"VAST FAILURES"

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14818, 5 December 1921, Page 2

"VAST FAILURES"

STATE ENTERPRISES IN AUSTRALIA. Slate enterprises, such as are found in Australia, are, according to the Rev. Howard Elliott, who recently-returned from a visit- to the Commonwealth, vast and disastrous failures; doomed lo meet such a fate when they enter in,to competition With privately and privately-managed concerns. In an interview with a Dominion reporter, Mr Elliott said he was impressed by the vast failure of Stale enterprises as exhbited in New South Wales and Queensland. The AuditorGeneral of the later Stale, in his annual report just issued, showed that the Slate smellers at Chillagoe made a net loss for the year of £49.450. 'the smellers were closed for approximately six months of the year, during- which time administrative expensive* and portions of the cost of power amounted to £5123. The total indebtedness of the smelters to the Treasury on June il] was £292.212. That represented the loss on the smelters alone. It was pointed out by the, AtiditorjGencral that there were 510 employees on the pay-sheet of the smelters in June, and 500 men were employed in obtaining firewood and other operations dependent entirely upon the smelters. A loss of £18,307 was sustained by the Irvine Bank State treatment works during the year, and that, with the deficit of £10,643 for the previous year, made a total loss of £28,950 since the date of purchase in October, 1919. At the Irvine Bank State store a loss of £7(>2 resulted for the year's trading, and an amount of £655, representing bad debts, had lo be written off. The Treasury overdraft at June 30 stood at £4OOB. At Ihe Slate arsenic mines at Gaibben Bar Ihe expenditure amounted lo £BOOO, making a total expenditure of £58,108 since the commencement of operations in February, l'.)18. The in- , come from Ihe inception amounted to £11,306, leaving a net balance of £46,802, on which no interest had been charged by the Treasury. The Bowcn Slate coal mine had not reached the producing stage on June 30. Indebtedness to the Treasury then was £41,054. The Bnsalaho Slate coal mine was considered lo have reached the producing stage in January, and in six months 8294 tons of coal had been mined. The cost of production was 17s 10d per ton, and 8091 tons had been sold, mostly to the Railway Department, at a tentative selling price of 14s 9d per ton. The loss lo the State, exclusive of Ihe interest on the Treasury overdraft of £13.398, >was £I3S7. The sale of plant at the Warra Stale coal mine realised £7041, making a total of £BICG credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, against Ihe £47,453 charged to that fund, representing a total loss on thai mine of £39,000. At the State iron and steel works there, was an expenditure of £5028, making a total of £10,286. Salaries amounted to 34.9 per cent, of the gross expenditure., In addition, debentures to the value of £30,000 had been issued for a lease of Yampa Sound. From Ihe inception of the forest service sawmills in 1910 until June 30, 1918, the accumulated loss wns £9030. and for the years"!9lß.-19, 1919-20, Ihe accumulated profits amounted to £13,833—a net profit of £4803. The State trawler, which was purchased during 1918-19 for £32,000, had been out of commission since September 10. The total excess of disbursements over receipts during the period Ihe trawier was in commission was £13,792. The steamer Douglas Mnwson went out of commission in September. The total cost of the steamer amounted to £19,645, and the loss in working was £10,056. "Vast Failures." -. "Slate enterprises," said Mr Elliott, "with life exception of Ihe stalions — and there .is a good deal of Comment on the methods of computing and framing balance-sheets—and the timber fi£pot, have been disastrous failures. "Ttic Queensland Government bought stations to raise beef for their retail shops, and they entered into an arrangement to buy for the Imperial Government. They bought all the meat at an average price of twopence to threepence per lb. abovg what it could have been purchased at. but they, utilised Ihe difference in price lo reduce the selling cost of the meat in their retail butchers' shops from 2d lo 3d per lb, with the result that they drove almost the whole Of Ihe retail butchers out of business, since the wholesale cost of meat was higher than the retail price at Ihe Government shops. The' Government of Queensland appeare to have made ihe Imperial Government pay for their experiment in opening butchers' shops. "Queensland and New South Wales have veiiliii-Nl upon Ihe experiment of Stale enterprises on a scale not attempted elsewhere in the Empire, and the results show (hem to have been, not only failurs as business concerns, hut failures in achieving any of Ihe subsidiary objects which are so often alleged , is being of highest importance. The only conclusion is Hint Stale enterprises are doomed lo failure when Ihey come in competition with pri-vately-owned and privately-managed concerns.*' Parliamentary Conditions.

"The Parliamentary conditions in Queensland and New South Wales " continued Mr Elliott, "are such that'a New Zcalaiidcr is shocked, and by comparison the Parliament of this Dominion takes on a dignity and worth of which we may be proud. Victoria is the best-governed and lowest taxed State in Australia. There the retrogressive and revolutionary elements have been kept in check. But in New South Wales and Queensland these elements, though in a minority, have obtained Hie "supremacy which the Treasury benches allow. .The business of the [louse nf Representatives in New South Wales is conducted on the same lines as a Bolshevist.meeting. On one occasion, whilst the House was in Committee, and Sir George Fuller and Mr Ball were endeavouring to slate the Opposition view on the Wheat Bill, the Chairman of the Committee (Mr Stuart Robertson), in order to hear the amendment proposed, called for order, and continued calling until he reached the top pitch of his voice, without silencing the din. Badinage, senseless interjection, and coarse abuse fill the air, making speech almost impossible. In the Queensland House, both Tipper and Lower, Rafferty rules prevail. The business men in the ' two northern States have a sense of helplessness, and are oppressed by (he uncertainty which arises because of Ihe instability and the revolutionary vagaries of their Governments."