WEST AUSTRALIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 123, 27 May 1930, Page 10

WEST AUSTRALIA.

MOVE FOR SECESSION. THE POINTS AT ISSUE. PROTECTIVE TARIFF RESENTED. Given added volume bji the existing financial depression, the wave of feeling in West Australia against Federation is almost at its peak. The near future will show, whether it is big enough to carry the "Cinderella State" out of the Commonwealth sea, or whether, like its predecessors, it will dash itself fruitlessly against the opposition reefs. According to a cable received yesterday, a campaign for the secession of the State from the Commonwealth has been initiated in Perth at an enthusiastic meeting, over which the new Premier, Sir James Mitchell, presided. The position is of some interest to New Zealand crs because, years ago, the Dominion was faced with the choice of becoming a part of the Commonwealth or of working out her destiny in her own way. Under Federation, West Australia has suffered many disabilities, which the secessionists —a body rapidly increasing in numbers and influence—contend have by no means been offset by the advantages of union with.the older States. West Australia has always been an unwilling partner in the Commonwealth. The secessionists contend that the referendum of 1900, which converted West Australia from a colony to an Australian State, was not a true expression o? West Australian feeling, owing to the influx of Eastern States people during the gold rushes. Now, during the hard times caused largely through Eastern States' extravagance, the claims of the secessionists are louder and more insistent, and they command a readier hearing. Unification Resisted. Two. recent developments in Australian politics have aroused West Australians —the proposal by the Prime Minister, Mr. J. H. Scullin, for the unification of Government, and the recent tariff impositions. West Australians will not countenance unification according to the leading politicians of every party ;\ and the State has already suffered from the tariff restrictions.

As long ago as IS9O, a leading Australian statesman pointed oirE that the tariff question was " lion in the path," which Federationists must slay, or by which they must be slain—a statement which incidentally, gave rise to Sir Henry Parkes' famous reply, "The crimson thread of kinship runs through us all." Arising from "the tarrif lion," West Australia's principal disability under Federation lies in the fact that she must sell her products at world prices, and buy her goods at prices set by Eastern States manufacturers.- The high tariffs—imposed to protect, in the main, vested interests in Victorian and New South Wales—and the consequent high cost of living, have struck a heavy blow at West Australia, who is dependent solely upon her primary products. The "Cinderella State" insists that she wants cheap production costs and the goodwill of the Continental and American buyers, and that she will obtain neither under high protection. Unfortunately, she holds only five seats in the House of Representatives, compared with 2S held by NeAv South Wales and 20 by Victoria. Young Industries Hampered.

Again, under federation, West Australia lias now way of protecting her own young industries from fierce competition by established concerns in the eastern States. The West Australian butter industry, now coming into its own, has been hampered for years by the competition of the New South Wales and Victoria product. In the meantime, the West Australian people have to pay exorbitant prices for eastern States' goods. The appropriation—secessionists say "theft"—by the Commonwealth Government of a huge amount of West Australian gold during the war has, not been forgiven. The considerable body of opinion in West Australia, that supports federation, points out the dangers and expense of disunion, and it stresses the intimate manner in which the interests of the various States are related. It claims also that from the viewpoints of economy, flow of capital, and natio;W consciousness, West Australia gains more than she loses by being an active partner in the Australian. Commonwealth.