South Australia Shows N.Z. How

Evening Star, Issue 26081, 21 April 1947, Page 6

South Australia Shows N.Z. How

What An Anti-Labour Regime Has Achieved Industrial Boom —And Peace (Written by QUENTIN POPE for the ' Star. 1 ) , ADELAIDE (South Australia), April 16. Here in this lesser-known Australian State is an antiLcibour Government which can show New Zealand the way . dn virtually every field of endeavour, and which has gained reiharkable' achievements without ever having to scrap that individual freedom of enterprise which New Zealand Labour leaders apparently view as a relic of the past. Not only has this anti-Labour Administration marked up remarkable records in the fields of creating cheap living, .’. industrialisation, housing, and health, it has been continu'»ously ;in power for the last 13 years. By their verdict at - the State election a few weeks ago the citizens here showed 1 that they will not scrap it for any Labour Government. Electorates which went to the Labour Party by margin of • thousands in the last Federal elections were equally , emphatically atrti-Labour in the State vote.'

jrirst Swing From Labour

The series of anti-Labour Ministries began >'here: because in ,t 933 Labour, which was then in power, applied 'the swages cuts and redunions in- pensions, and superannuation, which Labour leaders in New Zealand profess.' to regard asV the, hall-mark of anti-Labour tpbjicy. But it continued because , of* series of enlightened and progressive rneasures which have been !v Increased in size arid tempo by Mr Tdm: Playford. who 7 has been Premier since 1938, and to-day is less thari two!months off eclipsing the existing record tenure gf office of Mr Fprgan Smith. Mr Playford lias maintained such high; South Australian’morale that, today, even when operating .plants which are virtually completely mechanised, the workers here have achieved an Output of 15 per cent, higher'than those in the eastern States. He.has preserved such harmonious industrial relations that last year time lost . in stoppages was' less than onfe-tertth' of the average for the. whole of Australia. 7 , He has made such a wise choice of the Arbitration Court bench that there has not been a strike against , a court decision sifice the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbour. And the record here is even better than ' It seems, for many of the stoppages which did occur here have been of outside origin. South Australia is predominantly an . agricultural State, and • Mr Playford; has hoisted its production from the pre-war total of £19,600.000 to' the 1945 . total of £33,000,000 despite droughts and , labour and fertiliser shortages.. But simultaneously, he has built'up manufacturing industry,-not by means of, quotas and, exchange control, but. in a free economy, by creating stable industrial conditions, and an environment in which workers.can' feel themselves well off, ’ Industrialisation began, here as early as .1933,, when the . Liberal-Cpuntrv Party combination, the coalition of which is a great advantage to the anti-Labour forces, started their programme as a protection against a new depression. " Since then South Australia, with* a population little more than onethird of, New Zealand's, has raised factory production from the prewar fioure of £13.800,000 to that, of J 517.000.000, and employment from 42,000 to 66,000, a rate of development 50 per cent; above that of the country as a whole. It /has attracted very large steel lube, pressed steel, textile, electrical, and shipbuilding industries, and is undertaking rocket research for the British Government. It has brushed aside offers of aid for its research into _ what appear to be rich deposits ofuranium, and which have led - Professor Oliphant to predict that an

atomic power plant may be located here; And its future plans are-based on' the utilisation of existing resources in’exploiting cellulose (a company has already been organised with Government help), talc, gypsum, zinc slag. The State Bank lias guaranteed overdrafts for companies where necessary, and the cellulose,industry has now repaid -advances and is headed for expansion. A notable feat has been the remaking of Whyalla, on Spencer Gulf, once a mere point of shipment for ore, into a modern industrial town with- a blast furnace producing 160 tons of pig iron a day, and a five slipway shipyard in which two 6,000-ton freighters and two 1,500-toii ore ships are now building. For this the-Government had to build a 220-mile ,pipe line carrying water from, the .River Murray to this arid region at a* cost of £2,750,000.' So attractive do-industrialists find this State that plants are now migrating from', Eastern Australia. -, An electrical plant employing 2,500 workers (Phillips Electrical Industries) was the latest to move here. Other acts of the anti-Labour regime here are the nationalisation of the Adelaide electrical power system, in carrying out which Mr Playford, gave freedom i of voting to his supporters: the creation of the Leigh Creek open . -cast coalfield, with ,a planned pro: j duction of 1,000,000 tons, yearly, which is making South Australia largely independent of the, uncertain coal deliveries from N.S.W.: a home building plan which has been operating since January, 1933, and was called by Mr J. Curtin the best in the world. To-day the State housing commission has constructed 2,700 homes and has 700 more in construction. It is building brick homes of 1:000 square feet, with tiled roofs, for £9OO. They are not as well ■ fitted up as New Zealand houses, but are much more durable. The trust now operates a £2,250,000 account, and has . written off only -22 s6d in 10 years. Starting to build solely rental homes it has altered its policy to offer, homes for sale because it found ex-servicemen wanted them.’. Two other State-aid plans help higher-priced building. While doing this the Govern- , ment has raised railway revenue . 50 per cent, above pre-war figures,carried out a 'vigorous roading - programme, Extended education, held down living costs to figures! which would seem ridiculous to'ai New Zealander, and increased the I State debt by onl/ £3,000,000. , Mbre'over, it believes it has shouldered New Zealand from the .top'■'Of the States owning low infant • mortality rates. Last year' the rate here was 17.07 pep-1,000; . live births, whereds 10 vears ago it stood at more than 30.