TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 18, 22 January 1935, Page 7

TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT

AUSTRALIA'S PARLIAMENTS VISITING PRELATE PUZZLED. LONDON, Jan. 10The Roman Catholic Archbishop or Liverpool, Dr. Downey, who left Sydnev recently for Melbourne on his way back home, said in an interview that he was puzzled why Australia had so many Parliamentary institutions and politicians. He did not wish to criticise', as he had not studied our constitutional problems at first hand, but it seemed obvious to him that Australia could be governed without so much duplication of administration. “I realise there are difficulties,” Dr. Downey said. “Even in England, small as it is geographically, there are many local questions that get scant consideration from Westminster. In a large continent like Australia there would have to be a measure of local governing powers, but it seems that the sovereign States carry too much top hamper. This is a problem Australia will, no doubt, have to face seriously some day. The idea of having two navigation departments and two Arbitration Courts is absurd, and it all helps to keep taxes high.” Archbishop Downey said he was interested to meet a number of scholars and professional men in Australia who had gone to England in the past to do special •courses of study after having graduated in Australian universities. These men had informed him that this extra training was a great advantage. But he thought that in some faculties of study it would be wise for English graduates to take extra courses in Australia

The archbishop said he was a great believer in the interchange of thought. He believed that Australia had something to offer English students of agriculture. veterinary science and land fertilisation. A great statesman—if he remembered rightly it was Asquith—had said that the walls of Oxford and Cambridge breathed forth the lost enchantments of the middle ages. It was fine to think that students in those universities worked where Newton and other great scholars had worked. That was the reason why Australians went to those institutions. In a reference to books concerning Australia, Dr. Downey said:—“Guide hooks that describe Australia as an immature country, that declare Melbourne to be cosmopolitan, Sydney to be American, and the remainder to be of no account, infuriate me. These guide books and other publications by people who did not know the real Australia were the ones he declared recently should be burned. He said that he was not referring to official guide books, which gave accurate information. Dr. Downev said that he resented also the patronising remarks, such as the one that Australians, although rough in their manners, were all right in their hearts. He said that he had found that Australians were not rough in their manners. They were fine people, typical of the country in whivh they lived.