The Daily News WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1933. POLITICS IN AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1933. POLITICS IN AUSTRALIA.

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH, Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA, High Street.

There are signs that the cohesion of the National Government in Australia is weakening. The decision of the Country Party to remain a distinct political organisation, the criticism by it of the Government’s fiscal policy, and the criticism of that policy from a different angle by a portion of the commercial community are all indications that the Federal Government is losing prestige. Fortunately for Australia, there seems to be just as much disintegration and suspicion Being experienced in the Labour movement, and when the next election arrives it may be that once again the steady moderate voter will have the final say. The “United Australia” Ministry came into office on a wave of popular indignation with . a Labour Government which seemed afraid to adopt the stern measures necessary for the preservation of the solvency and good name of the Commonwealth. To the present Ministry’s credit must be placed the fact that it did call for great sacrifices from all sections of the community, and if it is true that the recovery already made has been due to good producing seasons and a substantial rise in the price of wool rather than to legislative enactments, the sacrifices demanded were real and were accepted by the community as inevitable if recovery from disaster were to be made possible. • With the increased production of butter and cheese, the higher prices for wool and excellent winter rains in the wheatgrowing districts the outlook for the Australian primary producer has greatly improved. It is true there is the menace of a restricted market in Great Britain for dairy produce and for meat, but if the wool industry in Australia is flourishing the Commonwealth is usually in good heart. Part of the criticism of the Government may be attributed to the restiveness of those who have felt and are feeling the limitations imposed by the financial enactments of the Ministry. They maintain that the depression is over, that prudence in State expenditure has done its work, and that a bold developmental policy should be undertaken by the Federal Ministry. But those responsible for the Commonwealth’s finances are not so exuberant. They know that the floating debt shows no sign of diminution, and that it is doubtful whether some of the recovery made is not more apparent than real, because it has depended upon the expenditure of money that must be repaid in the future. Another source of complaint is found in the smaller States. They maintain that the interests . of Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia are sacrificed to those of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The sugar industry in Queensland, they say, is the pampered industry of,, Australia. The Commonwealth’s fiscal policy is designed to help the secondary industries in New South Wales and Victoria, and the consequence is that the occupants of the other States, chiefly primary producers who must sell their goods in the open markets oversea, find costs of production increased and a lack of sympathy with their development on the part of the Federal Government. Tasmania and Western Australia have questioned the value of federation for some years. Recently the note of interrogation became loud enough in Western Austra-

lia to call for a referendum which showed over a two to one majority for State secession from the Commonwealth. Few, even in Western Australia, were likely to believe that secession could be obtained easily, but the latest reports show that the feeling against Federal authority is not diminishing. Against that must be put the desire for Commonwealth action in the development of the northern part of the State in common with the rest of tropical Australia. The suggestion of one Labour member of the State Parliament that the local Ministry should seize the Federal Customs’ organisation at Fremantle is scarcely likely to be taken seriously. It is, however, warning to the Commonwealth Ministry that it is losing its hold upon popular favour, and will doubtless receive full consideration on that account. * To students of Australian affairs the criticism of the Federal Ministry is another demonstration of the perils that must accompany any attempts to improve or influence the economic life of a nation by legislative or political efforts.