WESTERN STATE

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 124, 21 November 1935, Page 10

WESTERN STATE

SECESSION MOVE GESTURE OF PROTEST PEDiAIIY INDUSTRIES Interesting comments on the muchdiscussed secession move in Western Australia were made by Mr. G. W. Simpson, 1.5.0., ex-Public Service Commissioner of Western Australia and president of the Perth Young Men's Christian Association, when addressing members of the Wellington Optimists' Club at a luncheon today. Mr. Simpson said that the secession move was a gesture not of disloyalty but of dissatisfaction. He also had some interesting comments to make on the industries of Western Australia.

Wellington was the first part of New Zealand he had seen, Mr. Simpson said, and he was delighted with what he had seen of it. New Zealand was a compact little country but Western Australia had an area of over 1,000,000 square miles and a population of under 500,000.

New Zealand had probably heard of the secession movement in that State. Western Australia had a Labour Government, but it was a Government of which any country might be proud. He was not a Labour supporter, but he did not hesitate to say the Government would be a credit to any country. The people of the State had been very dissatisfied with the treatment received and had voted in favour of secession. The Government had not favoured that but it carried out the people's wish and passed a measure and presented a petition to the House of Commons. It had been said that the people of Western Australia were disloyal but that was not so. It was a gesture of dissatisfaction and not a gesture of disloyalty. The question of secession was practically dead and he was pleased to say the Commonwealth Government was doing its best to remove the causes of dissatisfaction.

Western Australia had recovered rapidly from the depression because the principal production was gold. The principal mines had been worked for thirty years, and at the present time new lodes were being opened up at 3000 feet depth. Through the advance in the price of gold old mines had been reopened, and new ones established, and the Y.M.C.A. in Perth was doing its best to- provide occupation during the leisure hours of the miners.

The State's second industry was wheat, which was grown in an area of good country for the purpose. Unfortunately the price of wheat was low, and the farmers had got into difficulties and had to be protected by legislation. Further north there was sheep country, and in some areas both wheat growing and sheep farming were being successfully undertaken. There were some very large runs, and the rise in the price of wool had improved conditions. In the extreme north of the State the country was used for cattle raising. The whole export was now to Britain, although formerly much of the meat had gone to the Continent.

The extreme south-west of the State was occupied by fine timber country, and the men working there had great ability as lumber-men. To see them at work was a wonderful sight. When he was visiting a survey camp there they had just located an area of 10,000 acres of large trees of which nothing had been known before. That discovery was an indication of the size of the State.

Mr. Simpson added that Western Australia had other smaller industries and had people who would, he felt sure, make it as progressive as New Zealand.