AUSTRALIAN AFFAIRS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 70, 22 February 1932, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN AFFAIRS.

COMMONWEALTH INSURANCE BILL. Received February 22, 8.5 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 21. Commenting on the Commonwealth Insurance Bill, the Morning Post says: “The British- insurance companies no doubt consider it a trifle unusual that the Commonwealth should require higher deposits than does the British Government in respect of companies doing business here, but they Welcome the provision of the new Bill that no State Government may require any insurance company to make deposits as well, and the fact that the detention of deposits by any State Government is expressly forbidden.”

MR LANG AND FEDERAL POLITICS.

' Received Februarv 22, 10.5 a.m. SYDNEY. Feb. 22. Mr Gander, a member of the House of Representatives, speaking in the Domain yesterday said: “They chll me Mr Lang’s dummy and seat-warmer. Let me say now that when the time comes and the Labour movement desires Mr Lang to enter Federal politics I will immediately resign my seat for him.” 5 - CRITICAL ANALYSIS. ECONOMIST oF AUSTRALIA. “Australia lacks an elite. They do not know the pleasures of the spirit) and incapable of interior life, therefore lead an outdoor life,” says George Ferres, in another of his series of. very critical articles on The Economic crisis in the Antipodes (according to a London message). “He will not let a vehicle pass him,”, continues the article. “He drinks gin, indulges in sport, gambles on racecourses, but does not realise , that-life can give greater satisfaction. That is why Australians cannot conceive the gratuitous pleasures of the hearth, conversation, books, and thought. “Everyone may spend freely; everyone pays dearly for the smallest service. The Government for years has spent £lO where £5 would suffice, thus maintaining an artificial prosperity based on nothing. “Its latest error is an attempt at industrialisation of the continent, which is going to consume Australian products. They make, or pretend to make, all they need, raising nigh tariffs in order to give their people the advantages of a country that nothing can enter. They think themselves strong, but ’their superb isolation is only tne commencement of their difficulties, as they have not escaped the influence of European markets, where wages are indefinitely lower. “Australia has been said to illustrate the fable of the grasshopper and the ant. Britain, when the bad years came, asked what Australia had done with her money, and requested accounts. The.missions of Sir Arthur Duckham and Sir Otto Niemeyer followed, but -knowing the Australian temperament and the penchant for the least effort, the former mission was probably sceptical of the acceptance of their words of wisdom. There was too great a demand for public ‘fcredit for financial enterprises to give the country a modern gait. . “These enterprises paid neither expenses nor interest, and thus the community bore the loss, entailing an increased cost of living. "The political system of nationalisation by the Draconian trades union statutes and uniform wages have 'niled private initiative, and it is now necessary to follow natural laws to return to private initiative, reduce wages, and renew commercial relations abroad by the adaptation of selling prices at world values. , ■ “If this were done the people or the continent would quickly assure a home market. 'Wherever one looks Australia is bound by a chain of facts ymmh threaten to break her. Dare she break those chains?”