SECESSION MOVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21462, 8 April 1933, Page 17

SECESSION MOVE

WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S AIM COMMONWEALTH BLAMED IMPENDING REFERENDUM [fkom our own correspondent] SYDNEY. March 30 The announcement by the Prime Minister, Mr. Lyons, that a vote by the people of Western Australia on April 8 in favour of .secession from tho federation would have a serious effect on the credit of the Commonwealth has attracted general attention to tho referendum. Up till now people of the Eastern States have regarded tho secession i movement as something not to be taken seriously, and tho referendum as a move to satisfy the whim of a disgruntled Government. Everybody knows that if the referendum is carried, secession will bo impossible. However, Mr. Lyons has revealed tho serious aspects of the whole business and he is so impressed that ho has gone to tho West to advise tho people to think twice before they vote —to .fell them how the reputation of Australia would suffer abroad when it became known that such a largo and important Stato was anxious to break away from tho rest of Australia. The leader of tho secession movement is the Premier of Western Australia, Sir James Mitchell, who says that his solo objection to remaining within tho federation is that his State cannot pay the cost. "Tho contribution we are called upon to make to maintain tho Commonwealth," ho says, "is far beyond what the originators of the federation dreamed would bo required and is much more tjjan we, in our relatively undeveloped condition, can afford. Cost of Tederation "The cost of federation was estimated at 2s 6d a head. Tho revenue collected by the Commonwealth in its peak year reached £ll a head. For the year ended Juno 30 last, W estorn Australia contributed to the Commonwealth to the extent of £3,701,000 by way of taxes, and that amounted to approximately £9 per head of population. In addition to that sum,' wo actually contributed a very largo amount to tho manufacturers of tho Eastern States on account of the excess cost of Australian-made goods over and above what we could have ■ purchased such goods for elsewhere had it not been for the polity of protection. This additional sum has been 'calculated by the State Government statistician at £2,178,000. "A statement- prepared by the Commonwealth Treasury shows_ that tho Commonwealth expenditure in Western Australia during the same year on invalid and old-age pensions, maternity allowances and interest and' sinking fund on our portion of the war debt amounted to £2,166,000, and we received from the Commonwealth in grants and sinking fund on the Stato debts another £913,000, making a total of £3,179,000. Therefore, financially, we should have been £2,700,000 better off for the year had we been out of the Commonwealth. "The Commonwealth has, rightly or wrongly, pursued a policy of, high protection. . That policy has Resulted in "building up largo secondary centres in the Eastern States, and is providing employment for thousands of workers in Sydney and Melbourne, but it is I not a poiicy that helps Western Australia. We are confined almost entirely to priihary production, selling our surplus goods in the world's markets in competition with the world, while we are compelled, because we are members of the Commonwealth, to buy our requirements in the protected markets of the Eastern States —probably tho dearest market in the world. I repeat, wo cannot continue to pay the cost." Reasons lor Movement It is generally agreed that tho secession movement has grown m Western Australia because of disabilities, or a stimulated consciousness of disabilities. These disabilities can bo defined under the following general heads: —Isolation —geographical, political and social; area in relation to population; tho restriction of State finance through the encroachment by the Commonwealth on the more productive fields of taxation; the incidence of tariff policy on primary production; manufacturing handicap; and tho absence —or assumed absence—of sympathetic understanding of tho State's special problems. Sir Charles Nathan, leader of thoso parties who are opposed to secession, says the federalists are in agreement with the secessionists that disabilities exist, but they do not agree with them always as to the nature and degree of those disabilities, and they do not agree- with them at all as to the hopelessness of any remedy short of secession. "Even if tho causes of discontent are at bottom simple," he continues, "tho discussion of them has been confused, and no adequate elucidation has been given to the tremendously important financial considerations involved. What the occasion calls for is a sympathetic understanding between tho east and the west, and I am hopeful that the Prime Minister will lay the basis for such an understanding. I look for a definite declaration that the whole position will be made the subject of comprehensive and competent review; that the fact will be recognised that the State, with its small population, has territorial responsibilities in which the Commonwealth should generously share, and that some satisfactory working formula will be found by which our State Treasurer will know in advance what contribution he can expect." It is certain that one effect of the secession campaign will bo a decision by the Federal Government to grant a greater measure of assistance to the small, struggling States.