AUSTRALIA'S AFFAIRS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20033, 15 September 1930, Page 11

AUSTRALIA'S AFFAIRS.

COST OF CANADIAN TROOPS. AUSTRALIAN STATEMENT DENIED. (UKITID PRESS ASSOCIATION —BI ELECIBIO 7ELEOBAPH—COPYRIGHT.) (Rsceived September 14th, 5.5 p.m.) OTTAWA, September 13. A denial was made by Sir George Perley, the Canadian High Commissioner in London during the war, regarding the suggestion in the report of the Committee on Unemployment and Wage Reduction of ihe Australian Council of Trade Unions, that Canada was relieved of all expenditure relating to her troops upon their embarkation overseas in the Great War. Sir George said: They must have been misinformed. Canada herself paid the entire cost of her troops during the war from the time of enlistment until they were discharged from service, including transportation across the ocean, pay and allowances for food, and ammunition used at the front. COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS. RECOMMENDATIONS ON FINANCE MELBOURNE, September 13. Far-reaching proposals are contained in a report submitted by a sub-com-mittee on unemployment and the financial position of the special interState conference of the Australasian Council of Trade Unions. Among the recommendations made were that, to free the credit resources of the country, the Federal Government should provide £20,000,000. That the decisions of the Premiers' Conference be repudiated by the Federal and State Labour Governments. . That the Loan Council be dissolved. GROUP HOLDINGS. LOSSES IN WEST AUSTRALIA. (Received September 14th, 5.5 p.m.) PEETH, September 14. The sixth report of the Group Valuation Board shows that 1262 holdings on which £3,797,922 have been expended, have been revalued at £1,290,605. Thus £2,500,000 will be written off. SYDNEY TRAMWAYS. MORE ECONOMIES WANTED. (Received September 14th, G. 5 p.m.) SYDNEY, September 14. The New South Wales Transport Trust, having been told by the I Treasurer, Mr B. S. B. Stevens, that tho tramways must pay their own | costs, has decided to restrict the services except during the peak periods. It is hoped to thus save £4OOO per week, but other economies are imperative. The Trust hopes, if the employees agree, to further rationing and to forego privileges, that the dismissal of another 500 men may bo avoided. AMUSEMENT TAX IN TASMANIA. (Bcceived September 14th, 5.5 p.m.) HOBART, September 14. Beginning on October Ist, the Government will impose an amusement tax of one penny in the shilling and halfpenny on each additional sixpence. NUMBER OF PARLIAMENTS. SYDNEY. September 13. The Premier. Mr T R. Bavin, referring to tho rprnnrki °f Mr ,T. F. Frn ton (Acting Federal Treasurer) that there were too many Parliaments in Australia. said that ?uch a sujriiestion at the present time only obscured the real issue. Obviously there must bo a Parliament for each State. THE AUSTRALIAN PARTY. MR W. MARKS RESIGNS. (Received September 14th, 5.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, September 14. Mr Walter Marks, who, by fating with Mr W. M. Hughes, helped to defeat the Bruce-Page Government, has now resigned his membership of the Australian Party, which he assisted Mr Hughes to establish. Mr Marks says that he disagrees with some points in a pamphlet which Mr Hughes has just published, notably a bitter personal attack on Sir Otto Niemeyer, also reference" to Great Britain and the Bank of England. Though Mr Hughes, Mr Marks, and other members had just attended a conference, the Leader never said a word about his intention to publish the booklet. WHAT MR HUGHES SAID. GREATER CONSUMPTION NEEDED. A statement made by Mr \V. M. Hughes a few days ago, when he alleged that the policy as advocated by Sir Otto Niemeyer would lead to stagnation and despair, has caused some discussion. It was a smoke screen, he said, to stampede Australia into a compound where the financial interests Sir Otto represented wanted her —a plot to make, us concentrate on the cheapest possible production of raw materials for British industry—so that Britain will be able to compete in the markets of the world. "What Sir Otto did not mention," declared Mr Hughes, "is that Britain has many times lent money to nations which have defaulted. She has lent freely to the dairy interests of Soviet Russia, Latvia, Esthonia, and Argentina, in order to depress the price of Australian and New Zealand butter on British markets. There is plenty of money for these, but for Australia, which spent millions helping Britain in the war, and which is her best customer, next to India, not one penny. World Over-Production. •'The present troubles of the world are due to over-production. The price of wool has alreauy fallen 40 pen cent. To produce more wool would be fatal to our great pastoral industry. fit we were to concentrate on the production of raw material, barely one-half of th« present population

would find employment, even if living standards were reduced below thoße of Britain.'' Mr Hughes says there would be dangerous effects of a reduction in present living- standards. Property values would fall, spelling disaster to the most thrifty and deserving people in the community, and ruin would face such industries as dairying, dried fruits, and sugar, which were able to sell their surplus abroad at world prices only because of a higher charge to the Australian consumer. "The ruin of the sugar industry would mean the depopulation of North Queensland by the white races and the beginning of the end of our White Australia policy. Reduction in the consuming power of one country reacts upon all, so that the new level of wages would eventually be as unstable as the old. Our only hope lies in increased consumption in Australia. Manufacturing industries nSone can effect that. "What we need is not cheaper labour, but cheaper land, cheaper money for industry, more efficient methods, and an ever-increasing home market. Industry, now half paralysed with fear, must pluck up courage. Employment can bo found for tens of thousands in producing the goods the community wants. The trouble is that we have swung from one extreme to another. WHEN SMOKING A NEW PIPE. A new pipe should not be smoked out-of-doors for the first few pipefuls. A gust of wind may make the tobacco burn too rapidly or unevenly—thus causing burned spots or burn-outs. For tobacco. Edgeworth is the best to smoke. It packs very nicely and burns smoothly and evenly—right down to thp bottom of the pipe. ' Then again Edgeworth is a tobacco which leaves a pipe clean and dry—it does not foul li. Incomparably rich and fragrant—yel so mild as to be acceptable to the most fastidious. Edgeworth enjoys a popularity to-day with pipe-smokers second to none in the Dominion. —6 OFFERS TO GARDENERS. SPECIAL VALUES AT REECES'. Samson Lawnmowers, 50s each. Hardy Bali-Bearing 60s, both imported last year. Tho new duty will increase prices at least 15 per cent. Special Steel Wheelbarrows, superior quality, 40s. while present stock lasts. Good Quality Forged Steel Hammers, a few left at 3s. Lawn Mowers sharpened and adjusted, 7s 6d. E. Reece, Ltd., 661 Colombo street. —2