programme of the Labour Government on which thev must be congratulated is the legislation with respect to workers' homes and dwellings. There is no other State or country where the workers can g_et better. terms for erecting their own ~lwdhng t~an m Queensland. I was recently rn touch _wrth the State Advances Corporation and elrerted t~re 'nformation that inquiries had been recerved from Germany as to the :Jetarls of the scheme. I understand similar r~qmrres have also been received from the 1: mtod States of Ar_nerica, as well as else­where. Queensland rs noted the world over as a. State where it is possible for the workmg man to .s~cure his own home on easy terms and condrtrons. The term of repay­meHt of the necessary loan is now extended from twenty to thirty years, while the interest ra~c rs _only 4 per cent. When my father burlt hrs first home he did so under the sc!Hcme of one of the building societies who

charged 9 per cent. interest on the money advanced. This ruinous rate of interest is reflected in the fact that out of twenty-seven houses built on one estate only three persons were able to meet their commitments, and eYentually repay the money adYanccd. The remainder of the homes including my father's reverted to the building society owing to the crippling- rate of interest. If a borrower failed in his interest payments he was charged compound interest, and then interest on that again until the borrowers hardly knew whore they were. The present position is the outcome of the good legisla­tion and administration of Labour Govern­ments.

Mr. Nnoro : That particular legislation was originally introduced by a Nationalist Government.

Mr. BRO\VN: I understand that, but I remember very well that when it was intro­duced the late Dave Bowman in vain endea­voured to induce the Government tG broaden its principle.' for the benefit of the working man. Neither the Tory Government of the day, nor the Upper House would accept any such amendments having for their effect the betterment of the conditions of the working man. We know that nearly all our legis­lation was originally introduced by Nationa­list Governments, but it was always drafted in such a wav that it benefited big interests only, and not the small man. The latter never came into his rights until a Labour Government wa.s elected in 1915. These bills originally introduced by Tory Governments were really the outcome of the advocacy of the Labour stalwarts of the day. Men like Frank McDonnell, Dave Bowman,' Bill Higgs Billy Browne, and others, addressed the p~ople night after night at the street corners in advocacy of legislation for the uplift of the working class. I could go through the history associated with the old leaders of the Labour movement as well as anv man in this Chamber.

I have been in the movement ever since I was a boy, and I am well acquainted with it. I understand what the people suffered in the old days. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, but I can give neither the Tories of the old days nor the present Opposition any credit for any legislation that had the effect of uplifting humanity. Any benefits that have been obtained by the working class haYo been due to the efforts of the pioneers of the Labour movement. \Ve are enjoying the fruits of their labour to-dav. Had it not been for the advent of a La.bour Government in 1915 God knows wher~ we should haYe finished up. The humane lcgislatior1 introduced by the Labour Government has been of great benefit to the people of Queensland, who are satisfied that they, and they only, should be entrusted with power in this State. The almost unani­mous vote of the people of Queensland at the last State election in favour of the Labour Partv indicates that thev consider it is the proper party to gaYer•!. In the district in which I live many men reconkd their vote for Labour during the lttst elec­tion for the first time. Although they bad voted for my opponent year after year they deserted him, not because of anv personal feeling, but because he belonged to a party that just let things take their course. The young men and women who are be>;'inning work at the present time may forge[; the action, of the Moore Government, but the

1Vl1'. Brown.]

200 Qurstwns. [ASSEMBLY.]

people who had a vote dur'r:g tlw three vears that Government were in oflice will never forget them. The peopl,, of Queens­land have confidence in the Labour Go,-ern­rnent, and they are satistled thev are de>ing their best.

Large numbers of the farmm·s &re he;rin­ning to support the Labom· Government. I know numbers of farmers in the di>trict represented by the hon. member fo1· Cun­ningham, and they admit the Lahout· Grn-t•rn­ment ha,-e done more for them than the Opposition did when they were a Govern­ment ; yet many of them are w p~rmeated with the old Tory ideas that when it comes to recording a vote those ideas prevail and they do not vote for the Labour candic!ate. One of the biggest farmers on the Downs lives in the electorate of the l1on. m cm ber for Cunningham, and is my broth•?t in-la,w. He is a Tory, and he cannot be persuaded to vote for Labour, although he rc<'og·nises they did more for the farmer than the JYioore Government did. The farmel's are gradually getting common sense, and more of them are voting for a Labour Govern­ment.

Members of the Opposition consider it to be their duty to oppose everything brough-­forward by the present Government, but I hope that in the futuro they will look at things in a difierent light. and endea­vour to help in the progress of this Stato. Under Labour Government Queensland has led the world in legislation for the better­ment o~ the conditions of the working rnan. \Ve are to-day enjoying the fruits of legisla­tion enacted bv Labour Governments from 1915 to 1929. \Yo have set an example that has been followed, not onlv b' tho other States of the Commonwealth but also by other Governments of the world.

Mr. KA::-.!E (East Toou·oom/,a): I moYe the adjournment of the debate.

Queotion put and passed.

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

'I'he House adjourned at 4.48 p.m.

Questions.