TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 83, 9 April 1928, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

From the remarks made recently by tho Ministers of Education and Finance it would appear that there is at present no well-defined policy for the direction, of technical education. New classes are formed and new subjects are taken up when there is a demand, and the range of work in the schools is constantly extending. Hpw far should thip go at the expense of the State? We tako it for granted now that the Government should bear some part of the cost of training many who servo tho public, including doctors, lawyers, plumbers, accountants, and stenographers. Even where fees are chargod for training it is probablo that they fall far short of meeting the cost. If wo accept this principle of State assistance in preparation for certain trades and professions, whore arp we to draw the line? In former times tho industries, and? oven tho professions, bore tho cost of training. The plumber was apprenticed and the lawyer was articled. Tho advances mado in art, science, and industry havo led to tho decay of tho old methods. Apprenticeship continues, but it is supplemented by technical classes. In time it may bo wholly replaced by such classes. If tho Stato is to assumo tho whole of tho burden it will entail much heavier cost for technical and university education. At present we are drifting into this: adding a class here and a class there. Some of tho additions may bo justified by public policy—that tho country requires tho services of workers skilled in certain pursuits. But some cannot bo supported iv this way, and some conflict with this principle. It is time to considor tho whole policy, and particularly that aspect of it which debits tho Stato with tho coat, or part cost, of training, but leaves to the individual free choice of the class of training required. • # * • "American successes iv establishing industries inside Canadian tariffs have demonstrated tho possibilities of similar British successes in Australia." This sontence from tho cabled views of the Federation of British Industries and tho Association of British Chambers of Commorcp sums up what is perhaps tho most specific endorsement yet given by British manufacturers to tho Bruco-Pratten tariff policy. At one tjmo thoro seemed to bo a tendency in Britain tp think that Australia's protected manufactures would oust Britain's manufactures froni the Australian market, and that Old Country intorests would havo no compensations. On closer inspection, tho British factory owuor modifies that view. He is inclined to think that everything will be all right if tho new Australian industries .are. efficiently disguised to fit in where a real economic opening exists. Any industry that adds to the wealth of a country adds to its purchasing power; and an Australia with factories employing thousands of well-paid operatives would bo a better customer of Britain 'than an Australia peopled only with hewers of wood and drawers of water. . The proviso concerning economic efficiency is the pivot-point of tho calculation. How long can a protective tariff carry an industrial misfit? Should such a misfit block tho way, the British manufacturer is freo to fight him on either side of tho tariff wall, just as tho United States manufacturer may do in Canada. * * * .* To what degree competition will bo carried in the internal protected market, as botween established companies of Australian capital and new arrivals witSi British or American capital, is. not the least interesting factor in t|io. situation. The. Newcastle Steel Works, o\Yned by tho Broken Hill Proprietary Company, will now meet tho competition of a Port Kembla iron and steel industry pioneered by tho Lithgow firm of Hosldns and Co,,' who have recently boon reinforced by another Australian concern (Howard Smith Proprietary) and two British ones of wide repute, Dorman Levy and Baldwin's. After the Port Kembla announcement. Broken Hill Proprietary shares fell sharply on the Australian stock exchanges, and later recovered somewhat. In. this situation the New South Wales Cham-

ber of Manufacturers professes to find comfort. "Protection," it declares, '<does not stifle competition, but merely brings it within our own border, into our own Australia. Competition between two steel companies will do good, and 'will be as beneficial as it has been with scores of other manufacturing groups in Australia. Wo can do with them both." Always provided, of course, that tariff-promoted industries do not become over-capitalised relatively to homo demand. New Zealand is interested in that she too has a pioneer iron industry. But whether the concerns inside the Australian tariff wall fight or compromise, it is hardly likely that Dominion iron there will be more cordially received than Dominion butter. » * * •• A further step in tho mechanisation of daily operations is reported from the United States, where a machine, operated by the customer with a crank, sells a packet of cigarettes, pays out the change, says "Thank you," and utters an advertising slogan affecting the brand of cigarettes sold. As a further proof of magic, the cablegram affirms that the machine will sell any one of twpnty Brands, and always speaks the slogan appropriate to the brand sold; it is guilty of non-slips either of the tongue or the till. But tho mechanical salesman will not bo complete until it is built in the full effigy of man or woman, with a realism that should be altogether convincing, at any rate in the land of bootleg whisky. In this country one of the chief examples of mechanical selling is tho stamp-vend-ing machine, which, since it overcamo the bad habit of accepting pennies when no stamp was available in exchange, has been quite a respectable member of the community. But it does not talk at you; and it is in that respect that the Americans are breaking new ground. If therp is to be voice, why not form aud figure? In tho course of inventive development the machine people might even pass from still life and slow motion to rapid action. A mechanical dancing partner would be a convenience to many, and some interest would attach to mechanical actors and actresses, but these latter exist already.