THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1919. FACTS ABOUT QUEENSLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17338, 9 December 1919, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1919. FACTS ABOUT QUEENSLAND.

The Official -Labour Party in New Zealand cannot fairly complain if it is judged by the record of the Queensland Administration. It has itself, out of the mouths of many candidates, invited the comparison, and even if it had not the test would be quite appropriate. The Bolsheviks are a long way from us, and they are foreigners. Many New Zealanders would hesitate to judge any of their countrymen— irresponsible and violent their speech and however doubtful their loyalty—by illiterate Russians unaccustomed to representative institutions. But Queensland is near us. Its inhabitants are of our blood. It enjoys the same freedom and inherits the same traditions. A Labour Government has ruled Queensland for practically the whole period of the war, quite long enough to test its merits, and there is now conclusive evidence of the real condition of the State. For some time the information appearing in the Australian press was inconclusive. The supporters of the Government would not admit that anything was wrong, and they supplied partial facts and figures which were quoted by Labour candidates in New Zealand to bolster up a fiction that Queensland was a model of a well-governed State. That bubble lias been pricked, not so much by the exposures of the Queensland Op-1 position as by the criticism of Commonwealth and State experts and by the admissions of Labour Ministers themselves. Mr. Theodore, who has occupied the position of Prime Minister since Mr. Ryan resigned to direct the election campaign of the Federal Labour Party, recently stated that the draft estimates revealed a gap of £1,500,000 " between expected revenue and anticipated expenditure." Since then Parliament has adjourned without considering the Estimates for the current year. T.hese cannot now appear till the end of January, when seven months' expenditure will have been undertaken without the authority of Parliament. To the charge that he was holding back the Estimates to avoid prejudicing Mr. Ryan's, campaign, Mr. Theodore has made no answer. It is doubtful, however, if any Budget disclosures could be more damaging to the credit of the State and the Government than those already made. In 1914-15, the last year of the Denham Administration, the consolidated revenue of Queensland was £7,202,658, and a small surplus was disclosed. In 1918-19, after four years of Labour government, the consolidated revenue had been increased, mainly by heavier taxation, to £9,415,453, and there was a deficit of £171,988, while the accumulated deficits for the period totalled £581,439. The fact is that the Labour Party won power by making the most extravagant promises, which it has been unable to redeem without increasing taxation and incurring deficits. Apart from war costs expenditure has been reduced over the Commonwealth as a whole. In Queensland the purely domestic expenditure has increased by £2,000,000. Moreover the administrative capacity of the Government has been so low that wellestablished State enterprises have been ruined- In the year 1914-15, during eleven months of which the Denham Government was in office, the net earnings' of the -"railways were £1,429,969, and there was a net surplus of £43,651. In the four succeeding years the surpluses were replaced by deficits, which now total £3,694,968. During the past financial year, the Auditor-General notes, " after paying working expenses a shortage of £1,421,328 had to be made good from revenue." In face of this astonishing mismanagement it is not surprising to find that less promising State ventures have failed to pay i.heir way. The Queensland Government has engaged in a great many from fishing to farming and timber milling. The loss on a group of smaller businesses is returned at £534,738 during the past financial year. These disastrous speculations have necessarily resulted in a severe increase of taxation but it is astonishing to find that they have not kept'down the cost of living since the consumer has been subsidised by the taxpayer. That they have failed even to do this is perhaps the most conclusive proof of the incapacity of the Ryan-Theodore Government. Up to July last the cost of food, including groceries, in Queensland showed

. an increase over July, 1914, of 62.3 per cent., against 53 per cent, in New" South Wales—where '< the " next greatest increase was recorded — and 36 per cent, in South Australia where least change was manifested. At a time when New Zealand is crying out for workers the ugly phenomenon of unemployment has raised its head in Queensland. Deputations of men who were walking the streets of Brisbane took the remarkable course of appealing beyend the State Government to Mir. Hughes when he visited Queensland recently. The Labour Government is' failing those who placed it in office. It has swollen the cost of living, piled up taxation and deficits, and, having come to the end of its financial resources, is unable to relieve the distress it has created or restore the credit of the State. The first test which Labour should apply to its own Government is the contentment of the workers. The RyanTheodore Administration, which took office in June, 1915, has multiplied strikes, as the following official figures prove:— Number Number Loss in Year. _of of workers wages i disputes, affected. £ 1913 .. 17 2.006 28.374 1914 .. 18 1.686 11,747 1915 .. 17 2.066 9.505 1916 .. 64 20.318 96.976 1917 .. 59 15045 178.125 1918 .. 84 10.678 131.142 The Labour Government of Queensland has not brought peace to the workers, but a, sword. It has failed at every point all along the line, and the electors of New Zealand should think twice before casting their votes in favour of a similar regime in the Dominion.