QUEENSLAND AFFAIRS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18802, 3 March 1923, Page 17

QUEENSLAND AFFAIRS.

PROGRESS UNDER LABOUR RULE. INTERVIEW WITH ORGANISER. Mr J. S. Callings, organiser of tho Queensland branch of the Australian Labour Party, is at present engaged on the. tour of New Zealand with tho object of explaining the workings of tho Labour Government in the State in which he resides. In addition to being the State organiser for tho Labour Party, Mr Collings is a member of the Queensland Central Executive of the Party. Until tho abolition of tho Legislative Council in Queensland last year, Mr Collings was a member of that body. In the course of a conversation with a representative of the Otago Daily Times yesterday, Mr Collings eaia ho was rather proud of the fact that ho was one of tho so-railed “Suicide Club” which ended tho existence of such a political excrescence as the Legislative Council. Ho went on to ex-plain that his mission to New Zealand was undertaken as the result of statements from this end in regard to widespread misrepresentation in the dominion as to w f hat was being done in Queensland by the Labour Government. His tour was originally intended, to extend over three weeks, in which time he intended to give addresses in six centres, but it had now been extended over six weeks- Ho would now visit 26 towns in both islands, including the West Coast of the South Island, and would deliver about 40 addresses.

j “In Queensland,” said Mr Collings, “we I have had a Labonr Government in office j since 1915, and while we have no objection to hostile criticism, we feel that wo have not been getting a fair deal, misstatements in regard to facts having apparently been spread broadcast throughout the dominion. We recognise that it is difficult for New Zealanders to understand' tho situation in a country like Queensland, where we have an area of 429,120,000 acres and ,a total population of only 790,522. Wo have a greater mileage of railways per head of population than any other country in the world, and a greater mileage than that in any other part of Australia, while our working costs per mile are lower than they ape in any other State in the Commonwealth. It is frequently urged against our administration that we are showing a deficit on the working of our railways, but we are by no means singular in that respect, as other countries are doing the same thing. We are carrying our primary products on the railways at lower rates than those prevailing in any othef’ State in Australia, and we feel that we are making the railways pay if they are serving the people and developing the great natural resources of the State.” Dealing with the question of population, Mr Collings stated that tho percentage increase in Queensland was greater than in any other State in Australia, and the percentage excess of immigration over emigration was also greater than in other parts of the Commonwealth. The birth rate jn Queensland was tho second highest in The statistics .in regard to live stock were equally satisfactory from a Queenslander’s point of view. There were more than twice os many cattle in that State as there wore in any other, the number of horses was greater, and the number of sheep was also greater than that In any other State, with the exception of New South Waies. In spite of all that was said to the contray, the climate in Queensland was the best and moat equable in the world. The average yield of wheat there was higher than in any other part of Australia, and the quantity and value of the wool and frozen beef exported placed the State at the head of tho list so far as these commodities were concerned. Other advantages claimed by Mr Collings for Queensland were that the average amount held by each depositor in the savings banks was greater there than in any other Australian State. t;lfo margin of profit, in manufacturing industries was higher, the weekly wage was higher, tho purchasing power of monev was higher, and the cost of living was lower. So far as the humanitarian side of the Government’s work, was concerned, Mr Collings remarked that he need only state that Lady Forster, the wife of the GovernorGeneral of Australia. who presided recently over the first mter-State conference of the Bush Nursing Association of Australia, had said: “I have never met a Government so helpful as tho Queensland Government as regards health work.” Tho fact that in 1915, when the present Government assumed office, tho infant mortality in Oucensland was tho highest in Australia, whereas to-day it was the lowest, was sufficient to indicate what the Government had accomplished. “Ours is the onlv working-class Government in the world,” added Mr Collings, “that is a stable Administration;- able to translate its policy into legislation and peacefully operate that policy. It is the only Labour Government that has ever held office for throe consecutive terms. We have gone in for a considerable amount of Government trading, which, of course, has brought down on our heads the wrath of private vested interests, which are never tired of talking about the lossefe we make on some of our undertakings, though they observe a death-liko and discreet silence regarding those on which we are making a profit. A good deal has been said about the loss on our cattle stations, but one cannot get away from the fact that that loss is entirely duo to the. slump in the price of stock, which is not peculiar to Government-owned stations, but applies to every pastoralist’s property in Australia. In our State butchers’ shops, which are adjuncts to our cattle stations, we had paid all charges, rents, rates, taxes, interest, and redemption for a period of six years since we started operations, and we have in addition made a total profit of £150,000. Moreover, by reducing the retail price of meat to the people and forcing the private shops to follow suit, we have saved the meat consumers of the State no less than £3,000,000, basing our calculations on a very conservative estimate.” In order to show that the people of Queensland were not, as had been alleged, ruined by wild-cat legislation, Mr Collings stated' that the Christmas holiday traffic lost year was a record, and the Christmas trade also established record figures. The Brisbane City Council, which had a majority of members opposed to the Labour Government, last month borrowed £1,000,000 for city improvements alone, while a. huge sum was being spent to complete the new Town Ilall, and hundreds of thousands on the Completion of the sewerage scheme. In every provincial town throughout the State there was similar activity. Tho Government had developed, largo land settlement schemes, tho cotton-growing industry, and several, big irrigation and water service propositions. In Brisbane extensive additions to Government. buildings were being made, while numbers of largo private business and entertainment buildings were- now in course of erection. There were at times a considerable number of unemployed men, but this wag due principally to tho fact that all their big industries were primary industries and seasonal in their character. Another important factor in regard to this matter was that Queensland was the only Australian State which had been feeding all its unemployed, .with the result that men who were out of work in other States were attracted to that part of the Commonwealth. At the present, time tho number of unemployed in the State was negligible, and much smaller than it had' been at any other time during tho last 10 years. Mr Collings added that at present there was a boom in the building trade, and there was no unemployment in connection with that or any allied trade. Tho position was, as a matter of fact, rather the reverse, there being, if anything, a shortage of labour. Referring to the abolition of the Legislative Council in Queensland, Mr Collings stated that it was feared by some people that without some sort of revising Chamber legislation might be passed which would require amending later on. The Government had not provided any revising body, and it did not believe that such a body was necessary. In any case the Legislative Council had never shown that it had any -particular ability as a revising Chamber. What tho Government now did was to employ one of the ablest lawyers in the community as Parliamentary draughtsman, and every measure tl%d was to come before Parliament was carefully drafted by that official. All alterations and amendments made in the Bill during its passage through the Assembly were referred to the draughtsman before being finally adopted, and no serious difficulty had yet arisen in connection with the legislation passed. , Mr Collings proceeded to refer to the establishment of a State canning factory in Queensland. It had been urged, he said, that in the establishment of that factory the Government had incurred a considerable loss. That was correct, but it must he borne in mind that the factory was established not with a view to making a profit, but because the soldier settlors on the fruit lands were unable to find a market for their fruit. In consequence of the position in which the soidicr settlers were placed the Government decided to undertake to buy the fruit and convert it imp saleable commodities, such as canned pineapples, jam, and tomato sauce, and market it to the advantage of the growers. Teal had been done, and the loss on the canneiy was getting smaller each year. The volume of trade was growing very considerably, and in the meantime the soldier settlors had been kept on their holdings and their occupation made remunerative.

