AUSTRALIA'S NEEDS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19212, 19 January 1928, Page 7

AUSTRALIA'S NEEDS.

SETTLERS AND CAPITAL. (bt cable—pbess association—coptbight.) (ATfSTBkC lAS AND *.l' CABLI ASSOCIATIOK.) PERTH, January 18. A passenger by the steamer Narkunda is Sir Robert Horne, who, after a month in Australia, is returning to England, via New Zealand and Canada. In an interview, Sir Robert Horne said: "As far as one can see, two things needful in Australia are the addition of the right kind of people and a certain amount of capital. If you think of the Empire as a unity you must be startled by the irregular and unscientific distribution of its citizens throughout the available areas. The situation to-day is more anomalous than ever. We have too many people where they are not _ wanted, and too few where they are vitally necessary to the process of development. "A distinguished American once asked me why we could not shift the population to places where it could render most valuable service, but the problem is not so easy as it looks, and if one desires to learn how hard it is one has only to remember how many schemes there are in existence, promulgated both by the Home and Dominion Governments and by individual States, involving considerable expenditure of public money. Nevertheless, the problem must be solved, not merely because of the uneconomical distribution of our population, but also for reasons involved in the second consideration. The welfare of any community and its progress depend upon utilising to the full the productive elements which exist within its shores. If the raw resources of the earth are neglected the market within which the manufactures of the country can be sold is to that extent limited. The more you increase the number of people on the land the greater is the market which you create for the sale ef the products of the towns."