DEPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19941, 30 May 1930, Page 8

DEPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA.

CLOUDS LIFTING. WHEAT, WOOL, AND FACTORY WEALTH. irsou efft own coaaasfOKUßKi-' SYDNEY, May '23. Practically every district of New South Wales that needed rain has received ii soaking and tho State-wido "anxiety has been relieved. North, west, and south, steady rain lias given crops and pastured a fine start towards a bountiful season. Viae link between tit.; rainfall at iiourko in the far-west, and unemployment in dydney, may not be obvious to everybody, but none the less it exists, and tiie fa lis bavo done much lo dispel pessimism. All over the iarivcstorn districts there is grass where for more than six months the ground lias been as baro as a billiard tuple. i'ru-es of slieep have become tinnor and laud values are bettor. Wool prices, too, are more favourable, these tilings will moan more employment, notn ui the country and the city, and a lessening of the present financial de- ' Apart trom the position winch lias arisen because Australian trade ledger of imports and exports does nut balance, the crux of the economic position here has been the decline in wool price*, and the bhnnkuge in Australia s wheat harvests; and the biggest job is to increase tho total cf the primary production, and thereby of exports. On this task Australia has started in a way which gives confidence The Commonwealth Government has ottered the wheat-growers a Federal po6I, with .i guarantee ol 4s a bushel, plus eightpence a bushel handling charges; and the Prime Minister Mr Scullin. has made a nation-wide appeal to Australia to extend its wheat area by all additional 2,000.000 acres. out the Commonwealth there is unprecedented activity in the wheat areas, with tho promise now of a good season. Reports indicate a record cropped area of 18,000.000 acres-striking proof that the fine spirit of our agriculturists still lives, despite many bitter disappointments and reverses Here is a tremendous leap forward, which, with favourable conditions, will give Australia a harvest of more than 200,000,000 bushels, and a probable wheat cheque of £SO 000 000 And Australia can go on extending itH wheat area oy millions o! acres for many years. The Federal Government has also assisted 80,000 woolgrowers by prohibiting the export from Australia of 6tud merino sheep, which policy alone' has enabled South Africa to become a serious competitor with Australia in the wool Industry to the extent of about £10,000.000 ■ a year. If and when Mr Scullin. in his overhaul of the economic question relating to wool production, formulates some scheme for the protection of the pastoral industry against drought, lower wool prices-—if they are to remain will be counter-balanced bv greater production. Added to the brighter outlook in respect to primary production are the benefits that already are accruing to the secondary industries through the new tariff There are many overseas companies building, or about to build, factories which apart from their permanent sonrce of wealth in wases and output, will at the outset provide much employment. So that out of the gloom there is shining a novr light, radiating hope and confidence As one writer puts it in a Htiniulatinu article. "Ajistralia is beinc: tried by the fire of adversity. She will comp out bigger, better, and more prosperous." There would seem to be at la6t a more solid basis for optimism.