Grey River Argus FRIDAY, April 26th., 1929. A GREAT RECORD.

Grey River Argus, 26 April 1929, Page 4

Grey River Argus FRIDAY, April 26th., 1929. A GREAT RECORD.

In the Empire, if not in the world, only one Government has continuously held power since the start of the war. That administration in a couple of weeks’ time 'again will stand the test of a general election, with good prospects. It is the Labour Government of Queensland. Till it was found that the electors gave them the lie, anti-Labourites used to be fond of criticising the Queensland Ministry, but its brilliant record for more than fourteen years has silenced them to-day, when the State itself is socially and economically by far the most prosperous (and progressive in the Commonwealth, Balance sheets up to June last , show Queensland’s alone, of the Australian Governments, 'had a surplus, the deficits being: Federal, £5,400,000; N.S.W., £4,200,000; South Australia £274,931; Victoria, £163,353; and Western Australia, £26,466. In unemploy- { ment, Federal statistics show Queensland’s percentage as 6.4, ] while the .others are:— N-S.W., J 16; S. Australia, 13 ; Victoria, 10; ! Tasmania, 10; Westralia 10. In ] no other State has an unemployI ment insurance scheme been so | efficient as in Queensland, nor the I arbitration system been so well 1 operated. The State has also re--1 tained the best standard of living I under Labour, which has stabil--1 ised existing standards in the face 1 of a general lowering due to capj italistic ineptitude, and at the 1 same lime the national income J has been saved Ihe burden by the I fullest, development of State rej sources, including a complete 1 soil survey now in hand; subsidies ? for industries, safeguarding, and j enlightened co-operative control.

Since 1914 the dairying values have risen from £2,390,000 to £7,250,000; butter production has grown from 37 to 71 million odd lbs., and cheese from 7,931,000 to 14,884,256 lbs., this being the only State where dairying is yet a success in the tropics, while 98 per cent of the industry is co-oper-ative. The proportion of first grade butter has been raised in three years from 68 to 82 per cent, of the total output. At the University there has been established a Faculty of Agriculture. The cotton industry was revived by the Labour Government in 1920, and considerable extension has followed. The value of the crop last year was about £250.000, but this represents a small proportion only of the value of cotton used in Australia. The Government aim,s at producing £1,000,000 worth of cotton yearly as soon .as the Federal Government gives a preference. Spinning mills and co-operative ginneries are now proposed with State support. The policy also is that the people shall be supplied with bread made from flour gristed in Queensland mills by Queensland workmen, and .from wheat •grown by Queensland farmersHigh grade tobacco production is being fostered and the banana trade has been developed into a great revenue producer, )vhilst the sugar industry is safeguarded with a council for the cane growers, resulting in over-production, wherefore the Government is

seeking a remedy by means of imperial preference in Britain. Artificial silk, celolex, and power alcohol production are encouraged by offers of State subsidy for private enterprise, and- likewise co-operative bacon and other factories. On education the Labour Government has in a decade spent seven millions more than any previous administration in such a period. It has extended the medical and dental inspection; a motor van, fully equipped as a dental surgery, was placed in use in 1926; a rail dental clinic, with modern equipment, has been placed in commission; and a combined residential school and ophthalmic hospital for children was opened in Brisbane a few weeks ago. An advanced scheme for secondary pupils over 12 has come out with good practical aims, and it is now intended to have intermediate schools, with workshops, laboratories, and rooms for domestic science. There will be an industrial high school at Brisbane and classes in other places from which students will compete for the industrial junior examination. With six thousand miles of main roads opened, the Government adds to a Federal subsidy, so that local authorities are now liable only for 20 years for about a fifth of the cost of the developmental

roads. These, with the new railway and great irrigation schemes have brought thousands into farms, while State enterprise has provided 43 town water supplies for 200,000 people outside the capital, and a hydraulic survey of the whole State has revealed new artesian supplies. Pastoral holdings near railways are now being cut for close settlement, no more pastoral leases being given for first class lands in accessible places. No less than five and a half million acres is being administered by the new Forest Service. Scientific means are being introduced to stimulate bcef-cat-tle production, with centralisation of slaughtering and marketing. ’ Any unprofitable State enterprise

Las been dropped, but with better times some will be renewed. Critics of former railway deficits ignored the fact that Queensland’s mileage and long haulage are now both Australian records, as also that concessions made to users have been worth a million sterling, including 21 per cenl cuts for transporting stock to the number of four and a half million in time of drought. On the railways there is preference for Queensland contractors, while new industries are helped till firmly established. Queensland’s immigration since 1915 has averaged over 5 per 1000 of the population, the next best being Victoria with 3-56, except South Australia where the figure is 7.51, but the population there is small. Sixtyeight maternity hospitals have been built, by the Labour Government. and soon there will be 81 maternity hospitals operating. The maternity hospital operatingin Brisbane will be the best equipped institution of its kind m Australia. In the metropolis are two pre-natal clinics, and more aie proposed elsewhere. . Infantile mortality is the lowest in Australia, while population increases since 1915 have been:— Queensland 2,11; New South Wales 1.91; Victoria 1.57; South Australia 2.10; West Australia 1.52; Tasmania 0.53. Widows in Queensland receive State allowances, and the Government proposes , to increase to £250 per year the income limit for advances for workers’ dwellings, and lias raised the amount of advances from £3OO to £BOO, also enabling a man with only £3O to arrange for a house of his own. In less than three years over 4000 houses have thus been secured. From 1915 io 1927 persons employed at farming increased by 7,500 in Queensland, the only other State to show an increase being Westralia with its Labour Government. That is why Labour has such a good chance of being returned to power in Queensland after its record term of office there.