AUSTRALIAN DEPRESSION

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1931, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN DEPRESSION

ONE TOPIC OF CONVERSATION EVIDENCE OBSERVED IN SYDNEY. NEW ZEALANDER'S IMPRESSIONS. By T«lesraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. “In Sydney the depression is like the Hawke’s Bay earthquake was in New Zealand; it is the one topic of conversation,” said Mr. I*. \V, Petre,. manager of the New Zealand University Rugby team which returned from Australia by the Makura this morning. In Sydney, said Mr. Petre, evidence ofhard times was to be seen everywhere and many of the people met. in the streets bore the appearance of being out of work. \ '' Mr. Petre paid a visit to the naval dockyard at Cockatoo Island and found that where formerly about 4000 men were found regular employment only a tenth of that number were now working. A new lighthouse steamer was just being completed, and when that job was finished there would be more men to join the unemployed. At the Richmond aerodrome, where there were usually about 40 men employed there were now only two. Flying had been cut right down and the men were engaged mainly in repair work on the Wapiti and the Seagull. The Wapiti is a two-seater observation aeroplane and the Seagull is a naval seaplane. Mr. Petre had met Air Commodore Kingsford Smith, who told him that the aviation companies were losing money heavily, especially on the Sydney to Melbourne route.