SECESSION NOT SUPPORTED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21315, 7 November 1934, Page 10

SECESSION NOT SUPPORTED

WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND COMMONWEALTH PREMIER ON VISIT TO DOMINION [THE x'KESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, November 6. The Hon. P. Collier, Premier of Western Australia, arrived at Wellington from Sydney by the Marama to-day on a health-reciuiting o l day. He is the head of the Labour party of the state—a party which held the reins of office from 1924 to 1930, and which was again returned to the Treasury benches some lo months ago. One of the acute questions before the state during the last year or so, and which has recently been the subject of a petition to the King, is that of secession from the Commonwealth. Although convinced _ that Western Australia has been seriously retarded in its development by federation, Mr Collier is not a secessionist, believing that the changes deemed desirable in the relationships between the state and eral authorities could be brought about by alterations in the constitution. . , . , Illustrating the manner in wlucn the state of Western Australia has suffered restrictions under the Federal law and tariffs, Mr Collier instanced disabilities in the importation of sugar, which is not produced in the state. "It would be possible,' he said, "to import sugar from Java, which is only four or five days' steam away from Western Australia, and to sell it at a profit for 2£d per lb; but as sugar is produced in Queensland, and the cane growers and sugar manufacturers have to be protected, Western Australia has to secure her supplies from that state more than 3000 miles away, and consequently the people have to pay 4id per lb. The same disability applies to bananas and other tropical fruit. Secondary Industries "Then again, Western Australia suffers materially in the establishment of secondary industries through the manner in which such industries have been protected and encouraged in Victoria and New South Wales. It is found next to impossible to establish factories against the eager competition and aggressive methods of the big manufacturing firms in the eastern states. "We are a fruit-producing state. Our fruit is as good as, if not better than, any grown in Australia, yet we have found it impossible to establish even a jam factory in the state. When my Government was last in power, we subsidised a company to the extent of £ 12,000 to manufacture jam in a big way. That company secured a fine plant and a capable manager who knew the business thoroughlj'. But what happened as soon as it aommenced to produce? Victorian interests simply swamped the market with jam at a price far below what we could produce it for on the spot, and far below the Victorian producers' cost. It was just a deliberate case of dumping. The Government afforded more help from time to time; but the dumping of jam at 2s a dozen tins eventually told its tale. The company could not continue, as it was being robbed of its market, and that in face of Government sympathy and financial aid. Secondary Industries "There are other injustices of a like nature that have largely induced many to believe that federation has been the reverse of an advantage to Western Australia. That) we are within the state manufacturing less than we did 20 years ago illustrates how our state has been hampered by the laws promoted by the Federal Government, the main strength of membership of which,] of course, lies in Victoria and New South Wales. Western Australia has expended £8,000,000 annually on manufactures imported from the eastern states which she could under fair conditions have produced herself. Not only that, but if given an opportunity to manufacture, untrammelled by this dumping from the eastern states and certain high tariffs imposed by the Federal Gov-, ernment, the whole of our unemployed could be absorbed and we would require an additional 25,000 hands."

Mr Collier made it clear that notwithstanding these restrictions and handicaps, Western Australia was probably in a happier position than any o. the other states, owing in part to the marked increase in the price of gold. Many of the old mines at Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie which had been closed down for years had been reopened, and with the aid of improved plants for the winning of gold, had shown such satisfactory results that, in the face of severe duties imposed by the Federal Customs Department •on machinery, Western Australia was turning out more gold than the rest of Australia at the present time. Belgian Market for Meat "Harmony consists of a fair interchange of goods between different countries," said Mr Collier. "Only recently Western Australia was able to place some of its meat products in Belgium, when the English market was over-supplied, and in return we bought a good deal of Belgian glass. Then, under Federal protection, glassworks were established in New South Wales and a duty was clamped on Belgian glass to such an extent that we in Western Australia could no longer import it, and so we lost Belgium as a market for our meat. That is how nationalism reacts. At one time, not, so very remote, the beautiful ideal for the emancipation of civilisation was one big brotherhood of man. I do not think the world was ever so far removed from that ideal as it is today." Mr Collier intends to tour New Zealand before he leaves Auckland on his return to Australia just be- | fore Christmas.