VISIT TO N.Z.

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 149, 26 June 1944, Page 3

VISIT TO N.Z.

AUSTRALIAN SENATOR

STUDY OF CONDITIONS

The results of the Labour administration in New Zealand are to be studied on behalf of the Australian Government by Senator the Hon. R. V. Keane, Australian Federal Minister of Trade and Customs, who arrived in Wellington yesterday from the Commonwealth, via Auckland. Senator Keane proposes to examine New Zealand achievements in housing, social services, rationing, price stabilisation, and liquor control, as well as aspects of lend-lease.

Referring to the problem of housing, Senator Keane said there was an estimated shortage of some 300.000 houses in Australia. At the present time strict control was exercised over tfie use of man-power and materials, and the position really was that no private home had been erected for over two years, with the exception of special types provided in some country centres where munitions programmes had caused an enormous increase in population. In some instances temporary homes had had to be erefeted for munition workers. Housing was one of the most pressing problems the Australian people had to contend with. There was an acute shortage of timber, due to the great quantities used in defence programmes and allied works and to meet the needs of the United States services. BUILDING PROGRAMME. The Government had plans prepared for a huge building programme on the cessation of hostilities and in the interim it was going ahead with a restricted programme for the erection of (Government houses in various centres, mainly in capital cities. The plans envisaged the use of both private enterprise and Government construction; the immensity of the programme callI ed for the employment of all avenues.

Price control and price stabilisation were working well in Australia. The rents of houses, for instance, had risen less than 1 per cent, since the outbreak of war. There were still some loopholes by which the unscrupulous extorted high rents for rooms, particularly in Sydney, following the influx of a great number of Allied personnel, but this was actually only a passing phase and the problem was diminishing rapidly. LIQUOR SUPPLIES CUT. Liquor supplies for distribution to civilians had been cut by one-third and that had resulted in a shortage 01 beer. During the last two or three days in a month there might be one hotel in 50 left open. Because of the restricted quantity available, hotels could not serve beer continuously, the usual trading hours being principally between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Dealing with lend-lease, Senator Keane said that Australia's reciprocal lend-lease expenditure was already touching "the £ 150,000,000 mark, and was still mounting. That figure exceeded Australia's annual peacetime expenditure. In order to maintain the large quantity of supplies under lendlease rationing had had to be introduced in Australia, and severe shortages in a number of commodities were being experienced. The part Australia was playing in lend-lease was further shown by figures quoted by the senator. They included £28,000,000 spent on works, such as aerodromes and defence installations, £16,500,000 worth of aircraft stores and equipment, and £29,000,000 worth of provisions.

Senator Keane, as-Minister of Trade and Customs, has a heavy burden to shoulder, "but he has broad shoulders to carry it. He is the "heavyweight" of Australian politics, weighing over 20 stone. In addition to being Minister of Trade and Customs, Senator Keane's portfolios include control of rationing, prices, and stabilisation, and he is in charge of the Division of Import Procurement. This division handles the procurement, shipping, disposal, and accounting of every article imported into Australia. This and its counterpart in America/ the Australian War Supplies Procurement Office, employs 2000 people. Accompanying him on his New, Zealand tour are Mrs. Keane, the Director of the Division of Import Procurement (Mr. A. C. Moore), Mr: A. Hendrickson, secretary, and Mr. L. W. Whitehead, Press relations officer. Mr. Moore has been closely associated with Australian trade matters for some years. He has been Assistant Comptroller-General of Tariffs in the Department of Trade and Customs since 1935, and took over the directorship of the Division of Import Procurement in September, 1941. He was attached to the Australian delegation to the Ottawa Conference in 1932, and in 1934 accompanied Sir John Latham, then Attorney-General, on a good-will mission to Japan, China, and other Far Eastern countries. From 1934 to 1937 he was chief adviser to Sir Henry Gullett in connection with negotiations on trade treaties. He was- the leading official associated with the inauguration and implementation of the Australian reciprocal trade agreement programme, and in 1935 went to London and Europe with the delegation headed by Mr. J. A. Lyons and including Sir Henry Gullett. He went to London again in 1938 as adviser to the Ministerial delegation headed by the then Deputy Prime Minister, Sir Earle Page. Mr. Hendrickson, who is a returned soldier of the last war, is a former