M; Codings spoke with considerable pride

about the work ■which (ho Government is doing in the matter of education. During the last financial year, he said, the Department of Public Instruction had spent £1,500.090 more than had over been spent by any previous Administration in the same time, limy were now carrying vocational training anti rural schools into the country areas, providing all the equipment, and teaching the boys woodwork and leather work, and tho girls cooking, dressmaking, and other occupations. In addition to that tho Government had taken over tho techideal colleges and grammar schools, which warn previously controlled by independent bodies. They were now reaching the children of the selectors in the remote parts of tho State by a system of itinerant teachers. Kadi of these teachers, provided with a motor car, visited tho remote schools, instructed the children in the selectors homes, left written lessons behind, and then proceeded to another district. Each district was visited again a few months later, and tho work done by the children in the interval was chocked, errors being pointed out, new 'lessons left to keep the pupils occupied until the time for the next visit came round. This system was followed in places where there would not be enough scholars to warrant the opening of a school. Finding that oven by this means it was not reaching the children further back, the Government has this year inaugurated a system of teaching by correspondence, and as a result of this there will bo very few’ children who are not receiving a considerable measure of education which was hitherto unattainable. In referring to the question of finance, Mr* Codings stated that the present Government in Queensland was the first in the Empire to go outside the Empire for loan money. The reason for such a step was that when Mr Theodore (the Premier) went to England .with the object of obtaining nicnev, his political opponents sent a delegation to London complaining that the legislation passed by the Government was inimical to certain interests. Mr Theodore was told that ho could not get any money in London unless he was prepared to repeal his land legislation and to promise not to proceed any further ■with the Brisbane Tramways Acquisition Bill. The Premier refused to be dictated to, and naturally sought another market. He found that in New York, and although, for political purposes, it was said when he secured the loan that it would prove disastrous bocauso of tho unfavourable position in regard to tho exchange rate, it had turned out that the exchange rate had operated to Queensland’s advantage, with the result that tile rate of interest would be no higher tlian per cent., and would probably prove to be oven lower than that when the final adjustment was made. The amount of the loan raised in Now York was £3,000,000. In conclusion Mr Collings stated that Queensland stocks were greatly sought after for investment purposes.