DESIRE TO SECEDE

Hokitika Guardian, 12 April 1933, Page 3

DESIRE TO SECEDE

CONDITIONS IN WESTRALIA

CUSTOMS AND TARIFFS

WELLINGTON, April 10

One of t'he princ'p l factor, 3 actuating tho s o in Western Australia to secede from the Commonwealth Federation was the desire; t 0 get control of the imposition of Customs duties' 'into tivAr own hands, caul th e T.t. Rev. Dr. Cecil W.ilson, Bishop of ;Bunbury, on pis arrival tit 'Wellington from Australia by the Waug.neUa. Jn a sens?., he said, the move was merely bluff to get the Eastern iStatcg to come to better terms with the West. He felt th.it the people in Western Australia \did not really desire secession.

The tariff question in Western 'Australia was a burning on A , Dr Wilson continued. Take the ease of agricultural machinery. For some time 'past this had ■ been imported from Eastern States because the duties impaled by the Federal authorities almost prohibited direct importation from England. When 'the federation wa® constituted, Dr Wilson said it was arranged that ther e should he a committee that should always meet when there wa,s any question of hardship arising between any of the wdividuri States. Some year, 3 ago, however, the Federal Government did away with this committee, leaving no body to wlvch an appeal could be made'. The principal thing that Western .Australia desij'eflwjis a. free ■ in its tcniif policy!" ' If. for instance, a factory wa v s started in t-h*. West, manufacturers in the East promptly Proceeded in dump goods . there, the effect on which was to kill the new industry. Time after time factories in Western Australia had had to close down because of this dumping from the T>et-.

GENEROUS TREATMENT WANTED. If an imaginary line were drawn from the nv'ddle of the south count to th e middle of the eastern coast, he continued, it would be seen that five-sixths of the population, of Australia lived in the territory cut. off in 'the routh-east ooifier. H was jivt possible that a mistake; \v«» mlanite whejn Western Australia ' first w yt into the eonfederationyA - The western territory was further awry frotn tha 'east than Now was, and when it was once suggested that New Zealand (should'-' be linked to iA»vtral : i. 1?00 re sons correspond ing with the 1200 miles distance away e re <dven bv those- opposed to it. If the Federal Government had not done away with the council or committee for the settlement of disputes arising between States and had treated the smaller ‘States mor* < the move if or secession Vo'ukt ’ not 'have come. As ‘a matter of 'fagt.,--lie isaid,-

the people did not want it. They coukl not gt‘t t it anyway, as before any State of the federation could .. break away it was necessary to obtajm Dm •consent of other States. It was merely a move to force the hands of the Eastern States. There lmd been a suggestion of application being made to the British Parliament for the right to secede, but it w s unlikely that that tribunal would go again' l the ■ wishes of the other Australian States.

D r Wilson said that Western A ultra’ll- geographically occupied one. third of the area of Australia, wlnK it .supported a 'population of only 440,000. There were boundless potentialities there, and thousands of acres wei’o waiting to be farmed. Some years ago he noticed that certain land in Canterbury was bring’ sold from (£75 to £BO- aii acre. On returning he made comparisons, finding that srrai.ar land in Western Australia was selling about £3 an acre.

ASSISTANCE TO CHURCH

Western Aestr lhi, Dr WDfion continued, was the only portion - 0 f Ausfcralu in wVch the Church was still rc ,ceivia2 assistance from the Homeland. This was because the population was <s.o small and .the distances so great that many of the parishes were not able to support themselves. Hard times in England meant, that the Church at Home was not able to h=lp as much as it bad .done in the past, and .pome of the clergy were returning, but they would, pull through, he said.

Dr Wilson is dim senior B'shnp in Australia, and believes that he is third or fourth .in.- seniority ’ r in Alie ,'Afjb’.vn •'■"■inmunity in the' world. He was 17 years Bishop of - Melenesia. 6 i:c years assistant Bishop of Adelaide, find 15 years . Bishop of Bunbury. H',? wife is : a daughter of Archbishop Julius. H <x h a s come across . principally to visit his two dniurhters, Mrs Christopher Cross, wife of the. vica v at Wa’h.ao Downs, card Mrs R. Herman. Christchurch. He was wppoi.nt.rd Bishop of Melenesia .in 1834-, 'and ipubl slvd ,lardyes r a book entitled The "Wake of the Southern Cross.