LORD LEVERHULME AND WHITE AUSTRALIA.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 17981, 26 January 1924, Page 16

LORD LEVERHULME AND WHITE AUSTRALIA.

QUEENSLAND'S HOSTILE RECEPTION.

BRISBANE, January 17. During his brief stay in Brisbane, Lord Leverhulme cam© in successively for reprimands from Mr Gillies, Acting Premier, and Mr McCormack, Minister of Lands and Acting Treasurer. His utterances against the White Australia policy evoked hostile leaders from the Press. The culminating point was reached to-day when the "Telegraph" admonished the "Soap Baron" editorially: "Lord Loverhulme goes blundering on to our White Australia doctrine, and loud cries of outraged propriety arise. Not content with that very serious indiscretion, he has just, at Sydney, fallen foul of a cardinal point of Labour's doctrine." The "Standard" uses the broadsword in preference to the rapier, saying, in an open letter:—"You live for soap, make soap, think 6oap; you are soap. White Australia is an ideal beyond the comprehension of such an impudent tourist." Now Lord Leverhulme has attempted to elucidate Australia's sugar problem, and has said that Queensland was only producing one and a quarter tons of sugar to the acre, whereas America with black labour, was producing 10 tons to the acre in the Philippines. Upon this latest. .mdirjerction M\r McCormack returns to the attack today, with the information that Queensland's sugar yield per acre was over two tons —not one and a quarter as mentioned by Lord Leverhulme—and this was an annual yield, not a twoyear crop. Mr McCormack added; "Queensland lias nothing to learn from cheap labour countries, and in this particular instance Lord Leverhulme's statement is not in accordance with facts. This is another instance of a globe-trotting visitor with no knowledge of our local affairs, posing as an authority on them."