WONT FACE FACTS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 48, 25 August 1930, Page 10

WONT FACE FACTS

WAGE AND WORK

NOT ENOUGH KICK IN BOOTS

"MUZZLE GIBLIN"!

"It is certain that the rate of increase of output per capita in other countries in recent years has been much greater than in Australia," said Sir Otto Niemeyer to the conference of Australian Premiers and Treasurers, as reported by cablegram in the "Evening Post" on Friday.

What did Sir Otto Niemeyer mean? It was not his business to dot the "i's" and cross the "t's", but someone has answered for him, in the person of Sir George Julius, well known in New Zealand. As president of the Australian Scientific and Industrial Research Council. Sir George stated in Melbourne on sth August that "in one year 20,000 boot operatives in Australia produce 2 000,000 fewer pairs of boots, working the same hours, than half as many operatives in Europe, who receive halt the Australian wage of £5 a week. ("Argus," 6th August). But Sir Otto Niemeyer did not reter only to output of the worker. The lesser output he referred to might be the result of other faults than the worker's fault. There might be lack of organisation, or of machinery, or of method. There might also be the subservience of industry to politics. IT WOULD PAY TO PENSION SUGAR WORKERS. Politics and commerce are mixed in the Australian sugar industry, concerning which "the excess price paid for sugar by Australian consumers would keep all the persons engaged in the industry in idleness." Professor Giblm (author of the "Letters to John Smith") is the authority for that. _ The average cost of five materials used in Australian coal-mining is twice as great as the cost in Britain (authority, report of Eoyal Commission. as quoted by Sir Stanley Argyle in Victorian State Parliament); and Australia contains 384 plants for manufacturing electrical appliances, which plants employ on an average 11 persons each, indicating "overwhelming overhead costs" (Sir George Julius). As Leader of the Nationalist Opposition in the "Victorian Legislative Assembly, Sir Stanley Argylo reminded the Labour Government that in a brochure published by Professor L. F. Giblin it had been pointed out that the present annual income of tho population of Australia (which had been reduced considerably), after commitments overseas had been met, was sufficient only to pay the basic wage of 14s a day to all men aged more than 21 years. It was concerning Professor Giblin that a suggestion had been made that Parliament should interfere and "muzzle" him. Mr. Pollard/ (Assistant Minister): "You might say that there are members of this party who do not agree with that." Sir Stanley Argyle: "There is a section in this community which does not want to hear the truth, and I intend that it shall hear the truth. Professor Giblin adds that salaries, wages, profits, rents, and income from land must bo reduced, or if that is not done unemployment will increase quickly." COSTS HEAPED ON COAL. To illustrate the heavy cost of material in Australia, compared with Great Britain and the United States, Six Stanley Argyle quoted from the report of the Eoyal commission on the coal industry in New South Wales. The costs compared, as follows:— Cost a Ton. Article Gt. Britain. America. Australia. £sd£sd£sd Piß iron .... 332 6 — 515 6 Steel rails .. 8 10 0 9 0 0 11 17 6 Wire nails .... 9 17 6 U 4 0 20 11 3 Galvanised Iron 13 2 6 16 6 8 22 10 0 Cement 270 300 420 Tho Minister of Railways (Mr. Cain): "I presume that you are arguing for a reduction in wages?" Sir Stanley Argyle: "No, not necessarily. lam trying to show that wo in this country are trying to do the impossible. We cannot compete with the rest of the world while our production costs are so high, and wages are only one of many factors. So few people seem to realise the difference between nominal wages and effective wages. If you can increase the purchasing power of £,1 you are benefiting the worker by giving him more for his money. If you can increase production by all means increase wages." The coal users of Australia, he continued, were now paying £6,000,000 a year more for their supplies than they were ten years ago. The industry had been subjected to so much, disturbance that the export trade had been lost and South Africa had captured it. Interruption to the coal industry seriously affected large numbers of other industries. This applied particularly to transport. The coal industry badly needed disciplining. There should be a special body to control it and prevent interruptions, which were injuring the whole country in a way that could not be exaggerated. Transport and traction used more than a quarter of the total coal output of Australia. As a result of the 4500 disputes which had occurred in the coal industry in New South Wales since 1914 it had become necessary to maintain large reserve stocks as a-guarantee against ces-, sation of supplies. The various railway departments in Australia were at present holding in reserve £660,000 worth of coal, and on that amount of non-productive capital were paying interest amounting to £60,000. During the last New South Wales coal dispute the Metropolitan Gas Co. had been fore-

Ed to import £600,000 worth of coal from overseas to maintain its services.

Sir Stanley Argyle strongly advocated the removal of the State railways from political influence, as a cure for their position. To make good the losses on the railway system of Victoria, he said, the sum of £4,593,000 had been paid out of consolidated revenue during the last thirteen years. The AuditorGeneral had directed attention to the fact that there were between £15,000,----000 and £16,000,000 worth of "vanished assets" represented in the Victorian railways.

COSTS OUT THE FAKM PROFITS,

On sth August, in Melbourne, Sir George Julius told the Public Questions Society that Australians had a disinclination to face facts. The Primo Minister (Mr. Scullin) made great appeals to the wheatgrower to grow more wheat. Yet the average wheatgrower probably did not cam the basic wage or get a return of more than 1 per cent, on expenditure. In Queensland, which was the best cattle area, the present return was less than 31b weight of beef an acre, or 6d an acre. By a careful study of this area, and of the best breed of stock, it was probable that a return of Is an acre could be obtained, which would place the industry on a new footing. This, however, should not be done by spending millions before the facts were examined. In the past Australia had depended on an inflated price of wool and cheap loan money. Experts stated that wool would never return to the;former high price. Similarly, the purses from which the loan funds came nad tightened. It was clear that industries such as the sugar and cattle industries could not be kept as they were at present. In comparing tho boot industry in Australia with that in a European country, the following result was obtained: — In Australia 20,000 operatives produced 20,000,000 pairs of boots yearly; in Europe, 11,000 operatives produced 22,000,000 pairs, both working 44 hours a week at a flat rate. Wages in that country, were £2 12s a week, while in Australia they were about £5. From the canteens in Europe, breakfast cost 2d, dinner Gd, and tea 3d, and a fourroomed house was rented for Is 9{-d a week.

Sir George Julius added that a pure inquiry into facts, not an attack, was needed. It would lead to a clear idea of what was wrong, and would show possible remedies. Australia had lost sight of one fundamental fact, that the prosperity of the country depended on agriculture. Australia could, without difficulty, double production a man an acre, and it was by means of this production that secondary industries should be established. It should be the ambition of Australia to become the world's greatest stock farm.